INTERESTING to note the tactics of the much-reviled Graham Poll last weekend. Old Three Cards gave Pardew a signal that one of his boys was about to get sent off - so he could sub him and save Charlton from going down to 10 men.

INTERESTING to note the tactics of the much-reviled Graham Poll last weekend.

Old Three Cards gave Pardew a signal that one of his boys was about to get sent off - so he could sub him and save Charlton from going down to 10 men.

It caused a bit of a stink, but in the cold light of day The Man can't really find too much wrong with it.

Surely it's no different to the ref telling the team's captain “one more and he's off pal.”

Anyway, it got me thinking - maybe linesmen can start doing Peter the Pointer (PTP) a similar favour. How about every time a lino thinks Hux is going to stray offside he tips PTP the wink?

I love Hux, but it would sure as hell save us a lot of trouble.

V Just when I thought we'd had our adequate dose of misery this season up popped West Brom to deliver another large dollop of it.

Another last minute goal, another set of fans rubbing our noses in it.

And yet another team whose supporters have deserted them - WBA struggled to get 20k gates this season - laud it over us. If you thought their travelling support was good on Monday, such sentiments should be tempered by the knowledge WBA had to lay on free buses to make sure they got decent support for their most important game of the season.

But ho hum, I guess we should be used to it by now.

“We'll never play you again” they sang…we'll see. OTBC.

t MAN U AND SPURS FANS WERE EQUALLY TO BLAME IN RIOTS

“GOOD riddance to Roma and their obnoxious fans” roared The Daily Mail's Paul Hayward this week after Man U's mind-bending 7 (SEVEN)-1 win.

Mr Hayward announced that neutrals would be pleased to see the Italian trouble-makers - with their heavy-handed police - knocked out.

The Man has to say that I've never seen the media swallow the old “it was the police what started it” line so completely before.

Our hoolies said similar things in Marseille in 1998 - but then the press wasn't quite so keen to play along.

The truth is those Spurs and Man U fans are just as much to blame as their foreign counterparts. English hooliganism is a problem that never really went away; it simply became better policed, less blatant and less reported.

Why would Murdoch want to publicise something that would damage the image of his most important product?

Hence Sky News, The Sun, The News of the World, The Times and The Sunday Times - all Murdoch's - are not as keen to report fisty-cuffs as they would once have been.

In 2003 two Italian clubs contested the Champions League final at Old Trafford without a hint of trouble.

Let's just see if two English clubs can do the same in Athens…

t FULHAM HAD AN INCENTIVE THAT DAY TOO

CHRIS Coleman was given the boot this week - rather harsh The Man thought.

Quite what Fulham expect I don't know, but if Cookie, pictured, had done a similar job at Norwich there'd probably be a statue outside the ground by now - and Doomy would have given him one of those special 'rolling' contracts.

However, The Man digresses. Among the Coleman obituaries there was one reference to how Al Fayed nearly gave him the sack before.

It read: “Coleman was under pressure two years ago when going into the final game of the season Fayed had lined up George Burley as his replacement.

“The subsequent 6-0 hammering of Norwich City is thought to have saved Coleman.” The Man never knew that; perhaps it explains why they were so keen to wallop us that day.

t SAD STATE OF AFFAIRS IN FA CUP

IF THERE is a raft of empty seats at a game there's a fair chance a tin-pot club from the north-west is involved.

The Man was staggered to read yesterday that Blackburn still had 8,000 tickets unsold for their semi-final with Chelsea.

It's for a match taking place at Old Trafford, which is less distance for Rovers' fans to travel than when we go to Ipswich!

There's one word for it: pathetic.

Blackburn, Bolton, Wigan - even Preston; they've been successful on the pitch, it's just no bugger wants to watch them.

If there's any justice in this world, over the coming years these clubs will slowly trickle back down to League One and Two where they belong.

It's a really sad state of affairs that a young player like David Bentley leaves Norwich for Blackburn and it's a step up. We - and a host of other Championship teams - should be wiping our a**es with that sort of club.

t COME ON LET'S MAKE IT HAPPEN

THE Man settled down to watch the boxing on ITV last Saturday.

It seems - because of pay-per-view events - boxing is almost Britain's lost sport.

Joe Calzaghe is clearly a great fighter, but because he's been hidden away on satellite TV no-one really knows that.

I hope this broadcast marks the start of a few more decent punch-ups on 'normal telly'.

The Man notes also that Amir Khan, the guy who proclaims he's a big Bolton fan but who rather predictably turned up in a Liverpool shirt in Istanbul, wants a pop at our Jono.

Khan said: “I would love to fight somebody like Thaxton. He is the kind of fighter who is made for me because I would be able to pick him off with my hand speed and stay away from his big bombs.”

Now that would be a cracker - make it happen Mr Hennessey!

t JARRETT IS HAPPY (NOT)

FOOTBALL, perhaps more than anything else in this world, throws up deep ironies and coincidences.

It is so typical that Worthy's first game in charge of a new club would be against us.

Whatever happened today, The Man will not have been one of those giving Nutty Nigel grief from the stands - if indeed, any fans did.

He brought us great times, it's just a shame those around him didn't spot when those great times had ended.

On another topic, imagine the look on Gentle Jason Jarrett's face when he found out who his new boss was. Football is indeed, full of ironies.