If you’re sitting at a beachside bar somewhere nice and warm, supping a glass of cold stuff, the chances are that if you loiter long enough someone will produce a game of Connect Four.

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If you haven’t encountered it, the rules are fairly simple: two players, one with a handful of red discs, one with a handful of yellow discs. You take turns in slotting your disc into the grid until you get four in a row. Then you win.

The game has now replaced “merry-go-round” in my lexicon of managerial movements terms, officially sanctioned by the League of Crazy Football Chairmen.

Merry-go-round sounded too much like fun – Connect Four is more realistic in that if one manager is sacked, you can bet you can draw a line of three others who will become part of the equation.

Take Lee Clark, who had committed the horrendous footballing crime of of losing once in the last 10 games as Huddersfield manager, which saw them drop like a stone ... to fourth in League One. With 16 games left. Had they not lost at home to Sheffield United it would have been Huddersfield, not the Blades who would have been second in the table.

Clark had money to spend, but it seems the inability to turn that into a guaranteed three points every game has cost him his job. Others should take note.

However, he became disc two in Connect Ground, next to Mick McCarthy, whose five and a half year reign at Wolves came to an end, because he was struggling at the other end of a table, this time in the Premier League. McCarthy probably had it coming, although there are many who doubt the wisdom of sacking him at this stage of the season.

Clark, McCarthy ... so now we add Neil Warnock as disc number three, because he completes a neat little triangle of possible new managers for Leeds United. All are fairly valid, although you do have to wonder at the merit of appointing someone who was sacked because his team were in danger of being relegated.

Slight conundrum now with disc four because you have to be careful not to choose the wrong place to put it. Go off at the slightest of tangents and you end up with a trip up the Wolves path when you should be concentrating on Leeds. The problem is, Wolves might fancy Warnock or Clark to fill their vacancy. And then there’s Steve Bruce, another ‘failed’ manager who appears to be ‘sought after’.

Got to get those discs in a row because there’s a common thread.

There’s another little route you could go – Capello, Redknapp, Moyes, Lambert ... I kid you not. Capello’s departure as England manager has left Harry Redknapp the favourite to take over once he’s finished the season with Spurs. David Moyes has been suggested as a replacement at White Hart Lane – with Paul Lambert heading for Everton. I know, it hurts, it sounds unpalatable. But, honestly, there’s a Connect Four going on here.

The thing is, it’s all a game. The sacking of managers has become too regular for it to be taken seriously. Not just because the decisions sometimes – as with Clark – seem illogical, but because it has so many spin-off effects. City fans could be seriously worried come the end of May if Harry heads for a new office at Wembley.

It’s not a new phenomenon: Dave Sexton was sacked by Manchester United in April, 1981, having won seven games in a row. Micky Adams was dismissed from Fulham in September, 1997 – so Mohamed Al-Fayed could appoint the much higher-profile Kevin Keegan. Nice, eh?

It really must be a horrible profession, even for those who are pretty good at it.

• FOR SOME IT’S A RELIGION – SO AM I BORN AGAIN?

I do believe I have caught rugby fever.

Not since I was a 12-year-old given the captaincy of the Queen’s Boys’ School team in Wisbech by Mr Fred Pape (because I was rubbish at the round ball game I assume) have I really been able to get into egg-chasing.

But the Six Natoins, somehow, has reignited a flame I thought had long been extinguished.

I was called up in the mid-80s as standby when Ely Vs, I think, were short of players, but, if I recall, they actually played with 14 men rather than allow me to suffer serious injury. Like a stitch, or something.

Last Sunday’s Wales-Scotland game was thoroughly enjoyable, but I did rather enjoy the interaction between referee Romain Poite and Nick De Luca as the Scotland centre returned to the field after a spell in the sin bin.

As he went to take his position, the ref called him over and said, “next time, make sure he’s got the ball when you tackle him”.

An apologetic nod of the head followed – refreshing when you’re more used to seeing the expulsion of toys from a pram.

My colleague, Derek James, used to play for Blackheath – yes, mild-mannered Mr James – and relates the story of a prop who thumped the opposition hooker because of his persistent foul play. As the hooker lay sprawled motionless on the pitch, the referee ran over, looked down, and said “you had that coming. Move on”, and play resumed without the miscreant.

Then there was the occasion when DJ was playing for Diss, against Holt, then the best team around. Poor old Derek was on the wrong end of some physical stuff from Holt’s second row. After the game, as he gingerly stood at the bar waiting to be served with the amber ale that would perhaps soothe his aching body, there was a tap on his shoulder from his arch enemy of the previous 80 minutes. “No hard feelings, young man,” said the hard man, who was by this time sporting part of his work gear. His dog collar.

• CONGRATULATIONS TO TRUE LEGEND

Work permitting, I shall be heading for Bury on Tuesday night to watch Lowestoft Town play, under the watchful gaze of joint manager Micky Chapman for the 1,000th time. Before taking over he spent his playing career with the Blues as well. Now that is dedication. I am reliably informed his team talks are the stuff of legend – I am currently trying to persuade my spy to sneak in a dictaphone so we can all have the benefit of his words. I’ve watched Chappo from behind the dugout – to say he kicks every ball is incorrect: he breathes every breath, thinks every thought and then plays the role of everyone on the pitch – before lambasting the officials, the man with the board that signifies how many added minutes there will be. After the final whistle I do believe he apologises to those he has upset – “caught up in the game, mate”. What he doesn’t know about Lowestoft Town may well be written on a penny black somewhere. Needless to say, he’s a local legend. And he deserves to be. Huge congratulations go out to a genuine top footballing bloke.

• VICIOUS RUMOUR

Worries me who I mix with sometimes. Colleague and walking sports encyclopaedia David Thorpe (who somehow once featured in a Kettering Town matchday programme by dint of being part of the travelling party on a tour to Ireland) has a passion for the beleaguered Kettering Town FC. The Poppies are penniless and playing charity matches to try and raise much-needed cash. Curiously, back in 1982, they had similar difficulties. On April 4, the Save the Poppies Appeal included a challenge match between an Ex-Poppies Select and the ET All Stars – that’s ET as in Northants Evening Telegraph. The programme notes next to the name David Thorpe read: “Small but vicious. He doesn’t just tap your ankles, he chews them.” Some things never change ... if you know what I mean!

• THE RUDI BOYS

Seems like a couple of Bayer Leverkusen players were rather too eager to swap shirts with Barcelona’s brilliant Lionel Messi after their Champions League game on Tuesday. Full-back Kadlec and centre-half Friedrich pursued Messi for his shirt at half-time. Friedrich won but the pair argued as they headed for the dressing room. Kadlec got revenge at the final whistle when he got his hands on the shirt Messi wore for the second half. Bayer Leverkusen director of sport Rudi Voller has now told them they must put the shirts up for auction – for a good cause. So part A of their plan worked, part B didn’t. And it serves them right.

“What the pair did was a bit over the top,” Voller said. Pair of Muppets if you ask me.

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