IT was sad to hear about the messy end to Warrington Town's joint management partnership but it does not come as a huge surprise to me.

That is no slight on either Glenn Walker or Nick Armitage, who both put their heart and soul into the club, but such partnerships always seem doomed to end in failure.

I really have to struggle to think of examples of joint bosses producing the goods in the long term and it is a format that is fraught with danger.

Sweden's successful 2002 World Cup duo of Lars Lagerback and Tommy Soderberg are the first ones that spring to mind, but so does Liverpool's disastrous pairing of Roy Evans and Gerard Houllier.

The chances of success are usually slim and the chances of the two managers remaining on good terms afterwards are even slimmer.

After all, who do players turn to for advice and who has the final say when, as is inevitable eventually, there are conflicting opinions?

Either no-one does, which makes disputes almost impossible to resolve, or one person does and so is effectively the man in control - joint boss or not.

As someone who supported a side that produced two league wins in four months under such a system - the ill-fated partnership between Colin Todd and Roy McFarland ultimately sent Bolton down in 1995/96 - no-one can persuade me it is a good idea.

And that is a shame. I liked Walker and Armitage - both frank, committed coaches - and wanted them to succeed.

They managed it for a while but it seems the summer was not so plain sailing.

I dearly hope Walker can set Town on the right path now and Armitage can find success wherever he is next employed.

Armitage is taking the opportunity for a rare holiday at the moment and Roy Keane's dog Triggs must be booked on a plane to Magaluf after another strenuous spell in the spotlight.

You know something's going on with Keano when faithful Triggs is out for his 13th walk of the day, muttering under his breath: "Just sign the damn contract, Roy."

Keane, of course, is the world class manager appointed by Sunderland's 'muppet' chairman Niall Quinn - Keane's words not mine - and one can only hope his man management skills have improved considerably during the past 12 months.

If not, the post-match Press conference after the loss at Barnsley is going to be worth seeing.

The local journalists will have fun this season dealing with Keane, which is surely more than can be said for those who cover Reading.

I think I'd be spending long interviews with Steve Coppell - a monotone man with a wit so dehydrated that it has been pronounced dead on six separate occasions - deciding whether to slit my wrists or throw myself off a cliff.

Some would suggest I do both.

* Whatever you do, don't ring up The Halliwell Jones Stadium and ask for Paul next year.

Mr Johnson's arrival at Warrington Wolves means that together with Messrs Rauhihi, Wood, Cullen, Darbyshire and Doherty, you could be in for a very confusing time.

Big Brother seemed to have the right idea when it comes to name clashes - who wants to volunteer to be called Spiral?