Last Days of My Bitter Heart

Wigan are all over the papers again today, but today it is nice to see Sir Alex come in with some words of sense, although, so far as I have seen, only one paper seems to have picked up on it (I could be wrong but I didn't see the story anywhere else, I do only have one pair of eyes though), that is The Daily Mail:

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has accused Bolton of doing too much celebrating this week as they prepare to face Chelsea in the title decider on Sunday.

Ferguson compared Wigan's determined approach to their game against United with Bolton's mood ahead of their trip to Stamford Bridge.

"People have questioned Wigan's integrity but when you look at it, the different attitudes are quite interesting.

"The Wigan players are coming out and saying, 'We want to beat Manchester United'. That is fine, we are a big club.

"But both teams are safe, relaxed and confident. Yet one can celebrate and the other is all keyed up to play against Manchester United."

Well said, if only the papers were as sensible, but today the biggest story seems to be an interview with Dave Whelan, Wigan chairman, who actually comes across well, but the fact that there is no similar story from a Bolton perspective is obviously biased - Bolton are allowed to go to Stamford Bridge and roll over - Wigan have to give their absolute all.

This article in The Mail has Dave Whelan discussing their draw at Stamford Bridge:

"I think Emile's goal could have cost Chelsea the title because, had they beaten us, no matter what United do this weekend, Chelsea would have won it if they beat Bolton.

"We got a little email from Sir Alex Ferguson when we drew at Chelsea saying 'thank you very much, it was a great point' - and it was a great point."

The fuller comments are here, also from The Mail, they include his thoughts on Sir Alex retiring:

'I thought Sir Alex was going to retire three years ago but then he came here and I saw the twinkle was back in his eye,' he said. 'That told me he wanted another European title and if he wins it this time, as I hope he does, he may decide he's had enough.'

His thoughts on why Steve Bruce should be in the running to take over from Sir Alex:

'When it comes to a new manager, United have the pick of the world but there is always a danger top clubs will come calling for Steve.

'If they decided on him or Mark Hughes you'd have no chance of standing in their way. I wouldn't even contemplate doing so if United came in for Steve. I'd be as delighted for him as I'd be sorry for us.

'I'll tell you the job he's done here. When he joined us in November, I honestly thought we would slide out of the Premier League. I feared the worst, so he's earned his bonus. It was an awesome task but he got the players believing in themselves. That's how we managed to take points off Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool for the first time.

'With Paul Jewell, I always felt the size of the challenge at Anfield or Old Trafford got to him a bit and he picked a team to keep the scoreline down.

'He gave them too much respect whereas Steve doesn't have any respect for the big guns. He respects them as clubs but sees them as potential scalps when he faces them. That's why we went to Aston Villa last weekend and won. Brilliant, really.'

And on possible transfers:

Whelan admitted United are one of three clubs interested in Wilson Palacios and Antonio Valencia and addressed the threat of losing them with typical candour.

'It really is difficult when a club like United are circling,' he said. 'Sir Alex doesn't mess about. He just comes and bangs on your door and says, “I'd like to buy that player and we'll give you so much”.

'If he does that for Valencia or Palacios, how am I going to stop them? I think they'd be better off continuing their development here for another season or so but I couldn't sleep at night if I simply blocked it. Mind you, they won't come cheap.'

The Guardian has some comments from him in a story about ticketless United fans going to the game Sunday:

Dave Whelan, the Wigan Athletic chairman, has raised the prospect of major segregation problems inside the JJB Stadium for the visit of Manchester United on Sunday after voicing fears that the town will be "swamped" with up to 20,000 ticketless United fans determined to witness the title decider against Steve Bruce's team. United's official allocation of 4,928 was sold out at Old Trafford last month but thousands more of their fans are expected to make the short trip to Wigan in an effort to buy tickets on the black market.

Whelan said: "I think we are going to have 10,000 or 15,000 United fans outside this ground on Sunday. It's up to £450 on eBay for a ticket. Manchester United have got fans all over the world and I think we'll be swamped in Wigan. I just feel that we could end up with as many as 20,000 locked outside."

The story about Wayne Rooney from yesterday is given a new spin today - yesterday it was "Rooney may play some part", today it is "Rooney may play no part". Like I said yesterday, it would apppear that Rooney will probably be on the bench:

"I am not so sure about Wayne," said Ferguson. "Maybe I will have him as a substitute on Sunday. But he will certainly be fit for the Champions League final."

Owen Hargreaves has some words to say:

He said: "We [Bayern] won the double by scoring in the 93rd minute against Hamburg and then three days later winning the Champions League on penalties. We couldn't have left it any longer or made it any more difficult than that!

"To be in this position feels comfortable because I've been there before. At the beginning of the season, if someone had said we had 90 minutes to win the league we'd have jumped at that. We're in a good position.

"How do you keep cool? Just by doing the same things that got us here. I don't think we need to change anything at this stage. We've had a really good season and that's why we're top of the Premier League. We just need to train, prepare ourselves and we'll be ready for the weekend."

The Times have a "professor of organisational psychology and health" give his opinion on the end of the season:

The personality of Ferguson is spewed across the whole side. If they do not win the title, they will still beat Chelsea in Moscow. I would stake £100 on it. United are like a family; they feel like a family and they deal with hardship like a family. If anything goes wrong on Sunday, which I doubt it will, they will do the business in Moscow.