YOU can liken 'The David Beckham Story' on TV last night to one of those 'This Is Your Life' programmes in which they tell the life story of a twentysomething star.

Surely you should wait for people to live their lives before you tell the story of it.

The need to bump up television ratings demands a certain degree of licence, however, hence last night's programme which nobody really needed to watch because we all know the story of David Beckham's life so far.

He grew up in a caring family into a young man of limited intellect and unlimited footballing ability, has a hot temper and a strong character and married a famous singer. There that didn't take long.

Of course you've got to give the story a bit of top spin because of the football club he plays for.

Nothing is straightforward with Manchester United.

The nation's obsession means you can rename Match of the Day to Man United of the Day because of the number of times they feature as main match - it's quicker to count the number of times they don't

Make a bad tackle on one of their players and watch out; the fallout can last for days as in the case of Danny Tiatto's high and late challenge on Phil Neville in the Manchester derby a fortnight ago.

Tiatto was a coward and should have been dismissed, we were told for a good week after.

A couple of games later Dwight Yorke was equally high, late and horrible in a tackle on a Sunderland player that earned him a red card. Only this time the Red reaction, which came from the camp's highest authority Alex Ferguson, was one of mitigation...Dwight isn't that sort of chap, he shouldn't have been sent off and a better referee would have handled it differently, was the contrasting cry this time.

Same offence, different argument depending on whether they are villain or victim.

Back to that Tiatto tackle. He was slaughtered by many for the foul and rightly so. It was blatant, unfair and potentially injury causing.

Neville was also criticised for going to the press to suggest Tiatto had a yellow streak. Tiatto responded by questioning Neville's maturity in whingeing to the press and warned him that he'll be more than willing to put him on the end of a proper hard tackle when the two clubs meet again.

Football doesn't need this kind of off-field childishness? Rubbish. Both Tiatto and Neville should be applauded for getting the derby juices flowing again the way Francis Lee, Mick Doyle, Pat Crerand and George Best used to 30 years ago.

Love them or loathe them, United are a one-off in English football.

They are not Manchester's club, they are not any town's club - they are the nation's club whose Old Trafford-bound fans are as likely to cause traffic congestion on the M25 as the M62.

One fact is indisputable. They are the best team in England to such a degree that the Premiership title race is becoming more of a formality with every passing year.

It's not United's fault that the Premiership title race is now as dull as dishwater. They are just doing what they are good at.

Take them away and the Premiership is more wide open and exciting than ever with Arsenal, Leeds, Liverpool, Chelsea, Newcastle and Sunderland all massive clubs with great teams who are able to beat anyone on their day.

This week ex-United player Sammy McIlroy said the Premiership was now boring because of his old team's dominance and bookies stopped taking bets on United to win it and began offering odds on who will finish second.

Maybe it's time to take this idea a step further, treat United like the one-off they are and offer a trophy for the team that finishes second.

There's one thing that worries me, however, about United being so much better that the rest in England.

If they prove to be merely average in European competition - and that's what they have looked in their last two Champions League games at Old Trafford - then what does that say about the overall quality of the Premiership, the so-called best league in the world?