Are you ‘aving a laugh!? – Mancini, Adam, Herbert and Santos

Are you ‘aving a laugh…!?With Richard WillcoxIt’s been a relatively calm week if I’m being honest, with just four stories making my weekly rant. I couldn’t bring myself to include Brendan Rodgers again, a regular in this post due to his constant whining but how the world has turned it’s back on him. This week he nearly made it after heaping praise on his young team that lost so convincingly in the Europa Cup this week (what game was he watching, and at what point were they ever ‘outstanding’?).I continued to be irked by the amount of time it is taking the FA to resolve the whole Chelsea v Clattenburg debacle, although they apparently interviewed both the referee and his officials today – so hopefully we’ll hear something next week.Arsene Wenger narrowly avoided inclusion after yet another club vs country confrontation over Jack Wilshire, with the Arsenal manager suggesting he would contact Roy Hodgson to ask him not to pick the youngster for the friendly against Sweden. The fact that Wilshire is no longer available for their derby against Fulham because of last week’s sending off has helped ease tensions, although reportedly Roy has agreed to only play him for 45 minutes (I seem to recall Capello making similar promises…).So here’s my short-list of people that have wound me up for whatever reason in the past few days…Roberto ManciniI’ve said this before, but Mancini looks like a manager who’s losing it. On Monday he lost his rag with a journalist in a Champions League press conference after he was questioned about the revelation last week that he spoke to a number of clubs before signing a five-year deal with City.“Last year I was very close with seven or eight teams but I prefer to stay here,” he said.Mancini claimed he was being shown a lack of respect after being asked again on Monday about conversations he’d had with a number of European clubs, including Monaco.Then on Tuesday he took to the pitch to remonstrate with the referee at the full-time whistle, as Balotelli looked to have won City a penalty. Not content with venting his anger at the official, he also started on the cameraman who he felt had been following him too closely. He joins the growing ranks of managers who are continuously blaming the officials for their own shortcomings.He doesn’t know what his best team looks like, he can’t settle on a formation, his players publicly criticise his tactics, he’s destroyed the best central defensive pairing in the Premiership last season and he has no clue in Europe – only one person to blame Bobby.I should probably mention that he did have a point about the disallowed goal and penalty claim.Charlie AdamOh dear. It was embarrassing enough when Toffee’s captain Phil Neville was booked for diving the other week after David Moyes had made suggestions about Luis Suarez ahead of the Merseyside derby. This weekend it was the turn of Charlie Adam to leave his manager red-faced as he was booked for diving. You may recall the Potter’s manager, Tony Pulis, calling for retrospective action to be taken against players who take a dive, after that shameful (and very poor) dive that Suarez made when they faced Liverpool a few weeks back.Of course Pulis didn’t think that Adam had taken a dive – surprise that. Perhaps we should all take a look at the video replay…?Andy Carroll gets an honourable mention this week for diving as well. Who said it was only a problem with foreign players?Peter HerbertPeter Herbert, the chairman of the Society of Black Lawyers, has warned Tottenham that they will report any use of the ‘Y’ word to the Police in what he believes is a crack-down on anti-Semitism.  The club have leapt to the defence of their fans by pointing out that fans refer to themselves as ‘Yids’ affectionately, in response to anti-Semitic abuse from away fans.The area in North London has historically had a high proportion of Jewish residents, and in response to abuse over the years from visiting teams, have moved to ‘own’ (the club’s words) and embrace the identity.Peter Herbert commented: “It does not make a difference if it is Tottenham fans doing the chants or away fans – if they continue to do it we will report it to the police. There has to be zero tolerance and if that catches out Spurs then so be it.”So what about music artists that use the ‘N’ word in songs – surely you will also be reporting them to the Police authorities?He claims there will be monitors at the ground and any singing or chanting containing the ‘Y’ word, after November 20, will be reported to the Police.While no one can fault the ambitions and the objectives of the Society, there has to be a better way to progress rather than threatening clubs and their fans. Already they have reported Mark Clattenburg to the Metropolitan Police, before Chelsea’s internal investigation was even completed, and they may well yet rue jumping in so quickly given that there appears to be very little evidence to support the allegations made at the official.Piara Powar, The Executive Director of the ‘Football Against Racism in Europe’ organisation, called Herbert naive and suggested that the Society of Black Lawyers did not understand football.Spurs won at home in the Europa Cup on Thursday night, and as I understand it, the Police chief made it clear to the home fans that they would not be charged for singing songs, or flying banners, which included the ‘Y’ word. It appears common-sense has prevailed.Update: Anthony Clavane has written a very good and balanced article in the Mirror on this issue, and is the author of ‘Does your Rabbi know your here’ – a look at Tottenham’s Jewish history.Andre SantosWhat was he thinking when he swapped shirts with Robin Van Persie at half time!? Wenger was not impressed and neither were Arsenal fans, as the defender, who had been woeful in the first half against United, literally chased RVP in order to get the shirt off his back.The Brazilian made a weak apology today: “It surprised me that people latched on to a gesture that promotes friendship and fair play. Arsene Wenger had asked the supporters to show respect towards Robin, after all.”Seems to me that Santos was well aware he was having a complete mare of a game and wouldn’t be on the pitch at full time to collect his friend’s shirt.Somewhat amusingly, RVP didn’t care for Santos’ shirt – awkward.