THE ROUGH WITH THE SMOOTH

The last few days have shown up the differences in style between contrasting football managers. On Saturday, Manchester United lost 2-1 at Chelsea and, although they are still liklely to win the Premiership title, the defeat was a bit of a dent to their pride. Their manager, `Sir` Alex Ferguson, treated us to the predictable post-match rant when he seriously expected us to believe that the defeat was entirely the fault of the referee in awarding Chelsea an obvious penalty, but denying one for Manchester United.

Now, that reaction was nothing unusual for Ferguson, who truly believes that the rest of the football world is against him and his team (in which respect, he may be right) but his tantrums. his rages, his lack of dignity or graciousness in defeat and his snarling, charmless lashing out at match officials perhaps show the man in his true colours. As they say, you can take the man out of Govan, but you can`t take Govan out of the man.

(Ferguson)

Contrast that with the reaction of our very own Nigel Pearson who showed restraint, dignity and thoughtful reflection following the 1-1 draw at West Bromwich Albion on Monday evening, which left Saints still loitering in the relegation zone but with every intent of clawing their way to safety in the season`s last game against Sheffield United this coming Sunday. Nige reflects well on himself, the club and its supporters and is another reason why I`m glad I don`t hail from a certain part of Manchester.

(Nige)

And yesterday we learnt that Sven Goran Ericsson is to be dismissed as the manager of Manchester City, despite the progress he and his team have made this season and also despite the quiet dignity which he displays in representing that great club. Maybe he`s better off out of it - I can imagine little worse than having that shining example of human rights virtue, Thaksin Shinawatra, as my boss.

Last night, Manchester United reached the final of the Champions League. For once, I hope they win it, for that might just encourage Ferguson to quit while he`s ahead and in the process restore some much needed Busby-esque dignity to Old Trafford. It`s been a long wait.