Comment: Stick to what you know Campbell

Last updated : 26 May 2005 By Ben Collins
What qualifies Alastair Campbell, the former Labour media chief and a Burnley fan with no professional role in football, to write about the FA Cup final last weekend I’m not sure.

He is the Lions’ media consultant, and they were sharing their hotel with United, but he only made a brief comment about the mood in the ‘United camp’ before the game.

It seems he preferred to gush over Fergie, claiming United deserved to win, “partly because Sir Alex Ferguson has been a great friend to me down the years and also because, as the greatest club manager in British history, he should never have a trophy-less season.”

Firstly, is Fergie really the “the greatest club manager in British history”?

Not Bob Paisley, who won three European Cups to Fergie’s one?

Or how about Brian Clough, who took provincial sides like Derby and Forest to the league title before winning successive European Cups with Forest?

And then to say “he should never have a trophy-less season”.

Sporting competition goes out of the window then? Hey Al, why don’t we just hand out all the trophies to the biggest teams and the most successful managers every season? It’d save us the bother of actually playing all those games.

It sounds just like Jeremy Paxman during the election results, asking George Galloway if he was proud to deprive parliament of a black female MP.

No matter who you are, you have to earn whatever comes your way, surely an educated man like Campbell should know that.

It’s a pretty ignorant comment that I’d expect from a blinkered red but not from him. In future, stick to what you know, Al!