Arsène Wenger and David O'Leary have a moan

As we know, David O’Leary and Arsène Wenger are as fiercely competitive as their players. Just now they are locked in competition to prove that their club is the most unpopular, and therefore the most put upon, in the Premier League. David O’Leary seems to have been stopping every passing reporter in recent weeks to tell them of his despair at Leeds’s declining reputation. “From the being the second favourite club of most neutral supporters,” he says, “we seem to have become the most hated club in the country,” a development he ascri­bes partly to the Bowyer-Woodgate trial and its aftermath, since which “nobody misses the chance to criticise and condemn us”.

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Saturday 2 Man Utd march on with a 4-1 win over sliding Sunderland but Arsenal slip up, drawing 1-1 at home with Southampton, for whom Matt Le Tissier is booked while warming up for saying something rude to an assistant referee. Newcastle come from behind twice to beat Bolton 3-2, one of their goals stemming from a free-kick given for Bolton’s keeper holding on to the ball for more than six seconds. John Gregory celebrates a debut win at Derby, 1-0 against Spurs, and explains why he hopes the FA won’t impose a touchline ban for alleged misconduct a month ago: “I need to be out there to kick a backside and offer a cuddle.” Wolves close to within three points of Man City with a 2-1 win over Rotherham, whose manager Ronnie Moore is unhappy about the controversial decider: “If that ball crossed the line I’ll wear a dress next week.” Robert Prosinecki hits a hat-trick for Portsmouth but they only get a point in a 4-4 draw with Barnsley, who equalise in the last minute. Reading take a break from seven successive wins with a 1-1 draw at Bury, but still lead the Second by seven points. In the Third, Luton cut Plymouth’s lead to four points by beating them 2-0.

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Ian Plenderleith looks into the legal jusitfication for the Premier League and Football League's copyrighting of their fixtures

Remember the outcry when the Football Lea­gue and the Premier League began charging websites for publishing their fixture lists? How could the leagues possibly hold the copy­right over an item of public information such as a football fixture, many wondered. Al­though the furore has subsided, the ques­tion has never been satisfactorily answered. Mean­while, the leagues, under their joint venture Football Dataco, have been making money for nothing.

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Radio 5 Live gives football fans the chance to air their views on their post-match show 6.06 but are such shows just outlets for inane opinion?

Yes ~
You end up feeling sorry for the presenter. By the end of every football phone-in, I just want to hold the hand of the caged beast, as he has had a combination of heavy fatalism and non-punchlined anec­dote poured into his ear for hour after hour.

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The headlines were about English infiltration after trouble at Pittodrie. But the Scottish game would do better to take a long, hard look at itself, says Dianne Millen

Never mind Afghanistan – hold the front page for the Battle of Pittodrie, billed as the biggest Scots skirmish since Culloden. The coins had barely been picked up from pitchside before SPL chief executive Roger Mitchell had fallen back on that old stand-by, blaming the violence on “mindless morons”, a description later repeated by the police, press and both clubs. Idiots there most cer­tainly were at the game, but not all of them were throwing things.

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