It's really quite an admission that in a charm competition between Alex Ferguson and Joe Kinnear, the surly Scot would win by a length. But the thing they have in common is that they both resort to violent criticism of the referee as a smokescreen to divert attention from poor performances.
Kinnear did just that at the weekend when he chose to refer to Martin Atkinson as a "mickey mouse" referee for failing to spot an imaginary foul on one of his players in their 2-1 defeat at Fulham.
Kinnear has a record as a bully. His Wimbledon team thrived on physical intimidation of opponents and he has already tried the old tactics with his foul-mouthed tirade against journalists a few weeks ago.
It would all be quite amusing if it wasn't so bad for the game. Kinnear, I suspect, is not sharp enough to realise that he is a role model for players and fans around the country. The park footballers watching his criticism of Atkinson on Saturday will have taken that attitude into their games on Sunday morning.
That's why the FA has to start paying more than lip service to the Respect campaign if it is to have any credibility at all. Nothing less than a touchline ban for several games is called for.
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