....WELL, MAYBE NOT AFTER ALL ?

Even the pre-match predictions of the sainted Matthew Le Tissier and his Sky pundit chums were confounded on Saturday when Southampton went down to an unlikely home defeat to bottom club Queens Park Rangers, managed by `Arry Redknapp who has apparently airbrushed his dismal tenure at St. Mary`s from his memory banks.   That defeat was hard to take, especially as the Saints managed 70% possession and had 19 shots on target.   Just the problem of sticking it in the back of the net.

But football is a game of two halves and just when I needed a pick-me-up, along came Manchester United against Real Madrid in the Champions League last night.  Now, such is my aversion to the contrasting antics of Ferguson and Mourinho that I make a point of never watching a Manchester United game live on television.   However, having heard that the game ended, amid the usual controversy, in defeat for United, I felt I must watch the `highlights` later on in the evening.

A game which the self-publicising Mourinho laughingly predicted would `stop the world` seemed to hinge on a decision by the Turkish referee to send off United`s Nani for a flying drop-kick on Real`s Arbeloa and was decided by a goal from Christiano Ronaldo returning to Old Trafford to haunt his former employers.

Cue outrage from Ferguson who `was not in a fit state` to face the media according to his assistant stooge Mike Phelan in a post match interview.   Cue endless and pointless analysis from the media as to whether Nani`s dismissal was correct.   Cue the fact that United are out of Europe and that no other English club side remains in the Champions League competition this season.

And cue relief for those of us who really don`t care or, if we do, rejoice not only in Manchester United`s displeasure but also in the fact that God, wherever She may be, is smiling on us once more.  How could I ever doubt Her?