So reckons Cito Gaston, who was the manager in 1997, the first year Clemens played in Toronto after then team president Paul Beeston and general manager Gord Ash dangled big bucks to entice the Rocket to land in town as a free agent.

Although Clemens went 21-7 that year, his relationship with Gaston was tempestuous at best.

"He's not one of my favourite people," Gaston said yesterday while perched in the dugout of Joker Marchant Stadium, where the Detroit Tigers edged the Blue Jays 8-5 in a Grapefruit League game.

"He's a hell of a pitcher, but other than that, there's a little bit more to being a person to me," Gaston continued, warming to the topic. "To me, he's not a good person.

"A lot of people like him, but that's fine. Beeston likes him. ... But not me."

In the new book The Rocket That Fell To Earth , ESPN.com columnist Jeff Pearlman details allegations concerning use of anabolic steroids during Clemens's storied career.

One part of the book outlines Clemens's time in Toronto, in which Pearlman writes that the pitcher used his influence with the club's upper management to get Gaston fired. Gaston was let go by Ash near the end of the 1997 season, in which Toronto finished last in the American League East with a mark of 76-86.

"There's no truth to that," Ash, now an assistant GM with the Milwaukee Brewers, said yesterday from the Brewers' spring-training facility in Phoenix. "[Clemens] never talked to me about it, that's all I can say.

"You know that stuff is about 10 years ago, or more. I can only tell you that he never once brought it up to me."

Beeston, who returned as Toronto interim president late last season, concurred with Ash's recollection. "Absolutely, 100-per-cent never," he said.

But Gaston, who was rehired by the Blue Jays last June, after an 11-year absence, believes there's some truth to the idea that Clemens wielded influence with somebody, which led to the manager's dismissal.

"I wouldn't doubt that," Gaston said. "He's an asshole himself, a complete asshole. I'd say that loud, right in his face. It's all about him, nobody else but him."

Gaston said that during the 1997 season he learned that Clemens was trying to undercut his authority - at one point, complaining behind the manager's back that he thought Gaston left pitcher Pat Hentgen in a game too long.

Gaston said it was a good thing Clemens didn't voice his complaint face-to-face.

"He wouldn't do that, otherwise there would have been a good ass-whippin' that day," Gaston said. "It might have been me, but he still would have known I was there."

Gaston said he eventually went to Clemens about what he heard. He said Clemens essentially let him know that the pitcher was the one with friends in high places.

"What do you want to do - about staying here or leaving?" Gaston said Clemens told him. "That's what he said: 'Do you want to stay or do you want to leave?'

"I said, 'What do you mean, what are you talking about?' So he's a bitter old man, I don't have much to say about old Roger."

In his book, Pearlman also writes that after Gaston was fired, Clemens used his influence to get Ash to hire Tim Johnson, passing over several other strong candidates including Davey Johnson, Paul Molitor, Larry Bowa and Willie Randolph.

Tim Johnson lasted just one season in Toronto, despite the Jays' 88-74 record in 1998.

Ash said yesterday that Clemens played no role in Johnson's hiring process.

During his association with Clemens, Gaston said he came to know an athlete who gave everything he had on the mound but who was completely consumed by one thing - himself.

"When he's on the mound, he's 100 per cent," Gaston said. "When he's pitching, everybody's in the dugout pulling for him. When he's not pitching, he's not in the dugout all the time. ... I just didn't feel like he supported his teammates as much as he wanted support."