ALAN Irvine, Steve Clarke, Steve Round, Alan Murray and Carlos Queiroz.

Many football fans would be forced to thumb through a copy of a footballing 'Who's Who?' to discover where these people work but, according to the likes of Jose Mourinho, Sir Alex Ferguson and Graeme Souness, they are as close as fans will get to discover exactly what their manager's think.

The trend for Premiership bosses to pass the buck to their number twos, or indeed on occasions their number threes, is growing by the week.

It was started by Ferguson who has imposed a lifetime ban on talking to the BBC in 2004 following a documentary screened regarding his son Jason's work as a football agent.

But for Ferguson what was the point of stopping there when he didn't need to. He doesn't do the usual pre or post-match press conferences, unless legally obliged to do so, and last month launched a bitter attack on the national media who he claimed have a 'hatred of the club'.

And guess what? After doing so he stormed out of a press conference.

Queiroz has been on the BBC as many times as Mark Lawrenson this season, but Sir Alex appears immune from any real criticism for his stance.

Do the Manchester United fans really want to hear the thoughts of their assistant manager every Saturday night on Match of the Day?

Mourinho sends Clarke out for what appears to be 'entertainment' value - his entertainment - with the dour Scot sending shock waves of disappointment through the press corps.

In Mourinho's defence he does appear at most press conferences and when he does, he provides all of the entertainment.

This season the fad has been taken on to a new level. Souness returned to the TV screens this weekend after a very long absence.

In his place Murray and Dean Saunders have stood in for the past few months.

Round got an outing for the Middlesbrough's Carling Cup game against Crystal Palace and Irvine did the honours for Everton's game at Sunderland.

The question remains why?

Footballers can choose when they do media interviews and when they don't, but a manager should always the voice of the club.

There appear few who can successfully claim to be painfully shy, so what is the reason behind them shunning their duties?

The answer could be simple - they are allowed to.

If managers like Mick McCarthy - those with more reason than most not to want to talk to the media after games - can do their duty then every manager can.

When Ferguson informed BBC Sport's head of football, Niall Sloane, that he will never talk to the corporation again, the BBC acted.

They wrote to the League Managers Association to ask it to intervene, but the organisation replied that there was nothing it could do.

If the LMA wont act then surely the Football Association should.

If the trend continues then by the end of the current campaign there'll be no manager speaking to the press and, as such, to the fans by May.