Whats that they say about doctors and the folly of self-treatment? In March of 1998, with Manchester United a towering 12 points ahead of Arsenal in the Barclays Premier League table, a risk-aversive local Manchester bookmaker decided to shell out the winnings nice and early for all his customers who had invested in a fifth title in six seasons for Sir Alex Fergusons band of merry football men. We now know, of course ,United suffered a calamitous run of form which included a home defeat to the eventual champions, Arsenal. "Betfred" Fred Dones gamble that his beloved Manchester United would prevail ended up costing the bookie a not-so very cool million bucks. Ferguson vented his spleen and, in no uncertain terms, let the bookie know, as the vernacular-laced Old Trafford statesman demanded there would be no repeat early payout on a United title. Well, no need to guess what happened the day after April Fools Day in 2012. Six weeks later, the Etihad was euphoric as the blue half of Manchester swept Uniteds title aspirations aside in a come-from-behind win over QPR. History has an awful record of repeating itself down Old Trafford way, or should we say, down Sir Matt Busby Way. Those preseason whispered silence comparisons between Sir Matt handing off the United torch to Frank OFarrell with Ferguson inviting Moyes round for a cup of tea to tell him hed be the next United gaffer went up a decibel or 10 following two-straight BPL defeats at home to kick off December. To follow up, that raspberry they kicked off 2014 with the unheard of three-straight defeats in three separate competitions, which included the champions getting knocked out of the FA Cup and finding themselves trailing Sunderland 2-1 heading into the second leg of their League Cup semi-final tie. All of this has got the red half of Manchester screaming louder than their now noisy neighbours. Its as pointless for them, though, to offer up Moyes as their sacrificial lamb as it is for Fergusons successor to lay blame with the officials for Manchester Uniteds glaring inadequacies. The "playing referees, as well as the opposition" post-match comment from Moyes following Tuesday nights Sunderland defeat sounds as if hes torn a few pages from the well-thumbed Ferguson copy book. Where he didnt sound one bit Ferguson like was in the timid words he uttered the day previously in the pre-match press conference - when Moyes spoke of "trying" to win the game in the "hope" his club would get to a Wembley Stadium cup final. "Try?" Well, thats a euphemism for failure. I "tried" to score, but shanked it high and wide. "Hope" is four letters-long and for those who tend to not do as well in the coping stakes. With a PhD in distract and divert, Ferguson was a master of manipulating the media at his weekly Carrington press briefings. Not that Im advocating for Moyes to turn into a Ferguson impersonator, far from it, though, he does need some lessons in positive reinforcement. No matter how close he gets to the players in the dressing room, Moyes wont ever get close to the respect levels of his predecessor. Like hard fought wins, respect has to be earned. Moyes cant allow himself to morph into Manchester Uniteds version of Andre Villas-Boas, who, after only one night after been installed as Chelsea boss, paraded around Chelseas regal training complex in Cobham like a preened peacock - strutting his football gospel as he demanded immediate and complete respect from his players, many of whom were there when Villas-Boas was part of Jose Mourinhos back room staff during his original early-2000s tenure. There in a scouting capacity, Spurs fans can now attest to the fact that AVB isnt close to even resembling the Special Ones parody puppet that, in a previous life, had his own Special One TV series. Twenty matches in, and with a disastrous six defeats already this season, quite remarkably Moyess Manchester United record stands him ahead of where both Busby and Ferguson were at the same stage in their debut seasons at the Old Trafford helm. On top of that, factor in that Moyes inherited an aged squad that was thinner on the high-calibre player front than any hairline of Wayne Rooneys. Ferguson prided himself on building from within alongside astute investments in the transfer market. Tom Cleverley has been at the club since age 12, but he obviously wasnt listening, observing or paying much attention whilst in the company of players like Paul Scholes. What on earth did Ferguson see in Chris Smalling, a player who only got his first start as a Fulham player a mere 13 months and 12 more appearances later, before joining United for that world famous "undisclosed fee?" The only thing that you could legitimately compare Smalling to with his club captain and fellow central defender, Nemanja Vidic, is the fact Ferguson purchased both players in the January window. The words "not fit to lace my boots up" come to mind. Not long after Rooneys infamous "Manchester United lack ambition" bon mots when he was agitating for a move back in 2010, Ferguson banished Rooney to the Nike campus in Beaverton, Oregon to continue his rehabilitation from an injury layoff. I hear Harvard is seeking visiting professors. With much football still to play, talk of the title is not rational, but grabbing a Champions League spot is not that improbable. They are, after all, only five points adrift of Liverpool in fourth position. Missing out on Europes preeminent tournament wouldnt be a bad thing, though. It would certainly fast track a much needed Old Trafford player flush. Then, factor in what a season on the Champion League sidelines did for two of European footballs most illustrious clubs. After falling a very distant six points outside of the qualification spots for the 2007-2008 Champions League, the current European Champions, Bayern Munich, responded to that failure by reaching three of the last five finals. Youve got to love that German resolve and, my, what a perfect response to losing the 2012 final in their own backyard at the Allianz Arena. An unprecedented sixth-place finish in the 2002-2003 La Liga season saw Barcelona miss out on Champions League qualification. The Blaugrana returned to the fold the following season and went on to conquer Europe three times in only six seasons. The indelible image for me from Sundays 2-1 FA Cup defeat to their BPL opponents on Saturday afternoon, Swansea City, wasnt Wilfried Bonys last-gasp winner. It was to come just a few minutes later, when the 10 United players trudged off the pitch following the final whistle. Tongues lie, but body language does not. The only thing they seemed to have in common was walking in the same direction. To a man, none of them seemed engaged in any form of a meaningful conversation, nor did any of them display a much needed look of anger. If they did, the response at Sunderland 48 hours later would have been of high resolve and steely determination. My, how Moyes could do with borrowing a turbo-charged hair dryer from Sir Alexs collection right about now. With the late kick off on Saturday, United will be fully aware how the two teams directly above them, Spurs and Everton, fared. No point in watching in on them, though, because they cant control or influence those two outcomes. The 75,000-plus Old Trafford faithful will not likely enjoy their pre-match pie and pint as much as they would have done over the past two-plus decades. A certain apprehension and, likely, that famous Manchester rain will be in the air come kick-off. A fourth-straight defeat cant be contemplated, as next up for the champions is a visit to Mourinho and Stamford Bridge. Currently out injured, I guess, if nothing else, the January 19 date with Chelsea gives Wayne and Colleen opportunity to go house hunting in west London. Listen to Manchester United vs. Swansea City at 12pm et/9am pt live on TSN Radio 1050 and the TEAM Radio Network. Cheap NHL Jerseys . Chicagos current 10-game road trip took it to the Rogers Centre last night, a place where the White Sox had lost 12 of their previous 14 trips. However, they were able to break through last night in a tight 3-1 victory thanks to a pair of errors by the Blue Jays in the ninth inning. Cheap NBA Jerseys . Yunel Escobar hit a two-run homer off Garrett Richards (2-1) in Torontos seven-run second inning and Brett Lawrie of Langley, B.C., added some insurance with a three-run shot in the eighth. http://www.cheapjerseyspl.us.com/ . Five victories, two of them World Golf Championship events along with the Players. You need a pretty sturdy mantle piece to hold the hardware from those events. Cheap MLB Jerseys . Since Im the first one to emphasize that overall statistics (or standings) are not necessarily representative of the current value for a team, especially with respect to injuries, these statistics merely provide a baseline for the series, perhaps providing an idea what a team needs to do in order to emerge victorious. Cheap Jerseys . The bounce in his step after every birdie. His name at the top of the leaderboard.Just when it appeared as though the Boston Bruins might secure the services of Calgary Flames RW Jarome Iginla, the Pittsburgh Penguins swooped in and completed a trade, their third of the week, as they load up for a Stanley Cup run. Numbers Game examines Pittsburghs latest deal, adding a proven veteran scorer to what is already the leagues highest-scoring team. The Penguins Get: RW Jarome Iginla. Iginla, 35, has scored 525 goals and 1095 points in 1218 career games (plus 28 goals and 49 points in 54 career playoff games), but his production is down this year. Through 31 games, Iginla has nine goals and 22 points with 100 shots on goal and a minus-7 rating, playing 19:18 per game. Iginlas goal total is lower than usual thanks to his shooting percentage (9.0%), his lowest since his second year in the league, 1997-98. While his shots per game (3.23) is down from his peak years, it matches up well with two of the past three seasons and those were years in which Iginla finished with 32 goals, so hes not completely ineffective at the offensive end, even if his numbers arent measuring up to his typical season. Advanced stats suggest that Iginla has been relatively unlucky this season, at both ends of the rink. That doesnt mean hes still the same old Iggy but, with his track record of being able to put the puck in the net, even if hes lost a step, hes generating enough shots on a consistent basis to believe that he could still be a valuable scorer for a contender. In fact, moving to Pittsburgh could very well provide even better opportunities for Iginla. One of the longstanding issues in Calgary has been the lack of a bona fide playmaking centre to take full advantage of Iginlas scoring ability. While his ability has naturally decreased over time, the opportunity to join the Penguins and play with Sidney Crosby could afford Iginla a bounty of quality scoring chances. How that shakes out the rest of the Penguins lines remains to be seen, particularly while the Penguins wait for Evgeni Malkin to return from injury but, ultimately, if Iginla were to join Crosby and Chris Kunitz (because it seems unlikely to break up that duo), then Pascal Dupuis and Brenden Morrow would be left to vie for a spot on the wing with Malkin and James Neal. Dupuis production this year would figure to give him the edge and allow the Penguins to roll Morrow through their bottom six, along with wingers Tyler Kennedy, Beau Bennett and Matt Cooke. Thats rare depth for todays NHL. Iginla comes at a $7-million salary cap hit this season, and will be an unrestricted free agent in the summer. If all goes well, which means Iginla scores and the Penguins win a Stanley Cup, there may be an appetite to work out a contract extension but, if not, hes free to hit the open market in the summer and the Penguins arent tied into any long-term commitment. For the relatively modest assets that they gave up to acquire Iginla, the Penguins are big winners. They were already Cup contenders and just raised the bar for other contenders by landing one of the best available pending free agents on the trade market. The Flames Get: LW Ken Agostino, LW Ben&nnbsp;Hanowski and a first-round pick.dddddddddddd Agostino is a 20-year-old junior at Yale, who has scored 96 points in 97 career games in his collegiate career. He was a fifth-round pick of the Penguins in 2010 and while there may be some offensive upside to his game, hes not an elite prospect. Hell have a chance to be a pro winger, but may never have an impact on the Flames lineup. Hanowski, 22, is a winger with good size (6-foot-2, 210 pounds) who just wrapped up a four-year college career at St. Cloud State, where he scored 39 goals and 72 points in 73 games over his last two seasons. He has some offensive ability, but it may not translate to the pro game. If he can use his size effectively, though, he might be able to earn an NHL role at some point. The most valuable piece of the puzzle coming to Calgary is the Penguins first-round pick. Even if it ends up being 30th overall, or thereabouts, there is close to a break-even chance that the player will turn out to be an NHL regular and thats better than can be said for Agostino and Hanowski, whose NHL futures are uncertain. This isnt to condemn the Flames for their return (Bostons rumoured offer of C Alexander Khokhlachev, D Matt Bartkowski and a first-round pick was more appealing), however. Its a function of a veteran player with a no-movement clause getting to decide where he would like to play. The Penguins had better prospects (including at least a handful of defencemen), but why bother offering them if Iginla selects Pittsburgh (over Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles, reportedly) as his preferred destination? Either the Flames play ball and get what they can from the Penguins or end up with Iginla playing out the string until the end of his contract this summer. With Iginla moving on from the only NHL franchise for which hes ever played, the Flames now have to be prepared to undergo a serious rebuilding effort. Veterans like Mike Cammalleri, Jay Bouwmeester and Miikka Kiprusoff may not be shed before the trade deadline (or maybe they will), but could be part of the roster overhaul before next season. The Flames have put off rebuilding for so long that its going to take some time to turn the franchise around, stockpiling young talent so that they can be a playoff team year after year instead of a team just good enough to miss the postseason, as they have the past three seasons. In the short-term, wingers Jiri Hudler and Lee Stempniak could see more playing time with Iginla gone from the top of the depth chart and prospect Sven Baertschi could get another look after his latest stint in the American Hockey League. Its a changing of the guard in Calgary, as they move out one of their franchise icons and while the return is underwhelming, its the change of direction for the franchise that is more significant. Theres plenty of heavy lifting required to improve the Flames for the long haul and the trade of Jarome Iginla to the Penguins begins that process in earnest. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. 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