Source: Daily_Mail
DES KELLY: Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson should move on and speak to BBC
It is one of the more fascinating fixtures of the weekend, although the result threatens to be one of the easiest to predict.[LNB]CLICK HERE TO FOLLOW DES KELLY ON TWITTERSir Alex Ferguson versus the BBC should take place at around 5.45pm on Sunday evening, when the man from the Beeb holds out a hopeful microphone towards the Manchester United manager as he emerges from the dressing room at Craven Cottage.[LNB]New rules have come into force this weekend supposedly compelling Premier League managers to provide post-match interviews to the media. If they refuse, their club will be fined. If they refuse again, the fine will increase with every non-appearance.[LNB] War of words: Ferguson's six-year feud with Panorama has seen him speak to everyone but the BBC[LNB]So will Ferguson bow to the regulations and relent after six years of boycotting the BBC? Or will he give the now-customary look of amused disdain as he sweeps by tochat to another broadcaster?[LNB]Put it this way, I expect assistant manager Mike Phelan will shave in readiness for his usual stint in front of the Match Of The Day cameras. And I imagine somewhere inside Old Trafford, chief executive David Gill is already setting up a direct debit to deal with those weekly fines from the Premier League.[LNB] More from Des Kelly... Des Kelly: Look away now if you don't want me to ruin the season...13/08/10 Des Kelly: Don't let disloyal Cesc Fabregas stay as Arsenal skipper06/08/10 Get real Liverpool fans, we sold our soul to the Chinese ages ago05/08/10 DES KELLY: These ignorant racists clearly haven't evolved30/07/10 Des Kelly: Liverpool the biggest team in Britain? Only in distant memory, Joe23/07/10 Des Kelly: Why Santa's cause at rich Man City won't help England's future16/07/10 Des Kelly: A beach ball, ghost goal and plastic horns...The ho-hum World Cup09/07/10 Des Kelly: Can't any of England's World Cup losers say sorry?02/07/10 VIEW FULL ARCHIVE There have been some truly memorable feuds throughout history; Parliament versus Charles I, Stalin against Trotsky and, of course, Shilpa Shetty versus Jade Goody. But very little in sport compares to the single-minded determination Ferguson has demonstrated in shunning the BBC.[LNB]It started in 2004 when Panorama made a series of allegations against his son Jason, a football agent, accusing him of exploiting his father's influence. Although he was never found guilty of any wrongdoing, now or then, the programme was called Fergie And Son.[LNB]Ferguson Snr saw this as a terrible smear on his family, complaining: 'It was all made-up stuff and 'brown paper bags' and all that kind of carry on. It was a horrible attack on my son's honour and he should never have been accused of that.'[LNB]From that point he vowed never to deal with the BBC again and, barring exceptional circumstances, such as a personal tribute to his friend Sir Bobby Robson at the Sports Personality of Year Awards, he has remained true to his word.[LNB]Part of me admires him for sticking to his principles, although it's not necessarily a productive line for a journalist to take. If a family member or loved one had his reputation trashed in public I'd bear a grudge, too.[LNB]Then part of me thinks it's time to let it go and move on. The BBCspeak to so many supporters around the world and there is much tocommend in their coverage.[LNB]Besides, the Corporation's sports staff always had a fairly distantrelationship with the likes of Panorama. Ferguson's ban on Match Of TheDay because of a news programme is akin to shouting at the man behindthe pumps in the local BP garage because of the oil spill in the Gulfof Mexico.[LNB]But I do know one thing. He will not relent because of a fine (onethat is unlikely to be much beyond £1,000 per 'offence', by the way).It will be because he chooses to do so.[LNB]Ferguson is probably the only manager who could get away with such a stance, thanks to his immense record of success. And he is probably the last, too. In the wider corporate world of modern football, sponsors break out in a nervous rash at the thought of prolonged conflict and managers have to toe the line.[LNB] Special case: Sir Alex Ferguson is probably the only manager who could get away with his stance, thanks to his extraordinary record of success[LNB]The late Liverpool chairman John Smith once said: 'We are not in the business of selling commodities. We are trying to do the hardest thing in the world, to get the best out of 11 men on the field at any given time'.[LNB]Leaving aside the idea that asking a man to play football is 'the hardest thing in the world', Smith's suggestion that football is not about selling commodities seems wonderfully quaint today.[LNB]Football now is a commercial stampede, splattered across every conceivable media outlet. Yet they forget it is a two-way street. A full-page advertisement in the sports pages of this newspaper will cost anything between £36,000 to £50,000.[LNB]Yet every day football clubs are publicised in newspapers free of charge, a presence other sports are unable to take for granted. Even so, Southampton recently had theutterly stupid idea of banning photographers and then trying to sell their own pictures, which was spectacularly small-minded. It will be a minor miracle if an image from a Southampton match is ever seen again.[LNB]Yet this attitude is commonplace. Football often seems to believe it is doing us a favour by even existing. And who can blame them? ITV were falling over themselves after Joe Cole merely agreed to speak for a few seconds after Liverpool's Europa League tie. I think we were told on three separate occasions that 'it was good of him to talk'.[LNB]Cole is one of the good guys and a little courtesy is all very well, but the fawning was excruciating. Luckily, the player understands the benefit of talking to the media. It's notall about kicking a ball any more.[LNB]At some point, it should be considered a part of a player's job to communicate, just as it is in motor racing, tennis, athletics and countless other sports. Sponsorship, commercial deals and a reservoir of goodwill are built on these exchanges.[LNB]Of course, America has long been the standard bearer for unfettered access. While a high proportion of our footballers continue to grunt refusals, shuffling on and off a team coach with their iPod in place, or pretending to be on a mobile to avoid real conversation, sports stars in the USA embrace the attention.[LNB]They simply throw open the dressing room doors moments after the final whistle and the world walks in, complete with cameras. It doesn't matter who you are, or who youthink you are.[LNB] It's good to talk: But did ITV really need to fawn over Joe Cole after Liverpool's Europa League clash with Trabzonspor?[LNB]Even David Beckham, the most famous of all, has to sit and answer questions after an LA Galaxy game before he's had a chance to put on much more than a towel and a patient smile.[LNB]Try a Super Bowl if you want to see how it's done. Every player is available for interview, no excuses.[LNB]And at the last bash in Miami, I watched an Indianapolis Colts player singing karaoke for a show called Super Bowl Idol, while another bench-pressed a female reporter during a live TV interview, before moving on to answer questions from a Sesame Street puppet.[LNB]I remember thinking how much fun it would be if they did this kind of thing before a Chelsea v Manchester United match?[LNB]Any chance, Sir Alex? Should I take that as a 'No'.... Sir Alex?[LNB] Wishing Cardiff well with their Craig Bellamy betFootball clubs are essentially wishing wells. People throw their money in, close their eyes and pray that their dreams come true.[LNB]Cardiff City are the latest hopefuls chucking coins into drink and crossing their fingers.[LNB]They have signed Craig Bellamy from Manchester City on loan, underlining their status as the football equivalent of the Duchess of York - skint, living beyond their means and in blissful denial about it all.[LNB]The Welshman's move to the Championship club is, of course, beingpart-subsidised by Sheik Mansour, since City will continue to coveraround half of the players' wages while he performs elsewhere.[LNB] Taking in his new surroundings: Cardiff hope Craig Bellamy will help them to win promotion[LNB]Cardiff will still have to fork out in the region of £40,000 a week for Bellamy's services, a tab that nudges horribly close to £1.5million a year.[LNB]Now if I were at Middlesbrough, Nottingham Forest or any other of the promotion hopefuls, I'd be wondering how the rules allow a sheik running City to finance another club's promotion bid, particularly if my own outfit's finances are in good order.[LNB]Because Cardiff's are all over the place. They have a debt of somewhere around £35m and have eluded a succession of winding up orders from Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs.[LNB]But this is football, so Cardiff have decided to deal with perilous position by using the logic of an incurable gambler.[LNB]They pulled the last tenner out of their pocket, borrowed another off a friendly face, and slapped it on the counter to try to win back all the money they have already lost.[LNB]It's a compulsion that explains so much of football's ills.[LNB]There is no doubting Bellamy's talent. He has the drive, pace and ability to make a telling difference. He's far too good for the Championship and Cardiff hope his excellence will push them into the elite.[LNB]The tills are ringing, supporters are excited and in that fever it's almost impossible not to hope the ambition is in some way rewarded. But that's been football's problem all along. Portsmouth said the same at Wembley; Leeds loved being in the Champions League, too. It only takes one setback to turn a sure-fire success into a reckless disaster.[LNB]And if wishing wells are anything to go by, someone usually sneaks in after closing time and takes all the coins.[LNB]The wishes usually go with them.[LNB] Robbie Savage has a complaint. 'Am I targeted by referees because of my big name and reputation? There are no prizes for guessing my opinion,' he says.[LNB]Let's try anyway. Let's examine why Savage has been booked in both of his two games this season.[LNB]Maybe it could be because he has a 'big name', as our entertaining extrovert claims. Or maybe it is because of his 'reputation' - one, I should point out, that Savage has earned by collecting 119 bookings over the course of his career.[LNB]So, as targets go, he's a pretty easy one for referees to find. Savage is the sort who would climb onto a roof during a furious thunderstorm, do a handstand with a copper rod clenched between the cheeks of his backside, and then wonder why he had been struck by lightning.[LNB] England face Brazil in the quarter-finals of the Blind World Cup at the brilliant Paralympic complex in Hereford on Saturday afternoon.[LNB]The match is a sell-out, but you can capture the atmosphere if you tune into the special edition of Radio 5 Live's Fighting Talk from the Royal National College for the Blind at 11am, featuring yours truly. If you miss it, download the podcast.[LNB] Dozens of people were gored in Spain when a bull leapt over the barriers and up into the crowd, seemingly in pursuit of a man wearing a red England football shirt.[LNB]Actually, bulls are colour blind and the red jersey had nothing to do with it. The fact it was an England shirt was enough.[LNB] [LNB] [LNB] [LNB] [LNB][LNB] [LNB]
