I am an innocent man

Ah! I spy a story! From The Guardian (though widely reported):

The Real Madrid president Ramón Calderón said today he is prepared to wait to complete the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United and is meanwhile enjoying the drama being played out between the Portugal winger and the Red Devils.

"At the moment Manchester United and the player are in an argument and Madrid are waiting," Calderón said. "We can't do any more for the time being. Will he persuade the club to let him go? I can't say that. That question's for the player, who has publicly said his dream is to play for Madrid. We hear those words with pride and satisfaction, but his departure doesn't only depend on Cristiano. United are the ones that have to sort it out and it will either happen or not."

Well, that's that sorted then...

Silence is Golden

Today, nada.

It's a day to wish the new season was a bit closer - the papers can't even be bothered to make up stories today.

Oh well. Saves me a job...

Why you hate The Game

Some classic examples of bias today.

First off is this article on Ryan Giggs in The Sun, which seems to be quotes taken from an upcoming GQ interview. Now I've nothing against Ryan Giggs, he's been a great player for us for years, but there's always a feeling that he's the Man Utd player it's OK to like, even if you hate Man Utd, consequently he's overrated in the media, never a bad word allowed to be said about him, never allowed to have a bad game, his woeful finishing generally glossed over. It's a similar story with Scholes I guess, but why Gary Neville isn't in the same category with the media is a question to be pondered, I mention these two names because of this sentence in the article:

No modern-day player can come close to Giggs when it comes to loyalty

I don't think I need comment further on that.

My other example might seem like a bit of a stretch but given the seasons long history of this sort of thing it becomes part of the larger picture. Here are two opinion pieces, this from The Independent on Fabregas - and this, from The Telegraph, on Christiano Ronaldo. It might seem that there's not much to complain about here, given that Ronaldo has hardly, by any standard, come out of the protracted transfer saga looking good, however I think the underlying thing here is to show the contrast between the coverage of Arsenal and the coverage of us.
Take this, from The Independent article:

The cause of celebration, a few hours after Fabregas had been reported to be flirting with Real Madrid and their piratical president Ramon Calderon, was Fabregas's astonishing statement of fealty to the club which has nurtured him so brilliantly. Yes, astonishing, in the perspective it may just have brought to the manoeuvrings of such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Dimitar Berbatov, Didier Drogba and Fabregas's club-mate Emmanuel Adebayor.

So other players are mentioned, but note Ronaldo is there, and note also that the word astonishing is only used in the context of these "manoeuvrings". So what was this statement?

He declared: "I have not spoken to anyone in the media, so it is frustrating to read quotes that I have supposedly said. I have spent the summer relaxing with my family, friends and girlfriend, and I return to training tomorrow. I think some people are trying to make mischief, but my intentions are very clear. I am happy here at Arsenal, my future is with Arsenal and the priority is to achieve success and win trophies at Arsenal."

So it's the usual cliched footballer's comment then? "Astonishing" indeed. Even the writer, James Lawton, doesn't actually appear to think it's astonishing:

As it is, doubts will almost certainly continue to linger. ... it is reasonable to wonder how long Fabregas ... will continue to display values that many in the game believe have never been more firmly rooted in the past.
...
For nine months now the question can be put away.

No one can doubt his loyalty ... for a whole nine months. Indeed, if we look at Lawton's reading of the quote that Fabregas claims not to have said, we see the absolute fallacy of his whole argument:

Marca quoted Fabregas as saying: "I didn't tell Ramon Calderon no. I told him it wasn't the time to go to Madrid. That you are wanted by one of the biggest teams in history is important. To be four seasons without winning any titles would be too much for me."

Translation: "Senor Calderon, por favor, kindly hang on a year."

So what Fabregas did say (his "astonishing" statement of loyalty) and what he didn't say (the disputed quote) amount to exactly the same thing - he might move on in a year.
As we have noted, the word "astonishing" was only used in the context of Ronaldo (and the other players), it is as if after writing that paragraph he forgot all about the astonishing thing and came back to earth, realising there was nothing astonishing at all involved. The rhetorical point had been made however, Fabregas/Arsenal = good; Ronaldo/Man Utd = bad. Why do I extend this to the club as well as the player? The article must be viewed in the context of the long history of favourable Arsenal press coverage - imagine this article being written about a Man Utd player, is it even possible? Take the Ronaldo saga - every quote in every Spanish paper is immediately taken as 100% accurate, never, as in this Fabregas article, is there any questioning, and, frankly, even if there is, it is of the nature of "well, maybe the quote is made up, but, given that we all know that Ronaldo wants to move to Real it doesn't matter because this made up quote adequately conveys what Ronaldo is really thinking". The wider point being that Arsenal and everything associated with them are portrayed as pure, whereas everything to do with us is portrayed as polluted.
That this piece in The Telegraph comes on the same day is a happy coincidence, as it shows up the difference in treatment brilliantly. At first sight it might even seem like it is an article full of praise for us, given that it argues that Ronaldo should stay with us for the good of his career. And yet.
The article uses the first tactic I mentioned today - in this case it is praising Sir Alex, who has, after 20 years gained a respect in the papers which it has, almost literally, taken 20 years to gain.
After, he says, looking at two photos of two different England teams

it was impossible for the mind not to muse on the career choices of Gascoigne and Beckham, and wonder whether the little grey cells in Cristiano Ronaldo's head are all in full working order. As Manchester United's Footballer of the Year relaxes on his sunlounger in LA, pondering whether he should push to leave for Real Madrid this summer or next, he should consider the stories of Gascoigne and Beckham.

Working with Sir Alex Ferguson is an education and privilege that should not be forsaken lightly.

It is not playing for Man Utd that is a privilege, it is "working with Sir Alex", nothing to do with the club. The contrast with the other article is obvious: there it was, "the club which has nurtured him [Fabregas] so brilliantly". Not Wenger, but the club.
His two examples prove nothing, on the one hand Gascoigne would, supposedly, have flourished under Ferguson, and maybe he would have done, who knows, but putting this next to the argument that, "Beckham's career never recovered from leaving United", is ridiculous. Ignoring the obvious fact that Beckham didn't do too bad for himself after leaving us, the fact that Beckham left at all seems to ruin the whole Ferguson as Gascoigne's saviour argument - Beckham left, according to the press version, because Ferguson couldn't handle Beckham's celebrity, so why does he become the perfect person to handle Gascoigne? Not that I'm saying Gascoigne wouldn't have been better off playng for us, I'm simply pointing out the stupidity of Henry Winter's logic.
Similar stupidity can be seen in these paragraphs:

Those coveted stars such as Ronaldo contemplating transfers, sooner or later, should choose their managers before lifestyle and salary. Still only 23, Ronaldo can continue to mature under Ferguson, whereas at Madrid he will be expected to produce magic, game in game out, for Bernd Schuster, who cannot afford star signings having quiet performances. If Ronaldo goes missing against Barcelona, he will find Real's coach and supporters less forgiving.

Yet the suggestion that Ronaldo should "give it one more year'' at Old Trafford is also unsatisfactory. His mind would be elsewhere. Ronaldo is either fully committed to the champions or not. There can be no halfway house and one of football's most sensible tenets is never to hold on to an unhappy player.

What he claims is a reason to stay at Man Utd - that too much will be expected of him at Real, that he won't be allowed to underperform - would seem to me a great reason to go for a player like Ronaldo who loves the spotlight and always seems (excepting Euro 2008, hopefully not a sign of things to come...) to give his all. From this angle it sounds like Henry Winter thinks that Ronaldo should just stay with us so he can tread water, take things easy.
Also note the fact that its considered "astonishing" for Fabregas to play another season at Arsenal, for Ronaldo it is "unsatisfactory" to stay at Man Utd for another season.

Two articles, one agenda.

'Enery

So we beat Portsmouth yesterday, and, at least in some quarters, got a bit of credit - here, fromThe Guardians report:

It may only have been a friendly but as far as sending out a warning to their main rivals for next season, this was pretty ominous by Manchester United. Having played a game the day before, against Kaizer Chiefs in Pretoria, they travelled 3,000 miles north to Abuja, Nigeria, changed eight players, rested Wayne Rooney because of a dead leg and missed a penalty - and still defeated a strong Portsmouth side 2-1.

The Independent are a little more reserved, pointing to the failings of Portsmouth:

Portsmouth opened with a stronger-looking starting line-up but Redknapp was making worrying changes before half-time as both Noe Paramot and John Utaka were forced off.

The twin setback hardly helped Pompey get any rhythm into their game, although they were mostly second-best anyway

The Mail do their best to downplay our win:

There was certainly a feeling that, for United at least, this was a match too far, and Tevez did little to dispel that notion when he hammered a twice-taken penalty against David James' bar after five minutes.

But even here, despite all the negativity in the article, our superiority is in evidence:

United manager Ferguson made eight changes from the side that had eased past Kaizer Chiefs the day before, leaving Portsmouth, on paper at least, fielding the stronger team with Peter Crouch partnering Defoe up front.

It rarely looked that way.

There's some comments from Owen Hargreaves on his injury problems in all the papers, here, from The Times:

“The original plan was to go on tour, but I had a serious problem last summer and missed a lot of games and it appeared again this summer,” he said. “I have had some treatment, a course of injections. There is a large gap between each one and it takes a lot of time, but the medical staff are hopeful and I think we have found the solution that will make sure I am fit for the whole of the coming season. If that means missing a preseason game or two and then being fit for the next 50, I will take that.”

And one story from The Daily Star demonstrates that it's a bit of a quiet news day so stories have to be made up:

SIR ALEX FERGUSON is weighing up a shock £15m swoop to sign Arsenal legend Thierry Henry.

Quite.

The idiots are winning

There's a short but pretty sweet interview with Sir Alex in The Times today which includes the revelation that United have someone in LA with Ronaldo:

Listen, I’ve got someone with him there. It's a load of rubbish. He’s not drinking for a start. They (newspapers) had him drinking vodka and that. I said to myself: “Drinking vodka?” I phoned my friend who’s with him and he says: “Boss, there’s no truth in that.” Ronaldo doesn’t drink, we know he doesn’t drink. Stories about some of the other stuff he’s doing are rubbish too.

So that's nice to know, and I also saw this story of Paris Hilton denying the failed Ronaldo seduction story, so there is a lot of rubbish printed about Ronaldo.

There's a good bit of comment on Sir Alex, also in The Times, from Hugh McIllvanny :

He [Sir Alex] must live with the reality that as he prepares to enter his 23rd season in charge of Manchester United he has reached the point of dominating the media’s agenda for football in this country more extensively and persistently than any of the game’s greatest figures of the past ever did. Whether stories are serious or trivial, substantial or frivolous, they are seen as gaining in impact from the inclusion of his name.

And there's an awful bit of comment from Rob Shepard in The News of The World:

THAT Real Madrid have been stalking Cristiano Ronaldo rather than Wayne Rooney is depressing.

Really? Do tell us why:

Why? Because it means the boy wonder billed as the player to make English football great again has, so far, failed to justify the hype.

OK, so the fact that Ronaldo is by leaps and bounds the most amazing player on the planet reflects badly on Wayne? And it's Wayne's fault he hasn't lived up to the hype you created? It gets even worse:

According to the script Rooney should by now be the hottest player on the planet. Yet no lesser observer than Pele has expressed what I have long been worried about regarding Rooney.

Last week in a meaningless but nonetheless high-profile money-making pre-season friendly against the Kaizer Chiefs in South Africa, Rooney had to be subbed 20 minutes before the end.

That was to save him from getting himself sent off after pathetically lashing out at at least two opponents

As Pele put it: “I like Wayne Rooney but he hasn’t reached the peak of Euro 2004.

“He had two or three good years then just lost a little in his performance.

“When he is tangling with opponents, Rooney has to learn how to defend himself not attack the opponent.”

Who am I to argue against the great man?.

You are a journalist who is meant to question things. It's meant to be your job isn't it. And when someone with a history of saying banal things such as Pele says something rubbish and banal he should be called out for it, regardless of how good he used to be at playing football. And there's more:
Good for Rooney that he is a team man.

But is that because he is hiding behind hard work? Great players don’t do donkey work. The truth is Rooney should score more goals.

Certainly for United last season he was way behind Ronaldo on the goal front and only outscored Carlos Tevez 20 to 19.

"Only outscored"?! yeah, cos that Tevez is absolutely rubbish... Maybe if he's only outscored Saha by one he might have a point.

Oh, and what's that, Rooney scores 2 in our game yesterday? Great timing.

Here comes the Indian

There's an interview with David Gill which is split up to create two seperate stories today, an ingenious way to fill in space... And there's a comment from someone about how Ronaldo wants to join Real. What? Srsly? I never knew that... And that's the news today...

The first strand of David Gill goodness comes in the shape of comments on Sir Alex and his replacement. The Daily Star go for the sensational "Fergie Will Choose New United Boss", The Guardian with the more restrained "Ferguson to take key role in selecting his successor", The Times agrees but puts it differently, with "Sir Alex Ferguson can tip balance on successor", The Independent get even less excited with "United want Ferguson's help to find a successor", and, surprisingly, even The Mail isn't that excited, "Ferguson to play key role in hunt for his Manchester United successor". And here are those comments:

Gill said: "There are no discussions at the moment about a successor. We will address that when it comes around, but the owners, myself and the people involved will obviously get Sir Alex's views on the subject.

"Somebody who has managed the club for so many years, who knows the club inside out and knows what is required would be invaluable. It would be remiss of us not to have a discussion with him, involve him and get his views, so he will be a key part of the process. The manager is a key employee of the club and we need to get it right. The owners will expect me to do the work and then they would get involved in the process of choosing the right man, but the board will ultimately make the decision on the new manager."

And so to India, where the other strand of Gill comment takes us. The fullest exploration of this seems to be in The Guardian, so i'll point you there, but the most concise summary of what Gill actually said comes in The Independent, so i'll quote from there:

He said: "India is interesting. We have been approached to go there and we are looking at some soccer school opportunities there. I know Chelsea have done something and I think Barcelona have. We would not rule out going there.

"They [India] do have ambitions and have a key goal to make it to the World Cup. Whether they can make it or not, I do not know, but it's a huge, huge country. Look at [cricket's] IPL. That has shown that it is a very wealthy country and it is definitely worth looking at. Other clubs will look at it and so will we.

"The interest in football around the world is increasing. It is not saturated. We have worked on our global position for many years, but it would be wrong to think that we are impregnable. If we did that, then we would get knocked off our perch."

Oh. I almost forgot the Ronaldo story from The Sun, for what it's worth. Real player Pepe says Ronaldo said he wants to play for Real. No need to quote the story, for that really is it. Inspired.

Two little boys

The contrast between Paul Scholes and Ronaldo is highlighted today as Scholes gives a rare interview.

The Times makes the connection most explicitly:

Paul Scholes and Cristiano Ronaldo may be on the same wavelength on the pitch, but off it you could trawl the planet and not find two more contrasting characters.

While Ronaldo has spent the past couple of weeks happily being photographed by the world's paparazzi and courted by beautiful women as he recovers from ankle surgery on holiday in the showbiz paradise of Los Angeles, his Manchester United team-mate would love nothing more than to be back home with his family in the sleepy Lancashire village of Saddleworth, out of sight and out of mind.

The Guardian point to Ronaldo when quoting Scholes's comments on moving from United:

When Scholes does leave United it will be after serving his whole career as a professional player there and there has never been any temptation to swap Old Trafford for another stage. Cristiano Ronaldo appears to fancy another platform on which to treat the world to his talents but Scholes believes there is little to be gained - other than financially - by moving elsewhere.

"If other players fancy a move and a bit of money, then good luck to them but, if they're at a place like this, I don't think they realise how lucky they are to be playing here.

"It's always a step down after here. There are obviously big clubs in the world but, while certain people think it might be a progression to move somewhere else when you leave here, I don't think it is.

"I've had everything I need. I'm at Manchester United and I'm from Manchester, so what more do I need? I'm just one of the lucky ones who is at such a big club and has won a lot of trophies, but there are a lot of players throughout the league that won't win anything, yet will make big money out of it. Good luck to them."

Perhaps the most important words here are "fancy a move and a bit of money".

Tevez gets in on the Ronaldo act with some comments widely reported, here from The Guardian:

"It is clear he is a very important player for us but this is a personal decision, which is up to him only. I understand Cristiano. Every footballer wants to pay at Real Madrid. I also think that everyone wants to play for Manchester United but, if what he seeks is something else, that should be respected. I have not talked to him but, when these things happen, neither side feels good."

Scolari refuses the "war of words" "started" by Sir Alex yesterday:

Scolari refused to be drawn on Ferguson's comments directly after seeing his new team overcome weak opposition to win his first match in charge by 4-0 against the Chinese Super League side Guangzhou Pharmaceutical yesterday.

Yet, when asked whether Chelsea's experience could help them reclaim the title in the year ahead, the Brazilian said: "I think that I have some players with experience and I have some young boys in my team, but I feel with the blend that we have, yes, we have the experience to win the Premier League.

"I do not feel under any more pressure here than I have at any of the teams I have coached from around the world. It's normal, you know. Normal. For me, it's not different at Chelsea from the times I was coaching other club sides or the national teams of Brazil or Portugal. No difference at all."

It would probably be churlish of me to suggest that he has actually responded, so why start the article claiming he hasn't?

Old

It's an interview with Sir Alex which is at the centre of all stories today. The full interview is here, in The Mail. The bits that get most attention are the thoughts on Chelsea and comments on Rooney.

The Times, predictably, go for the war of words approach, "Sir Alex Ferguson has lit the blue touchpaper four weeks before the new season by claiming that Chelsea's squad may have already peaked and that Luiz Felipe Scolari will struggle to exorcise the ghost of José Mourinho".

The Guardian go with the "Chelsea are too old" comments and then humourously compare the ages of the teams, choosing a Man Utd 11 which seems purposefully designed to match the average age of the Chelsea team they picked - the comparison in The Times seems truer:

Although the average age of the Chelsea team sent out by Avram Grant, Scolari's predecessor, in the Champions League final in Moscow in May was only marginally higher than that of the United side fielded by Ferguson - 28.45 compared to 27.45 - United have a noticeably more youthful set-up. The average age of United's recognised first-team squad is 25.43 compared with Chelsea's 27.32. In addition, Chelsea possess nine players aged 30 or over, including Deco, who joined from Barcelona last month, while United have only five players in that category.

The Independent analyse Sir Alex's comments on Rooney:

Playing Wayne Rooney as a central striker: it is a nice idea in theory, but the man himself is entitled to wonder how the hell Sir Alex Ferguson will pull it off in practice.

Manchester United's biggest signing this summer will be Dimitar Berbatov; failing that, it will be Roque Santa Cruz – and Ferguson will not buy either of them to play on the left wing. His team became Premier League champions – and champions of Europe – last season playing a variation on 4-1-4-1 and 4-5-1, and abandoning that winning formula to appease Rooney would be absurd, especially when Ferguson is pursuing Berbatov specifically to play as the lone striker.

Yes, centre-forward is where Rooney has said he wants to play and Ferguson may apologise for having "sacrificed" him on the wing. However, in an age where the five-man midfield is king, cutting in from the wing is probably where he belongs.

The Guardian has a report on our friendly last night, singling out Lee Martin for praise; while The Mail praise Carrick and finish with some petty criticism of Rio Ferdinand:

Michael Carrick made the opposition look limited with an assured display of passing from midfield while defender Jonny Evans will have benefited from the chance to play alongside Rio Ferdinand.

Not that Ferdinand set the right example throughout. Why the England player saw fit to talk his way to a yellow card after United were denied a penalty is something only he can explain.

There is nothing to make you happy in this box!

Giggs, Ronaldo, Carrick - that's the talk today.

Giggs does the "bringing football down to reality" story, meeting people with HIV in South Africa, in The Independent :

"Seeing and hearing the lad's story showed what bravery is all about and what being a man is about," Giggs said. "He shared what he has been through and that took so much courage.

"Just talking to a few people is daunting at the best of times, but his story was unbelievable and it has a massive effect on you. He was telling me about it and he probably won't ever see me again, but to be brave enough to tell his family and his community, well..."

Alex Ferguson suggests that Ronaldo shouldn't move to Real because it would damage his career, the killer quote for me being:

“Young lads can be twisted by the talk of money and the moves that are happening all the time in modern-day football, but if you saw him after the [Champions League] final [in May], he was the happiest boy in the world,” Ferguson said.

The Mail does a good job of sensationalizing the story here, they say that Sir Alex "hit out at a press conference in South Africa and could not conceal his contempt for Real after their attempts this summer to unsettle Ronaldo."

There are some quotes from Carrick and from Sir Alex on Carrick doing the rounds today, from The Guardian :

"With what the club achieved last season, I have gained a lot of confidence personally, but I just put England to the back of my mind really because I still have to do my best for United. But if England comes along again, then great, because it's something that I would still love to do."

God Only Knows...

New comments from Ronaldo get blown out of proportion today. Our friendly gets looked at by non other than Pele! Hooray! And the war of words with Spurs (kind of) continues.

This Guardian article is pretty inoffensive in its reporting of Ronaldo's comments:

"I've had hundreds of questions about Manchester United and Real Madrid," he told ESPN. "What do you want me to say? That I'm going or I'm staying? I don't know about the future, only God knows it. I can't say any more. Great players are always hounded by great clubs. It's a normal situation. I have always been hounded, not only this year."
"I want to be happy regardless of where I play," he added. "I can be happy everywhere, if I am with people I like, if I am animated, motivated. Am I motivated to continue at United? I am always motivated. I am ambitious and I want to always improve. I don't know the future but I will be motivated."

To me, this is a bit of a step away from his previous comments on the issue, especially the last bit. To be fair, it's not exactly all the way to a full on commitment to the club, but, given his comments previously, would it be realistic to expect that? This article also contains some quotes from Carlos on how hard a decision it was to leave Man Utd.
The Telegraph report on Ronaldo is a whole other kettle of fish:

Cristiano Ronaldo has spurned his first opportunity to repair his relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson, while Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon assured the Portuguese winger's proposed move to the Bernabeu was "sorted".

Ronaldo, who is on holiday in Los Angeles, was interviewed for the first time since the Manchester United manager revealed details of their meeting in Portugal last week.

Note the logical contradiction here - this is Ronaldo's "first oppotunity to repair his relationship" with Sir Alex; the pair met in Portugal last week. As the meeting was reported to be amicable where is the need to repair? Wasn't that meeting the "first opportunity to repair his relationship" with Sir Alex?

So why is Pele considered such a footballing sage? Great player and everything but since when has he had an interesting opinion on anything? He's a just so middle of the road, saying whatever he thinks people want to hear, never risking being interesting.
And so Rooney gets a little frustrated in a preseason friendly, and Pele has the remarkable insight that he should maybe try and control his temper:

With 20 minutes remaining, Rooney was taken off by Sir Alex Ferguson, the United manager, protecting him from the possibility of a sending-off.

That would be no surprise to Pelé, who believes that Rooney’s brittle temperament is hampering his development. The forward has worked to curb his temper, but the Brazil legend believes that he needs to work harder.

“I like Wayne Rooney, but he hasn’t reached the peak of Euro 2004 again,” Pelé said. “He had two or three very good years and then lost a little bit in his performances – I don’t know why. When he is tangling with opponents, Rooney has to learn how to defend himself – not attack the opponent. If you can protect yourself from challenges, it will be easier to keep your temper.”

The way this is presented it would seem like Pele said this before the game, where, as far as I understand it his comments were a result of the game, turning Pele from soothsayer to nothing sayer. Indeed the Times report says, "The ball does not break for him, the frustration grows and suddenly Wayne Rooney boils over." Doesn't sound like it had anything to with any challenge from an opponent...

The already tiresome Spurs saga continues:

The Tottenham chairman, Daniel Levy, is confident that he has all the evidence necessary should Sir Alex Ferguson continue with his threat to sue over Spurs' remarkably robust condemnation of the Manchester United manager's conduct in the Dimitar Berbatov transfer saga. Tottenham have what they consider overwhelming evidence that Berbatov has spoken to Ferguson without their permission.

Whatever.

Get Money Stay True part 2

A piece i've just seen but too late to put in the main post is this, from Goal.com (Thanks to 101greatgoals.com whose round-up i quite often use to aid my sifting of stories and which round-up turned up later than usual today making this extra post necessary). It's a good piece looking at the business of "tapping up" players and our history of it. It's all worth reading but the killer quote for me though is this:

The club refusing to be sellers - for example, Manchester United - may therefore find themselves at a disadvantage. On the other hand, they do have unrestricted access to the moral high ground, and usually rush to occupy it with evangelical zeal.

I like this - everyone does it, everyone plays one side or the other (it's like diving - when an opposition player does it it's cheating, when "our" player does it it's being professional), and, after Ramos's comments yesterday about not being one of the big four, it would seem Spurs are a little upset that no one thinks of them as a big club, leading to this frustrated outburst.

I think we can all agree that Liverpool and Benitez have acted abominably in the whole affair though...

Get Money Stay True

Spurs attack us, Ronaldo stays with us, Evra faces charges. That's today's summary.

The Spurs attack seems to be based on bad information, from the report in The Guardian:

Spurs' chairman, Daniel Levy, launched a fierce attack on Ferguson for going public on his desire to sign Berbatov in a summer when the Manchester United manager had complained to Fifa about Real Madrid's public pursuit of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ferguson confirmed on Thursday that United had made a bid for Berbatov and said he expected a deal to go through. Spurs have also been angered by the comments of the Liverpool manager, Rafael Benítez, who said publicly this month that Keane was among his targets.

"[The] public comments by Manchester United's 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," Levy said. "It is also probably one of the worst offences by any manager in the Premier League to date and is unbelievably hypocritical given his recent comments in respect of Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid."

A classic case of newspapers printing something and then putting their own words from into the mouths of others. The Guardian states here that, "Ferguson confirmed on Thursday that United had made a bid for Berbatov", whereas yesterday The Guardian reported:

Sir Alex Ferguson has sparked fresh speculation that he is trying to sign the Tottenham striker Dimitar Berbatov, confirming that Manchester United have lodged a "bid for one player who would enhance us a great deal."

What yesterday "sparked speculation" is today a direct quote saying that we will sign Berbatov. Interesting. (Note I'm casually avoiding the larger charge of trying to unsettle a player - I'm tired...)

Sir Alex reports on his meeting with Ronaldo, and states categorically that he'll be staying, from The Times:

Speaking shortly after his arrival in Cape Town for the first leg of United’s pre-season tour to South Africa, Ferguson, whose team play Kaizer Chiefs today, said: “The meeting went well. We both made our points of view about where I stand and where the player stands and what I can say is that he will be a Manchester United player next summer. He won’t be sold.”

Which is nice.

The report on Evra being charged over the incident after the Chelsea game last season can be read here, nothing really worth quoting, there's a quote from Gary Neville near the end of it as well (what is with papers conflating two stories into one - solely saving on headline space?).

Loyalty Song

Today there's news coming from our tour of South Africa, including a few quotes, a bit of Ronaldo speculation and a quote from Roy Keane which is taken in a Ronaldo context.

This Guardian article has a good summary of the South Africa stuff:

Sir Alex Ferguson has sparked fresh speculation that he is trying to sign the Tottenham striker Dimitar Berbatov, confirming that Manchester United have lodged a "bid for one player who would enhance us a great deal."
"I have replaced Gerard Piqué with Jonny Evans, so we are back to the same numbers," said Ferguson, who set off today with a 21-man squad for United's pre-season tour of South Africa and Nigeria. "If we got one more it would strengthen us even further."

Owen Hargreaves hasn't flown with the squad:

"It was apparent as soon as he came back to training," said Ferguson. "It is the same as last year. Some people get these things. Maybe training on the firm grounds brings it on or maybe it is just an inherent problem. We are trying to sort it out now with injections. That is what we did last November and it worked. Hopefully these work and by the time we come back from South Africa he should be OK."

The Guardian report that, "Sir Alex Ferguson has met Cristiano Ronaldo for the first time in six weeks in an attempt to persuade the winger to forgo his "dream" move to Real Madrid and remain at Manchester United", while The Times is a little more circumspect:

According to RTP, the Portuguese television station, Ferguson met Ronaldo in Lisbon on Monday. That was known to have been the Scot’s intention, but at the weekend he encouraged the belief that a busy schedule had forced him to abandon that plan.

The Telegraph report on Ronaldo's trip to LA in strange terms:

Sir Alex Ferguson's battle to keep Cristiano Ronaldo in line suffered a double setback yesterday.

The unsettled Manchester United winger, who is recovering from an ankle operation, was pictured out on the town in Los Angeles, and then former United captain Roy Keane pitched in by saying the Portuguese international could use the tactics of frustration to secure a move to Real Madrid.

How either of these things, in even the wildest of interpretations, can be described as a setback is beyond me. The Keane quote is not in the other article I'm going to mention, so I may as well stick it in here:

"If a player wants to leave, all he has to do is come in every day, not train with the right attitude and I guarantee you that would **** any manager off," he said.

The article doesn't exactly explain the context of Keane's comment, one is left to assume it refers to Ronaldo.

A highly speculative story which is widely reported (I'll use The Telegraph, who give it a predictable weight which others don't) emanates from Real:

According to Spanish sports daily AS, an unnamed player jokingly asked Real president Ramon Calderon when Ronaldo would be joining the club to be greeted with a smile and a "Don't worry, he'll be here soon" reply.

Quite.

The Times reports what Keane had to say in greater detail:

Roy Keane has claimed that clubs treat their players like “pieces of meat”. While the Sunderland manager was not speaking directly about Cristiano Ronaldo's controversial courtship by Real Madrid, the Irishman's departure from Old Trafford has given him a jaundiced view of loyalty in the game.

Keane, who left Manchester United in acrimonious circumstances in 2005, said: “When a club is finished with you, they get rid. My advice is look after yourself. If you get a chance for bigger and better things, then go for it. I've experienced that myself. People question players' loyalty. I question clubs' loyalty. It's a business to them.

“If you're not needed then you can be out of the door in ten minutes, and I'm speaking from experience. Clubs buy and sell players. Clubs sell players sometimes like a piece of meat.”

My gripe with this is not to do with Roy Keane, or the linking of this comment with Man Utd. It is to do with the linking of it to Ronaldo. Keane is probably right that clubs do probably sometimes sell players without any concern for the player. The problem with linking this to Ronaldo is that we have treated Ronaldo with the greatest of care, one could go so far as to say we've been very loyal to him. Of course it's arguable that Ronaldo, being the special player he is, would probably merit great treatment, not for any ethical reason, but for purely business reasons. However, one can only really be judged on action so, as the club has shown Ronaldo loyalty, surely the club deserves some loyalty in return? All of which is to say, this quote of Keane's should not be linked to the Ronaldo saga.

Celebrity Skin

The Independent suggest that Carlos Queiroz has done a u-turn on Ronaldo:

The former Manchester United assistant manager Carlos Queiroz performed one of the more extraordinary U-turns of recent times when he claimed yesterday that the issue of whether Cristiano Ronaldo left for Real Madrid or not was nothing to do with him. Having departed Old Trafford for the second time, the new coach of the Portugal national team washed his hands of the issue blighting his former employers.

Queiroz replied to a question about Ronaldo's future by saying: "As a national team coach and being attached to the Portuguese football federation, we must not interfere with relations that are professional between our players and clubs. We should not even have an opinion about that."

I was tempted to suggest that this was simply a case of a new hat bringing a new responsibility to be unbiased but, when reminded of what he actually said, it does seem like his new position should only strengthen his view:

This was the same Queiroz who on 27 May accused Real of trying to "naturalise" Ronaldo and invoked historical territorial feuds between Spain and Portugal to demonstrate what he clearly regarded as Real's peculiar brand of arrogance.

Wesley Sneijder makes some comments on the possibility of Ronaldo moving to Real which are reported just about everywhere, here from The Guardian:

Ronaldo is being offered a salary of about £150,000 a week after tax by Real and Sneijder said: "It would be bad for the dressing room if he gets a much higher salary than the rest of the squad. It's not important to me but I know other team-mates would not like that at all. Here we have footballers like him, for example Arjen Robben or Robinho. It's obvious that I want to play with Cristiano but you also have to maintain the equilibrium in the dressing room."

The Telegraph speculate on The Glazer's position on the Ronaldo transfer:

The club's owners, the Glazer family, would have been surprised to read a statement in the Spanish sports newspaper Marca that they had sanctioned the opening of negotiations over Ronaldo's proposed €85million (£68million) transfer to the Bernabeu on the grounds that his value could only decrease.
While it is true that Ronaldo's value will never be higher than it is this summer, a spokesman for the Glazer family described the report as "complete nonsense", adding that at no time had they been contacted by Real Madrid.

While The Mail speculate on which youngsters might leave the club, either on loan or sold:

United youngsters like Campbell, Jonny Evans, Lee Martin, Danny Simpson, Chris Eagles, Darron Gibson, Sam Hewson, Danny Welbeck and Ben Amos are all considered stars of the future.

Ferguson told The Mirror: 'They're all really good players. They've got good potential and some of them will go on loan, some have come back from their loan periods and will now have to push on and show that improvement that's going to get them into the first team squad.'

Read the whole thing for specifics.

A couple of Ronaldo stories to finish with; Perez Hilton analyzes Ronaldo's dress sense, calling it a "Red carpet disaster"; while The Mail have a story on Ronaldo rebuffing the advances of Paris Hilton - what were his PR people thinking about?

The Manchester United striker - currently in LA on an undisclosed business trip - arrived at trendy hotspot Villa in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

A source said: 'Paris was all over him. The moment he arrived, she went over to his private table.

'At one point, she pushed her chest together and made a point of trying to snuggle up against him.

'But Ronaldo clearly wasn't interested in Paris. He turned his back on her.'

Cash Rules

An article on the Channel 4 Italian football site accuses us of hypocrisy today:

Rossi's story took a detour in 2004 when he was poached by Manchester United, that same summer the Gialloblu lost Arturo Lupoli to Arsenal. Both teenagers could join the English clubs due to rules that prevent Italian sides giving players under 16 a professional contract.

This summer we have seen Reggina's Vincenzo Camilleri join Chelsea while Atalanta's Fabio Zamblera headed to Newcastle United, and then there is Davide Petrucci. The 16-year-old had been hailed as Roma's new Francesco Totti but was bought by Manchester United for just £200,000. As part of the deal they promised to find his father a job as a gardener, although with Davide earning £95,000 a year at Old Trafford will he really need to get mud under his finger nails?

Let us not forget this is the same Manchester United who have bleated all summer about a bigger club circling Cristiano Ronaldo. The same Manchester United who have gone crying to FIFA with a letter of complaint because Real Madrid has been openly offering sweeteners to him via the media. The same Manchester United who see fit to target a smaller club crippled by its association rules and take advantage of the situation to net a valuable Italian gem on the cheap. Got Hypocrisy?

While not knowing about the whole situation to comment too much on it, I'm not sure where the accusation of hypocrisy comes in. First off, the article mentions some other English clubs before singling us out for criticism. And the situation seems to be completely different to the Ronaldo situation. Wasn't our complaint about Real based on illegal approaches for a player under contract? Isn't the complaint here that English clubs can poach talent from Italy precisely because of the rules? "Both teenagers could join the English clubs due to rules that prevent Italian sides giving players under 16 a professional contract." So where is the comparison? Change the rules.

The only other news about today is on Berbatov, from The Guardian:

The stand-off has been fuelled by United's reluctance to be seen to be acting aggressively in pursuit of a player who could form a mouthwatering partnership with Wayne Rooney. United have raged since the end of last season at Real Madrid's very public courting of Cristiano Ronaldo and, having reported the Spanish champions to Fifa, they intend to do everything by the book regarding Berbatov.

United also feel time is on their side and against Tottenham. The London club are close to the £15m capture of the midfielder David Bentley from Blackburn Rovers. Should they sign him they will take their spending for this and the previous two transfer windows to more than £100m. The manager, Juande Ramos, still has other areas in his squad that he would like to strengthen but will have to sell to generate funds.

The Telegraph report it in typically bizarre fashion:

United see Berbatov as the perfect replacement should Cristiano Ronaldo leave for Real Madrid, but they would need to substantially increase their initial offer, believed to be £20 million, for Spurs' leading scorer.

Berbatov is a very similar to Ronaldo isn't he? So pacey...

Slave and Master

Sepp Blatter's comments on players leaving clubs have caused a bit of a stir this morning. The comments are here laid bare:

"There's too much modern slavery, in transferring players or buying players. We are trying now to intervene in such cases. The reaction to the Bosman law is to make long-lasting contracts to keep the players, and then if he wants to leave there is only one solution, he has to pay his contract."

When asked about the protracted wrangle over the 23-year-old Portugal winger's future, Blatter insisted players should be allowed to leave with impunity when they want to move clubs. "The important thing is, we should also protect the player," he said. "I'm always in favour of protecting the player, and if the player he wants to leave, let him leave."

The Sun is most unimpressed

FIFA chief Blatter believes holding players to their contract is modern-day slavery.

Fergie, on the other hand, is well aware of the knock-on effect. He reckons bowing to player power is merely laying down the red carpet to any disgruntled star demanding a move as soon as the going gets tough.

And if Blatter got his way — with players allowed to leave on a whim — what would happen when the boot is on the other foot?

Would they allow clubs to cancel contracts if they felt a player wasn’t coming up to scratch?

Clearly not — and Ferguson has suddenly become the torch bearer for every club, from top to bottom.

They also enlist Paul Parker to join in the criticism:

PAUL PARKER has labelled Blatter ‘disgraceful’ for saying Ronaldo should be allowed to walk out on United.
“What Blatter is saying is players can join a new club every year, whatever their contract situation.

“That is a disgraceful statement for the president of FIFA to make.

“Players already have so much freedom and power. Why should they be allowed to walk out on a five-year deal after just 12 months? It isn’t right.

“His ridiculous idea could ruin the game. How are clubs supposed to budget if their players could walk out at any time?

Wayne Rooney's new tattoo is given the once over in The Guardian:

Yesterday's newspapers carried the first, trend-torpedoing pictures of Wayne Rooney's post-honeymoon addition to his body art, a dramatic flesh wound on his right forearm housing the words "Just Enough Education to Perform".

On the face of it, this might look like a fresh nadir even in the chequered world of footballing tattoos - mainly due to Rooney's decision to associate himself, in perpetuity, with the title of an album by mid-ranking bloke-rock band, the Stereophonics.

And The Telegraph report that Sir Alex is begging Carlos to stay:

Although unable to offer Queiroz assurances that he will take the reins at United when Ferguson finally opts to retire, the Scot has made it clear he regards his assistant as a crucial asset and a huge influence behind last term's Premier League and Champions League double.

United chief executive David Gill has been charged with doing all he can to retain Queiroz, who had been expected to be unveiled by Portugal earlier this week. The Portuguese remain confident they will get their man, though, with PFF president Gilberto Madail in negotiations with Gill over a compensation package.

King of Snake

There's speculation in The Sunday Times that we have "lost the fight" to keep Carlos, the article includes a bit more speculation - on who would replace him:

Brian McClair, highly regarded by Ferguson for his work as the club’s academy director, is among those likely to be considered as a replacement, although United may also look at up-and-coming Championship managers, such as Barnsley’s Simon Davey, Simon Grayson of Blackpool and Swansea’s Roberto Martinez.

An "interesting" article in The Express suggests that Eric Cantona could return to the club:

a close friend of Cantona has revealed to Sunday Express Sport: “Eric does fancy the idea of helping out with the coaching at a club like Manchester United.

“He has been enjoying himself appearing in and directing films and being involved in beach soccer but has always wanted to help produce a team in his style and knows that Sir Alex Ferguson would encourage him.”

An interesting line on the Ronaldo transfer in The Express where Richard Tanner suggests that the Real Madrid players don't want him there:

Senior Real stars – influential captain Raul, Spain’s Euro 2008-winning goalkeeper Iker Casillas and defender Michel Salgado – are all concerned at the negative impact Ronaldo’s arrival could have on team spirit.

The Mail suggests that other top clubs want us to keep the player as a point of principle:

It emerged last night that United have been contacted by several leading European clubs - including Spanish giants Barcelona - urging them to make a stand against the rise of player power by resisting Ronaldo's demands to be sold to Real Madrid.

The Telegraph speculate about when he might play again:

With his rehabilitation from surgery delaying his return to pre-season training, originally scheduled for July 14, United fear that he could be out of action until early September.
Such an absence would rule him out of the club's entire programme of pre-season friendlies, which begins at Aberdeen next Saturday, plus the opening fixtures of the Premier League season and the Uefa Super Cup clash against Zenit St Petersburg in Monaco on Aug 29.
With international fixtures pencilled in for the start of September, Ronaldo's first appearance of the season for United could come in the Premier League visit to Liverpool on Sept 13 - a week before the trip to Chelsea.

Denial

In the spirit of renewed regular blogging I bring this story speculating about Ronaldo, a subject previously avoided. Anyway, it's his sister saying that he wants to stay at Old Trafford:

"Cristiano wants to keep playing at Manchester United," Ronaldo's sister, Elma Aveiro, told the Sun. "Real Madrid keep making very strong advances for him. There is a lot of speculation in the newspapers all the time about where he will go and what he is doing but we know who he really is and what he is really up to. He wants to stay at United."

There's a stupid story in The Daily Mail entitled "Ronaldo plots Queiroz exit", which amounts to this:

When Scolari’s departure was confirmed on Chelsea’s website, and Portugal subsequently bowed out of Euro 2008 against Germany, Ronaldo and his team-mates met to discuss potential replacements and came down overwhelmingly in favour of Queiroz.

A petition was drawn up and signed by several players, including Ronaldo, imploring Madail to install Queiroz as their new boss.

So much for plotting, and very unlike the Mail to sensationalize anything...

This story by Oliver Kay in The Times on Ronaldo's injury is interesting for one very stupid sentence:

Real are willing to pay a world-record fee in excess of £50 million to sign Ronaldo — and, according to sources in Spain, would be prepared to bid more than £80 million to get their man — but United maintain that he is not for sale. They have appeared to be in denial about Ronaldo’s intentions for much of the summer, but now that he has spoken of his “dream” of moving to Real, their stance has hardened.

Ummmm. Firstly I'm not exactly sure how we've been in denial, certainly all our official statements on the matter haven't suggested denial: a prime case of newspapers believing all the rubbish speculation they print. Secondly the sentence doesn't even make sense. We were in denial but now our stance has hardened. Where does one go from denial exactly? Surely a more accurate sentence would have read "They have consistently maintained he is not for sale, a stance which hasn't changed." Would that have been too easy?

At the department of forgotten songs

I'm going to try and get back into a more regular posting ritual again, building up to the new season starting. Been having a lazy time of it recently but I'm back ... baby!

Today it seems increasingly likely that Carlos will be leaving to become the new Portugal manager, see this here, and here, both reports tying this in to the likelihood of Ronaldo staying, the suggestion being that the close relationship between the two will only increase Ronaldo's desire to leave if Carlos goes:

Ferguson had been hoping Queiroz would play a big role in dissuading his fellow Portuguese from trying to force through his "dream" transfer to Real Madrid, but now faces the serious risk of losing not only his most devastating player but a coach whose work has been crucial to United re-establishing themselves.

Queiroz spoke at length with Gilberto Madail, the president of the Portuguese football federation (FPF), on Tuesday and is now the only candidate to succeed Luiz Felipe Scolari. It is believed that he will accept the job if he is given a four-year contract to take him through to the next European Championship, to be held in Poland and Ukraine in 2012, rather than the two-year deal that had originally been put before him. It remains to be seen whether the FPF will accept the demand, although Madail has already signalled his determination to recruit Queiroz by bumping up the initial £750,000-a-year offer to an annual salary of £1.1m.

Ronaldo has had contact with a United official in the form of a doctor, as reported here:

"Manchester United medical staff met with the medical teams of the Portuguese FA and Cristiano Ronaldo in Lisbon on Wednesday regarding the ongoing treatment of an injury to his right ankle," United said in a statement.

"As a result, further specialist advice is being sort and an announcement will be made on any action in due course."