Milan Mandaric is a man on a mission – and that mission seems to be to annoy the pants off football fans everywhere.

Ever since he sacked his own manager a week ago, a day has not gone by without Portsmouth chairman Mandaric causing unrest at one club or another.

He has made official approaches for Crystal Palace’s Ian Dowie, Rangers’ Alec Mcleish and Sheffield United’s Neil Warnock but has so far only managed to anger those teams without successfully acquiring a new manager.

He did at least get to the talking stage with Warnock but luckily for me Neil decided against taking the job on the south coast even though it would have meant tripling his salary and setting himself up for life.

But the icing on the cake which proves Milan is a few sandwiches short of a picnic is his latest bid to try and get permission to speak to Harry Redknapp – the manager who left Portsmouth a year ago and who is now in charge of local rivals Southampton.

I can fully understand Mandaric’s desire to appoint a British manager to try and get Portsmouth out of their current predicament. But to even think of trying to get Harry back is bordering on lunacy.

The rivalry between Southampton and Portsmouth is huge and for Redknapp to make the switch once was almost unheard of. For him to do it twice would be absolutely unthinkable.

For the sake of football fans around Britain lets hope Milan gets somebody in charge sooner rather than later so the unrest can be stopped.

Although, if that someone is Harry, you get the feeling that will only be the beginning of unrest.

Moving scenes

The scenes at Old Trafford on Wednesday night were beautifully moving as the 60,000 people inside the stadium joined with the players past and present to pay their last respects to George Best.

The overwhelming emotion of the occasion was clear on the face of George’s son Calum who watched on tearfully as the crowd stood as a man to chant “There’s only one George Best” while holding up thousands of pictures of Bestie.

Wreaths were laid by both Sir Alex and his counterpart Bryan Robson while Sir Bobby Charlton gave a moving speech which just about summed up the emotions which were on display in all four corners of the ground.

Fittingly, Wednesday’s opponents were West Brom, the team against which George himself had made his United debut back in 1963.

The result – a 3-1 win for United – was almost secondary to the main theme of the evening which was to say a final goodbye to the Northern Irish star.

“It was a fitting occasion and a great send-off. George Best was one of the best players this world has ever seen,” Robson said.

And, in that one simple statement he summed up everyone’s thoughts precisely.

Doncaster Rovers

What a fantastic result for little Doncaster Rovers in midweek when they knocked the mighty Aston Villa out of the League Cup.

Their 3-0 win was all the more remarkable because it was they, rather than O’Leary’s side, which looked like the team from the Premiership.

It’s hard to imagine that just a few years ago Doncaster were a non-league side with little to be happy about. But, under manager Dave Penny, they have climbed the leagues and now find themselves not only fighting for promotion to the Championship but also in the quarter finals of the cup.

At Villa, O’Leary has asked for patience from the fans following the humiliating defeat but, to be honest, I can’t see him getting much slack.

The Birmingham side have made their worst ever start to a Premiership season and are failing to find the net with Crouch-like regularity despite having what should be a formidable strike force in Angel, Philips and Baros.

David says it is going to take time to build the team he wants but, and I am sure he will find this out soon enough, you don’t get a lot of time at clubs the size of Villa.

What price now on him becoming the next managerial casualty in the top flight? And what odds on Dave Penny replacing him…?

Jerzy Dudek

Just a few short months ago, Jerzy Dudek was the hero in Liverpool’s Champions League victory over Milan. Now he is a forgotten man who hasn’t played a first team game for the club since the final with Benitez preferring Jose Reina.

It’s true that Dudek has been prone to the occasional error during his time at Anfield but surely he deserves better treatment than he is currently getting.

Then again, I suppose it’s his own fault for not being Spanish…

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