THE expected physical clash between captains Patrick Vieira and Roy Keane didn't materialise during Saturday's FA Cup final. But plenty was going on in the build-up to the game.

The Government's message to the nation, since the election, has been about respect.

But this seemed to by-pass these bitter rivals. Keane was quoted as saying "it makes me laugh" in reference to Vieira's charity work and "players going on about how they are saving that country but when they have the opportunity to play for them - well it's probably none of my business."

Vieira, who chose to play for France instead of his native Senegal, replied: "For someone (Keane) who leaves his team in the World Cup when they really need him, I think he should keep that kind of remark to himself."

Perhaps boxing gloves should have been handed out to the two adversaries as part of the pre-match warm-up with Delia 'let's be 'avin you' Smith the referee.

Rewind the clock 43 years, when Burnley lined up against Tottenham Hotspur in the 1962 final. Things were rather different.

Clarets skipper Jimmy Adamson and Spurs' Danny Blanchflower were great friends.

Jim told me this week: "Danny even popped round to our hotel before the final to have a chat with Mac and myself. There was a comradeship between the teams and players.

"Danny was a super player and whenever we played them it always developed into a tactical battle because we were the two best teams in the country."

I asked Jim if he had any particular memories of the day.

"Well the game passed so quickly - too quickly for us - and it's the only time I've ever suffered from cramp, in the last 10 minutes of the match. Must have been the lush turf.

"The other thing I can recall was the roar of the crowd. We'd played in front of 50 to 60,000 in France and Germany in the European Cup, but 100,000 at Wembley was something else.

"We were disappointed not to win the trophy, but at least we can say we'd been there."

It would be nice to think of those times returning

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On Sunday I ran in the 10k Great Manchester run along with 20,000 other competitors.

No I didn't threaten the Olympic champion, Haile Gebrselassie, who smashed the UK all-comers record, shaving 14 seconds off the time set by Felix Limo, to finish in 27 minutes 25 seconds.

But on the day, everyone was a winner, raising millions for their favourite charities.

Each one had a story to tell of a friend or relative who had been affected by some life-threatening illness.

It brought it home to me when I ran for about a mile behind a guy with a Cancer Research UK t-shirt showing a picture of a man's face. Underneath it said 'for a super dad and granddad'.