Short Painkiller

A very short paper round-up today, pulled a muscle or something in my back and sitting at my computer is absolute agony.
Thankfully there's not much about. Sir Alex's apology continues to be misguided, as everyone goes on about how he should still be punished. The Mail trot out the often repeated statistic:

Sportsmail's exclusive breakdown of Wiley's performance at Old Trafford showed the 49-year-old covered more ground than all but seven players.

I don't know why its taken me so long, but now I've had this drummed into me so many times it occurs to me to question just how impressive this stat is. 7 out of 22, minus keepers, minus subs, who haven't the full time to run (too much pain to check exactly on subs but Scholes (a midfielder) came off at half time...) minus the defences, because they're not going to be running as much as a ref. You see what I mean? Ignore subs, assume a midfield 4 and he ran further than one midfielder, impressed? No didn't think so.
Patrick Barclay in The Times is similar:

Most people, including those better qualified to judge a referee than Ferguson, thought that Wiley had had an excellent match and the newspapers, moreover, published ProZone statistics that proved that the referee had covered more ground over the 90-plus minutes than all but four of Ferguson’s players, not to mention all but three of Sunderland’s.

But at least he has a bit of historical colour to his account, referring back to Sir Alex's Aberdeen days.
I wondered when the spurious and clichéd comparison to Rugby would rear it's head:

Apologies are not the answer. A change in culture is. Until referees are shown respect the game cannot escape the yob mentality. If an 18st lock can address a rugby referee as 'sir', so can the players and managers in football. Referees have for too long been punchbags. Their assailants should not be dispatched to the stands but the naughty corner with the rest of the children.

Elsewhere - Rooney injured hopefully not too serious.
Owen Hargreaves quotes:

"The best is yet to come, and I just cannot wait to get back out there," he told MUTV.

"I will be trying to improve my game and achieve the great success I think we (United) are destined for."