IT was Sir Alex Ferguson’s trademark.
Cutting them off at the knees. In their prime. Showing the dressing room who is boss. Showing a superstar the door.
Nobody was safe when Ferguson ruled the roost at Manchester United, not even the fans’ favourites.
He turfed out Paul McGrath, Paul Ince, Jaap Stam, Ruud van Nistelrooy and David Beckham in his time. It was an unforgiving regime.
Antonio Conte has gone the same way, discarding Diego Costa with a simple text at the end of the season.
It is straight out of Ferguson’s school of management.
There are no friends in football. This is business, a purely practical decision after a turbulent season trying to coach the best out of the truculent Brazilian.
It is swift and decisive and the right call. Life will go on for Chelsea.
This tactic worked for Ferguson, removing some big names before they started to think United could not function without them. Many of them, especially Ince, Stam, Van Nistelrooy and Becks, went on to have successful careers elsewhere.
United moved on as well, continuing to win trophy after trophy. Conte has followed the same path.
Costa has some big allies in the dressing room. But the striker crossed a line last January when he started negotiating a move away without Chelsea’s, or Conte’s, permission.
It was flagrant, public and without a care for the lucrative contract that still has more than two years to run.
Chelsea’s top scorer breached the manager’s trust, embarrassing him at a time when they had just started a sequence of title-winning results.
Conte has not forgotten, or forgiven.
The idea that Costa deserved a face-to-face meeting at the end of the season, or at the very least a phone call from the Italian, is a bit fanciful.
Certainly the players will take a bit of convincing when they return for pre-season training next month.
Judging by the mood yesterday some are backing their team-mate, with the belief Conte should have picked up the phone to the Brazilian-born star, at the very least.
Costa — noisy and boisterous — is a popular figure with the Spanish and Portuguese contingent at Chelsea.
It will soon become a test of Conte’s control over these players.
Ditching Costa, who hit 20 Premier League goals on the way to the title triumph and is one of Chelsea’s most influential players, is a big call.
He is in the same category as those thrown out by Fergie.
Conte, preparing for Romelu Lukaku’s return, picked fights at his previous club Juventus — but none have had the same impact as this.
Paul Pogba was fined for turning up late to training a few times, there were a few run-ins with Arturo Vidal, and Fabio Quagliarella gave as good as he got in team meetings.
This is a very different Conte. He is making it clear he is in control, that winning a title does not give players a free pass.
Costa is the biggest, most obvious, casualty. At times it seemed like the football got in the way of his hectic social life at Chelsea.
The infamous barbecues at chez Costa, together with the regular complaints about loud music and parties into the early hours, continued during Conte’s leadership.
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He brought further scrutiny on his lifestyle when Conte discovered he had emerged from a nightclub at 4am following one of their team-bonding dinners at London restaurant Novikov during the season.
It set the tone for their relationship, with a player repeatedly crossing the line as he struggled to adapt to his life in the Premier League.
He made it clear, during several rounds of talks with top Chinese clubs, he “hated life in England”.
By then his eyes were bulging out of his sockets after Ramires (Jiangsu Suning) and Oscar (Shanghai SIPG) moved to the Far East on some mind-boggling wages.
Costa was chasing cash, not silverware. For that reason Conte is cutting him loose.
All due respect
FOR years the FA have campaigned tirelessly for the fans to show respect for the opposition during international fixtures.
Saturday's World Cup qualifier is another test for England’s faithful after they were urged to stand in silence when the bagpipes play Flower of Scotland.
The FA were pro-active after the defeat in Germany in March, banning two England fans for making Nazi gestures or referencing Hitler during the disturbing scenes.
A lot of work is going on in the background to make the environment at England games — especially away — more appealing to families in the future.
Showing respect at Hampden Park tomorrow would be a good start.
Ed up to his neck
LIVERPOOL’S uppety sporting director Michael Edwards is getting it in the neck over the aborted move for Virgil van Dijk.
Edwards is supposed to be in charge of transfer negotiations but his botched attempts to sign the Southampton defender (right) has strengthened boss Jurgen Klopp’s hand.
There are also eyebrows being raised at Anfield over the £30million price-tag for Roma winger Mohamed Salah, a player the self-styled transfer expert could have signed a year earlier from Chelsea . . . for £20m.
>> RAFA BENITEZ may be aiming high at Newcastle but he faces huge competition to get signings over the line.
Toon thought they had the jump on Angers winger Nicolas Pepe — yet the Ivory Coast ace is holding out after other Prem clubs also made their interest known.
Crystal Palace winger Andros Townsend, who almost returned to St James’ Park in January, is still on Benitez’s radar.
>> GARETH BALE has won the Champions League three times, lives in one of the world’s best cities and pockets £300,000-a-week-plus until his contract runs out in 2022.
It will certainly take some sales pitch to persuade the Wales star that the grass is greener elsewhere.
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