Here is a new one for football: is it possible to show too much respect? It was certainly the debate among West Ham United supporters thrown into confusion by Gianfranco Zola's steadfastly poker-face when Craig Bellamy gave the 'Ammers the lead against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

In a sport where revolting songs about incest and paedophilia are routinely sung by thousands of voting adults, can we seriously take issue when a charming sort such as Zola decides not to celebrate a goal because it comes against the club with whom he had a long, blissful relationship?

Well, without wishing to dive in with quite the same two-footed viciousness as some of those who have taken a hatchet to the Italian on West Ham fansites such as Knees Up Mother Brown - don't go there if you are of sensitive disposition - it is at least fair to ask whether Zola took impartiality a step too far on Sunday when he declined to offer so much as a discreet punch of celebration or a flicker of a smile as Bellamy sent the fans into ecstasy.

There Zola is, the leader of West Ham, a team peering over the precipice into the Coca-Cola Championship. It is not as though they have so much slack that a result away to Chelsea is a matter for indifference. And Bellamy does not score so often (that was only his second of the season for his club) that one would expect the manager's first thoughts to be the sensibilities of the Chelsea supporters, however warmly they had welcomed him back to the Bridge.

“I had to pay some respect to these people,” Zola said afterwards. But would they not allow him a little jig of delight by the dugout? Are they so fickle that, having chanted his name at kick-off, they would hurl abuse at him for wanting to take delight from the success of his own team?

Zola is not the first sportsman whose thoughts have turned instantly to the predicament of his rivals. Denis Law famously trotted back almost mournfully after backheeling the goal for Manchester City that, he feared, had relegated United in 1974 (as it turned out, United were down whether he scored or not).

Cristiano Ronaldo declined to celebrate a Champions League goal against Sporting Lisbon, his former club. There are many uplifting tales of generosity on the sports field, such as Andrew Flintoff consoling Brett Lee in the 2005 Ashes even at the moment of victory in the second Test.

No one wants to see sportsmanship cast aside, least of all in football. Our national sport needs all the nice guys it can get and Zola, for playing the game with joy and panache during his seven years at Chelsea, earned a reputation for decency. Long may that endure, but is a West Ham fan, and indeed a player, not entitled to turn to the bench and see their manager lead the celebrations when they score a vital goal in the midst of a relegation struggle at the home of one of their most bitter rivals?

West Ham have enough problems with a ludicrously inflated wage bill, a multimillion-pound lawsuit from Sheffield United and the possibility of a fire sale of players in January that perhaps this one should figure low on the list of concerns. But a little smile wasn't too much to expect, was it?

Lessons to be learned from rise and fall of Paul Ince

When Paul Ince is sacked, there will be a rush to condemn the impatience of club directors. How could Blackburn Rovers give him less than six months? But if English football is to learn anything, the question needs to be redirected to why the Rovers board gave him the job in the first place.

Ince's experience amounted to less than two seasons, both spent in Coca-Cola League Two. Had he not won 53 caps for England, his next job might just have been in the Championship.

It is a point that members of the League Managers Association, in particular, should consider before it condemns Blackburn's wielding of the axe - while consulting its own president, a certain Fabio Capello.

Capello could explain how despite winning 32 caps for Italy, he and his employers felt it necessary that he spend six years coaching AC Milan's youth players. He was only let loose with the under-19s after proving himself with the 16-year-olds.

In Italy, you spend six years learning your trade. In England, you take six months to wreck a fledgeling career.

Fabio Capello road rage likely in Wembley pitch battle

Word reaches this column that Fabio Capello is unhappy about the FA's handling of Wembley Stadium. And not just because the surface on which he must get England to pass the ball was transformed at the weekend into a playground for petrolheads.

Capello's agitation is that he wants the grass on the pitch at Wembley to be precisely 17 millimetres high - and we mean precisely. As a stickler for detail, it is possible to imagine him marching out there with measuring tape. And then returning the next day to check if it has grown another micrometre.

The problem is that the groundsman believes that it needs to be kept longer and shaggier, particularly with the recovery work that is required after non-footballing events. These have included the trampling by American footballers, the labouring of the roadies who built a stage for Madonna and, on Sunday, the drivers who chased each other around in the rather sorry-looking Race of Champions.

There have been complaints about the surface since the opening game, the FA Cup Final in May 2007, when a turf the consistency of a chocolate brownie made for a soporific game.

“The stadium - and this game - deserves a better pitch,” Slaven Bilic said when he visited with Croatia later that year.

Now the staff must start work on another new surface, trying to grow a thick thatch in limited time with Capello demanding his 17 millimetres.

“We've tarmacked Wembley,” the hoardings proclaimed before Sunday's event, which is something you would have thought they would have kept quiet from the England manager. We've turned your pitch into Silverstone, Fabio.

Everyone knows there are bills to pay, but Capello is right to expect that “the world's best stadium” (as the FA knows it) should have a half-decent playing surface.

Michael Owen goal shines in any language

“What a f***ing finish,” Michael Owen quite clearly mouthed after dinking the ball beautifully over David James on Sunday. And it was one hell of a f***ing finish, particularly for a guy who is free to negotiate with clubs from next month.

It is not just comedy that is all about timing; so is goalscoring. And Owen picked a good moment to remind Newcastle United of his worth. With Everton and Manchester City searching for strikers, his message came through loud and “f***ing” clear.