Or, as a colleague indignantly put it, failing to include Julius Caesar in a history of the Roman Empire.Even if Law chose to tell the BBC what they could painfully do with a predictably flawed programme (allowing for dumb editorial constraints), it was not an excuse for overlooking his consistently dramatic contribution to Manchester United’s success during the Busby era.The day after the programme went out I spoke with one of its more credible contributors, the boxing manager and trainer Brian Hughes, whose genuine passion for the club provided relief from a bombardment of populist drivel. This was roughly the equivalent of producing a history of horse racing without reference to Lester Piggott Ignoring Rocky Marciano’s status in heavyweight boxing Len Hutton’s in cricket. An hour-long history of the club, punctuated with the prattling of celebrity supporters, gave not a mention to any of them.
Having arrived at a point in my life where nothing in sport seems to matter very much and nothing very much matters, I watched the programme with only half an eye until it became clear that Law had been written out of the script. The careers of Denis Law, Jimmy Murphy, Nobby Stiles, Pat Crerand and other notable figures from Manchester United’s past went untouched on BBC television last Sunday night in a welter of omission. Substitutes not used: De Goey (gk), Ferrer, Keenan.Referee: C Foy (Merseyside) 7..

Substitutes not used: Niemi (gk), Oakley, Monk.Chelsea (4-4-2): Cudicini 7; Melchiot 4, Desailly 6, Gallas 5, Babayaro 4; De Lucas 7, Lampard 7, Gronkjaer 7, Zenden 7 (Stanic, 85); Hasselbaink 3 (Gudjohnsen 7, h-t), Zola 7. As Southampton had not scored in either the draw at home to Middlesbrough, or the defeat at Liverpool last Saturday, there was an edginess around the place to begin with, but by the end Gordon Strachan was at his smiling best: “If we keep performing like that, we’ll have a very good season.”Southampton (4-4-2): Jones 6; Telfer 4, M Svensson 4, Williams 4, Bridge 7; Fernandes 6, Marsden 8, A Svensson 6, Delap 6; Beattie 7, Pahars 5 (Tessem 6, 70; Ormerod, 86). A year ago this week Chelsea played in the inaugural Premiership match at a new St Mary’s, inflicting a 2-0 defeat. He fed the ball to Lampard, who avoided Michael Svensson’s lunge and put the ball past Paul Jones. Chelsea did not deserve to be behind but might have conceded again before Gudjohnsen, having miscued badly when again put through by Zola, did better in setting up an equaliser. Within two minutes of the restart he played a neat one-two with Gianfranco Zola before chipping just wide of the far post.Shortly afterwards, however, Southampton were ahead with a spectacular goal, curled in by Fernandes as another testing Marsden cross was knocked out to him. Ranieri took him off at half-time, unconvincingly citing the game with Arsenal on Sunday, and the substitute Eidur Gudjohnsen proved a greater threat.

James Beattie met Bridge’s centre at the near post with a glancing header that Carlo Cudicini did well to keep out.Chelsea’s least effective performer was Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. Southampton’s strength was the running and crossing of Wayne Bridge and Chris Marsden down the left, which produced the first save by either goalkeeper, after almost half an hour. In a moderate first half, they duly played much of the football, created a host of the chances and missed the lot.The best of them was spurned midway through the half, when Paul Telfer failed to clear Gronkjaer’s cross and William Gallas shot far too high. With Boudewijn Zenden on the other, the visitors had an attacking shape. Their manager, Claudio Ranieri, blamed that on costly mistakes and wasted chances, while admitting that his team still find it hard going against such direct, combative teams.He restricted himself to only one change, enforced by an injury to Emmanuel Petit, by bringing in Jesper Gronkjaer on one flank. Fabrice Fernandes, the France midfielder, claimed it with a splendid strike soon after half-time; the improving Frank Lampard made sure the game finished with the right result with an equaliser 10 minutes from the end.It was, though, a much less vibrant Chelsea performance than in the 2-2 draw against Manchester United last Friday. Chelsea may have already beaten one of their bogey teams, Charlton Athletic, this season, but Southampton, another side they expect to beat as of right, proved obdurate opposition last night, fighting for everything and growing more confident after finally scoring a Premiership goal.

Substitutes not used: Macho (gk), McCartney, Quinn,Referee: M Halsey (Lancashire).. Substitutes not used: Martyn (gk), Kelly, Woodgate.Sunderland (4-5-1): Sorensen 5; Wright 6, Babb 5, Bjorklund 5, Gray 5; Butler 7, Reyna 6, Thirlwell 6, Piper 6 (Arca, 76), McAteer 6; Phillips 6 (Kyle, 78). Sunderland, in contrast, entertain Manchester United next, though after this performance the prospects may not seem quite so daunting.Leeds United (4-3-2-1): Robinson 7; Mills 5, Radebe 5, Matteo 5, Harte 6; Bowyer 5, Bakke 4 (Dacourt 5, 55), Barmby 4 (Keane 6, 55); Kewell 5, Smith 7; Viduka 6. But teams will come here to try to frustrate us, which is a bit of a complement.”We have got to brush ourselves down now and get ready for the next match.”Leeds’ two victories this term have both come against newly promoted clubs, Manchester City and West Bromwich, and they will be hoping to make it a hat trick when they visit Birmingham on Saturday. We got caught cold with the goal and it was uphill from there. “That’s what they came for and they did well at what they set out to achieve.”We knocked the ball about well but we should have been a bit quicker But getting it nearly right is not good enough. As Leeds’ desperation increased in the second half, Paul Thirlwell blocked a Viduka shot on the line and Alan Smith saw his effort deflected over the top when he pounced on the rebound.There were a couple of half-hearted penalty appeals which the referee was right to refuse but for all their efforts Leeds were largely the architects of their own misfortune because of their inability to play the telling ball in the final third.Venables was magnanimous after his first defeat as Leeds’ new manager.