SOCCER:Avram Grant, though bulkier and more hangdog-looking, yesterday stepped into the shoes of Jose Mourinho in one respect, attacking the referee Mike Dean. The 52-year-old Israeli, whose coaching credentials from Israel are, Chelsea hope to prove, equivalent to the Uefa pro-licence qualification demanded by the Premier League, railed at the injustice of three incidents which he said "affected the result" in the 2-0 defeat at Old Trafford that marked the start of his career as Chelsea manager.

"There were so many things - the sending-off, the fact they signalled two minutes of extra-time and they scored after three, and the penalty," he said, most angered by the controversial dismissal of Mikel John Obi that reduced his visitors to 10 men for almost an hour - a decision Chelsea have appealed to the Football Association - and Louis Saha's penalty-winning "dive".

"Maybe I'm a bit naive. But for me these were decisions that affected the result. In the first half there were 10 minutes of 10 against 11, and in the second half they scored a penalty that was not."

But Alex Ferguson was clearly delighted with a result that puts Manchester United second in the Premier League. After four successive 1-0 wins, he considered this "as good as we've played all season". He had some sympathy for Grant's view of the refereeing performance, but he considered his own team to have been equally wronged.

In the early exchanges Patrice Evra was taken down in the Chelsea penalty area by Joe Cole, whose irrational tackling has carried on from the last England game, in which he was booked. Here he was cautioned again, and fortunate not to be dismissed, when he took out Cristiano Ronaldo with no thought for the ball.

"It was a clear penalty kick and then the game changes with the sending-off - that was a bit harsh but the intent was there," Ferguson said. "He could have hurt the boy but a lot of referees would have let that go.

"But Joe Cole's was the kind of tackle that can put players out of the game for a long time. He [ Ronaldo] keeps getting kicked on the Achilles and it should have been a red card but he got a yellow. He did not, simply because the player had been sent off. The second penalty was also a bit harsh, but the referee balanced it out."

Ferguson stood in front of the microphones, put on his poker face and tried to convince the world that, honestly, he would miss Jose Mourinho. He wished him well, expressed his sympathy and revealed he had set aside a bottle of red for his old rival. You could have been forgiven for wondering whether this was the same man who has described Mourinho at various intervals of having "no principles" and "no respect for anyone but himself".

Was Ferguson being disingenuous? Only he will know the answer to that, but the strong suspicion at Old Trafford - one corroborated by some of his closest allies - was the Manchester United manager was secretly pleased, to say the least, to see the back of the most successful manager in Chelsea's history. In his 20 years at Old Trafford Ferguson has outlasted nine Chelsea managers - a list that starts with John Hollins and takes in Bobby Campbell, Ian Porterfield, Dave Webb, Glenn Hoddle, Ruud Gullit, Gianluca Vialli and Claudio Ranieri. But there is only one who has ever truly worried him and that man is Jose Mario dos Santos Mourinho Felix.

Ferguson, lest it be forgotten, has also seen off six England managers and three prime ministers, and as he walked down the touchline at the final whistle, waving to the crowd and lapping up their applause, he would be entitled to feel he has the most to gain as another name is ticked off at Stamford Bridge.

It is not difficult to understand why Chelsea's fans are so underwhelmed about the Israeli's appointment. It was telling that, on a day when they offered their team impassioned backing, they never sang his name once.

The 10th Chelsea manager in two decades to take on Ferguson is said to have Roman Abramovich's complete backing - and Chelsea were very quick to emphasise that Marco van Basten's presence in the directors' box was nothing to do with them - but it is clear, too, the self-styled "Normal One" has little in common with Mourinho apart from the dark smudges beneath his eyes.

Mourinho had an exceptional gift that, whatever was happening on the pitch, eyes were drawn to him in the dug-out. Even when he started to lose the plot - when his glare became wild and the paranoia started to erode that brilliantly fiendish tactical brain - he was a hypnotic presence. He did something that none of his predecessors had ever done - he made Ferguson look nervous.

Grant does not bother with designer labels, wearing a sensible coat and tracksuit bottoms. Sartorial elegance does not win football matches, of course, but the point is Mourinho had an aura. Grant does not. "Put a red nose on him," one Chelsea fan spluttered into Sky's cameras. "The guy's a clown."

Chelsea's supporters were loud and boisterous and calling Mourinho's name. When that died down there was a chorus of "Stevie Clarke's blue-and-white army." The thought occurred Ferguson's main rival will soon be Arsene Wenger again.