He accepted verbally, but was then tempted away following a last-minute bid from Newcastle."I think I can save Reading from relegation, even though we have a tough run in our last seven games," Burns said. "I will definitely be strengthening the squad before tomorrow's deadline."I went to Newcastle instead of Reading because they were a big club and I thought I would find opportunities there. The former manager Terry Bullivant resigned last week following protests from fans.Burns was first offered the Reading job nine months ago when the then joint managers, Jimmy Quinn and Mick Gooding, left the club. They've got their own little Crazy Gang there themselves and they'll go on to good things."But you can't live in the past.

You have to go forward and I have to be looking to coach and then to go into management."Jones, never the model professional having been sent off 12 times in his career and once booked just three seconds into a game, said he was so excited about the move that his "heart was pounding out of his chest".Tommy Burns, the former Celtic manager, is back in management with the struggling First Division side Reading.Burns, who was youth development officer at Newcastle, has taken over from the caretaker-manager Alan Pardew. But there are certainly boys at Wimbledon now who can take it on a step further. VINNIE JONES closed the chapter on the original Crazy Gang yesterday, as he became the last member to leave Wimbledon, joining Queen's Park Rangers as player-coach in a pounds 500,000 deal. Jones agreed to sign a three and a half year contract, subject to a medical, to work alongside Ray Harford, himself a former Wimbledon manager, in revitalising the First Division side. Jones admitted that it was "a huge wrench" to leave Wimbledon, the club he gave up his job as a hod-carrier to join in 1986, with whom he won the FA Cup in 1988 and the team he rejoined in 1992 after a three-year break with Leeds, Sheffield United and Chelsea.Jones was the founder member of the Crazy Gang spirit that marked Wimbledon apart and enabled them to become as successful as many of their bigger rivals on meagre resources.He said: "It's a bit sad That's it now, the old Crazy Gang won't be there any more. His enthusiasm and the way he works with younger players will be a real boost for us."Keegan, Fulham's director of football, has tried to sign the former Liverpool and Everton striker previously this season, but lost out on more than one occasion. "It's a massive coup for this club and shows that we will try to get anybody for Fulham," Keegan added.. It didn't take him long to decide, and he's absolutely delighted as well.

He's still as fit as a fiddle and a tremendous inspiration to those around him. "I'm joining up again with a player I've spent many, many games with. We've taken him until the end of May because the play-offs come pretty late and I said to Peter: 'Do you fancy going back to Wembley, because that's where we're going'. Keegan, who signed Beardsley when he was Newcastle's manager and played with him at St James' Park before that, has persuaded the 37-year-old former England striker to join the London club from Bolton until the end of the season. "It's great news for us," said Keegan. KEVIN KEEGAN has finally managed to sign Peter Beardsley, albeit on loan, for Fulham. Substitutes: Lokvenc (Sparta Prague) for Kuka, 60; Lasota (Slavia Prague) for Cizek, 71, Votava (Sparta Prague) for Latal, 85, Fukal (Jablonec) for Smicer, 89.REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Given (Newcastle); Maybury (Leeds), Kenna (Blackburn), Carsley (Derby), Cunningham (Wimbledon), Breen (Coventry), Kinsella (Charlton), Farrelly (Everton), Connolly (Feyenoord), G Kelly (Leeds), Duff (Blackburn).

Substitutes: Keane (Wolves) for Maybury, h-t; McLoughlin (Portsmouth) for Farrelly, 61; Kilbane (West Bromwich) for Connolly, 61; Delap (Derby) for Duff, 74; Kavanagh (Stoke) for Carsley, 85.Referee: A Juhos (Slovakia).. Kozel was again the architect of the goal, running at the Irish defence and finding Smicer. He could not control the pass but the ball fell invitingly for another substitute Edvard Lasota, to ram home the winner.CZECH REPUBLIC: Postulka (Sparta Prague); Latal (Schalke 04), Kozel (Slavia Prague), Rada (Trabzonspor), Novotny (Sparta Prague), Cizek (Sparta Prague), Nemec (Schalke 04), Poborsky (Benfica), Kuka (Kaiserslautern), Smicer (Lens), Bejbl (Atletico Madrid). The gangling substitute for Kuka, Vratislav Lokvenc, volleyed just wide of a post and then headed against a post.The Czechs took the lead after 75 minutes. Keane thus became the youngest Irish international since Tottenham's Jimmy Holmes in 1961.The impressive Charlton playmaker Mark Kinsella almost caught the Czech goalkeeper, Tomas Postulka, by surprise with a snap shot, but Ireland lost their lead within three minutes of the restart.Lubos Kozel ran 50 yards from his own half and, as the Irish defenders backed off, he slipped the ball through to the hard-running Kuka, who caught it just before the byline and cut it back for Vladimir Smicer to fire home from six yards.Ireland were pushed further and further back as Poborsky orchestrated a string of neat, incisive moves.

The two players squared up but the referee, Attila Juhos of Slovakia, missed the incident.A reprieved Kuka set up the former Manchester United winger Karel Poborsky for a shot which flew over the top. Gary Kelly's flag-kick was flicked on by Everton's Gareth Farrelly and Breen lost his marker to shoot home after nine minutes.The Czechs battled back - literally - as they tried to impress their new coach, Josef Chovanec, in his first match in charge. Pavel Kuka was lucky to stay on the pitch when he clearly punched Ireland's captain, Kenny Cunningham, full in the face. Czech Republic 2 Republic of Ireland 1 DESPITE the encouragement of an early goal from the Coventry City centre- back Gary Breen, an experimental Republic of Ireland side slipped to a narrow defeat in yesterday's friendly international against the Czech Republic. The youngest team ever put out by the manager, Mick McCarthy - average age below 23 - eventually ran out of steam against the Euro 96 runners- up.Breen, one of the more experienced internationals in McCarthy's team, rammed home his second goal in 13 appearances after some clever work by the Blackburn winger, Damien Duff, who was making his debut.The fleet-footed teenager forced a corner with a forceful run down the left.