HISTORY

How DARE Arsene Wenger claim Manchester United damaged the image of
English football around the world with their performance at Old Trafford on
Sunday.

Those remarks from the Arsenal manager go way, way beyond sour grapes.
Apart from being factually incorrect, they are deeply insulting to Alex Ferguson,
his players and the club they represent. And I can only hope the FA have noted
Wenger's words and take the appropriate action.

Mr Wenger is French. He's only lived and worked in our little island for the past
eight years so perhaps he's not conversant with the history of English football.

So I'm going to give him a history lesson on that subject right now. When you
were growing up somewhere in France in the fifties, Mr Wenger, Manchester
United, under the visionary leadership of Sir Matt Busby, were blazing a trail for other English football clubs to follow right across Europe.

United were the first English club with the guts to defy the FA by entering the
competition now known as the Champions' League and they were the first
English club to win it.

Their players are as familiar in Strasbourg as they are in Stretford. I doubt if there is a country on this planet where their name isn't instantly recognised.

United have done more down the years to promote the image of English football around the world than any ten other Premiership clubs put together.

And yet this is the very club that Wenger insists damaged the image of
professional football with their display at Old Trafford last Sunday.

For once, words fail me.

I can only repeat my opening comment. How DARE he.

Far from being a "bad, bad promotion for English football" Sunday's match was a good, good promotion for English football. It was a wonderful match. An absolute corker of a game. And I'll guarantee it was enjoyed in Munich every bit as much as it was enjoyed in Manchester (at least in the red half).

Wenger didn't like the way United played. Too physical for his refined taste.
Tough, Mr Wenger. If you didn't like it, you'd better lump it. Fergie's side WERE
physical on Sunday. Since when has that contravened the laws.

Football is a man's game. It's a physical-contact game. If Wenger can't stomach a bit of rough and tumble he should quit his job and go and manage a ladies'
bowls team.

It took me a long time to warm to Wenger after he arrived at Highbury. But any grudging respect I'd built up for him has evaporated completely after his petty
and spiteful response to Sunday's defeat.

And that's what caused all this bile to erupt out of him, you know.

He's not a big enough man to accept with any grace his side's defeat at Old
Trafford.

So he sours Manchester United's victory with insults and accusations.

There speaks a little, little man.