THEY were all there, lined up for you to take your pick – those regular stock phrases and sound-bites that are heard whenever the phone-in lines fall into the hands of the unhappy football fan.

The manager had either lost the plot, lost the dressing room or just lost another match. Even worse, he had no Plan B.

There is no greater wrath on a Saturday evening than a disgruntled fan and targets over the weekend were Norwich boss Alex Neil, Crystal Palace’s Alan Pardew and Claudio Ranieri – yes, that one who led Leicester City to the Premier League title and into the last 16 of the Champions League.

Norwich and Palace are on the slide, and Leicester have a better chance of becoming European champions than English champions.

However, all Ranieri seems to have lost is his lucky rabbit’s foot and the idea of sacking him – somebody suggested bringing back Nigel Pearson – had even Robbie Savage spluttering into his BBC studio coffee.

The bad news for Neil and Pardew is that 17 managers in the Premier League and Football League have left their jobs already, and the sacking season is still a few weeks away.

And if either of them is looking over his shoulder, he’ll find a big black shadow lurking. No vacancy ever comes up without the name of Big Sam appearing in the frame.

As a caller to a radio phone-in suggested: Watch this space.

Meanwhile, friend Jose – who, according to at least one Monday morning headline, has “lost the plot” – managed to wangle his way into the best seat in the Theatre of Dreams by kicking over a water bottle. Is there no justice?

BARROW Island’s return to the National Conference League is a bold move by the club and, by joining Millom and Askam in amateur rugby league’s flagship competition, they will offer their players and local fans a wider choice of Saturday afternoon visitors to Rating Lane.

They have been there before, but their return is a clear message to those in charge of the county’s amateur game.

Sadly, it will also rob us of one of local sport’s top rivalries – the always entertaining derby with Walney – and could mean another nail in the coffin of the four-year-old Cumbria League.

A succession of unplayed games at the end of last season clearly prompted the club’s switch. The move means that our eight local clubs are playing in five different competitions – spread over the year.

IT was never likely to go away quietly, but the curtain came down on the Formula One season in Abu Dhabi with accusations of anarchy and dirty tricks – and a new world champion driver.

It was no surprise that race winner and now former champion Lewis Hamilton was the man at the centre of the storm.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff – the word ‘team’ in car racing clearly means something completely different from any of the 13 definitions I could find – supposedly accused Hamilton of anarchic tactics in his attempt to retain his crown. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel said Lewis employed dirty tricks by backing up the cars behind in the hope of keeping Nico Rosberg out of the first three.

One suggestion was that the tactics might cost Hamilton his £30m contract with Mercedes. Another was that pigs had been spotted flying over the circuit.

All will now be quiet on the Formula One front for a few months and the cars will return in 2017 with a host of new rules and instructions.

One of them may well be to tell their drivers to go faster.

AUSTRALIAN Eddie Jones doesn’t like the way next Saturday’s opponents in the final autumn Test have shown a lack of respect towards his England team, who are unbeaten in 2016.

An Australian having a go at Australia – a reminder of the first-ever rugby league State of Origin refereed by our own Billy Thompson. It was a major battle with regular brawls breaking out.

When he was asked by ARL officials after the game why he did not step in and send somebody off, Yorkshireman Billy's memorable reply was: “What? And stop the fun of seeing 26 Aussies knocking lumps off each other?”

PETER WILSON