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A neutral football fan will look at the final standings of the 2011/12 Npower League Two table and see that Plymouth Argyle finished in 21st place with 46 points.

This, to a neutral, will probably seem like an underachievement for the club as they only escaped relegation by two points.

But to The Pilgrims and their fans, it represents one of, if not the biggest achievement in the clubs 125 year history.

We started this season by no means sure we would finish it. Successive relegations had seen us plummet from the Championship to League Two, and we had been in administration for over half a year by the time the season started; none of us knew what to expect from this campaign.

1207 of us travelled to Shrewsbury to watch a very young Argyle squad that had only three faces in it from the last campaign kick off the season.  An unfamiliar and almost makeshift Argyle team battled away in the Shropshire sun before the home side took the lead midway through the second half, which was the way it stayed until the 90th minute when captain Carl Fletcher slammed home into the top corner in front of the travelling Green Army.

It was to be the only high, and point, of the first nine league games, a period in which we were also dumped out of the Carling Cup and Johnstones Paint Trophy at the first hurdle. Our players also threatened a strike due to the fact they had not been paid for ten months. Thankfully the administrators paid up a small amount and the strike did not go ahead.

After a 2-0 defeat at Southend, a 10th defeat on the trot, Peter Ridsdale replaced manager Peter Reid with captain Carl Fletcher. In Fletcher’s first game in charge against Macclesfield we won 2-0, it was the first victory of the season and things started to look up as we drew against Accrington and beat Dagenham in the coming month. I won’t even go into the result at Oxford United on a Tuesday night though.

On the 29th of November 2011 we travelled to Cheltenham for what would have been a normal game, except it wasn’t. It was our first match under the ownership of the new chairman James Brent. After ten months of uncertainty, administration and the real chance the club would fold, we were saved. The first of two battles was won; avoid liquidation.

Anybody that thought we would suddenly shoot up the table though, was wrong. One point from the first nine games was catastrophic and we were faced with a monumental task to secure our football league status.

It was to get worse before it got better. A humiliating defeat at the hands of our Devon rivals Torquay United proceeded Argyle being knocked out of the FA Cup by non-league Stourbridge. Despite being saved from liquidation we were now the laughing stock of the country, and it hurt, it really hurt.

Funnily enough though, things really did start improving straight after the Stourbridge game. Just four days later we thrashed a hapless Northampton 4-1 at Home Park to set us off on a five game unbeaten run that included a 3-2 win over Bristol Rovers on boxing day when we had been 2-0 down at half time.

2012 started with back to back defeats as Torquay completed the double over us and we lost at Crewe. We then beat Burton and snatched a late, late equalizer against Crawley to move us out of the relegation zone for the first time since the 13th of August.

We dropped straight back in a week later as we lost 1-0 at Port Vale thanks to what was a truly dreadful performance at a freezing cold Vale Park. And then came a result that shocked everybody. With 5 minutes to go in a home match against Southend we were trailing 2-0 and seemingly heading to defeat.

The game ended 2-2. I have no idea how we did it, but we scored twice in the last five minutes to demonstrate the great team spirit Carl Fletcher had installed in his players.

A 4-0 win over Accrington was sandwiched between draws against Barnet, Dagenham and Macclesfield as we become increasingly tough to beat. An Onismor Bhasera goal less than 20 seconds into our game at AFC Wimbledon helped hand us victory in between losses to Gillingham and at Rotherham as the season started to draw to a close.

We shocked eventual league runners up Shrewsbury at Home Park as we won 1-0 before drawing with Bristol Rovers and Northampton. We defeated Bradford by the same score line in a key game at the bottom before travelling to Edgar Street to play Hereford. Had we been relegated we would probably look at the Hereford game and think about what could have been. We dominated the first half and took the lead through an own goal before Nick Chadwick spurned an easy chance and Simon Walton missed a penalty. The game ended 1-1 when really we should have been out of sight by half time.

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A 1-0 win over Aldershot in dreadful weather conditions put us on the cusp of safety before we were all disappointed as we conceded 5 minutes from time at the league champions Swindon to deny us a point. The next game, a 1-1 draw with Oxford, secured our football league status and completed the great escape. The second of two battles was won; avoid relegation out of the football league.

So despite all that has happened it has been a season to remember for Argyle fans. We looked dead and buried from the start, but thanks to a great group of players and managerial staff we have survived. Our chairman has indicated he aims to get us promoted next season, weather that is a realistic ambition or not it is too early to tell but anything is better than what we have been through. The most important thing is we will be playing league football next season, and not competing in the dreaded Blue Square Premier – the graveyard of football league clubs.

For more talk on Argyle, you can follow me on Twitter

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FIFA president Sepp Blatter has blasted the latest doping revelation involving North Korea at the Women’s World Cup.The number of players from the country who have tested positive to a banned substance at the Women’s World Cup has risen to five after three more players failed drug tests.

The North Korea squad was tested after the group match against Colombia following failed tests by Song Jong-Sun Song and Jong Pok-Sim.

Now a further three players have tested positive, although FIFA said they wouldn’t disclose the players’ names nor the banned substance.

“As the proceedings are still in progress, FIFA will not disclose the names of the three players whose test results have produced adverse analytical findings, in accordance with the World Anti-Doping Code,” a FIFA statement said.

Blatter told a news conference he was stunned by the results.

“This is a shock,” Blatter said.

“We are confronted with a very, very bad case of doping and it hurts.”

However, North Korean officials are blaming traditional steroid-laced Chinese medicine from musk deer glands which they claim they used to treat injuries to players who were alleged to have been hit by a lightning strike.

“The North Korean officials said they didn’t use it to improve performance,” the head of FIFA’s medical committee, Michel D’Hooghe, said.

“They said they had a serious lightning accident with several players injured and they gave it as therapy.”

An important week ahead for Tottenham as Harry Redknapp sends his side over to Twente with the task of winning their Champions’ League group. Top spot will ensure that the North Londoners will miss out on facing the big guns in the knockout stages and subsequently give them a greater chance of progressing to the quarter finals.

This week at FFC we have seen a mixed bag of Spurs blogs which includes, one deal that Levy must sanction; is Crouch the right fit at WHL and controversial move could save Tottenham millions.

Plus we have taken a look at the best Tottenham stories on the Web this week.

Ciao Giorgia – Davide’s lady puts Premiership WAGs in the shade

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The cost of football to the modern day fan

Make or break time for title contenders

Tottenham’s title talk – inspired ambition or foolish nonsense?

Top TEN most ‘annoying’ sayings in football

The one DEAL that Levy must look to sanction in January

Would this prove the most hated Tottenham deal in years?

FIVE Reasons behind Tottenham’s Champions League success

Is he really the right fit for Tottenham Hotspur?

Controversial move perhaps, but it could save Spurs millions

*

Click here to see the Best TOTTENHAM BLOGS around the Web this week

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For some, it’s a brutal interrogation. For others an itch that can be easily scratched – Dear Mr Levy

If It’s Transfer Gossip You Want… – Who Framed Ruel Fox?

A slow news day – Spurs Musings From Jimmy G2

Arry’s £8M Target – Harry Hotspur

“Spurs play primitive football and are extremely naive” – Dear Mr Levy

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Chelsea and QPR players will not go through the usual pre-match ritual of shaking hands before their Premier League game on Sunday, due to legal proceedings.

John Terry is due to stand in court for reportedly racially abusing Anton Ferdinand in the reverse fixture between the sides at Loftus Road, which ended in a 1-0 win for the hosts.

With a disdain between the players and clubs still apparent, the Premier League have backed the continued ritual of the handshake, but waived it in this case.

“The Premier League position on the pre-match handshake convention remains consistent,” a statement published on Sky Sports reads.

“In all normal circumstances it must be observed.

“However, after discussions with both Chelsea and Queens Park Rangers about the potential and specific legal context in relation to John Terry and Anton Ferdinand the decision has been taken to suspend the handshake convention for Sunday’s match.”

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By Gareth McKnight

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The British Olympic Association (BOA) last week said a “historic agreement” had been reached with the English Football Association over fielding teams at the 2012 Games. Great Britain were Olympic football champions in 1908 and 1912, but haven’t appeared since 1960 (though it attempted to qualify as recently as 1972). Good news then. It seemed differences had been sorted out, and a compromise found.

Or not. A collective statement from the other nations denied this was the case.

“No discussions took place with any of us, far less has any historic agreement been reached,” it said.

“We have been consistently clear in explaining the reason for our stance, principally to protect the identity of each national association. With that in mind, we cannot support nor formally endorse the approach that has been proposed by the Football Association.”

Their view is straight-forward. Football is autonomous for the home nations. The four countries have their own leagues and their own international teams. The Olympics is not considered a major football event, but people might use it to tell the four associations that they have to compete as Great Britain in other tournaments.

Maybe their stance is shaped by the presumption that the team would be a largely English one anyway. But what really annoyed them was the fact that the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Ireland FAs conceded some time ago for the right of the BOA to choose an Olympic team consisting of English players, but the BOA announcement last week appears to say that an agreement had been reached to choose players from all four nations. No such agreement exists, and it seems never will.

So what will the FA do? Pick just English players, or pick from all four nations and risk the wrath of other FA’s? Or perhaps just wait for players like Bale to publicly declare their availability and desire to play?

The squabble is an old one, that has rumbled on for many a year. Before London was chosen to host the Olympics, the BOA thought a British football team would be a good way to galvanize support for the bid, and provide an extra chance of a medal.

And yet as squabbles elsewhere constantly erupt over the difficulty in getting Olympic tickets, it seems that the biggest sport in the world will be the one that has the least appeal and the possibility of empty seats next year. It is a different debate however as to whether football should be there at all, but there is little doubt that despite what our football associations may say, this is a huge deal to a lot of players. Cameroon’s victory in 2000 is proof of that. But then when have the men in suits ever had the remotest idea of what players and fans think?

FIFA have said unequivocally that this will not change anything, so it seems the home nations’ distrust is misplaced. However, Sepp Blatter has sung to a very different tune in the past , saying in March 2008:

“If you start to put together a combined team for the Olympics, the question will automatically come up that there are four different associations so how can they play in one team,” he said.

“If this is the case then why the hell do they have four associations and four votes and their own vice-presidency?

“This will put into question all the privileges that the British associations have been given by the Congress in 1946.”

Blatter is of course here to stay for another four years, but wouldn’t be able to merge the Home Nations without huge support and an almighty struggle. These are football associations that existed long before FIFA did. Jack Warner has called for a GB team, but he is gone. This is one fight FIFA is very, very unlikely to pick.

The fact is I imagine other countries would prefer for the nations to stay separate. A Great Britain team with the likes of Bale and Ramsey would be stronger, after all. And what’s more, it hard for the Welsh to argue about autonomy when Swansea will play in next season’s Premier League, or the Scots to argue the same when Berwick Rangers play in the Scottish League, and rumours persist about Celtic and Rangers coming to play in England.

Some agree with the stance of the non-English FA’s. Gerry Hassan in the Guardian called the decision a farce.

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“The existence of a Team GB isn’t just a threat to the Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish and their place on the global stage of world football, but the English, too. This could be a threat to all of us, our separate histories, traditions and teams, and for what?”

A total overreaction in my opinion – this is a football tournament for two weeks next year, not devolved parliaments, Bannockburn or the future of western civilization as we know it. A bit of perspective is needed. A one-off event, well almost anyway. It’s almost as if the four nations merging for every other sport in the Olympics doesn’t matter – but how is football different? The answer – it isn’t.

In some respects, what the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Ireland FA’s think on the matter is irrelevant. If Gareth Bale wants to play in the Olympic team next year, then he can – they can’t stop him. More likely to stop him is his club, as we all know club managers will not want their players burnt out in the summer months – just look at how Jack Wilshere was pressured to pull out of the U21 squad last month. The competition runs from 26th July-11th August, though the early games are preliminaries. Thus players who play in the semi-finals and beyond will walk out of the Olympics and straight into a new domestic season.

Seeing a British team would be enjoyable in my opinion, and a novelty. Rugby teams manage to amalgamate the home nations. And as the host nation, Britain has an obligation to compete in every Olympic event (unless not of the required standard of course). I tend to look at things simply – many have tried to make this a political issue when at the end of the day it is about putting together a football team for a fortnight, and competing for a few medals. I will watch every England match keenly, as a fan of football, sport in general, and a follower of all Olympic events. I look forward to it greatly, whatever team is put out, and I will bet you the players will too, along with millions of other fans Though don’t get too excited just yet – the manager will probably be Stuart Pearce.

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The club verses country row has exploded again this week after Steven Gerrard’s hamstring injury during England’s 2-1 defeat to France. Liverpool claim they had an agreement with the FA and Fabio Capello that Gerrard would only play a maximum of an hour in the friendly. However the Liverpool man was substituted with five minutes to go after injury. The game was effectively over with twenty minutes to go, so why did Capello feel it necessary to keep Steven Gerrard on the pitch?

Fabio Capello can use as many excuses as he wants, but the agreement was in place between the F.A and Liverpool. There was scope to substitute Gerrard during the game but the Italian chose not to take this action. It was not like Gerrard or England were even playing that well. Capello can use as many excuses as he wishes in relation to this, Liverpool are right to be furious at him.

In defence of the manager, it was a difficult night for Fabio Capello and England because of the players that he was without for the game. Jack Wilshere was unavailable and the injuries sustained to Gareth Barry and Rio Ferdinand forced Capello’s hand to a certain extent. Would England have been humiliated in the second half if Gerrard was taking out of the inexperienced midfield. The answer is probably yes, but that is no excuse for Capello to have kept the midfielder on the pitch. If Capello was concerned with his options from the bench, why did he pick such an inexperienced side. Capello can’t expect one senior player to carry the burden of his selection. Gerrard’s injury was not Capello’s fault – it could have happened at any time in the game – but by leaving the player on in a game that was effectively over, was highly irresponsible.

The strong reaction from Liverpool is totally understandable. Darren Burgess, part of Roy Hodgson’s coaching department expressed his feelings on his Twitter page.

‘Unbelievable from all associated with England and English FA with regards to SGs injury. Completely ignored agreement and past history. Completely amateurish and now we pay for their incompetence. Absolutely disgraceful.’

The angry response can be understood in the context of Liverpool’s season so far. They seem to be getting it together and moving up the table and then an injury to their best player. For Liverpool, Gerrard is their most important asset, and an asset that will get them out of trouble. To watch the game, and see your player get injured twenty minutes after England has agreed to substitute him must be infuriating to watch. Liverpool have lowered their stance on this issue but are still clearly angry at the FA and Fabio Capello.

Although Liverpool have backed down on their initial anger and have accepted Capello had to break the agreement, you feel that this might just be a diplomatic stance to escape any punishment for the Twitter rant. The issue surrounding this injury is Gerrard himself. He loves playing for England and has been England’s best performer in 2010. Has his own determination to prevent defeat got the better of him on this occasion. His attitude to play for England is exceptional, and England fans appreciate it, but after this injury will Liverpool expect the England captain to put their club first.

Like what you read? Comment below, subscribe to my RSS feed and contact me on twitter, where you can also keep up to date with the latest Liverpool news!

Click on image below to see Carles’s latest lady

After months… no, years worth of pain, financial turmoil, relegation’s and general depression surrounding Home Park the rot has finally, amazingly, perfectly and blissfully been stopped.

After back to back relegation’s amid a lengthy administration, Plymouth Argyle found themselves starting this season in League Two and before ten games had even been played, we had been written off by most and looked doomed to non-league football for the first time in our history.

We took one point from our first nine games this season. One solitary point from a possible 27. We were also still in administration and liquidation was a  very real possibility.

Fast forward to the 21st April 2012 at approximately 4:53PM and the biggest roar heard at Home Park in years went up as the final whistle was blown. A point taken from a 1-1 draw with Oxford United combined with results elsewhere, meant that the Pilgrims, once relegation certainties, secured their football league status with two games to go. Players and fans united as one, as the squad that had kept us up did a lap of honour around the pitch. It was at this exact moment that you could literally feel the years of pain peeling away from the ground. All the fighting we did to save the club, all they money was donated, all the staff and players that went months without pay would agree; it was worth it for that moment.

The survival party got off to the perfect start for the Greens really. In only the second minute Luke Young won a free kick about five yards outside the Oxford penalty area. Robbie Williams, who has been unlucky with his free kicks lately, stepped up and finally got the rub of the green. His strike was on target anyway, but a cruel deflection off of the Oxford wall sent the ball spiralling towards goal leaving U’s keeper Wayne Brown totally wrong footed.

The Pilgrims dominated proceedings for most of the first half, with the visitors having ‘keeper Brown to thank for keeping in the game with a couple of fine saves. His resistance eventually paid of, as just past the half hour mark Asa Hall unleashed a thunderbolt from 35 yards to level the tie. It was a strike of the highest quality and truthfully the only time Oxford threatened the Argyle goal.

The second half was a rather strange affair. With neither side looking likely to grab a second, attention turned to scores elsewhere; a draw would see us a safe if both Macclesfield and Hereford failed to win, and with 25 minutes to go the news that Macclesfield and fallen behind at Bradford was greeted with great cheers. Still, a Hereford winner would see our football league status still unsecure heading into the final games of the season.

As the clock wore down the game fizzled out a bit. Oxford, for all their attacking prowess, could not find another way past the Argyle defence who seemed happy to sit back and soak up the pressure. With every minute that passed, the noise levels increased as the game at Edgar Street remained goalless.

At Home Park the final whistle blew, greeted with a roar the shook the rooftops. Just seconds later the results of Macclesfield and Hereford came over the tannoy, we were safe. The players walked a lap of honour to raptuous applause, and the looks on their faces echoed those in the stands – elated.

So we head into the final two games of the season with our football league status firmly intact. We are a normal football club again, and in pre season this year we can look forward to the things that most clubs take for granted. Last year we did not release season tickets until a few weeks before the season kicked off, and the shirts that players wore on the first day of the season were only hand printed the day before the game.

That terrible situation that we were in is now all in the past now, and we can look forward to the future.

I cannot wait for next season. I cannot wait to look at the table and not worry about relegation. I cannot wait to see us compete properly in the FA Cup, the League Cup and even the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy – there were plenty of times when it looked like we would not be gracing those competitions next season. I would welcome a season of mid table mediocrity with open arms. It has been one hell of a roller coaster ride, but we have made it.

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We’re Plymouth Argyle, we’re back from the dead.

For even more Argyle discussion, you can follow me on twitter.

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Palermo are open to offers for Argentine midfielder Javier Pastore, who wants to leave the Serie A club.Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manchester City are just some of the sides linked with a move for the exciting prospect, who turns 22 on June 20.

Pastore, currently on international duty with Argentina as they prepare for the Copa America, joined Palermo from Huracan in 2009 for approximately five million euros.

“I feel that the time to leave Palermo has arrived,” Pastore told Fox Sports Radio Del Plata.

The club’s owner Maurizio Zamparini will reportedly demand a transfer fee of close to 50 million euros for a player who has made 69 appearances since his arrival from Argentina’s Primera League.

“Pastore is the only player who could leave. It all depends on the boy,” Zamparini told Sky Sport 24.

“He earns less than one million euros and if a big club offered him four million euros then it would be hard to keep him.”

“Palermo can’t afford that and we have to balance the books.”

“I’ve almost resigned myself to losing him. He speaks to his agent more than he speaks to me and the big clubs want him.”

“It is only logical that he could stay here for just one more season anyway. If he did then it would be with great pressure and it would no longer be the same Pastore.”

While Italian giants Juventus, AC Milan and Inter Milan, together with Napoli, have all been linked with moves for Pastore, Zamparini believes the player’s future lies away from Serie A.

“I think he is too expensive for the Napoli of my friend Aurelio De Laurentiis,” Zamparini said.

“It will be difficult for the Italian sides to net him. Foreign clubs have bigger transfer budgets.”

“The Spanish game is the one that will suit the talents of Pastore. Real Madrid would only sign him if they sold Kaka.”

Aston Villa captain Stiliyan Petrov anticipates that he will not be playing any football until February.

The Bulgarian midfielder is currently recovering from the partial medial knee ligament tear he sustained in last month’s defeat at Sunderland.

Villa boss Gerard Houllier had initially hoped that the 31-year-old former Celtic star would be able to return to action over the festive period, but Petrov is being more circumspect in his prediction.

He told the club’s official website:“I’m bitterly disappointed not to be involved. I feel okay but the knee injury I picked up against Sunderland means I will be out for around three months.

“It was one of those things and you have just got to accept that sometimes these things happen in football.

“It is the first time I have been out for such a lengthy period since I suffered a broken leg when playing for Celtic ten years ago. But I have every confidence in the boys to go out there and perform to the best of their ability.

“The team have been working really hard under the new manager and we have been playing well recently. We’ve been creating a lot of chances too so hopefully we can start putting a few more of them away.

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“But it will take time and that is something that every team needs under a new manager.”

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I once watched an Alex Ferguson press conference on Sky Sports News. He commented on the danger of Wigan being cast away at the bottom of the table. He said that once a team was cast away at the bottom of the table, it was hard to recover, because being cast away historically meant relegation. The next day, for reasons that escaped me at the time, I went to live on a desert island for six months, wearing only a loincloth and surviving on a diet of coconut milk and papaya leaves. Only when I returned did I realise what had happened. Damn you Ferguson.

Look at why Roberto Mancini has become addicted to eating fruit pastilles on the City bench. Here’s a spoof extract from what Ferguson’s programme notes may look like ahead of the Old Trafford derby:

‘The match will be an intriguing contest between two title-chasing sides and Roberto will be keen to get one over our team, especially due to his love of fruit pastilles. Both teams will be looking to attack. Fruit pastilles. I’m pleased that Jonny Evans has had a good week in training, and we’ll be looking for him to put in a performance today. Eat more fruit pastilles Mancini. Eat them until your teeth drop out. Ha ha ha ha!!!! PASTILLES.’

One of the biggest myths of the past decade has been the effects of Alex Ferguson’s legendary mind games, games that leave opposition managers broken men, nervous wrecks, that leaves players as pale shadows of their former shells. A little dig here, a pithy response there, and entire league campaigns fall to pieces. And the press are to blame for this, loving to “big-up” his every utterance into some sort of meticulously chiselled campaign to give his team the edge. It’s just a shame (for them) that the facts don’t seem to back up this viewpoint.

There are two shining examples of rival managers somewhat losing the plot during a title-chasing campaign against United. First of course was Kevin Keegan, who would have loved it, loved it, if Newcastle could have won the Premiership. A mental breakdown caused by Ferguson and his team? Not really – their form had been faltering for months, their defence faltering even more. They lost the league without any help from across the Pennines. As Garry Cook might have said, they bottled it, whilst United did what they always do and continued to notch up the points. Watching your team squander a 12-point lead in their quest for a first ever title is I imagine quite stressful, and eventually it got too much for Keegan, for whom managing England was also too mentally draining. Keegan’s rant came after a Newcastle victory, but it came at a time when Manchester United had already overturned the previous deficit and built a three-point lead in the title race. For Newcastle, the damage had already been done.

Then of course there was the Rafa Benitez press conference, where he regaled us all with a certain number of facts. Again, was this Rafa feeling the pressure, him cracking up after a war of words with Ferguson? Well maybe he was feeling the pressure, most would, but it certainly didn’t affect the team. Liverpool’s form was better after Rafa’s rant, and they managed to even stagger to a 4-1 win at Old Trafford – not bad for a side that had been destroyed by Ferguson’s mind games.

It’s a similar story for Manchester City this season. If United go on to win the league, which now seems the more likely outcome, it will be due to a couple of factors that have nothing whatsoever to do with anything Alex Ferguson might have said – namely United’s possible record points total, and City’s struggles away from home since last year. A sly comment in a press conference hasn’t made City’s strikers freeze in front of goal in Swansea or Stoke or West Brom. A well-timed barb didn’t cause City to get a player sent off at Stamford Bridge or fail to mark a Swansea player a couple of weeks ago. The myth of his mind games can be filed with the other myth doing the rounds in the press at the moment, namely that City have squandered a 7-point lead in the title race (a lead they have never had except when having played a game extra).

It also ignores the fact that despite Ferguson coming out on top much of the time, be it a title chase, or a cup competition, he doesn’t always, and no doubt when Mourinho beat him to the title or Guardiola’s Barcelona showed their class at Wembley, he had plenty to say about football as well. Do mind-games not count when he loses? Or maybe they don’t translate well into Spanish.

The latest “war of words” was started by a Patrick Vieira comment, and doesn’t seem to have anything to do with Roberto Mancini. Vieira’s barb (it wasn’t even that to be fair) seems to have worked, garnering an angry response from Ferguson (not that I could care less about the whole affair), and yet many in the press, especially his little lapdog Bob Cass at the Daily Mail, have reported this as Ferguson once more triumphing in the mind games, or as one Mirror journalist put it, “putting Mancini in his place”. Strange that, because as Rory Smith at the Times rather pertinently pointed out, if the roles had been reversed and Mancini had responded to a David Gill comment, the papers would be once more trumpeting it as a victory for Ferguson, goading City into a response. But as I said earlier, I really couldn’t care less.

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And I doubt managers or players do either. No manager worth his salt would be distracted by anything another manager says. Few players would care in the slightest, especially foreign players who are unlikely to have even heard what he has said. The pressure comes on the pitch, not off it. The top players, the players conditioned to excel at the top, will perform when needed, others will falter.

Which is a shame really, as Ferguson says he has plenty more ammunition, which doesn’t bode well for City. Let’s just hope they can shake off the psychological damage in order to put up some sort of title challenge next season. Now, where are those wine gums?

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