It’s a funny but serious war!

> How two respected coaches in Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte can be this distasteful is remarkable – and hilarious <

so, it has also reached a personal level that has gone far beyond FergusonWenger and even Revie-Clough. That is also the thrill of it. A lot of this may be unseemly, may be ill-advised, may be distasteful and may serve as a distraction from the football, but it is the very football that adds to the thrill.

It is genuinely remarkable – and hilarious – that two men as respected as this, and as hugely accomplished in the game as this, will so willingly sink to such levels; to get so dirty in public.

There is that slightly guilty joy at the prospect of what they’ll say next; where they’ll be willing to go. They’ve already gone quite far. Even before Mourinho dropped the “match-fixing” bomb, and Conte called him up on his disingenuousness – in this case related to the self-serving use of Claudio Ranieri’s sacking given their previous relationship – that other managers have privately discussed, there was the possible inference from the Chelsea boss that the Portuguese may be past it and uses the “cinema” of this to distract from it.

“I don’t know, now it is very difficult to do only cinema,” Conte said.

“Maybe in the past with the cinema it was enough. Now you have to show football knowledge and the cinema is not enough for the coach.”

Whatever the ongoing debate about that, there’s absolutely no way that Mourinho is past it as regards his media performance. This proved he’s very much still got it.

Really, Mourinho’s delivery of the match-fixing drive-by was like a master story-teller – or joke-teller – bringing you along a certain path, making you think one way, before the abrupt and drastic change of direction, and a lasting sting.

When the Manchester United boss was asked about Conte’s “demenza senile” comment, he initially – and mostly - went on for two minutes and 25 seconds about how this was all a big misunderstanding, that the press should apologise for how they phrased the questions etc etc.

He sounded so sincere, so earnest, except that was all build-up. The setup before the punchline. There was then the mere 13 seconds that have dominated so much of the discussion, as he performed his mic-drop moment.

The tone was also pitch-perfect, even if it was a rare occasion when a manager barb had to actually be ran past lawyers to see how it could be printed. last season, especially at Old Trafford.

That 2-0 Manchester United win was one of the few times in Mourinho’s tenure at the club that they have really looked like a peak Mourinho side, intensely driven to the limit, and it was of course in response to the riled-up Chelsea that beat them 1-0 in the FA Cup. So what will this be like? Who wouldn’t get excited for such a game? It’s like a pay-per-view buildup. It would be the theatre with the sport, only further electrifying. It need distract from it, or be empty. It is all part of the show – a show that may well go on. – The Independent