Manchester United news and links

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Thursday 11th Jun 2009

• Arrived at Old Trafford for £12.24m in August 2003
• Winger won Ballon d’Or in December 2008

1985 – Born 5 February in Funchal on the Portuguese island of Madeira.

2002 – Makes debut for Sporting Lisbon in the Portuguese Super Liga at the age of 17 after winning international caps for Portugal’s youth sides.

2003 6 August – Scores in pre-season friendly against Manchester United.

8 August – Completes £12.24m transfer to United, taking the No7 shirt following the sale of then England captain David Beckham to Real Madrid.

16 August – Makes debut as a second-half substitute in opening-day 4–0 win over Bolton at Old Trafford.

20 August – Plays for Portugal’s full side in 1–0 win over Kazakhstan.

1 November – Scores first goal for United in 3–0 victory over Portsmouth at Old Trafford.

2004 22 May – Dazzles in United’s 3–0 FA Cup final victory over Millwall.

24 June – Scores in penalty shoot-out as Portugal knock England out of Euro 2004.

4 July – Plays in Euro 2004 final, which Portugal lose 1–0 to Greece.

2005 19 October – arrested and questioned by police after an allegation of rape at a London hotel is made against him. Ronaldo asserts his innocence. No charges are brought.

18 November – agrees two-year extension to his United contract, keeping him at the club until 2010.

2006 1 July – Protests to referee Horacio Elizondo after United team-mate Wayne Rooney clashes with Ricardo Carvalho in the World Cup quarter-final between Portugal and England. Rooney is sent off and television pictures catch Ronaldo winking towards the bench. Scores the winning penalty in the shoot-out to knock out England.

8 July – After losing the third-place play-off to Germany, Ronaldo reveals he wants to leave United. Admits he would like a move to Spain, having been linked with Real Madrid.

2007 6 February – named Portugal captain for friendly against Brazil a day after 22nd birthday.

13 April – Agrees new five-year deal with United.

22 April – Voted PFA Player and Young Player of the Year – the first player to land the double award since Andy Gray in 1977.

4 May – Voted Footballer of the Year by the Football Writers’ Association as United win the Premier League title.

2008 19 March – scores twice in a 2–0 win over Bolton to take his tally for the 2007-08 season to 33, beating George Best’s 40-year-old club record for goals scored by a winger in a single season.

27 April – Voted PFA Player of the Year for second year running.

5 May – Helps United claim Premier League title with win at Wigan.

21 May – Heads United in front in Champions League final against Chelsea in Moscow. The game goes to penalties and, despite Ronaldo missing his kick, United win the shoot-out. Ends the season with 42 goals.

22 May – Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster says he believes Ronaldo will play for the Spanish club at some point in his career.

2 June – Ronaldo is reported to have told Brazilian website Terra that he wants to join Madrid, if they can meet United’s asking price.

6 June – United report Madrid to Fifa over their pursuit of Ronaldo.

19 June – Winger is unable to prevent Portugal exiting Euro 2008 as Luiz Felipe Scolari’s team lose 3–2 to Germany in the quarter-finals.

8 August – Tells Portuguese newspaper Publico he will remain with Manchester United “for at least another year”.

17 August – Makes return from injury as a 62nd-minute substitute in a home draw with Villarreal in the Champions League.

15 November – scores 100th goal for Manchester United with the first of a brace against Stoke.

2 December – Wins the Ballon d’Or, seeing off competition from second-placed Messi and Liverpool’s Fernando Torres in third.

2009 8 January – Escapes uninjured after writing off Ferrari by crashing into a roadside barrier under a tunnel near Manchester Airport on his way to training.

12 January – Named Fifa World Player of the Year.

16 May – Helps United win Premier League title with 0–0 draw against Arsenal.

27 May – Unable to prevent United losing 2–0 to Barcelona in the Champions League final in Rome.

11 June – United accept a world-record £80m bid for Ronaldo from Real Madrid.

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Thursday 11th Jun 2009

• World record transfer as Ronaldo gets his wish
• Forward will earn €211,000 (£180,000) a week

Manchester United’s supporters received the news they had been dreading this morning when the club announced they had accepted an £80m bid from Real Madrid that will make Cristiano Ronaldo the most expensive player in history. The world-record transfer is expected to be finalised before 30 June after United finally accepted that the world footballer of the year was still intent on securing his “dream” move to Madrid.

“At Cristiano’s request – who has again expressed his desire to leave – and after discussion with the player’s representatives, United have agreed to give Real Madrid permission to talk to the player,” the club said.

Ronaldo is likely to be only the second highest earner at Real behind Kaka, the former Milan forward who completed his move to the Bernabeu earlier this week for £56m. While Ronaldo’s reported £80m fee outstrips Kaka, it is understood he will earn a salary of around €8m net (£6.8m), which when Spain’s non-domicile tax rate of 25% is factored in is close to €211,000 (£180,000) a week before add ons.

Real said they hope to finalise the deal as soon as possible: “Real Madrid confirm they have made an offer to Manchester United for the acquisition of the rights of the player Cristiano Ronaldo. The club hope to reach an agreement with the player in the next few days.”

Sir Alex Ferguson will now turn his attention to finding a replacement and United could follow up their informal approach for Antonio Valencia of Wigan Athletic as well as feasibly resurrect their interest in Franck Ribéry at Bayern Munich, although the Real president, Florentino Pérez, has accepted that the German club are not keen to lose the Frenchman.

“Ribéry belongs to Bayern and Bayern do not want to sell,” said Pérez. “I have to respect that. If they change their minds, it will be a different matter.” However, Ferguson will be aware that he may be trying to replace the irreplaceable. In 292 games for United Ronaldo scored 118 goals. He has won just about every player-of-the-year award going and even last season, when he was widely portrayed as having a disappointing year, he was their leading scorer, with 26 goals.

Ronaldo is yet to comment but the Portugal international has reiterated to Ferguson that he always intended to leave United at the end of the season just gone. The Guardian revealed on 3 April that Madrid had put in place a deal for Ronaldo and that he was intent on leaving Old Trafford, having already agreed his salary and contractual terms.

Ronaldo’s representatives categorically informed the Spanish club as long ago as last September that he had no intention of remaining in Manchester and pledges were made to ensure the deal went ahead and that everyone involved in the negotiations made a pact not to discuss the agreement in public. United always denied this and their chief executive, David Gill, stipulated on the eve of the Champions League final that there was absolutely no way the club would sell the player. Ferguson had gone even further earlier in the season, saying he would “not sell that mob a virus”.

Ferguson talked recently of Ronaldo, at 24, still not being at his peak and, despite the huge amount of money involved, he will be forced to recognise this moment as a significant blow to his hopes of re-establishing his team as the best in Europe.

Ronaldo’s impending departure is unlikely to change Tevez’s disillusionment at Old Trafford, according to a source close to the 25-year-old striker. “Cristiano Ronaldo does not play in the same position as Carlos, remember, so this will change nothing,” said the source who also revealed that Tevez expects Valencia to join United. “Carlos knows that Valencia will now go to replace Ronaldo.”

Valencia, Wigan’s 23-year-old Ecuador winger, who was part of the national team that defeated Argentina 2-0 in last night’s World Cup qualifier in Quito, a game in which Tevez was replaced during the second half, has also been linked with Real. “Sir Alex does not just want Carlos to stay, he has been begging him for the last two weeks,” the source added.

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Thursday 11th Jun 2009

• Surpasses Real’s £56m signing of Kaka earlier this week
• More than double what Real paid for fellow Portugese Figo

Should, as expected, Cristiano Ronaldo move from Manchester United to Real Madrid for £80m this month, the deal would be a world-record transfer. Here are the five deals it surpasses:

Kaka, £56m from Milan to Real, 2009

Three days ago Real made their first major purchase of the summer following Florentino Perez’s return as president with the capture of the Brazilian. The midfielder had rejected a move to Manchester City in January for nearly double the fee.

Zinedine Zidane, £46.7m from Juventus to Real, 2001

Following the controversial arrival of Luis Figo in the Spanish capital a year before, Perez continued his now infamous galácticos project with the capture of the then Fifa World Player of the Year.

Luis Figo, £37m from Barcelona to Real, 2000

Perez was elected Real president in the summer of 2000 on the back of his promise to do the unthinkable and bring the star player from Camp Nou to the Bernabéu. He was true to his word.

Hernan Crespo, £35.7m from Parma to Lazio, 2000

In the summer of 2000, Sven-Goran Eriksson’s Lazio were Serie A champions and flush with money following the sale of Christian Vieri to Internazionale a year before for a then world-record £32m fee. They spent that plus more on luring the Argentine to Rome.

Robinho, £32.5m from Real Madrid to Manchester City 2008

Having been taken over by the super-wealthy Abu Dhabi United Group on the final day of the 2008 summer transfer window, the new owners of Manchester City made a signal of their intent by beating Chelsea to the signing of the unsettled Brazilian from Real in a Premier League record deal.

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Thursday 11th Jun 2009

• World record transfer for winger as Ronaldo gets his wish
• Guardian exclusively revealed deal earlier this year

Manchester United have given Cristiano Ronaldo permission to speak to Real Madrid after accepting an £80m bid from the Spanish club for the player.

“At Cristiano’s request – who has again expressed his desire to leave – and after discussion with the player’s representatives, United have agreed to give Real Madrid permission to talk to the player,” reads a statement on United’s website.

According to the Premier League champions, a deal is expected to be concluded by 30 June. Should the deal go through, it will smash the world-record transfer record, which was set earlier this week when Real agreed to pay Milan £56m for the Brazilian Kaka.

One player the Spanish giants appear to have given up on signing, however, is the winger Franck Ribéry.

“Ribéry belongs to Bayern and Bayern do not want to sell,” said Florentino Pérez, the Real president. “I have to respect that. If they change their minds, it will be a different matter.”

The club could also miss out on David Villa. The Spain striker is keen on a move to the Bernabéu but Real have so far been put-off signing him due to the fee being demanded by Villa’s current club, Valencia.

“[Villa] is an excellent striker but his price is prohibitive,” said Madrid’s sporting director Jorge Valdano. “He really interests us, but so long as it is for a reasonable figure.”

Villa’s agent, José Luis Tamargo, is still negotiating with Real, while conversations are on-going between the two clubs. Madrid want to include Alvaro Negredo in a deal in which they would also offer Valencia £30m.

Should a deal fail to be done, Chelsea is the most likely destination for the player.

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Wednesday 10th Jun 2009

• Deal could involve midfielder Joao Moutinho
• Player thought to favour move to Italy

Sporting Lisbon have initiated talks with Manchester United about re-signing Nani on an extended loan spell or arranging a player-plus-cash exchange involving their captain, the attacking midfielder Joao Moutinho.

A delegation led by the Sporting vice-president, Ribeiro Teles, is understood to have visited Manchester on Tuesday, hoping to capitalise on a disappointing season for Nani in which he started only seven Premier League games.

However, the 22-year-old favours a move to Italy and has expressed misgivings about returning to the club that sold him for around £16m two years ago.

A straight cash deal has been ruled out because of Sporting’s financial restraints.

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Wednesday 10th Jun 2009

• Forward surprised by Manchester United manager’s approach
• Move to Manchester City one of several options for Argentinian

Sir Alex Ferguson appears to have failed in a personal attempt to persuade ­Carlos Tevez that his future remains at ­Manchester United after he telephoned the 25-year‑old striker to speak to him directly.

The Argentinian, who has become ­disillusioned at Old Trafford, is ­considering his options, including a potential move across the city to Manchester City, although that is said to be “only one of a few options” he is ­weighing up. He is also said to have been nonplussed by ­Ferguson’s intervention after a source close to him said: “You treat someone badly for a whole year, you don’t make it up with a telephone call, right?”

The forward is unhappy at United because he believes that he should have been considered the automatic first-choice by Ferguson for the majority of United’s high‑profile games last season. Tevez is also thought to be bemused that ­Ferguson is now seemingly keen to make him feel wanted only at the point where he may leave the club.

Tevez is in Quito for Argentina’s World Cup qualifier with Ecuador, following which his advisers “will start talking with different clubs”, the source confirmed. “It should take two to three weeks for ­Carlos’s future to be finally decided.” When asked about moving to City, the source said: “It’s an option. But no one option is more serious than another – City, Chelsea, Liverpool: they’re all options.” The source also confirmed that staying in the Premier League is the “first choice” for the Argentinian, who is reportedly also attracting interest from other European clubs.

Asked if the forward, who has scored 19 goals in the Premier League since ­joining United two seasons ago, might still stay at Old Trafford, the source said there “is always a small chance” in football. Would Ferguson, then, try to personally intervene again? “Who knows? It’s up to him.”

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Tuesday 9th Jun 2009

• Spanish giants set to propose £75m transfer
• Florentino Pérez: ‘Kaka is [just] the first signing’

Real Madrid’s relentless pursuit of Cristiano Ronaldo will manifest itself in the Spanish club making their first official contact with Manchester United to propose a world-record £75m transfer.

Refusing to be put off by United’s insistence that the player is not for sale, Real’s president, Florentino Pérez, reiterated that he still wanted to bring Ronaldo to the Bernabéu despite the £59m signing of Kaka from Milan. Pérez has been encouraged by Ronaldo’s representatives, who are intent on making the deal happen, and said he planned to speak to his counterpart at Old Trafford, David Gill, as well as the United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson.

“Ronaldo is a great player who we would like to bring to the club but first we have to speak to Manchester United because the important thing is for us to maintain a good rapport with everyone,” said Pérez. “Kaka is [just] the first signing. We are always thinking about great players. Cristiano Ronaldo [is] among the other great players around the world. I will do everything possible to get Ronaldo to Real Madrid.”

Pérez went on to speak about his admiration for Zlatan Ibrahimovich, the Internazionale forward, but he distanced himself from reports that Liverpool’s Xabi Alonso could also be signed. “He is a great player but he also plays in a big team and I haven’t heard any news that they ­[Liverpool] plan to sell him.”

Madrid also appear to have cooled their interest in Luis Antonio Valencia, leaving United in a strong position if they wish to follow up last week’s approach for the Wigan Athletic attacker.

“The only official offer has been from Real Madrid last January,” the player’s agent, Diego Herrera, said last night. “I don’t know about Pérez, the offer came from the previous president [Ramón Calderón] so I don’t know if they are going to go for him again.”

Valencia would favour a move to Old Trafford rather than Madrid and Herrera added: “I feel it is the right time for him to leave, now that the Wigan manager [Steve Bruce] has left. He has three more years on his contract but he feels it is time to move on.”

Meanwhile, the Barcelona president, Joan Laporta, has criticised Real Madrid and accused his counterpart Pérez of “distorting” the transfer market, in reference to the Kaka signing and the pursuit of Ronaldo. “To pay these quantities is exorbitant,” Laporta said. “It does not fit in with the reality of the market and it’s too risky. It’s distorting it.”

Laporta says Real’s massive spending power does not worry him following a spectacular season for Barcelona during which they lifted the treble of La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League. Barça have been linked to high-profile deals of their own but their president claims he will not be following their rivals’ example. “We only have to make touch-ups,” Laporta said. “I’m trebly calm.”

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Tuesday 9th Jun 2009

• Florentino Pérez ‘will do everything possible’ to sign Ronaldo
• Madrid president wants to maintain ‘good rapport’ with United

Florentino Pérez has reiterated that Kaka is just the first of a number of “great players” he intends to bring to Real Madrid. Kaka completed his move, reported to be worth around €65m (£56m), from Milan last night, and Pérez said he will now work to bring Cristiano Ronaldo, along with several others, to the Bernabéu.

“Kaka is (just) the first signing. I will do everything possible to get Cristiano Ronaldo at Real Madrid,” said Pérez, though he went on to insist that: “first we have to speak to Manchester United because the important thing is for us to maintain a good rapport with everyone.”

Asked about reports Manchester United have allowed Ronaldo to sign a pre-contract with Madrid, Perez said: “I have read about this but I have been at this club a week and not seen anything about this. What I want the most is to keep good relationships with other clubs.”

Pérez also hinted at a potential move for the Internazionale striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but he was quick to play down reports that Liverpool’s Spain midfielder Xabi Alonso could soon sign for Madrid. “He is a great player but he also plays in a big team and I haven’t heard any news that they plan to sell him,” said Pérez. “It’s obvious (Liverpool manager Rafael) Benítez is counting on keeping him. That’s normal, he’s a good player and it wouldn’t be easy to replace him.”

Valencia’s David Villa has also been suggested as a possible signing. The Spanish newspaper Marca claim Pérez has an agreement in place with Valencia, whose financial position means they are unlikely to reject an offer that comes close to their valuation.

Kaka said he was excited at Madrid’s transfer plans. “Real Madrid intend to build a great team, along with historic players such as Raúl and [Iker] Casillas. We will make history again, both in Spain and Europe. I guess the sporting project is very good. The president is already making contact [with potential signings] and is putting together a competitive team, one which will try to once again become champions. That’s why I chose Madrid.”

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Tuesday 9th Jun 2009

• Bulgarian club claim United owe £475,000 ’solidarity payment’
• Fifa called in after clubs failed to come to an agreement

Dimitar Berbatov’s difficult first year at Manchester United has taken another unexpected turn after it emerged that CSKA Sofia, his first club, are suing the Premier League champions for money they claim is owed for the development of the player.

The Bulgarian club have filed a lawsuit with Fifa and hired the international sports lawyer Professor Ian Blackstock to fight for what is known as a “solidarity” payment out of Berbatov’s £30.75m transfer from Tottenham Hotspur on 1 September last year.

Fifa introduced this payment in 2001 so that clubs who had developed players from a young age were compensated when the player had big-money moves later and CSKA claim United owe them around £475,000. The two clubs have been unable to settle the dispute and CSKA have now asked for Fifa to intervene, with a hearing likely to take place in Zurich towards the end of June.

Berbatov, capped 68 times by Bulgaria, left CSKA for Bayer Leverkusen in 2001 and subsequently moved to Tottenham for £10.75m in the summer of 2006.

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Monday 8th Jun 2009

• Argentinian will announce his future this week
• Forward upset at Old Trafford’s approach

Carlos Tevez is seriously considering ­leaving Manchester United for ­Manchester City because he feels so disillusioned about the way his current club has treated him.

The forward is contemplating ­severing his ties with Old Trafford and joining their closest rivals even though the Premier League champions have made it clear they want to keep him.

Tevez will announce his plans after he has been released from international duty – Argentina play a World Cup qualifier in Ecuador on Wednesday – and it has become a straight choice between the Manchester rivals, with the player leaning towards City while remaining acutely aware of the potential ramifications of leaving United.

Reports last night that he had already committed himself to Mark Hughes’s side were premature but Tevez is encouraged by the scale of the club’s ambition and the measures to which City have gone to make him feel wanted, compared with how United have handled the issue.

David Gill, United’s chief executive, met Kia Joorabchian, the player’s adviser, last week to put forward a ­package that would mean the club paying around £25.5m to sign Tevez when his two-year loan expires on 30 June.

Tevez has other considerations, namely the number of important games in which he was a substitute and the way he perceives the men in power at Old ­Trafford have let him down by not finalising the deal earlier.

Uppermost in his mind is that United have stated they think his valuation is, to quote Gill, “a bit toppy” and have spent several months trying, unsuccessfully, to persuade the consortium that owns his economic rights to lower the fee.

On the flipside, Tevez feels a strong emotional attachment to United and particularly their fans and knows that he would be giving up one of the elite teams in Europe.

City signed Gareth Barry from Aston Villa for £12m last week and hope to partner Tevez with Roque Santa Cruz, having resurrected their interest in a player who has an £18m release clause in his contract at Blackburn Rovers. Hughes also retains a strong interest in the Barcelona striker Samuel Eto’o.

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Friday 5th Jun 2009

Ken Loach aims to combat society of ‘aggression, greed and acquisitiveness’ in new film starring Eric Cantona as a mentor to a football fan struggling to save his sons from a life of guns and gangs

Film-maker Ken Loach was determined to show how guns and violence are destroying Britain’s youth in his new film, Looking for Eric, he said yesterday.

Speaking at a press conference in London also attended by stars Eric Cantona and Steve Evets, along with screenwriter Paul Laverty, ahead of the film’s UK release next weekend, Loach said the movie’s gangland storyline was inspired by the growing prevalence of violence in the UK’s inner cities.

“The issue of guns is a huge one,” he said. “We’ve made a society which is built on aggression, on greed and acquisitiveness. We’ve destroyed the pattern of people becoming adults and we’re now surprised when kids with no visible future want all the things that we’re told we need and, of course, resort to violence and guns.”

Looking for Eric centres on Manchester United fan Eric Bishop, who is struggling to keep his two sons away from a life of violence. One night, after smoking cannabis, his hero Cantona appears to him offering sage advice on how to solve his problems.

Laverty, Loach’s regular screenwriter, said there was no way he could have ignored the issue of guns when writing about life in working-class Manchester.

“You have to be faithful to the premise and the characters,” he said. “This wasn’t just bolted on to the script to make it melodramatic. The film’s main character, Eric Bishop, lives in a certain area in Manchester, and if you go to those areas, one of the biggest worries for many parents is what’s happened to their teenage children. There is massive unemployment and a great problem with guns.”

Cantona is played by himself in the film, which premiered at last month’s Cannes film festival to positive reviews. The footballer said he made the approach to Loach.

“We wanted to make a film and the first name on our list was Ken,” he said. “It was a dream for all of us when it happened.”

He said playing himself in the film had not struck him as a particularly strange thing to do. “I am proud that they developed this part of my personality,” he said. “It’s not harder or easier to play a part of yourself. It’s just another way to work.”

Loach said he and Laverty had at first thought they were being wound up when told Cantona wanted to work with them.

“We thought it was a joke but it turned out to be true,” he said. “Eric’s idea was to make a film about his connection to the fans, which as you all know, is very special. We wondered for a while if we could pull this off because you can’t just make a film because you admire someone’s personality and their skill. There has to be a real core and content to the film. Then Paul wrote the character of Eric, and that was really the key that unlocked the narrative and the imaginary connection to Eric that’s in the film.”

Evets said his experiences making the film had inspired him to start attending football matches for the first time. He has become a fan of FC United, the non-league team founded by former fans of Manchester United.

“When I got the part, Ken gave me these DVDs of Eric’s matches for research and I just loved seeing what he was able to do on the pitch,” he said. “I can honestly say now I got to see FC United and it’s just great therapy. We go there and shout and scream and it’s such a liberating thing.”

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Thursday 4th Jun 2009

• ‘I have a chance to put that to the back of my mind’
• Striker ready for tough test against Kazakhstan

Wayne Rooney hopes victory for England in Saturday’s World Cup qualifier against Kazakhstan will help him and his Manchester United team-mates get over the disappointment of losing the Champions League final.

“We were disappointed to lose that game,” said Rooney. “To be honest, we decided to forget about it the next day and try to concentrate on these England games.

“I’m delighted now I have a chance to put that to the back of my mind. It would be nice to get a win with England and a goal or two. We’re looking forward to this game.”

The match at the Central Stadium in Almaty also gives Rooney the chance to build on his impressive link-up play with Steven Gerrard, which sees the Liverpool captain and the United forward interchange from their respective positions on the left-wing and behind the main striker.

“We’ve worked on it a lot,” added Rooney. “We’ve spoken, me and Steven, and we’re enjoying it. We’re getting involved. We’re scoring goals, making goals. Hopefully that can continue.

“Emile [Heskey] has done a great job holding the ball up and it gives me and Steven the chance to get in space, get on the ball and do what we like doing best – scoring goals and creating goals. That is how it’s been for the last few games.”

Kazakhstan is something of a trip into the unknown for the England squad. The grass at the Central Stadium could be longer than Premier League standards and there is also the effect of jet-lag after flying to a country that borders with China.

What Fabio Capello does know is that the hosts will play a pressing game as they did at Wembley when they went into the interval goalless. The England manager has shown his squad a DVD of that game ahead of the trip east.

“When we played them at Wembley it was a difficult game, they created a few chances and surprised us really,” said Rooney, echoing sentiments earlier made by Frank Lampard . “It’s going to be difficult.

“We expect to win but know it won’t be as easy as people think. We need to be focused and do our job – which is [getting] three points.”

Victory in Almaty coupled with a win against Andorra on Wednesday will all but confirm England’s place at next year’s World Cup.

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Thursday 4th Jun 2009

• ‘I’ll work so that Ronaldo can be with Real’ says new president
• Claims not to know about pre-contract agreement

The new Real Madrid president, Florentino Pérez, has made clear his intention to sign Cristiano Ronaldo by claiming he will ‘work to bring’ the player to the Bernabéu.

Having all but secured the £56.2m signature of Kaka from Milan – the Brazilian is expected to complete a move to Madrid on Monday – Pérez has now turned his sights to Ronaldo.

“What I want is for many of the best players in the world to play with us, Cristiano would be one of them,” he said. “I’m going to work so that Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo can be with Real Madrid.

“It would be very good if great players were at Real Madrid this season. Cristiano would be one of them.”

Pérez, who returned to Real on Monday, is believed to be studying a pre-contract agreement made between the club and Ronaldo last season and which could lead to the 24-year-old joining the Spanish giants for close to £75m, a fee the president is thought to be concerned about.

Officially at least, he claims to know nothing about the agreement. “I’ve been here for two days and neither [previous president Vicente] Boluda or anyone else told me anything about this,” he said.

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Wednesday 3rd Jun 2009

• Birmingham City chairman fears Big Four will oppose idea
• Issue being debated today at League’s annual meeting

David Gold, the Birmingham City chairman, would welcome a limit on squad sizes in the Premier League but fears the big four clubs are intent on preventing the rule being introduced.

“I welcome squad size reduction,” Gold said, “but I honestly can’t see how it is going to get supported by the bigger clubs, because it’s the bigger clubs who ultimately will be hurt by any kind of ­control. The smaller clubs by very nature have smaller squad sizes.”

The issue is up for debate today at the league’s annual meeting, when the ­chairmen and chief executives of the 20 clubs will discuss how best to implement the promise to adopt, from the 2010-11 season, quotas of “homegrown” players brought through a club’s youth system.

They will consider whether the quota should apply to a matchday squad or a first‑team squad named for the whole season, with the latter option potentially limiting the number of players to no more than 36, regardless of injuries and suspensions. Of the big four, Liverpool’s 62-player squad is the largest, followed by those of Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea.

Phil Gartside, the Bolton ­Wanderers chairman, is known to support the mea­sure, alongside Barry Kilby of Burnley, one of the clubs promoted alongside Birmingham City. The Premier League hierarchy, led by the chief executive, Richard Scudamore, has an open mind.

Uefa already has a limit of 25 players in its club competitions and would ­support the implementation of a similar rule here and across all Europe’s 52 domestic leagues, a stance Gold believes is vital to maintain the competitiveness of the ­Premier League.

“This has to be a European situation. You can’t have controlled squad sizes in the Premier League and not in the ­Spanish and Italian and German leagues – how would that work? We’d control squad sizes in effect to reduce the competitiveness of our big clubs playing Europe.”

Any rule change would need 14 votes from the clubs to be carried, and Gold identifies a band beyond the big four who “always vote with the big clubs because they think they’re big clubs. Newcastle and Leeds used to be one of those, which is interesting, isn’t it? They thought they could never be relegated, they thought that they would sign up alongside all of the big clubs – so there are many in the Premier League that still believe and still would vote as a big club.

“To change it [the rule] you would need 14. That still leaves only seven to lose it – we know that four definitely won’t want to change so you’re only looking for three clubs. Well, even Tottenham who struggled this season, perceive themselves as a large club. Everton perceive themselves as a large club. You don’t have to go very far and this won’t get carried.”

Gold added that a limit on squad size would be supported by his manager, Alex McLeish. “You’ve got to understand why the manager goes for it – he is thinking it can weaken the clubs above him at no impact on him so he will [have] the same structure. I would support him in that. But it’s the large clubs this is all about.”

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Wednesday 3rd Jun 2009

• Midfielder played with fractured toe against Barcelona
• Fabio Capello unhappy at being informed of injury late

Michael Carrick may have damaged his prospects of playing a significant part in England’s World Cup qualifying ­campaign, and potentially next summer’s finals, after it emerged that the national team’s coaching staff were unhappy at his tardiness in informing them that he was ­suffering from a toe injury.

The Manchester United midfielder played the full 90 minutes of his club’s 2–0 defeat to Barcelona last Wednesday with the fracture, having been named in Fabio Capello’s squad for the games against Kazakhstan and Andorra three days earlier. However, it is understood he failed to inform the England coaching staff that he was struggling with the injury until just before the weekend.

Carrick reported with the rest of the squad on Sunday, had a scan on his foot and, having been assessed by England’s medical staff, was released back to United for treatment at Carrington. As a result, Capello was forced to call up Aston Villa’s James Milner on Sunday evening, an uncapped player who will feature in the Under-21s’ European Championship campaign in Sweden this month.

While there is no dispute that Carrick is injured, Capello is understood to have been unimpressed that he had not been warned earlier that the player was struggling and was unlikely to be available for the fixtures in Almaty and at Wembley.

Although Carrick, 27, has impressed at times under Capello in friendlies, he has not started a competitive match for his country since the 2–0 defeat in Croatia under Steve McClaren. His absence for the games against the Kazakhs and Andorra leaves Capello with only three recognised central midfielders in Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Gareth Barry, all of whom are expected to start.

England’s players arrived in Almaty last night with Rob Green due to make his full debut on Saturday in the absence of the injured David James and Ben Foster, but with uncertainty still surrounding who will partner John Terry in the heart of the defence. Rio Ferdinand’s withdrawal with a calf injury – the vice-captain hopes to prove his fitness in order to feature in next week’s game against Andorra – has posed a familiar problem for Capello, who has enjoyed the luxury of being able to field his first-choice centre-backs only five times in his 14 games in charge to date.

Joleon Lescott may be favoured ahead of Matthew Upson, particularly given the Everton centre-back’s ability to plunder reward from set-plays at the other end, with the Italian set to field an offensive line-up for the game against a side ranked 137th in the world. Indeed, Kazakhstan have have already conceded more goals in this group than Andorra.

Barry, now a Manchester City player, is expected to anchor midfield with Lampard pushing up-field in support of Wayne Rooney, with Steven Gerrard and Theo Walcott to operate on either flank. Emile Heskey may be preferred to Peter Crouch up front. England will train in Almaty today as they seek to acclimatise to the alien conditions and will scrutinise the state of the pitch at the Central stadium with some interest with the surface appearing rather rutted down either flank. The grass, currently long, will be cut later in the week ahead of the game.

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Wednesday 3rd Jun 2009

• City ready to move for Tevez if United fail to agree deal
• Eto’o to be sold unless he signs an extension with Barcelona

Mark Hughes has confirmed Manchester City are ready to move for Carlos Tevez should Manchester United fail to agree a permanent £25.5m deal for the Argentina striker, with the world’s wealthiest club also keen to exploit uncertainty surrounding Samuel Eto’o’s future at Barcelona.

Kia Joorabchian, the head of the consortium that owns Tevez’s economic rights, held a two-hour meeting yesterday with the United chief executive, David Gill, aware that City are waiting in the wings should he decide to invite rival offers for the 25-year-old. The talks were described as “cordial” and ended with Joorabchian returning to London to consider United’s long-awaited offer. The club had previously asked Joorabchian to reduce the £25.5m fee that was agreed when the Argentinian moved to Old ­Trafford on loan in 2007, a request that left the striker, according to a representative, feeling “humiliated”.

Joorabchian will now put United’s proposal to Tevez before informing Gill whether they have a deal, although a final decision is not expected until after Argentina’s forthcoming World Cup qualifiers against Colombia on Saturday and Ecuador next Wednesday. The striker is currently in Argentina preparing for Saturday’s game in Buenos Aires and is known to want to remain in England, and preferably the north-west, if the United deal collapses.

City will lead a host of clubs keen to sign Tevez should the opportunity arise and Hughes, has revealed his club is ready to follow their surprise capture of Gareth Barry with the Old Trafford forward. “Carlos Tevez is a good player. If good players become available then obviously every manager is interested,” he said.

Hughes’ wealthy employers are also believed to be interested in luring the European champion Eto’o to Eastlands, with the Cameroon striker yesterday given an ultimatum by the Barcelona coach, Pep Guardiola, to end his contractual stand-off with Barcelona. Eto’o enters the final 12 months of his current deal this summer and is likely to be sold if an extension cannot be agreed. The Barcelona president, Joan Laporta, said: “Samuel has a contract and we’re very happy with him. We want him to continue with us and for him to retire in the Barça shirt. But the market is very dynamic and there could be surprises. He’s a wanted man and we know he’ll receive offers.” Everton defender Joleon Lescott is another target for City, although Goodison Park officials will resist any bid for the England international.

City have shown they will not be held to ransom despite their resources by rejecting Daniel Sturridge’s demands for approximately £70,000 a week to sign a new contract at City. The 19-year-old forward is out of contract this summer and expected to join Chelsea for a compensation fee.

“We have offered Daniel a deal that we think is at the level he should be at,” said Hughes. “He is in a strong position because he is in the last year of his contract. He is keeping his options open, which he has done for quite some time, we just have to wait and see. Obviously I have made my intentions very clear to him I would like him to stay but it may be out of our hands.”

Barry’s arrival in a £12m, £100,000-a-week deal from Aston Villa is expected to hasten Elano’s exit from City, with the Brazilian midfielder currently talking up a move to join Jose Mourinho at Internazionale. The 27-year-old’s popularity with supporters at Eastlands is in contrast to his standing under Hughes, who views Elano as a disruptive influence in the City dressing room and used him mainly as a substitute until the latter stages of last season. “There are ongoing negotiations and I hope the Inter directors will go right to the end,” Elano told Gazzetta dello Sport. “I want to wear the Inter shirt.” City are looking to recoup the £8m fee paid to Shakhtar Donetsk for Elano in 2007.

Hughes, meanwhile, is deliberating whether to allow goalkeeper Joe Hart to leave City for a season-long loan next season. Hart was first choice at City until Shay Given arrived from Newcastle United in February and, with aspirations of playing in next summer’s World Cup, the England Under-21 international is anxious to remain in Fabio Capello’s thinking for South Africa. Newly-promoted Birmingham City are among those believed to be interested in taking Hart on loan.

“Joe is frustrated and obviously wants to play,” confirmed the City manager. “We will look at his situation in the coming weeks and it might be to both Joe’s and the club’s benefit if he did go out on loan. He’d be playing on a regular basis and, given his ability, he would no doubt improve his standing in the game and help his development.”

Meanwhile Manchester United confirmed that they have secured the most lucrative shirt sponsorship deal in football, believed to be a £20m-a-season, four-year partnership with the American financial giant, Aon Corp.United have been scouring the globe for a new sponsorship deal since their current sponsor, AIG, the American insurance company, announced it would not be renewing its £14m-a-year deal when it expires at the end of the 2009-10 season.

AIG’s decision followed massive losses suffered during the current economic crisis but, despite the downturn, United are understood to have eclipsed that deal – and the lucrative sponsorships of Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Chelsea – with an £80m agreement with Chicago-based Aon.

Old Trafford officials have held negotiations with several global companies about replacing AIG in recent months, including Sahara, the Indian financial services corporation, and Saudi Telecom. However, Aon, despite its profits plummeting during the recession, are expected to be announced as United’s new shirt sponsor for 2010-11 today.

David Gill, the United chief executive, said of the Aon deal: “Today’s announcement clearly strengthens our position as one of the biggest clubs in world football.

“We look forward to being closely aligned with the world leader in risk management, a firm which shares our values and is an exciting partner for Manchester United.”

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Wednesday 3rd Jun 2009

• Aon Corp agree four-year deal to replace AIG
• Agreement is football’s most lucrative shirt sponsorship

Manchester United confirmed today that they have secured the most lucrative shirt sponsorship deal in football, believed to be a £20m-per-season, four-year partnership with the American financial giant, Aon Corp.

United have been scouring the globe for a new sponsorship deal since their current sponsor, AIG, the American insurance company, announced it would not be renewing its £14m-a-year deal when it expires at the end of the 2009-10 season.

AIG’s decision followed massive losses suffered during the current economic crisis but, despite the downturn, United are understood to have eclipsed that deal – and the lucrative sponsorships of Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Chelsea – with an £80m agreement with Chicago-based Aon.

Old Trafford officials have held negotiations with several companies about replacing AIG in recent months, including Sahara, the Indian financial services corporation, and Saudi Telecom.

David Gill, the United chief executive, said of the Aon deal: “Today’s announcement clearly strengthens our position as one of the biggest clubs in world football.

“We look forward to being closely aligned with the world leader in risk management, a firm which shares our values and is an exciting partner for Manchester United.”

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Wednesday 3rd Jun 2009

• Real Madrid confident they will seal deal for Brazilian
• Chelsea hoped Carlo Ancelotti would prove trump card

Kaka was the subject of a dramatic late bid from Chelsea last night although Real Madrid remained confident that they would hold off the London club and secure the £65m signature of one of the game’s most sought after players.

Madrid were saying privately last night that a deal was in place to take the playmaker to the Bernabéu but that a formal announcement would not be made until today at the earliest and possibly not until the end of the week.

Chelsea, aware that the Spanish club was close to sealing an agreement with Milan, stepped up their pursuit of Kaka with a huge rival offer. They hoped that their new manager, Carlo Ancelotti, could prove a trump card. Ancelotti has just left Milan, where Kaka blossomed into one of the world’s finest players under his guidance. The Italian enjoyed an excellent relationship with Kaka and Chelsea wanted him to use his powers of persuasion to try to lure the player to west London.

Last night sources at Chelsea had effectively given up hope of beating Madrid to Kaka’s signature. At one stage, though, their chances of concluding a deal appeared positive when negotiations between the player’s father, Bosco Leite, who is also his agent, and Madrid seemed to break down. One reason for the stalling of talks was the size of the commission due to Leite. But Madrid last night were convinced that the transfer will go through and that Kaka will sign a five-year contract on €9m (£7.8m) a year after tax. The fee is substantially lower than the £91m offer made by Manchester City in January.

A dramatic day saw Leite enter talks with Real about a possible transfer before Adriano Galliani, the Milan vice-president, pitched up in Madrid to hear the offer. Last night the player was in Brazil awaiting news. Earlier in the day he had once again pledged his loyalty to Milan.

Kaka’s departure from Milan appeared to be signalled by the club’s owner, Silvio Berlusconi, who said they “cannot keep him”. “It’s difficult to keep someone who wants to go,” he said. “They are offering him a lot of money.” This was understood to be Real and Chelsea. With Florentino Pérez back as the president at the Bernabéu, another lavish spending spree on galácticos is in prospect and the signing of Kaka would represent an early coup.

Chelsea’s move for Kaka, though, is the clearest signal yet that Roman Abramovich, the billionaire owner, is ready to revert to type and throw millions of pounds at his project. He has a glittering array of targets that include another Brazilian at Milan, Pato, and it appears Chelsea have made an inquiry about the forward.

“We have had requests for Kaka and Pato from two of Europe’s biggest clubs and we will try to resist but there is an uneven playing field,” said Galliani. The 19-year-old Manchester City forward Daniel Sturridge is also on Chelsea’s radar as his wage demands scuppered City’s hopes of securing him on a contract beyond this month. Abramovich’s enthusiasm has been re-fired after the disappointment of the Luiz Felipe Scolari era by the encouraging progress made under the interim manager, Guus Hiddink. Abramovich is determined to back Ancelotti fully and enter the new season with a squad to wrest the league title back from Old Trafford and end the club’s wait for Champions League glory. Ancelotti has said that in his meetings with Abramovich he detected in him “a hunger” for the game’s top honours.

Ancelotti said that Abramovich had come “not to recognise” his Chelsea under Avram Grant, Scolari’s predecessor, and he added that Abramovich was determined to create a team to thrill the supporters, and to fulfil his long-held ambition of enjoying an entertaining style. The arrival of Kaka would have bolstered that ambition but the player seems destined for Madrid.

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Tuesday 2nd Jun 2009

• Liverpool captain turns 30 next year
• ‘I’m confident we can do well in South Africa’

The end of an outstanding player’s career is inevitable yet still hard to visualise. It was not possible to think of Steven ­Gerrard as anything other than a well‑nigh ­uncontainable midfielder when he was ­collecting the footballer of the year award last Friday. Fabio Capello spoke at the ­dinner and requested “two goals” over the course of England’s World Cup qualifiers with Kazakhstan and Andorra. ­Gerrard knows, however, that he may not be able to meet every demand for that much longer.

The midfielder will be 30 next summer and sees the 2010 finals in South Africa as his “last chance of doing well at a World Cup”, even if he also regards Spain as “massive favourites” to triumph there. It was put to him that he was being pessimistic about his longevity with his country when there is a 34-year-old with a niche in the current squad. “But he’s Beckham, isn’t he!” Gerrard cried out.

“David is in fantastic condition. He’s certainly a role model for me and if I could be in his shape at his age I would love nothing better than to give the World Cup another go.” Gerrard is scarcely decrepit, but he has come to a moment when it is natural to take stock. The midfielder also pores over Liverpool’s prospects and calls for an expansion of the squad.

Progress has come more easily at international level under Capello. “I think he could be the key to the side having a successful World Cup,” said Gerrard. “He is in the handful that are the best. Managers who are that good can make the difference. I’m so happy to have him here. It’s a pleasure to work with him and his staff. They are focused and are winners and, if they can translate that into the team and we can listen and learn, I’m confident we can do well.”

Capello has earned the midfielder’s gratitude by halting the wearisome debate over whether Gerrard and Frank Lampard can be accommodated in the same line‑up. They now have separate spheres of influence, with the Chelsea player a little deeper in central midfield while Gerrard enjoys the licence to come in from the left and join in attacks, often by linking with Wayne Rooney.

The scheme, of course, is not one of his own devising since Capello’s group will never be mistaken for a worker’s ­cooperative. “I didn’t have much input at all,” Gerrard confirmed. “The manager put me there with strict orders to try to pick up dangerous positions in a central area and not just on the left. He understands that I’m not a left-winger. The relationship with Wayne has been working well of late.”

Every England player since 1966 has had a life of frustration, but Gerrard has also been stymied at Liverpool in the effort to challenge for the league. Manchester United have now been ­champions as often as his club. “It’s nice to still be ahead of them in European Cups,” he said. “But they’ve caught up on leagues. It’s important we go back ahead of them as far as titles are concerned.”

A distraction from the bickering and rivalry of the north-west may soon be at hand. Both clubs could have to turn their heads and look anew at Chelsea now that Carlo Ancelotti has been appointed at Stamford Bridge. Gerrard came up against him in the memorable Champions League finals with Milan in 2005 and 2007.

Liverpool, of course, came from 3–0 down to win the first on penalties in Istanbul and lost the other 2–1 in Athens. Ancelotti’s work impressed him in each case. “He’s a fantastic manager,” said Gerrard. “In Istanbul, it was breathtaking. They nearly won the game in the first half. It could’ve easily been five or six. Then you look what he did to us two years later, beating us 2–1. He’s certainly got my respect. Chelsea are lucky to have him. He’s very organised. What I found was that he can change formation at any time, change the personnel and move people about. There were times in the first half in Istanbul and in Athens, when I was looking around thinking, ‘They’ve changed again.’”

The intriguing challenge to come against Chelsea and Manchester United should absorb Gerrard. It may even take his mind off ominous birthdays ahead.

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Tuesday 2nd Jun 2009

The 20 Premier League teams owe £3.1bn between them. This club-by-club guide break down who owes what

All details from most recently filed official information at Companies House.

Debts are borrowings from banks, financial institutions, owners or other sources.

Arsenal

Accounts for the year to 31 May 2008

Ownership Arsenal Holdings PLC major shareholders are:

Danny Fiszman (Swiss resident) 16%

Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith 15.9%

Kroenke Sports Enterprises UK (owned by US resident Stan Kroenke): 28.3%

Red and White Holdings (owned by Russian resident Alisher Usmanov and Farhad Moshiri) 25%

Turnover £222.5m (Up from £200.1m: 11.4%)

Gate and match-day income £95m

TV and broadcasting £68m

Retail £13m

Commercial £31m

Property development £15m

Player trading £0.5m

Wage bill £101.3m (up from £89.7m: 12.9%)

Wages as proportion of turnover 45%

Profit before tax £36.7m

Debts £416m

Interest payable £26m

Highest paid director Keith Edelman: £1.056m (plus a £1.67m payoff when he resigned on 1 May 2008)

State they’re in Arsenal’s halo as the top club with the most enviable financial model has slipped due to the economic downturn and an unprecedented boardroom power battle. Sales of the swish apartments built on the old Highbury stadium were expected to provide Arsène Wenger with a windfall, but sales have stalled in the downturn, and Arsenal are having to extend a £133m bank loan on the development. The main £200m borrowed to build the Emirates Stadium, fixed at 5.6%, remains an excellent deal, but the finances are nevertheless a squeeze. With four directors having been ousted in two very un-Arsenal-like years of boardroom jockeying, the alliance of Danny Fiszman and Stan Kroenke maintains fragile control. However the tightness of money, coupled with a fourth place finish, leaves the board vulnerable to an apparent campaign by the Russian investor, Alisher Usmanov, to secure more control by arguing that major investment is needed.

Aston Villa

Accounts for the year to 31 May 2008

Ownership Reform Acquisitions LLC, a US company, owned ultimately by Randy Lerner (resident New York)

Turnover £75.6m (up from £37m in 10 months to 31 May 2007: 105% increase)

Gate and match-day £18.5m

TV and broadcasting £46m

Commercial £11m

Wage bill £50.4m (Up from £22.5m: 124% increase)

Wages as proportion of turnover 66.7%

Loss before tax £7.6m

Debts £73m

Interest payable £5.8m

Highest paid director Unnamed but thought to be Richard Fitzgerald: £1.04m (including a £775,000 payoff in January 2008)

State they’re in Martin O’Neill lamented at the end of the season that he did not have the “wherewithal” to compete with the big four clubs, after Villa’s smaller squad petered out in the spring. That was despite meaty financial backing from their US owner Randy Lerner, who invested a further £48.5m, as loans, in Villa between May 2007 and 2008. The club currently owes Lerner £75.5m. Such is the cost of trying to fund a major club to finish sixth in the Premier League.

Blackburn Rovers

Accounts for the year to 30 June 2008

Ownership The Trustees of the Jack Walker 1987 Settlement, a trust registered in Jersey (a tax haven)

Turnover £56.4m (up from £43.3m: a 30% increase)

Gate and match-day £6.2m

TV and broadcasting £41.2m

Commercial £9m

Wage bill £39.7m (up from £36.7m, an 8% increase)

Wages as proportion of turnover 70%

Profit before tax £3m

Debts £17m

Interest payable £1.5m

Highest paid director John Williams: £295,000

State they’re in With Premier League survival secured, chairman John Williams will feel vindicated for having swiftly removed Paul Ince as the manager in December and appointing Sam Allardyce. Williams persuaded the club’s owners, the trustees of Jack Walker’s estate, to loan the club £3m last year, but they have wanted to sell for two years but no buyer has appeared. With gates and commercial income under pressure in the recession, Williams and Allardyce will have to husband resources shrewdly again next season.

Bolton Wanderers

Accounts for the year to 30 June 2008

Ownership 95% owned by Edwin Davies, via Fildraw Private Trust, believed to be in the Isle of Man, a tax haven

Turnover £59.1m (up from £51m last year: 16% increase)

Gate and match-day £6.8m

Hotel £8.7m

TV and broadcasting £34.2m

Corporate hospitality £2.4m

Merchandising £1.2m

Sponsorship and advertising £3.5m

Other football income £2.3m

Wage bill £39m (up from 30.7m in 2007, a 27% increase)

Wages as proportion of turnover 66%

Loss before tax £8.4m

Debts £52m

Interest payable £3m

Highest paid director Allan Duckworth: £376,000

State they’re in With gates 11.4% down despite season ticket price reductions, losses and debts up, and Bolton one of the clubs more vulnerable to the recession, Wanderers are struggling to keep up. The club’s owner, the Isle of Man-based Edwin Davies, loaned a further £4.5m, apparently at annual interest of 10%, for which the club paid a £623,000 arrangement fee. Few doubted that the chairman Phil Gartside’s idea for a “Premier League Second Division” springs in part from his own fear that Bolton, at some point, are likely to face the financial horror of relegation.

Chelsea

Accounts for the year to 30 June 2008

Ownership Wholly owned by Roman Abramovich

Turnover £213.6m (up from £190.5m the previous year, a 12% increase)

Football Activities £189.8m

Hotel/Catering £8.9m

Merchandising £9.6m

Other commercial £5.3

Wage bill £149m (up from £133m in 2007, a 12% increase)

Wages as proportion of turnover 68%

Loss before tax £84.5m

Debts £701m owed to Roman Abramovich

Interest payable Nil

Highest paid director Peter Kenyon: £2m

State they’re in Football’s most famous interest-free loan, the funding of Chelsea by the oligarch Roman Abramovich since 2003, reached a vast £701m by June 2008. In January Chelsea said the total had been reduced to £339.8m, with the rest converted into shares. The chief executive Peter Kenyon’s plan for Chelsea to be self-reliant by 2010 has been dented by £30m payouts to departing managers Jose Mourinho, Avram Grant and Luiz Felipe Scolari, and Chelsea’s thumping loss was up. Chelsea’s squad is ageing, and, with Abramovich’s continuing subsidy, Carlo Ancelotti will need to satisfy the oligarch’s hunger for success while trying to renew the squad.

Everton

Accounts for the year to 31 May 2008

Ownership Shares in the Everton Football Club Company Limited are owned by:

Bill Kenwright 25%

Jon Woods 19%

Robert Earl (resident of Florida) 23%

Turnover £76m (up from £51m the previous year, an increase of 50.1%)

Gate and match-day £20.5m

TV and broadcasting £46.6m

Other commercial activities £8.9m

Wage bill £44.5m (up from £38.4m the previous year, an increase of 16%)

Wages as proportion of turnover 59%

Profit before tax £26,000

Debts £39m

Interest payable £3.9m

Highest paid director Keith Wyness: £470,000

State they’re in Two remarkable seasons for David Moyes’ team, finishing fifth twice in succession, and a significantly improved financial picture, put fresh doubt on the need for Everton to move to the new stadium being controversially planned at Kirkby. The club ensured that players’ wages did not gobble up the booming increase in TV money, and Everton turned over £76m, a £25m increase. Kirkby, which many fans oppose, is projected optimistically to be worth only another £6m annually, and even within the club, some may be quietly relieved if the government ultimately refuses permission for the scheme.

Fulham

Accounts for the year to 30 June 2008

Ownership Mafco Holdings Limited, a Bermuda (tax haven) company, which is owned by Mohamed Al Fayed and his family

Turnover £53.7m (up from £39.7m last year, a 35.2% increase)

Gate and match-day £9.6m

TV and broadcasting £34m

Commercial activities £4.9m

Sponsorship £3.6m

Other operating income £1.6m

Wage bill £39.3m (up from £35.2m the previous year, an 11.6% increase)

Wages as proportion of turnover 73%

Profit before tax £3.2m

Debts £197m, included £174m owed to Al Fayed

Interest payable £1.8m

Highest paid director Unnamed: £228,083

State they’re in Mohamed Al Fayed continued his extravagant funding of Fulham, increasing the loans from his companies to £174m, the second highest subsidy of any club by an owner behind Chelsea’s Roman Abramovich. The loans are all interest free and during the year £9.5m was written off completely. Al Fayed, resident in Monaco, has had the reward this season of Fulham’s highest ever finish, and he vehemently insists he has no intention of selling.

Hull City

Accounts for the year to 31 July 2007 (accounts for 2007-08 are now overdue)

Ownership Isis Nominees, a company registered in Jersey, a tax haven

Turnover (In the Championship) £9m (down from £9.5m the previous year, a drop of 5.6%)

Wage bill £6.9m (up from £5.2m the previous year, a 33% increase)

Wages as proportion of turnover 77%

Loss before tax £2m

Debts £1m

Interest payable £52,000

State they’re in These figures predate Hull’s 2007-08 promotion season; the latest accounts are now overdue. The chairman, Paul Duffen, said the major shareholder, property investor Russell Bartlett, invested £6m to finance the promotion push, and Hull appear to have come up with almost no debt. The manager Phil Brown’s impromptu karaoke after City scraped Premier League survival, which means around £25m extra in TV money alone next season, will have been accompanied by sighs of relief from Bartlett.

Liverpool

Accounts for the year to 31 July 2007 (accounts for 2007-08 are now overdue)

Ownership Ultimately owned (via the tax haven of Grand Cayman) by Kop Investment LLC, registered in Delaware, a low tax US state. Tom Hicks and George Gillett are equal owners of Kop Investment LLC

Turnover £159m (up from £134m the previous year, an increase of 18.6%)

Gate and Matchday n\a

TV and Broadcasting n\a

Commercial activities n\a

Visitors’ Centre and Official Supporters Club n\a

Wage bill n\a

Profit before tax n\a

Debts £280m

Interest payable £21m (estimated)

State they’re in Tom Hicks and George Gillett swore they were not “doing a Glazers” when they took over Liverpool in 2007 but, as it turned out, they were. Liverpool, with Anfield full and Rafael Benítez’s team improving, are a major, commercially successful club but the financial position is still dominated by the loans the pair have taken out, including £185m to finance their takeover. Hicks and Gillett are understood to have put £33m in themselves to finance player signings because, after paying the interest, the club no longer generates enough money. The club was sold to the pair solely so that they would finance the new stadium, but there is no sign of that at all yet.

Manchester City

Accounts for the year to 31 May 2008

Ownership 90% owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family

Turnover £82.3m (up from £57m the previous year, an increase of 44%)

Gate and match-day £13.6m

TV and broadcasting £43.3m

Commercial activities £25.4m

Wage bill £54.2m (up from £36.4m the previous year, an increase of 49%)

Wages as proportion of turnover 66%

Loss before tax £32.6m

Debts £147m

Interest payable £10.7m

Highest paid director Alistair Mackintosh: £477,000

State they’re in Looked to be heading over a cliff in August last year, with the owner, Thaksin Shinawatra, on the run from corruption charges in Thailand of which he was subsequently found guilty. Shinawatra’s assets were frozen even before he took the club over, City’s debts were mounting, the club borrowed a further £25m against the forthcoming season’s TV money, then their worries were all wiped away with a wave of an oil sheikh’s chequebook.

Manchester United

Accounts for the year to 30 June 2008

Ownership Malcolm Glazer and his family via Red Football Limited Parnership and Red Football General Partner Inc, both registered in the low tax State of Nevada, USA

Turnover £256.2m (from 210.1m the previous year, an increase of 22%)

Gate and match-day £101.5m

TV and broadcasting £90.7m

Commercial activities £64m

Wage bill £121.1m (up from £92.3m the previous year, an increase of 31.2%)

Wages as proportion of turnover 47%

Loss before tax £44.8m

Debts £699m

Interest payable £69m

Highest paid director David Gill: £1.739m

State it’s in The still-extraordinary spectacle of the “leveraged buyout”. The Glazer family bought the world’s richest club in 2005, then loaded it with the costs of their own takeover, and despite the glittering success over which they have since presided, the debts have continued to mount. By 2008, a staggering £263m in interest alone had become payable, yet the capital United owe had actually grown to £699m, because some of the interest, at high rates, accumulates. These massive debts are not threatening the club financially while it remains successful, but it is painful to think of the other uses to which United’s vast earnings could have been put.

Middlesbrough

Accounts for the year to 31 December 2007

Ownership Steve Gibson via his company, Gibson O’Neill, of which he owns 75%

Turnover £48m (the same figure as the previous year)

Gate receipts £11.1m

Sponsorship and commercial £7.5m

TV & broadcasting £27m

Merchandising £2.4m

Wage bill £34.8m (the same as the previous year)

Wages as proportion of turnover 73%

Loss before tax £8.3m

Debts £93m

Interest payable £7.2m

Highest paid director Gibson is the sole director and does not take a salary from the football club

State they’re in The debts of £93m, the result of Middlesbrough trying to punch above their weight for years, look alarming for a relegated club. Middlesbrough insiders, however, say the borrowings have been reduced since these accounts to below £30m. The owner-chairman Steve Gibson is expected to invest further, although the plan to balance the books next season by selling Stewart Downing has been ruptured by Downing’s ankle injury in the penultimate game of the season.

Newcastle United

Accounts for the year to 30 June 2008

Ownership Mike Ashley via his company, St James Holdings Limited

Turnover £100.8m (up from £87m the previous year, a 16% increase)

Gate and match-day £32.3m

TV and broadcasting £41.1m

Commercial activities £27.4m

Wage bill £74.6m (up from £56.7m the previous year, a 31.6% increase)

Wages as proportion of turnover 74%

Loss before tax £34m

Debts £106.2m (£100m is owed to Mike Ashley)

Interest payable £6.6m

Highest paid director Chris Mort, paid £1.357m via his law firm, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

State it’s in A calamity. Mike Ashley could have been a hero. After buying the club for £134m in 2007, he repaid, with cash, around £94m of debts. Newcastle are almost debt-free, although Ashley paid the money off by lending £100m to the club himself, interest free, which has to be repaid if the ownership changes. Yet after appointments and decisions he admits himself have been awful and which led to relegation, he has not been thanked very fulsomely for his contribution. If he does not sell quickly, Ashley will need to stump up more if financial collapse is to be avoided next season.

Portsmouth

Accounts for the year to 31 May 2008

Ownership Miland Development (2004) Limited, a British Virgin Islands company, which is controlled by Alexandre Gaydamak

Turnover £70.5m (up from £40.2m the previous year, an increase of 75%)

Gate and Matchday £12m

TV and Broadcasting £51.2m

Sponsorship £4m

Retail £3.3m

Wage bill £54.7m (up from £36.9m the previous year, an increase of 48.2%)

Wages as proportion of turnover 78%

Loss before tax £17m

Debts £57.7m

Interest payable £6.6m

Highest paid director Peter Storrie: £1.2m

State they’re in Pompey illustrate why every middling football club is begging for a takeover. Having overstretched to furnish Harry Redknapp with the formidable squad that won the FA Cup last season, the owner, Alexandre Gaydamak, has been hit by the recession and can no longer fund the club. Lassana Diarra and Jermain Defoe had to be sold in January to reduce bank borrowings, debts grew to around £65m, and Portsmouth were preparing to tighten belts until the chief executive, Peter Storrie, shook hands with Sulaiman Al Fahim. Fratton Park now expects it to rain oil money.

Stoke City

Accounts for the year to 31 May 2008

Ownership bet365 Group, the online gambling company which is owned by the chairman, Peter Coates, and his family

Turnover (2007-08, in the Championship) £11.2m (up from £7.9m the previous year, an increase of 41%)

Wage bill £11.9m (up from £7m the previous year, an increase of 70%)

Wages as proportion of turnover 106%

Loss before tax £5.6m

Debts £2.3m

Interest payable £49,000

Highest paid director No director was paid a salary in 2007-08

State they’re in The financial picture of a club pushing for promotion from the Championship. Stoke are backed by Peter Coates and his family, who own the online gambling company, bet365. The Coates put £10m cash into the club, and supported it to make a loss and pay wages beyond the club’s turnover. With the investment shrewdly managed by Tony Pulis, Stoke have the advantage of being debt-free next season when seeking to consolidate in the Premier League.

Sunderland

Accounts for the year to 31 July 2008

Ownership Announced last week that Ellis Short, who is based in Dallas, is to take over 100%

Turnover £63.6m (up from £26m the previous year, an increase of 144%)

Gate and match-day £13.6m

TV and broadcasting £35.6m

Sponsorship and royalties £8.3m

Commercial activities £6.1m

Wage bill £37.1m (up from £23.7m, an increase of 57%)

Wages as proportion of turnover 58%

Loss before tax £4.9m

Debts £69.2m

Interest payable £3.9m

Highest paid director Niall Quinn: £939,317

State they’re in Apart from desperately seeking Premier League survival, the chairman Niall Quinn’s consuming priority this year has been to secure the investment of the US businessman Ellis Short. The club is overspending, with £16.8m loaned from the Irish Drumaville consortium, and their fortunes have diminished in the downturn. Promotion to the Premier League brought the TV windfall, but Sunderland lost almost £5m and debts rose close to £70m. Sunderland’s fanbase is also vulnerable to the recession, so Quinn was mightily pleased last week to announce that Short is to take 100% ownership and invest further.

Tottenham Hotspur

Accounts for the year to 30 June 2008

Ownership 82% owned by Enic International Limited, registered in the Bahamas, a tax haven. Chairman Daniel Levy an d family own 29.41% of Enic. The controlling owner is Joe Lewis, resident in the Bahamas.

Turnover £114.7m (up from £103.1m the previous year, an increase of 11.34%)

Gate and match-day £28.6m

TV and broadcasting £40.3m

Sponsorship and corporate hospitality £27.8m

Merchandising £9.7m

Commercial activities £8.3m

Wage bill £52.9m (up from £43.8m in 2007, an increase of 20.8%)

Wages as proportion of turnover 46%

Profit before tax £3m

Debts £65m

Interest payable £3.95m

Highest paid director Daniel Levy: £1m

State they’re in Fifth highest turnover in the Premier League, but Spurs have serially failed to convert that financial power into consistent performances on the field. They can be expected to keep traditionally high-spending manager, Harry Redknapp, happy by handing him funds again this summer. In a bid to propel the club towards the top four, Spurs plan to build a new White Hart Lane with 58,000 seats with a scheme including a supermarket, hotel, leisure, retail, and 450 apartments. They declared a dividend of 4p per share last year, which meant the club paid £2.5m to Enic, the holding company owned by Daniel Levy and Joe Lewis.

West Bromwich Albion

Accounts for the year to 30 June 2008

Ownership Over 50% owned by the chairman, Jeremy Peace

Turnover (2007-08, in the Championship): £27.2m (up from £24m the previous year, an increase of 13% mainly due to increased parachute payments)

Gate and matchiday £7m

Merchandising £2.2m

TV and broadcasting £14m

Other commercial income £4m

Wage bill £21.8m (up from £17.4m the previous year, an increase of 25%)

Wages as proportion of turnover 80%

Profit before tax £11.3m

Debts £8.9m

Interest payable £91,000

Highest paid director Jeremy Peace: £625,000

State they’re in This is the portrait of a former Premier League club pushing for promotion in the Championship, with the benefit of parachute payments, which increased by £4.5m during the year. West Bromwich carry little debt, have reduced ticket prices, and under Jeremy Peace’s chairmanship do not gamble when they are promoted. Can be expected to be strong in the Championship next season and to yo-yo back up while still under the Premier League’s parachute canopy.

West Ham United

Accounts for the year to 31 May 2007 (accounts for 2007-08 have been delayed)

Ownership Owned in Iceland, by the chairman, Bjorgulfur Gudmundsson, via two companies, Hansa ehf and Olafsfell ehf

Turnover £57m (down from £60.1m in 2006, a drop of 5.2%)

Gate and match-day £17m

TV and broadcasting £24m

Catering and corporate hospitality £5m

Commercial activities £9m

Retail and Merchandising £2m

Wage bill £44.2m (up from 31.2m in 2006, an increase of 41%)

Wages as proportion of turnover 76%

Loss before tax £22m

Debts £36m

Interest payable £2m

Highest paid director Paul Aldridge: £649,000 (Includes £521,000 for leaving West Ham on December 4 2006)

State they’re in West Ham’s owner, Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson, is football ownership’s highest profile genuine victim of the global economic crisis, his fortune gone the way of his country, Iceland’s, economy – wiped out. The club is in the hands of his holding company’s controlling banks, yet they have not put pressure on the club’s finances or forced a sale because West Ham is the only valuable asset in the Gudmundsson portfolio. The banks, and the Icelandic courts, have allowed it protection, so that they can maintain a decent price when they finally sell it.

Wigan Athletic

Accounts for the year to 31 May 2008

Ownership Dave Whelan and family, via Whelco Holdings, registered in the UK

Turnover £43m (up from 27m the previous year, an increase of 59.2%)

Wage bill £38.4m (up from £27.5m the previous year, an increase of 39.6%)

Wages as proportion of turnover 89%

Loss before tax £11.2m

Debts £66.4m

Interest payable £1.7m

Highest paid director Brenda Spencer, amount not declared

State they’re in Wigan Athletic are where they are, in the JJB Stadium and in the Premier League, solely due to the patronage of local market trader made good, Dave Whelan. Interest free loans from his holding company were increased to £35.6m, and Wigan were given another unsecured loan of £7.5m assumed to have come from Whelan. Barclays Bank maintained their funding at £23m because of Whelan’s backing. The accounts make it clear that Wigan, who expect to continue to make losses, would not be solvent without Whelan’s financial backing.

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Tuesday 2nd Jun 2009

• Striker appears close to exit after condemning club
• Lavezzi has fallen out with sporting director Pierpaolo Marino

Reported Liverpool target Ezequiel Lavezzi seems ever more likely to be heading out of Napoli after writing a letter to fans in which he claims to have been treated with “a lack of respect” by the club.

The striker, who is under contract at the Serie A side until 2012, insisted yesterday he wants to remain at Napoli despite reported interest from the Reds. However, the 24-year-old looks to have changed his mind amid reports of a falling out with sporting director Pierpaolo Marino.

“I’m writing this letter to the fans who have always been close to me,” Lavezzi’s wrote. “It’s a difficult time and I hope that soon the situation will become clearer as much for you as for me.

“The only sure thing is that one day there won’t be either Lavezzi or Marino but there will always be this great club and this immense city simply because Napoli does not belong to anyone, it represents the synthesis of the sentiment of their fans’ dignity.

“Today I have to choose between dignity and a lack of respect, because of my loyalty to my upbringing without doubt I choose dignity.”

Reports in Italy suggest Lavezzi’s representatives met with Manchester United chiefs in Madrid with a view to a move to Old Trafford, while Liverpool have been repeatedly linked with a deal.

The Argentina forward’s agent claims he has an offer on the table from a big club but insists nothing has been decided yet.

“This is not a goodbye letter,” Alejandro Mazzoni told Sky Italia. “He was thinking about leaving an explanation for the fans, who are important for him. He never said he wanted to leave Napoli.

“There is a very real offer from a team who are playing in the Champions League and where he would earn much more than here. Marino had a strategy for arriving at the end of the season but he has not respected anything of what he promised.

“The lad wants to stay at Napoli. But for him what’s more important is dignity which is above contracts, national teams, money - above everything. If it was for the city and fans he would stay, 100 per cent, but if it was for the relationship between us and the directors, it would be close to zero.”

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Tuesday 2nd Jun 2009

• New Real president says Ronaldo is a ‘model’ footballer
• Speaks of ‘massive effort to get the best players in the world’

The new Real Madrid president, Florentino Pérez, believes Cristiano Ronaldo would be the ideal player for the Spanish giants and will not be put off by his enormous price tag.

Madrid have long been linked with a move for the Portugal international and, despite last month’s denial, there continues to be speculation that they already have a deal in place for the 24-year-old.

Pérez insists he knows nothing about any such contract which would see Ronaldo move to the Bernabéu for over €80m (£69m), but he believes it would be money well spent.

“I don’t know anything about the story of Cristiano Ronaldo. I only just took charge,” he said. “But what I am sure of is that which seems expensive is the cheapest.

“In my last era the cheapest was [Zinedine] Zidane, who seemed very expensive because we paid €73m for him. Without knowing who we can get, there will be a massive effort to get the best players in the world, because that is the Real Madrid model.”

Pérez, who welcomed the appointment of Manuel Pellegrini as Real’s new coach, laughed off suggestions that Ronaldo’s fierce temper could hinder him at the Bernabéu.

“I have not seen anything about him that would prohibit him from playing at Real Madrid,” he said. “I have seen him get angry because he wants to win and [because of] his competitive spirit. The information I have on him says that he is an example on the pitch, a model.”

Pellegrini, meanwhile, described his appointment as the new coach of Real Madrid as a “dream come true”.

He was confirmed as the replacement for Juande Ramos late last night and the Chilean was officially unveiled in his new post at the Bernabéu today.

Pellegrini, who had been in charge of Madrid’s La Liga rivals Villarreal since 2004, said: “It’s hard to explain the emotion and pride that I feel for having been chosen to coach the most important club in the world.

“When I started my coaching career 23 years ago I knew that I would end up at Real Madrid. It’s a dream come true. I feel fortunate to have been chosen for this post.”

Pérez said: “Pellegrini is an intelligent coach. He has had an excellent career, he knows our league and the Champions League, but he also has experience in South American football. He knows the pressures having coached in Argentina.

“Our dream is to have a spectacular team that the fans can enjoy.”

Madrid have also been linked with Kaka, a move that appears to be further away following the Milan star’s insistence that he wants to remain at the San Siro.

While Pérez admits they will bring in big-name players, he insists Madrid will not be held to ransom for anyone.

“We started working today and we will lay the foundations to create a magnificent team. Kaka could be one of our objectives but the prices the media are talking about are really out of the reality.

“It’s not true that we have signed Kaka and I don’t want there to be false hope. It’s true that I have a great relationship with Adriano Galliani but there are other teams who have their own projects and everything has a price.”

Pérez also revealed that around 10 players could be on their way out of Madrid to make way for new signings.

“What is certain is that you can register 25 players [for the Champions League]. If we have 29 and we want to bring in six new players, we are talking of a total of 35. We have to sort it, so 10 leave. It’s something very delicate and complicated, being respectful to contracts and people.”

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Tuesday 2nd Jun 2009

• Brazilian dismisses latest links with Real Madrid and Chelsea
• ‘To the Rossoneri fans I say my decision is made’

Brazil star Kaka has repeated his desire to stay at Milan after fresh reports of imminent bids from Chelsea and from Real Madrid, following the election of Florentino Pérez as Real’s president.

“I say it for the last time, I don’t want to leave Milan,” Kaka told reporters. “In this period I prefer to stay quiet because I don’t want to be misinterpreted. To the millions of Rossoneri fans I say my decision has been made. I have said I want to stay. Now please leave me in peace.”

Manchester United have also been linked with a summer bid for the midfielder, as have Manchester City, who tried to sign him in January. However Real had been considered favourites to secure him with a reported £56m offer.

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Sunday 31st May 2009

• Cristiano Ronaldo seen as vital to new galáctico era
• ‘Should have been bought as Beckham’s replacement in 2007′

Real Madrid’s pursuit of Cristiano Ronaldo is essential for the club’s image and financial interests, their president in waiting Florentino Pérez has said.

Pérez, the overwhelming favourite to regain the Real presidency this week, said the Spanish club should have bought Ronaldo in 2007 and said the signing of Manchester United’s world player of the year was as essential as the purchase of David Beckham in 2003.

“Madrid should have bought Cristiano Ronaldo as Beckham’s replacement two years ago,” Pérez said in the Sunday Times as he outlined a vision for the club that would once again involve glamorous galáctico signings that could attract sizeable global commercial income.

“When Beckham arrived, our sponsors significantly raised their payments to us and we rescued the finances of the club. What happened in the last few years is that the club did not reinvest in the type of players to continue with that model. I want to put that right. If Cristiano Ronaldo comes in, we would have a Nike-endorsed player putting on an adidas shirt every week.”

Pérez has already outlined plans to bring Kaka and Franck Ribéry to the Bernabéu from Milan and Bayern Munich respectively. Ronaldo himself was evasive about his future plans in the aftermath of United’s Champions League final defeat by Barcelona in Rome.

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Friday 29th May 2009

• Paul Scholes expects to play for one more season
• Stoke manager Tony Pulis linked with coaching offer

Manchester United stalwart Paul Scholes could leave Old Trafford, having been tempted with the offer of a playing-coaching deal at Stoke.

Scholes, who joined United as a teenaged trainee, has previously hinted he would consider a stint in management after his playing days come to an end. It is understood the Stoke manager, Tony Pulis, has offered Scholes the chance to combine a coaching role with a playing contract at the club next season.

“Not playing every week is an adjustment you don’t like making,” the 34-year-old midfielder said. “You train all week and you want to play games. I think there comes a time when you have to accept you won’t play every week.”

Scholes is scheduled to attend a series of coaching courses over the close season and said he felt ready for the demands of management.

“I would have thought next season will be my last one. After that I would not rule out management. Let’s see how the coaching goes first but I would like to be a manager one day. I think I could put up with the demands it brings.”

Steve Bruce is expected to be installed as Sunderland’s new manager in the next 48 hours after Dave Whelan, Wigan Athletic’s chairman, granted him formal permission to speak to the Wearside club yesterday afternoon.

This suggested that the clubs had agreed compensation for Bruce’s services. Whelan had been demanding £5m, a sum Niall Quinn and Ellis Short, Sunderland’s chairman and owner respectively, balked at during negotiations on Wednesday.

Disillusioned by being forced to sell his best players at the JJB Stadium, Bruce, a lifelong Newcastle United fan who was paid £45,000 a week by Whelan, is keen to join Sunderland. Whelan has lined up Roberto Martínez, the Swansea City manager and a former Wigan player, as Bruce’s replacement.

Sunderland, though, perhaps anxious to conclude a deal on their terms, are taking time to commit and have done nothing to discourage speculation linking Slaven Bilic and Frank Rijkaard with their vacancy. “It’s still not a one-horse race,” said a club spokeswoman last night. Even so, it will be a major surprise if Bruce is not unveiled as Ricky Sbragia’s successor.

Meanwhile Short, the club’s reclusive new billionaire owner, has spoken for the first time since taking complete control at the Stadium of Light earlier this week. Talking to Sunderland’s official website, the Irish-American financier said he does not want a repeat of this season’s struggles, which ended in the narrow avoidance of relegation.

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Friday 29th May 2009

• 24-year-old refuses to commit to Premier League champions
• ‘We didn’t show up’ in Rome, complains Portugal forward

Cristiano Ronaldo has refused to commit himself to Manchester United as rumours of a transfer to Real Madrid resurfaced. The Portugal forward also criticised his side’s tactics and performance in the Champions League final, saying ‘everything went wrong’ in Rome.

“My future for now is the national team, we must win to be back on track in the world cup qualifiers,” he said in response to questions about his future. “I don’t want to talk about clubs, I want to rest, to go on holidays because I’m very tired. I’ve played many games under a lot of pressure. The future… we’ll see.”

The 24-year-old was philosophical about United’s 2-0 loss to Barcelona, but critical of his side’s approach to the game. “It’s always hard to lose finals but you must pay for not playing well,” he said. “Man United had only 10 minutes good in the game. After that, we didn’t show up. We, the players, didn’t play well. The tactics was not good either. Everything went wrong.

“I’m a player used to great stages and I’m not upset by anything. The things I’ve won give me maturity to stand the pressure. There was no problem.”

He also took a swipe at Barcelona, saying the Spanish champions were lucky to be in the final at all.

“We must give credit to Barcelona but they were lucky to be here, because Chelsea deserved to win the semi-final and nobody mentioned that. I must congratulate Barcelona but that’s football, you only talk about those who win.”

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Thursday 28th May 2009

• ‘Too many players made too many errors,’ says defender
• Ryan Giggs reminds team it has been a great season

Rio Ferdinand says his Manchester United team-mates are big enough to handle the shattering disappointment of last night’s Champions League final defeat in Rome. He was eager to enter the record books as a back-to-back European Cup winner but those dreams were quashed at the Stadio Olimpico as Barcelona registered a richly deserved triumph.

So instead of a bus parade around the city, United flew back to Manchester with an acute sense of deflation. For a side who have just completed a hat-trick of Premier League title successes, it was a harsh way to end the campaign. But Ferdinand thinks United are strong enough to bounce back.

“If we had won, it would have been an unbelievable end to the season but we knew if we lost we would be finishing on a low, no matter what we had achieved before,” he said. “We are not silly enough to think the garden will always be rosy. We are grown men. We can handle it. We just have to brush ourselves down and come back stronger.”

Ferdinand is happy to postpone the debrief that must follow as Sir Alex Ferguson works out why United were so badly outplayed. Poor tactics are being blamed in some quarters, although the argument is difficult to fathom given United set up in exactly the same way as when they defeated Porto and Arsenal earlier in the competition. Ferdinand has no in-depth answers. However, his gut feeling was that too many players made too many errors at the wrong time against talented opponents well capable of taking advantage.

“To play a team like Barcelona you need your A game. We didn’t have it,” he said. “We did well in those first 10 minutes. If we had scored then it might have been a different game. But we gave away two soft goals at crucial points in the game and didn’t put away the chances we had. In a Champions League final, if you do not play well, either as individuals or a collective unit, you do not deserve to win.”

Ferdinand accepted it was scant consolation for the 30,000 United fans who bellowed their backing to the team and magnanimously applauded Barcelona at the end. At train stations and airports around the Italian capital, fans were coming to terms with the truth of their side being distinctly second-best.

But Ferdinand is confident that, when the new campaign begins again in August, the Red Devils will be fully motivated and ready for battle. “The belief is still there,” he said. “We have come a long way in these last few years. You do not lose all that by getting beaten in one match. We need strength of character now but we have it in abundance.”

Ryan Giggs has told his devastated Manchester United team-mates not to forget it has been a season to remember. “Great teams bounce back after big disappointments,” he said. “It has been a fantastic season and we must not forget that. We have achieved so much.

“All we have done is fall just short at the final hurdle in the Champions League. We are still a great team and we have great players in that dressing room. Next year we will come back stronger and look forward to the challenge.”

And the challenge is not an insignificant one. Whereas this season history beckoned in Europe with the ultimately doomed attempt to become the first team to retain the Champions League since its inception in 1992, next year it will be at home.

Having drawn level with Liverpool on 18 league titles this term, Giggs knows one more – which would be his 12th personally – would not only allow the club to overtake their north-west rivals, it would also see them become the first side in English football to win the championship four years in a row.

“To win three Premier League titles on the trot is an unbelievable thing to do,” said Giggs. “Now we must look to make it four.”

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Thursday 28th May 2009

• Anfield club would face stiff competition for him if he left United
• Mascherano says the forward would be ‘great’ for Liverpool

The Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano wants the club to sign his Argentinian team-mate Carlos Tevez. The forward’s future is in question as he has come to the end of his lease arrangement at Manchester United, who are reluctant to pay a quoted price of around £25m to make the deal permanent.

United’s chief executive, David Gill, is planning more talks with Kia Joorabchian, who owns Tevez’s economic rights, but Mascherano wants Liverpool to move in as several clubs monitor the situation.

“I hope we can count on him,” he told Radio La Red in Argentina. “Because of the type of player Carlos is, he would be great for us. However, it will be a tough fight because so many clubs are interested in him.”

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Thursday 28th May 2009

• Manager convinced Henry to stay after disappointing first year
• Arsène Wenger says Arsenal missed French striker last season

Thierry Henry has credited his manager, Pep Guardiola, for his decision to remain with Barcelona in a season in which the Catalan side has won an historic treble. The former Arsenal striker endured a difficult beginning to his Camp Nou career, but last night collected a Champions League medal to go with the league and cup titles already won by Barcelona this year.

His comments came on the day that former coach, Arsène Wenger, admitted Henry’s presence may have helped his team to prevail in the 2007-08 Premier League title race. Arsenal finished third in their first season since allowing Henry to leave for Spain in a £16m deal.

“I didn’t arrive at Barcelona just to win the Champions League but to win everything,” said Henry. “The coach [Pep Guardiola] wanted me to stay. He was the man that convinced me to stay.”

“This is incredible. I had wanted to win the Champions League for a long time. It’s something that I was missing. It’s a special feeling because to win a treble in modern football is not easy and yet we have done it.

“No Spanish team has achieved what we have, to win a treble, and I think everyone will remember this Barça side. I’m delighted because I always wanted to make history at this club and we’ve done just that. Now we will celebrate.”

Henry played against Barcelona in the Champions League final three years ago with Arsenal but was on the losing side. He was a doubt for this week’s showdown with United but recovered from a ligament injury to his right knee that had kept him out since early May.

“For me it’s wonderful to have been able to make it to the final and play,” he said. “It’s not easy to come back after several weeks out of action but just like Andrés Iniesta, [I was] determined to play.”

The Spanish champions went into the final without four regular defenders, with Rafael Márquez and Gabriel Milito out injured and Éric Abidal and Daniel Alves both suspended. But the strength of Guardiola’s side is such that numerous other players were able to contribute.

“I think this game is a mirror of a season,” said Henry. “It doesn’t matter which player plays, it is the team as a whole that has done the job. Our strength was doing what we have done all season, which is to keep possession, play touch football and recover balls. We executed our plan of attack, as usual.

“I don’t know if we won the tactical battle, but Manchester United also played attacking football. The whole team played well. We had several players injured and suspended but those who came out to play did a great job. I knew before the game that I had never lost in Rome. Rome for me is a great city.”

Whilst Henry celebrated his side’s Stadio Olimpico triumph, Wenger was left to reflect on how the Frenchman’s abilities could have contributed to last season’s title race. The Gunners finished four points behind Manchester United, after fading badly in the last months of the campaign.

“Maybe he could have made a difference last year,” said Wenger. “We had 83 points and with him we could have gained two or three more that could have won us the championship. But at that time I felt that a guy who has played eight or nine years for you, and has shown that kind of desire, it’s difficult to stand in his way.

“If he had done two or three years I would have said ‘My friend, you stay here’ but when he has given so much [it is different]. He had this opportunity at Barcelona. He had a first very difficult year but I am very happy he made it this year. He has convinced everybody because he is a top-class player and you want them to be successful.”

Wenger stressed it was only Henry who received special treatment in being allowed to leave in pursuit of silverware. He also indicated that he would take a more strident approach to holding onto players in the future.

“Thierry played a long time for us, nobody else did that and he was close to the end of his career. All these players [in the current squad] are at the start of their careers so it’s completely different. I think the exact opposite now – I don’t see why we should educate the players, get some stick and when they’re ready we sell them. That would be masochistic.”

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Thursday 28th May 2009

• United needed to keep the ball better, says Van der Sar
• ‘We had a good 10 minutes at the start but then it changed’

Edwin van der Sar cited an inability to retain possession as the major reason for Manchester United’s Champions League final defeat in Rome last night.

After clinching the Premier League this season, United were tipped to become the first team to successfully defend the European Cup since it was rebranded in 1992. Instead, they were taught a footballing lesson by a Barcelona side marshalled by Xavi and Andrés Iniesta.

“It was a disappointing evening,” said the Dutch goalkeeper. “We had a good 10 minutes at the start but after that it changed a little bit. We have come from behind plenty of times before, so the goal itself was not an issue.

“But what it did was to allow them to start playing a little bit. In situations like that you have to try and keep possession but at times I felt we lost it a little too easily.”

At 38, Van der Sar may be nearing the end of a career that has already brought him winner’s medals with United, last year, and Ajax in 1995. However, he is contracted on for another year with the Old Trafford outfit.

“We have got to get this disappointment out of the way,” he said. “I will look at new challenges after the holidays.”

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Wednesday 27th May 2009

• United’s manager admits he worried about effect of absent player
• Xavi and Iniesta dominated the midfield too easily

From Sir Alex Ferguson there were no excuses. He did not attempt to blame the pitch or the referee or the suffocating heat inside the Stadio Olimpico and he was generous in his praise for Manchester United’s opponents and their outstanding manager, Pep Guardiola. Yet, as Ferguson started the painful task of analysing where his team had gone wrong, he could not help but turn his mind back to the semi‑final and the red card that had ruled out Darren Fletcher.

Whether the outcome would have been any different had Fletcher played, Ferguson was not willing to speculate after a night in which his players, by his own admission, had been outclassed. Yet it was clearly weighing on his mind that Xavi Hernández and Andrés Iniesta might not have been able to dictate the pattern of the game with such devastating success if United’s most tenacious midfielder had not been suspended.

“I thought before the game it may have been a problem,” the United manager admitted. “I knew it might count against us because he [Fletcher] is a big-game player. And he was a big loss for us. It’s ­difficult to say how big, and they [Barcelona] had players missing too, but it showed itself for us tonight.”

Anderson, Fletcher’s replacement, was so ineffective he was substituted at half-time whereas United’s other central midfielders, Ryan Giggs and Michael Carrick, were both culpable of unusual carelessness.

“The simple reason [we lost] was possession,” Ferguson volunteered. “We didn’t do anything with it. We recognised beforehand that the strength of Barcelona was their three central midfield players and that’s why I used Giggs, who could play towards the front but also drop into midfield, but their possession of the ball hurt us. It wasn’t really Messi who was the problem. It was Iniesta and Xavi. They can keep the ball all night long.”

Ferguson’s magnanimity did not end there. “You have to give credit to a very good Barcelona team,” he said. “If they get in front of you they are very difficult to beat. They kept possession of the ball and made it very difficult to get back. When we did get possession we didn’t do well with it. Credit to them, the better team won.”

On Guardiola, who has won a league title, domestic cup and Champions League treble, he added: “It is a great achievement as a coach in his first year. Well done. ­ Fantastic. Everybody enjoys their football and it is great credit to him.”

Rio Ferdinand would later talk of “two soft goals” and said the blame should be shared equally – “not one of us can say we played well tonight,” he said — and it was notable that, when Guardiola spoke of United’s better spells of possession, he mentioned it was “between [Nemanja] Vidic and Ferdinand and Michael Carrick” rather than their attacking players.

“It’s just a shame we didn’t play well,” said Ferdinand. “We still created five or six chances but they were the better team. You have to give credit to Barcelona. They played well. On a night like this you need to play your best football and we didn’t produce it – all over the park, individually and collectively.”

Giggs agreed with his manager: “At times Barcelona can make you look silly because they keep the ball so well. We maybe chased it and didn’t keep our shape as well as we should have. We still created chances. But we said whoever turned up on the night would win and that has proved to be the case. They turned up and played some great football — we didn’t. I think if we had gone a goal ahead, we’re capable of keeping the ball like they did. But credit to them, they deserved it tonight.”

United’s players seemed to be determined to go down with their dignity intact after a night that Cristiano Ronaldo described as “one of the biggest disappointments of my career”. The winger added: “It is always bad when you lose a final but we didn’t play well. We did OK in the first 10 minutes but you have to say Barcelona deserved to win.”

Wayne Rooney used words such as “brilliant” and “amazing” to describe Guardiola’s team, adding: “I think Iniesta is the best player in the world right now. They pass the ball so well. If you don’t take your chances against them, they will punish you. We’re hurting right now but we just have to make sure we get back to another final and play better.

“It is a big disappointment but Barcelona were the better team. Barcelona scored two good goals and unfortunately for us, they came at good times. That made it very difficult for us. It is very disappointing and the feeling at the moment is not a good one.”

It was only when Ferguson was asked whether, at the age of 67, he still had the desire to come back for more trophies that his emotions came to the surface. “I don’t understand that question on a night like this,” he snapped. “I don’t like that stupid bloody question.”

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Wednesday 27th May 2009

• Manchester United manager says Barcelona were too good
• Ronaldo says he doesn’t know if he will stay at United

Sir Alex Ferguson admitted his Manchester United team had been outplayed and condemned their “shoddy” defending on a night which ended with Cristiano Ronaldo reigniting fears over his future.

“We were well beaten, the better team won and there’s nothing we can do about it now,” said Ferguson. “There’s a dis­appointment in the performance, some ­individuals will feel it themselves when they look at how they played.”

The United manager bemoaned his team’s lack of possession, compounded by their poor use of the ball when they did get hold of it. “With the players we have, I would have expected better. You have to give credit to a very good Barcelona team because if they get in front they can make it very ­difficult for you to get the ball back. But it’s difficult to put your finger on it. When we did get possession we didn’t do enough with it.

“The disappointment is that we had to wait several minutes to get the ball off them but then, when we did get it, we didn’t use it well enough. It was an off night. We found the mountain too big to climb after going a goal down. We knew before the game what a good football team they are and, after the first goal, they just kept possession. They have to be the best at what they do and it’s credit to them that they play with that philosophy. They all want to play, they all want to take the ball – it was too much for us.”

However, Ronaldo said the defeat was in part down to Ferguson’s tactics. “We had 10 [good] minutes and then we never found ourselves again,” he said. “The tactics were not good and everything went wrong.” The forward also left his future open to doubt. Asked whether he would be at Old Trafford next season, he replied: “I don’t know.”

Ferguson was particularly disappointed about the manner in which Nemanja Vidic had allowed Samuel Eto’o to get past him for the opening goal. “Our whole season has been built on our defensive strength but they were very shoddy goals,” said the United manager. “It has to be said that it was shoddy defending, particularly the first goal, which gave them a great boost.

“That goal was a killer for us. It was their first attack and it was a bad start for us. We had been confident and bright at the start but we got nervous after the goal. We had plenty of time to recover and had some half-chances in the second half but the crosses were disappointing. We weren’t at our best. We didn’t plan to concede that early but it’s a fact and we didn’t deal with it well enough. That’s the story.”

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Wednesday 27th May 2009

• Prince William to attend game as FA representative
• Sir Bobby Charlton looking forward to ’special’ final

Sales of alcohol banned as fans descend

Twenty thousand Manchester United fans have tickets for the match but another 10,000 were expected to make the journey to Italy despite pleas not to travel without a ticket. The authorities in Rome were bracing themselves for a similar number of Spanish fans, with fears that the high number of ticketless supporters could lead to trouble before kick-off.

To avoid violence, city officials have banned the sale of alcohol around the stadium and in airports and stations until Thursday morning. Rome’s mayor Gianni Alemanno said: “I have asked [interior] minister, Roberto Maroni, to have maximum attention from the security officers to avoid any incidents. We have [also] spoken to Rome football fans and asked them to show maximum solidarity.”

Thirty scheduled flights to the Eternal City were due to depart today from Manchester Airport, where extra staff have been brought in to cope with demand. Fans were warned by police they had no chance of getting into the Stadio Olimpico without a genuine match ticket, which contains personal details of each ticket holder in a micro-chip. Supporters will also have to produce photographic identification.

Seventy-three banning orders are in place ensuring convicted hooligans from Manchester have to hand over their passports before the game, with police monitoring UK airports for known troublemakers.

British police have urged United supporters to use a public transport pass for football fans to get to the stadium for free – and not walk to the ground, a route which passes bars known to be haunts of notorious hooligan gangs, known as Ultras, who it is feared may target travelling fans.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) have 12 officers on duty in Rome, some in uniform and others in plain clothes acting as hooligan spotters. GMP superintendent John Graves, who will head co-ordination with the Italian police, said he hoped British fans would behave “impeccably”.

If United become the first team to retain the trophy since the modern format of the competition was adopted in the early 1990s, a parade through the city of Manchester will take place tomorrow, with tens of thousands expected to welcome the players home.

Prince William to join United fans in Rome

Prince William will tonight join thousands of Manchester United fans in Rome for the Champions League final. The Prince has been invited by the Football Association to attend the match against Barcelona in his capacity as the organisation’s president.

Ahead of kick-off he will be granted an audience with King Juan Carlos of Spain, who will cheer on United’s opponents. He will also meet Fifa and Uefa representatives at the Stadio Olimpico.

A spokesman for St James’s Palace said: “The Prince will meet key Fifa and Uefa officials and other dignitaries in private before the match, during half-time and after the match. [He] will be accompanied by senior FA officials, including its chairman Lord Triesman.”

Charlton anticipating ’special’ final

Sir Bobby Charlton cannot wait for tonight’s showdown between Manchester United and Barcelona. As a former winner of Europe’s most prestigious club competition, Charlton realises how difficult it will be for United to achieve back-to-back success.

Obviously, United legend Charlton wants the Red Devils to come out on top. However, the former World Cup winner also spoke of his admiration for Barcelona, and is looking forward to the two best club sides on the planet going head to head.

“There will be billions of people watching around the world and like me I think they are anticipating something special,” said Charlton. “It is the best two teams in Europe. Manchester United have a reputation for the kind of football they have always played. Barcelona have the same reputation.

“They have exciting players and inventive players. Barcelona have Lionel Messi, Samuel Eto’o and Andres Iniesta. They are very thoughtful players, really good strikers. But we have Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo, Michael Carrick and Paul Scholes, who are thoughtful and inventive as well. It is really hard to choose who is going to win.”

United have already managed something no side has achieved since 1997 by reaching the final again in an attempt to retain their trophy. However, Charlton does not feel defeat in the Italian capital this evening would be a disaster for the Old Trafford outfit.

“Whenever I feel this club might have reached the end of the road in what has been a fantastic period, they come up with something else,” he said. “This club has more success in front of it. I am sure about that.”

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Tuesday 26th May 2009

• No club has successfully defended its Champions League title
• Real Madrid still well ahead in European Cup history

Manchester United stand on the brink of history tonight, potentially the first club successfully to defend the Champions League and the first English team to win a quadruple, but Sir Alex Ferguson is already ­challenging them to set even greater ambitions. The most successful manager in the business ­considers Real Madrid’s nine European Cups a realistic target. “Possibly not in my time,” he said, “but it’s something to aim for.”

Having pulled level with Liverpool on 18 league titles, United can round off an epic season by winning the European Cup for the third time in Ferguson’s tenure, and the fourth in total, if they beat Barcelona here. Catching Madrid might be a fanciful target, as might emulating the seven-times winners Milan, but Ferguson is also acutely aware that United, the club whose moderate European record was for so long a source of great frustration to him, would then be level with Ajax and Bayern Munich in “the pantheon of European football” and only one behind Liverpool.

“It’s unusual that no one has defended it since the Champions League started [in 1992],” Ferguson said. “If you look at the history, through the 1960s and 1970s, it was done regularly, teams winning it two or three times in a row and cycles of great teams like Bayern, Ajax and Real Madrid. I can’t give you a reason but we have an opportunity to change that and I just hope we can take it.

“To be considered a great team, you have to win this competition. It’s a ­prerequisite, as far as I’m concerned, and it’s something I’ve repeated many times, that we should have done ­better in Europe. This ­[winning] would put us alongside some of the great clubs in Europe. And this ­particular team has that kind of future – it’s a young team with the right kind of experience that could very well [win it more] in future years.”

Ferguson’s hopes of a victory parade in Manchester city centre on Thursday have been enhanced by Rio Ferdinand ­declaring himself fit but the manager is mindful of the quality of their opposition, referring to Barcelona’s recent 6-2 win over Real Madrid and commenting: “That wasn’t a defeat, that was an annihilation.”

Nonetheless Ferguson felt sufficiently emboldened to remind the Spanish ­journalists who have travelled to Rome that United are “better than Madrid”. He also dared to refer to Barcelona as “my lucky team” but spoke about the Catalan club with great admiration.

“Look at their semi-final [against ­Chelsea]. Everybody said they would struggle at the back without Rafael ­Marquez and Carles Puyol but, against one of the strongest attacks in Europe, the only goal they conceded was a fantastic volley that would have beaten any defence and any goalkeeper in the world. I’ve read that Barcelona are the favourites and that we are the favourites but the truth is it’s incredibly tight.”

Barcelona, Ferguson feels, are the classic, modern-day Champions League specialists, a side whose “players swarm forward from midfield and full-back positions” and mean “you get four or five on the break in these group counter-attacks”. The return of Ferdinand could be vital, the England international training with the rest of the squad on the Stadio Olimpico pitch and reporting no lingering effects from his calf injury.

“I don’t see any problems,” Ferdinand said. “The manager knows I wouldn’t put myself in a position to be involved if I wasn’t ready. It’s all good.”

How Ferdinand and his fellow ­defenders cope against Barcelona’s fluid attack could decide the game, particularly as their manager, Pep Guardiola, is confident Thierry Henry and Andrés Iniesta will be fit to provide back-up for Lionel Messi, the one player in the world with genuine ­credentials to challenge Cristiano Ronaldo as the most devastating footballer of the 21st century.

“They can change a game and counter the impact of any coaches,” Ferguson said of the two players who could conceivably be the centrepiece of the night. “They have the ability and courage to attack defenders all the time, no matter how many tackles against them, no matter how many times they are fouled, they get up and want the ball. No matter how you try to stop Messi there are always moments when he drives at you with the ball and you think, ‘Oh no, not again’. They’re different types of players but at the end of the day how do you divide them? You can’t.”

Before the 1999 final Ferguson’s team‑talk was arguably one of his best, telling his players that walking past the trophy at the end of the match without being allowed to touch it would be the worst moment of their professional lives. This time, however, he is still searching for inspiration. “I’ve not thought one word,” he said. “These things usually come to me in the middle of the night, about three in the morning, when I try to get some ­inspiration from the deep chambers of my tiny brain – but at the moment nothing is coming out.”

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Tuesday 26th May 2009

• Manchester United centre-back recovers from calf strain
• 30-year-old set to play in a second Champions League final

It would have been a bad sign for Manchester United if Rio Ferdinand was at his most intense tonight. The centre-half, who has been absent from the team with a calf strain since 5 May, only gets overwrought when he is not on the field. His celebrations in the directors’ box were boisterous, for instance, when Federico Macheda scored a stoppage-time winner against Aston Villa in April.

Ferdinand was confident of his fitness last night. “The injury is fine and I have trained for the last few days,” he said. The defender is certainly expected to play against Barcelona and a laid-back demeanour should be in evidence. It is the aftermath of games that can hurl him into turmoil.

He portrays himself as a man whose reaction to defeat borders on the absurd. “When I lose,” he admitted, “my mum and dad can’t get hold of me for days. I won’t speak to them. They will text me and say that they know I am upset but just want to say hello. And I just won’t have it.

“Ask the groundsman or anyone. If I walk in from training and I have lost then people will look at me and think: ‘Yep, he has lost today.’ I can’t help it. It was like at Wigan, we won but they scored first and all their fans were giving it this and that towards where we were sitting. Then we scored and I was, like, the loudest person in the directors’ box. I turned to Fletch [Darren Fletcher] and said: ‘If they score again now I am absolutely f****d.’ When we scored the second goal I just got up and left straight away.”

His frame of mind could reflect early days with West Ham and Leeds, where prizes were not really expected. The opportunities at United may seem all the more precious. Immediately after beating Chelsea to win the Champions League last season he, Michael Carrick and Owen Hargreaves, who has missed the whole of this campaign, sat in the dressing room and were already talking about their eagerness to experience the final of the tournament all over again.

Any footballers might speak of such an ambition, but United are currently at a level where it is a wholly practical conversation. Ferdinand makes no effort to disguise his confidence about beating Barcelona, who were on the verge of elimination to Chelsea in their semi-final until a goal in the dying seconds.

“Yes,” Ferdinand said, “there is stuff to take from the Chelsea game. We can play like that if we want. We can be a defensive team. But I also think we are the best counterattack team in the world. There is no team that can do that like us. Barcelona will be wary of it.”

With his fitness problems, it might seem that the 30-year-old is encountering the troubles of a veteran. But it is Ferdinand’s view that a bad back has been at the root of the problem, and that sessions with an osteopath have dealt with the matter. This point in United’s history is not the moment for anyone to spare a thought for retirement.

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Tuesday 26th May 2009

• Supporters to watch game on screens in rented space
• Alcohol ban imposed in Italian capital before final

It is a corner of a foreign field that will – if not forever then certainly for one night only – be the red half of Manchester. “Fergie’s Field”, on the outskirts of Rome, will tomorrow night play temporary host to a big screen and 3,200 fans hoping to roar his team to back-to-back Champions League victories.

An enterprising entrepreneur has taken over some fields and a party venue on the edge of the city to provide a temporary home to the legions of Manchester United fans who have ignored warnings from organisers and the Foreign Office and arrived without tickets for the showpiece final against Barcelona.

It has been billed as the dream final, pitting Barca’s purist footballing philosophy against what many pundits have called Sir Alex Ferguson’s greatest ever squad.

While the number of fans travelling without tickets is expected to be down on previous years due to the recession and repeated warnings from Uefa about the lack of big screens in the city and an alcohol ban, thousands are still expected to flood into Rome without a ticket.

Conor Nolan, the 32-year-old property developer turned events organiser behind Fergie’s Field, said the idea was to give fans a place to get together and drink, and provide the ticketless with somewhere to watch the match on screens.

Emerging from a meeting with the chief of the Rome police, Nolan said 3,200 fans had pre-booked and 1,000 would camp in the adjoining fields. “We’re doing [the authorities] a favour, taking away the people who would otherwise be on the streets,” he said.

Nolan said he convinced the police chief to “look at it very favourably”, but not to lift a ban on alcohol sales due to take effect at 11pm [TUE] tonight. The bar was doing a brisk trade in lager at €3 a pint. But none of the customers appeared to know the taps were due to be closed.

Asked how he thought they might react, the site’s Italian manager, Alfredo Iorio, winced. “It’s going to be hard,” he said.

The ban, which will cover alcohol sales in shops and ban drinking outside, has been introduced as one of a number of measures designed to quell the possibility of any serious disorder. Previous matches involving English teams have provoked attacks from groups of Roma-supporting Ultras at various known trouble spots.

With tickets still available at up to £3,000 on some websites today, Uefa repeated its warning to fans not to purchase tickets from touts.

It said a number of forged tickets had been detected on the streets of Rome in recent days and warned that anyone purchasing one would not be allowed in because they would not contain sophisticated chip technology introduced for the first time by organisers

As players and managers from both sides went through their pre-match media routines, fans sweltering in temperatures of up to 33C were scouring the streets for tickets and taking in the local sights.

“The atmosphere is good. The weather is good,” said Matt, from Canning Town in London. “The only thing is there don’t seem to be so many fans,” said Dave, another Londoner, from Bethnal Green. “I think it’s the economy. I think a lot of fans will fly in and straight out again.”

Many millions more will watch on big screens and in their living rooms around the UK, Europe and the world. The match is also crucial for ITV. Having invested hundreds of millions in live football rights, it will be hoping for a bumper ratings that top the peak audience of 14.6m that tuned in to watch United triumph over Chelsea on penalties in Moscow last year. With figures for Sky’s simulcast included, more than 16.6m watched last year’s shoot out.

If United win, it will be their fourth European Cup, putting them one behind rivals Liverpool. There will also be a financial boost. An economic study by Champions League sponsors Mastercard said victory would be worth £96m.

Sun, sweat, and a search for tickets

Some time today it became clear that I had, like thousands of Manchester United fans, landed in possibly the worst place in Europe to watch the Champions League final. Rome.

Travelling with only the hope of a ticket is bad enough, but there is also the fact that there are no big screens in town, no booze (prohibition started at 5pm), and precious little sympathy from Rome’s police and fans. For us there was just sweltering heat and outrage at Uefa for giving such a tiny allocation of tickets to real fans instead of the mythical “football family” of corporate sponsors and neutrals.

My flight (on Monday from Bristol) was packed and few people had tickets. Most were prepared to try the black market; some spoke of “just being there”, despite Foreign Office travel advice and tales of buttock-slashing Ultras on the hunt.

Rumour and counter-rumour swirled around. The Campo di Fiori piazza was said to be off limits; some even reckoned the Trevi fountain a potential trouble spot. The Colosseum has become a totem of football’s corporate hell. Uefa flunkeys on Monday enjoyed a concert by Andre Bocelli there. Outside there is the Uefa Champions Festival, where official match balls are on sale for €110 each.

Desperate fans met here and today Roma fans were offering tickets for £1,800 each. But if officials are to believed, nobody will get in with tickets in someone else’s name.

By the Colosseum, They had travelled to Manchester two years ago to see their team beaten 7-1. A small, sweet revenge. A United fan was – out of kindness, he said – selling a pair to a father and son for £1,200. If officials are to believed, they won’t get in with electronic tickets in someone else’s name anyway – though most dismiss this as scare tactics. Many fans are veterans of Barcelona 99 or Moscow 08 – when few failed to wangle their way in. But hope in Rome is fading. Earlier at the airport a group of Americans were overheard complaining they knew no one playing. A Malaysian businessman arrived with a son wearing an Istanbul 05 T-shirt (Yep, when Liverpool won). Would I sup with these devils? You betcha.

Gwyn Topham

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Tuesday 26th May 2009

• Ferdinand says he would not play if he was not 100% fit
• Barcelona hopeful Thierry Henry and Andrés Iniesta will feature

Manchester United have breathed a sigh of relief after Rio Ferdinand declared himself fit for tomorrow night’s Champions League final. The centre-half has not featured for Manchester United since the semi-final second-leg victory away to Arsenal three weeks ago and his recovery from a calf injury is a boost to Sir Alex Ferguson’s side, which the manager says is on the verge of greatness.

“My injury is fine, I’ve been training the last couple of days with the team – I feel good and I’m glad to be back,” Ferdinand said. He is likely to replace Jonny Evans in the centre of defence to restore his successful partnership with Nemanja Vidic, which kept the feted Barcelona front three of Thierry Henry, Lionel Messi and Samuel Eto’o scoreless over both legs of their semi-final last year.

Ferdinand insisted he would not risk the team by putting himself forward for selection if he was not 100%. “I wouldn’t do that,” he said. “There is no way I will play if my fitness was detrimental to the team. Tomorrow is more about the team winning than me playing in a cup final. In any case, I have been working hard with the medical staff and training well. There are no problems. I am fine.”

Should United win in Rome tomorrow night it will be the club’s fourth European title and their third under Ferguson, equalling the record set by Liverpool’s Bob Paisley, but the United manager had bad news for their rivals when he suggested the current United squad’s best days are ahead of it.

“[Tomorrow] is an opportunity for us to get that victory that would put us alongside a lot of the great teams of Europe and this particular team is for the future,” he said. “It is a young team with the right kind of experience and could do well in the next few years and hopefully tomorrow we can endorse that.”

A fourth European Cup success will put United on a par with Ajax and Bayern Munich. However, no team has successfully defended the trophy since the Champions League’s inception, and no one the European Cup since Milan lifted back-to-back titles in 1989 and 1990.

“It hasn’t been done,” Ferguson said. “We’re good at first things, doing things for the first time, and hopefully it is another opportunity for us to do that tomorrow. It is interesting, I think unusual, that nobody has defended it since the Champions League started and if you look over the history, going back to the 1960s-70s it was done regularly – teams going two, three years in a row winning it.

“Cycles of great teams like Ajax, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, of course. I can’t give you a reason for it, but we have an opportunity to change that and hopefully we will take it,” added the United manager, who said he had given no thought as yet to his team-talk, saying: “These things usually come to me in the night.”

However the Scot does not think he will have to instil his team with hunger or motivation, even after last year’s success, citing examples in the quarter- and semi-finals where they displayed their desire.

“When the chips were down in Porto they rose to that with a fantastic performance and I think in the second leg at the Emirates, where Arsenal have never lost,” he said. “The team showed their capabilities, they didn’t go beyond themselves, they played to their capabilities.”

Barcelona, meanwhile, are hopeful Thierry Henry and Andrés Iniesta will be fit to play in Rome. Iniesta is recovering from a strained thigh muscle and Henry is bidding to shake off a knee injury. “Today is the last training session and we will see how their condition is,” coach Pep Guardiola told a news conference. “I think they will be there tomorrow. I am confident.”

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Tuesday 26th May 2009

• Ronaldo reveals the whole team have been practising penalties
• United’s approach differs to that of Barcelona’s

Cristiano Ronaldo has revealed that the whole Manchester United team have been practising penalties ahead of tomorrow night’s Champions league final.

Last season the Reds famously won the trophy in a dramatic shoot-out in Moscow when Chelsea’s John Terry slipped on his approach to the spot and Nicolas Anelka missed the deciding penalty. This time round United are leaving nothing to chance, Ronaldo saying he had been practising penalties “a lot.” He added: “As a team, too.”

His comments contrast with those of Barcelona’s midfielder Xavi who said this week that the Spanish champions had not been doing any extra practice.

“It would be a bit daft as you don’t get match-day tension in training,” the midfielder said, though he admitted he would be willing to step up. “I like taking on the responsibility at times like that and I’m one of the players who usually takes them.”

United’s victory in Moscow last season was the ninth European Cup final to be decided on penalties and the fourth in this decade. Liverpool’s fourth European Cup success, in 1984, came after the first ever shootout, beating AS Roma 4-2 on spot-kicks after the final at tomorrow night’s venue, the Stadio Olimpico, finished 1-1 after extra-time.

The Merseyside club’s next success, in 2005, also came courtesy of a shootout. Their 3-2 victory over AC Milan makes them the only club to win two European Cups on penalties. Milan prospered in a shootout two years previously, defeating Juventus 3-2 after their dour 0-0 all-Italian final.

The other teams to win the European Cup on penalties are Bayern Munich (2001), Juventus (1996), Red Star Belgrade (1991), Guus Hiddink’s PSV (1988) and Steau Bucharest (1986).

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Tuesday 26th May 2009

• United set to back down on fee for ‘over-priced’ Carlos Tevez
• Players struggle after leaving Old Trafford, warns Gill

David Gill, Manchester United’s chief executive, has indicated the club may back down in their dispute with Carlos Tevez’s advisers and pay the figure required to keep him at Old Trafford despite publicly admitting they think the player is overpriced.

United will have to pay £25.5m to turn Tevez’s two-year loan arrangement into a permanent deal, a figure that Gill described as “a bit toppy”, despite being the man who signed the provisional contract two years ago.

Gill has been trying to persuade Kia Joorabchian, the head of the ­consortium that owns Tevez’s economic rights, to renegotiate the terms and lower his ­valuation of the player, possibly by as much as a third, but it is becoming increasingly apparent to United that they are not going to get their way.

“It’s clear that if we wish to secure his [Tevez’s] rights and enter into a personal contract with him that we need to pay a certain sum,” Gill said. “That is £25.5m. It’s a decision we are now assessing. Our honest opinion in the current economic climate is that it is a bit toppy but that’s not to say we won’t pay that. Other clubs may be prepared to pay that, or more, so we have to understand that we operate in a certain marketplace.”

The announcement represents a subtle yet crucial change in position, Gill having previously made it clear that United would conclude the transfer but only on their terms. The dispute has been described as a staring contest between Gill and Joorabchian – and Gill’s admission ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League final can be interpreted as him being the first to blink.

Whether Tevez would want to remain at Old Trafford is a complex issue when the striker is known to be disillusioned and, in the words of one of his representatives, “humiliated” by the disclosure that the club no longer values him as highly as two years ago.

Real Madrid have already offered Joorabchian a £40m package for Tevez to move to Spain, and a number of English clubs, led by Manchester City, have also expressed a firm interest. However, Gill believes Tevez would prefer to remain at United at the end of a season in which they could win four major trophies.

“It is difficult to leave Manchester United,” Gill said. “The game is littered with players who have left us and will say that after Manchester United it is downhill. Hopefully they get the right advice, they understand that and make the right decision.”

Another meeting with Joorabchian has been pencilled in for next week when Gill will, once again, ask for the fee to be brought down below £20m. Failing that, however, United must decide whether to bite the bullet and pay up or try to bring in a replacement striker for less money.

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Tuesday 26th May 2009

• Manchester United full-back tells Ribéry to move to Old Trafford
• ‘Only Cristiano knows if he will leave United,’ says Evra

Patrice Evra has been advising his France team-mate Franck Ribéry to join him at Manchester United.

Responding to the continued speculation linking Cristiano Ronaldo with a move away from Old Trafford, the United full-back admitted he did not know whether the Portuguese winger would stay or go but did highlight a suitable replacement.

Ribéry has been in superb form for a struggling Bayern Munich side this year and is likely to attract interest from other big European clubs in the summer.

“Many say Cristiano will leave but only he knows the answer,” said Evra. “It’s clear a guy like Franck would be the ideal solution for United if Cristiano left. Of course I talk to Franck about it, I tell him ‘you had better come here’.”

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Monday 25th May 2009

• United winger comes off badly in comparison
• ‘The world can see Messi is the boss,’ says Barça midfielder

It is the debate that will not go away in the build-up to the Champions League final but the Barcelona midfielder Xavi ­Hernández has refused to compare Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo because, he says, the Portuguese winger would come off so badly.

Xavi revealed that, as well as Ronaldo, he is a big admirer of Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard but insisted that Messi is simply untouchable. “Messi is the best player in the world by a distance, he’s the No1,” Xavi said. “There is nobody at all like him. I don’t want to compare him to anyone because it’ll just damage the other player if I do. For me Messi is easily the best.

“All due respect to Ronaldo and all the other great players on the world stage but Messi is proving that he is better than ­everyone else. The world can see that he’s the boss. I’ve never seen anything like it. In a game, in the training sessions, never. I wouldn’t swap him for any player.”

The Barcelona centre-back Gerard Piqué insists that while ­Ronaldo is the only player capable of challenging Messi as the world’s best, not enough has been said about another former team-mate of his: Wayne Rooney.

“Ronaldo has everything: dribbling, shooting, heading and goals,” Piqué said. “Although he’s a tiny little vain when it comes to fashion and looking at himself in the mirror, he’s great fun and a very likeable person. And there are no words to describe how good he was last season. He is one of the best players in the world: only Messi can challenge him for that [title].

“Maybe people don’t talk about Rooney as much as they should because he does not score that many goals, but how many does he provide? I have never seen anyone as strong as Wazza. He dribbles, he runs, he fights and he fires absolute missiles. If he’s up for it, no one can stop him. He is a superstar, absolutely world class.”

Piqué also believes that given more minutes Carlos Tevez would prove to be a huge success at Old Trafford and described Nemanja Vidic as flawless. “Tevez bites. He never, ever gives a ­single ball up for lost. He is a wonderful man to be able to throw on and if he played more his goal-scoring figures would be scandalous. And as for Vidic, he’s strong, scared of no one and never makes mistakes. He’s a nine out of 10 every single match. He is obsessed with doing things right and doesn’t have a single weak point.”

Xavi added that Barcelona would not compromise their style in order to defeat Manchester United, even if Sir Alex ­Ferguson’s side adopt the ­defensive approach that so nearly frustrated the Spanish champions against Chelsea – the same style that United used to such great effect in the semi-finals last season, defeating Barcelona 1-0 on aggregate to reach the final in Moscow.

“We have a crystal clear philosophy of football and it’s taken us this far,” Xavi said. “We will play on the attack right from the first minute. We will play to win, as we always do. I don’t know what ­Ferguson will decide. He’s admitted he knows how much we like to have the ball and that when we have possession we can be very dangerous, so I can’t predict what they will do. Last year, they were very defensive. At Old Trafford they let us have the ball but they got that goal and we couldn’t score.

“But United are certainly one of the best technical footballing teams and they share a good deal of our philosophy. They like to have the ball, dominate the game and get at the opposition. I think the team that has the most of the ball and uses it best in Rome will have the best chance.”

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Monday 25th May 2009

• Defender shrugs off calf injury in time to face Barcelona
• United players set to pay tribute to banned Darren Fletcher

Rio Ferdinand eased any lingering fears about his fitness ahead of the Champions League final by coming through his most arduous training session since suffering the calf injury that jeopardised his appearance in Rome.

Ferdinand flew out with the rest of Sir Alex Ferguson’s players today after taking a full part in morning training. There was no apparent reaction to the problem that forced him to miss Manchester United’s past four matches. United will train at the Stadio Olimpico tomorrow night, and if Ferdinand is fully involved again he is expected to be declared fit to take over from Jonny Evans in the centre of defence against Barcelona, despite Ferguson’s misgivings about Ferdinand not having played since the second leg of the semi-final three weeks ago.

“It’s not the best situation,” Ferguson said, although the United manager is encouraged by the memory of Ferdinand fitting seamlessly back into the team – after a 24-day lay-off – in the 1–0 defeat of Porto in the second leg of the quarter-final. “He’s very lucky that he’s a natural athlete, so that gives us hope,” Ferguson added.

Ferdinand’s availability would mean Ferguson can field essentially his first-choice team apart from the absence of Darren Fletcher, who would almost certainly have been involved were it not for the red card that tarnished United’s elimination of Arsenal. Fletcher was with the squad when they left Manchester airport, travelling as a “fan”, and his team-mates are exploring ways to mark his contribution if they retain the trophy. One possibility is that they will wear T-shirts in his name for the lap of honour, as they did for Alan Smith when he missed the 2006 Carling Cup final victory because of a broken leg. United, however, will refrain from offering Fletcher the opportunity to collect the medal that goes to an ambassador of the club. Sir Bobby Charlton received this honour after last season’s final against Chelsea, who sent their chief executive, Peter Kenyon, up the steps to collect theirs. United must choose whether Charlton should be their representative once again, although Bryan Robson or Ole Gunnar Solskjaer might get the chance this time.

While Ferdinand appears to be winning his fitness battle, Thierry Henry and Andrés Iniesta have both given Barcelona hope that they will be fit after taking part in the club’s final training session before flying to Rome today. In both cases, however, the players were limited to a restricted programme of exercises, and the coach, Pep Guardiola, admitted he is uncertain whether they will be ready in time. “If it were down to willpower they would be there, but it’s their muscular fibres which will decide,” he said. “I have faith but, until Tuesday, we won’t know.”

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Monday 25th May 2009

• More supporters heeding Uefa advice not to travel
• Venues sell thousands of tickets to show final live

With official advice not to travel without a ticket, gloomy economic news and warnings about potentially violent trouble–spots ringing in their ears, thousands of Manchester United supporters are staying at home to watch Wednesday’s Champions League final on big screens.

Supporters’ groups expect the numbers travelling speculatively to Rome in the hope of getting a ticket to be well down on the number that went to Barcelona to watch the 1999 final, the last comparable trip to continental Europe.

While going abroad to follow your team used to be the ultimate badge of honour among fans, supporters’ groups and academics believe the expense of watching modern football combined with efforts to discourage ticketless fans from attending have caused a cultural shift.

The Manchester United Supporters Trust has sold out 8,000 tickets for screenings at 11 venues – eight in Manchester, two in London and one in Dublin – for the match. Many others will cram into special screenings in pubs and clubs.

On top of the 20,000 guaranteed a seat, up to 10,000 ticketless fans are still expected to make the journey to Rome by land, sea and air. Airlines have put on extra flights and the AA has advised those driving to leave plenty of time, estimating it will take 20 hours to get from Manchester to Rome.

But with the recession also likely to be causing some fans to tighten their belts, many thousands more have opted to stay at home in the expectation of enjoying an atmosphere that will be difficult to recreate anywhere outside the Stadio Olimpico.

In an effort to avoid any repeat of the violence that has marred some recent visits by English teams to Rome, when local Ultras attacked supporters at various known flashpoints, alcohol has been banned in the city on the day of the game and there will be no big screens on which to watch the action. About 20,000 police will be on duty in the city centre.

“You’re just not going to get the same atmosphere over there if you haven’t got a ticket to the game,” said supporters’ trust chief executive Duncan Drasdo.

He said generations of fans who had been priced out of the game now tended to watch on big screens with friends.

“It’s not just young people. If you look at the people who live in the streets around a ground like Old Trafford, they are not the ones with tickets. They have all moved out to the more prosperous suburbs. Instead, they watch the match at the pub with their friends,” said Drasdo.

Some academics also believe that with tickets for big matches expensive and hard to come by, and the grounds of the biggest clubs dominated by season ticket holders, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with friends in pubs has come to replicate the experience of those who stood on the terraces in the 1960s and 1970s.

Uefa has tried to discourage fans from travelling without a ticket and organisers in Rome have warned that sophisticated new tickets that contain a chip with the buyer’s details on will be cross-checked with photographic ID at the stadium.

But thousands of the 10,000 tickets sold over the internet and the 17,000 allocated to sponsors, the Uefa “football family” and broadcast partners are expected to end up in the hands of touts. Yesterday, dozens of websites still had tickets advertised at between £950 and £3,000.

United fans have been warned by the Foreign Office to travel straight to the ground on free buses provided and not to take any other mode of transport.

In particular, they were warned not to take the Metro to Piazzale Flaminio or to use the Ponte Duca D’Aosta bridge, with the official travel advice saying there had “been trouble along this route to the stadium on many occasions”. They have also been warned to stay as far away as possible from Campo dei Fiori.

A Uefa spokesman defended Uefa’s allocation of tickets, saying 40,000 of the 67,000 available had gone to the two clubs.

Both Manchester United and Uefa have warned fans not to travel without tickets.

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Monday 25th May 2009

• Both players will travel to Rome for the Champions League final
• Pep Guardiola also bringing inexperienced defenders as cover

Barcelona’s Thierry Henry and Andrés Iniesta have returned to squad training as they continue their battle to regain fitness for the Champions League final against Manchester United on Wednesday. Both players trained at a lower intensity than their team-mates in the side’s final session before leaving for Rome.

Henry has been out with a knee injury since Barça’s 6-2 win at Real Madrid at the beginning of the month, while midfielder Iniesta has had a thigh problem picked up a week later in the 3-3 draw against Villarreal.

It remains to be seen if the pair will now be fit to face United, but the signs are looking more promising for the manager, Pep Guardiola, and both will travel to Italy with the rest of the squad.

Also included in the travelling party are young defenders Alberto Botía and Marc Muniesa, the 17-year-old who was sent off on his debut in Saturday’s 1-0 home defeat to Osasuna. They will help provide cover for a defence that has lost the full-backs Dani Alves and Eric Abidal to suspension, and centre-backs Rafael Márquez and Gabriel Milito to injury.

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Saturday 23rd May 2009

Sir Alex Ferguson will be aiming for a record-equalling three European crowns against Barcelona in Rome.

Manchester has never pretended to be Monaco, Patrice Evra’s previous place of work, but the poor soul responsible for stopping Lionel Messi in Rome on Wednesday has found good reasons to love the place. He says: “When you play in Old Trafford you don’t need the sunshine. Every day I just say ‘Thank God I play for United’ because it is a privilege to put on that shirt and this is why I enjoy my life in England.”

He means it too. As with all successful recruits to Sir Alex Ferguson’s trophy factory, Evra is consumed by the culture. “In France people maybe say the English are arrogant and in England they say the French are arrogant but I don’t see it that way,” he says. “I enjoy life here and am happy to be a part of the United story and that’s why I say thank you every day.”

With a record-equalling 18th league title on the shelf, Ferguson’s men were in expansive mood during the six hours football scribes were allowed to spend at the club’s training ground at Carrington ahead of Wednesday’s end-game with Barcelona at the Stadio Olimpico.

Mooch around Carrington for a day and you understand how men are drawn from Portugal, Korea, Serbia, Brazil, Bulgaria, France, Argentina, Northern Ireland, Salford and even Merseyside and blended into an indivisible whole. The same amalgamation goes on at Barcelona. If the spectacle of Wayne Rooney and Paul Scholes belting in shots during a training drill is an insufficiently sharp prod to the senses, Evra might wander by to articulate the club’s raison d’être.

To better understand the “story” he eulogises, arguably the world’s best left-back did some research. “Two years ago I started to read a book of the story of Man United and I saw a DVD of the crash at Munich and everything and it made me realise I need to have respect for that shirt because it is a big story and Manchester United is a big family.” Evra has 23 siblings and is well qualified to talk of clan loyalty.

“I don’t just want to say this to look nice in the papers because it is true –we are a big family here and we have the big story and this why Manchester United is a club apart. It is always hard to put on that shirt because every day when you do you are putting the story on your back.”

Some clubs write their own narrative as they bump along. They write fresh mythologies with each campaign. At United and Barça the constellation of human talents spins round a core of agreed ideals. The main one is to attack and to subjugate and never let up. Thus Ferguson and his multi-gifted squad are mirror images of individual and institutional character. Or, as he defined it ahead of the Champions League final: “There’s an expectation that motivates me most of all. The expectation on Manchester United is to win every game, therefore it’s not very east to rest, to take it easy in life, which suits my personality. The fear of losing helps you to be at the top end of your game all the time.”

Fans of other clubs chortle at the Theatre of Dreams rhetoric, and even United are prone to sloganeering. An inscription at the academy declares it to be “a proving ground for tomorrow’s heroes”. But these are only extract expressions of a thoroughly authentic ethos, as Jonny Evans, the young centre-back from George Best territory, testifies.

“I think you just follow their example. You see the hunger they have every day in training and the way they approach it. And they’ve been doing it for years,” Evans says of the team’s older stars. “Sometimes you look at them and think ‘where do they get the drive and the energy from?’ But as I say it’s not just the physical energy it’s mentally as well, wanting to go out and train well and getting yourself up in the mornings and thinking you’ll train hard.”

Evans, who will start in Rome if Rio Ferdinand’s injury flares up again, is a classic Old Trafford find: the product of a United-loving family, shaped, by many years of carving, in the club’s expressive image.

“Yeah, it has been my team,” he says. “My dad, mum and grandparents were all big fans. I started going to the MU centre of excellence when I was nine and had a trial when I was 10 so I have been coming across since I was 10 years old.”

Was the constant shuttling onerous? “No, it was great. There used to be seven or eight of us going across the water and we got to meet some big players. The hardest part of coming was the football because the standard was so much better here than it was back home. But it wasn’t until I was 15 or 16 that I felt I really had a chance of getting into the academy here and think about the first team.”

These deep foundations of culture and knowledge are part of United’s armoury as they endeavour to maintain a 100 per cent record in European Cup finals. In 1968, 1999 and 2008 the teams of Ferguson and Matt Busby emerged from the smoke victorious and now B€usby’s spiritual heir aspires to propel United into “the pantheon of teams who’ve won it four or more times”, and so equal Bob Paisley’s all-time record of three European crowns.

They take a 25-match unbeaten Champions League sequence to Rome as a 67-year-old manager confronts a 38-year-old coach, with a dazzling array of firepower on both sides. United will risk further inciting Catalan passion by appearing in an all-white strip, like the enemy, Real Madrid, as they labour to become the first club since AC Milan in 1990 to retain the club game’s most illustrious trophy.

Without wishing to demean the first side Ferguson sent into combat against Barcelona in a European final (the 1991 European Cup Winners’ Cup), there would be no obvious place for Les Sealey, Clayton Blackmore or the manager’s assistant, Mike Phelan, on a pitch that will sparkle with Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Lionel Messi, Samuel Eto’o, Xavi, Thierry Henry and Andrés Iniesta, assuming the last two overcome their injuries.

It will be Evra’s job to negate the Velcro ball-carrying skills of Messi, who is due a commanding performance against English opposition. Messi’s adversary practised in last year’s semi-finals, a bout that Evra, and United, won. Now he says: “It’s true I was confident before the game because I train every day against players like Ronaldo, Tevez and Rooney. You have a lot of quality there. I was very proud after the game but now it’s a different time.

“Messi is a player who you can block 10 times, but if he passes you once and scores a goal everybody says ‘Evra played very badly against Messi.’ I need that challenge and I like to focus on that. He does amazing things. He’s one of the best players in the world. Ronaldo won the Golden Ball (Fifa world player of the year), he scored 42 goals last season and won the Champions League. This is important. I can show Ronaldo he is still the best player in the world if I play well against Messi.”

A measure of the power and wealth telescoped on to the Stadio Olimpico pitch is that Ferguson could comfortably justify leaving £55m worth of striking talent on the bench. Dimitar Berbatov (£30m) and Carlos Tevez (£25m, the fee due to his owners) would be mere impact players in a side that deployed Ronaldo through the centre and packed the midfield to prevent Xavi and Iniesta constructing an attacking platform for Barça’s Three Amigos.

“Sometimes when Barcelona play they demolish teams. I think Xavi and Iniesta are the real driving force in midfield so I’ve got huge appreciation for how good they are,” Michael Carrick says. These days United are more controlled and controlling in Europe. The charge of the light brigade era is long gone, which is how and why they have reached two consecutive finals. Carrick says: “We believe if we play our best game we’ll win. That’s the challenge, really.”

Ryan Giggs talks of “two massive clubs, with big histories, who play football the right way”. It takes a special contest to make a 35-year-old with 11 Premier League medals and two European Cups go dewey-eyed, but Giggs has been taught the power of the imagination from his first days at the club. “So many individuals,” he muses. “I think everyone’s looking forward to it. Including the players.”

“We both have players who can express themselves in the best possible way. The profile of the final is good. And I hope it lives up to that profile,” Ferguson says. “We have negatives in the game, but when we get a game that paints the real story of football then we’re all lifted by it.”

As Evra said, you make your own sunshine.

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Friday 22nd May 2009

• United officials in discussion with Uefa to resolve problem
• Chips in missing tickets have already been invalidated

More than 200 Manchester United fans whose tickets for Wednesday’s Champions League final have gone missing were assured tonight by the club that they will be issued with duplicates. Old Trafford officials earlier confirmed that 216 tickets were unaccounted for.

United have urged fans not to buy any tickets from unofficial sources. The tickets were part of a batch that were sent out by recorded delivery on Tuesday night.

While United did everything required of them, they have now been informed the tickets did not reach their destination and are presumably heading on to the black market. However, as the chip contained within them has been cancelled, they will not allow admittance to the Stadio Olimpico in Rome next Wednesday to see Sir Alex Ferguson’s side tackle Barcelona.

United officials are in discussion with Uefa to see what can be done on behalf of the unlucky supporters who now face missing the match.

“The tickets that have gone missing are worthless, so we would repeat our advice for fans not to buy tickets from any unofficial source,” said a United spokesman. “We are now in discussion with Uefa as to what can be done for those supporters who have been affected.”

Uefa will be under pressure to simply issue replacements, although given the security that will be in place around the stadium on Wednesday and the limited timescale available, it might not be quite so simple.

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Friday 22nd May 2009

• Macheda and Welbeck to feature in below-strength line-up
• Hull manager says United rotation is worst scenario for his side

Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted he will be “slaughtered” if his severely weakened Manchester United side fail to beat Hull City tomorrow in a match that could have dire consequences for the three north-east clubs fighting relegation.

Ferguson is planning to make extensive changes to his starting line-up but insisted his conscience was clear and argued that the Premier League were partly to blame for scheduling the match three days before the Champions League final.

“Barcelona play on Saturday night and we have got our programme on Sunday,” he pointed out. “England have had a team in the Champions League final for the last five years and it is not as if the Premier League are short of knowledge. They could easily have put the programme on Saturday. I still wouldn’t have played my strongest team, but one or two more maybe would have played.”

Although the absence of most of United’s leading names would appear to work in Hull’s favour, Phil Brown suggested it was the worst possible scenario. The manager would rather know who his players will be facing at the KC Stadium.

“I’ve had a stab [at predicting the United side], but it’s needle in the haystack stuff,” Brown said. “To know who the team is this season has been a strong point of ours. We’ve more or less second-guessed managers on a number of occasions. To not know who the team is could be a massive advantage to Manchester United. The more information I have the better. I dare say there will be a few surprises, but we’ll prepare for that on Sunday.”

Ferguson will field an experimental line-up including two teenagers, Federico Macheda and Danny Welbeck, in attack and possibly a third, Ben Amos, in goal. The fit-again Wes Brown and Gary Neville are available to provide some experience in defence while Rio Ferdinand, recovering from a calf injury, may be risked, but Ferguson said he was entitled to rest the likes of Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo despite the potential implications for Newcastle United, Middlesbrough and Sunderland.

“Our responsibility is to win the European Cup and everyone is aware of that. That’s why we are talking about changes. But it is not a weak team. It is a strong team – a good team, a team with fantastic potential in some cases. I know that if we don’t win on Sunday we will be slaughtered and it will be the ‘worst thing that has happened in the British game’ and people will talk about the integrity of the league. But it is a natural thing for us to use our squad.”

The alternative, he argued, was that a player could be injured and United’s strategy for taking on Barcelona in Rome on Wednesday would be ruined. “The players wouldn’t forgive me if I played the strongest team on Sunday. They would say: ‘What?’ They would possibly be tiptoeing around, knowing they have a European final on the Wednesday. The rest of the league may think it’s good but it could actually be the worst thing that could happen to them. Someone would get one of those 50-50 tackles and be somersaulted over their shoulder in the first tackle and, after that, they might say: ‘Right, that’s enough for me.’ It would be the best thing that could happen to Hull.”

Brown is not so certain, but has no complaints about Ferguson using the full depth of United’s squad. “Whatever team comes out of their dressing room he will have categorically a reason for every one of them playing and it will be a valid ­reason,” he said.

He acknowledged that talk about Ferguson’s selections should not disguise the fact that Hull’s fate is in the balance because of their own poor form over recent months. “It’s not about this game, it is about the 37 before,” Brown said.

Nonetheless Ferguson is mindful of the controversy on the final weekend of the 2006-07 season when he fielded a weakened side that lost 1-0 to West Ham, a result that contributed to Sheffield United being relegated and left their manager, Neil Warnock, fuming.

“I was contemplating ringing the three managers,” Ferguson said, “but Ricky Sbragia has worked here and knows this club and knows what we will do. Alan Shearer and Gareth Southgate have played against us many times and know what it is like to play against Manchester United. They will know we will be doing our best. There has been all this speculation and conjecture and concern, but we have got a league that has the best integrity in the world and we will play our part in that. No matter which team I play it will represent Manchester United in our normal way. We are expected to win and we will go there to win, and that’s the responsibility we always have.”

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Friday 22nd May 2009

• Ferguson believes Rooney is starting to enjoy new position
• Defensive role is ’sacrifice for the team,’ says manager

Sir Alex Ferguson has indicated he is likely to persist with Wayne Rooney on the left side of attack, starting with the Champions League final on Wednesday. Rooney has made it clear he prefers a more central role but his performances over the past few weeks have encouraged Ferguson to persevere with him as a right-footed left-winger, the same role Thierry Henry plays for Barcelona, Manchester United’s opponents in Rome.

Other specialists include Robinho at Manchester City, and Zinedine Zidane also spent parts of his career drifting in from the left, and Ferguson is increasingly enamoured of the idea of a right-sided player operating on the “wrong” flank or, as in the case of Lionel Messi, a left-sided footballer being deployed on the right.

“When forwards attack from wide to inside, they are far more dangerous,” Ferguson explained. “It’s funny when I see centre-forwards starting off in the middle against their markers and then going away from goal. Strikers going inside are far more dangerous, I think. When Henry played as a striker, and sometimes when Wayne does, they try to escape and create space by drifting from the centre to wide positions, when that actually makes them less dangerous.”

Ferguson has relayed this criticism to Rooney, and believes the England international is starting to “enjoy” his new role even though it incorporates more defensive duties than when he plays as a striker. “That is the sacrifice he is making for the team,” Ferguson said. “He is willing to sacrifice the part of the game that every forward in the world wants to do – which is to attack. We have other players who would not be able to do it. But Wayne’s got the stamina and resilience to keep [helping out the defence] and still cause a threat to the other side when he attacks. He’s played the role fantastically.”

Ferguson has had only one other striker who was willing to make the same sacrifices. “Brian McClair was exactly the same,” he said. “I could say to him, ‘Fill in at right-back for 10 minutes’ and he would do it, no matter where he was asked to go on the field.”

Rooney has flourished on the left since being moved out wide during the second half against Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford last month, when a 2–0 deficit was transformed into a 5–2 win. He has kept the role ever since, including in both legs of the Champions League semi-final against Arsenal, but made it clear recently that he is still a reluctant wide man. “Some days you enjoy it, some days it’s not so good,” he said. “Some games you get a lot of freedom, some games you have to defend for the team. I’ve always said that playing up front, obviously with two up, is my favourite position.”

Ferguson, however, is contemplating sticking on Wednesday to the system that was so effective in the away leg of the semi-final, with Cristiano Ronaldo spearheading a three-man attack, with Rooney on the left and Park Ji-sung on the right.

Rooney, Ferguson says, has shown the “improvement we expected from a young player with talent” and, at 23, is less prone to losing his self-control. “There are many attributes but the most important is his fantastic hunger and desire,” Ferguson said. “Of course, you have to channel that desire, and sometimes, with the anger, it exceeds the emotions. But we hope, and we’re getting signs, that the maturity is bringing with it a real professionalism. But he is such a winner. Every training session, the poor referee gets absolutely murdered. Every ball, every tackle that goes in, it’s like a cup final to him.”

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Friday 22nd May 2009

• Manager will demand success against Hull to avoid criticism
• Timing of game could hurt Champions League preparation

Sir Alex Ferguson has told the three north-east, relegation-threatened clubs that he will not allow a weakened team to give Hull City an easy ride on Sunday. However, the Manchester United manager has attacked the timing of the game, claiming it could damage his side’s Champions League quest.

Should Hull beat United on Sunday, they could stay up at the expense of Newcastle, Middlesbrough or Sunderland. All three clubs have distanced themselves from speculation that they could to launch a legal fight against United if they fielded a weakened team on Sunday.

However, just days before a Champions League final against Barcelona, they are aware that Ferguson will rest almost all his senior players to prevent any risk of injury.

“We have a league that has the best integrity in the world and we will play our part in that,” said Ferguson. “No matter which team I play, it will represent Manchester United in the normal way.

“We are expected to win. We will go to win. That is the responsibility we always have.”

However, Ferguson cannot see why this weekend’s games could not have been scheduled for a Saturday to allow an extra day’s preparation time.

“Barcelona are playing on Saturday night yet we have a full programme on Sunday when there is only one play-off game on the Saturday,” said Ferguson. “England have had a team in the Champions League final for the last five years now, so it is not as though the Premier League were short of knowledge.

“They could easily have put the whole programme to a Saturday. That might have made the situation a bit easier. I still would not have played my strongest team of course but there may have been one or two who had played.”

With Rio Ferdinand returning to training today in a bid to prove his fitness after a calf problem, United could have one current England player on duty, while Wes Brown’s comeback from a long-term foot problem may well make it two.

So concerned is Ferguson about the way his club is being portrayed, he did contemplate ringing the respective managers to offer his reassurance, only to decide against it.

“No one should be unduly worried about our intentions,” he said. “I was going to ring them, although eventually I dismissed that idea because they must know we will be doing our best.

“Ricky Sbragia worked here. He knows this club. He knows exactly what we will do. Gareth Southgate and Alan Shearer played against us many times. They know exactly what it is like against Manchester United.

“If we don’t win on Sunday I will be slaughtered on Monday,” he added. “It will be the worst thing that has ever happened to the British game. People will be complaining about me damaging the integrity of our league.”

Posted in News, Syndicated News on Friday 22nd May 2009

• Newcastle manager facing fresh fitness problems
• Injury denies Antonio Valencia his Wigan farewell

Arsenal v Stoke City

Arsenal goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski has recovered from a knee problem to be fit for the final Premier League game of the season against Stoke on Sunday. However, striker Emmanuel Adebayor (groin), midfielder Samir Nasri (knee) and regular No1 Manuel Almunia (ankle) are sidelined. Long-term absentee Tomas Rosicky is back in training, but will not play again this season. Full-back Gaël Clichy (back), William Gallas (knee) and striker Eduardo (ankle) are all sidelined.

Stoke manager Tony Pulis could call on Henri Camara and Danny Pugh for the trip to Arsenal. The Potters won 2–0 at home to Wigan last weekend, and the only alteration to Pulis’s match-day squad will be the return of on-loan Camara, who was unable to face his parent club last time out. Pugh is also likely to return after being left out against Wigan, and is expected to play at left-back.

Arsenal (from): Fabianski, Sagna, Touré, Djourou, Gibbs, Arshavin, Song, Fábregas, Eboué, Walcott, Van Persie, Mannone, Vela, Ramsey, Silvestre, Bendtner, Denilson, Diaby.

Stoke City (from): Sorensen, Wilkinson, Griffin, Shawcross, Abdoulaye Faye, Davies, Dickinson, Lawrence, Delap, Whelan, Etherington, Fuller, Beattie, Simonsen, Cresswell, Pugh, Kelly, Olofinjana, Tonge, Sonko, Cort.

Aston Villa v Newcastle United

Newcastle manager Alan Shearer is facing yet another injury crisis as he prepares for Sunday’s crunch trip to Aston Villa. The club’s only right-back, Habib Beye (hamstring), is out of the match while their only left-back, Jose Enrique (hamstring), has only just returned to full training.

Captain Michael Owen (groin) will undergo a late fitness test and Obafemi Martins is being nursed through his own long-standing groin problem, although Alan Smith (thigh) is fit. Central defender Sébastien Bassong is suspended after losing an appeal against his red card against Fulham last weekend, and he joins the banned Joey Barton on the sidelines.

Aston Villa are confident Ashley Young will be fit. The former Watford player limped out of the second half of last weekend’s 1–1 draw at Middlesbrough with a calf strain but has made good progress in his recovery.

Young’s namesake, right-back Luke, is doubtful with the foot problem which has dogged him in recent weeks. Former Newcastle player James Milner may again deputise at right-back as Villa look for the victory which could see them finish fifth in the final table.

Aston Villa (from): Friedel, Guzan, L Young, Milner, Reo-Coker, Gardner, Davies, Cuéllar, Knight, Shorey, Petrov, Barry, Sidwell, Salifou, Clark, A Young, Heskey, Agbonlahor, Carew, Delfouneso.

Newcastle (from): Harper, Forster, Krul, Enrique, Coloccini, S Taylor, Edgar, Cacapa, Butt, Duff, R Taylor, Gutiérrez, Nolan, Guthrie, Lovenkrands, Geremi, Smith, Martins, Owen, Viduka, Xisco, Ranger.

Blackburn Rovers v West Brom

Blackburn captain Ryan Nelsen has been ruled out of the match against West Brom on Sunday because of a torn calf muscle. On-loan full-back Gaël Givet is expected to recover from a calf strain, as is Andre Ooijer with a hamstring problem. Strikers Roque Santa Cruz (knee) and Jason Roberts (fractured metatarsal) are again sidelined through injury.

West Bromwich defender Shelton Martis will miss the game as he requires a double hernia operation. Ryan Donk, whose loan spell from AZ Alkmaar ends in the summer, is favourite to replace Martis and partner Jonas Olsson. Marek Cech (hamstring) and Paul Robinson (foot) have resumed training and will be vying for the left-back position, but fellow defender Abdoulaye Meite is struggling to overcome a back problem.

Blackburn (from): Robinson, Bunn, Ooijer, Khizanishvili, Samba, Warnock, Givet, Olsson, Villanueva, Tugay, Andrews, Diouf, Treacy, Mokoena, McCarthy, Pedersen, Grella, Doran, Blackman.

West Bromwich (from): Kiely, Zuiverloon, Donk, Olsson, Cech, Robinson, Mulumbu, Greening, Koren, Brunt, Menseguez, Fortune, Velaro, Moore, Carson, Teixeira, Meite, Simpson, Wood.

Fulham v Everton

Everton manager David Moyes is hopeful of being able to select from a near fully-fit squad for the match at Fulham. Moyes has so far resisted the temptation to rest a number of his squad with an FA Cup final just over a week away but if he has plenty of options he may decide Sunday is the time. One of those to benefit could be defender Tony Hibbert, who was an unused substitute in last week’s victory over West Ham after recovering from a neck injury. Phil Jagielka is out for the season after knee surgery.

Everton (from): Howard, Hibbert, Lescott, Baines, Osman, Neville, Fellaini, Vaughan, Pienaar, Cahill, Saha, Jo, Rodwell, Nash, Yobo, Castillo, Jacobsen, Gosling, Vaughan.

Hull City v Manchester United

Hull pair Kamil Zayatte and Bernard Mendy are both in contention for Sunday’s encounter with Manchester United. The pair both missed last weekend’s draw at Bolton with head and toe injuries respectively.

Left-back Andy Dawson is also expected to start the match at the KC Stadium despite struggling this week with illness. Striker Caleb Folan is available again after suspension but on-loan Manucho is unable to play against his parent club. Manager Phil Brown reported that all players trained today with the exception of long-term injury victims Jimmy Bullard, Ian Ashbee and Anthony Gardner.

Sir Alex Ferguson has insisted that, though he will field a weakened team in preparation for the Champions League final, he will not send out a team to lose.

Hull City (from): Myhill, Ricketts, Turner, Zayatte, Dawson, Garcia, Boateng, Barmby, Geovanni, Fagan, Halmosi, Folan, Mendy, Marney, Cousin, Kilbane, Featherstone, Cooper, Doyle, Hughes, France, Duke.

Liverpool v Tottenham Hotspur

Sami Hyypia is expected to play his 464th and final game for Liverpool on Sunday, at home to Tottenham, before leaving for Bayer Leverkusen in the summer. The 35-year-old Finnish defender may not start the match but will get the chance to say goodbye to the Anfield faithful at some point. Manager Rafael Benítez has no injury problems as his team aim to extend their unbeaten home league record to 30 games.

Tottenham winger Aaron Lennon has a groin problem and will miss the match. Jonathan Woodgate (groin) and Benoit Assou-Ekotto (knee) will need late checks, while Darren Bent (knee) has only just returned to training. Michael Dawson (ankle), Tom Huddlestone (knee) and Jamie O’Hara (knee) are out and Wilson Palacios is on compassionate leave.

Liverpool (from): Reina, Arbeloa, Carragher, Hyypia, Agger, Skrtel, Aurelio, Insua, Dossena, Alonso, Gerrard, Mascherano, Lucas, Babel, Benayoun, Kuyt, Riera, Torres, Cavalieri, Ngog.

Tottenham Hotspur (from): Gomes, Cudicini, Corluka, Hutton, Bale, Chimbonda, Assou-Ekotto, Woodgate, King, Zokora, Bentley, Jenas, Modric, Keane, Campbell, Defoe, Pavlyuchenko, Bostock, Gunter.

Manchester City v Bolton Wanderers

Bolton defender Andy O’Brien has recovered from illness and is available for the match against Manchester City. However, Danny Shittu could keep his place in the side following the draw with Hull last weekend. Ricardo Gardner is again sidelined after failing to recover from a hamstring injury.

Bolton (from): Jaaskelainen, Steinsson, Cahill, A O’Brien, Samuel, Taylor, Muamba, McCann, Elmander, Basham, K Davies, Al Habsi, Hunt, Smolarek, Puygrenier, Cohen, Shittu, M Davies, Makukula, Riga.

Sunderland v Chelsea

Sunderland midfielder Steed Malbranque is a doubt for the final-day meeting with Chelsea. The Frenchman suffered a hip injury during Monday night’s 3–1 defeat at Portsmouth, and manager Ricky Sbragia will make a late decision on him. George McCartney (calf) has been back in full training for a fortnight, but is short of match fitness, while Nyron Nosworthy (hamstring) and Craig Gordon (knee) will not be involved.

Michael Ballack is set to return for Chelsea after missing the win over Bolton with flu. Defender Ricardo Carvalho and midfielder Deco are also in contention after recovering from hamstring problems. Chelsea remain without long-term injury victims Joe Cole and Paulo Ferreira. They are both sidelined with knee ligament injuries.

Sunderland (from): Fulop, Colgan, Bardsley, McCartney, Ferdinand, Davenport, Collins, Ben Haim, McShane, Edwards, Richardson, Tainio, Reid, Whitehead, Leadbitter, Malbranque, Yorke, Cissé, Jones, Healy, Murphy.

Chelsea (from): Cech, Hilario, Bosingwa, A Cole, Terry, Ivanovic, Alex, Carvalho, Belletti, Ballack, Obi, Lampard, Kalou, Malouda, Di Santo, Drogba, Anelka, Essien, Mancienne.

West Ham United v Middlesbrough

Carlton Cole could make his first start for West Ham since returning from a six-week lay-off with a groin injury when Middlesbrough travel to Upton Park on Sunday. Cole sustained the injury playing for England against Slovakia but is pushing for a return to the starting line-up.

Danny Gabbidon (back/stomach) returned to full training this week, but Dean Ashton (ankle) and Valon Behrami (knee) will not play again before next season. Defender James Tomkins is suspended after being sent off in the defeat against Everton last weekend.

Middlesbrough winger Stewart Downing faces months on the sidelines as his club attempt to escape relegation. David Wheater and Jérémie Aliadière (both knee) and Gary O’Neil (hip) should make the game at Upton Park, but Emanuel Pogatetz and Didier Digard (both knee), Afonso Alves (fractured metatarsal) and Chris Riggott (ankle) will all be missing again.

West Ham United (from): Green, Neill, Upson, Ilunga, Collison, Noble, Kovac, Stanislas, Boa Morte, Tristán, Cole, Di Michele, Spector, Kurucz, Lopez, Nsereko, Payne.

Middlesbrough (from): Jones, Turnbull, Hoyte, McMahon, Taylor, Grounds, Wheater, Huth, Hines, Aliadière, Tuncay, Bates, O’Neil, Walker, Shawky, Johnson, King.

Wigan Athletic v Portsmouth

Wigan winger Antonio Valencia is unlikely to be granted a farewell appearance against Portsmouth at the JJB Stadium on Sunday as he is struggling with a hamstring problem. Manager Steve Bruce admits it is inevitable the in-demand Ecuador international will leave in the summer with Real Madrid having already reportedly made a bid.

On-loan striker Mido has been sick this week while midfielder Paul Scharner is carrying a knee injury. Goalkeeper Chris Kirkland’s back problem, which has kept him out of the last two Premier League matches, means he is still doubtful. Egypt striker Amr Zaki, injured at West Brom a fortnight ago, has returned home before the end of his loan spell after Bruce decided not to make the deal permanent.

Portsmouth striker David Nugent will miss the trip to Wigan after being booked in for a hernia operation on Monday. Nugent, who had similar surgery last October and in February 2007, joins David James on the sidelines following the England goalkeeper’s successful shoulder operation last Wednesday. Canadian Under-21 international Asmir Begovic is set to deputise again.

Jermaine Pennant, dropped for the win against Sunderland on Monday, returns to the squad just before the expiry of his loan from Liverpool. Niko Kranjcar is back in training after an ankle injury but will not be involved on Sunday.

Wigan (from): Kingson, Melchiot, Figueroa, Edman, Boyce, Bramble, Scharner, Koumas, De Ridder, Cattermole, Brown, Watson, N’Zogbia, Kapo, Mido, Rodallega, Sibierski, McManaman, Pollitt.

Portsmouth (from): Begovic, Johnson, Campbell, Distin, Hreidarsson, Mullins, Hughes, Davis, Pennant, Traoré, Crouch, Utaka, Kanu, Primus, Kaboul, Basinas, Belhadj, Cranie, Mvuemba, Ashdown.