Mr Dignified makes case for homegrown Premiership future

Gently does it as Coppell prepares for further examination of his renowned composure

It was perhaps as well last Saturday, when emotions were running at maximum revs within the Madejski Stadium, that Steve Coppell provided the alkaline solution to the acid of Jose Mourinho's tongue.

When a salvo of accusations was being released by the Portuguese in a TV interview, his counterpart stood and watched a monitor. Then Reading's manager quietly defended his players, Stephen Hunt and Ibrahima Sonko, whose challenges were the subject of such scrutiny after Petr Cech and Carlo Cudicini received hospital treatment, but invited the Football Association to examine the circumstances more closely.

One could just imagine the response of certain Premiership managers at the spectacle of their players being castigated by the Chelsea manager.

Alan Hansen offered one of the more pertinent observations on Monday morning. "I have great admiration for Coppell, not just because of his abilities as a manager but because of the honesty and integrity he brings to the game," the Match Of The Day pundit wrote in his newspaper column. "If Steve says there was no malicious intent on Hunt's part, it is good enough for me."

Six days on at Reading's Hogwood Park training ground near the Royal Aeronautical Engineering School at Finchampstead and Coppell is still quietly defusing charges laid by last Saturday's opponents, and also by those who really should know better. Coincidentally, the manager of today's opponents, Arsène Wenger, broaches the subject at his own press conference, claiming that Sonko's challenge on Cudicini was unnecessary.

The more cynical will insist that it is the Arsenal manager's opening gambit, a touch of gamesmanship designed to ensure that his own goalkeeper, the idiosyncratic Jens Lehmann, is untroubled today by the presence of an opponent in his proximity. Who knows?

The only certainty is that Coppell will not respond. It is not in the nature of a character who has been on the managerial circuit long enough to comprehend that indulging in verbal fisticuffs generally only profits your opponents.

On Friday he was offered several opportunities to retaliate and to issue a rebuttal to Mourinho's wilder accusations, but essentially Coppell's message - the FA having already decided to take no action against his players - is this: "We'll abide by what the governing body says". There is a pause before he adds: "But you're not going to change the way Jose thinks."

Someone mentions Mour-inho's hug for him at the conclusion of a match in which temperatures had been inevitably raised. "Yeah, I seem to remember Jose patting me on the head," the diminutive former Manchester United and England winger recalls with a wry smile. "He was probably frightened of me; knew what a physical monster I am. He didn't want to mix it with me. He knows that Scousers rule..."

That's Coppell humour. Dry as Death Valley. Yet it reveals much about the respect in which he is held within the managerial brethren that Mourinho, even at boiling point after the injuries to his goalkeepers, responded in such a manner.

Coppell prepares for today's meeting with Arsenal believing that his players will suffer no distraction from the week's headlines. However, he concedes: "Inevitably now, if Hunty goes anywhere near a goalkeeper there's going to be something in the back of his mind. It's human nature that he'll avoid it. But I can't see any problem with the rest of the team. You just play; you don't have any background noise affecting your thinking."

His influential midfielder Steve Sidwell, who was at Highbury from age nine to 20 before being released by Wenger in early 2003, adds: "To go into a game like this you need as much concentration and less destructive talk as you can [get]. We've had to put it to bed. The gaffer decided not to break any routines."

What will disturb September's Premiership manager of the month is the perception of his team. A month ago, Reading were a side in Coppell's image, quietly making progress without a fuss, having conceded a mere six fouls against Manchester United. Coppell hopes that reputation for fair play will not be diminished by recent events. "Last season, our record was great," he says. "This season, we were top of the disciplinary table before the Chelsea game [Reading are still second, behind Arsenal]. All the indicators are that we don't get involved in that kind of stuff. We just want to play."

His men start today's contest at the Madejski just a point below last season's Champions' League finalists. Having drawn with United and lost narrowly to Chelsea, Reading are presented with their most unpredictable challenge. "It's totally different," Coppell says. "Chelsea have a very defined shape. Arsenal have probably the most fluent shape. Yet with Arsenal it's not just about style. It's not just pleasing on the eye. There's a fair bit of meat in there as well."

But not a lot of English beef. Coppell is not alone in being concerned by the lack of home players, not just in Arsenal's first team, but in other Premiership sides. "As an Englishman, I believe it's inevitable, long-term, that it's going to affect the future success of the national side," he says. "It may not be politically correct, but I'm of the opinion there should be a minimum number of English-born, home-developed players. I would say half the team. If you're the FA you've got to be thinking how you're going protect the national team."

That's as controversial as he will allow himself to become. You sense he can foresee the headlines. "Don't get me wrong," he swiftly adds. "It's great we have these world stars and I won't be going round with it written on a flag: 'More English players'. It doesn't actually bother me."

Only one matter does at the end of a week when he has reacted with dignity to the most difficult of circumstances: the renewal of Reading's Premiership status. If he achieves this it would be due reward for a man with values that extend beyond the next three points.