It seems that His Eminence Lord Ferguson of Ferguson is to receive a touch-line ban for comments made in the wake of [insert the name of any game United have lost or drawn over the last three years or in which one of their players was booked]. What this means is that, barring an appeal on the grounds that the FA are a bunch of senile cretins who don’t know the first thing about first growth claret, he will have to watch United’s next two games from the stands rather than from the dug-out, and will be unable to advise his players during the match. If he commits a similar offense later in the season a further two match ban will immediately come into force. It was about time that some kind of punishment was doled out to Ferguson; his repeated verbal attacks against the referee had long o’erflowed the measure. Many football fans (and I should at this point declare an interest as a Chelsea supporter) got the impression that he was receiving special treatment, either because of his stature within the game – a kind of Sarkozy/Berlusconi system of immunity – or because of his advancing years which led to him being treated as one might an embarrassing uncle at a Christmas dinner: don’t bother replying, you know what Alex is like, he’ll be asleep soon anyway. Either way there was something grossly inequitable about the whole thing and it is good that he has been disciplined. Players who insult the referee in the heat of the match rightly receive their marching orders, so why should managers who do so in a calm and reflective manner afterwards get off Scot free? Of course the referee makes mistakes but this is how it should be; his is an Old Testament justice, cruel and sometimes arbitrary that, if only one learns to roll with the punches, prepares one well for the setbacks and disappointments of the spiritual life.