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IN his loneliest moments, Brian Kidd must wonder about the wisdom of leaving Old Trafford.

 This week the former second-in-command to Sir Alex Ferguson was sacked by Blackburn Rovers after 11 months in charge.

 It was not the most surprising news to emerge from British football this season but, for Kidd, it had to be totally shattering.

 These have been the most demanding and ultimately the most damaging 11 months in his distinguished career.

 His close association with United, which began with a superb playing career, was continued as assistant to Sir Alex.

 Now he is out of a job with his reputation so damaged that future employment at a worthwhile level looks unlikely.

 That is the gamble taken when opting to go it alone in any walk of life.

 There are so many pictures available of Sir Alex and Kidd embracing in victory that it is difficult to believe there was tension between the two in the final months before he departed.

 According to Sir Alex's autobiography, penned with the invaluable assistance of Hugh McIlvanney, Kidd had given advice and opinions to the board when the manager was on holiday.

 Rightly or wrongly, it suggested some behind-the-back manoeuvrings by Kidd.

 It also led to threatened legal action by the now former Blackburn Rovers manager against Sir Alex, although nothing more has been heard of late about that.

 The supreme irony last year was the meeting of United and Rovers, where a goalless draw consigned the latter to the First Division. As so often in sport, truth was stranger than fiction.

 The failure of Kidd could be used to suggest that there are those in any walk of life who are truly better off being number two to the top man.

 Sir Alex is a genius of a manager but nobody has suggested he is a really nice guy when it comes to football.

 Incidentally, when indulging his prime recreational activity - horse racing - he is extremely pleasant and good company.

 While it is ridiculous to suggest that nice guys finish last, it is true that when it comes to successfully managing any sporting outfit a long, wide streak of ruthlessness is required.

 It is fatal to hold on to a player, no matter how faithful he has been, for a season too long. If a mistake has been made, correct it immediately - even if it means selling at a loss. Sir Alex has never shirked those decisions.

 Kidd has always been seen as a perennial nice guy. He was obviously closer to the players at Old Trafford in that he was on the training ground all the time.

 His would be the arm, metaphorically or otherwise, that would go round the shoulder when things were going wrong.

 In the book, Sir Alex dismisses Kidd as a future United manager and it is not something with which many would disagree. In the wake of the legendary Sir Matt Busby, the managerial casualties at Old Trafford were painfully plenty.

 It is not easy to follow a legend and it is even more difficult if one has been intimately associated with a club as a famous former player. In such cases, the heart rules the head and the will to succeed does not permit the thought of what happens if failure results.

 One harkens back to Wilf McGuinness, a fine midfield player for United whose failure in the managerial chair as Sir Matt's successor left him bruised, diminished and, finally, in a coaching position in the lower divisions.

 How much Kidd really wanted to strike out on his own and how much tension there was behind the Old Trafford scenes between the manager and his assistant, we will probably never know.

 The fact that Kidd accepted the job was a much greater surprise than his departure this week.

 Roy Hodgson, who has very considerable international experience, had taken Blackburn into the top six in his first campaign but nothing went right last season.

 The wrong signs were there before Hodgson was on his way, not least the ill-feeling engendered by feuding between the then manager and Tim Sherwood, his erstwhile captain.

 Enter Kidd, the nice guy whose life had been bound up in the glories of Old Trafford.

 As so often happens with horses who change trainers, there was an immediate response and he actually won a Manager of the Month award.

 But the problems at Blackburn were deep rooted and Kidd could not solve them, his exasperation finally coming out publicly with his 'rubber dinghy men' jibe after a fatal defeat by already doomed Nottingham Forest.

 Owner Sir Jack Walker kept faith with Kidd, who off-loaded a few players, and they did seem one of the better bets to go up this season. They are now struggling on the edge of the First Division relegation zone.

 There is some irony in the interim appointment of Tony Parkes as caretaker manager. This is the fourth time he has done the job and he has done it well, too.

 But Parkes has been adamant that he has no interest in being a manager, the assistant's position is good enough for him.

 Kidd might have been better advised to think along the same lines.

parkbyglo Robin Parke Parke View 



United Kidd was always second best at struggling Blackburn