David Foot column: Manchester United boss unrivalled

Manchester United are the great monopolists. They are in pursuit of five trophies and that nap-hand of potential glory is, of course, an unquestionable compliment to the club and its manager.

Yet is it completely good for the domestic game? The gulf in skills, wherewithal and organisation has widened – with United so much better equipped than most of the other Premier League teams. At times they are even able to mock the nominal attempts at serious competition mounted against them.

Sir Alex Ferguson's footballing instincts and management nous are perhaps unequalled in the world. But the affection, at least away from Old Trafford, is at times strangely muted. He is by nature a benign (not sure how benign) dictator. He can bristle at criticism and doesn't welcome strangers. And he selects by rotation – with sufficient classy players to be able to do that.

Ferguson perceptively varies his players and formations. Because of the sheer congestion of fixtures and competitions, he argues that this is a necessity. Aston Villa, Spurs and Blackburn have recently adopted a similar reasoning. Sometimes the fans don't quite know what is going on.

At those heights, it is also an indulgence. Just ask some of the managers at less privileged levels what they think of that. They sometimes do well to find 11 fit players and enough apprentices left over to fill the subs' bench.

Manchester United won again on Wednesday night. They often have an invincibility about them, even on days when they don't excel.

But perhaps they suffer, too, because others remain envious of their sustained success. A nation's wave of sympathy, which sprang from the horrors of Munich, has gradually subsided. The aura of the Busby Babes may have long gone, though the weekly coach-loads, including those from the West Country, continue to pay their homage.

Ferguson's main English rivals have latterly fallen by the wayside. This season's Premier League title should not be in any real doubt as his talented, occasionally cowed, complement underscore their one-club mastery. Whether this benefits the game as a whole is a matter of debate.

Les Bardsley was one of the best trainers and physios that Bristol City had. Nor should we forget his other enforced and periodic role, that of caretaker manager.

Whenever a team boss was fired, not exactly a rarity at Ashton Gate, Les was reinstated as the man temporarily in charge. His bandy legs, which once had served him well in his journeyman days with Bury and other northern clubs, were a warmly applauded sight as he ran on to the field to attend injured players.

He never envisaged landing full managerial status. Nor, we imagine, did Tony Parkes, who brought the Blackpool team to Bristol last weekend. In his unusual case, it is his fifth time as caretaker – with Blackburn and the Tangarines.

After the game, during which his defence impeccably barred the way to the City strikers, his was a refreshing voice in contrast to a few flamboyant and highly partial visiting bosses over recent months. He sounded just like an old-fashioned North Country pro without a single fancy phrase or modern-football platitude. Just like Les Bardsley, in fact.

He has been called or described in print, as bombastic, arrogant or autocratic, a limited accumulation of criticism which led some observers to think Giles Clarke would walk away from his job as the ECB's No 1

Yet, with remarkable powers of recovery and political clout, he has clawed his way back into favour and, against earlier predictions, extended his stay at the top. Indecisive counties finally befriended him. Others, like Hampshire and Leicestershire, were left licking their wounds.

Maybe the many doubters should have known him better.

He makes enemies by his abrasive manner – and he made cardinal errors in his dealings with the suspect Allen Stanford. But, as he showed in his adroit business life, he's an assertive winner.

There are grim times ahead for this Mendip man as he tries to sort out the complexities of Asian influence in cricket and resolve lingering dressing-room differences. Far more urgent for him, though, is the need to focus on team security following the ghastly events and loss of life in Lahore this week.