McFarland has spent all but 18 months of the past 28 years at Derby as captain, assistant manager, caretaker manager and finally manager. In a brief sabbatical as player-manager of Bradford City, he took them to promotion. However, Rioch’s record was similarly patchy, and McFarland’s stock remains high within the game.Huddersfield Town will name their new manager today. Brian Horton, sacked by Manchester City, is the favourite to succeed Neil Warnock.

Osvaldo Ardiles, dismissed as manager of Tottenham last year, has resumed his coaching career with the top Mexican club, Guadalajara.n The Belgian player, Jean-Marc Bosman, went to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg yesterday in a case that could wreck the transfer system. The pair have remained friends since they became partners with Derby and England in the early 1970s. The Bolton chairman, Gordon Hargreaves, said that far from Todd feeling overlooked, the idea of their reuniting in management had been his.Bolton’s choice will surprise many. “Two of the three sides promoted the season before last came straight back down, and we won’t survive by selling our best players.”
Colin Todd, who worked as Bruce Rioch’s assistant, will continue in the role under McFarland. Liverpool have long coveted Jason McAteer, the Republic of Ireland midfielder, while Arsenal and Blackburn head the queue for Alan Stubbs, a centre-back in his new manager’s own skilful image “No one will be leaving,” McFarland said.

McFarland, 47, whose contract with Derby County was not renewed last month, also pledged to hang on to Bolton’s prize assets. On the day his predecessor was lavishing pounds 7.5m on one player, Roy McFarland took charge of newly promoted Bolton Wanderers stressing survival in the Premiership as his priority. The exceptions are Crystal Palace, who entertain Barnsley 51 weeks after launching a short-lived sojourn in the top flight by losing 6-1 to Liverpool.Tranmere and Wolves, the beaten play-off semi-finalists, tangle, with Graham Taylor’s team staging the first of numerous Midlands derbies in the First Division, against West Bromwich a week later.. Even at this range, the meeting of Bryan Robson’s Middlesbrough and Manchester United seems unlikely to be an end-of-season affair in the old sense of the expression.In the Football League, which kicks off on 12 August, three of the four relegated from the Premiership open with awkward away-days. The fixture computer has also given Gullit and Dennis Bergkamp an early reunion, on 30 September, by which time both should be acquainted with the rigours of the English game.Other highlights of the first batch of midweek games include Blackburn’s trip to Sheffield Wednesday, who hope to have resolved the impasse over David Pleat long before then.Tottenham’s first home match without Jurgen Klinsmann is a re-run of Gerry Francis’s debut as manager, a 4-3 defeat by Villa.After last month’s final-day dramas, when the fate of almost a dozen sides was undecided at kick-off time, the fixtures for 4 May will be eagerly scrutinised. The Liverpool crowd have an early opportunity to assess the merits of their pounds 8.5m British-record buy, Stan Collymore, against Sheffield Wednesday.The new campaign promises a strong Dutch flavour, with Ruud Gullit, now of Chelsea, due to face Bryan Roy at Nottingham Forest on 23 August. Meanwhile, United open at Aston Villa.Bruce Rioch’s first competitive game in charge of Arsenal pits them against one of his former clubs, Middlesbrough.