Man U

[gilberto_eire]

Milan are very poor. If United don't improve were looking at two of the most boring legs of football ever!



United made a £48 million profit in the last financial year!:eek:

They need to spend that to improve the squad.

They did indeed but thats because they sold Ronaldo. They could spend it, but then again they have massive debts that need to be paid and i assume thats where that money went, can't see any spending going tbh

[gaiscíoch]

But had £30 million to spend on Benzema:confused:

Real were prepared to pay £30million- United were not- hence he is now a Real Madrid player.

Couple that with the fact that Real were paying the money up front compared to United wanting to structure the deal based on team success and his own personal achievements..

Likewise can be said of Tevez his owners wanted the money in a block payment which was the reason Ferguson was stuttering in terms of payment.
He said he would pay £20million in a block payment. Tevez owners said no chance hence he is now at stinking rich Manchester City.

[old git]

Hard to imagine United drifting that far off the pace, even in the Seventies and Eighties they were qualifying for European semi-finals and reputation alone should ensure the top names will always consider joining. It's worrying about the drift to Real, but they've hardly reaped the rewards and only van Nistlerooy wasn't properly replaced (Valencia doing OK and Rooney making up the goals).

so you are saying ronaldo has been properly replaced :confused::confused: he had a tendecy to go down easily and would not work to hard for team but c'mon utd are missing him & his goals this season .

[Macy]

David Beckham
Ruud van nistleroy
Cristiano Ronaldo
Gabriel Heinze
For whatever reasons, only Ronaldo wasn't the managers choice, and even then it was on Uniteds terms (i.e. he stayed an extra season than he wanted). In fact Madrid was more Fergie's choice than Heinzes, if you remember he was trying to move to Liverpool.

It's easy to retrospectively look at Tevez being United couldn't afford it, but I still don't think he was worth the money his owners wanted. There was probably a deal to be done, but it's to the Tevez camp people should point their ire. And from what I've seen, it isn't up front that the issue really is.

[KK77]

Real were prepared to pay £30million- United were not- hence he is now a Real Madrid player.

Couple that with the fact that Real were paying the money up front compared to United wanting to structure the deal based on team success and his own personal achievements..

Likewise can be said of Tevez his owners wanted the money in a block payment which was the reason Ferguson was stuttering in terms of payment.
He said he would pay £20million in a block payment. Tevez owners said no chance hence he is now at stinking rich Manchester City.

Did Ferguson not say thaey had all the Ronaldo cash to spend if they wanted?

[KK77]

The Glazers can legitimately take around £127m out of Manchester United next year if profits remain stable.
The Guardian have taken a week to read the small print in the 322-page bond prospectus and report that the Americans have the right to take millions out of the club.

The newspaper reports that the 'principal purpose' of the bond issue is to raise funds for the Glazers to pay off the 'payments in kind' loans that are secured against their shares in the club. This £200m debt exists in addition to the £500m owed by the club.

The prospectus details how the Glazers can take £70m from the club's cash reserves, pay themselves a £25m dividend and take half of the club's cash profits (a figure that stood at £23m last year). They can also take out a further £9m in administration fees and payments to directors.

That adds up to around £127m on top of the £45m already being directed towards paying off the £500m the club will have borrowed via the bond.

[DeLorean]

If you were rating the players by the quality needed to win the European Cup, only Van der Sar (for now), Vidic, Evra, O'Shea, Giggs, Scholes, Fletcher and Rooney are up to the mark, so like MaryDrummer says, we need an extra player in every area.

Liverpool won the European Cup with Traore, Kewell, Smicer, Cisse and Baros so who knows!!

[Closed Account 2]

Neville could be up on a charge:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jan/20/gary-neville-finger-alex-ferguson-roberto-mancini

Looks like Jaap was right.

[rambler14]

Looks like Jaap was right.

elaborate please?

[Closed Account 2]

Did you read his book, point number 8 here:

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/osm/story/0,,1315698,00.html

[old git]

Neville could be up on a charge:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jan/20/gary-neville-finger-alex-ferguson-roberto-mancini

Looks like Jaap was right.

lads the f.a are losin it.. tevez scores from dodgy penalty award to equalize for city he then procedes to taunt poor old gary neville who responds by only showing him the score using hand signals !!! should tevez not be charged for running to celebrate his 2nd goal in front of utd bench :D must admit though it was enjoyable to watch

[Acornvilla]

lads the f.a are losin it.. tevez scores from dodgy penalty award to equalize for city he then procedes to taunt poor old gary neville who responds by only showing him the score using hand signals !!! should tevez not be charged for running to celebrate his 2nd goal in front of utd bench :D must admit though it was enjoyable to watch
i assume that was at rooney for trying to put him off? (was saying somthing to him as he began his run up)
teves was verry good thou you could see he was out to make a point. taught de jong was very good will be intresting if viera can disloge him.

[DeLorean]

i assume that was at rooney for trying to put him off? (was saying somthing to him as he began his run up)
teves was verry good thou you could see he was out to make a point. taught de jong was very good will be intresting if viera can disloge him.

Tevez plays like he's out to prove a point in every game if you ask me. Obviously the goals meant more to him last night though.

[KK77]

Immense player Tevez really is. His attitude, work-rate the fella is immense and add to that he knows were the net is.

[KK77]

lads the f.a are losin it.. tevez scores from dodgy penalty award to equalize for city he then procedes to taunt poor old gary neville who responds by only showing him the score using hand signals !!! should tevez not be charged for running to celebrate his 2nd goal in front of utd bench :D must admit though it was enjoyable to watch

What can the FA do realistically? He hardly walked over to Neville and taunted him. Ok everyone knows what he was doing but hard to prove. Anyway Neville deserved it if you ask me. He should have kept his mouth shut in the first place. Tevez could ask him does he think the money he earns at Utd has been justified of late. Horrible little man but a great player in his day but that day is long gone imo.

[smasher]

What can the FA do realistically? He hardly walked over to Neville and taunted him. Ok everyone knows what he was doing but hard to prove. Anyway Neville deserved it if you ask me. He should have kept his mouth shut in the first place. Tevez could ask him does he think the money he earns at Utd has been justified of late. Horrible little man but a great player in his day but that day is long gone imo.

Maybe its just the time of the month for one of the 'ugly sisters'!

[DeLorean]

What can the FA do realistically? He hardly walked over to Neville and taunted him. Ok everyone knows what he was doing but hard to prove. Anyway Neville deserved it if you ask me. He should have kept his mouth shut in the first place. Tevez could ask him does he think the money he earns at Utd has been justified of late. Horrible little man but a great player in his day but that day is long gone imo.

Yeah he's day is pretty much gone, the fact that he's about 5th/6th choice right back with everybody available would certainly indicate that. The whole thing is a non-issue really. It should make for a great 2nd Leg, City have been pretty ordinary on their travels this season but played reasonably well at OT in September. Was surprised with the strength of United's team last night, Ferguson didn't keep his promise after the Q/F win. He might have felt that City winning a trophy this early in their new era could be the catalyst for greater things, easing the pressure on their players significantly. Either that or he sees it as their best chance of a trophy this season!:o

[gaiscíoch]

What can the FA do realistically? He hardly walked over to Neville and taunted him. Ok everyone knows what he was doing but hard to prove. Anyway Neville deserved it if you ask me. He should have kept his mouth shut in the first place. Tevez could ask him does he think the money he earns at Utd has been justified of late. Horrible little man but a great player in his day but that day is long gone imo.

I don't understand what your syaing about Neville keeping his mouth shut when Tevez couldn't keep his shut for the last year in relation to Man Utd.

He was in the press consistently over the last year about Ferguson and United.

If I was Neville I would have done the exact same thing.

If you watch the replay of his celebrations he was gesturing to the United fans behind the goal.
Which surely means he should be in trouble for inciting the United fans and then after his second running to the United bench.

If your looking for a horrible little man look no further than the gloriously behaved Craig Bellamy.
With his razor sharp elbows
fantastic ability to lift his feet off the ground in a tackle-
Incredible balance
Fantastic command of the English language.
To top it all off he is a professional golfer.

Some of the tackles he put in on Valencia last night and got away with were incredible.

[KK77]

I don't understand what your syaing about Neville keeping his mouth shut when Tevez couldn't keep his shut for the last year in relation to Man Utd.

He was in the press consistently over the last year about Ferguson and United.
If I was Neville I would have done the exact same thing.

If you watch the replay of his celebrations he was gesturing to the United fans behind the goal. Which surely means he should be in trouble for inciting the United fans and then after his second running to the United bench.

If your looking for a horrible little man look no further than the gloriously behaved Craig Bellamy.
With his razor sharp elbows
fantastic ability to lift his feet off the ground in a tackle-
Incredible balance
Fantastic command of the English language.
To top it all off he is a professional golfer.

Some of the tackles he put in on Valencia last night and got away with were incredible.

Ferguson and Utd exactly not Neville. Nothing to do with Neville. Anyway i seem to remember Utd fans backing him and lets be frank who could blame him fighting his corner last May sitting on the bench while Berbatov was playing all the time. Think about it now seriously Tevez is everything that's good about a proper pro on the pitch.

He was gesturing to his right running back the Utd fans were to the left hand side in the corner. He was not gesturing to them i can assure you.

[KK77]

Yeah he's day is pretty much gone, the fact that he's about 5th/6th choice right back with everybody available would certainly indicate that. The whole thing is a non-issue really. It should make for a great 2nd Leg, City have been pretty ordinary on their travels this season but played reasonably well at OT in September. Was surprised with the strength of United's team last night, Ferguson didn't keep his promise after the Q/F win. He might have felt that City winning a trophy this early in their new era could be the catalyst for greater things, easing the pressure on their players significantly. Either that or he sees it as their best chance of a trophy this season!:o


I would imagine they have better chances of winning trophies other than the Carling Cup this season. I think once it was City he was always going to play a strong side throw in the Leeds defeat and it was definite but i feel he would have done it regardless of the Leeds result. Imo Utd will turn them over in the second leg.

[DeLorean]

I would imagine they have better chances of winning trophies other than the Carling Cup this season. I think once it was City he was always going to play a strong side throw in the Leeds defeat and it was definite but i feel he would have done it regardless of the Leeds result. Imo Utd will turn them over in the second leg.

Well I would have thought with the way they are playing that the Carling Cup would be their best bet. Hard to see them winning the Champions League on current form and Chelsea are in pole position in the League, also Arsenal will probably jump into 2nd tonight. You're probably right that the strong team was because it was City, probably out of repect to the United fans more than anything else. Hard to call the 2nd Leg but if United have Vidic and/or Ferdinand back I would make them favorites alright. The reactions of Tevez and Neville are nothing topics as far as I'm concerned.

[gaiscíoch]

Ferguson and Utd exactly not Neville. Nothing to do with Neville. Anyway i seem to remember Utd fans backing him and lets be frank who could blame him fighting his corner last May sitting on the bench while Berbatov was playing all the time. Think about it now seriously Tevez is everything that's good about a proper pro on the pitch.

He was gesturing to his right running back the Utd fans were to the left hand side in the corner. He was not gesturing to them i can assure you.

The very reason he was sitting on the bench was that he opened his mouth in January and kept at it till the end of the season.

He is the Manchester United club captain, has been since the Roy Keane era, if that doesn't give you a right to speak about certain things then what does?
Anyhow he said Tevez is a good player?

No-one is saying he is not a good player. Of course United should have kept him but United are flat broke.

Ok Carlos I take your word for it....

[jebus]

If I were Tevez I would have been insulted by comments like that from a player that was very average for the majority of his career

Neville on the other hand was just trying to score more brownie points with the Old Trafford faithful, most of whom would admit that United should have forked out 25m for Tevez. One can but assume that United simply don't have that kind of money these days when wondering why they didn't, especially after losing Ronaldo and replacing him with Valencia

[Longfordian]

From United's latest released financial information. Quite technical but gives an idea of the eye watering sums they are paying on their debt.

http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/6600/rfjv09.jpg

[Macy]

And he still wasn't worth the feckin money regardless! His United career gets better the longer it goes on since he played for them...

[old git]

[QUOTE=jebus;1309665]If I were Tevez I would have been insulted by comments like that from a player that was very average for the majority of his career

neville not the most likeable player but would have to disagree about him being average for majority of his career was utd & england regular right back for numerous years and in his day was a top player . oh and if tevez happens to win as much trophies as neville during the rest of his career then he can feel insulted at players coments :ball:

[Closed Account 2]

neville not the most likeable player but would have to disagree about him being average for majority of his career was utd & england regular right back for numerous years and in his day was a top player . oh and if tevez happens to win as much trophies as neville during the rest of his career then he can feel insulted at players coments :ball:

World Club Cup with both a Latin American (Boca 2003) and European Team (Man Utd last year) - that's a pretty rare achievment, I'm trying to think of another player who has done it and cant. Won the Libertadores and Sudamericana Cups with Boca (like winning the CL and UEFA Cup) in 2003 as well as the 2003-4 Apertura (Argentine domestic league). Captained Corinthians of Sao Paolo to the Brazilian league championship in 2005 and voted the best player in Brazil - the last time a non-Brazilian got that award was getting on for 30 years ago - although you could argue Petkovic was unlucky not to win it in the late 90s early 2000s.

At Man Utd, two premier leagues, one CL, one league cup. At international level runner up in the Copa America and gold medal at the 2004 Olympics...

Gary Neville's only played and won things at one club, he's never tested himself in another country / continent.

[Closed Account 2]

And he still wasn't worth the feckin money regardless! His United career gets better the longer it goes on since he played for them...

It's a bit relative to talk about the value of money, is any sportsman worth that sort of money? But in the context of Berbatov's £30m odd million in 2008 and with Ibrahimovic costing over double Tevez (EUR 66m) this summer, I think Tevez's price was pretty much the market rate, perhaps even slightly better value. Additionally he had already played well and settled into the team (certainly pre-Berbatov) so there wasnt such a big risk in signing him (he was already an established player at Old Trafford).

For whatever reason Ferguson seemed to stick with Berbatov, once Tevez was not assured of a fair crack at the first team his departure, in a world cup season, was highly likely.

[don ramo]

tevez never wanted to stay, he had the choice to tell his owner to **** off, and sign for utd for free, but he chose to stay with this person for some unknown reason and that person got 50mill just cause tevez is hes friend,

plus i dont think tevez is worth 50mill, utd had already given his owner 20mill, and he wanted another 30, for someone acting illegally he got a lot of money,

the facts are that the shieks have more money than the americans, always have and always will, and itll show over the next few years,

i personally think utd are fairly well equipped for this crisis, more so than any other club, but the question is whats the glazers end game, do they plan on selling the club, or just milk it till its dry, and leave the mess for someone else to clean up,

[The Don]

Gary Neville's only played and won things at one club, he's never tested himself in another country / continent.

Laughable comment really if you go your accused of no loyalty and if you stay your accused of not testing yourself.

[old git]

World Club Cup with both a Latin American (Boca 2003) and European Team (Man Utd last year) - that's a pretty rare achievment, I'm trying to think of another player who has done it and cant. Won the Libertadores and Sudamericana Cups with Boca (like winning the CL and UEFA Cup) in 2003 as well as the 2003-4 Apertura (Argentine domestic league). Captained Corinthians of Sao Paolo to the Brazilian league championship in 2005 and voted the best player in Brazil - the last time a non-Brazilian got that award was getting on for 30 years ago - although you could argue Petkovic was unlucky not to win it in the late 90s early 2000s.

At Man Utd, two premier leagues, one CL, one league cup. At international level runner up in the Copa America and gold medal at the 2004 Olympics...

Gary Neville's only played and won things at one club, he's never tested himself in another country / continent.

what is wrong with showing loyalty / pride in your club and staying there for your career .. :D

[DeLorean]

what is wrong with showing loyalty / pride in your club and staying there for your career .. :D

Gary Neville played at the highest level for his entire career. Clearly though he had to drop a level and win the South American Championship as well to prove he was good.:confused:

[Closed Account 2]

what is wrong with showing loyalty / pride in your club and staying there for your career .. :D


Well there will always be the impression that other better players in that team (Giggs, Beckham, Keane, etc) carried him to an extent. I don't think there was ever a big demand from other top clubs for Neville, to the extent there was for say Keane (who Juventus were after for a time) or Beckham (who had Barca and Madrid after him). There is nothing wrong per se with staying at a club, but it would seem a bit strange that he never had the desire or inclination to test himself in another league or club. For instance, had he played in Italy in the late 1990s / early 2000s he would have had to adapt to a totally different style of football, and really pushed his development as a player. It might be one thing if you are the captain and true talisman of the team (e.g. Totti at Roma, or to an extent Rooney at Man Utd now) but for an average first team player, it seems like a lack of desire to test himself.

[rava]

Well there will always be the impression that other better players in that team (Giggs, Beckham, Keane, etc) carried him to an extent. I don't think there was ever a big demand from other top clubs for Neville, to the extent there was for say Keane (who Juventus were after for a time) or Beckham (who had Barca and Madrid after him). There is nothing wrong per se with staying at a club, but it would seem a bit strange that he never had the desire or inclination to test himself in another league or club. For instance, had he played in Italy in the late 1990s / early 2000s he would have had to adapt to a totally different style of football, and really pushed his development as a player. It might be one thing if you are the captain and true talisman of the team (e.g. Totti at Roma, or to an extent Rooney at Man Utd now) but for an average first team player, it seems like a lack of desire to test himself.

Remind me again how many clubs Gerrard and Carragher have played for.

[Closed Account 2]

Gary Neville played at the highest level for his entire career. Clearly though he had to drop a level and win the South American Championship as well to prove he was good.:confused:

I think you are wrong to assume that playing in the Libertadores is a drop from playing in Europe. To dismiss Latin American football with such nonchalance is dissapointing but not surprising. The worlds greatest players (Batistuta, Maradona, Pele) have played in the Libertadores, and the Argentine league is one of the most competitive in the world. There isn't the 1-2 team domination you get in England (especially of late when all of the following have won: San Lorenzo, Estudiantes, Banfield, Boca, River, Velez). Playing an away match in the Estadio Pedro Bidegain or El Cilindro in Avellaneda, is far far more intense than playing some midweek fixture away at Hull or some sunny day out at Craven Cottage. The tackles are far more physical, the level of skill is arguably higher, the pace is much more pronounced and the crowd much, much more intimidating.

I think some people on this forum really struggle to comprehend a world existing outside of the the Premiership, let alone in another continent.

[Roo69]

If I were Tevez I would have been insulted by comments like that from a player that was very average for the majority of his career

Neville on the other hand was just trying to score more brownie points with the Old Trafford faithful, most of whom would admit that United should have forked out 25m for Tevez. One can but assume that United simply don't have that kind of money these days when wondering why they didn't, especially after losing Ronaldo and replacing him with Valencia


I presume you are talking about G. Neville being very average for the majority of his carrer? How you can say for the most part of his career he has been very average is beyond me.

He has played with one of the worlds biggest clubs since 1991 under one of the worlds all time great manager, he has nearly 400 club games and 80 odd international games under he's belt, He has won: Premier League (8): 1995–96, 1996–97, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2006–07, 2008–09, FA Cup (3): 1995–96, 1998–99, 2003–04
Football League Cup (1): 2005–06, FA Community Shield (3): 1996, 1997, 2008, UEFA Champions League (2): 1998–99, 2007–08, Intercontinental Cup (1): 1999, FIFA Club World Cup (1): 2008. As well as being voted on the PFA team of the year in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2005, 2007 and the team of the decade as the best right back to play in the PL.

Now don't get me wrong, Neville is a little pox bottle and annoys the bjebus out of me (yes i'm a united fan) but to say he was very average at best is uneducated and a personal point of view rather than the truth.

[Closed Account 2]

Remind me again how many clubs Gerrard and Carragher have played for.

Carragher is very similar to Neville in that sense - to a degree being carried by a team of better players. Although as he has never won the league you could argue he always has stuff to achieve.

Incidently Gerrard nearly moved on after the CL in 2005 - pretty sure he was at the 11th hour in terms of signing with Chelsea, again you could argue that he was still looking to get the league title, or possibly he views himself as an integral talisman of the team (similar to Totti at Roma).

[DeLorean]

Edmundo I would be completely lying if I claimed to have a vast knowledge of South American football. I thought it was safe to assume that European Club football was the strongest in the World, seeing as that's where most of the top South Americans ply their trade. I know this is partly for financial reasons but money buys the top players and that's just the way of the world. It wasn't a critism of South American football, which I'm sure is of a high quality and entertaining. The fact that it's more competitive doesn't make it a better standard, just more interesting. You say that Beckham, Giggs and Keane carried Neville and the likes of Gerrard carried Carragher, I don't agree with this at all. Neville, in his own right, was one of the best right backs around, just because he's wasn't a particularly fashionable player doesn't mean he was carried. I would consider Carragher the heartbeat of LFC, far more so than Gerrard and if anything it was Carragher that carried a lot of Liverpool players at times.

[old git]

Well there will always be the impression that other better players in that team (Giggs, Beckham, Keane, etc) carried him to an extent. I don't think there was ever a big demand from other top clubs for Neville, to the extent there was for say Keane (who Juventus were after for a time) or Beckham (who had Barca and Madrid after him). There is nothing wrong per se with staying at a club, but it would seem a bit strange that he never had the desire or inclination to test himself in another league or club. For instance, had he played in Italy in the late 1990s / early 2000s he would have had to adapt to a totally different style of football, and really pushed his development as a player. It might be one thing if you are the captain and true talisman of the team (e.g. Totti at Roma, or to an extent Rooney at Man Utd now) but for an average first team player, it seems like a lack of desire to test himself.

why is it a lack of desire :confused: he is playing for his hometown team and also playing for the SO-CALLED biggest club in the world , he has tested himself in champions league against european teams and also club world championship etc against south american teams and very few times did he underperform of course all the big names get all the headlines with goals / performances but utd woud not have been so succesfull without an excellent defence which he was part off :ball:

[Roo69]

Latest installment is that Tevez has said he was directing his gesture at Neville and not the United fans.

"I thought he was in the wrong because we were team-mates and I never disrespected him, I always respected him. I feel he was a boot-licker when he stood by Ferguson's comments that I wasn't worth that money"

So he is saying the Neville, as Club capt. of United was wrong to back his manager up. He would also know that disrespecting the club cpt. of a supporters football club is disrespecting the fans themselves. I think up until the other night the majority of United fans still held Tevez in very high regard but his actions have tainted his image.

[DeLorean]

He would also know that disrespecting the club cpt. of a supporters football club is disrespecting the fans themselves

Come off it man I don't think the United fans are that sensitive. I support United and think no less of Tevez now. I wish they still had him instead of Berbatov but they don't, so it's time to move on. The stuff the last night is being blown way out of proportion.

[gustavo]

I think Manchester United were right not to pay the money for a player who wouldn't be first choice for them as long as Rooney was fit

[KK77]

Come off it man I don't think the United fans are that sensitive. I support United and think no less of Tevez now. I wish they still had him instead of Berbatov but they don't, so it's time to move on. The stuff the last night is being blown way out of proportion.

Well said mate. Just on the point of directing it at the Man U fans do people not realise the Man U fans were in the other corner and side of the pitch. Anyway agree with what you said. Heard John Giles last night saying for Neville to get involved in it was proof that as Tevez said he's an idiot. Anyway time to move on people! Know a few STH at Man U and they have lost no respect for Tevez at all. They are actually raging they never signed him up.

[KK77]

Latest installment is that Tevez has said he was directing his gesture at Neville and not the United fans.
"I thought he was in the wrong because we were team-mates and I never disrespected him, I always respected him. I feel he was a boot-licker when he stood by Ferguson's comments that I wasn't worth that money"

So he is saying the Neville, as Club capt. of United was wrong to back his manager up. He would also know that disrespecting the club cpt. of a supporters football club is disrespecting the fans themselves. I think up until the other night the majority of United fans still held Tevez in very high regard but his actions have tainted his image.

You do realise the Man U fans were in the other corner on the opposite side of the pitch?

[De Town]

United fans were covering the whole area behind the goal Tevez scored the penalty.

[DeLorean]

I think Manchester United were right not to pay the money for a player who wouldn't be first choice for them as long as Rooney was fit

Yes but in my opinion he should have been first choice, along with Rooney. 07/08 proved that they could play very effectively together. There's no comparision between Tevez's contribution at United and Berbatov's thus far, in my mind.

[KK77]

United fans were covering the whole area behind the goal Tevez scored the penalty.

Not the sideline though;)

[Roo69]

Not the sideline though;)

Correct, but Neville was closer to the United fans than his own bench, Tevez turned towards him and gestured, it clearly looked like he was doing it to the fans at the time, and there probably was a bit of it directed to United fans but he has been a clever boy and come out and said it was for Neville. Why didn't he do it to Rooney for trying to wind him up just as he was about to take the spot kick? Or at his best mate Evra when he said City are a small minded club who only think about beating United and not on the bigger picture and trying to be consistant week in week out and to actually try and win something? Why single out one player when several were doing pretty much the same thing - which was that they were trying to wind him up.

It's a nothing story really if were being honest. In simple terms, United weren't willing to pay his wages demands, leaves united, joins their city rivals, players mouth off in the papers before the game, returns to "haunt" them and scores twice in the 1st leg.

He actually probably should have kept his gob shut until he was 100% City were going through to the final, he will look quite silly if United go on and beat city in the 2nd leg and reach the final, Que a lot of songs and gestures directed the way of a Mr. C. Tevez.

[DeLorean]

Ferdinand back for Hull and Vidic about two weeks away. That means Vidic will miss the trip to The Emirates, massive loss for that one. If those two could stay fit for the remainder of the season Utd could be a different proposition altogether. Ferguson also said that he's going to select Hargreaves in his Champions League squad so it would be good if we could see him before the season's end.

Ferdinand to make come back (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/8474367.stm)

[MaryDrummer]

Ferdinand will probably be given a ban after his elbow into Fagan so back to square one...