ALEX Ferguson's famous April 1996 spat with Kevin Keegan set a benchmark against which all soccer 'mind games' are now measured. Since that pathetic scene, when the pressure of seeing his Newcastle side squander a 12-point lead finally caused 'King Kev' to snap in front of a nationwide TV audience, Arsene Wenger has managed to turn the heat on Fergie - not quite so publicly but enough to cause the United boss to lose his cool as Arsenal came up on the rails to win last season's title race.

But soccer psychology isn't restricted to the Premiership.

Colin Todd is convinced there are mind games to be won before anything is decided in Division One. The Reebok boss continues to receive plaudits from his rival managers; the latest coming from Trevor Francis, who notionally conceded the top two places to Sunderland and Wanderers after Sunday's scoreless draw at St Andrew's.

Watford's Graham Taylor and Huddersfield's Peter Jackson have made similar remarks during the course of the season. But Todd isn't taking any notice. He suspects his rivals have ulterior motives when they pat him on the back - happy to dish out the praise in public in the hope of possibly throwing the spanner of complaceny into the works or, at least geeing up their own players. "I think some managers are trying a bit of psychology," he reckons, "but it won't work with us.

"It's nice to be given the compliments but the pats on the back don't win you points and that's what counts. We won't be sidetracked by any of it.

"We are in the right position now and we are still aiming for first place. It's a tall order but it was an even taller order two and a half months ago.

"It's good to get the plaudits but we won't be lulled into a false sense of security because we are too streetwise for that." Streetwise indeed. It's not long ago that Todd himself was suggesting that Sunderland would repeat Wanderers' runaway title success of 1996-7. It suited the situation at the time but now he is using his players' belief that they can catch Peter Reid's men as the motivation to keep them focused.

But Sunderland too are playing a canny game. Not surprisingly they are confident up on Wearside but assistant manager Bobby Saxton, a wily campaigner, is keeping his players' feet on the ground. "He refuses point blank to talk about promotion," says goal star Niall Quinn.

All the talk at the moment is of the March 20 Sunderland-Bolton showdown at the Stadium of Light being a potential title decider but with 10 weeks of the season still to run the race for the Premiership really is still wide open with the current top six all still in with a serious shout, regardless of their so-called strengths and weaknesses. Bradford have spent well and still have cash in their special transfer account while Ipswich, already stripped of some of their prized assets, are restricted to begging and borrowing to graft experience onto the stock of some of England's finest young talent.

And, although Graham Taylor and Trevor Francis continue to say publicly that their best hope of promotion is via the play-offs, you can bet the Watford and Birmingham players will be hearing a different story from their respective managers.

So, as the teams fight for precious points in their remaining fixtures, expect a few more interesting moves in the psychological war.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.