WHEN asked to discuss his job prospects, shortly before his career took another, stumbling step down a blind alley, the Leeds manager Howard Wilkinson said: "Good managers give in when they want to give in, not when other people want them to give in.
A nice line but despite the defiance of a most commendably stubborn man, the question, surely, is how long can Wilkinson continue to seek personal redemption in any insular world where what little praise and encouragement there is comes in his own echoing words.
Strangely, after seeing his side reduced not to rubble but to dust, Wilkinson could still raise a smile, albeit by way of uncomfortable gallows humour. When asked if this unedifying debacle represented his club's poorest showing against the tradition enemy since his arrival back in 1988, he quipped: "We can do worse than that if we try."
Really? I doubt it. The rather thin joke which has carried its way through the ranks of the less sympathetic Leeds supporters like a Chinese whisper is that having brought in four new players in the summer, Wilkinson is now just seven short of having a decent team.
A bit harsh, maybe, but like all sarcasm there is a measure of truth held therein. Wilkinson is probably right when he asserts that the foundations are in place, the problem being that while the skeleton may be strong the flesh is so very weak.
"Some played with too much apprehension, too much fear, too much nervousness," he said, "but, my players did try; there was no dishonesty out there today."
Wilkinson has always taken comfort and found solace where there is seemingly none to be taken or found, but the out standing individual contributions of goalkeeper Martyn and lone striker Rush apart, to praise any aspect of his team's performance was to invite ridicule.
Orchestrated sublimely by Poborsky and Cantona Manchester United were inspired, a state of Nirvana they will be required to attain again in Turin on Wednesday night if their Champions League campaign is to open with a flourish against Juventus.
"A performance like that makes it even more difficult for me to settle on my best side," said Alex Ferguson, neither boasting nor gloating. So much of Manchester United's football was irresistible and even when their best laid plans were undone by faultless over ambition, there was always a measured calmness about them.
Even when things went awry there was the promise of goals and that, in essence, was the difference for even when things fell into place for Leeds, they did not seem likely to score.
Leeds' best chance almost certainly lay in scoring first and then hanging on. A sensible enough tactic against worthy opponents but one undone as early as the second minute when Ronny Johnsen's persistence at a corner resulted in Harte's clearance finding his own net after striking Martyn's back.
"After the second goal went in it was goodnight Vienna," said Wilkinson. Butt's cunningly placed shot just after half time did, indeed, signal the end of Leeds, but not until Poborsky sprinted clear to add a third on 76 minutes was the gulf between the uniteds truly exposed. After atoning for an earlier failure from the penalty spot by proficiently finishing substitute Solskjaer's cross in the dying seconds, Cantona did his best to add a dash of controversy by unnecessarily extending his celebrations in front of the Leeds fans.
It didn't actually matter because by that point even English football's most waspish audience had fallen silent.
McBride, who has been a Glenavon regular for more than 10 years, was oft loaded to Linfield in the close season, and yesterday the decisive strike gave him the last laugh.
