Cold day in Manchester

Sir Alex Ferguson, the master of mind games, has come up with yet another ploy to undermine his Premiership rivals.

From now on the home dug-out at Old Trafford will be a warmer place after a carpet and radiator were installed to keep Ferguson and his comrades warmer.

But the same kind of palatial splendour has not been extended to the visitors, who will have to content themselves with the elements.

"Manchester United's hospitality to visiting teams is second to none," an Old Trafford insider told the Daily Star.

"But that is before and after the game. When the teams are playing the only thing that matters is that United win."

There is apparently no truth to the rumour that the renovation was funded by regular bench warmer Ryan Giggs.

Are you blind, linesman?

"It's my eyes, I tell you, my eyes!"

The head of the German football association (DFB) has inadvertently confirmed what many have suspected for years - there is something wrong with the eyesight of assistant referees.

After a spate of recent controversial offside decisions in the German league, DFB president Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder tried to defend the reputations of the men running the lines.

But it backfired.

"I wouldn't want to be an assistant referee," DFB president Mayer-Vorfelder said at a referees meeting in Frankfurt.

"Because with off-side calls you need to have a visual defect in order to be able to have both positions in view."