Manchester United news and links

• England defender comes through 45 minutes against Oldham
• Hopes of league return on Saturday week

There was good news for England and Manchester United tonight after Rio Ferdinand stepped up his return to fitness by playing in his first match since suffering the knee injury that wrecked his World Cup.

Ferdinand managed 45 minutes for Manchester United’s reserves against Oldham Athletic, almost three months since damaging knee ligaments in an accidental collision with his England team-mate Emile Heskey in training.

The defender now hopes to be involved when Sir Alex Ferguson’s team play Everton at Goodison Park on 11 September, their first game after the international break.

Anderson, the Brazilian midfielder likewise recovering from a knee injury, was also involved in the Manchester Senior Cup tie, which saw Wes Brown joined in defence by his younger brother Reece.

England have missed their central defender, never more so than this week as Fabio Capello, given the injuries that have ruled out Ferdinand and John Terry, faces having to choose a defensive pairing of Michael Dawson, whose only cap was gained against Hungary last month, and the recalled Matthew Upson at centre-half for the first time together in Friday’s opening Euro 2012 qualifier against Bulgaria at Wembley.

• England midfielder secure despite injury problems
• All United’s senior players have been registered

The England midfielder Owen Hargreaves has been included in Manchester United’s 25-man Premier League squad despite his ongoing injury troubles.

The former Bayern Munich player has made a solitary substitute appearance in the last two years as he battles tendinitis and there had been serious doubts over his inclusion.

However, United confirmed this afternoon that all of their senior players, apart from those out on loan, have been registered to play.

• England defender back for reserves tonight
• Rio Ferdinand may play against Everton next week

Rio Ferdinand will make his long-awaited comeback for Manchester United in a reserve-team game against Oldham Athletic tonight.

The game at Stalybridge will take on far more significance than a usual Manchester Senior Cup tie as it will represent Ferdinand’s first game since he was injured in a freak collision with Emile Heskey on the first day of training at the World Cup in South Africa.

Sir Alex Ferguson had stated that the 31-year-old would not be fit to return until the end of September. However, at his weekly press conference last Friday, Ferguson revealed his defender had made a rapid recovery from the knee-ligament problem and said he would be finding a game for him during the international break.

The Oldham match represents a suitable opportunity and if Ferdinand does come through unscathed he is expected to come into contention for a first-team comeback at Everton on 11 September, which represents the start of a hectic week that also includes home games against Rangers and Liverpool.

Ferdinand will be joined in the United line-up by Wes Brown, the midfielder Anderson, who is also on his way back from long-term injury, and Federico Macheda.

• David Gill insists sales figure is still ‘pretty good’
• ‘The bare facts are that the club is in good financial shape’

Manchester United failed to reach their target of season ticket sales this summer, the club’s chief executive David Gill has confirmed.

But Gill insisted the figure is still “pretty good” in the current economic climate and that the club is in good financial shape. Gill said the number of season tickets sold was 51,800 compared to the target of 54,000, and that executive seat sales were “on track”.

United’s season ticket sales have been conducted against a backdrop of a campaign by fans’ group the Manchester United Supporters’ Trust (MUST) urging a boycott in the hope of persuading the American owners, the Glazer family, to sell the club.

Asked about the season-ticket protest, Gill said: “I’ll be clear on that. Last year our target was 54,000 season tickets, we’ve sold 51,800, which is pretty good in the current climate.

“We’ve sold more season tickets than the capacity of most Premier League grounds. Our executive seat sales are on track as compared with last year in a different market. I think the bare facts are that the club is in good financial shape. The ticket sales have held up. We sold out for Newcastle and West Ham but we are not complacent and we’ve got to keep working to make sure that we fill the ground for every game and we’ll do that by playing great football, attractive football, exciting football that brings fans in.”

The protest against United’s owners surrounds the debts they took on to buy the club. These now stand at more than £700m – including a £500m bond scheme, and £202m in payment in kind loans.

Reports earlier this month revealed that the Glazers’ shopping mall empire in America is facing problems but Gill would not be drawn on that, stating instead the club was very successful financially and were comfortable with the position.

Gill added: “I’m not going to comment on that. We’ve had another very successful year off the pitch, and when we announced our results for June 2010 they were excellent, generating cash.

“We have put in place a long-term financial structure for the club with the bond, obviously that’s serviced on a regular basis. So no I don’t think it impacts us at all. So I think we’ve got to be comfortable.”

• Clubs want Rangers fans to be held at Wigan’s ground
• Police fear supporters will travel without tickets

The threat of hooliganism when Manchester United play Rangers in the Champions League has led to security measures being implemented to force supporters of the Scottish club to the DW Stadium in Wigan as an official holding ground in the hours before kick-off.

The two clubs are so determined to avoid a mass invasion of Rangers fans into central Manchester they have asked Wigan Athletic for permission to use their ground for “catering and rest facilities” as the only stop-off point on the journey from Glasgow.

Wigan’s stadium has also been designated as the official ticket-collection point before a police escort takes the supporters to Old Trafford in a convoy of buses. It will be one of the biggest security operations ever for a match at Old Trafford and has similarities to the measures that have been implemented in the notoriously sensitive matches between Millwall and Leeds United, when supporters have been taken to a service station on the M1 to collect their tickets under heavy police presence.

Rangers have been allocated 4,700 tickets and have stipulated that only registered travel-club members will be eligible to apply and that everyone who is successful must travel on official coaches, with no option but to adhere to the Wigan plan. “All fans will meet at the DW Stadium where they will then be transported to Old Trafford,” Rangers said in a statement. “There will be no exceptions.”

The club will run a campaign in the build-up to the match on 14 September aimed at discouraging fans from travelling independently. “Supporters without tickets are strongly advised not to travel.”

The measures have been brought in after a series of meetings over the last few days involving both clubs, Greater Manchester Police, Strathclyde Police and supporters’ group representatives, with the priority being to ensure there are as few Rangers fans in Manchester city centre as possible.

An estimated 150,000 fans invaded Manchester when the team reached the Uefa Cup final in 2008, and when a giant television screen showing the match crashed it led to several hours of rioting, causing hundreds of thousands of pounds’ worth of damage. The then prime minister, Gordon Brown, branded the fans “a disgrace” and the first minister, Alex Salmond, described the violence as “shocking and unacceptable.”

Two years on, the biggest fear of the police is that ticketless Rangers supporters will again travel in large numbers, and that the potential for trouble has been exacerbated because United’s own hooligan element will be seeking revenge.

The fears are such that when Gary Neville, the United club captain, identified Rangers earlier this year as the opposition for his testimonial match the idea was vetoed by the police and Manchester City Council.

There are also concerns about a large number of English trouble-makers planning wide-scale problems when Sir Alex Ferguson’s team travel to Ibrox on 24 November and officials from both clubs are expected to discuss the matter when Uefa host a security workshop for Champions League clubs in Vienna tomorrow.

United are facing a reduced ticket allocation for their Premier League game at Sunderland on 2 October because of problems with persistent standing when they have visited the Stadium of Light in previous seasons.

League rules stipulate that away supporters should be given a minimum 3,000 tickets but Sunderland successfully applied to reduce the number to 1,700 last season and are applying for the same again. This has become a recurring theme for United over the last few years, with several clubs including Bolton Wanderers, Middlesbrough and Aston Villa taking similar action.

• Giggs impressed with winger’s performance against West Ham
• Welshman calls for more goals from United’s midfield

Ryan Giggs has lavished praise on his Manchester United team-mate Nani after the Portuguese winger’s goalscoring display against West Ham United. Nani scored his first goal of the season and won the man of the match award in Saturday’s 3-0 win at Old Trafford.

“It was a really good performance from Nani,” the veteran Welsh winger told Manchester United’s official website. “His positional play was good. He was staying out wide and getting the crosses in. He scored a goal and made one. He could have had a few more. I was really pleased for him. He deserved man of the match.”

Nani said: “I was so excited to score. I had a lot of opportunities. I was angry with myself but the goal arrived and that made me happy. We have to follow Chelsea. When they win, we have to win as well if we want to be at the top of the league. We can’t afford to lose any points. That is why we are working hard to win every game.”

The victory was notable for Wayne Rooney, who scored his first goal since March, but Giggs said his club cannot bank on the England striker matching last year’s return of 26 Premier League goals.

“We all feel that as a team we need to score a lot more goals,” the 36-year-old said. “We cannot just rely on Wayne as we did last year. Dimitar Berbatov has started on fire. All the midfield need to chip in, defenders, everyone. Obviously we would have liked nine points to start with but it’s not to be. In our two home games we have played some really good football.

“It could have been better but the previous two seasons we have been beaten at Fulham so maybe it was a point gained last week at Craven Cottage. We still have Rio Ferdinand to come in, and Gary Neville and Anderson. It is a headache for the manager but it is one that he would rather have than be struggling for players.”

• Oldest feud in football management resumes
• Ferguson fumes at Bébé reports

Sir Alex Ferguson’s improved relationship with Arsène Wenger reverted back to type last night, when the Manchester United manager accused his old adversary of disrespecting Paul Scholes. The Scot is unhappy about Wenger’s description of the midfielder as having “a dark side”, the Arsenal manager’s comments provoking the kind of withering response that used to epitomise one of the oldest feuds in football management.

“I don’t know why Arsène Wenger said that,” Ferguson said. “It is very easy to look into the dark side of any player. I could say the same about one of the Arsenal players in particular, but I don’t need to do that. He [Wenger] should focus on the strengths and abilities [of Scholes] and the contribution he has made to English football over an 18-year period, because it is phenomenal.”

Wenger, in fairness, had been delivering a long eulogy to Scholes, but Ferguson was bemused that the Frenchman should follow that with criticisms about the player’s habit of making reckless tackles. He would not name the Arsenal player he was talking about, but added: “If you are talking about someone with the ability and performance levels of Paul Scholes, you know he is not the best tackler – but he has not injured anyone in his time here.”

The United manager ruled out the idea of Scholes, who will be 36 in November, playing again for England again, having retired from international football six years ago at the age of 29 – “I don’t think it will happen; definitely not,” he said – but he is increasingly beginning to think this will not be the midfielder’s final season.

“The fact he has stayed clear of injuries is important,” Ferguson continued. “He had an eye problem and a knee injury a couple of years back, which cost him two- and-a-half seasons. But he is fit now and has trained every day. You can, if you look after yourselves, have a long career in the game, but I must admit that if you had asked me 10 years ago I could not possibly have imagined that Paul would have been playing at 35 or 36.”

Wayne Rooney is fit to face West Ham at Old Trafford tomorrow after missing Sunday’s draw at Fulham because of a stomach bug. Ferguson also reported that Rio Ferdinand has trained all week and is ahead of schedule from a knee injury, giving him an outside chance of being involved against one of his former clubs.

Ferguson then launched a strong defence of Bebé after what he described as “vicious” reports, including one in the Guardian, that United’s coaching staff had been underwhelmed with their first impressions of a player signed for £7.4m without the manager having seen him play before. Anderson came back from a six-month layoff in the reserves game against Manchester City on Tuesday, but Ferguson said Bebé had not been sufficiently fit to play, even though the 20-year-old had already appeared in six pre-season games for Vitória de Guimarães.

• ‘It was a really bitter attack. Ability-wise he is excellent’
• Rio Ferdinand could return after international break

Sir Alex Ferguson has hit out at the ‘vicious’ attack on Manchester United’s new £7.4m signing Bebé, saying that the striker is ‘excellent’. The manager said the 20-year-old has made a positive impression since his shock arrival from Portugal and merely needs to improve his fitness levels to be considered for a first-team call-up.

It had been suggested the striker had been a major disappointment since his arrival from Vitória Guimarães and that Ferguson had made a mistake investing so much in a player he had never actually seen.

However, the Scot dismissed those claims and insisted Bebé is on track. “Bebé is on a programme doing endurance work because his fitness levels are not near the ones we are at,” he said. “Other than that he has done well. I know he has had a couple of vicious attacks on him for why he wasn’t playing in the reserve game but he was never going to be playing on Tuesday.

“The boy did not deserve that. He is a young man trying to make his way in football. They didn’t need to do that. It was a really bitter attack. Ability-wise he is excellent. He is a terrific finisher. We have been very impressed with that. It is just the fitness levels he needs to get to.”

Rio Ferdinand could return to action for Manchester United immediately after the upcoming international break.

A week ago, Ferguson suggested it would be the end of September before the England captain could contemplate a comeback after suffering a freak knee ligament injury in training before the World Cup.

However, Ferdinand has been spurred on to quicken his recovery and, after getting himself back on to the training ground this week, Ferguson is looking for a game at some point over the next fortnight to test his fitness.

“Rio hadn’t done anything football-wise when I spoke last week,” said the United manager. “When he read what I said maybe it gave him a kick. But he has come in and trained this week and done fantastic. He will train with the reserves today.

“He won’t be involved tomorrow of course but we have to try and think when we can get a game with him in the next two weeks he is that close.”

United’s reserves have a Manchester Senior Cup tie with Oldham Athletic on 1 September which would fit the bill, although Ferguson does have the option of arranging a friendly behind closed doors given the number of players at his disposal who will not be side-tracked by international commitments over the next fortnight.

Ferdinand is hoping to be in contention for a Premier League meeting with Everton that has now been re-arranged for Saturday, 11 September, plus the matches against Rangers and Liverpool that follow immediately afterwards. “You need to be aware of knee ligament injuries but at the moment everything is fine,” said Ferguson.

The same situation applies with the Brazilian midfielder Anderson, who has been out since February following cruciate ligament surgery. The 22-year-old returned to action in the reserves on Tuesday and then reported for training the next day but Ferguson is wary of expecting too much, too soon.

“You have to be aware he has been out for a long time,” he said. “You have to monitor his progress a lot more carefully. “But he is keen. He trained on Wednesday. He wanted to train after the game on Tuesday. That shows the enthusiasm he has got.”

• Big operation planned for Champions League clash
• Tottenham draw Internazionale in group stage

Greater Manchester police is planning one of its biggest security operations for a football match after Rangers were drawn to play at Manchester United in the Champions League next month.

The draw immediately raised fears about supporters of the Scottish champions returning to the city where 150,000 were present and many rioted on the night of the 2008 Uefa Cup final against Zenit St Petersburg, causing hundreds of thousands of pounds’ worth of damage around the biggest of the fan zones, and injuring one policeman so badly that he needed six months off work.

The rioting lasted five hours and led to the then prime minister Gordon Brown branding the fans “a disgrace”, with the first minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, saying the violence was “shocking and unacceptable”.

Two years on, there is enough bad feeling for the police to have grave concerns that there could be reprisals, as well as fears that the match could be a magnet for troublemakers. The bigger concern, however, is the prospect of a mass invasion of ticketless fans on 14 September and the police will give strong consideration to making it a high-risk, category C match.

The assistant chief constable Ian Hopkins said: “Greater Manchester police is extremely experienced at policing high-profile European football matches. We will be working in partnership with the clubs and football authorities to ensure this is a safe and enjoyable game for all.”

United say they will liaise closely with the relevant authorities, but the club’s chief executive, David Gill, tried to play down the concerns. “I don’t think it’s something we need to worry about. Clearly we have to work with the authorities and with Rangers, and as a club we will do that. But they will not be bringing the number of fans who came to the Uefa Cup final and we have to look positively at the game and look forward to it. [Sir] Alex [Ferguson] is delighted to have been drawn against Rangers and it should be a great occasion at both stadiums.”

Nonetheless, the concerns are such that when Gary Neville, the United captain, wanted Rangers as the opposition for his testimonial match the idea was vetoed by the police and council officials. “That had nothing to do with us as a club, so it would not be fair for me to comment,” Gill added.

Martin Bain, his opposite number at Rangers, said: “The circumstances then were totally different. Rangers and Manchester United know each other well and we have the right administration and the security people to make sure that things go accordingly. We’ve played United in the Champions League before [in 2003], and as far as I remember there was no great calamity.

“When we went to Manchester for the Uefa Cup final it was one of the biggest movements of people in Europe, 150,000 people descending on the city. Going down in those vast numbers was obviously a lot for any club and any city to deal with. I could understand David Gill being worried if 150,000 people were going to turn up for this one, but it won’t happen.”

Uefa has made it clear it will not contemplate a ban on away supporters, but the matter will be a priority when it holds a security workshop in Vienna on Wednesday. “On top of the usual delegates, we will send a security officer to both clubs to assess the situation,” a spokesman commented. “They will speak to the clubs and to the police, and see how fans will be met at airports and stations, and where they will stay.”

Ferguson, the United manager and a former Rangers striker, welcomed the tie. “Walter Smith [the Ibrox manager] has already been on the phone, talking about tickets for Old Trafford. Like me, he’s really looking forward to our games against each other.”

United and Rangers also have Valencia and the Turkish club Bursaspor to play in Group C, Tottenham will face Internazionale, Werder Bremen of Germany and the Dutch champions, FC Twente.

Arsenal and Chelsea, who make up London’s three-strong contingent, will be confident of progressing to the last 16. They face Partizan Belgrade of Serbia, the Portuguese club Braga as well as a trip to Ukraine to play Shakhtar Donetsk. Chelsea have to get past Marseille, Spartak Moscow and Zilina of Slovakia.

The final will be played at Wembley in on 28 May and Ivan Gazidis, the Arsenal chief executive, claimed this is extra motivation for the capital’s three clubs “There is a real incentive, especially the London clubs,” he said. “It would be fantastic to play in the final in London and I know Spurs and Chelsea will feel the same way.”

But Gazidis believes three English clubs will not reach the semi-finals, as occurred in 2008. He added: “It was probably an aberration when we had three.”

• Tottenham in group with holders Internazionale
• Have your say on the Champions League draw

English clubs largely had reasons to be pleased with the draw for the Champions League group stages, which took place in Monaco this afternoon. Manchester United will travel to Scotland to take on Sir Alex Ferguson’s former club Rangers with Valencia and the Turkish champions Bursaspor completing Group C.

Harry Redknapp’s Tottenham Hotspur, who secured their first appearance in the Champions League group stage with yesterday’s 4-0 win over Young Boys, appear to have the trickiest assignment of the Premier League sides after they were drawn in Group A alongside the holders Internazionale, now managed by Rafa Benítez, Werder Bremen and the Dutch side FC Twente, who Steve McClaren led to the Eredivisie title last season.

Chelsea were matched with Marseille, Spartak Moscow and the Slovakian champions MSK Zilina in Group F. Arsenal have the most straightforward assignment after drawing Shakhtar Donetsk, Braga and Partizan Belgrade in Group H.

Group A

Internazionale

Werder Bremen

Tottenham Hotspur

FC Twente

Group B

Lyon

Benfica

Schalke 04

Hapoel Tel-Aviv

Group C

Manchester United

Valencia

Rangers

Bursaspor

Group D

Barcelona

Panathinaikos

FC Copenhagen

Rubin Kazan

Group E

Bayern Munich

Roma

Basle

CFR Cluj

Group F

Chelsea

Marseille

Spartak Moscow

MSK Zilina

Group G

Milan

Real Mardid

Ajax

Auxerre

Group H

Arsenal

Shakhtar Donestsk

Braga

FK Partizan

First round of fixtures will be played on 14 and 15 September 2010

• Man Utd striker will line-up alongside former team-mates
• Owen uncertain about reaction from Anfield crowd

Michael Owen is to pull on the colours of Liverpool for the first time since leaving the club six years ago after agreeing to brave a potential backlash from Manchester United’s supporters by playing for his old team in Jamie Carragher’s testimonial match. Owen, reviled by some Liverpool fans after crossing one of the game’s oldest divides, is said to be uncertain of the reaction he will get from the Anfield crowd but does not have great expectations considering the abuse when he returned last season for the first time since joining their rivals at Old Trafford.

The former England striker has given his word to Carragher, however, that he will play in the match at Anfield on Saturday week, swapping the red of United for that of the team where he began his career. Sir Alex Ferguson, the United manager, has given him permission to play for 45 minutes and Owen will be in attack for a Liverpool XI taking on an Everton XI.

Carragher has also persuaded Jamie Redknapp, Danny Murphy, Jason McAteer and Emile Heskey to play, but he had told Owen he would understand if he thought it was too delicate for him politically bearing in mind the rivalry between Liverpool and United.

There is also the distinct possibility that United’s fans will not be too impressed about one of their players being willing to wear a Liverpool shirt, especially with their first encounter of the season to follow only two weekends later.

Owen, though, regards Carragher as one of his closest friends in football and the organisers hope the goodwill felt towards the long-serving Liverpool defender will persuade the Anfield crowd to go easy on their former player and maybe even demonstrate some warmth and appreciation for a man who scored 158 goals for the club in eight years and has been described by Steven Gerrard as “the best striker in the history of Liverpool Football Club.” Nonetheless, it is understood Owen will be given his own security on his way to and from the stadium.

• ‘We’re under no illusions, it’s going to be difficult’
• Club trying to regain initiative after losing first two games

Scott Parker has said that he is “dreading” West Ham’s visit to Manchester United on Saturday as Avram Grant’s team tries to recover from losing their first two Premier League games this season.

Parker, who has been a transfer target for Tottenham throughout the summer, was asked if he was worried about the trip to Old Trafford. “Yeah obviously. Man United is one of those places you love to go and you love to play and there are times you walk off the field dreading it,” he said, after scoring West Ham’s late Carling Cup winner against Oxford United last night.

“We’re under no illusions, it is going to be difficult we’ve got to go there and do something similar to what Oxford done to us tonight really. We’ve got to be organised and we’ve got to try and take our chance when it comes and if we do that we might have a chance.”

Following United, Chelsea visit Upton Park which raises the prospect of West Ham potentially being pointless after four games. Parker said the next two games would be very tough.

“We’ve not got off to the best of starts with two losses [against Aston Villa and Bolton]. I don’t think there’s any hiding the fact it’s going to be a difficult season and that’s the way it is. But it’s a difficult season because that’s how good the league is, there’s a lot of quality teams. Every game’s a battle and every game’s going to be hard. With Chelsea and Man United coming up, it’s not an easy task, but we’ll give it a go.”

While Parker would not discuss his future – he has yet to sign an improved deal – his midfield partner Mark Noble said he wants the 29-year-old to stay.

“We need to keep hold of him for the sake of everything,” he said. “Me and Scott have played in the centre of midfield together in the last couple of games, I’ve really enjoyed it and we bounce off each other. I know if he goes forward then I will sit and the other way round. It’s like being telepathic and it’s great to have that sort of understanding.”

Grant has made a right-back and striker a priority. “I think we need to strengthen the squad,” Noble added. “It’s such a long season with so many games, we need to bring quality to the squad. There’s no doubt we need to do that. If we can bring in a little bit of quality, a bit of steel then I’ve got no qualms about that.”

• Striker rejected from reserve team fixture with Manchester City
• Ferguson and United expect improved fitness and confidence

When Manchester United made Bebé the most improbable signing of the summer Sir Alex Ferguson argued there was no risk attached, explaining that “sometimes you just have to go with instinct”. Yet a fortnight on, the striker’s career at Old Trafford has got off to a false start, his performances in training deemed so poor he was not even considered for a reserve fixture last night.

Bebé, signed from the Portuguese club Vitória de Guimarães for £7.4m, was conspicuously absent when United’s second team took on the Elite Squad – Manchester City’s new name for their reserves – in Hyde. This was supposed to be the first chance for Ferguson to see the 20-year-old in match action but the United manager reconsidered after discussion with the reserves’ coach, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

The first disappointment for Bebé may not be entirely unexpected given the strange circumstances of the transfer. After an undistinguished spell at the Portuguese Third Division club Estrala da Amadora he was available on a free transfer seven weeks ago, but United did not sign the player, affiliated to the influential agent Jorge Mendes, until after he had joined Guimarães, paying the full €9m buy-out clause.

On top of that, Ferguson subsequently admitted Bebé was the first player he had signed in 24 years as manager at Old Trafford without seeing him play or watching him on video. Instead, the Scot said he had taken the word of scouts as well as Portugal’s manager, Carlos Queiroz, formerly his assistant at Old Trafford. “It was one of those decisions that had to be made quickly, so I made it quickly,” Ferguson said. “I don’t think it’s a risk.”

According to the United manager, Real Madrid and Benfica were also interested in the striker but after the big build-up, the Guardian has established that the first impressions of Bebé have been below expectations. In particular, his touch and control has not been of the standard the club demands – hence his absence from a reserve fixture that saw Anderson make his comeback after six months out with a knee injury. It is understood there have been meetings in which the coaches have expressed misgivings about how long it might be before Bebé can challenge for a first-team place consistently.

The hope at Old Trafford is that he will improve once he is fitter and more confident. Bebé was always identified as a player for the future and Ferguson already has Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov, Michael Owen, Javier Hernández and Federico Macheda in attack.

Ironically, Bebé has been lined up to make his first appearance for his country against England in an Under-21 European Championship qualifier on 3 September.

• United owners hit by more difficulties
• Investigation reveals ‘delinquent’ malls

Manchester United’s owners, the Glazer family, have suffered further embarrassing financial difficulties after four more of its US shopping malls recently fell into default on their mortgages. With the interest rate charged on United’s enormous “payment-in-kind debts” rising from 14.25% to 16.25% this month, the news could hardly come at a worse time.

An investigation by the Guardian in conjunction with the BBC’s Panorama programme and the investment analyst Andy Green in June found that of the 68 shopping malls owned by the Glazers’ US-based First Allied Corporation, four had gone bust and one more had defaulted on its mortgage. An analysis of the malls’ most recent financial disclosures has revealed that four more have since failed to pay their mortgages and become classified as “delinquent”, with two falling into default this month.

The four malls are in Houston, Texas; Denver, Colorado and two in Ohio. That means nine, or 13%, of the Glazers’ malls are now “delinquent” or insolvent, and a further 29 centres, 43%, have so many units empty the rental income does not cover the mortgage payments. First Allied is the only significant business the Florida-based family runs besides Manchester United and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFL franchise, and the bank disclosures show it making income above the malls’ running costs of only US$9m a year.

These disclosures come at a particularly sensitive time considering United’s own debts. The interest rate increase took effect this month, according to the most recent accounts filed by one of the Glazers’ United companies.

According to Red Football Joint Venture Limited, the accounts for the year to 30 June 2009 recorded that United’s total bank and other borrowings had swollen to £716m, all of it derived from the Glazers’ original personal borrowings to buy the club in the first place in 2005. Of that, around £500m was owed to banks and refinanced in January with the issue of bonds at an average around 8.5% interest “yield” annually – £42.5m this year.

The payments in kind, originally owed to three hedge funds, had risen to £202m by 30 June last year, so at 14.25% have accrued a further £34m interest since. That interest is not paid but accumulates, so the Glazers’ United companies now owe £236m to the hedge funds. The increased interest rate to 16.25% means that over the next year a further £38m will be added, swelling the total to £274m, unless a proportion of the hedge fund debt is paid off.

No public United documents explain why the interest rate has increased, but it has been reported that United were hit with it as a penalty clause because their debts have risen to more than five times the basic profit they make.

The club’s chief executive, David Gill, has maintained that the payment-in-kind debts at these credit-card rates of interest are not the club’s responsibility, but fall on the family to repay. However, it is not at all clear the Glazers have the resources from First Allied or elsewhere to meet these liabilities, and the bond document issued by United provides the right to take almost £130m out of the club. That can be used to pay towards the payment-in-kind debt if necessary.

Gill and the Glazers argue the club is unaffected by these debts, by far the largest external borrowings ever owed by an English football club, and that funds are available for the manager Sir Alex Ferguson to spend. The manager has said the transfer market is over-priced and it is his own choice this summer to have signed only Chris Smalling from Fulham, Javier Hernández from Guadalajara and the deal which has stunned football, the 20 year old Portuguese striker, Bébé, for £7.4m.

Yet Green – an investment analyst and United supporter who writes about the club’s finances in his blog www.andersred.blogspot.com – said the latest disclosures from First Allied were a cause for further concern. “They show that the Glazer family’s only significant other business is making almost no money, and certainly not generating the cash to reduce United’s massive debts,” he said. “The family’s shopping malls are afflicted by low occupancy rates, more have fallen into default, and whatever David Gill says, there appears no doubt that Manchester United itself will be made to service these useless debts and pay huge interest payments, all money which could have been spent signing players.”

Neither the spokesman for Manchester United nor the Glazer family were available for comment yesterday.

• ‘I don’t think he’ll speak to us again,’ says Shearer
• United risk growing fine due to new rights-holder rules

The BBC is content to leave the Premier League to scrutinise Sir Alex Ferguson’s continued refusal to grant post-match interviews when its board meets at the end of next month after the Manchester United manager refused to end his six-year boycott of the corporation.

Ferguson has not given a post-match interview to the BBC since 2004 after allegations were made about his son, Jason, who was then working as a football agent, in a Panorama documentary entitled “Father and Son” and broadcast on BBC Three. The United manager demanded an apology, which the BBC has consistently refused to supply, leading to the lengthy stand-off which the Premier League had hoped would be resolved when new rules were introduced this season.

Premier League managers are now required to speak to broadcasting rights- holders after games, yet Ferguson still declined a BBC interview at Craven Cottage on Sunday and, instead, made his assistant Mike Phelan and the defender Nemanja Vidic available to comment. That has left United open to a growing fine, likely to start at around £1,000, with the league’s board – the chief executive, Richard Scudamore, the chairman, Sir David Richards, and the secretary, Mike Foster – to discuss the issue at its next scheduled meeting.

The BBC stressed that the matter is “for the Premier League and Manchester United”, though the broadcaster appears resigned to another season without Ferguson’s input.

“Sir Alex is a man of his word and a man of principle,” said the Match of the Day pundit Alan Shearer. “I don’t think he will speak to us again.”

United, for their part, continue to back their manager. “Mike Phelan is available to provide analysis and comment if required,” said a spokesman. “We support the manager’s position.”

Ferguson had come under growing pressure from the Premier League and the League Managers Association to end his boycott, though the 68-year-old is waiting for an apology before he speaks to the BBC again. He has accused the institution in the past of “breathtaking arrogance”.

In previous years, Ferguson was immune to punishment because the rules requested that managers talk to the broadcasting rights-holders under a “best endeavours” clause. The idea of tightening it up was specifically to tackle Ferguson and was voted in by all 20 Premier League clubs, including United.

• Defender concerned about falling behind Chelsea
• ‘We need to improve at set-pieces,’ says Vidic

Nemanja Vidic has warned his Manchester United team-mates they must learn quickly from the sloppiness that cost them victory at Fulham on Sunday if they are to keep up with Chelsea at the top of the Premier League.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s side dropped their first points of the season at Craven Cottage after missing a late penalty and then conceding a stoppage time equaliser to Brede Hangeland. The manager admitted in the aftermath that his side had dropped “silly points” with Vidic, one of the visiting players outjumped by the Norwegian at the home side’s second, just as frustrated by the wasteful stalemate.

“Everyone in the dressing-room was very disappointed,” said the Serbian defender. “It was a bad result, especially as we were winning in the last minute of the game. It’s hard to take the draw. We have to make sure that the goals we lost today don’t happen again. All in all, it’s hard to take. If it had finished 2-1 we would have been happy with the result, but not that much with the performance. But if we’d won we could have forgotten this game. Now there are definitely some lessons we must learn from this.

“We need to improve at set pieces. We knew it would be hard even before: we always find it difficult against Fulham. They have many strong players like Bobby Zamora, Hangeland and Dickson Etuhu. They are good in the air and we knew what we were going to face.”

United’s draw ensured only the defending champions, Chelsea, boast a perfect start to the new season having won both their games resoundingly. “We’ve slipped behind early before, it’s happened in previous years,” said Vidic.

“We drew against Newcastle two years ago and had some other bad results at the start of the season and still gone on [to challenge]. We don’t want to be too down after the Fulham result, but it’s definitely hard to take because we had the result in our hands and, with the experience we have in our team, we shouldn’t allow that to happen two minutes from the end.”

• Vidic says United should defend better at set-pieces
• Hangeland equaliser frustrates United defender

Nemanja Vidic has urged his Manchester United team-mates to learn lessons from their 2-2 draw at Fulham yesterday. The Serbian defender said Brede Hangeland’s last-minute equaliser and the concession of two Premier League points was a cruel blow.

“It’s a bad result, especially when we had a good result in the last minutes of the game,” Vidic told MUTV. “A draw is difficult to take and we feel real disappointment about what happened in the end, but I hope we take some points from the goal we lost, and it doesn’t happen again.

“It’s hard to take. I think we would have been happy with the result – if not the performance – if we had won, but there are definitely some points to take from the game. The goal we lost at the end was a shame and we probably need to improve at set-pieces.”

• Midfielder is one of Dutch football’s best prospects
• Ajax write to United chief executive demanding compensation

Manchester United are facing the possibility of an official complaint from Ajax after persuading one of the brightest prospects in Dutch football to move to England.

Gyliano van Velzen, a Dutch under-16 international, has turned his back on Ajax’s famed youth academy and agreed terms at Old Trafford in a deal that has incensed the Amsterdam club.

Van Velzen, a tall, left-sided midfielder, initially informed Ajax in March that he had received an offer to move to Manchester, but the teenager was dissuaded from going through with the move and decided to stay with the ‘B1′ under-17s’ team.

The issue seemed to be resolved until Van Velzen returned to Ajax a few weeks ago and informed them that his parents had decided they wanted to move to England to start a new life. The family, it emerged, had been offered a house in the Manchester area and Van Velzen, affiliated to Ajax since the age of 13, arrived towards the end of last week.

Ajax, renowned for producing so many outstanding Dutch footballers, are said to be “surprised and disappointed.” They have written to United’s chief executive, David Gill, asking for compensation and, if they are not satisfied with the response, they will look at other options.

One report in Holland has claimed they will file a lawsuit via Fifa, although it is understood they would rather settle the matter without having to take legal action.

The dispute bears similarities to the Paul Pogba case last year when Le Havre complained to Fifa that the 17-year-old had been illegally poached from their academy only for the organisation to rule in United’s favour. After eight months of wrangling over compensation, the two clubs finally reached an undisclosed settlement in June.

A spokesman for United said that Van Velzen had been signed in full accordance with Fifa regulations. Their argument is that the player had never signed professional terms and, as such, was on the market. United asked Ajax on a number of occasions to provide evidence of a contract without one being produced.

• Ferguson says Giggs should have taken penalty, not Nani
• Visiting manager accepts Fulham deserved a point

Sir Alex Ferguson said his side dropped “silly points” after Fulham fought back to earn a 2-2 draw against Manchester United at Craven Cottage yesterday.

The United manager said he was surprised that Nani took the late penalty that could have maintained United’s flawless start to the Premier League season, only to see the spot-kick saved by the Fulham goalkeeper David Stockdale three minutes from time after Damien Duff had been penalised for handball. The miss saw the visitors’ one-goal lead maintained until Brede Hangeland headed an equaliser in the last minute to earn the hosts a point.

“I thought Ryan [Giggs] should have taken it,” Ferguson said. “In the last game we played against Tottenham Hotspur at home, Ryan scored two penalty kicks and Nani was on the pitch the same day. Maybe Ryan should have taken it. We had that opportunity to seal it with only a few minutes to go, and you think you’re home and dry then. But the goalkeeper reacted quickly, getting across his goal, though I always think height is crucial at a penalty kick.

“It was [struck at] a bad height, maybe. You don’t want to be dropping silly points and we dropped silly points today. We can’t escape that. There was an opportunity to go 3-1 ahead with three minutes left and we didn’t take it. I don’t think we deserved to be in front at 2-1 but, when you get the opportunity to seal the game with that penalty, you should be taking it. To miss a penalty kick to make it 3-1, you’re throwing two points away there, I’m afraid.”

Ferguson said Fulham merited at least a point after a spirited second-half response. “I thought they were revitalised in the second half,” he said. “They upped their game and were the better team. When we got that second goal I thought: ‘We’ve escaped here.’ They caused us a lot of problems, particularly [Bobby] Zamora, who was very good for them. We’d played well in the first half and their goalkeeper made four excellent saves, but we didn’t ram home the advantage. I can’t complain in terms of the run of the game.”

• United manager says lack of injuries has helped midfielder
• ‘Defeat at Fulham last season may have cost us the league’

Sir Alex Ferguson has backed up Danny Murphy’s glowing praise of Paul Scholes by saying the midfielder is as fit at 35 as he has been in years.

“If he looks stronger it’s possibly because he went through last season without picking up any serious injury,” Ferguson said. “He’s done well, because he’s had plenty of injuries over the years and been out for three- or four-month spells. His fitness was great last year, as the season went on he got better and better, and he’s carried on the same way. He and Ryan Giggs have yet to miss a training session and we’ve had 40 since the start of pre-season. I don’t know how long he can carry on, but I can’t see any real deterioration in his game.”

Looking to today’s game, the United manager added: “We lost to Burnley last year, as well as Fulham. We didn’t expect that. It was our own fault, we had 19 chances and didn’t hit the target. It was careless, whereas we knew Fulham might be a step too far with emergency centre backs. We were doing OK [in the 3-0 defeat at Craven Cottage] until we went a goal down, then we ended up conceding three. Losing at home to Aston Villa for the first time since I came here was hard to take too, and that didn’t help, but we were fragile when we went to Fulham last season. If we had drawn that game I think we might have won the league.

“Mark Hughes has got a good experienced squad, and continuity as well. There aren’t too many players who have reached the stage of saying this is my last year. Even Danny Murphy is young enough to play for a few seasons yet.”

• Manchester United do not want infection to spread
• Striker has not travelled to London with the squad

He has not scored in 18 hours of football and Wayne Rooney will have to wait at least another 90 minutes if he is unable to overcome a stomach bug to play at Fulham today.

The Manchester United striker, who last scored in March and endured a woeful World Cup with England, reported sick at United’s training ground yesterday and did not travel with the team to London. The club’s medical staff ordered Rooney home, fearing he could pass on the infection to the staff and players.

It is unlikely that Rooney will have recovered sufficiently to join his team-mates today, which will mean a first start for new signing Javier Hernández, who was outstanding in pre-season and replaced Rooney after 63 minutes of United’s opening 3-0 win against Newcastle United at Old Trafford.

Rooney’s absence will also be a blow for England, with Fabio Capello desperate to see if Sir Alex Ferguson’s appraisal that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the player is correct.

England start their European Championship qualifying campaign against Bulgaria at Wembley a week on Friday.

Rooney found the net 34 times for United last season before his touch deserted him – his last goal came five months ago in the Champions League quarter-final against Bayern Munich.

• No hard feelings, says former Manchester City manager
• Welshman ‘grateful’ for phone call after sacking from City

So vociferously were the feathers being spat between the dugouts in last season’s tempestuous Manchester derbies, it is reasonable to assume the relationship between Mark Hughes and Sir Alex Ferguson is not the warmest.

For two men with such notable combative streaks, who spent the last couple of years in a locale that obliges them to agree to disagree as club rivals, taunts came with the territory.

Now hundreds of miles south and settled comfortably in his Fulham tracksuit, a glint comes to Hughes’s eye as he reflects upon his rapport with the godfather of the Premier League. The competitive edge between them is something to be cherished, but it is not negative. Although the Welshman has always been too much of his own man to join what Roberto Martínez described as a cartel of “loyalists” whose admiration for Ferguson is undisguised, to interpret that as friction between the two men is, Hughes says, wide of the mark. Any sparring has been professional rather than personal.

“He likes to make sure we know our place,” he explains. “And rightly so. He is always competitive and to come up against guys he has worked with and brought through, he has a lot of affection for them and he is always supportive. But he always likes to beat them, that’s for sure. Invariably he picks his strongest team against me. Maybe that’s a sign of respect because he knows I set up my teams to give them a hard time.”

Hughes believes that his rapport with his old Manchester United manager has improved with age. “Probably my relationship now with Sir Alex is better than when I was a player. I was grateful he allowed me to play in his team. That was the top and bottom of it when I was a player,” he says. “As a manager it has become closer. But that doesn’t stop me wanting to overcome him. At times we are both a bit vocal on the touchline but I don’t think there have been any episodes where there has been a massive falling out as I have had with other top managers.”

He was clearly touched that one of the first phone calls he received after he felt the force of the Abu Dhabi axe at Manchester City was from Old Trafford. Ferguson’s words of consolation helped.

“The fact he was very quickly on the phone is something I am very conscious of and was very grateful for at the time,” says Hughes. “I have never been one of his ex-players-come-managers who have sought a lot of advice from him. I have had key conversations with him and that was one of them. I know there is a pool of advice I can tap into if I ever need to. I haven’t done in recent times, but that’s not through lack of respect for what he has to offer. More I haven’t felt the need to do that.”

Hughes is confidently throwing himself into the job at hand at Craven Cottage, and is more focused on the fact this weekend is a home debut than any emotions about a reunion with old neighbours. He hopes the fans will like what he intends to bring to the team. “There are areas of our attacking play I think we can improve on, to be more positive at the right times,” he says.

They can do little better than last season’s handsome 3-0 beating of Manchester United. “We’ll have to match that performance again,” Hughes adds. “Possibly the team United had that day was a little under strength but I am sure they won’t be now so we will have to play to our maximum.”

• Rooney has not scored in any game since 30 March
• Ferguson believes single goal will be enough to turn the tide

Sir Alex Ferguson is confident it will only take one goal for Wayne Rooney to rediscover his finishing touch.

It is now 13 games for club and country since Rooney last scored – in the opening minute of the Champions League quarter-final first-leg against Bayern Munich on 30 March. After a disappointing World Cup, Rooney failed to score in any of United’s pre-season games or the Community Shield and seemed to be showing his anxiety on Monday as he missed a couple of simple chances against Newcastle.

“Strikers live by their goals,” said Ferguson. “It is quite straightforward. When they are not scoring they think they will never come. When they come they think they are never going to finish. He is no different to any other striker.”

There is no question in Ferguson’s mind about Rooney’s overall contribution ahead of Sunday’s trip to Fulham. However, the United manager admits to being impressed with the form of Dimitar Berbatov, who has scored twice already this season.

“Dimitar had the game time he needed in America during pre-season, so his fitness is assured,” said Ferguson. “There was no problem with that and he was excellent on Monday.

“He could have scored three or four goals in what was a very good performance.”

• Rio Ferdinand suffered ligament damage in South Africa
• Anderson could return after international break

Sir Alex Ferguson expects Rio Ferdinand to be back in action for Manchester United by the end of September.

Ferdinand suffered medial ligament damage on the first day of World Cup training in South Africa following a freak accident involving Emile Heskey. There were initial suggestions from United that he would be back for the start of the season but the club eventually pushed that deadline back and Ferguson confirmed the England captain is still progressing in line with the revised schedule.

“We are still thinking the end of September for Rio,” Ferguson said. “It was a medial ligament problem rather than a cruciate, so the recovery time is exactly what we thought.

“It was a freak. It is nothing to do with his back [which had caused earlier lay-offs]. We just had to treat it the proper way. These things are never easy.”

It seems the midfielder Anderson is much nearer a comeback after returning to training yesterday. The 22-year-old suffered a cruciate ligament injury in February, which ended his season and wrecked his hopes of appearing at the World Cup for Brazil. However, while a comeback for Sunday’s trip to Fulham is out of the question, Anderson may be in contention for a first-team spot immediately after the next international break.

Ferguson reported a clean bill of health from Monday’s opening-day triumph over Newcastle, with Patrice Evra showing no ill-effects following a collision with an advertising hoarding late in the 3-0 win.

The United boss also feels an extra week’s training will prove beneficial for players such as Michael Owen and Michael Carrick, neither of whom were involved against the Magpies.

“It was difficult picking a squad on Monday because some players had not had a lot of time on the pitch,” Ferguson said. “They weren’t at their proper match fitness but with an extra week’s training behind them they should be much better.”

• Manager admits buying player without seeing him play
• Ferguson has no wish to embrace rivals’ ‘kamizaze spending’

Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted he broke the habit of a lifetime in signing the unknown Portuguese Bébé without having seen him play. Normally the Manchester United manager prefers to watch a prospect in person or at least on video before making up his mind, yet he paid £7.4m for the striker formally known as Tiago Manuel Dias Correia wholly on the strength of personal recommendations.

Why a manager who insists on looking for value in the transfer market was persuaded to pay so much for a player yet to appear at the top level and who moved to Vitória Guimarães on a free just months ago is one of the mysteries behind the most unexpected summer signing, but Ferguson clearly believes he needed to act before other clubs moved in. “Sometimes you have to go on instinct and sometimes you have to trust your staff as well,” the United manager said. “This was a first for me, but we rate our scouting department very highly and our scout in Portugal was adamant we needed to do something, and quickly.”

Ferguson’s former deputy, Carlos Queiroz, now in charge of the national team, tipped off United about the excitement surrounding the player in Portugal. “I know Real Madrid were hovering and so were Benfica,” Ferguson said. “It was one of those decisions that had to be made quickly, so I made it quickly. I don’t think it’s a risk or a fairy story [Bébé was brought up in an orphanage and spent part of his childhood on the streets] it’s just an incentive to all young players who haven’t necessarily had the best start to their careers.

“There are plenty of good young players who don’t get the breaks, or the right opportunities right at the outset, but get noticed in the end. Stuart Pearce was one of them. Bébé is still young – because he’s not yet 21 we don’t have to name him in our squad of 25 – and when you get players at that age you can give them time. With all the experience we have in our first-team squad, we don’t need to rush them.”

It possibly does not feel that way to Bébé at the moment. Speaking through an interpreter in Manchester today he said it had been around a week from first hearing of United’s interest to sitting at Old Trafford in a club tracksuit. “It has all happened very quickly but I have an opportunity and now I have to grab it and work very hard,” he said.

“Of course I have heard of the Premier League before, it was always my dream to play for a club like Chelsea or Manchester United,” he said, perhaps sounding a tad arrogant but more likely simply naming the two English clubs with the strongest Portuguese connections. “Some very big names from Portugal have played here, Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani and Anderson, and that was definitely a factor. I want to become like them.”

For a player whose biggest game to date was a losing encounter with Benfica while representing a Portuguese third division team, Bébé is not short of confidence. Then again, if Manchester United have just snapped you up unseen, why be shy? “I’m fast, I kick well, and I score a lot of goals,” he replied, when asked what English audiences could expect. “But first of all I am here to work and learn.”

Ferguson’s trio of somewhat unlikely summer signings – Bébé from Portuguese obscurity, Javier Hernández from Mexico and Chris Smalling from Fulham’s reserves – have prompted speculation about whether United are having to look at the economy end of the market because the club’s American owners have placed limits on spending. The manager has already pointed out that few other clubs would spend more than £20m on relatively untried youngsters and he says he has no wish to join in the “kamikaze spending” triggered by the new generation of enormously wealthy clubs owners.

“People are spending amazing amounts of money and I don’t see any sign of it abating just yet,” he said. “If anything, it’s getting worse. I am not saying we will never pay big money for an experienced player again, from time to time we might need to. This is a young players’ club at the moment and it has always been one of our policies to identify good players early and let them grow into the club, but even if you strip all the young players out of the equation, we still have an incredible amount of experience in our first-team squad.

“That’s my back-up, I have all that experience to rely on. There were a couple of higher profile players we looked at this summer but if you buy someone like that you have to put him in the team, and I wasn’t sure there was anyone who would actually make the team that much better. I asked myself would they do what Eric Cantona did for us, or Wayne Rooney or Cristiano Ronaldo, and in the end I didn’t think they would.”

• ‘It is amazing the amounts of money being bandied about’
• ‘You can’t necessarily achieve all the time by spending’

Sir Alex Ferguson has accused some of Manchester United’s rivals of going on a “kamikaze” spending spree. He did not mention any club by name but given that Manchester City unveiled their latest big-money capture, Mario Balotelli, and confirmed James Milner is on the verge of completing his switch from Aston Villa barely an hour before he spoke, it was not difficult to see where his thoughts lay.

By the time they sign Milner, City will have spent around £125m this summer, way in excess of any other Premier League club. In paying wages believed to be in excess of £200,000 a week to Yaya Toure, City have done much to fuel a situation where Ferguson insists there is now no value in the transfer market.

United’s critics argue that is a convenient foil for the financial restraints that exist due to huge debts incurred by the Glazer family. Yet, flanked by his own close-season purchases – Javier Hernandez, Chris Smalling and Bebe – Ferguson outlined his view of transfer inflation that he does not believe will come to an end for a good while yet.

“Over the last two or three years we have seen very wealthy owners become part of football clubs and therefore go on this kamikaze effort to spend their money,” he said. “It is amazing the amounts of money that are being bandied about in the present-day game. Some people may think it could be dangerous. But if they have that kind of money, they are certainly using it.

“I don’t see it abating. The kind of spending we are seeing at the moment will be here for two or three years, until such time as they understand you can’t necessarily achieve all the time by spending.”

Although United failed to capture two of Germany’s rising stars, Sami Khedira and Mesut Ozil, who have both agreed moves to Real Madrid, Ferguson views investment in younger players as being of far more benefit to his side.

“Young players develop if you are looking after them properly,” said Ferguson. “They do have a loyalty because they appreciate the education you give them as coaches. How we treat players is important. It is difficult to know what other clubs think. We are just the type of club who can do it. The foundations of this club were built on young people, going back to the 1950s. It has not really left.

“Maybe the difference is that other clubs don’t have the consistency in manager and staff that Manchester United have.”

Not that Ferguson is ruling out the possibility of ever signing more experienced players. It is only two years since he spent a club record £30.75m on Dimitar Berbatov and with Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Edwin van der Sar and Gary Neville all nearing the end of their careers, it may be impossible to rely solely on youth.

“There will be a time when we have to buy a more mature player,” Ferguson said. “At the moment, this is a young players club. But they will grow old too. In 10 years’ time, we will be looking to replace them. Hopefully they are there in 10 years’ time. That is the object in terms of having a long-term vision for the club.”

• Scholes is ‘blessed’ to retain such an appetite for the game
• ‘A marvellous range of passing and his vision is still good’

Sir Alex Ferguson believes Paul Scholes is “blessed with something special” and that it reflects all that’s good about the game. Scholes was crucial in Manchester United’s 3-0 win over Newcastle United last night, only eight days after his man-of-the-match display in the Community Shield at Wembley.

Having created the opener for Dimitar Berbatov, Scholes then set up Ryan Giggs as the Welshman extended his remarkable record of scoring in every Premier League season and the United manager admitted he has a talent to be cherished.

“We sometimes beat ourselves up about standards,” said Ferguson. “There is still a lot of good in the game and Paul Scholes produced some of it tonight. You do not lose what he has got. He has a marvellous range of passing and his vision is still good.

“And anyone who gets to that age and retains that appetite is blessed with something special.”

• Match report: Manchester United 3-0 Newcastle United
• Tim Rich: Newcastle receive a sobering lesson
• In pictures: Tom Jenkins’s best images from the game
• United striker Javier Hernández in this week’s Gallery

The words were echoed by the Newcastle manager, Chris Hughton. “It doesn’t surprise me that both players are so effective,” he said. “They have been able to avoid the big injuries and they have also played all their football in top quality teams. They showed so much quality from such an early age.”

Darren Fletcher followed up Berbatov’s well-taken effort and Ferguson was relatively pleased with the performance, even though his side only managed half of Chelsea’s opening day total. That included another goalless night for Wayne Rooney, who has now gone 13 games for club or country since he last found the net.

However, Ferguson does not seem too worried, despite replacing the 24-year-old with new signing Javier Hernandez after an hour. “That was always the plan,” he revealed. “Those minutes will bring him on.”

• Messi also nominated in forward of the year section
• Five Internazionale players in leading 12

Wayne Rooney is the only British player among Europe’s best, according to the continent’s leading coaches. Rooney was the only player at a British club to appear on the shortlist for Uefa’s club player of the year. His rivals in the forwards category are Lionel Messi of Barcelona and Diego Milito – one of five of Internazionale players among the 12 candidates.

The full shortlist announced today comprised:

Uefa Goalkeeper of the Year

Júlio César (Internazionale)

Hugo Lloris (Olympique Lyonnais)

Víctor Valdés (Barcelona)

Uefa Defender of the Year

Lúcio (Internazionale)

Maicon (Internazionale)

Gerard Piqué (Barcelona)

Uefa Midfielder of the Year

Xavi Hernández (Barcelona)

Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich)

Wesley Sneijder (Internazionale)

Uefa Forward of the Year

Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

Diego Milito (Internazionale)

Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)

The nominees are picked by the coaches of the 16 teams that reached the knockout stage of the 2009-10 Champions League.

The Uefa club awards will be presented during the Champions League group stage draw in Monaco on 26 August.

• France captain to give his version of World Cup strike
• Nicolas Anelka, Eric Abidal and Jérémy Toulalan also called

Manchester United have given Patrice Evra special dispensation to attend the French Football Federation’s World Cup disciplinary hearing tomorrow after he made a personal plea to Sir Alex Ferguson.

United are unhappy about losing their player for a date outside the international calendar and Ferguson initially wanted to block Evra from appearing, as Bayern Munich have with Franck Ribéry. However, Evra requested to be released, telling Ferguson that it was important for him to give his version of events about what led to the mutiny of Raymond Domenech’s players. Evra told the United manager that, as captain, he felt it would reflect badly on him if he did not travel to Paris to answer questions about the players’ infamous training-ground strike.

Nicolas Anelka, whose dressing-room row with Domenech was integral to the team’s disintegration, has been summoned, along with Eric Abidal and Jérémy Toulalan.

Bayern have refused to let Ribéry take part on the basis that “our preparations [for the Bundesliga] should have priority over a World Cup debriefing”.

The Manchester United manager says opposition to the club’s owners is casting a cloud over the start of the new season

Sir Alex Ferguson has asked Manchester United supporters to call a halt to their protests against the club’s owners, the Glazer family. “One situation clouds the new season and that is the continued opposition to the Glazer family,” Ferguson told United Review, the match programme for tomorrow’s match against Newcastle.

“I have no problem with the green and gold campaign. Fans are entitled to protest as they see fit. But not to the detriment of the team.

“The fact is that the Glazer family own Manchester United and until such time as they decide they want to sell, they will stay as owners regardless of the opposition. So it comes down to the extent of the protest. What I don’t want to see is Manchester United mired in so much controversy that it deflects our purpose of winning matches.

“Whenever we have had success it has been a collective effort with everyone united – management, players and fans. How many times have I commented in the past about the need to pull together?

“There is no doubt that players respond and relish support. We have had some great European nights at Old Trafford and I wouldn’t like to see anything develop that would diminish that kind of backing.

“I see that one of the protest groups has come up with a slogan along the lines of ‘New Season, Same Goal’. I know what they have in mind but I just wish they meant that once again we will all be united, busting a gut to win something big; in that sense it is not a bad slogan.”

• ‘Man City have to be in the top four’, rival manager claims
• Injury-free Everton would be contenders, says Ferguson

Sir Alex Ferguson believes Manchester City are ready to make an authentic title bid and has identified Everton as being equipped to reach the Champions League and be the surprise package of the season.

The Manchester United manager retains his belief that Chelsea will be his side’s most formidable opponent, but he has also recognised this could be the first time in his 24 years at Old Trafford when City could conceivably sustain a challenge with the top clubs.

“They have to be in the top four,” Ferguson claimed. “They have spent that money, expectation increases with that and they will be challengers, there’s no doubt about that.

“Roberto Mancini [the Manchester City manager] has settled into the job, he will know the strength of his players from last year and he’s added [David] Silva, [Yaya] Touré, [Jérôme] Boateng and now [Mario] Balotelli, and [Aleksandar] Kolarov as well. I said last season they could easily go out in the summer and buy another team, and they have to be in the pecking order now.”

Nonetheless, United finished 18 points ahead of City last season and Ferguson said they still have a clear edge, particularly now he has increased his squad with the additions of Javier Hernández, Chris Smalling and Bébé.

“The advantage for us is that we haven’t sold any players,” he said. “If you’re saying that Man City, with a year extra under his [Mancini’s] belt, will be better, then surely Man United, with the present squad and the younger players a year older, will have improved too.”

Ferguson said he expects Liverpool to improve under Roy Hodgson but he expressed misgivings about Aston Villa now that Martin O’Neill has left. “I would have said Villa, because Martin’s done a significant job, but now there seems to be uncertainty there.

“The interesting one for me is Everton. They have all their players back, whereas the first half of last season was a nightmare for them, with injuries to the likes of [Mikel] Arteta and [Phil] Jagielka – big losses. Now all of those players are fit they could be an interesting prospect. Spurs have already shown you can break the monopoly of established teams like ourselves, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal, and I expect Everton to do very well.”

As for Bébé, the 20-year-old recruit from the Portuguese club Vitória de Guimarães, Ferguson does not believe the transfer, at £7.4m, represents a gamble. “It’s a fairytale when you look at the background of the boy, starting off in an orphanage and then playing in a homeless league,” Ferguson said.

“When we identify someone with potential we would normally assess over a longer period. But we have a great scout in Portugal, who has tremendous instinct, and we worked on that impulse.”

Bébé can play either as a striker or a wide player but United’s supporters will have to wait for their first chance to see him, with the new recruit not expected to be involved when the team begin their season against Newcastle United on Monday night.

Ferguson admitted he was happy United’s opener against Newcastle has been moved back for live television coverage. “It is a blessing for us to have this game on Monday,” Ferguson said. “We have had quite a few players travelling during the week.”

• Ferguson says interest from other clubs forced his hand
• ‘Normally you would assess someone over a longer period’

Sir Alex Ferguson has acknowledged that the decision to sign Bébé for £7.4m represented something of an impulse purchase, saying that Manchester United would normally spend more time scouting a player before making an approach.

“It is one of those things that happens when you identify someone with potential,” Ferguson said. “Normally you would assess someone over a longer period of time but other clubs were starting to have a look so we made a quick decision.

“He doesn’t speak any English, so that needs to be addressed, and we need to allow him to settle in but sometimes you have to work on an impulse.”

Bébé played football in a homeless team during a brief spell on the streets before his potential was spotted by a Portuguese third division team, where he first came to prominence, and Ferguson paid tribute to the speed of his rise, saying: “It is a fairytale when you read about his background.”

Ferguson also said he was happy United’s Premier League opener with Newcastle has been moved to Monday evening for live television coverage.

“It is a blessing for us to have this game on Monday,” Ferguson said. “We have had quite a few players travelling during the week. Javier Hernández was in Mexico, Park Ji-sung has been in South Korea, Rafael Da Silva was in Brazil, Jonny Evans played for Northern Ireland in Montenegro and Nemanja Vidic had a match in Serbia.

“You are always wondering how these players come back and you have to wait until the Friday for a training session.”

• German international’s indecision cools hopes of a deal
• Chelsea, Real Madrid and Barcelona also in the hunt

Manchester United’s hopes of making the Germany international Mesut Ozil their fourth summer signing appear to have receded.

Asked about the chances of the 21-year-old moving to Old Trafford, one boardroom figure said he would be “surprised”.

Ozil, one of the outstanding players of the World Cup, is available for a cut-price fee of £13.5m from Werder Bremen where he is in the final year of his contract. Real Madrid have already made an offer of around £12m and there is also interest from Chelsea and Barcelona.

Sir Alex Ferguson was at Craven Cottage on Saturday to meet Bremen officials after the team’s friendly against Fulham, and the United manager is still hoping for a deal.

However, there are complications, with the player undecided about what is best for him and the same applying to Bremen. But United intend to retain their interest.

• Portuguese player becomes eighth striker on United’s books
• 20-year-old recommended to club by Carlos Queiroz
• Tom Kundert on Bébé’s rise from streets to Old Trafford

Manchester United have spent £7.4m to sign Tiago Manuel Dias Correia, otherwise known as Bébé, a relatively unknown 20-year-old from the Portuguese club Vitória de Guimarães, the Guardian can reveal. The deal was finalised today, with the player becoming the eighth senior striker at the club.

United have paid the buyout clause to release Bébé – was raised in an orphanage after spending part of his childhood on the streets and has represented Portugal in the Homeless World Cup – from his five-year contract at Guimarães only five weeks after he joined the club from Estrela da Amadora in the Portuguese third division.

He has been recommended to Sir Alex Ferguson by his former assistant, Carlos Queiroz, the Portugal national coach, and a deal has been rushed through for Bébé to become the third signing of the summer at Old Trafford. It takes the club’s spending to around £25m following the arrival of Chris Smalling from Fulham and Javier Hernández from Chivas de Guadalajara, with Ferguson retaining a strong interest in Mesut Ozil, the Germany international.

The United manager was at Craven Cottage to see Ozil play in a pre-season friendly for Werder Bremen on Saturday and, although he tried to pass it off as watching a Premier League opponent, the Guardian has established he stayed back at the end of the match to talk to officials of the Bundesliga club in the boardroom. There remain a number of obstacles to clear, not least the fact that Chelsea, along with Real Madrid and, potentially, Barcelona are all interested.

The signing of Bébé has been far more straightforward, with Ferguson understood to have met the player for the first time yesterday when he flew to Portugal, principally to be a witness for Queiroz in a disciplinary case with the Portuguese football federation.

Bébé is described as a fast, technically gifted striker, right-footed and strong in the air and 6ft 2in tall. He has shown his potential with several goals in pre-season but his signing still represents a major surprise given Ferguson’s recent insistence that he did not want to add to his squad and the player’s low profile in Portuguese football.

Queiroz has convinced Ferguson that he may have unearthed a future gem and Bébé will provide competition for Wayne Rooney, Hernández, Dimitar Berbatov, Michael Owen and Federico Macheda, with Mame Biram Diouf having joined Blackburn Rovers on a season-long loan and Danny Welbeck on his way to Sunderland.

• United manager says Premier League quality has improved
• Expects Villa, Everton, Tottenham and Man City to challenge

The Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is anticipating a “dogfight” in the battle just to finish in the Premier League’s top four this season.

Tottenham’s fourth-placed Champions League qualification and Manchester City’s apparently limitless supply of transfer funds has put increased pressure on the so-called “big four”.

One of those clubs, Liverpool, have already discovered what happens if you drop off the pace as they slipped to seventh last season – and Ferguson expects the competition to be even tougher this time around.

“Things definitely changed last season: it was a different league altogether compared to what we’d seen before. The top four found it difficult and dropped points in games they wouldn’t have expected to.

“That’s an indication of the improvement made by other teams, and I think there’ll be a bit of a dogfight for the top four places this season.”

Ferguson told the club’s website: “We all have to be aware of the threats from the likes of Villa, Everton, Tottenham and Manchester City – they’ll all be challenging to get into that top four.”

• Premier League newcomers announce first summer signings
• Deals follow claims of a row between chairman and manager

Blackpool have finally added to their squad, just three days before the start of the club’s first Premier League season.

News of four signings, their first of the summer, follows the chairman Karl Oyston’s pledge to appease Ian Holloway, understood to be angry over the club’s transfer policy.

The defender Craig Cathcart, 21, joins from Manchester United for an undisclosed fee having agreed a three-year contract with the option of a further 12 months.

The midfielder Ludovic Sylvestre, 26, has arrived from the Czech side Mlada Boleslav on a two-year deal with the option of a further year.

A similar deal has been signed by Elliot Grandin, a 22-year-old French winger from Bulgaria’s CSKA Sofia who has also had Ligue 1 experience with Marseille.

The 21-year-old midfielder Malaury Martin, who has been capped by France at various youth levels, joins on a free transfer from Monaco having been on trial for the last month, signing a one-year deal.

• United may follow Bayern Munich’s lead and not release Evra
• Club may relent if defender wants to attend hearing

Manchester United want to block Patrice Evra’s involvement in the French Football Federation’s disciplinary hearing into the mutiny of their World Cup players.

Evra has been summoned to appear in Paris next Tuesday along with Nicolas Anelka, Eric Abidal, Franck Ribéry and Jérémy Toulalan to give their account about what went wrong in South Africa, but United are unhappy about losing their player for a date outside the international football calendar.

Bayern Munich have refused to release Ribéry, pointing out there is nothing in Fifa’s statutes to let the French authorities “randomly remove” players from their clubs. Ribéry has been recovering from a groin operation and the Bayern chairman, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, said the club did not want him to miss training three days before they play their first match of the new Bundesliga season against Wolfsburg, adding: “Our preparations should have priority over a World Cup debriefing.”

United think much the same way but, out of respect for Evra, they will consult with the left-back before informing the federation. If Evra makes a strong case to be released, Sir Alex Ferguson may relent rather than bring any more adverse publicity on a player who was depicted as one of the ringleaders behind the training-ground strike once Anelka had been sent home for a dressing-room outburst at Raymond Domenech, the unpopular manager.

Ferguson believes his player has been blamed unfairly because, as captain, it was Evra’s duty to act as the team spokesman and inform Domenech of the players’ decision. However, the feeling behind the scenes at Old Trafford is that Evra has no great desire to take part in the hearing.

Laurent Blanc, who has replaced Domenech, left out all 23 members of the World Cup squad when he named his selection for his first game, against Norway tonight, and Evra has expressed surprise that he faces further punishment, saying: “I had the impression everybody wanted to turn the World Cup page. We need to think about the future. Why sanction us more than others?”

Evra returned to training last week, having been given extra time off after the World Cup, and was not involved in the Community Shield victory over Chelsea at Wembley on Sunday. He does hope to play, fitness permitting, against Newcastle United at Old Trafford on Monday.

• Former United No2 charged with insulting doping officials
• Queiroz could be fired from Portugal job if found guilty

The Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, today threw his full support behind his former assistant Carlos Queiroz, who is fighting allegations of misconduct that could cost him his job as Portugal coach.

Ferguson testified on the Portugal coach’s behalf at a Portuguese Football Federation hearing into charges he was aggressive and insulting towards an anti-doping team sent to test the Portugal squad before the World Cup. Queiroz has denied disrupting the tests but could be suspended and consequently fired if found guilty.

Ferguson was among the witnesses called by Queiroz to provide character references at a disciplinary hearing in Lisbon. Queiroz was Ferguson’s assistant at Old Trafford for five years, in two spells, before taking charge of Portugal.

“He’s a fantastic coach and teacher, and his main purpose in life is to develop young people, to inspire them and to make sure they turn out good human beings, so that’s the reason I’m here to support him. I know him well and he’s a great man of great dignity,” Ferguson said after testifying. “Carlos is one of the good guys.”

The incident occurred in May at the squad’s training camp in central Portugal before they travelled to South Africa. Officials sent to carry out surprise tests on Portuguese players said Queiroz harassed and intimidated them and used foul language. Disrupting doping tests is punishable by law, either with a fine of up to €10,000 (£8,300) or a ban of up to four years.

Queiroz has denied the charges. He has previously said he was angry that the unannounced early morning tests had disturbed the players but said he did not obstruct the testing. He has said he regrets the language he used but said cursing is not unusual in football.

None of the players tested positive. Ferguson said doping controls place “a terrible strain on football managers” because they have to know where their players are at all times of the day. “Understandably, in Carlos’s situation, preparing for a World Cup as he was, this became a great interference for him. He should stay [as Portugal coach] because he’s good enough. He has a great reputation.”

Other witnesses called by Queiroz in his defence are the former Portugal international Luís Figo and the club presidents of Benfica and Porto.

Queiroz, whose tenure as coach has drawn criticism over the team’s performances, said recently he was being subject to a “public lynching” as details of the inquiry were leaked to the media. He has claimed the proceedings are a pretext to get rid of him. He has a contract to 2012.

The federation declined to comment on the proceedings, saying they are confidential until the findings are released in coming days. The Portuguese Sports Institute, which oversees doping tests, opened an inquiry into Queiroz’s conduct, which it sent to the secretary of state for sport, who then forwarded its findings to the federation for action.

• Germany midfielder wanted by United, Chelsea and Barcelona
• Bremen: ‘There is now a bit of movement on the issue’

Werder Bremen’s director of sport Klaus Allofs has confirmed Mesut Ozil may be leaving the club this summer but insisted there had been no official offers for the midfielder yet.

Reports in Spain have suggested Barcelona are close to an agreement to sign the 21-year-old Ozil, who has one year left on his contract and impressed during Germany’s World Cup campaign. However the club’s media director Tino Polster said “there are no talks and there is no offer from Barcelona.”

Manchester United are also interested in Ozil , with their manager Sir Alex Ferguson having watched Bremen’s friendly with Fulham on Saturday, and Chelsea also being linked with a move for the midfielder.

Allofs told the Kreiszeitung Syke newspaper: “It is possible that there is now a bit of movement on the issue.

“But I am not running backwards and forwards to the fax machine or getting sweaty palms when I check my emails to see if maybe an offer has arrived.”

Ozil has turned down a new contract with Werder so the Bundesliga club are expected to sell him rather than risk losing him on a free transfer next year.

• Werder Bremen midfielder may be available for £13.5m
• Alex Ferguson singles out Dimitar Berbatov after Wembley goal

Manchester United are considering turning their interest in Mesut Ozil into a formal offer providing Sir Alex Ferguson can convince the club’s owners that the Germany international represents a bargain, available from Werder Bremen for as little as £13.5m.

Ferguson tonight responded to questions about Ozil after the 3-1 defeat of Chelsea in the Community Shield by repeating that he was happy with his current squad and “did not need to add to it”.

However, the United manager, who was at Craven Cottage on Saturday to see Ozil’s team play Fulham in a pre-season friendly, was particularly ambiguous when he was asked directly, on four occasions, whether it was true the deposed Premier League champions were after the man who helped to eliminate England from the World Cup.

Ferguson deflected the questions with his first response that “a lot of clubs are interested in Ozil”. He said he was “happy with the squad” and pointed out United play Fulham in 13 days. Yet it is rare these days for Ferguson to watch United’s opponents – he usually leaves it to his scouts to compile reports for him – and when he was asked to clarify if the club would make a bid, there was another oblique answer. “I didn’t say that,” was his first response, followed by: “I don’t know.”

United’s information is that Chelsea, Real Madrid and Barcelona have all approached Bremen, though Ozil’s representatives are said not to have been overly impressed during talks with the two Spanish clubs. Ferguson is more concerned about Chelsea, with their superior finances, hijacking the deal, which might explain his reluctance to be drawn further on the issue.

Ozil, one of the outstanding performers in the World Cup, is available for a fraction of his true valuation because he is in the last year of his contract with Bremen and the Bundesliga club risk losing him on a free transfer next summer.

However, the matter is complicated because Werder Bremen have been handed a difficult tie, against Sampdoria, in the Champions League qualifiers and the German club are deliberating whether it would be better to keep Ozil for those games because of the vast sums they stood to lose if they were knocked out. Even though the 21-year-old is available on the cheap, Ferguson would also have to convince the Glazer family of the player’s worth at a time when United are beset by financial issues.

Ferguson was otherwise effusive in his praise for his players after a victory against a Chelsea side who have lost four successive fixtures and whose manager, Carlo Ancelotti, conceded it had “not been a good pre-season”.

Antonio Valencia opened the scoring, the new signing Javier Hernández scored an unorthodox second and Dimitar Berbatov ensured the win in stoppage-time after Salomon Kalou’s 82nd-minute strike for Chelsea.

There was also an impressive 45-minute performance from Wayne Rooney, including a brilliant assist for Valencia’s goal. Rooney’s poor performances in the World Cup led to him being barracked by the Chelsea fans and Ferguson said: “All good players get booed these days, but it was a fantastic goal – the making of it was superb, and Antonio really couldn’t miss.”

Ferguson also identified Paul Scholes, the man of the match, for special acclaim, but Berbatov was the first player he embraced after the final whistle.

“He needed it [a goal] given the adverse publicity he had last season. It’s an old problem when we pay big money for someone and they are not scoring three goals a game and making 50 passes, they get slaughtered. But there’s no disputing his talent; he can be a genius. He had a mixed season by his standards but maybe this will be his season.”

With his squad for England’s friendly against Hungary at Wembley on Wednesday in mind, Capello did manage to express his surprise to Michael Carrick that he had been involved only 48 hours after the Unitedmanager ruled the midfielder out for a fortnight.

“I can only apologise,” Ferguson said later. “On Friday I was certain he was out for two weeks.”

• Ferguson lauds Tom Cleverley ahead of Community Shield
• Chelsea keen to show they can build success not just buy it

Cordiality is disconcerting in a sport more accustomed to animosity, but Sir Alex Ferguson does not hesitate to call Carlo Ancelotti “a good lad”. The Manchester United manager is speaking of the nemesis whose Chelsea side relieved him of the Premier League title before collecting the FA Cup. It helps, of course, that they were well acquainted long before Ancelotti left Milan for London.

The Scot and the Italian cannot afford to be obsessed with one another in any case, even if a measure of rivalry is inescapable. Each has a broader task ahead of him. Chelsea’s encounter with United in the Community Shield today might give some insight into the future of these teams.

Ferguson’s wish to open up another phase of his time was apparent in his use of youngsters on the pre-season tour of the United States. His commitment was particularly marked in the case of Tom Cleverley, to whom he referred when acknowledging that the days were gone when Paul Scholes, now 35, could be expected to score 15 goals a season.

Invoking the name of Cleverley, though, was a bold step. The midfielder, who will celebrate his 21st birthday on Thursday, is yet to appear in any competitive match for United, although he was productive on loan to Watford last season and scored 11 times. Sceptics will wonder if Ferguson’s plans reflect not so much his own idealism as restricted means after the takeover by the Glazers that put more than £700m of debt on to the club’s books.

There is, however, another perspective and, with the exception of Manchester City, parsimony is in vogue. Ferguson is in tune with the mood and wallows in the fact that the Mexico forward Javier Hernández was secured before the World Cup for just £7m. “He is going to do all right, that boy,” the manager says. “He has a good brain, great feet and he is quick. He reminds me of Ole Gunnar Solksjaer.”

The United manager credits the player’s agents with maintaining confidentiality and calls the president of the Guadalajara club “a man of real substance”. Ferguson also reports that United had their chief scout and a lawyer in Mexico for three weeks to complete the deal.

While the thorough globalisation of football is relatively new Ferguson still sounds like the manager who identified undervalued assets and shaped a team at Aberdeen that could win the 1983 Cup Winners’ Cup by beating Real Madrid. At 68, silverware is now more necessity than aspiration as he strives to demonstrate that he can maintain United’s eminence.

For the moment, Ancelotti may be more at ease. His solicitousness sounded authentic when he spoke about Wayne Rooney’s lack of a goal for United or England since 30 March. “He is a fantastic footballer,” said the Chelsea manager. “Anyone who loves football, like me, wants to see Rooney at 100%.” Ancelotti sighs, too, that Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaká and Lionel Messi – “all the stars” – fell short of expectation at the World Cup.

The Chelsea manager got the very best out of his own men last season, but many have since felt the rigours of the World Cup themselves. Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba are both 32, while Nicolas Anelka is 31. Ancelotti counts on sophisticated sports science and a finesse in arranging periods of rest to sustain the squad. In addition, he is charged with a less familiar task.

Chelsea want to put an emphasis on youth development, even if it will be quite a while before anyone confuses the club with Arsenal. Ancelotti invokes Jeffrey Bruma, Fabio Borini and Gaël Kakuta, all of whom are teenagers. By all accounts, they will enjoy playing time as a matter of policy.

Some others may wish they could escape notice. Following England’s fiasco at the World Cup finals, there may be animosity towards some players from fans of rival clubs. Grievances can be dusted down for people such as Ashley Cole who was reported to have sent an “I hate England” message to a friend before the World Cup, although the reference was to coverage of his private life in this country rather to the national team.

“We are not interested in what happens outside our training ground,” Ancelotti says in reference to Terry and Cole. “Everyone has their own rules about their private life.” The manager knows that this topic will recede and that speculation over Cole going to Real Madrid must also be suspended when the transfer window closes.

Ancelotti can then return to traditional issues as everyone wonders how an older and little-changed squad is to maintain the standards set last season.

• Striker joins Blackburn on season-long deal
• Senegal Under-21 striker could face Hearts in friendly

Blackburn Rovers have reached a deal with Manchester United to take the striker Mame Biram Diouf on a season-long loan deal.

The 22-year-old arrives at Ewood Park a year after joining United from the Norwegian side Molde, where he attracted the attention of Sir Alex Ferguson with a return of 33 goals in 75 games. The Senegal international made six appearances for United last season, scoring one goal.

Blackburn have been desperately seeking to add to their forward line following the departure of Benni McCarthy to West Ham United in last season’s winter transfer window and the return of the loanee Franco Di Santo to Chelsea at the end of the campaign.

Diouf could be thrown straight into the mix for Rovers’ friendly against Hearts tomorrow. He is then due to join up with the Senegal Under-21 squad for a match on Tuesday.

• Premier League brings in rule that compels managers to talk
• Manchester United manager angered by 2004 documentary

Sir Alex Ferguson is considering abandoning his boycott of the BBC, thus ending one of the oldest grudges of his career, amid growing pressure from the Premier League and the League Managers Association (LMA). The Premier League has written to Manchester United explaining that Ferguson will face a sliding scale of punishments if he continues to ignore Match of the Day and 5 Live. Richard Bevan, the chief executive of the LMA, has had conversations with the Old Trafford manager to try to persuade him to put his grievances to one side.

The talks have been described as delicate and finely poised, with Ferguson dismayed by the idea that he may have to speak to the institution for the first time since a Panorama documentary in 2004, entitled Father and Son, about the business activities of his son Jason, then working as a football agent.

The Premier League has brought in a new rule stipulating that all managers must speak to the broadcasting rights-holders, which include the BBC, and there have been discussions behind the scenes, with Bevan acting as an intermediary to try to talk around one of the most famously stubborn managers in the business.

Ferguson’s initial reaction was that he would ignore the new rule, regardless of the consequences, until his family received an apology from the BBC, which he has accused of “breathtaking arrogance”.

Since then, however, there have been more high-level talks, with BBC officials and United’s chief executive, David Gill, involved. The club are sympathetic to Ferguson’s grievances but, behind the scenes, there is a feeling that it is becoming a battle he cannot win – at least if he wants to avoid a series of escalating fines.

In previous years Ferguson was immune to punishment because of a loophole in the rules, which requested that managers talk to the rights-holders under a “best endeavours” clause. Tightening it was specifically designed to tackle Ferguson’s habit of dodging the BBC, the United manager usually sending his assistant, Mike Phelan, to answer their questions.

Ferguson did break the boycott to present Sir Bobby Robson with a lifetime achievement award on the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards programme in 2007, but his opinion about the institution can be gauged from an interview earlier that year.

“The BBC is the kind of company that never apologise, and they never will apologise,” he said. “They did a story about my son that was a whole lot of nonsense. It was all made-up stuff, brown paper bags and that kind of carry-on. It was a horrible attack on my son’s honour and he should never have been accused of that.

“But it is such a huge organisation that they will never apologise. They don’t even care if you sue them or whatever, because they are so huge and have insurance. They carry on regardless and it’s breathtaking.”

The BBC has tried to initiate talks with Ferguson but with no success. Acutely aware of the delicacy of the situation, it does not expect to receive confirmation about his plans until United’s first weekend match of the new league season, against Fulham on 22 August.

However, the Premier League has withdrawn its plans to introduce another rule that could have forced Ferguson to attend post-match press conferences.

For the past seven years Ferguson has been the only manager in the league not to talk to newspaper reporters after league games, giving interviews only to Sky and Manchester United’s in-house television station, MUTV. The plan was to make it mandatory for a manager or senior member of the coaching staff to hold a press conference, but that will probably not be introduced until the 2011-12 season.

• Sunderland chase Manchester United striker
• Blackpool and Newcastle can offer first-team football

Steve Bruce’s hopes of borrowing Danny Welbeck from Manchester United on a season-long loan have been diminished by the ability of Blackpool and Newcastle United to offer the striker regular first-team football.

While Sir Alex Ferguson would be happy for his former centre-half to have Welbeck at the Stadium of Light he knows that, with Darren Bent, Kenwyne Jones and Fraizer Campbell already on Sunderland’s books, Bruce cannot guarantee the striker a place in his starting XI. In contrast, he would be regarded as first choice at both Bloomfield Road and St James’ Park.

Even so, Sunderland still remain favourites for Welbeck’s signature. “We’re still talking,” said Bruce today. “He’s a player we’re interested in but nothing’s been agreed yet.”

Bruce played down the possibility of securing Joe Hart from Manchester City as short-term cover for his first-choice goalkeeper, Craig Gordon, who has a broken wrist. With Marton Fulop, Gordon’s erstwhile deputy, having joined Ipswich, it appears that Simon Mignolet, Bruce’s Belgium Under-21 goalkeeper, could start the season in goal.

He might play behind John Mensah, the Ghana centre-half having arrived back on Wearside for another season-long loan from Lyon, which was finalised today. Bruce is exploring the possibility of minimising Mensah’s alarming injury problems by allowing the defender to work with a personal physiotherapist who would accompany him from France.

Mensah’s return means that Matthew Kilgallon, another Sunderland centre-half, is likely to join Middlesbrough on loan in a move which may prepare the way for Nedum Onuoha’s long-predicted arrival the Stadium of Light from Manchester City.

Gordon Strachan is bracing himself for another bid from Liverpool for Middlesbrough’s Australia goalkeeper Brad Jones, who has already been the subject of a rejected £2m offer from Roy Hodgson. Strachan has told Mido, Didier Digard and Marvin Emnes they will not be part of his squad this season. Although Digard is close to a move to Nice, it is feared Mido may simply opt to sit out the final year of his lucrative contract at the Riverside.

• Ferguson says ‘a lot of teams and players’ had bad World Cups
• ‘You have to go back to 1986 for the last good one’

Sir Alex Ferguson has branded the World Cup as “poor” and admitted a number of high-profile stars were major disappointments.

The spotlight is back on Wayne Rooney for tomorrow’s Community Shield encounter with Chelsea at Wembley as the striker looks to find the form that brought him 34 goals for Manchester United last term.

Yet Rooney was totally unable to reproduce that form in South Africa, returning home without managing a goal and adding his name to a list, including Fernando Torres, Nicolas Anelka, Kaká and Robin van Persie, of big-name attacking talents who failed to make their mark.

As someone who has never hidden his belief that the Champions League boasts greater quality than the World Cup, Ferguson was not entirely surprised. He believes you have to go back to the 1986 tournament in Mexico – when he managed Scotland – for the last decent World Cup.

“A lot of teams and a lot of players were disappointing at the World Cup,” he said. “There is only one team who took credit and that was Spain. They kept a reasonable momentum and playing style throughout the tournament. The rest were spasmodic or disappointing in their form and so were some of their best players. That just went towards what was a poor tournament.

“There could be a lot of reasons for that and expectation does come into it. Everyone always looks forward to the World Cup as if it is going to be the greatest thing ever but you have to go back to Mexico 1986 for the last good one.”

Rooney’s past feats are such that no one seriously doubts his abilities, although Ferguson has vowed to play a long game with all his World Cup performers. Both Rooney and Nemanja Vidic will play some part in the Community Shield, but Patrice Evra will not be involved.

Such a pivotal figure in the farcical French campaign and condemned for his part in the strike that followed Anelka’s dismissal from the camp by coach Raymond Domenech, Evra has been given extra time off by Ferguson to let his body recover from what has been an arduous few years.

“We decided to give Patrice more rest,” confirmed Ferguson. “Over the last five years he has played an average of 55 games a year. This summer he has had the World Cup as well so we felt he deserved another week’s rest. He started training yesterday and won’t be available until into the season.”

• Midfielder injured during friendly win in Ireland
• Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney to play in Community Shield

The Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick will miss the start of the season after injuring his ankle in Wednesday’s friendly in Dublin.

The England international limped out of the 7-1 victory over an Airtricity League XI during the first half and Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed the 29-year-old will be out for a fortnight.

“Michael hurt his ankle on Wednesday,” said Ferguson. “It is nothing serious but he will be out for a couple of weeks, so he will miss the start of the season.”

It means Carrick will miss tomorrow’s Community Shield against Chelsea, plus the opening Premier League game with Newcastle on 16 August. In addition Carrick will not be available for England’s midweek friendly against Hungary at Wembley.

Ferguson has confirmed that Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney will both feature for 45 minutes at the weekend, although a number of senior players will not be involved.

“Gabriel Obertan still has the ankle injury he picked up in the United States,” said Ferguson. “It will be a few weeks before Rio Ferdinand is back among us and Owen Hargreaves is still in the United States. Anderson is making good progress from his knee injury and he could be back training in two or three weeks.” The Brazilian twins Rafael and Fabio da Silva are doubtful after suffering food poisoning during the week.

Meanwhile, Ferguson has confirmed that the strikers Danny Welbeck and Mame Biram Diouf are both set to go out on loan. Although the United manager did not state where the players would go, it is believed Welbeck will go to Sunderland and Diouf to Blackburn, with their respective deals being thrashed out today.

One player not going anywhere is Tom Cleverley, who Ferguson has decided to keep at Old Trafford after an impressive pre-season campaign.

• Sir Alex Ferguson may not risk Manchester United striker
• Wembley pitch has been relaid twice since February

Michael Owen, the fit-again Manchester United striker, has expressed concerns that his recovery could be jeopardised on the notorious Wembley pitch in Sunday’s Community Shield game against Chelsea.

Owen ruptured a hamstring in the Carling Cup final last February, an injury he attributed to the poor state of the playing surface, compared by Sir Alex Ferguson to a “ploughed field”. The United manager questioned whether “a horse show had been on it” and said it had “killed” Wayne Rooney, while other players reported injuries.

The pitch has since been relaid twice, at a cost of £250,000 to the Football Association, but United are sufficiently concerned that it is thought Ferguson will wait until he has inspected the new Desso playing surface before finalising his team plans and, specifically, deciding whether Owen should be risked.

“I was at Wembley a week ago and they were out on the pitch installing this new thing, which means 10% of the turf is now synthetic,” said Owen, who missed any chance of playing in the World Cup as a result of his six-month lay-off. “Hopefully it makes it a lot better, because I wasn’t the only injury to come out of that game and we don’t want the same to happen again.There were quite a lot of other injured players and that is the worrying bit. If it was just me then you could say it was a freak accident. But the pitch must have had something to do with it because there were loads of injuries that either came out of that game or the one a few days later for England [the 3-1 win against Egypt].”

The FA started putting in the Desso pitch, which uses artificial fibres intermingled with real grass, in June after being accused of allowing the problematic surface to become a source of national embarrassment at a time when the governing body is bidding for the 2018 World Cup.

Harry Redknapp, the Tottenham manager, described the pitch as “ridiculous” after the FA Cup semi-finals and Chelsea’s captain, John Terry, said it had “ruined the final”. Fabio Capello, the England manager, has also expressed his concerns in private. The pitch consultants, Sports Turf Research Institute, resigned in June and Sunday’s game will be the first football match at Wembley to be played on a partly synthetic surface. The same kind of pitch has been used at Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur.

Ryan Giggs, meanwhile, insists that Chelsea rather than Manchester City will be United’s major threat this season. “Chelsea are the champions and they have been there and done it like us,” Giggs said. Of City’s challenge he said: “You can’t say they are not bringing in quality players but it is a question of how quickly they can gel together. They showed last season that on their day they can beat anyone, but it was that consistency they lacked. They have got the quality, but it does not necessarily mean they are going to be in front.”

• ‘I like to see young players coming through … they’re vital’
• Rooney says winning league has become more difficult

Wayne Rooney has given his backing to the new “home-grown” players quota that comes into force in the Premier League this season. Under the new rule clubs must name a squad of 25 players, eight of whom must have been trained in England or Wales. An unlimited number of under-21 players will also be allowed.

“I think the new home-grown rules coming in are important,” Rooney told the Premier League Season Review. “As an academy graduate myself I like to see young players coming through because I think they’re vital for the future of England and the Premier League.

“I also think it’s important for clubs to have a bunch of home-grown players because they are the lads who know [a club’s] history. For me it’s a welcome ruling because it will make the league a bit more interesting, especially in the transfer market.”

The Premier League has also announced a reform in youth development which will see a huge increase in the amount of coaching hours young players will receive at academies.

Meanwhile, Rooney believes the Premier League title is becoming even harder to win with all matches being more competitive.

“Since I signed for United I think the Premier League has got progressively harder to win,” said Rooney. “I know it’s a cliche but there are no easy games. In previous seasons you might have had straightforward games where the top clubs could afford to rest players, but that’s not the case anymore. Nowadays it’s hard to leave players out because every game is competitive and difficult.

“The 2009-10 season was certainly the most competitive I’ve played in. Over the last three or four years it might have been predictable as the season has gone on who’s going to win the league, but this year it was a lot more exciting. Many of the top teams lost more games than you probably would expect. It was very tight at the end of the season; we only lost the league by one point.”

Rooney was the football writers’ Footballer of the Year and the PFA’s Player of the Year – though Rooney admitted he voted for Didier Drogba for the PFA award.

He said: “My vote for player of the season went to Didier Drogba. He scored a barrel load of goals and for me was the reason that Chelsea won the league.”

Manchester United midfielder Anderson was dragged from a vehicle moments before it exploded after a crash in Portugal, according to reports.

• Anderson pulled ‘lifeless’ from wreckage after car hits wall
• Reports allege midfielder had spent night at a Braga club

The Manchester United midfielder Anderson was dragged unconscious from the burning wreckage of his car after a crash yesterday morning that is now the centre of a police investigation in Portugal.

Anderson, signed for £18m three years ago, spent several hours in hospital after the accident on a rural road in the Geres area of Braga, with witnesses reporting he owed his life to being pulled “lifeless” from the vehicle shortly before it exploded.

According to local reports, the 22-year-old Anderson, increasingly becoming renowned for his partying lifestyle, had spent the night at the Sardinha Biba nightclub before leaving in a £125,000 Audi R8. The crash occurred at 7am when the high-powered car came off the road and hit the wall of a farm before flying into a field.

Although the French-registered car was a two-seater, Anderson had two companions – a friend, whose name was given only as Victor, and a young Brazilian woman, whose details have not been released. It is unclear who was driving but there were unconfirmed allegations it could lead to a drink-driving charge and a possible offence of allegedly having excess passengers. Manchester United were unavailable for comment tonight.

All three were taken to St Mark’s hospital but discharged by late morning after being treated for concussion, whiplash and shock. “They had only minor injuries,” a hospital spokesman, Roman Fresco, said. The woman is understood to have needed the most treatment.

The Portuguese press quoted the Gestifute agency, which represents Anderson, as saying the former Porto player had suffered an “almighty scare” but would be returning to Manchester to continue his rehabilitation. Anderson ruptured the cruciate ligament in his left knee in February, an injury that ended hopes of him participating in the World Cup, and he is not expected to be fit until next month at the earliest.

Whether Sir Alex Ferguson knows about the Brazilian’s accident is unclear, but the United manager will inevitably be concerned that, at the very least, one of his players had spent the entire night at a nightclub, particularly when Anderson is recovering from a serious knee injury.

Ferguson’s relationship with the player, signed from Porto in 2007, became strained last season and Anderson was reputedly fined two weeks’ wages in January for returning to Brazil without the club’s permission after an argument with the manager. Anderson, who has scored only once during his time at Old Trafford, had been singled out for criticism and dropped from the next match, following United’s 2-1 defeat in the first leg of the Carling Cup semi-final against Manchester City. He was subsequently omitted for a month and it was in his comeback match, against West Ham United, that he damaged his knee.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Anderson’s close friend and former United team-mate, wrote off a £200,000 Ferrari when he crashed into a roadside barrier in a tunnel near Manchester airport in January 2009. He was not injured and police decided not to prosecute the Portugal international.