Is Football Just A Game?

Losing: It makes you feel as sick as a parrot. Gutted. Like Amy Winehouse after a night out in Camden.

Or does it?

There will no doubt be a few sore heads in Cheshire as Sir Alex Ferguson and his Manchester United squad recover from Sunday night's title-winning celebrations (disclaimer: With a Champions League final looming only a few glasses will have been raised. Possibly).

Meanwhile, Sir Alex's managerial rivals, Messrs Grant, Benitez and Wenger, will be feeling a little green too, but for altogether different reasons. And no-one will be feeling more despondent than Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, who has described this season as the biggest disappointment of his managerial career.

The Gunners, playing with a tempo and verve which epitomized the beautiful game, had threatened to carry all before them, yet for the third year running there will be no silverware to go into their trophy cabinet.

But at least the Frenchman does not have to worry too much about criticism from the club's fans, who have praised Wenger for creating "art and poetry" at Arsenal.

And one supporter went as far as to say: "I'd rather play the kind of football we play and not win trophies. In 12 months' time it won't matter who won the FA Cup. We'll remember how good we felt and the great games we watched."

But can watching your team play with panache and scintillating flair ever compensate for a failure to win trophies? If football is not about the winning then why keep score? David Ginola, one of the greatest artists to have played in the Premier League, once said he would sacrifice a few step-overs for the sake of a winners' medal.