"If Gary Shelton treats us like that we'll ban him from the press box buffet."

The Tampa Bay media is a bunch of scared timid pussycats compared to their counterparts in New York and London.

For example, if you’ve ever wanted to sample the kind the beating the Glazer Boys take over in England for their ownership decisions with Manchester United, Joe recommends you check a recent effort by Henry Winter, of the Telegraph in London.

Sweeping through the crowd, pushing people out of the way, came a phalanx of bouncers with the Glazer sons in their midst. As well as deeply rude, such strong-arm tactics were completely unnecessary. Joel Glazer is hardly Brad Pitt.

Hollywood hysteria does not usually grip Wigan on a match-day. More pertinently, there was no hint of any antagonism towards United’s controversial American owners, whose arrogance towards the fans who keep United going was as thick as it was offensive. The “Love United, Hate Glazer” campaign gained a few converts outside the JJB.

For those of us who had been conversing with United supporters, who witnessed the Glazers’ high-handedness, the unfavourable impression created when their father Malcolm plunged the club into debt was underlined. No cash, no class: that’s the Glazers.

And this is how the Glazers are treated while fielding a championship soccer team that is on the verge of another title in 2009.

Imagine if Manchester United performed like the Bucs or fielded the soccer equivalent of Brian Griese? The Glazers would have to double that “phalynx of bouncers,” for sure.