Ed Woodward The Summer Of Discontent?

So as the new era of Manchester United has started with a 1-4 win at Swansea last weekend it could be seen by outsiders to the club as normal service resumed but to many Utd supporters it was just a brief break from what has become a summer of frustrations in the transfer market. As per usual we have been linked with anyone and everyone but with only 8 days to go until the transfer window closes we are still waiting for that marquee signing that the club needs,so where has it all gone wrong?

 

 

Well in my opinion the 1st mistake was for David Gill to finish his job on the day the transfer window opened. Surely it would have made sense for him to stay as Chief Executive until September with Ed Woodward working alongside him and getting to know the ropes as it were.

 

 

So to a certain extent Ed was thrown in at the deep end on July 1st but is he really qualified to have such a powerful job at Utd? An ex accountant who in 1999 moved to J P Morgan as an investment banker (alarm bells ringing yet) who was a major force for Malcolm Glazer when he took over our club in 2005.He was initially given a financial planning role before taking on responsibility for Utd's commercial and media operations in 2007 and becoming a director in 2012 .Ed had no experience whatsoever in sport before he joined Utd and in 2012 started attending shareholder meetings alongside Gill in an attempt to understand the politics of football. 

 

 

 

 

 It doesn't really fill you with confidence does it? So when it looked like Utd would sign Thiago from Barcelona a 22 year old midfielder that we so desperately needed at a very reasonable price in today's market  he ended up going to Bayern Munich. So our attention turned to Barcelona's Fabregas which Ed we were led to believe was flying back from Oz on urgent business to seal the deal but after 3 bids it seemed that Fabregas wanted to stay in Spain. So now Moyes is going back to Everton for their 2 best players and we've put in a bid which they describe as insulting!

 

 

To be honest we have become a bit of a laughing stock with transfers this summer but is it any wonder with Ed clearly not up to the job when it comes to dealing with transfers. He has done an excellent job in signing commercial deals for the club because that is what he knows i feel with transfers he is totally out of his depth. Sir Alex always tried to strengthen when we were champions and with City,Chelsea and Spurs all spending big money so far this summer Utd are leaving it dangerously late to do their deals.

 

 

Now of course with Bale looking like moving to Madrid in the coming days the market could explode and we could be waiting for certain players which would become available once the Bale deal goes through lets hope so because if we don't sign and strengthen our midfield then come May next year we could be regretting not getting in the players we need. As for Ed well he seems to keep a much lower profile than Gill did maybe he is not one for t.v or radio interviews so we don't really know what he is thinking. Just another reason that for me Ed Woodward is totally out of his depth in his new job.

 

The Day I Met Sir Alex Ferguson 07/11/86

In 1986 i was a 15 year old boy living just 8 miles from Oxford in a small town called Woodstock. I had been a Utd supporter since the age of 7 my father was a big fan and used to watch them in the 60's on regular occasions. The majority of my friends at school were Liverpool or Oxford supporters so it wasn't an easy time to be a red. The year before i had managed to go and see Utd for the 1st time live at Villa Park where we ended up wining 3-1 and it was the most magical feeling i had ever experienced.

On the 6th November 1986 Alex Ferguson was appointed the new manager of Manchester United he done the usual press conference sat next to the chairman Martin Edwards and was under no illusions of how big the job he was taking on was as the team were lying 4th from bottom of the old 1st division after 13 games played.

  

On friday the the 7th November at around 6pm i received a phone call from my Utd supporter friend Nick who was returning home from work when he happened by chance to spot the Utd team coach parked up at the Moat house hotel about 5 miles away from the Manor ground the home of Oxford Utd 'shall we go up there to see if we can meet any of the team' he said. So about an hour later Nick picked me up and we made the short journey to the hotel. When we got there there was no sign of the team bus so we made our way into the bar of the hotel and got a drink and waited patiently. Then a few minutes later the team bus arrived and we made our way to the front of the hotel and to my complete amazement Alex Ferguson was the 1st person off the coach still wearing exactly the same clothes as he wore in the previous days press conference. Myself and Nick approached him immediately and with a warm smile he said a friendly hello and shaking both our hands we replied 'welcome to Manchester United' and 'good luck with your new job' he smiled at us and replied 'i might need it'. Then totally out of the blue Nick said 'Alex if we came back in the morning could we have a photo with you please' i was shocked and had no idea where that came from but Alex smiled again and said 'sure meet me in the bar at 11 tomorrow morning'. Thank you we said and Alex moved on now i was so on cloud 9 that i hadn't even seen the players get off the bus but they had and they were all stood there in the Hotel i could not believe my eyes as i noticed the likes of Kevin Moran,Chris Turner,Clayton Blackmore looking remarkably tanned for that time of year and the mighty Paul Mcgrath to my disappointment there was no Bryan Robson or Norman Whiteside but that disappointment was short lived as i went round the members of the team who all signed my autograph book.

So on Saturday 8th November at 10.30 am Nick once again picked me up and made our way to the Moat house again when we arrived we saw Jim Mcgregor the Utd physio who seemed in great spirits as were the players who again were just hanging around the front of the hotel. Then at exactly 11 am Alex Ferguson appeared still wearing the same suit and tie and immediately approached us 'good morning' he said 'so do you have your camera then?'. So we both had our picture taken and thanked him for his time 'no problem' he said ' and off he went,still star struck i could not believe that he came out looking for us and that he had even remembered.

 
Unfortunately i never had a ticket for the game which we lost 2-0 and also i have lost the photo with Sir Alex which is probably a good thing as i was wearing a pink jumper tucked in to my jeans (well it was the 80's) but it gives a small insight in to what a great person he is all the things that must have been going on in his mind at that time yet he still took time out to meet us. It is an experience that i will never forget as long as i live. The following year when Utd played at Oxford they stayed at the same Hotel and even though there were more fans around i finally did get to meet Bryan Robson and Norman Whiteside and there autographs are in the same book.            

Rio and weekend fixtures

So the latest England qualifiers are finally over and once again we can all feel the disappointment of a constant under achieving England side that fails to deliver and looks as if their best chance of getting to the next World Cup would be through the play offs. It didn't get off to the best of starts with the whole Rio Ferdinand situation which as per usual of late an England manager showing a complete lack of knowledge and professionalism. Now correct me if i am wrong but if you were the manager and hadn't spoken to Rio for 10 months and you were considering him to be in the latest squad surely you would have picked up the phone and just got some of the finer details on his complicated training and fitness regime which has worked wonders for Rio in recent months. Well Roy seems to have the ability of not doing things quite like that so he had left himself open to Rio (under pressure from Sir Alex it has to be said) to get a bit of sweet revenge on Roy for the disgraceful way in which he had been treated by England over the past year.

 

So can anyone blame Rio for turning the chance to play for England again down? Well at least he had the intelligence to go and speak to Roy face to face (which is more than what Roy has done to him) but he then goes and shoots himself in the foot and loses all of the media's support that he was receiving by jumping on a plane to do some tv work for the England game. Now he should have just kept a low profile and out of the spotlight, instead he has left himself open to all kinds of criticism which could have been so easily avoided but not for one minute was i expecting him to get the kind of criticism that he received from a small section of England fans but should have i expected it? England fans are renowned for turning on Utd players in the past, in the mid 90's Utds players were regularly booed by England fans when the teams were announced before each kick off and more often than not it's a Utd player that ends up being the scapegoat if things go wrong so is it any wonder when Utd fans up and down the country have very little time for England anymore and i include myself in that. As for Rio his form has been excellent for us this season and  giving up playing for England would only prolong his career which on current form would only be good news for Utd fans.   

So we come to this weekends fixtures which see the reds take on Sunderland away in the league and Chelsea away in the FA cup. Its very difficult to try and second guess the boss with his team selection this week due to the long distances some of the players would have travelled but i think that he may play the stronger team on Monday in the cup and i hope he does as it's been far too long since we last won the FA cup and with Sunderland having major injury problems i think that game should take care of itself.There will be few sights that i ever see in my life worse than those Sunderland fans celebrating that we lost the league when we thought it was won at the end of last season so a good old fashioned hiding would give me great pleasure in seeing them fans who celebrated then pretty much crapping themselves of the thought of relegation and lets hope that they do get relegated.

So after hopefully sending Sunderland ever closer to the drop zone we face Chelsea away in the FA cup on Monday and after what has to be said as probably our most disappointing 2nd half display for some time we can count ourselves lucky to still be in the cup and that is mainly due to the magnificent last gasp save from David De Gea.The key player for us in this game will be Chicharito his goal scoring record for us against Chelsea is phenomenal so i think he will be a certain starter.One positive thing to come out of the international break was to see RVP getting on the score sheet for Holland as he has clearly been out of sorts in recent weeks for Utd this was only to be expected as he had got off to a blistering start to his Utd career and all forwards tend to go through lean spells from time to time.

So my predictions for the weekend are a convincing 0-3 win at Sunderland followed by a 0-2 win at Chelsea to set up a Manchester derby for the semi final and confidence will be high for game against City next week.    

What's happened to our wingers?

After a turbulent couple of weeks for Manchester United going out controversially to Real Madrid in the Champions League and losing a two goal lead to Chelsea in the FA cup it's back to the league with a home game against Reading.With the team being able to rest for the most part of the week there can be no excuses with fatigue today and with City already getting beat by Everton (that's karma for you) we can go 15 points clear today in what would surely be an uncatchable lead.

Manchester Utd have always had a great tradition in playing wingers and we have been blessed with seeing some of the best in the world playing for our club but what do we make of the current crop that we have at the club at the moment? Now my views on Nani have already been expressed in an earlier post on this site and nothing since writing that post has made me change my mind since.

So i will start with Ashley Young who has had a rocky start to his Utd career often injured,often accused of diving by the opposition and rarely producing the kind of form that he showed for Aston Villa.He has had the odd good game but he is struggling to get a regular game and when he does his form is patchy to say the least and in my opinion has been a big disappointment this season when he really should have been making his mark in the team.What he needs is a run of games injury free and to start producing consistent performances or else he just may well find himself surplus to requirements.

And so we come to Valencia.

 He made a steady start to his Utd career and then suffered a dreadful injury to his ankle which kept him out for a matter of months but his form when he returned was nothing short of sensational showing blistering pace and excellent crossing ability and was a main provider of goals and scoring the odd one too.He was the main outlet from defense to attack and was a joy to watch but that was last season.This season we have seen a totally different player and one who has lost complete confidence in almost all of his strengths and just looks completely out of sorts.

So how has this happened? And how does he get this confidence back? Well he has to get back to what he is good at, running at defenders and crossing in to the box but in his last game coming on as a sub early in the game for the injured Nani it was quite simply embarrassing to watch.His crossing worse than Nani's (and that's saying something) and his inability just to knock the ball past his man and run was a clear sign of a player at rock bottom confidence wise.Of course the groans from the crowd every time he makes a mistake won't help but they are entitled to make those feelings heard.

After the Chelsea game Twitter was awash with people venting their frustrations and the majority were aimed at Valencia (myself included) so it will be very interesting to see if he starts the game and it is imperative that he,Young,and Nani start putting in some real performances in the coming weeks with the imminent arrival of Zaha next season one of these wingers could quite easily be shown the Old Trafford exit door.         

Ryan Giggs; Tearing them apart since 91

The legend that is Ryan Giggs today signed a 1 year extension to his contract which will keep him playing into his 40's.The most decorated footballer in English football who made his debut in 1991 and has since scored in every Premier League season since will be gracing Old Trafford for at least one more season.

Now i was very lucky to be at Old Trafford the day that Ryan made his debut against Everton in a 0-2 defeat. I can remember clearly the buzz and excitement around the ground when Ryan came off the bench to replace the injured Dennis Irwin. Only 17 years old this stick like figure with jet black hair already had a growing reputation with Utd fans who had followed him in the youth team and reserves and this was his first chance to show what he could do on the biggest of stages.

He didn't disappoint oozing in confidence and showing electrifying pace as well as being able to glide past players as if they were not there even in the short period of time he was on the pitch every time he received the ball the crowd were on the edge of their seats. The whole stadium was buzzing and the fans left Old Trafford that Saturday (yes remember them days when we used to play on Saturday's on a regular basis) obviously down about the result but everyone was talking about Giggs. Personally i was mesmerized by it as i was only a couple of years older than Ryan and i could just not believe how good and how easy he made everything look it was time to believe that we had a real player on our hands.

The following week he scored with a deflected shot off Colin Hendry in the win over Manchester City, wow what a start to your career and from that moment on he never looked back. Over the next few seasons he was a pivital player in Alex Ferguson's title winning teams. At that time i was a season ticket holder and week in week out i travalled home and away with the Oxford and Banbury suppporters branch and we were rewarded with breathtaking displays of individual brilliance on a regular basis and i was constantly pinching myself that i was able to watch him play along with so many other great players at the time. It was a privilege and i knew it.

I never could get bored of watching his seemingly effortless way in which he went past players and with so many highlights it's difficult for me to say which is my favourite Ryan Giggs moment but the one that does stand out for me has to be QPR away in 1994 where he picked up a loose ball in center midfield and just started to waltz past defenders before going round the keeper and slotting the ball home with ease.An amazing goal which was followed by amazing celebrations from the fans behind the goal people were gasping for breath and trying to take in what had just happened. When i got home i went to my dad who had watched Utd in the 60's and had seen them all play and i said to him that Giggs had scored this goal today and the best way i could describe to him was that it could have been George Best. My dad smiled and said he would watch it later on match of the day,the next morning i was still buzzing and had watched the goal on numerous occasions and my dad agreed that seeing the goal had sent shivers down his spine which he had not experienced since watching the great George Best.

Ryan had already had to put up with comparisons to George and after he scored that goal at QPR inevitably the press and media went into overdrive and the publicity and pop star like fame had arrived at his door step which to his credit he has always handled impeccably, of course with Sir Alex as your manager and father figure which he has always been to younger players, Ryan unlike George was always able to keep his feet on the ground.

I can't write a piece on Ryan Giggs without mentioning the wonder goal in the 1999 FA cup semi final replay against Arsenal a truly brilliant individual goal with a celebration to match  including a pitch invasion and Ryan bearing a chest that a Gorilla would be proud of. I still can't see how people who do not follow football get their kicks out of life they will never experience  the utter elation and joy that football supporters can get when a player does something that special. Don't tell the wife but there is not a feeling like it in the world.

 Later on in his career Ryan has had to change his style of play a bit no longer can he pound up and down the wing but he still has the odd burst of pace and still has that balance and swagger, he doesn't play as often but still manages to create and score goals and play in a variety of positions he even played at left back a few seasons ago when we were short at the back. He has obviously looked after himself by not over indulging in what a lot of footballers have in the past and Yoga has played a big part in his fitness over the last 10 years.

So tomorrow at some point we believe that Ryan Giggs will play some part in the game against Norwich if he does it will be his 1000th senior appearance which in my view will never be beaten by a top flight footballer. Just another amazing stat to go with all the other records that this great modern day footballer has achieved and to put it in perspective there will be team mates of his on the field tomorrow that weren't even born when he made his debut back in 1991. But to the modest Ryan Giggs it will be just another game to him but to all the fans who have had the privilege to watch him over the last 20 odd years he has cemented his place as a Utd great if not the greatest.   

 

NANI

So according to SAF David Gill has been in contract talks for a few weeks with Nani's agent about the signing of the new contract that Utd have offered which is believed to have been on the table for some time but as yet they have been unable to reach an agreement as Nani wants to be guaranteed a starting position. Well i would have loved to have seen SAF face when he had that put to him in fact it may well have been the moment that Sir Alex thought this boy does not want the fight,where is his desire? Where is his hunger?

Of course Sir Alex has said publicly that he wants Nani to stay and there is no doubt that the boy has an abundance of talent the only trouble is this season that talent has not been shown anywhere near enough but last Monday against Reading after coming on as a sub he put in a rare man of the match performance of which we know that he is more than capable of.

 

  

For me over the last few seasons Nani has been the most frustrating player we have ever had at times he can be quite brilliant, with his strengths being his ability to run with the ball at great speed his trickery and of course his shooting skills with either foot which even in this day and age is a rare talent. But more often that not we get the inconstant Nani who gives the ball away cheaply and too often our attacks break down because of one of his lazy passes. By far and away the most annoying part of his game though is his final ball (or lack of it) and his quite atrocious crossing which time and time again his cross fails to get past the first defender.

It really does bug me that a professional footballer who gets paid an amazing amount of money can fail to deliver a decent cross on so many occasions now this could also apply to Valencia this season so it's not just Nani that is guilty of this most simple of football tasks.

So what happens to Nani now? Well Sir Alex has said that he wants him to perform consistently so the challenge has been put to him and we shall see if he is up to that challenge. I personally don't think he is and with the imminent arrival of Zaha in the summer the fight for the wing positions will become even more fierce and i am not sure if Nani has the stomach or desire for that fight and i think Sir Alex knows it.

So over the next few games i think that Nani will play a prominent role in the team especially if his level of consistency increases in no uncertain terms Sir Alex has told him to prove himself worthy of the contract which may well have a positive affect on his level of performances but i think deep down Sir Alex knows that he has to and will sell him in the summer which if he does we will still get a good price especially if he up's his game over the next few weeks.

It's a shame as he has so many times promised so much but not delivered but like every other united fan if he plays well and scores against QPR on Saturday all the bad games will be forgotten.......Well until he miss hits another cross anyway!!        

Madrid,Rooney & De Gea

Well it was the Champions League match that the world was waiting for and the two teams didn't disappoint with a pulsating game from the Bernabeu Stadium. It finished 1-1 but in truth both teams had chances to score more. So what did we learn about Madrid? Well personally the 1st half i thought they were excellent going forward with slick quick passing and at a pace that at times was quite breathtaking. In particular Di Maria down the right was a real handful and with Evra not being the most gifted of defenders Madrid played  the ball out to Di Maria regularly who caused no end of problems as did the very impressive Mesut Ozil who really caused Utd problems all over the park appearing on the right and left flanks. We have been linked with him in the past and if we ever got the opportunity to sign him i would snap him up as in my view he is the sort of midfielder that we are in need of.

As for Ronaldo he gave Rafael a torrid time in the 1st half and was at the heart of most Madrid attacks and of course scored the magnificent equalizer, at the time i found myself moaning at Evra's lack of a challenge but as SAF said in his interview after the game what possibly could he have done to stop that? And after watching  several replays i tend to agree. In the 2nd half though Rafael played a lot better and apart from a few scares from Ronaldo including a ridiculous effort from a long range free kick we limited him to few chances mostly long range at that and a lot of that was due to the magnificent performance from Phil Jones who done an excellent job.

He was one of quite a few positives that we can take out of the game along with the shaky Madrid defense and the way at times how we got behind them with ease can only give encouragement for the 2nd leg. Danny Wellbeck had a fantastic game even though he was to many a surprise inclusion but he fully justified the faith in which SAF showed by giving him the start. Rvp will be disappointed that he didn't take one of the chances that came his way but his all round play and ability to hold the ball under pressure was immense and he showed what a top class player he really is.



On the downside was the performance of Wayne Rooney who was asked to play out of position on the right hand side of midfield to help combat the threat from Ronaldo at times he looked really out of sorts and was clearly frustrated by his own performance with his 1st touch and passing often letting him down. But you cannot question his attitude and desire and work rate and he ran himself into the ground before coming off just before the end. What we have to remember is that we can all have off days and after showing good form in recent weeks i will be very surprised if he doesn't play up front for the 2nd leg as Kagawa was very infective and i am sure that Wazza will want to prove his critics wrong particularly Steven Howard from the Sun newspaper whose article on Wazza today was nothing short of laughable i can't believe he gets paid to write that drivel. Wayne will bounce back i am sure of it.

  

Man of the match was the magnificent David de Gea who has always found himself under intense media spotlight from the moment he joined Utd. The media seem to enjoy pointing out and highlighting any sort of mistake and i was so pleased for him as he showed he has the potential to be a top class keeper. The save that he made early on in the game which he somehow managed to tip onto the post was world class,at times his saves can be unorthodox but as long as you keep the ball out of the net who cares? I think the media forget and don't take into consideration his age, being in a foreign country  it can't be easy but he seems to be really coming into form and growing in confidence and i am sure that in 3-4 years time he will be one of the top 5 keepers in the world.

In De Gea we trust!