It's frightening how Fergie can scare his rivals

But, of course, they got a little help from Howard Webb, allegedly our top referee. On this performance, he can surely only be numero uno because, in the land of the blind, the cock-eyed man is king. 

Webb missed a blatant piece of petulance by Cristiano Ronaldo - who else? - against David Dunn, leaving the Portuguese on the pitch to score United's winner.

Often happens like that at Old Trafford, doesn't it? 

Referees seem seriously intimidated there. They miss things United do, especially in the penalty area, and spot things visitors don't do in order to award a dodgy spot-kick or two.

Indeed, this happened to Webb, who missed Rafael da Silva's blatant tug in the box on Blackburn's Morten Gamst Pedersen.

You've got to admire Fergie's theatrics. Off the pitch he is a good man, a loyal friend to those lucky enough to enjoy his comradeship, and a tireless worker for charity. 

On duty he is a different animal, perpetually angry and always standing on a referee's toes to the point, I am not alone in thinking, even the best of them, like Webb, appear to be afraid of him.

Anyway, there it is. Enough sour grapes. Time to acknowledge United are winning because this season they're the best - genuinely united when key rivals are not.

Take Liverpool. Rafael Benitez apparently has his fourth draft contract under discussion by Liverpool's divided ownership right now, a wrangle that has dragged on all season.

On Saturday, yet again, Liverpool chucked away another chance to give United a run for their money. Cause and effect if you ask me. As the Bible says: A house divided against itself cannot stand.

And what about Chelsea? On Sunday Ferguson praised his veterans, men like Ryan Giggs, who are an example to the young pros, not just in matters of fitness but in their dedicated attitude to the team as well.

Can you imagine one of them whining about Fergie to the Glazers the way some of Chelsea's ageing mercenaries are reported to have done to Roman Abramovich in the run-up to Big Phil Scolari's dismissal?

It's inconceivable, isn't it. They wouldn't have dared go, and the Glazers would have been frightened to death of seeing them, because Fergie, still a formidable physical presence in his mid-60s, would have all but knocked their lights out if they had.

Ferguson rules by respect but he also rules by fear and it's a hell of a combination.

Meanwhile, the one manager who could be giving him a run for his money, Arsene Wenger, is cutting an increasingly sorry figure, rebuking Sunderland for not coming to Emirates with a suicidal game plan, and then claiming his kids will be world beaters in three years' time. Three years! 

Meanwhile, Arsenal are 17 points adrift of United and in danger of missing out on Champions League qualification.

With even a troubled Chelsea making Aston Villa look like boys sent to do a man's job on Saturday, our wonderfully competitive Premier League is indeed a one-horse race.

Thankfully, there's still a lot of eye-gouging going on at the bottom of the table, as Mystic Mellor's prediction that all three teams that came up last season will go straight back down to the Championship suddenly looks a possibility once more.

Time we took heed of Anne's verbal volley at tennis chiefs

The most interesting thing about Anne Keothavong's entry into the world's top 50 women tennis players, hardly otherwise a cause for national rejoicing, is that she said she would have got there a lot earlier if she had not been "influenced by some unprofessional people", presumably a reference to the Lawn Tennis Association.

The LTA spend a vast amount of Wimbledon dosh on producing losers, like the kind of third-rate men presently competing at Roehampton to see who will have the privilege of losing to a Ukrainian world No299 in our upcoming Davis Cup tie.

It's the job of Sport England to monitor the effectiveness of the LTA's coaching efforts. After Keothavong's comments, perhaps it's time they did just that.

Hit enforcers' hard

Ironically, just as Arsenal striker Eduardo made a welcome return from the horror tackle at Birmingham 12 months ago that left him with a broken leg, Everton's Victor Anichebe narrowly avoided serious injury after a shocking two-footed lunge by Newcastle midfielder Kevin Nolan on Sunday.

Curiously, Everton manager David Moyes spoke up for Nolan who, after 10 yellow cards already this season, hardly seems a suitable case for sympathy.
Nolan will end up with the usual three-match ban for a piece of recklessness that could have splintered Anichebe's leg. Is that right? I, for one, don't think so.

There's only one way to stop career-threatening challenges and that's to ban offenders for three to six months or even, in the worst cases, for a whole season. Only then will managers have an incentive to stop enforcers like Nolan behaving with little or no regard for the safety of fellow professionals.

Button's undoing

Isn't it terrible that Jenson Button may lose his F1 drive because unsuccessful Honda — unsuccessful partly, of course, because of him — can't find a buyer? It's going to be a frightful nuisance for us, having to find someone else to laugh at.

Wrong, by George

My great uncle George was a taciturn bloke who never said much about his work at the underwater weapons establishment at Portland, for which he got a gong, but he loved to talk football. And, 50 years ago, he used to take me to watch Weymouth, then in the old Southern League, now known as the Blue Square Premier, where they still reside, but sadly under something of a cloud right now.

A players' strike over pay on Saturday led to Weymouth fielding a kids' team, who were thrashed 9-0 by Rushden, amidst a host of allegations about betting scams.

But why was the game allowed to take place? Shouldn't Weymouth have been punished before the kick-off and the match postponed or abandoned.

Why were Rushden allowed to improve their goal difference to the detriment of others? Most pertinently, what's the point of having a League bureaucracy, or indeed a Football Association, if such travesties are permitted?