A PREMIER League manager was sacked yesterday. No surprise there, then. It just happened to be West Ham’s Slaven Bilic’s turn to be shown the exit.

There has never been much doubt that normal rules and standards don’t apply in the world of football where money rules; managers are sacked at a whim or on the back of three or four defeats; and player power can dictate who is next.

Who will that be? If you are a regular listener to Radio Five Live’s 606 phone-in, there are plenty of candidates, but one name that crops up more often than most is Tony Pulis.

West Brom fans who watched Albion’s 1-0 defeat at Huddersfield were out in force calling for Pulis’s head. He was accused of sucking the life out of the club with his boring tactics.

Step forward in the manager’s defence – Robbie Savage, co-presenter of the radio show with fellow Welshman Jason Mohammad.

The outspoken former midfielder is never backward in coming forward and could probably start a row in an empty house, and he was robust in backing his friend, Pulis.

Unfortunately for Pulis – and for the programme’s presenters – their case for the defence did not stand up to close scrutiny, regardless of the strength for the prosecution’s case.

Both Savage and Mohammad dismissed the callers by questioning whether they would rather be West Brom – who are fifth-bottom in the Premier League with nine goals – or down in the Championship.

It was as though that was the only alternative. They could either put up or shut up.

Other middle-order teams – Watford, Leicester, Brighton – are finding another way. Their supporters don’t count “boring” among any criticisms they may have.

Tony Pulis is a long-established manager who knows the game inside-out; he puts the criticisms down to increased expectations among the fans.

Claudio Ranieri, you have a lot to answer for!

RUGBY'S two codes will be competing for the nation’s attention this weekend – and it’s a safe bet that a friendly will upstage a World Cup match when the viewing figures are announced.

At Twickenham on Saturday, Argentina’s Pumas – ranked 10th best team in the world – will be the visitors. The place will be packed and according to Sky, who will be showing the game, we are in for a real treat.

A day later – on BBC and Premier TV – England’s RL team will face France in a World Cup tie in Perth, Western Australia. Nobody, as far as I know, has claimed that game will be anything special.

The fact that England will win both games comfortably, and that neither will be seriously competitive hardly matters – especially if you are a rugby union fan.

When it comes to the Big Sell, the 15-a-side brand wins every time.

On Saturday, a crowd of almost 63,000 turned up to see an invitation team cobbled together to play under the title of Barbarians take on a second-string New Zealand XV.

I suspect hardly any of them even cared who won.

A glance through the national press coverage of the World Cup – if you can find any – and the autumn RU series shows how far down the list of the nation’s sporting importance the league code stands. It has all the impact of a secret society.

But the game’s fans don’t help the cause. The league fraternity in Australia, where the 13-man game is far and away the more popular of the two codes, is hardly embracing the World Cup.

A 10,000 crowd in a 40,000-capacity stadium (England v Lebanon) hardly gives the image of a game in good health. And, unlike union fans, supporters of rugby league are not impressed by one-sided mismatches where the winners rattle up 70 or more points.

Both sports have a lot going for them – it’s just a fact that rugby union is so much better at selling fan appeal.

NOBODY expects an England manager to be a bundle of fun, so Gareth Southgate appears to be the perfect fit.

It is not a job full of laughs, but there are times when an odd smile would not be out of place.

When Southgate chose to tear a strip off our Under-17s for posing with their shirts on back-to-front for their photo call after winning the World Cup, he was reminding them that their success was all about the team and not the individual.

It’s more than 50 years since England won the World Cup at Wembley and those of us with long memories could talk forever about the hat-trick of Geoff Hurst, the leadership of Bobby Moore, the victory jig of Nobby Stiles, the Charlton brothers, the energy of Alan Ball and the management of Alf Ramsey.

Maybe the lads simply wanted to remind us all of who they are because they don’t want to be forgotten before they are much older.