Egomoania

To the utter dismay of countless thousands of genuine football lovers long since paralysed by boredom, the relentless self-driven publicity machine of the supreme egotist grinds inexorably on. Sir Alex Ferguson’s team are ‘lucky’, Arsene Wenger is under no pressure and has won nothing for ages and, of course, Jose Mourinho is a ‘great manager’.

It is doubtful whether he has the intelligence to realise that any pretensions he may have to be called ‘great’ by other people (which is really the only way) fade further with each petty assault on his superiors.

And the deeper irony is that at the heart of it all, the man who earned his living, and learned about the game, as Bobby Robson’s interpreter continues to demonstrate his monumental ignorance of the English language by confusing ‘charisma’ with ‘arrogance’.

What’s more, those who are repelled by that arrogance seem to have been joined by a shrewd Russian business man with close connections to Chelsea Football Club. An ominous development if ever there was one.