Fair warning: some of what follows could be considered controversial, especially by football reporters, many of whom will regard what I am about to say as letting the side down.
No matter, here goes. In the light of Arsène Wenger's threat to boycott post-match press conferences altogether if reporters do not desist from being selective with his quotes, the immediate question to arise is why did he not do it years ago, like the Premier League's longest-serving and most experienced manager.
Sir Alex Ferguson is now 68 and looking capable of going on for ever. Patrice Evra recently suggested he will be doing the job he loves at Old Trafford until he draws his last breath, which may be uncomfortably close to the truth, so let's wish the United manager many happy years to come.
There is no doubt, however, that Ferguson has eased his managerial burden by cutting out post-match interviews. In fact it is quite possible that his health and longevity are directly related to his decision to do away with a major irritant and proceed in the manner that he, rather than the press, sees fit. The trouble with words spoken in haste in the heat of battle is that they can still make your life difficult months, even years, after the event, by which time newspapers have ceased to be useful even as fish and chip wrappers.
A brief word of explanation may be advisable at this point, for the benefit of anyone unaware of the ways in which Manchester United differ from every other Premier League club. Old Trafford boasts press facilities second only to Arsenal's considerably newer media suite. There is a mini-lecture theatre for managers to take the stage after a game and a large writing room with food, drink, desks and plasma- screen televisions.
Those televisions are important for, unless it is a Champions League game where contractual obligations are tighter, the only manager to visit the lecture theatre will be the visiting one. You have to keep an eye on the screen to catch a glimpse of Ferguson. He will normally do a short interview with either the host broadcaster or with the in-house MUTV, and from about a minute's worth of fairly soft questioning all the quotes you ever read in the following morning's papers are obtained. That's the way Ferguson likes it. That's the routine the press has learned to live with.
There is supposed to be a Premier League obligation on every manager to speak after a game, but Ferguson has exploited a loophole by speaking only to restricted sources. There is no chance of him ever being forced back to the frontline now, and the wonder is why more managers do not follow his example and keep a distance from the media immediately after a game.
From the point of view of press coverage I should not be saying that. Post-match quotes from managers and players are usually the best source we can get, often emotional stuff uttered in the elation of victory or the despair of defeat, and no one wishes to cover a game where the participants are hermetically sealed from any sort of interaction afterwards.
On the other hand, it is easy to see why managers mistrust the post-match briefing. For one thing they have to speak for the whole team, when it is clearly not their fault that the goalkeeper dropped a corner or the striker missed two open goals. For another thing they have a duty to be loyal to their players, unless they want to provide some extremely unflattering headlines, and this can be difficult when the players have misbehaved or performed badly.
This, ultimately, was why Ferguson gave up the unequal struggle. Knowing that he would never publicly slate one of his own players, no matter what might be said in private, at times when United were underperforming it was relatively easy for reporters with news agendas to turn up with killer questions. Sample killer questions: "Are you planning to punish Roy Keane for his latest indiscipline?" or "After that performance do you still believe your new goalkeeper is good enough to replace Peter Schmeichel?"
For a short while the response to these inquiries was the manager turning a deeper shade of puce and a few entertaining Scottish expletives, before Ferguson spoiled the game by realising he could circumvent the whole process. He still talks openly to all strands of the media, like Wenger, and he just seems to enjoy gassing about football. When the mood takes him his pre-match chats at the training ground can be full of insights, anecdotes and copy for newspapers, television shows and websites.
But there is an enormous difference between talking in advance of a game and producing a comment in its immediate aftermath. Managers are not in complete control in the latter situation, they are often struggling with conflicting emotions, and just one slip will be pounced on and projected as news for days after the game.
That is precisely what happened to Wenger after the latest Chelsea defeat when, after spending most of his interview accepting that Arsenal were not at Chelsea's level and essentially arguing the result was a fair one, he was portrayed as a whinger, and subsequently attacked by Michael Ballack, for mentioning that Chelsea "had a lot of tricks" and "we did not get a demonstration of football".
The Arsenal manager was neither misquoted nor misrepresented. He does happen to be something of a whinger, or at least not the most gracious of losers, just as Ferguson is a fighter and confrontational. Both can be urbane and amusing before a game, but post-match interviews after defeats or disappointing results have a habit of bringing these personality traits to the surface. Rafael Benítez knows all about that, and it was no surprise to see him spring to Wenger's defence this week.
The Liverpool manager's infamous "small club" dig at Everton was made in the immediate aftermath of a Merseyside derby where his players had been stifled by their opponents' unashamedly defensive approach. It would have been better for Benítez not to say it, even if he felt it. It might have been different had he waited a day or so before saying anything, but that is not how the system works. He turned up in the press room disappointed, frustrated and perhaps a little bit annoyed, and volunteered a comment in an unguarded moment that is still reverberating around the city three years later. Last year, in fact, the comment came winging back at Benítez from none other than Ferguson, who accused Benítez of lacking respect for Sam Allardyce in the same way he lacked respect for Everton.
Perhaps all is fair in love, war and football, and managers as grown-ups ought to be aware that controversy sells newspapers. It is interesting to note that when Ferguson would once have harangued the press, or railed at a referee's performance through newspaper backpages, he now works out his frustration by confronting the fourth official or belittling the referee's fitness.
Maybe all this emotion has to come out one way or another and maybe the post-match press conference serves that purpose, though one cannot help but admire the approach of a manager like Tony Pulis, who is normally in and out of the interview room within 10 or 15 minutes of the end of a game, having answered questions and offered a few opinions without either sitting down or getting involved in anything tricky. The trouble at bigger clubs than Stoke is that the manager often becomes the story, being the only point of contact. It is noticeable how many smaller clubs routinely send out players as well as the manager to talk to the media.
Were the second-longest serving and most experienced manager in the league to join its doyen in boycotting post-match discussions, more managers would surely follow. At the very least it would send out a signal that all is not well with the current process. Wenger's threat is probably not deadly serious, but why should managers be the only ones to speak for their club? Why not send the captain and, say, the man of the match out as well?
Were the Premier League to pass a rule to that effect, and make sure the players appeared in person, rather than on television or via tape-recorded tunnel interviews, there could even be a silver lining. Ferguson would be back at the conference table like a shot.
