Falling out with Sir Alex Ferguson might not be such a bad thing for a player to do after all.

Beckham’s career cannot be said to have faded into insignificance since he left Old Trafford under a cloud and Jaap Stam, equally, has hardly been left to rue the day he crossed swords with the fiery Scot.

Now Roy Keane looks like becoming the latest player to move on to bigger and better things just weeks after falling foul of Fergie’s fury.

The former United captain, who left the club last month after a row over that television interview, looks like he will be joining Real Madrid either in the coming days or during the transfer window in January.

That’s hardly a step down for the player who is about to sign a six-month contract with an option for another year if all goes well. And he will be earning a rather handsome 80,000 pounds a week which is slightly down on his Old Trafford salary but which should be enough to keep him off the streets.

Having said that I have to say I am surprised at just how beautifully Keane has landed on his feet. I thought he may have been able to squeeze another season or two out of the old body but I didn¹t expect it to be at such a high profile club.

Real Madrid may be managerless and not exactly in the best of form but they are still a huge, huge side and certainly on a par with United in terms of glamour and prominence.

Personally, I thought Roy would end his playing days either at Celtic or one of the lesser Premiership teams like Bolton or West Brom.

But good luck to the lad if his Real move comes off.

And Sir Alex shouldn’t be surprised if there is a queue of players outside his door the morning after all looking for a fight.

Crouch update

After scoring twice in the match against Wigan it looked like the floodgates might open for the lanky striker. No such luck. No more goals since then and it would appear he has returned to the form which saw him spend more than 24 hours without scoring. A real scary tale.

No return for Redknapp

No dream return to Portsmouth for Harry Redknapp. The man now known as Judas across the south coast of England took charge of Pompey for their match against Spurs on Monday, just over a year after walking out on the club and joining their bitter rivals Southampton.

But the return of the king of wheeler dealing did little to raise

Portsmouth’s moral as they slumped to a 3-1 defeat which leaves them second from bottom of the Premiership and six points away from safety.

To be fair they didn’t look too bad a team and they might have sneaked a draw if it wasn’t for some suspicious refereeing.

And with half a season to go, Harry might just manage to keep them up if he can maintain that sort of performance for the rest of the campaign.

Although, to be honest, I am not sure he deserves the adoration that will come with doing that after the way he has messed about with the fans over the last 12 months.

Schumi’s revenge ?

The rest of the Formula 1 world had better watch out as Michael Schumacher seems keener than ever to win this coming season.

The Ferrari driver lost his title last season to Fernando Alonso, bringing to an end his somewhat irritating and monotonous five–season winning streak.

And at 36, you may be forgiven for thinking Michael might decide to wind down his career having achieved just about everything he possibly can in the sport.

But no such luck for the rest of motor–racing. Schumi is not only not giving in, he is actually stepping up a gear.

Normally he would take a long winter holiday at the end of the season to recharge his mental and emotional batteries.

However this year after the last race in China he was determined to get stuck in straight away to ensure he is even better prepared for the new season.

“When I came back home from the last race in China everything was somehow different,” the German ace said.

“I had no need for a vacation, I had no desire to rest. My training and preparations for 2006 started straight away.”

Such is his determination to regain his title he has been in constant contact with Ferrari to see how testing is progressing and will be back behind the wheel himself from tomorrow.

You can rest assured it is just the sort of news Alonso and the rest of the paddock didn’t want to hear.

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