STAN COLLYMORE's brief and tempestuous love affair with Liverpool is expected to end today with his sale to Aston Villa for £7 million. Just 22 months after his arrival from Nottingham Forest, for a then British transfer record fee of £8.5 million, the former England international forward will be ushered out of Anfield's front door for the final time.

Shoitly after Liverpool had drawn against Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough on Sunday, the 26 year old Collymore was informed that Villa manager Brian Little had officially lodged a bid which was deemed acceptable by the Merseyside club's board of directors.

Once Collymore learned that the Liverpool manager, Roy Evans, had also agreed to his departure, he telephoned Little to strike a non binding verbal agreement, one which is dependent upon the outcome of talks over personal terms.

Collymore travelled to Birmingham yesterday lunchtime to meet with Little and if his financial demands are met in full, he will shortly become the most expensive player in Villa's 123 year history.

Little first attempted to convince Liverpool that they should part company with Collymore back in October when he offered £4.5 million - a bid which Evans described at the time as "laughable and derisory".

Collymore's spell at Anfield has been a troubled one. Having initially declined to move from his home in Cannock - significantly just 30 minutes drive away from Villa Park Collymore missed several training sessions. In November of last year, he was fined £20,000 after refusing to play in a reserve team fixture against Tranmere Rovers, an incident which must now be regarded as a defining moment in his short career at Anfield.

In 78 senior appearances for Liverpool, Collymore scored 34 goals in truth, a fair return for a player whose partnership with Robbie Fowler, whilst prolific, was hardly made in heaven.

Meanwhile, the first split in the executive ranks of Middlesbrough appeared yesterday when the chairman Steve Gibson appeared to contradict his manager's assertion that the three foreign muskateers would be allowed to leave if the club were relegated.

Bryan Rob son had said at the weekend that he did not expect Juninho, Emerson and Fabrizio Ravanelli to stay at the Riverside.

"If we go down," he said, it is absolutely vital that we come straight back up again. There would be no point in holding on to players, even of the quality of these three, if they didn't fancy a year in a lower division, because they would be useless to me then".

Yesterday, however, Gibson said: "The only players who will be leaving are those whom Bryan Robson says can go. I have to look after the interests of the club as a whole, and I can't see how it would be in the interests of Middlesbrough Football Club to let players like Juninho and Ravanelli go".

In the week of the FA Cup final dissatisfaction appeared to spreading throughout the club. The central defender Gianluca Festa, once of Cagliari, said: "It's been a complete waste of a season. I know exactly what sort of fighting spirit is required to stay up and Middlesbrough didn't have what it takes. Relegation is a tragedy for myself and the club."

Ravanelli, who missed Sunday's 1-1 draw at Leeds with a back injury, added to Middlesbrough's problems by saying he was doubtful for Saturday's showpiece with Chelsea. "I have only a 50 per cent chance of making the cup final," he said.

Gibson, meanwhile, is still pondering legal action over the Premier League's decision to dock the club three points. "The people at the top just don't understand the game and that's not just my feeling, it is the feeling of many chairmen I have spoken to over the past six months."

Relegation hit Sunderland manager Peter Reid in the pocket yesterday when the value of his 400,000 shares in the club dropped by £160,000 following his side's exit from the Premier League.

But chairman Bob Murray was the biggest loser with more than £1.2m wiped off the value of his 40 per cent stake in the club.

Sunderland's shares rose to a peak of £7.60 in February, but spiralled down 40 pence to £4.45 at close of trading yesterday.

It meant more than £3 million was "sliced off the value of the club that floated on the British Stock Exchange at Christmas.