IT struck me as being unnecessary for Bournemouth to complain to the Premier League about referee Jonathan Moss.

The Cherries were upset about comments he apparently made about the club being in relegation danger during their defeat at Sheffield United last weekend.

To be fair, whilst that is out of order I thought it was unnecessary and to make an official complaint because on-pitch patter between players and referees can go both ways.

I remember amusing incidents involving us and two top-class referees; Clive Thomas, who of course refereed the FA Cup final in 1976, and Gordon Hill.

In one particular game Peter Osgood ran alongside Hill after he had given a free-kick to the opposition.

Ozzy said what a bleep bleep decision that was. Hill never said anything back but when Ozzy blasted a 20-yard shot 20 yards over the bar, Hill ran by him and said what a bleep bleep shot that was!

When throw-ins were taken near the dug-outs managers would often tell the referee how they thought he was doing.

Some would stand smiling with their hands on their hips giving similar comments back. It was all part and parcel of the game.

IF Storm Dennis was named after my former player Mark Dennis, we’re in for the biggest storm of the year!

Make sure you’re extra careful and that you shut your doors and windows if it’s like any of his tackles.

The last time Saints had a storm for a home game was a Friday evening when similar weather was matched by an even more dramatic result – the 9-0 defeat against Leicester.

The aftermath of that particular storm could have gone two ways; relegation or, as it happened, a stand-up-and-be-counted response that has seen the whole club pull together, from the board to the management and the dressing room.

The subsequent performances have basically said to the opposition ‘any more gales and we’ll be ready for you’.

We’ll find that out today of course against Burnley who are going against their annual fight to stay in the top flight.

As I said before Burnley are one of the smaller squads with a top-class manager who have done very well for several season under Sean Dyche.

At least those of you who will be at St Mary’s today will be drier than you would have been in times gone by at grounds like The Dell.

Against Leicester four months ago the only people affected were those on the pitch. Stadiums at the top level now are so well covered that everyone can sit in comfort. Even those in the stands at The Dell could have done with an umbrella.

When I was managing a team at Halifax once the roof flew off at one end of ‘The Shay’. The game was stopped for several minutes but everyone agreed it didn’t affect the players, only supporters, so the game continued.

IT has been good to see a petition by one national paper for Jimmy Greaves to be awarded a knighthood.

‘Greavesy’ is coming up to 80 years old and has not been well for many years after suffering a stroke. But he was in the 1966 World Cup squad and was surprisingly left out of the XI that played in the final. Jimmy was one of the outstanding goalscorers in the history of football anywhere so I was glad to see thousands of people have already added their name to the request.

Hopefully we’ll able to start calling him Sir Jimmy by this time next year.

IT was interesting to read that the new Chancellor of the Excheqeur is a Saints fan.

Rishi Sunak apparently went to school in Winchester but is also a keen Saints supporter.

So it might be a good idea for the club to invite him to a game or two.

Maybe it would persuade him to do them a few favours when it comes to his first budget!

He was appointed following Sajid Javid’s shock resignation, in protest at having to sack his staff during Boris Johnson’s controversial cabinet reshuffle.

It reminded me of the end-of-season days when the manager had the players lined up outside his office waiting to find out if they were being given an extra year on their contract or being shown the door. I’m, sure any football manager put in Sajid Javid’s position would have done likewise, but his successor is an interesting appointment.