although i do agree with is idea to make the women wear shorter shorts and tighter jerseysâŚ
The season starts now. Cmon United. Beat Aberdeen. http://www.thefreekick.com/board/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif
Amos
Neville
Vidic
Brown
Silvestre
Fletcher
Carrick
Scholes
Martin
Giggs
Rooney
Shan, given you were appalled by Madridâs public courting of Ronaldo, are you similarly disgusted by Alex Fergusonâs public comments to the media about trying to sign Berbatov?
It didnt happen.
Sir Alex Ferguson says Tottenham face âembarrassmentâ for complaining to the Premier League over Manchester United being linked to Dimitar Berbatov.
A national newspaper quoted the United manager as saying he expected to sign Bulgaria striker Berbatov, 27.
But Ferguson denied the reports, saying: "I donât know where they got those quotes from, it wasnât from me.
âItâs going to be very embarrassing for Spurs because the complaint appears to be on the basis of a story in a paper.â
Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy accused United of being hypocritical, given that the European Champions reported Real Madrid to governing body Fifa because they believed the Spanish champions were publicly courting Portugal winger Cristiano Ronaldo.
And the chairman said both United and Liverpool, who reportedly want to sign Spurs captain Robbie Keane, had behaved disrespectfully. Levy said on Friday: âThe public comments by Manchester Unitedâs manager, announcing that he has made an offer for Dimitar and is confident that the deal will go through with time working in their favour, is a blatant example of sheer arrogance and interference with one of our players.â
Speaking after Unitedâs 1-1 draw against Kaizer Chiefs in a Cape Town friendly, Ferguson added: "Itâs embarrassing for them but you know what Daniel Levy is like. Heâs different.
âItâs something to ask chief executive David Gill about because I havenât really spoken to him about it because Iâve been preparing for the match.â
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/7513117.stm
Just got this via electronic mail - what do you have to say to this Captainshan?
âIt is Fergusonâs way of doing business but it is not my way,â said PSV
chairman Harry van Raay when Arjen Robben went on an unathorised day-trip
to Manchester. âIt just seems that, with Ferguson, a leopard never loses
its spots.â As Spurs report Sir Fergie to the FA, we look at other times
the Scotâs transfers have annoyed peopleâŚ
Ruud van Nistelrooy
âHis suggestion that after his injury, Ruud could recuperate at United was
scandalous,â fumed PSVâs Harry van Raay after Ferguson invited the striker
along to train with United.
âHe asserted it would be better if Ruud trained with him. Yet if he really
thought that, he should have taken the financial risk and bought Ruud last
year.â
Van Nistelrooy had been due to complete a move to United, but a serious
knee injury saw United pull the plug. Ferguson went back in for him a year
later, and was widely praised for treating Van Nistelrooy so well.
âThe only thing he did was to call on the phone a few time,â Van Raay
sulked. "And then he gets praised because he has been so beneficial to
Ruud.
"But we were the ones who did that. We even improved his contract. Van
Nistelrooy cost us 1.4m in salary and physical rehabilitation this year.
We could put in a lot of other choice quotes here - âcrossed the line of
decencyâŚthinking he was the King of FootballâŚâ being among our
favourites - but weâd be here all day.
Jaap Stam
Of course, before the Van Nistelrooy affair, PSV were already a little
peeved with the King of Football over his pursuit of Jaap Stam. âWe had to
keep everything under wraps, so the club didnât find out about the
unofficial approach,â said Stam, clearly failing to recognise the
difference between, âkeeping things under wrapsâ and, âtalking about them
in an autobiography being serialised in a national newspaper.â
Tom van Dalen, Stamâs agent, set the meeting up in a hotel near Amsterdam
airport. âWe didnât want to go to a hotel in case there was even the
remotest chance somebody might see us,â he said later.
âWe spent most of our 30 minutes just talking about what my plans were and
how heâd like me to come to Old Trafford,â revealed Stam in his book.
"There was no discussion about positional play, contracts or money. I guess
he just wanted to meet me and see what kind of guy I was.
"He strode into the room, full of confidence and smiling broadly.
ââJaap, I want you to play for Manchester United,â said Ferguson. âI want
you to command our back line and help us to win the Championsâ Leagueâ.â
Which, to be fair, he did.
David Bellion
From the great players to the, erm, not great. Sunderland chairman Bob
Murray was in a philosophical mood about David Bellionâs desire to leave
Sunderland for a bigger club, calling Unitedâs approach for the player,
âshabby, despicable, disrespectful, arrogant and unprofessional.â
United had bid for Bellion in the January transfer window, but Sunderland
rejected the offer, despite Bellionâs contract expiring at the end of the
season. âDavid is contracted to the club until the end of the season and it
would not be in the clubâs best interests to allow him to leave,â they said
at the time. It makes funny reading looking back, eh?
As the end of the season, Bellion went AWOL, claiming his grandmother was
ill and he was âmentally unfitâ to play in a relegation battle. His agent
denied widespread reports that he had been in contact with United, but
David Dein claimed that Bellion had also been offered to Arsenal on the
quiet.
A few weeks later, when his Sunderland contract expired, Bellion signed for
United on a Bosman. Sunderland promptly went to a tribunal to determine a
fee, but before a ruling could be made United offered 3million to settle
in private. Very much in private, too - the deal reportedly included a
confidentiality agreement, under which, basically, Murray would keep his
mouth shut about the while affair.
Letâs just take a moment to remember that all this fuss was over David
Bellion.
Dwight Yorke
âAnyone else would have been reprimanded by now,â ranted John Gregory of
Sir Fergieâs public appreciation of Dwight Yorke.
âHe keeps saying heâs interested in signing Dwight. But I find it very
strange he should be allowed to discuss the future of a contracted player
at another club on a daily basis in the papers.â
In echoes of todayâs negotiations with Liverpool over Gareth Barry, Villa
had been outraged when United only offered 8m for a player they had been
told would cost them 16m. Yorke had two years left on his contract, and
Gregory, whose side were competing for a place in the Champions League, was
absolutely insistent his star striker would not be allowed to leave Villa
Park.
âPeople keep saying that we would get far less for him this time next
season,â said Gregory. "And that we would get nothing in two yearsâ time.
âBut weâre not looking to sell. The moneyâs irrevelant as we donât need it.
Thereâs not many in the world that would replace Dwight Yorke.â
Yorke then asked for a transfer. âIf Iâd had a gun, I would have shot him,â
a furious Gregory told the press, still insistent Yorke would not leave for
less than his asking price. Then came Goodison Park; Yorke made no effort
whatsoever in Villaâs Premiership clash with Everton, refusing to chase the
ball. In the eyes of Villa, the striker was effectively on strike, and when
United came back in with a 12.6m offer, the Midlands club were left with
little option but to sell.
Paul Ince
âHurray!â said confrontation lovers everywhere when Paul Inceâs Blackburn
were handed an August trip to West Ham. Itâs nearly twenty years since Ince
left Upton Park for Old Trafford, but some memories stick in the head. Like
your best player posing in a Man United shirt before heâs completed any
sort of move. No question of any wrongdoing from Ferguson here, but the
moment Ince pulled on that shirt his position at West Ham became untenable.
Ince maintains that it was all above board and in no way his fault. âI
spoke to Alex Ferguson and the deal was close to being done,â he said in a
recent interview with FourFourTwo. "I then went on holiday, and my agent at
the time, Ambrose Mendy, said it wasnât worth me coming back to do a
picture in a United shirt when the deal was completed, so I should do one
before I left, and it would be released when the deal was announced.
"Lawrence Luster of the Daily Star took the picture and put in the library.
Soon after, their sister paper, the Daily Express, were looking for a
picture of me playing for West Ham, and found the one of me in the United
shirt in the pile. They published it and all hell broke loose.
âI came back from holiday to discover West Ham fans were going mad. It
wasnât really my fault. I was only a kid, I did what my agent told me to
do, then took all the crap for it.â
Ince quickly sorted the rest of the details to complete his moveâŚand then
failed his initial medical. Luckily for Ince, he then managed to pass
another, and the only people left in rather a bad mood were the West Ham
fans. And they still are.
Various St Mirren Folk
Weâre going back a long way on this one - Harry van Raay would be making
all sorts of comments about leopards changing their spots. âFour days
before he eventually left I knew perfectly well that he had told all the
staff that he was moving to Aberdeen,â said Willie Todd, the former St
Mirren chairman, in an interview with The Guardian earlier this year. âA
famous reporter of the time, Jim Rodger of the Daily Mirror, told us that
Alex had asked at least one member of the squad to go to Aberdeen with
him.â
"It was a clear breach of contract on his part; he was still under contract
to St Mirren and Aberdeen had not contacted us to discuss compensatation.
âI had no option but to sack him.â
Nothing really new there Farmer. Although the Ruud stuff is a bit one-sided. United wanted him to have exploratory surgery on the knee, I think. Psv refused, Ruud did the cruciate landing from a header in training(really innocuos). Proved them right, I suppose. United bought him as soon as he recovered. For 19m or so.
Gregory is a hateful fook who has no loyalty himself and has been part of some seriously shady managerial goings on and transfers.
All in all, itâs hardly a revelation.
A revelation to Shan I would say Juhniallio who fails to see the utter hypocrisy of Ferguson giving about Real pursuing RonaldoâŚ
Do you think he is a hypocrite as a matter of interest?
[quote=âfarmerinthecityâ]A revelation to Shan I would say Juhniallio who fails to see the utter hypocrisy of Ferguson giving about Real pursuing RonaldoâŚ
Do you think he is a hypocrite as a matter of interest?[/quote]
I think every topquality manager should do everything at all times in the interest of their clubs. If that turns you into a hypocrite every now and then who gives a shit. Ethics and morals are exceedingly low on the priorities of most clubs and footballers these days, as they are with a lot of people in everyday walks of life. Sad but true.
The thing that guiled me in particular about Ferguson was how he complained to FIFA. As I said before many clubs (including Liverpool) do it but when it happened to them in the case of Gerrard they didnât go crying to FIFA. He canât bear it that there is a player that wants to leave the club for a bigger one and that his exit is not on his termsâŚ
An utter wankstainâŚ
didnât ferguson screw heinze out of a move to liverpool despite giving heinze his word that he would let him leave as long as a team would pay a certain fee for him (5.7 million or something similar)
Indeed he did PukesterâŚ
Ferguson = right
Everyone else = wrong
[quote=âFlanoâ]Ferguson = right
Everyone else = wrong[/quote]
Logic is not a strong point with you is it Flingo ?
Well it is. Itâs logical that people will roll their eyeballs when they see this post. Hoo ha.
Of course if you are Chelsea doing what just about every other club does (Ashley Cole) then you leave yourself open to fines. But thatâs obviously a different rulebook to the one Ferguson uses.
I initially presumed Captainshan was taking the piss on this thread a couple of weeks ago when the âtapping upâ debate was first discussed. Then it seemed he wasnât, hence my question at the time about whether he was younger than 8 years old. Most people can recognise and accept when their side is in the wrong except starry-eyed children who have posters of their favourite players on their bedroom wall and live in a bubble where their team/club/players have no faults whatsoever. Serious question Shan, do you have a Manchester United duvet cover?
The Vodacom Challenge against the Orlando Pirates tonight. Hopefully the team will play a lot better than Saturday.
You seem to attack me Bandage about United but you have your head up your arse about Celtic.
Redsâ fans riot at friendly
Chris Osuh
21/ 7/2008
A PITCH invasion forced the referee to call off a `friendlyâ match between Altrincham and Manchester United reserves.
Drunken Redsâ fans ran on to the pitch at Moss Lane six minutes before time on Saturday, just after their side went 3-0 up.
Up to 40 hooligans vaulted the perimeter fence and Altrincham player Greg Young was shoved to the ground.
Altrinchamâs manager Graham Heathcote ordered his players away and although extra police were called in, no arrests were made.
In a statement on Altrinchamâs website yesterday, Brian Flynn, of the Altrincham FC Supporters Trust, said: "Trouble had been brewing all afternoon. There was an increasing air of tension during the second half as United supporters congregated at the Golf Road End and created an intimidating atmosphere.
âA couple of smoke bombs were thrown on to the pitch and six minutes after the impressive Rodrigo Possebon had scored Manchester Unitedâs third goal, the fans invaded the pitch.â
At half-time, rowdy fans had also damaged the Moss Lane bar, climbing on tables and throwing bottles and glasses.
The dayâs events prompted the club to consider calling off tomorrowâs game with FC United, but it is expected to go ahead as long as police agree.
An Altrincham spokesman said: "We have hosted friendly matches against United on numerous occasions over many decades and there has not been a single unsavoury incident.
âThe behaviour of these individuals was an embarrassment to both clubs. We have done everything that we can to support the police in providing film and photographic evidence of the unsavoury scenes.â
Those who caused the trouble have been condemned by ManUnited Youth, the reserve and academy internet fanzine.
Thats hilarious stuff. Rioting at a friendly reserve game, big time indeed.
Just heard on the radio that it was a Scandinavian Supporters Club that misquoted Sir Alec saying he was after Berbatov.
Its a load of cock apparently.