White Trash But Worth Every Cent

Mark Hughes has a go at us, apparently, this morning, although it seems, again, that the papers are using his words to reflect their own agenda. The Sun gives Mark Hughes' words:

"I think in this current age, and given some of the other transfers this summer, notably Ronaldo to Real Madrid, Carlos will prove a bargain."

and puts snidely in the middle of their article:

United have bust the British transfer record three times since 2001 on Juan Sebastian Veron (£28.1m), Rio Ferdinand (£29.1m) and Wayne Rooney (£30m).

before continuing with Mark Hughes words:

"We haven't had the benefit of Champions League money over a long period of time.

"And we haven't had the success to generate large amounts of money you need to build a squad that is capable of winning trophies.

"We're trying to do the best for our club. We have no view on what it is doing to the market for other clubs.

"To get good players here, we're going to have to spend money, that's the top and bottom of it."

Which is fair enough, I'm not going to criticise Man City for spending money - if you've got the money, feel free to spend it I say. The problem I have with the articles on this today is that they all just side with Mark Hughes, tell us we've spent money, call Sir Alex a hypocrite, instead of either just reporting what Mark Hughes said or attacking their spending (not that I think its something to be attacked, but it seems as open to attack as Sir Alex pointing out that perhaps some transfer fees are inflated).
If you actually look at what Sir Alex actually said, you see that he's not really having a go at City:

"I said a year ago, when they [the Abu Dhabi United Group] took over at City, that this was possible," Ferguson said. "Some of the values across the world now are amazing; the numbers that get tossed about. The values of players have shot sky high. I don't think any of the [big] transfers this summer are realistic but for some reason it has caught fire this summer. It's an unusual summer and it's very difficult to get value because of that."

He mentions City but then talks in general terms. He says that none of the transfers have been "realistic", which must include Ronaldo. And as we were willing to pay £25 million for Tevez I don't see why Mark Hughes links Sir Alex's words to that transfer - perhaps some sort of unconscious displacement at work? Sir Alex's comments were more on why we weren't signing people. And yes, Mark Hughes is right, we don't need to spend big because our squad is already there or thereabouts whereas City's isn't.
Elsewhere some stories with actual facts in them. Darron Gibson signs a new contract and gets some fine words from the manager:

Manchester United have agreed a contract extension with promising midfielder Darron Gibson to keep him at Old Trafford until 2012. ...

'Darron was one of the young players who emerged last season as a United first-team player,' he said.

'His appearance ratio did not really reflect the high regard in which we hold him, as he has constantly worked hard to challenge for a first team spot.'

And Richard Eckersley signs for Burnley:

The 20-year-old turned down a new contract at Old Trafford to agree a four-year deal with the Clarets, who will have to pay United compensation because of the
player's age.

Finally, I'll just bang this story in without comment:

UEFA has reduced from four matches to three Didier Drogba's Champions League ban for his foul-mouthed rant at the referee after Chelsea's semi-final elimination in May. ...

Bosingwa's suspension was reduced from three matches to two, for the defender's offensive comments about the Norwegian referee Tom Henning Ovrebo.