City’s stock back on slide

DID you hear the one about the manager who got the Christmas sack with his team sixth in the table, in the semi-finals of the Carling Cup, beaten only twice all season and just coming off the back of having scored four goals at home to secure three Premier League points?

Not for the first time, the old Tommy Docherty gag which still decorates t-shirts at Old Trafford, comes to mind. There are three types of Oxo cube, said the Doc: light brown for chicken stock, dark brown for beef stock and light blue for laughing stock.

Not that there should be a lot of ho, ho, ho-ing in the red part of Manchester just now, with United’s walking wounded having suffered their own seasonal embarrassment down at Craven Cottage, but at least their fans know their lords and masters won’t be turning a drama into a crisis by handing old Fergie his P45.