Posts Tagged ‘manchester united’
Transfer Balls: Robert Lewandowski Snubs Manchester United And Heads To Chelsea And Bayern Munich
TRANSFER BALLS: The Daily Mail reports that Chelsea are looking to buy Robert Lewandowski, the player of whom it wrote:
The jokes are over! Szczesny calls out Polish team-mate Lewandowski as Bayern-bound striker prepares to face in-form Gunners – October 21, 2013
EXCLUSIVE: Lewandowski to net £10m when he joins Bayern in the summer – October 18, 2013
I’m joining Bayern for FREE, reveals Dortmund hitman Lewandowski as rivals secure bargain deal – September 23, 2013
Lewandowski: I said no to Jose, Sir Alex and Real Madrid… here’s why I chose to stay in the Bundesliga – 24, August, 2013
Man United and Chelsea miss out on striker Lewandowski as Pole agrees to join Bayern – July 7, 2013
Read the rest of this entry »
Manchester United: Beckham Junior Range Hits Old Trafford, QPR And Chelsea
IN May 2013, Brooklyn Beckham signed forms to play with QPR. He’d had trials with Chelsea. But Brooklyn never did make it at Stamford Bridge, which is great shame for tabloid pun writers. Now, the Sun leads with news that the 14-year-old is practicing football with Manchester United. Previously, Brooklyn has played for the under-14s at LA Galaxy and trained with PSG. He’s also dating a Posh teenager.
If he can get a tattoo, a PA and remember to change his knickers every day, Brooklyn will have chalked off most of his dad’s life accomplishment’s by the time he’s 16.
Now, back to work the rest of you….
Posted: 1st, November 2013 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
How The Sun And News of The World Reported The Rebekah Brooks And Andy Coulson Affair Story
SO. How has the Sun reported the news that former News of the World editor was shagging former Sun and News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks when they worked together, as is alleged? Well, it leads with news of a trial. Yeah, Brooklyn Beckham has had a trial for Manchester United: It’s a “TRIAL SENSATION“.
In other news you won’t read in the Sun:
RANDY ANDY’S AFFAIR WITH EASTENDERS’ STAR’S GINGA NINJA
![[2GM - 1] NOW/NEWS/RESTRICTED ... 05/06/11](http://www.anorak.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/giggs-affair.jpg)
BONKING BROOKS’ SECRET AFFAIR
ANDY COULSON ATE MY ‘HAMSTER’
UP YOURS, HER INDOORS
WOULD THE LAST PERSON TO LEAVE THE OFFICE PLEASE DIM THE LIGHTS
NOTHING TO CHANGE HERE. LEAVE AS IS.
AT LEAST THEY’RE NOT GAY
Where’s the News of the World when you need it?
Posted: 31st, October 2013 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comment
Footballers Forever Associated With Certain Items Of Food
FOOTBALLERS Forever Associated With Certain Items Of Food
“Mark Bosnich was a terrible professional,” claims Sir Alex Ferguson in his autobiography, which was launched in a small room above a Salford pub last week, to mass indifference.
“We played down at Wimbledon and Bosnich was tucking into everything: sandwiches, soups, steaks. He was going through the menu. I told him, ‘For Christ’s sake, Mark, we’ve got the weight off you. Why are you tucking into all that stuff?’ We arrived back in Manchester, and Mark was on mobile phone to a Chinese restaurant to order a takeaway.”
And with these words, Mark ‘Sniffer’ Bosnich achieves membership of the exclusive Footballers Forever Associated With Certain Items Of Food Club.
There could even have been another, had Fergie revealed the identity of the culprit to blame for ‘Pizzagate’, when a row between himself and Arsene Wenger in 2004 culminated in carb carnage. “The next thing I knew, I had pizza all over me,” recalls the red-faced recently-retired ruler of Old Trafford. He says he did not see who threw it, but that Cesc Fabregas has been suggested to him. And that’s good enough for us, so Cesc is hereby inducted, along with his missile of choice.
Arsene Wenger remained typically inscrutable this week: “I don’t know about food throwing. I did not see if something was thrown – you’ll have to ask someone else, because I don’t know.”
When Cesc arrives, he will find another Arsenal old boy awaiting him…
Chips
In 1986, ‘Champagne’ Charlie was arrested outside the Confusion Bar in Ibiza, for an unusual twist on the usual footballers’ fracas. Scottish holidaymaker Lori McElroy alleged that Nicholas stole a chip from her, and then broke her jaw in the ensuing argument. Nicholas was found guilty but continued to deny any wrongdoing.
Chips would haunt Charlie years later, when working as a pundit for Sky. Anchorman Jim White, presumably assuming his mic was switched off, referred to the Celtic fans’ chorus of The Fields of Athenrye with a reference to the Irish potato famine.
“Oh here we go again, the tottie famine,” said Jim.
“Aye, and they’re all eating chips while singing this,” replied Nicholas, to the displeasure of the Bhoys’ worldwide army of millions.
Roast dinner with all the trimmings
Terry Venables remembers breaking into the Chelsea team as a youngster and playing alongside the legendary Jimmy Greaves. Greavsie was only three years older than Terry, yet he was already a superstar, and would soon move to AC Milan. He lived near Venables, and would give him a lift to matches. The first time this happened, Jim explained that he usually stopped for lunch at a café, so they went in and Venables – already at the vanguard of modern practices – ordered steamed chicken. He was shocked to see Greaves polish off a massive plate of roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, veg, and roast AND mashed potatoes. This he followed up with a large bowl of stodge and custard. “I always have this,” he said. Venables says Greaves proceeded to score a hatful of goals that afternoon. But then, he usually did.
Speaking of dinners, an honoury mention must also go to erstwhile Orient manager John ‘bring yer fu*king dinner’ Sitton, for his legendary televised half-time rant…
Lasagna
Tottenham Hotspurs’ Michael Carrick and Jermain Defoe walk off dejected at the final whistle
Martin Jol’s Tottenham side of 2005-06 will be remembered for their valiant but ultimately unsuccessful assault on the final Champions League spot. To make it worse, it was arch-rivals West Ham who ruined their party by beating them 2-1 on the final day. And to put the tin lid on it, it was Arsenal who pipped them to fourth.
The defeat was blamed squarely upon a lasagna which had been served to the players at the London Marriott in West India Quay, where the players aere staying before the game. Ten players went down with a mystery illness, assumed to be food poisoning, although the hotel was cleared of any wrongdoing.
Pies
David Beckham, as reported here recently, is a lifelong pie and mash fan, and even went to the lengths of taking the Spurs players and backroom staff to lunch at a local emporium during his brief stint training at the north London club.
But when it comes to meat-filled be-crusted comestibles, one man is synonymous: chunky Mick Quinn, whose candid autobiography is rhetorically entitled Who Ate All The Pies?
The scouse goal-machine once picked up a pie that was thrown at him from the crowd and ate it, to the amusement of all. He has been known to repeat the story from time to time in the course of his broadcasting duties.
Mars Bars
Paul Gascoigne’s love of the ‘iconic’ chocolate brick was well known, and when he turned out for Spurs against his former club Newcastle United the Toon fans bombarded him with said confectionary. Whereupon Gazza ‘did a Quinny’ and chomped enthusiastically.
Testicles
Mention ‘testicles and football’ and the connection is obvious: Wimbledon FC – although this is nothing to do with Gazza’s bollocks…
…and everything to do with the defunct club’s owner Sam Hammam, who introduced the novel forfeit of eating sheep’s gonads as part of the ‘Crazy Gang’ disciplinary code.
Crisps
No contest…
Sandwiches
It would be easy to just post a picture of Roy Keane, who indirectly coined the phrase “prawn sandwich brigade” during a mini-rant about Manchester United’s gentrified supporters.
Yet Keano’s comments are trumped by events at Grimsby, where Town’s Ivano Bonetti was supposedly injured when manager Brian Laws threw chicken wings at him. The sandwich-based truth is slightly different.
Laws says that Bonetti hurled sandwiches – and a punch – at him, and that he merely retaliated in kind: “I’ve no idea where the chicken leg or wing part of the story came from! It almost put a bit of humour to it, but we felt it was best to leave things be and put things right later on. That incident gets brought up quite a lot and people laugh at it now – and I do as well – but at the time it wasn’t very funny or nice to be involved in. It was an incident which unfortunately spilled out into the press and all hell broke loose at the time.”
McDonald’s
The restaurant of choice for footballers seeking a pre-brawl snack, as patronised by Lee Bowyer (pictured here fighting with team-mate Kieran Dyer). Bowyer was convicted of affray at the Isle of Dogs branch…
And Joey Barton, back home in Liverpool…
Oranges
Charlton Athletic keeper Charlie Wright is fondly remembered for his tendency to wander behind his goal and chat with supporters. Legend has it that once, while accepting an orange from a fan, the opponents scored.
Salad cream
Step up, Dave Beasant. If you can, that is.
Beasant missed two months of the 1993-94 season after knocking over a jar of salad cream which fell onto his foot, causing serious injury. Some say it was mayonnaise, but unfashionable salad cream took the rap.
Bananas
Eternal spring chicken Gordon Strachan (pictured here with the world’s largest banana split) famously lives on a diet of the curvy peely fruit. “Gordon couldn’t spell banana when he was 20,” says former team-mate Alex McLeish “He ate pork pies then. But we had a teetotal right-back called Stuart Kennedy who brought in books about the diets of Ivan Lendl and Martina Navratilova. That’s when we started good eating habits.”
Unfortunately, the enduring image of footballers and bananas is less savoury. John Barnes was famously snapped back-heeling a banana thrown at him by the Goodison faithful in 1988.
“I don’t remember doing that,” he said later. “I mean the picture is there but bananas back then were common. The reason it all came to the fore is because I was playing for a high-profile club like Liverpool. For six years before, that happened every week, but because it was a small club it wasn’t highlighted. In terms of me being angry and wanting to fight people in the stands though, it never happened, I consider those people to be ignorant, so how could they affect any part of life or any part of my demeanour.”
Posted: 30th, October 2013 | In: Flashback, Key Posts, Sports | Comments (2)
Manchester United Turn Nazi: Adnan Januzaj Leads The New Order
LAST week Manchester United fans were sent this message. There was the rise of a “New Order”.
Adnan Januzaj is at the vanguard of the Neuordnung. That’s him wearing a sharp-looking Swastika-styled crown below.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 28th, October 2013 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
Manchester United: Robbie Savage Stands Up For Good Neighbours
ROBBIE Savage has something to say about Sir Alex Ferguson’s book. At noon today, the media had said 100o times as many words on the book as there are in the thing. But until now, Savage had been silent. But with a deadline looming and a page to fill in the Daily Mirror, Savage gives full throat to his book report:
“It’s bang out of order and didn’t need to be written”
Godfather of a Manchester United dynasty or not, some of Sir Alex Ferguson’s revelations in his new book are bang out of order.
Read the rest of this entry »
Manchester United: Wayne Rooney Gives Ferguson The Brush Off
WHAT say the experts about Sir Alex Ferguson’s book in which he tells about his time at Manchester United? On the matter of Wayne Rooney, today’s news is mixed:
Says Neil Curtis in the Sun:
WAYNE ROONEY last night brushed off Alex Ferguson’s stinging criticism.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 24th, October 2013 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
Manchester United: David Moyes Harks Back To 1989
MANCHESTER United Watch: David Moyes is speaking after a 1-1 home draw against a decent Southampton side.
“Over the years, Manchester United have been slow starters quite often.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 21st, October 2013 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
Sir Alex Ferguson Way: the opening of Manchester United’s trail of silver, tears and vitriol
TODAY, Manchester United legend Sir Alex Ferguson opened Sir Alex Ferguson Way, Trafford.
A Way? Surely Ferguson is more suited to Alex Ferguson Cross. Or Sir Alex Ferguson Passage. Or how about Sir Alex Ferguson Trail, a track of tears, beaten opponents (Kenny Dalglish, Kevin Keegan, Roberto Mancini and many more), banned journalists, vanquished nations, abused match officials and even entire nations slighted: “When an Italian tells me it’s pasta on the plate, I check under the sauce to make sure”; and “Typical Germans. It was only a slip, a slight tug at the boy, but they saw the opportunity and forced the referee. The ref wasn’t going to do anything, but they forced him to get a card out”?
A great winner. A terrific tactician. But Ferguson was the man for whom the phrase “incandescent with rage” might have been coined.
PS: The one great pity was that he never managed England. They’d have named a motorway after him.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 14th, October 2013 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
Arsenal and Manchester United’s Wilshere and Rooney owe England £1.5 and their souls
THE pressure on Arsenal player Jack Wilshere’s shoulders so no signs of abating. The current Best English Player to Look a Bit Like Kevin Keegan is the subject of this balls in the Daily Mail:
‘The midfielder has been hailed as the future of English football and dropping him would represent arguably the biggest gamble by an England manager manager since Glenn Hoddle left David Beckham out of the opening 1998 World Cup game.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Manchester United’s Adnan Januzaj to earn £140,000 a week
HAVIGN failed to settle on the number of countries Manchester United’s Adnan Januzaj is able to play for, the media are competing to see what he could earn in week if he opt to remains at Old Trafford. These stories are all from today’s press.
The Sun:
MANCHESTER UNITED are ready to offer teen sensation Adnan Januzaj a 2,900 per cent pay rise. he Belgian star, 18, earns just £1,000 a week but his current deal runs out next summer. So United will offer him a contract worth around £30,000 a week to stave off interest from other top clubs.
Manchester United offer Adnan Januzaj £50,000-per-week to ward off Manchester City and Juventus
Manchester United have offered Adnan Januzaj a staggering £60,000 a week to stay at Old Trafford after his match-winning display at the Stadium of Light.
Whoever’s right, it’s not too shabby for an 18-year-old…
Posted: 7th, October 2013 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
Manchester United: Moyes claims credit for Adnan Januzaj and says all Manchester City fans dream of playing for United
IS Manchester United’s 18-year-old legend -in-the-making Adnan Januzaj English? The Telegraph and Express lead with news that Roy Hodgson, the England manger, wants Adnan to play for the Three Lions.
The Mirror notes:
FIFA red tape means there would be a five-year wait, but the 18-year-old has several options having never been called up for Belgium
So. If the hotshot wants to play for mighty England he can wait until he’s 23. Think he will? The FA rules are that any player not born here must play continuously in England for five years from their 18th birthday. Adnan’s Manchester United contract expires at the season’s end. He might not even be he after that.
Young Adnan was born in Brussels, Belgium. He’s never represented them. So. He could play for England.
Says United manger David Moyes:
“The English FA have made their interest in Adnan known. I think he has a choice of three or four countries he can play for. Belgium have already tried to call him up, Albania and Croatia too. I think he would be able to play for England because of residency in five years.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 6th, October 2013 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comments (3)
Manchester United: Januzaj give Moyes the genius that Mark Robbins moment at Sunderland
MANCHESTER UNITED defeated Sunderland 2-1 at the Stadium of light. Was it easy for Moyes’ marvels. Or were the Black Cats unlucky? Let’s see what the newspaperd said:
Craig Gardner’s early strike gave Sunderland a thoroughly deserved half-time advantage against the reigning Premier League champions and the lead could have been more handsome.
Emanuele Giaccherini was denied by a magnificent save from David De Gea before the Italian spurned another golden opportunity from eight yards out…
Sunderland got off to a dream start after getting their noses in front in the fifth minute. Emanuele Giaccherini’s cross from the right cannoned off Phil Jones and Nemanja Vidic into the path of Gardner who rifled the ball into the far bottom corner.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 5th, October 2013 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
Manchester Untied discover that for ever is not all that long in the Donbass Arena
HOW well did Manchester United do in securing a 1-1 draw against Shakhtar Donetsk?
The Sun’s Neil Curtis writes:
No English team has ever won in the Donbass Arena.
True. But, then, the Donbass opened on 29 August 2009. Before United visited, Shaktar had beaten Arsenal in 2010 and Chelsea last season.
For ever need not be all that long…
Posted: 3rd, October 2013 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
Manchester United laugh in: Alex Ferguson advise ‘never hold a grudge’
WHAT was the secret of Manchester United’s success under Sir Alex Ferguson? Well, Fergie has told the Charlie Rose Show on PBS:
“…never hold a grudge – it’s very important”
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 2nd, October 2013 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
Manchester United watch: Moyes is King of the Nowhere Men, Ander Herrera is exposed and the Glazers’ pain
MANCHESTER United watch: an at-a-glance look at United in today’s news:
The Times: “American owners ready to fund manager’s call for world-class players”
Why didn’t they buy Gareth Bale?
David Moyes will be given substantial funds to reshape his Manchester United squad with the Glazer family recognising that the manager requires world-class reinforcements to help to maintain Sir Alex Ferguson’s legacy of success.
The United manager is expected to make a foray into the transfer market in January providing leading targets become available as the Barclays Premier League champions look to put the frustrations of a miserable summer behind them…
The Glazers are thought to share Moyes’s view that the squad needs strengthening in key areas and will not balk at spending well in excess of £100 million to ensure they remain successful in the coming years.
Who do they buy?
United continue to keep tabs on Ander Herrera, whom they have been monitoring for 2½ years, but the £25.6 million bid they had rejected for the Spain Under-23 midfielder last month was at the upper limit of their valuation. As such, it seems unlikely at this stage that the club would be prepared to meet the €36 million (£30.2 million) release clause in his contract with Athletic Bilbao.
Andrés Iniesta’s situation at Barcelona is being watched from a distance but there is little expectation of the Spain midfielder leaving the Nou Camp. Ilkay Gundogan, the Borussia Dortmund midfielder, also has his admirers among United’s coaching staff.
It remains to be seen whether United make a renewed effort to buy Leighton Baines or Fabio Coentrão, the Everton and Real Madrid left backs for whom they had bids rejected in the summer, or pursue a younger target, such as Luke Shaw, of Southampton.
Eliaquim Mangala, the highly regarded Porto centre half, is regarded as a potential successor to Ferdinand, although Moyes faces competition from Chelsea, City and several leading European clubs for the 22-year-old, who has a reported €45 million release clause in his contract.
Matt Dickinson says it’s more complicated than that. He looks at how Moyes traded players at Everton:
…chronicled in detail by Michael Calvin in The Nowhere Men, his original book about the scouting business. It is a fascinating glimpse into Moyes’s methods and how Everton used scouting to punch above their weight.
The book takes us behind the locked doors of Everton’s recruitment room under Moyes… Every manager collects scouting data, but none with the zeal of Moyes, whose head of technical scouting, James Smith… kept a database of thousands of reports on the abilities of more than 1,000 players. The long wall in this office was covered in an array of whiteboards, detailing targets, positions, ages, contracts and ratings; hundreds of players listed in various different inks from foreigners under review to “live” targets under constant monitoring. Another board showed the ideal Premier League choices, all aged under 26, with votes from scouts to establish which was top choice; another had a list of players under 23 in English lower leagues.
There was a board of those players Moyes was actively seeking to sign next to another showing how the manager envisaged the development of the first team, with players phased out and how new recruits would come in (which is why the room was strictly off limits to his squad).
This dazzling detail was merely an easy checklist. The real data was kept on computer in the vast bank of reports and profiles. Moyes would demand an “MOT test” for serious targets, with up to 50 reports compiled by as many scouts and coaches on a single player — on top of his own trips.
How does that prudence and intelligent buying fit with spending massive sums at United?
At United there is regret, for example, that they did not bid £50 million for Cesc Fàbregas to see if Barcelona could have been persuaded to negotiate. Moyes, understandably in his first window, was cautious. They wonder now whether they should have closed the deal for Thiago Alcantara instead of allowing the Barcelona schemer to slip away to Bayern Munich. Moyes, though, wanted to stay true to his habits of amassing multiple reports. Without those, he was not sure.
Now they agonise over Ander Herrera, the target at Athletic Bilbao, but must do so without enjoying the secrecy of the recruitment room.
It’s not Everton:
Tony Evans in the Times:
Moyes was bequeathed the worst United squad since his predecessor broke the club’s 26-year title drought in 1993… United should have the fiscal firepower to compete with the biggest clubs in Europe. Yet since the Glazer takeover, too much of the prodigious income that flows into Old Trafford has been diverted to pay interest fees, debt repayments and bank charges. In the accounts released this month, there were £71 million outgoing in financial costs. That knocks a severe hole even in a business that generated an income of £363 million.
Ferguson’s management masked the poisonous impact of the leveraged takeover. The Americans borrowed £525 million to buy United. They have spent £680 million servicing the debt. The former manager’s brilliance meant the impact of this drain on club cash was barely noticed. Until now.
Ferguson’s departure may have been the eye of a perfect storm that began forming in 2005 . Moyes may not be the man to ride it out.
Mark Ogden in the Telegraph looks at the weakened Moyes:
The narrative of the season so far from Moyes has been one of lowering expectations. The squad, he insists, is not strong enough in key areas and the Scot even suggested in the wake of the 4-1 defeat at Manchester City last week, which he described as “embarrassing”, that he required two new players to go straight into his starting 11.
Moyes is undoubtedly correct in his assessment, United do lack quality, particularly in midfield, but there is a danger that he is giving his players an excuse for failure by repeatedly highlighting their frailties.
Ferguson, in contrast, would never talk his team down. He would often exaggerate the potential of his players simply to instil the belief that they could achieve great things.
Phil McNulty tells BBC readers:
It is unlikely Ferguson would have talked down Champions League expectations but this is the different world Moyes now occupies and even his fiercest critics must accept he will take time to fully acclimatise.
One thing is certain: Moyes has the most exciting and toughest job in club football. How does he follow Ferguson?
Photo: English Premier League soccer team Everton’s new signings, John Heitinga, left, Sylvain Distin, second left, and Dinijar Bilyaletdinov, right, pose for photos with team manager David Moyes, second right, at the Everton training ground, Liverpool, England, Friday Sept. 11, 2009.
Posted: 1st, October 2013 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment (1)
Manchester United used to practice kicking lumps out of the opposition’s best player
POPE wears funny hat! Katie Price sleeps on back! And now in other news to shock and amaze: Phil Neville says Manchester United players Roy Keane, Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes used to kick lumps out of the best players. The actual shocker is that they used to practice ‘Plan B’ by hacking away at Cristiano Ronaldo.
Speaking to ITV reporter Gabriel Clarke as part of an imminent Ronaldo documentary, Neville Bites Yer Legs says:
“[Ronaldo] dived a lot. He tried to buy fouls and he came in for a lot of criticism. The boys [at Man Utd] were hard on him for his diving and it was putting us under pressure. I’d say the first 12 months there was a massive toughening up process. In training at the time you had Keane, Butt, Scholes, and every time he got the ball they kicked him and they kicked him – not just once, they kicked him every day, every week, all season.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 1st, October 2013 | In: Arsenal, manchester united, Sports | Comment
Arsenal: Mark Lawrenson looks in the Mirror for the fools who said Manchester United were going great and the Gunners were doomed
HOW hard is it to be BBC football pundit who shares his bon mots with the Daily Mirror? Let’s look at Mark Lawrenson:
“While Arsenal go backwards, the big clubs have started the new season as they mean to go on…I have no idea what Arsenal are doing…it is all just a mess at the Emirates…just shows you how far Arsenal have fallen behind.”
“I have no idea what Arsenal are doing.”
And those are the truest words he has ever said.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 30th, September 2013 | In: Sports | Comments (3)
Manchester United watch: Moyes’ paranoia, Liverpool relived and rejecting Ferguson’s winners
MANCHESTER United lose at home to West Bromwich Albion. Some shock. But what did David Moyes say at the start of the season:
“I think it’s the hardest start for 20 years that Manchester United have had. I hope it’s not because Manchester United won the league quite comfortably last year the fixtures have been made much more difficult. I find it hard to believe that’s the way the balls came out of the bag, that’s for sure. But if it is a hard start for Manchester United, it is a hard start for everyone else because they have to play us.”
Man City, Liverpool and Chelsea in the first five matches is tough. But United earned one point from those three matches. They’re not that hard to beat.
He then added:
“To win the Champions League, you need five or six world-class players. Look at Bayern Munich, they have it. Look at Barcelona, who had it in the past and Real Madrid, who have maybe got it now. That’s the level you have to be at to win it. We’ve not got that yet.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 30th, September 2013 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment (1)
Manchester United: Moyes sent to Gibraltar, West Bromwich Albion are shameful and Man City pounce on Januzaj
MANCHESTER United Watch: a round-up of the day’s United news in the media. United have made their worst start to a Premier League season in 24 years.
David Moyes wants more is United are to win the Champions’ League:
“To win the Champions League you have to have five or six world class players. If you look at Bayern Munich, they have five or six, nearly, world class players. To be considered to win it, you might have to have that in your squad. Look at Barcelona, who had it in the past, and Real Madrid have maybe got it now. That’s the level you have to get at to win it.
“We’ve not got that yet but what we have got is experience and several players who are in that category or close to it.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 29th, September 2013 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
Manchester United Watch: Januzaj stays, Lingard shines, Vidic stars and Moyes picks his team on Fifa 2014
MANCHESTER United Watch: a look at the Red Devils in the news: the pressure is on David Moyes. Well, of course it is.
Peter Schmeichel tells Sky Sports News.
“We always knew that whatever happened after Sir Alex, it would be a bumpy road. Someone had to be really brave and take that job. We knew every little thing that he does would be scrutinised and reported on in the media. It would be a debate – is he good enough? Has he got a few games left before he loses his game? He signed a six-year contract, there’s a reason behind the six years. People in football have short memories. The start of last season is the same as this season, you know.
“We played a relatively few number of games and had two defeats, one at Everton then Spurs at home, and we still managed to win by 13 points. I listened to the radio on the way here and they’re saying it’s not even a top four squad, and I’m thinking ‘guys where do you get this from?”
One thing on Moyes’ agenda is to tie down the talent he has. He wants to keep Nemanja Vidic at Old Trafford. Says Moyes:
“Vidic is probably the best centre half I have ever worked with. He is that good, he really is.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 28th, September 2013 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
Manchester United great Alex Ferguson tipped for Republic of Ireland manger’s job
THE Irish Independent are reporting that a leading bookmaker have slashed their odds on former Aberdeen and Manchester United Sir Alex Ferguson becoming the next manager of the Republic of Ireland after a swathe of bets on the former Manchester United boss were placed this afternoon.
Boylesports have cut their odds from 66/1 to 20/1 after a “flood” of bets were placed on Sir Alex taking over from Giovanni Trapattoni, who resigned last month. Long-time favourite for the job is still Martin O’Neill with odds of 4/5 but Mick Carthy is also in there at 7/2.
Well, what do you make of that? Ordinarily we’d suggest that stranger things have happened in football, but in this case we’re fairly sure they actually haven’t!
Manchester United’s Rio Ferdinand launches The Footies – because footballers need more rewards
THERE are many strings to Rio Ferdinand’s bow, what with him being all media savvy, having a brand and owning a restaurant and what not.
Noticing a hole in the football awards calendar in between the PFA awards, the Ballon d’Or, the Football League awards, the LMA awards, the FWA awards, the UEFA club football awards, the FIFPro awards, etc, etc, Rio has decided to launch his own awards bash, the “Footies”, which we are reliably informed is “the Oscars” of the football industry in much the same way that the CEEQUALS are the Oscars of the sewage and waste treatment industry.
Read the rest of this entry »
Liverpool: Luis Suarez fails to eat a Manchester United player and other views on his return
HOW did Liverpool’s Luis Suarez get on last night as he returned to the Liverpool team after serving a 10 match ban for biting?
Neil Ashton, Daily Mail:
High up in the top tier of the old Scoreboard End they sang the name of Luis Suarez as if he had never been away. All is forgiven, all is forgotten.
Of course, the Liverpool faithful sung his name when he was trying to manufacture a transfer from Anfield and manager Brendan Rodgers was putting a price on his head. Ashton then adds:
Suspension served he is free to start over, to light up English football again with those match-winning performances.
And how does the Mail show readers that Suarez is free to begin anew? Yep, by showing them a photo of the Uruguayan biting the arm of Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic. Liverpool fans may wonder why whenever a certain England player is reported on the Mail doesn’t equip the story with photo of what he termed his “mischievous” behaviour?
In October 2006, Spurs forward Jermain Defoe (England) bit West Ham’s Javier Mascherano (Argentina). Defoe was booked for “aggressive behaviour”. No more punishment came his way because the referee had dealt with the incident at the time – even though the FA knew the official had missed the bite.
The Sun quotes Suarez:
“It is important that I am back because I can help the team on the pitch — off the pitch I can’t. We will keep going.”
The Sun then opted for a few puns:
Mark Ogden in the Telegraph also looks at the loyal fans:
…football supporters, as hardline and unforgiving as they often claim to be, quickly forget their principles when it involves a star player such as Suárez or Rooney.
And just as Rooney has been serenaded by United’s fans since his return to action this season, Suárez emerged from his suspension at Old Trafford with 7,200 Liverpool supporters offering strong vocal proof of their affection for the lightning rod from Salto.
But Jeremy Cross tells Daily Star readers:
Footballing convictions for racist abuse and biting have stained his reputation forever.
The Express focuses on Suarez outside football:
In Uruguayan book Vamos Que Vamos, Suarez admits that his rebellious side began when he was just nine, after his parents split up.
“They were tough times,” Suarez said. “My parents had split up and there was all the problem of us being a family that never had the possibility of choosing anything. I was never able to tell my mother or father, ‘I want these trainers’, and have them buy me those trainers. It was the pure reality.”
“Up to the age of 12 I knew that I wanted to play football, but afterwards, from 12 to 14, I went through a phase in which the football wasn’t going well for me and I didn’t want to study. I didn’t like to train. I only liked playing the games and that way it was going to be very difficult for me to achieve something. I got really angry. I was a rebel and that worked against me.”
So his racially abusing Patrice Evra was a sign of rebellion rooted in a broken home?
David McDonnell in the Mirror:
He thudded the ball against the bar, hit the side netting and caused anxiety in the Manchester United defence with his guile and clever movement. All that was missing on Luiz Suarez’s comeback from a 10-match ban for biting was a goal and a fresh chapter of controversy to add to his compendium of misdemeanours.
In the Star those misdemeanours were convictions.
Ever since he was found guilty of racially abusing Patrice Evra and then refused to shake his hand in the pre-match ritual when the sides next faced each other, Suarez has been Public Enemy No.1 at United. Cast in his familiar role as pantomime villain of the piece for United fans, Suarez was booed and jeered every time he came into their proximity to take a corner, and was duly serenaded by Liverpool supporters, whose delight at having him back was tangible.
Racial abuse is a form of panto? He ends his piece with a predictable pun:
But there was enough creative instinct and attacking intent in his play to suggest it will not be long before he is back putting the bite on defences where it hurts most.
Suarez could hold his head high after a tireless display which emphatically answered the questions about his ongoing commitment to the cause. Some 157 days after he was banned for 10 games for sinking his teeth into Branislav Ivanovic, there was the welcome sight of Suarez back in a Liverpool shirt tormenting defenders.
We’ll know when Suarez is back when the puns about his biting end.
Posted: 26th, September 2013 | In: Sports | Comment (1)
Manchester United: Hernandez shoots down Liverpool and Suarez in a welter of puns
IN last night’s Capital One Cup, Javier Hernandez of Manchester Untied scored the games only and decisive goal to defeat Liverpool. Hernandez is known as ‘Little Pea’:
Read the rest of this entry »
