It’s the end of an era. After three decades in the game, two titans of their game are stepping down. In one corner we have Sir Alex Ferguson, Manager of Manchester United and a legend in his own lifetime. In the other, we have… Singa the Courtesy Lion, Manager of Manners and erstwhile mane man.

Both parties have talked about being exhausted after years of struggling to make people see things their way; and said they need a break. Between us? We’re just waiting for them to admit that they’ve simply decided to switch roles.

Ferguson has said he wants to travel more, he’s long proven himself adept at motivating a multinational team, and Singapore just loves bringing in foreign workers to do a local’s job. While Singa says he’s “too tired to continue facing an increasingly angry and disagreeable society”, Ferguson’s aides privately talk of how he just can’t wait to unleash his famous hairdryer treatment on people jaywalking across Orchard Road. In response to suggestions that the man who once kicked a boot into Beckham’s face might not be the best person to lecture others on courtesy…? Well, we’d love to tell you what Fergie said, but he’d barred us from the media briefing room for bringing the question up in the first place. We’re sure it was a very polite answer.

For his part, Singa will have his work cut out for him, with his first challenge being to talk a discontented Wayne Rooney back into the team. But since both of them are oddly proud of the little tufts of hair on their head and with neither having taken their shorts off since 1985, they have more in common than you might think. Explaining to the team why incoming manager David Moyes has been ousted in favour of a talking animal might be a little harder, but this is a lion, people, not the Courtesy Mouse. He’ll do just fine. Besides, even Singlish is easier to understand than Glaswegian.