ROBBIE Earle put it best: "I thought this kind of thing only existed in quiz questions, I didn't expect to see it happen in real life."

He was talking, of course, about Saturday's disgrace at Bramall Lane, where three indisputable sendings off were followed by two players so badly injured they could only kick the ball 80 yards down field and run up the tunnel, forcing the game to be abandoned.

Simon Tracey's sending off was indisputable in the current climate, Patrick Suffo was rightly sent off for violent conduct and the tackle by George Santos was a disgrace to the game and should result in a lengthy ban.

But, possibly even more diabolical, was the suggestion that manager Neil Warnock encouraged his players to leave the pitch with faux injuries.

Warnock has always been from the pragmatic wing of the football management industry.

He was a long ball pioneer during the 80s and took unglamorous clubs and unglamorous players to unlikely heights.

In recent years, like many of his ilk, his fortunes have declined somewhat, and he is now content with keeping Sheffield United in business and in the middle of Division One.

The FA will surely allow the result to stand, though this denies West Brom the opportunity to add the couple of goals to their goal difference, which they may have had if the game had continued.

But action must also be taken against Sheffield and, if the evidence is there, against their manager, not to mention Santos, who showed almost criminal aggression in his revenge attack on a player who left him seriously, injured in an accidental challenge.

If Sheffield were to have, say half a dozen points taken off them to plunge them closer to the relegation fight, would anyone be complaining?

How long can it be before football sees its first £10 million manager?

David Moyes' £2 million move to Everton this week surely prompts the question ' where will it all stop?'

Obviously, if a club like Preston can sell a player - even its star striker - for £5 million, it seems reasonable to demand big money for the man without whom they would probably still be languishing in the lower leagues?

Unfortunately, what Preston - and Everton, a club so desperate it's a miracle they haven't yet been on the phone to Uri Geller - is beginning the footballing equivalent of an arms race.

If Moyes is worth £2 million, what price the man they choose to replace him?

If, for example, North End asked about Jim Harvey, what price would the Morecambe board quote them? In the knowledge that their neighbours have £2 million burning a hole in their pockets, what would they ask? Maybe £1 million? It seems fair enough, given the impact on the club.

So, with £1 million burning a hole in their pockets, they turn to another talented manager with Morecambe connections (remember, we're talking 100 per cent hypothetically here) and Tony Hesketh.

£500,000 makes the reverse journey over the River Lune and everyone is happy.

Delighted, more to the point.

It is far-fetched I know, but you can bet your bottom dollar that the next club who get their manager tapped up will use the 'Moyes scale' to determine how much recompense they get.

Clubs are always under pressure to replace their manager quickly, and it is rare for a board of directors to have three or four bosses who they rate equally and look to get the cheapest deal, as with players.

The upside of this, of course, is that clubs may see their manager as a commodity and be less likely to make a rash sacking.

After all, would you pay £2 million for something and then give it away for nothing?