There’s a lot of fuss right now in football about how bad a manager is if he doesn’t shake hands with his opposite number at the end of a game. In some cases I am sure it is a deliberate act from either a poor loser or from a loser that has genuinely seen his side cheated. Poor loser springs to mind on Sunday – Benitez shrugs off Mourinho snub but to be honest I for one expect little else from Jose.

As for other managers, how would it look if Bobby Robson took another job on, but forgot to shake hands at the end? Well at his age I don’t think anyone would be too bothered. He forgets players names, and no doubt forgetting to shake hands would be another spot of age-related amnesia.

What if David Moyes didn’t shake hands with Rafa at the end of a derby? A snub? No, not really. Everton truly believe they are the people’s club, the club of the people of the city of Liverpool, the club that are above Liverpool. Like the queen doesn’t carry money and always wears gloves, they probably believe that they should not have to shake hands with an ungloved manager. And they certainly have no money.

Alex Ferguson (emphasis on the missing “Sir”) does not have to shake hands. He is allowed under Premiership rules to do pretty much as he likes. If shaking hands went into the rule books, he’d get an exemption. Although I don’t think I want to shake hands with someone who has a bad bowel problem. And in case it’s something that is passed on through a lot of contact, I’d steer clear of shaking hands with the managers of Blackburn, West Brom and Birmingham too.
Anyone playing against Spurs would be excused not to shake hands – Martin Jol reminds me of Jaws off James Bond movies, and gives me the impression you’d have broken hands should you follow the manager’s traditions. Arsene Wenger’s eyesight problems (which come and go, sometimes he has excellent vision) mean he’s not going to always see his opposite number. He may shake hands with a steward and assume it was the manager.

So although the press and TV media like to make a big issue of it, I don’t think the handshake means as much as they like to make out. Jose had no excuse on Sunday – after all who wouldn’t want to shake Rafa’s hands – but maybe some of the others have. As long as they don’t start kissing – that would raise some eyebrows.