King of Rock

The top story today is, of course, Ronaldo being made World Player of The Year (was there ever any doubt?), "It gives the 23-year-old a clean sweep of all the recognised major individual and club honours available to a footballer and ends 18 memorable months for the winger."I thought his acceptance speech was very good, especially this bit:

Sir Alex has had an important role to play in my life. Last season was a great one for me, my club, and the boss was important because I learned a lot from him. His immense experience, after so many years, is of paramount importance and for me it's a privilege to be able to be a part of the history of such a big club as United.

Ronaldo always has the knack of saying exactly the right thing in these circumstances. The other big story is this by Daniel Taylor, from The Guardian, on the role of an Arsenal fan in the Evra debacle:

Sir Alex Ferguson's sense of grievance with the Football Association has been exacerbated by the discovery that one of the men who banned Patrice Evra for four matches recently is an Arsenal season-ticket holder.

Ferguson, the Guardian can reveal, felt strongly enough to express his displeasure about the way the case was handled in the original draft of his programme notes for Manchester United's game against Chelsea on Sunday, only for his comments to be toned down after the intervention of the club's chief executive, David Gill.

Another aspect of this which is important is noted by Ian Herbert in The Independent:

Ferguson has grounds for some indignation where Stewart is concerned, since it was at the QC's behest that the contents of the commission's ruling were made freely available on the FA's website before United were informed, a decision the FA chairman Lord Triesman later admitted was a mistake.

I like Evra's response to the whole thing, reported in The Telegraph:

“I dedicate this victory over Chelsea to the English Football Association,” Evra said.

“I’m doing so because I am still unable to stomach having been given a four-match suspension by them."

In a strange turnaround - perhaps realising that their coverage yesterday was very very petty towards us - The Independent have an article on Johnny Evans and how good he is.