Ghost is back

Is back. Did I miss anything? I'll just do my usual paper round up and then check through the older stories to see if there was anything I missed worth posting over the days I missed.
Not that there's a lot round today. It's good to come back and get straight back into the swing of things by seeing that James Lawton is still writing rubbish:

Palacios, one of five football- playing brothers who are now four after the kidnapping and subsequent murder of 16-year-old Edwin, is from Honduras, where more than half the seven million-odd inhabitants live below the poverty line and the trials of life include being very careful about how you express support for a particular political party, on account of not wanting to finish up bullet-riddled in a neighbouring mangrove swamp, and hurricanes which periodically flatten towns, knock down bridges and spread disease.

This certainly puts into perspective Palacios's decision to wait out the night in the lobby of a Liverpool hotel until he deemed it an acceptable hour to wake his Tottenham Hotspur boss, Harry Redknapp, with the news of the discovery of his brother's body – and seek clearance to fly home to be among his family.

Redknapp's account was, perhaps not surprisingly, touched with a degree of awe. He was a little stunned by the consideration shown to him by the 24-year-old player, and no doubt this reaction was heightened considerably a few hours later when he was informed of the alleged conduct of another of his players, Ledley King, outside a Soho nightclub.

...

Some Manchester United fans may also have noted a contrast between Palacios's control and the self-indulgent emotions of Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez, who between them couldn't muster a fraction of the respect for their manager Sir Alex Ferguson that the man from Honduras gave to Redknapp each second he delayed his call.

Of course, the parallels here are far from exact and making a paragon of Palacios at the expense of the others is to create all kinds of hostages to fate. However, we have not been exactly inundated recently with evidence that the average football star has much sense of the world beyond his own generous slice of it.

Yes, the parallel's are far from exact (perhaps wrong was the word he was looking for), so why make them?
Ronaldo and Tevez make up the bulk of the stories today, Ronaldo looking to stay, and no-one able to decide where Tevez will be. From Oliver Kay in The Times:

Manchester United will continue to tolerate the diva-like behaviour of Cristiano Ronaldo in the Old Trafford dressing-room next season after it emerged last night that the World Player of the Year is close to dropping his pursuit of a move to Real Madrid for another 12 months.

However, United’s players are far more concerned about the imminent departure of Carlos Tévez, who is giving serious consideration to a controversial move to Liverpool or Manchester City.

As United edged closer to a third consecutive Premier League title on Sunday, the two forwards took some of the gloss off their 2-0 derby victory over City. Tévez expressed his displeasure with the Old Trafford hierarchy with his goal celebration before Ronaldo reacted to his second-half substitution with a hissy fit that challenged the authority of Sir Alex Ferguson.

The two acts of petulance were the talk of the United dressing-room afterwards, but, whereas Ronaldo has told team-mates that he intends to stay even if Real come calling again this summer, the impasse over Tévez has led a handful of players to float the idea of a collective plea to the board to sign up the Argentina forward.

Kevin McCarra has a good piece on The Guardian blog suggesting we're in a good position w/r/t Tevez:

Ferguson is surely seeking to haggle his way towards retaining the attacker. Proprietors such as the Glazers will query the MSI valuation. Having scored 14 goals in the Premier League last season, Tevez has just four so far this time.

Complaints from the player about feeling alienated are not completely melodramatic. A footballer of his standing would have seethed to realise that he had twice been an unused substitute against Chelsea in this Premier League campaign. Then again, Ferguson has turned to him in the matches against Liverpool. What is more, Tevez started in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final with Arsenal. He has not so much been sent into exile as asked to move over and allow Dimitar Berbatov to make his mark in a debut season at United. That will not prevent Ferguson from preferring Tevez to the newcomer here and there. The Argentinian may have undermined himself with an over-eagerness to demonstrate his work-rate. When he simply scurries, Tevez is no more than a pastiche of Wayne Rooney. Against City he remembered to collect himself and hit the post with two marvellous drives, the second of which went into the net. His contribution was that of a person resolved to stay where he is. There was none of the ostentatious dejection footballers exude when aiming to catch the eye of other clubs. On the face of it there is no sound logic in wriggling to free himself from United, Champions League finalists who have their berth in this year's final. ...

If Tevez appreciates that there is currently nowhere better for him to perform then some sort of arrangement will be reached. United's bargaining position is strong. They could flourish without Tevez, but he might dread what he was doing to his career by walking out on Old Trafford.

Henry Winter says much the same thing in fewer words in The Telegraph:

Tevez, and particularly his owner, Kia Joorabchian, hardly execute a skilful master plan to win Sir Alex Ferguson over. Outbursts and gestures tend not to work with United's manager.

If Tevez had kept quiet, eschewing the histrionics, his compelling display against City would doubtless have impressed Ferguson. Ronaldo, whose throwing down of a United top showed a lack of respect to a club who reward him so handsomely, often gives the impression of dreaming of a future at Real Madrid.

Tevez and Ronaldo may well be strolling down the Castellana next season. What a waste. For them. Tevez and Ronaldo will move on from a manager who has improved them, taking them to the summit of England and Europe, to working under Juande Ramos if he survives.

How thick. They will be forsaking the precise passes of Wayne Rooney, a strong contender for Footballer of the Year, to playing with Rafael van der Vaart. How thick. Their loss. United will carry on winning.

I might post a longer thing on this later today, but as a first thought, why is it worse for Tevez to make a gesture towards the director's box, than to disrespect Sir Alex when he was substituted against Arsenal in the first leg? Ronaldo is getting slated for that (though he admittedly did it more dramatically, it being Ronaldo though, he was always going to have to make his dissatisfaction a piece of performance art), but Tevez didn't. I find both elements strange.
Lots of speculation about where Tevez might go if he leaves; Liverpool say The Sun, AC Milan say The Star.
Paul Parker compares Ronaldo to Cantona in The Telegraph:

"Ronaldo's reaction to being substituted was disrespectful first and foremost to the person who handed him the tracksuit top, but it was also disrespectful to the manager and the guys he plays with.

"For all his personal ambition and desire to win Golden Boots and other awards, Ronaldo cannot achieve anything without the 10 guys who play alongside him on the pitch.

"Some people have suggested that, because he is so important to the team, Sir Alex has to handle Ronaldo like he handled Cantona.

"Eric got away with things with the manager. We would all have to wear a tie with our club suits, but Eric never did and it was never mentioned.

"Eric didn't play to the cameras, though, and he would never have reacted like Ronaldo did on Sunday. He had too much respect for the manager and his team-mates.

"We all accepted Eric's relationship with the manager because he respected us. If we arranged a night out at the Dog and Duck, then Eric would be there with us.

"Ronaldo? I'm not too sure. How you are seen by your team-mates is crucial, but they won't be happy with what he did. He has to remember that you are only as good as the guys you play with.

"I'm certain Sir Alex will deal with it, but Ronaldo needs to apologise to the manager and his team-mates."

The Daily Star has a good round-up of quotes from VDS, Evra, and Park here:

Park said: “The tension won’t affect us at all. We have the experience of being chased by other clubs.

“What Liverpool have been doing by keeping up the pressure is nothing new.

“We had that last season from Chelsea. It was the same then. But we use the experience and enjoy it.

“There are no nerves in this team. We have experienced players in this squad and they are forever telling the younger players about their experiences and telling us how to handle it all.

“They know about pressure and they try to take it off everyone.

“That is why we all have the confidence to play during this tense period.

“We can handle pressure. We have shown how to perform at the top level.

“We have proved that many times and showed it again in the derby with City.”