Throughout the season his regular bulletins on the latest arrest statistics enraged the club chairmen.The game was fighting a war of attrition against the Conservative Government and its salvation from the dreaded identity card was to come in the most unlikely yet dreadful manner. After the European Championship finals in Germany in June in which all three matches were lost, the team kicked off the season with a 1-0 win over Denmark at Wembley watched by only 25,000 spectators; then the World Cup campaign opened with a goalless home draw with Sweden; a headline after the 1-1 friendly with Saudi Arabia in Riyadh read: "In the name of Allah, go".The Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, was in no mood to pour oil on troubled waters. She believed everyone who entered a football ground should carry an identity card and the Minister for Sport, Colin Moynihan, had by no means been deflected from his determination to carry out his leader's bidding by the fighting on the streets of Germany whenever the England team were in town the previous summer. Again, the bizarre incident was captured by the television cameras, as was Clough's kiss and make-up meeting with the two victims - or culprits. Although his first reaction had been one of contrition, albeit he had acted "out of the right motives", Clough told the readers of our biggest selling tabloid that he would do the same again.In February an FA commission fined him £5,000 and he was banned from the touchline for the rest of that season.There were vultures circling above Bobby Robson's England team. I told him to put up or shut up, and this led to first John Fashanu and then Viv Anderson being charged with misconduct. Fashanu received a three-match ban and £2,000 fine, and Anderson was suspended for one match with a £750 fine.In January 1989, the Nottingham Forest manager, Brian Clough, struck two young men who invaded the pitch at the City Ground after a Littlewoods Cup match.

Davis was suspended for nine matches and fined £3,000 in a case which established a precedent for the use of video evidence.A few weeks later, after a 2-1 Littlewoods Cup defeat at Plough Lane, Ferguson said there had been a rumble in the tunnel that had led to one of his players being injured. "The FA's decisions are being questioned by the very people, managers and players, who are bound most explicitly by its rules," he added.Gordon Taylor, the chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association,

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responded by accusing the authorities of adopting an authoritarian manner.The FA has now taken up with Manchester United and Sir Alex Ferguson his allegations that "deals" have been cut with Arsenal over misconduct charges.Why should I be sensitive at the slightest hint that it was a comparative bed of roses 15 years ago? In my first month at Lancaster Gate, Arsenal's Paul Davis broke the jaw of Southampton's Glenn Cockerill with a punch behind the referee's back The incident was shown on the television news. Sepp Blatter, the president of football's world governing body, Fifa, joined the fray last week, criticising "an unnerving trend towards questioning the FA's authority, the rapid decay of the players' morale, questionable conduct on and off the pitch, and completely unacceptable actions such as the recent threat by England squad members not to play against Turkey." If Palios did not get the support he deserved, said Blatter, English football would face institutional problem on top of the rapid deterioration in discipline on and off the field. It was irritating that the lady from the "quality daily" should find it apposite the other day to refer to my rearranging the paper clips on my Football Association chief executive's desk when comparing my tenure with the turbulent times faced by the incumbent, Mark Palios, in his first year. The former Wimbledon and Chelsea midfielder has enjoyed the challenge in his first few games in charge on a trial basis and is now ready to become the Millwall player-manager on a permanent basis.Millwall lost at Norwich City on Saturday, but Wise's appetite has been whetted by the response from the players since he was promoted after Mark McGhee was fired.The Millwall chairman, Theo Paphitis, had agreed to a four-game trial period when Wise first took overand has seen enough on and off the pitch to ask Wise to continue in charge.. "Whether I'm still in charge for the next match is somebody else's decision."Dennis Wise will be named Millwall's new manager today after deciding to take on the post at the second time of asking. Hart, the former youth director at Leeds, is manager of Nottingham Forest who would expect a compensation figure ofaround £250,000 should he elect to return to Elland Road.Strachan has more Premiership experience, but he has taken Southampton to new heights and would need more than an emotional pull to return to Elland Road.

If funds are found to strengthen the squad, however, the former Leeds player may yet be persuaded.Leeds remained rooted to the foot of the Premiership table after Saturday's defeat, their fifth in succession, and after the match Reid admitted his position was again in doubt."At the age of 47 I'm not going to start resigning now," he said. Leeds United will today announce that Peter Reid has been sacked as manager following his side's 6-1 defeat at Portsmouth on Saturday. Substitutes not used: Harper (gk), Solano, Chopra.Referee: P Durkin (Portland) 6.Sent off: Newcastle: O'Brien.Man of the match: Lampard.Attendance: 41,332.. O'Brien walked and Lampard converted the penalty.With Chelsea easing up and Newcastle settling for defence, the second period was quiet until Duff collected a poor clearance by Shay Given, skipped past Stephen Caldwell and scored with a low drive. Eidur Gudjohnsen, unmarked, then headed in Bridge's cross to seal a 19-pass move and confirm, to everyone but Ranieri, that Chelsea are contenders.And even the Italian, when he arrived home last night, and perhaps opened a bottle of Barolo, surely admitted to himself they are.Goals: Johnson (25) 1-0; Crespo (40) 2-0; Lampard pen (42) 3-0; Duff (78) 4-0; Gudjohnsen (84) 5-0.Chelsea (4-3-1-2): Cudicini 7; Johnson 8 (Huth, 89), Terry 8, Gallas 7, Bridge 8; Lampard 8, Makelele 7, Veron 6; Duff 7; Crespo 7 (Gudjohnsen 7, 68) Mutu 8 (Cole 7, 64).Substitutes not used: Ambrosio (gk), Gronkjaer.Newcastle United (4-2-3-1): Given 3; Hughes 4, O'Brien 4, Bramble 2, Bernard 4; Jenas 4, Speed 5; Bowyer 3, Viana 2 (S Caldwell 4, h-t), Robert 3 (LuaLua, 76); Ameobi 4. It looked outside the box but there was other contact inside. Besides, O'Brien escaped dismissal for tripping Ryan Giggs earlier this season and these things tend to even themselves up.