It takes a lot for Jose Mourinho to annoy me these days.

I now see him as the managerial equivalent of a nagging toothache – you know it’s there, you know it’s irritating but, if you don’t pay it too much attention, you can live with it.

But this week the toothache moved up a notch from nagging to throbbing.

First Jose spent all Sunday afternoon telling a variety of different journalists in a variety of different interviews that Everton’s Andy Johnson was a diver and that he had tried to con the referee during their match at Goodison Park.

Only when Everton threatened to sue him did he actually bother to watch the television replays and realise that not only did Johnson not dive, he actually fell over to avoid colliding with the Chelsea goalkeeper.

Can you imagine what Jose would have said it the striker had carried on going and put another one of the special one’s keepers in hospital with concussion? It doesn’t bear thinking about.

Secondly, during the Carling Cup quarter final with Newcastle on Wednesday he did something that was, at face value, insignificant, but to me it was inexcusable.

Regular readers will know that one of my pet hates is when a player is fouled and then goes running up to the referee waving an imaginary card at him to try to get his opponent booked.

I absolutely detest players doing this but, until Wednesday, it is not something I have ever seen a manager. After all, managers are supposed to lead by example and rarely lower themselves to the childish and petulant levels.

However on planet Mourinho this type of behaviour is apparently acceptable.

After the foul that ultimately led to Chelsea’s winner, we were treated to the sight of Jose running down the touchline waving his pretend card in the direction of the ref,

I’m sorry but this is just plain wrong. Trying to tell the referee how to do his job is not on. It might be acceptable on the continent, but not in the Premier League.

The sad part about all this is that there are many, many times when Jose proves himself to be a good man, a worthy manager and a downright decent human being. You can’t fault his coaching skills or his work for charity or his love for his family. On those fronts he is an exceptional person.

I just wish he would take a few seconds to think about what he is going to say or do before saying or doing them. That way a few more of us neutrals will be able to admire his good rather than get irritated by his bad.

Greatest spin bowler

The greatest spin bowler the cricketing world has ever known has decided to quit the international game at the end of the current Ashes series – and he will be sorely missed.

Although I am not much of a cricket fan – apart from the Ashes and the world cup it does little for me – there was something about Shane Warne which made the sport that much more interesting.

Warne is the sort of cricketer who livened up the game with his partying approach to life, his diamond earrings, his controversial private life and the odd ban for taking illegal substances.

He is a sort of cricket’s answer to Gazza, although he never actually got round to pressing the self-destruct button as he was too busy having fun – a truly laid back Ozzie.

At 37 I suppose his retirement was inevitable. The man himself said he would have quit last year if Australia had won the Ashes. Now, with this series in the bag, he has decided to bow out at the top.

As it stands, Warne needs just one more test wicket to become the first bowler in test history to take 700 and really write his name in the history books.

And with two tests left to go you would be very, very ill advised to bet against him doing it.

New Year’s Eve resolutions

At the moment I am compiling a bit of a list of New Year’s Eve resolutions that I think Premiership managers should be taking. If you have any thoughts on this please send me an email and I will happily include them if they are good.

In the meantime, Merry Christmas to everyone. Be careful and enjoy.

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