Yellow Line Transfer

Bit of transfer talk, mainly on players out, and the usual resuscitation of Sneidjer talk, and a bit of praise for Rooney make up today's bag of paper talk.

Starting at the silly, and The Mail report that that-rich-Russian-club-that-bought-Eto'o want Vidic for £25 million.  Sure that's going to happen...

Only 2 days and we'll never have to hear the name Sneidjer again, but until then, The Telegraph report that the move is still a remote possibility.  Though The Mail counter with quotes from Sneidjer that they interpret as him staying at Inter, the rest of the world sighs and moves on.

Elsewhere, Spurs are interested in giving Owen Hargreaves a chance:

Tottenham Hotspur are prepared to test Owen Hargreaves' claim that he can play 40 games a season again by giving the former England midfielder a medical test this week as they investigate the possibility of taking on the injury-racked midfielder.

Technically, Hargreaves, 30, as a free agent, can sign at any time but such is the interest in the player that manager Harry Redknapp is prepared to have the former Manchester United man at the Spurs' training ground this week to allow his medical department to check on the player's fitness. Hargreaves gave an interview at the weekend in which he made the claim that he could play 40 games a season and would "blow people away".

The Mail add spice to the story by making it a race between Villa and Spurs for his services. 

Following on from Sunday's game, The Independent look at the difference in youth policy between the two clubs:

To borrow Alan Hansen's phrase, it is Arsène Wenger, not Sir Alex Ferguson, who has won nothing with kids. Perhaps significantly, it was around the time the club abandoned Highbury for the Emirates Stadium, when money was suddenly tight, that the drive for youth began. There have been many individual highs and some of the most exquisite football the Premier League has seen but no silverware to landmark their achievements.Ferguson has always been obsessed with developing his own footballers, in part because they were easier to mould in his own image. "Orange-juice heroes" he called them, in contrast to the more difficult figures of Norman Whiteside and Paul McGrath, who drank something altogether stronger.It was said that the making of the Lisbon Lions was that the Celtic team that won the European Cup were all born within 30 miles of Parkhead. The Manchester United team that in the space of a week demolished Tottenham and humiliated Arsenal is united not by geography but by age. David de Gea, Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Jonny Evans, Danny Welbeck, Tom Cleverley, Anderson and Nani – a veteran at 24 – have all been born since Ferguson has been managing Manchester United.
Their youth gives them a shared purpose but alone it would not have forged the side that drove Wenger towards his deepest humiliation as a football man. It was the way they were brought up.

While Rooney comes in for praise following his hat-trick on Sunday, Richard Williams in The Guardian arguing he's better than ever:

It was not just the two beautifully executed free-kicks and the exemplary penalty. Everything else about Wayne Rooney's performance against Arsenal on Sunday spoke of a player restored to the peak of his powers, looking – perhaps more than at any time since his teenage years – as though he could take a football and do anything with it that he wished.
This was the performance of a complete No10 in the classic mould, a fantasist and a finisher in one package, inspiring his colleagues with a flow of nimble-witted, technically flawless interventions. The match was not a quarter of an hour old and still goalless when he orchestrated a move, involving multiple exchanges between Anderson, Ashley Young, Danny Welbeck and himself, which looked like a high‑spirited, anything-you-can-do pastiche of Arsenal's own intricate style. His new, slimmer silhouette seemed to be everywhere, at the heart of everything his side did. And this from a man who, quite recently, could not trap a bag of suet.

While Henry Winter looks at Rooney's form in an Engand context:

Now is the time to cherish Rooney, to forget finally the falling-out with England fans in Cape Town a year ago. Those 3,000 travelling supporters sweltering in the heat of Vasil Levski's embrace will cheer his name, painfully aware what disaster would befall the team should Rooney be ambushed along Metatarsal Alley again.

The joy stirred by Rooney flows partly from the energy and commitment levels which enable him to perform almost the work of two men, shaping and finishing moves. Such qualities were thrillingly witnessed in his hat-trick and all-round contribution to Sunday's 8-2 demolition of Arsenal by United.

 And if we don't get the result it's nicely built up to be all Rooney's fault...

Fishing Lessons

Basking in the glow of the Arsenal demolition, shall we take a look through the papers for their take on it? Of course, that Arsenal weren't very good is an understatement, so we can expect a certain amount of attention to be given to their woes in the match reports, but after scoring 8 our "woes" in the spotlight?  Srsly?

First off The Express (a rag I generally ignore, and shall ignore again after reading this), who describe De Gea's penalty save thus:

And weak was the word to describe Robin van Persie’s penalty ... Once David de Gea had guessed the right way to dive, he only had to fall on the ball. ...

De Gea blotted his copybook again by letting Walcott’s shot through his legs in added time at the end of the first half.

I'm not saying it was the best penalty, but it was still a good save, and he certainly didn't "fall on the ball."  And having failed to give him credit, the goal was of course his fault...

The Sun's almost as bad:

Skipper Robin van Persie stepped up but his spot-kick was poor and David De Gea palmed it away.United's players mobbed De Gea — who has had a nervous start to his career in England — while Van Persie sank to his knees. ... ...Walcott side-footed through De Gea's legs.

Having had the boost of the penalty save, this one will have knocked the Spaniard's confidence once more.

Do we really need the aside about his "dodgy" start?  And is this the future of reporting on De Gea, every good save is put in a plus column and every goal is put in the negative column.  It will soon (already?) get boring.  And to get petty about the report (why not, they constantly pick up on the smallest things) they call Hernandez "the little Pea" without quotation marks, as if, instead of a nickname, he was actually a rather small pea.

Sam Wallace's Independent report: is better, giving us credit, mentioning De Gea but pointing out its meaninglessness:

But just as crucially it was a touchstone performance from Sir Alex Ferguson's young generation of players, from Phil Jones, Danny Welbeck, Tom Cleverley and Chris Smalling up to the older hands such as Patrice Evra, Anderson and Ashley Young. But no-one was quite the equal to the prince among them all, Wayne Rooney whose hat-trick – two sensational free-kicks and a penalty – was the crowning glory on a giddy day for Old Trafford.It was a comic book game, so full of incident that moments which could define lesser matches were worthy of only a passing mention. What to make of David De Gea, who made a stunning penalty save in the first half only to let Theo Walcott's shot go through his legs in injury-time before the break? What of Welbeck, scorer of United's first goal on 22 minutes who then pulled a hamstring before half-time and is probably out of England's two Euro 2012 qualifiers?
Yesterday, none of those smaller details seemed to matter as this young United team rampaged through their opponents, matching and then exceeding the eye-popping 5-1 victory for Manchester City at White Hart Lane just an hour before.

Martin Samuel puts the thing in the right perspective:

Yet if there is one statistic, beyond the scoreline, that reflects the depth of the crisis at Arsenal, it is that both starting line-ups had the same average age, 23. Arsenal are still planning for some mythical future; at Manchester United the future is now.

And he points out our injuries and missing players, quite as bad as Arsenal's "crisis" - the point being that the headlines do not necessarily have to be about how bad Arsenal are, but about our young team, the way we've changed from last season, the football we're playing.  We destroyed Spurs second half on Monday, Arsenal yesterday.  There's a pattern there - our football is great, not other teams are rubbish.

Oliver Holt goes all doomsday scenario on Arsenal's ass, the end of an era type stuff, but Patrick Barclay in The Times points out the danger in this kneejerk reaction (behind a paywall, quoted here):

“Something like it did happen before: in February 2001, when Wenger was aghast to see a less understrength side than yesterday’s lose 6-1 on the same ground — and 15 months later Arsenal ended a sequence of three United title triumphs with victory at Old Trafford.”

Henry Winter gives us credit:

Manchester United were so good with a breathtaking, chance-taking display of football. United versus Arsenal was Total football versus total chaos.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s men used to bully Wenger’s physically; now they bully them with the ball, utterly destroying them with their speed of mind and feet.

He seems confused though, contradicting himself in the space of a couple of paragraphs:

Arsenal’s manager, patently in denial at his squad’s deficiencies, must change direction. He must start buying experience to protect and educate his youngsters.

Arsenal were unbelievably embarrassing, a disgrace to the shirt, with players like Tomas Rosicky and Andrei Arshavin so poor it was astonishing to think they are actually internationals.

 They need experience, but two of their most experienced players were "a disgrace." Not simply experience they need but a certain type of experience.

James Lawton does his usual job of laying it on thick:

In the hard-nosed world of American gridiron, they call what Manchester United did to Arsenal here yesterday afternoon running up the score. It is not a term of admiration for outstanding, even brilliant performance. Indeed, the opposite is true. It is what they say of examples of mean-spirited exploitation of plainly out-gunned opponents. Running up the score is the equivalent of bar-room boasting. Unfortunately, yesterday, United were not given a whole lot of alternatives.
Wayne Rooney thundered in his free-kicks. Ashley Young ran with the continued freedom of someone who has arrived in a situation which plainly suits perfectly his belief that he is at the point of his career where he can achieve just about anything he wants – though the goals that came to him quite exquisitely yesterday are not often going to come quite so easily.

The Sir Alex quote doing the rounds also seems to say much the same thing:

He said: "You don't want to score more when you play against a leaking team like that.

"Of course, I feel sympathy for Arsene Wenger. You look at the Arsenal team and it was very weakened but you still have to win these games."

I don't know the context of these quotes, but they seem to have the air of false modesty, given we scored 8 and the last of them was in injury time - we didn't have much time to score any more.  These other quotes seem closer to the mark:

"It is (a surprise) because when you play Arsenal you expect a difficult game," Ferguson said afterwards. "If you look at Arsenal the team is weakened – but we still did the job.

"We got careless at times and they made chances because they still have quality up front. But overall we are very satisfied that we kept the performance levels up."

And yes, Sir Alex is allowed to be picky and to describe our wonderful performance workmanlike terms.  That's his job.

Genius Envy

It's one of those things that if x happens then the newspapers will write about it in very excitable terms, as if it's the most major thing to happen ever; but then, if {the opposite of x} happens they will also write about that in exactly the same terms.  So today, in The Telegraph, after months of telling us Berba is finished and on the way out and will never play for us again, we have the story of the disaster of him staying - we "wrestle with the financial headache" of Berba staying.  Of course they don't mention that when we signed him, he was cited as an exceptional signing, because of his age and the lack of resale value, and the policy of signing players under 26 is still ongoing, look at the youth of our signings (so far) this summer.  So Berba is (in every way) exceptional.  The gist of the article was already included in the original signing.  And then this sentence as well, trying to imply some mercenary behaviour on the part of Berba:

The Bulgarian is understood to be prepared to run down his contract before securing a lucrative move as a free agent next summer.

Or, The Bulgarian wants to remain and play a part at a big club.  Oh, and what's this, another story making a mockery of the entire article?  Yes:

Paris St Germain coach Leonardo has confirmed he made an approach for Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov.

PSG were ready to offer £12m, however, Sir Alex Ferguson told the French club's new coach that the 30-year-old was staying at Old Trafford.

So there you are, so desperate to make some money off of him we... turn down £12 million...  Brilliant reporting from The Telegraph.

The rest of the stories today are mainly looking forward to tonight's game versus Spurs.  Sir Alex talking about our wealth of strikers is everywhere, here from The Daily Star:

“Wayne has been flying in pre-season. His fitness is terrific, he has the same energy all the time. He is a restless player on the pitch.

“He is a tremendous asset. We have moved on from what happened a year ago.

“It is interesting to see how he is combining with Welbeck at the moment. Both are doing very well together.

“Berbatov has played well in pre-season and when Chicharito comes back I have a selection problem about the best combination. It’s not a bad position to be in actually.”

The Mirror version also includes Sir Alex on the defensive strength as well, saying that Rio and Vidic aren't guaranteed starts if the young players fill in well while they're injured.

Some quotes from Hernandez on his comeback and on last season, from The Sun:

 "To help United win the 19th title and become the most successful club in England was brilliant."It was better than anything I could have expected and I enjoyed it a lot."But that is in the past now. The thing I learnt from team-mates like Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes is to keep winning. Their mentality is all about winning.

"I have won one Premier League. Now I want to win another."

Finally, The Mail has some quotes from Nani on his goal against Spurs last season, which they claim is "taunting" Spurs.  Nani simply says his goal was "clever."  The rest of the world replies that no, Gomez is stupid...

Pigs never fly

All the fuss over David De Gea's keeping might not be an altogether bad thing as far as I'm concerned.  Take a look at this from The Mirror.  If we ignore the stupidity of this sentence, "The fact that United won both games has partially ­papered over the De Gea cracks,"  which is ridiculous given the papers haven't shut up about his keeping all week (see this over the top article in The Independent today comparing him with some historic bad/struggling keepers for example), the rest of the article seems to suggest that Spurs are just going to be taking pot-shots at the keeper all game. Quote from Gareth Bale:

“If any keeper’s having a bad time, you’re going to test them and it’s going to be no different. We’re going to go to Old Trafford and give our all and test their whole team.”

I'd take that.  If you can reduce the opposition to just long-range shooting then that's half the battle, if they're doing the restricting themselves.  Even better.  And why the debate about his keeping has moved to all aspects of his keeping, rather than just the long hot, is a bit odd, as Sir Alex points out, De Gea came through the physical test of the second half against West Brom very well: 

“He coped with the crosses into the box with no problem; he just didn’t get any protection,” Ferguson said. “You saw the challenges — an elbow in the face, a boy went under him and he didn’t get the free kick.‘‘It’s disappointing when you don’t get the protection but he’s at home against Spurs and it won’t be a problem. It’s just away from home where he might get subjected to that. I have no problems with him.”

[That quote from The telegraph version of the story, too much hassle quoting from The Mirror]  Sir Alex compares the treatment he received with that that Wimbledon gave Schmeichel early in his Man United career, including the image of him "squealing like a pig" - from The Guardian: 

What Ferguson remembers all too clearly, however, is that even Schmeichel took time to settle in, and he is sure De Gea will be more comfortable with a few more games under his belt. "Coming into English football from overseas is never going to be easy for a goalkeeper, particularly if he doesn't get any protection from the referee," the United manager said. "I remember Schmeichel screaming like a pig for more protection when we played Wimbledon when he first came here. He had players like [Vinnie] Jones, [Alan] Cork and [John] Fashanu all piling into him and he just wasn't used to it.

The same piece include Sir Alex's praise for Phil Jones, and the reason we signed him:

"I didn't sign him because I thought we were vulnerable at centre-back, I signed him because he was just too good to miss. Once in a while a player like that comes along, and Jones has definitely got all the parts. He's got real desire, great determination and he's a good trainer. I'm very pleased with him."

The reason Ferguson can date his interest in Jones so accurately is simple and rather surprising. On 27 November last year, in what was to prove one of Sam Allardyce's last games in charge, Rovers were beaten 7-1 at Old Trafford, with Dimitar Berbatov helping himself to five goals. "For me Jones stood out in that game," Ferguson said. "I particularly remember him when the fifth goal went in. Most of the Blackburn players were beginning to let their heads drop but he was running everywhere, giving them all stick for not trying hard enough. He was only 18 then, too. I was very impressed, and took a close interest from that point on."

 There's a few stories around on Sneidjer today, suggesting u-turns and other things, I won't bother, they can all be summed up by this, from The Mail on Sunday:

there might be a rethink

Newspapers speculating to fill up space...

Silly story of the day as The Mail on Sunday square Rooney up against Evra in some sort of strange captaincy competition... Odd.

I Like Short Songs

Ignoring Wesley Sneidjer (which I am) leaves not very many stories.  The Independent follow up the story from the other day about the float on the Singapore stock market by saying that the money raised will go to pay off debt.

Elsewhere Nasri apparently fancied a move to us.... or Real Madrid... or Barcelona... but he's having to settle for Man City, with the sweetener of all the cash he can lay his hands on...

Finally there's a good news/ bad news article in The Sun.  Rio might be back for the Spurs game on Monday, rather than the ten weeks initially thought; but Vidic is going to be out for 6 weeks, rather than the two originally thought.

Swings and roundabouts.

And that's today's news.  All of it.  Worth mentioning (sorry Wesley...)

Bad Behaviour

The Sun tell us that Wesley Sneidjer..... sorry... what... fell asleep there, now, where was I, Ah yes - The idea of floating the club on an Asian stock market rears its head again.  The Independent give us the lowdown:

A number of financial sources disclosed yesterday that United are pursuing an IPO (Initial Public Offering) on the Singapore Stock Exchange – a move which would make the club publicly accountable in a way it has not been since the turbulent final days of the old plc, which the Glazers took private in 2005 by buying out John Magnier and J P McManus. ...

United supporters may suspect that the Glazers want to raise money to pay off some of their own debts relating to the ownership of the club, since no explanation has ever been given as to how the family managed to pay off £220m worth of payment-in-kind notes last year. But it is highly unlikely that money raised by the IPO would not be used to pay down the club's own debt and free it to focus on its development as a business. The club spends about £45m a year to service a £500m bond and if that burden can be removed by the float – expected by the end of the year – the Glazers' move would appear to be a positive one for United and Ferguson.

The last time the story reared its head, it was thought that it would be floated on the Hong Kong exchange, but Singapore is apparently preferable because, "of its less exacting demands. Hong Kong requires that new companies are profitable which United, after debt, is not."

The Guardian sound a note of caution on the Asian aspect of it:

Successful branded goods companies tend to retain, and nurture, strong roots at home – that's part of the brand's appeal.

The Glazers, if they decide to run half way around the world to sell a slice of United, may succeed in gaining in a few extra dollars on the float price. But there could be a long-term cost to diluting the club's ties at home – football clubs are not meant to be footloose, as supporters everywhere know.

On the sporting front The Daily Star report that Darren Fletcher might be back for the Arsenal game, they deduce this from him having played 90 minutes for the reserves on Monday.

There's a very odd survey quoted in The Telegraph which says that young people are put off professional sports because of sports stars swearing and misbehaving off the pitch.  They use Rooney in the headline because no one else ever swears.  

A survey of 2,000 11 to 18-year-olds by OnePoll on behalf of the Ambition AXA Awards found that stars swearing during live games would deter around three in 10 boys from trying to become a professional sportsperson.

Among girls the figure was even higher, with 35 per cent saying they would be put off by the bad language.

What?  Even odder is this:

sports stars behaving badly in their spare time was also a major deterrent for many would-be aspiring young athletes.

Almost half of 11 to 16 year-olds said that it would put them off wanting to be a professional sportsperson.

Is the thought process here that if you become a sports person you have to start behaving badly, no matter how moral and upstanding you were previously?

I'm very confused at the nations youth... 

Riot Van

Every football journalist seems to have become a sociologist all of a sudden and don't seem to be tiring of telling us how footballers behaviour on the pitch influences society, especially this week when we can see precisely where their pernicious influence leads.  Forget social inequality, lack of social mobility, government cutting services for young people, rampant consumerism meaning one can only be if one has; forget all that.  Footballers arguing with referees on a Saturday afternoon leads to rioting in the streets.

Is this not self-evidently rubbish?  Does it even need taking down?  If you listen to politicians there is "no excuse" for the rioting.  Any attempt to explain the rioting is considered an attempt to condone the rioting.  We can't say that poverty or lack of opportunity causes the conditions for riots, but every time a piece of on-pitch indiscipline is mentioned it has to prefaced with, "in the light of the events of the last week..." and it is taken as a piece of common-sense.

This is a good time to re-link to this piece, research showing footballers aren't role-models:

Their conduct on and off the pitch may sometimes cause parents to fret, but it seems the notion that footballers such as Wayne Rooney and David Beckham are role models for children is a myth.Far from looking to star players as role models, research has suggested that youngsters are more likely to take behavioural cues from family friends or teachers.Simon Brownhill, an education expert at the University of Derby, said children aged eight or below were unable to grasp the concept of role models.In a survey of 178 men working in nurseries and primary schools, Brownhill found that footballers such as Rooney and others from the Premier League's elite, thought to be idolised by many children, actually have little influence. "The results from this study suggest that children aged eight or younger are still finding their feet in the world and do not have a clear understanding of what a role model is," he said.

So yes, it's all very nice for sports journalists' sense of self-importance to link footballers with rioting, makes them feel relevant, but can we not get a sense of perspective.  Joey Barton falling over under a very weak slap from Gervinho does not lead to rioting.

(as an aside, and it's only because of the stupidity of their arguments that I'm mentioning this as a counter-argument) the riots came just before the start of the season.  After a summer of no football. That's a causal link isn't it.  Might as well blame the boredom created by the off-season.  Might as well blame the example of politicians with their expenses being an example of grabbing whatever you can without restraint or entitlement, or bankers.  And yes, these examples are crass and simplistic - but not as stupid as footballers causing riots)

My Family's Role in the World Revolution

Before we hit the serious business, a bit of light relief, courtesy of Jose Enrique.  He's not going to Liverpool for the money, he says.  How do we know he's lying.  This:

"My move is purely dependent on the sporting opportunity - not money.

"I want to fight for titles and I think it more possible to do that with Liverpool than Newcastle."

Quite the comedian - fight for titles?  Liverpool...

Main headline today is, just for a change, about Sneidjer.  More than ever it seems that he won't be joining us - unless there's a major change of heart somewhere - which seems unlikely.  The Guardian have a high up Man Utd source:

Although the Premier League champions did not want to go on the record, the official stance from Old Trafford is that the deal is not going to happen. The information comes from boardroom level, with the chief executive, David Gill, giving his approval for it to be known that United are not actively trying to sign the Dutchman.

 They go into more detail, which I won't bore everyone with, the only thing I'll comment on is the suggestion they make that his cost might be "beyond our means," which seems to imply that we should allow a player and/or club to hold us to ransom.  Throughout the saga it's seemed as if we could afford him, but we don't want him at the price.  The Independent sum up Sneidjer's apparent contradictory attitude:

A highly placed source at a Premier League club – not Manchester United – has told The Independent that Sneijder is desperate to leave Internazionale because of his belief that there is no prospect of substantial success there and his conviction that the club has not developed its squad since winning the Champions League in 2010. But wages matter more to the player than ambition: his basic weekly wage demands of at least £200,000 have been off the scale, for both United and Manchester City. United will not discuss, on or off the record, the reasons why Sneijder will not be joining them, though wages are likely to feature substantially.

A player who prefers money to trophies is not the type of player we want, at any price...

Elsewhere, Sir Alex dispels retirement talk.  Again:

"Now the situation has changed. You come to realise as you get older that you have been on the treadmill for such a long time, you don't want to get off it. So I will keep going, working."

And Sir Bobby Charlton sings Sir Alex's praises:

“The record of 19 league titles goes down purely to Alex Ferguson. It would not have been possible without him that’s for sure.

“He is the epitome of everything that is good about Manchester United and the ethos of this club. He knows the game inside out.

“The reason everybody performs to their best is that he is in control, not just of his staff and the first team, but the whole of the club. As a result, it operates in unison.

“There’s no point suggesting anybody else to be manager of Manchester United, there is no-one around who can fill his boots. I hope he can carry on for a long time yet."

Some quotes from Vidic are about, his talk of trophies should be sent to Sneijder as an example:

"If you want to play for Man United you have to win everything. You have to be successful, otherwise, new players come and you have to fight for your place. I still have hunger to play, hunger to win the trophies, and I'm really happy. As long as I think like that, I will be good but I would really like to win the FA Cup as well. I haven't won the FA Cup yet. This is the trophy I really want to win."

He even wants to win the Mickey Mouse cup... 

A quick look at Owen Hargreaves, not our player anymore but we can still take an interest.  He's considering an offer from West Brom.

Finally a couple of stories linking football to the riots.  First off a silly one where Gordon Taylor exhorts footballers to behave well because they can influence behaviour.  

...Taylor, who acknowledged that players have a “social responsibility’’, particularly during current tensions on the street.

“Players are celebrities, the new pop stars and film stars. Whatever they do is news. It’s only natural that you hope they could be role models. Maybe we can never eradicate crime, but we can give youngsters a hope they will get the opportunity to achieve. Sport can do that.”

They can stop riots by being nicer.  Brilliant.  Quite the solution to social ills.  Footballers being nice to one another.... The other is more sensible, also from The Telegraph, where Jim White looks at the charity that was going to be publicised by the postponed England friendly, and the postive role football (not footballers) can play in peoples lives:

Street League’s idea is a simple one: provide lots of football and then follow it up with the provision of education and training. In London and Glasgow, 800 young people are currently enrolled on the league’s eight week, full-time programme. They play football in the gym, then head to a classroom next door.

“During 20 years in youth work, I’ve found no tool as powerful as football,” says Matt Stevenson-Dodd, the league’s director. “Football itself doesn’t deliver good outcomes, it’s the hook to lure them in. It’s the opening of negotiations. We don’t say: if you come here we can get you a job. We say: come here and play football and let’s see what happens.”

Battlefield of Souls

Seems a bit of a quiet day today, given that the new Premier League season (riot permitting) is mere days away from kicking off - the calm before the storm perhaps...

The Sun try and make a juicy story where there isn't one - claiming that us and Bradford are "battling" over some money owed from Cleverley's loans:

Bradford, the club which nurtured him as a kid, demand United pay 10 per cent of all loan fees they received for Cleverley while he was learning his trade at Leicester, Watford and Wigan.To a club Bradford's size, which has twice been in administration, the sum they are due from United is potentially enormous, possibly six figures.The deal, which took midfielder Cleverley to United from Bradford as a 12-year-old schoolboy, stated the Yorkshire club would be paid 10 per cent whenever his registration was transferred.

It did not stipulate it had to be a permanent transfer. Bradford argue they are entitled to payments for all three loans.

The quote from the Bradford chairman at the end of the article makes it sound less contentious:

Bradford joint-chairman Mark Lawn admitted: "We're currently in discussions with United."They are a professional and sensible club so I don't see a problem.

"We're saying that this is the contract and we believe we're owed money so we're waiting for them to get back to us."

Quite the battle...

Elsewhere in The Sun, Steven Howard tips us to win the league, the only bit I'll quote is this withering look at Liverpool:

There are many highly-excited Scousers - most of them in the media - working themselves up into a lather about Liverpool's chances under 'King' Kenny Dalglish.

Promoting Sky is Gary Neville's new job; there's an interview with him doing the rounds today, fullest version in The Mirror, covers all sorts of topics, in pretty typical pundit stylee, see this anodyne assessment of Arsenal and Arsene, could be from any one of the thousands of ex-footballers working as pundits:

“Arsenal are a huge football club with massive expectations and you don’t stay there like Arsene has without being an outstanding manager. He is one of the very best.

"Arsene Wenger is still doing an excellent job. He is still in the job because of the level of respect there for him, and the way he gets the best out of young players.

Doesn't take long for the clichés  to take hold...

Finally, Bebe isn't having the best of times, currently on loan to Besiktas he's just torn his his anterior cruciate ligament and will be out for 6 months.

Leaving The World

Given that we should wave Gabriel Obertan off and given a certain, "business as usual" attitude, and also given that the forecast days of rain (of course the sun comes out as I say that...) will hopefully deter any repeat of yesterday's disruption, I figured I might as well do the paper round.  That, and the fact that I'm sure everyone else is sick of their twitter timelines being filled up with reactionary sentiments and the same 3 tweets being retweeted constantly by everyone, so I can hopefully bring some respite from all that.

Though not much, given the lack of news around - Sneidjer rumours?  Really?

First up is the exit of Gabriel Obertan to Newcastle.  A player who never really fulfilled his potential with us, never really grasped the rare opportunity to impress that he was given.  Anyway, he's off to Newcastle, with a few words to say on his departure:

"I spent two good years in Manchester, but it was a bit difficult with the competition and I really needed a club where I could play more games.

"It won't be easy to play each game here, because there's a good group, but I want a fresh start. I've heard a lot about the fans, the atmosphere, the passion around the club and the way the city is behind the club 100 per cent. So I think I'm going to love it."

Wesley Sneidjer now "wants to join Man Utd," apparently:

Asked if he would like to move to Old Trafford in a video interview on a Dutch website, Sneijder said: “Yes, but Manchester United have not made an official approach yet. There have been unofficial talks, there have been contacts, but I have contacts with everybody.”

The Sun have quite a few words from Roy Keane who thinks we'll win the title "easily," and has harsh words for, everyone actually, but I'll pick out what he says about Chelsea: 

 "Everybody is on about this new young manager — but I don't think the manager will be the problem.

"It's always the players down there, they all seem to self-destruct. They're big pals one minute and the next you hear they're all bickering with each other and players aren't happy if someone else scores."

The whole interview is worth a read, Keane not one to mince his words.

Clever Girls Like Clever Boys

Fiddling while Rome burns?  When even Rio Ferdinand manages to stop selling "stay on your feet" t-shirts on Twitter long enough to call for the army to patrol the streets of London - when even Wayne Rooney tweets about the riots?  With all this going on is it appropriate to do a paper round-up?  Does anyone want to read it?  Well, the disturbances still haven't reached Manchester so...

...it's comforting to know that some things never change, with the Sneidjer "transfer" still to the fore, The Mirror reporting comments from him implying his willingness to move:

“Maybe there have been unofficial talks. The situation is that I am an Inter Milan player, but there’s a chance that I will leave.”

I'm sure it'll all come out in the wash...

One of our actual new signings has some comments in the papers today on joining and rising to the challenge.  Ashley Young talks of his "biggest season":

"People will judge me differently because I'm at the biggest club in the world," he said. "But there's no fear in joining them. Not at all."I have the excitement of winning trophies and medals. I could tell the difference as soon as I got there: on tour over in America you could see how big the club is, but I'd always said I wanted to go to a club and win titles and medals, and play in the biggest competitions, and I've got a chance to do that now. I've got to stamp my authority on the team and show I should be selected."No disrespect to Aston Villa, where I had some great years, but you see more world-class players at Manchester United who have been there playing Champions League football for years.

"You can see the difference straight away, and I have adjusted straight to that in training. The players have got the winning mentality. There's competition for places, sure, but that's good. You want to challenge yourself, and that makes you work harder. At United, you are always having to fight for that shirt."

Tom Cleverley is in for some praise from Andy Townsend, here, if the opinion of Andy Townsend interests you...  The Independent have an in-depth look at him and the part he might play this season:

Yesterday, four days short of his 22nd birthday, Cleverley could reflect that perhaps he has been seen, after a stellar second-half display in United's Community Shield comeback prompted a late call-up by Fabio Capello for the England squad to face the Netherlands tomorrow. United are expected to begin discussions soon which may lead to a new five-year deal and an improved £40,000-a-week salary.Though Ferguson is understood to be leaning towards the view that Paul Scholes' successor was there all along – his own messianic desire to build a last young side before he leaves, strengthens Cleverley's appeal – the 21-year-old's long and winding journey to recognition at Old Trafford has rendered him a stranger to the place in recent years, out on loan at Leicester City, Watford and Wigan Athletic. Finding his right starting position has been part of the trouble: a year before his release to Leicester he was a fairly ordinary left-back whom United were close to releasing. His switch to midfield at that stage appears to have saved him from obscurity.

There's also speculation in The Guardian on the possibility of him starting the season in the team:Cleverley is one of the few naturally forward-thinking central midfielders at the club and now appears to have realistic hopes of rounding off the most satisfactory week of his professional life by being involved in Sunday's game at West Bromwich Albion. Ferguson was suitably impressed with the player's contribution at Wembley and acknowledged after the match that he was now faced with a difficult decision when it comes to finalising his team.

While Carrick is regarded as United's best passer of the ball, Cleverley provides a more attacking option, occupying an advanced role at Wembley, with Anderson in a holding position. Ferguson described Cleverley as a "strong possibility" to start the season after an impressive performance in the pre-season friendly against Barcelona in Washington DC, and what he saw at Wembley may have helped to dispel any lingering concerns about whether a player who spent last season on loan at strugglers Wigan Athletic can make the step up.

The same article also looks at the issue of De Gea or Lindegaard:

Ferguson must also decide this week whether he should persist with David de Gea in goal or bring in Anders Lindegaard and give the 20-year-old Spaniard more time to get used to his new surroundings. De Gea made a bad mistake for City's second goal and, though he partially redeemed himself with a couple of good saves in the second half, there is a feeling behind the scenes at Old Trafford that the £18.3m signing may be prone to making more errors in his first few months in England.

Lindegaard was impressive on the pre-season tour of the United States and the Denmark international, speaking before the Community Shield, made it clear he does not want to be De Gea's understudy following his arrival from Atlético Madrid.

Finally, Evra has some words quoted in all the papers today, here from The Sun, on our young players and our prospects for the season:

"We don't need to look at City or anyone else. If we want to retain our title we just have to play the Man United way and that's what we did in the Community Shield."I always say I respect every opponent, City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool — anyone."But the most important team will be Manchester United. It will be us. If we play the way we can, we've shown everyone that we should win the title.

"We'll be difficult to beat. We don't worry about the rest of them, we only focus on Man United."

The Shy Retirer

I missed Paul Scholes' testimonial last night, so just been catching up on the action. It was 6-0 to us and by all accounts a very entertaining game.
Here's the highlights -



If you've not got the time to spare for that, Paul Scholes scored one of his trademark stunners which you can see in this video -



And when we were given a penalty he refused to take it and gestured for Rooney to do the honours -



Here's his after-match interview, his usual humble self -



And if you've lots of time to spare, it is Saturday morning after all, here's an in-depth look at Paul Scholes every touch during the game -



Enjoy these videos, because we've only videos and our memories of Paul Scholes' talent now...

Pop Quiz

Random rumour of the day goes to The Daily Mail for linking Obertan with a move to Newcastle - why not Sunderland we ask ourselves?  One of our players not linked to Sunderland?  Strange...

Staying with Newcastle it seems Alan Pardew has been discussing Twitter with Sir Alex; according to The Daily Mail:

'I spoke to Sir Alex Ferguson about this subject and (Manchester United’s) policy is that nobody at their club can comment about the football club. I think that’s probably where we should be because it is in breach of contract if you are criticising the owner, the player or anyone at the club.

'Sir Alex knows that in our world, this happens. There was no sympathy whatsoever. He laughed, actually. He’s quite enjoying it. But he shared with me quite ferociously, this Twitter issue for football clubs, particularly managers.'

Yes, apparently, Sir Alex even shares "ferociously," quite how one does that I really don't know.

The Daily Star hit the randomizer button and come up with a two week deadline for Sneijder sign, or else...

Good news on the home front as The Telegraph report that Darren Fletcher trained fully yesterday for the first time "since March."  Encouraging sign.

Some words from Rooney on the Community Shield and the new season do the rounds.  From The Daily Mail:

'You couldn't get better motivation to start the season with a bang,' the England striker told Four Four Two magazine.'I hadn't even thought about it until I turned on the TV and someone was talking about potentially the best Community Shield ever.

'Playing City is the best way to start.'

And from The Mirror, the ultimate in casual ambition:

“When you talk about goals for the season at Manchester United, it is pretty simple," said the England star.“We want to win the league. And the ­Champions League. And both the cups. When you’re at a club like Man United, you pretty much know what the goals are. Honestly, it’s pretty simple.

“Obviously, ­sometimes you fall short of that, but at Man United you’ve got to keep striving for it, and we all know that.”

Steven Howard in The Sun whines on about the good ol' days when men were men and the community shield/charity shield meant something:

it was a rare chance to have a day out at Wembley with your club.Now, of course, with the stadium staging semi-finals some sides visit Wembley three times in five months.On top of that, the Premier League and FA Cup have been diminished by the global might of the Champions League.

No one takes much notice of the Community Shield result, either. More often than not, it's the chance for a manager to have his first real look at his new signings.

Crammed full of idiocy.  First off, the FA Cup winners play in the game, they're bound to have played at wembley fairly recently - why whine about that?  Second, why the random moan about the Champions League overshadowing the domestic competitions?  Filling in a word count?  Thirdly, it's a friendly and always has been, who's ever that bothered about it?  It's a nice, easy way to get back into the new season, a sort of stretching of the limbs, for spectators as much as players.  And finally, first chance for manager to see his new signings?  No it isn't .  There's been friendlies.  Unless he means competitively, when he's just ruined the preceding paragraphs by claiming now that it does mean something.  Come back when you've found consistency.  We'll consider this a a warm-up, let's not have such awful writing when the season kicks off for real...

Finally, The Guardian has a quiz on our treble winning season of 98-99.  Try it.  I won't reveal my score - it was a long time ago and my memory is useless...

In the court of the Crimson King

Very short paper round-up today, just basically detailing why the Daily Mirror is rubbish.

Eric Cantona speaking on Man United before Paul Scholes' testimonial on Friday.  You might have thought that would be news by itself.  But not for The Daily Mirror.  They just use it as excuse to crow about their "exclusive" from the other day.  Sod anyone who might want to read what the great man said.  Self-justification is where it's at apparently.  Note that they leave their exclusive an escape clause as well:

Inter Milan midfielder Sneijder is mulling over an offer to quit Serie A and become Old Trafford's record signing

He's thinking about it.  So even if their exclusive is a pack of lies, they can still claim, he decided against the move.  They were right either way.  It also seems very strange that they tag the Cantona quotes as an "exclusive" as well.  Even the picture of Cantona accompanying it is from the press conference where I assume he uttered the exclusive words - unless they've been hacking Cantona's phone...

Turn to The Guardian for what Cantona actually said.  He praises Manchester:

"I had a great time in Manchester," the former United striker said. "I cannot understand anyone not liking it, though I suppose it depends on where they come from and why they are here. The most important thing for me was always to play, and if you are at one of the best clubs in the world then you should enjoy it. As a professional footballer the greatest time you have is on the pitch, but I loved the city as well, the club and the people."

I wonder whether, unlike Tevez, it is the attitude of Cantona towards Manchester as much as his sublime skills which makes him a true legend, rather than a mere good footballer.  The Guardian point out he overshadowed Pele:

Sitting next to him at a press conference in Manchester's northern quarter was no less a personage than Pelé, the honorary president of Cosmos, but it spoke volumes for the popularity of Cantona in these parts that almost all the questions were addressed to the iconic Frenchman.

A few more quotes on the Cosmos and Manchester Utd as well.  Lesson learnt - if you want "exclusives" read the Mirror, if you want news, head elsewhere.