Given the balance of play at no point during our recent games with Sunderland or Hull did I think we’d lose either match. More fool me. But had it not been for some highly questionable refereeing we could, should and almost certainly would have won both.

Against Hull Adebayor had, what looked to me, to be a good goal disallowed by Alan Wiley. Had the goal counted at the time Emmanuel headed home then it could have been an altogether different match. That same weekend United were gifted a penalty by Rob Styles when Ronaldo swan-dived over his own shadow in the Bolton box when their match was still in the balance at nil-nil. Quite why yellow cards cannot be awarded retrospectively for such abject cheating is beyond me, but then the clowns who run football are also totally beyond my comprehension.

I can’t blame Mr Mason for disallowing Van Persie’s goal this week at the Stadium of Light because it was his assistant who wrongly ruled Walcott’s cross to be over the goal line before he set up Robin with his well taken chance. Had we gone a goal up the Black Cats would have been compelled to abandon their boring 10-0-1 formation and the chances are we would have had many more chances to tie up the three points.

But at Ewood Park once again United were benefiting from the generosity of refs, this time it was Steve Bennett who allowed Vidic to barge Jason Brown, Blackburn’s stand in keeper, out the way - thus enabling Wes Brown to head home.

‘What if’ situations obviously count for nothing in football however but the ‘respect’ campaign missed out on one prime fundamental: respect has to earned. If the refs have already decided it is to be United’s League title again and are determined to gift it to them I don’t really see there is much Arsene can do about it. Other than make Cesc captain and play Vela of course.