England’s footballers have been ordered to curtail their goal celebrations in a move that shows how seriously the England Football Association (FA) regards European governing body Uefa’s threat to ban the team from Euro 2004 if there is a repeat of the pitch invasions that marred the qualifying match against Turkey in Sunderland.

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has just clinched his ninth Premiership title. This came after an enduring battle with title rivals Chelsea over the course of the season. Money-laden Chelsea have made the league theirs in recent times, but United repsonded to the challenge. Daniel Taylor spoke Ferguson.

Sir Alex Ferguson received a congratulatory text message from Jose Mourinho after Manchester United eliminated Roma to reach the Champions League semifinals, but it is unlikely that Ferguson would have sent Mourinho a note of condolence after Liverpool beat Chelsea this week.

There is much to admire about Manchester United at present. The Premiership’s top side are playing with such panache that there is only one conclusion to draw: that this is a side on the point of a significant arrival. It has been suggested that the transfer of Ruud van Nistelrooy could be a devastating blow to United’s hopes of overhauling Chelsea.

Liverpool’s lack of goals is becoming an old story, writes Daniel Taylor. A few weeks ago, at Liverpool’s annual general meeting, the first proposal from the floor was that the club should ”retire” the No 12 shirt in honour of the Kop and its reputation as ”the team’s 12th man”.

A police investigation has been launched after deaf football fans complained they had lip-read Liver­pool’s Steve Finnan making a racist remark towards Patrice Evra of Manchester United. The Merseyside club immediately denounced the claim as an ”outrageous slur”.

Sam Allardyce once thought he would never get the England job because he did not have a fancy-sounding surname. He thought he was too northern, too unfashionable, too egg and chips. He drank ale and he chewed gum, sometimes at the same time. ”Maybe I should change my name to Allardici,” he suggested.

Tuesday’s was a game that had potentially disastrous ramifications for Alex Ferguson. An early departure from the Champions League would not just have wounded his pride, it might also have wreaked havoc on his chances of making it to a 20th anniversary at Manchester United.