Manchester United news and links

NEMANJA Vidic insists he has a “marvellous understanding” with United boss Sir Alex Ferguson.


Vidic has once again been linked with a big-money move away from Old Trafford in recent days, speculation that was fuelled by his strange withdrawal from Sunday’s FA Cup defeat by Leeds moments before kick-off.

IT’S advantage United in the Carling Cup after the rescheduling of tonight’s postponed Eastlands semi-final.


The Reds have benefited from the rearranged fixtures and gained some solace after their shock FA Cup third round defeat by Leeds.

Local fan Paul Henry talks about the matchday experience in J Stand.

• Worsening conditions jeopardised safety around stadium
• Manchester Carling Cup semi-final already postponed

Arsenal have called off tonight’s Premier League game against Bolton Wanderers at the Emirates Stadium after weather conditions in London worsened this afternoon.

The club had been hopeful that, despite the weather which led to the early postponement of tonight’s Carling Cup semi-final derby between Manchester City and Manchester United, the game could go ahead. However, heavy snowfall during this afternoon meant that safety around the ground could not be guaranteed.

City and United will now try again on 19 January, the date originally scheduled for the second leg, with the return on 27 January. United and City have had league clashes against Hull City and Stoke City respectively postponed as a result. A new date for the other semi-final is set to be announced later today.

With no immediate end in sight to the current cold spell, the disruption could continue into the weekend. All Premier League grounds are required to have undersoil heating, but frozen pitches are likely to be a problem at lower levels and in Scotland.

The Scottish Football Association has urged clubs to make early pitch inspections ahead of their Scottish Cup fourth-round ties, and Celtic’s match at Morton has been postponed.

An SFA spokesman said: “Under the Scottish FA cup competition rules, pitch inspections can be carried out no later than four hours prior to kick-off but given the weather forecast for the week ahead, it is prudent for inspections to be carried out as quickly as possible.”

It is not just football which has been hit by the cold snap. Racing and rugby union have also been hit hard.

Vidic insists he has a ‘marvellous understanding’ with Sir Alex.

Ipswich Town were obliterated as the Reds posted a record home win in 1995.

Manchester City, rather than United, are entering the new decade with the cocksure strut of a financial powerhouse

Apart from the snowfall which smothered the Carling Cup semi‑final between Manchester’s two clubs, 2010 has dawned to wildly contrasting fortunes for City and United. Sunday’s 1-0 FA Cup humbling by Leeds was accompanied by reports that United’s owners, the Florida‑based Glazer family, are trying again to refinance the £700m debts which their 2005 takeover has imposed on the club. For City, Saturday’s 1-0 Cup victory at Middlesbrough has been followed by the solid news that Sheikh Mansour, City’s Abu Dhabi owner, has personally invested £395m in the club since he took over 17 months ago, converting all of it into shares, not loans.

In simple terms, the lottery of English football clubs being companies up for sale on the open market has delivered a winning ticket to the Blues, not the Reds. Mansour has made an enormous financial investment in City, while the Glazers, since they bought United in their bitterly contested takeover, have given the club not one penny to spend. Quite the opposite; their ownership has drained the club of huge sums of money. In only three years up to 30 June 2008, the closing date of their most recent published accounts, United became liable to pay a staggering £263m in interest alone. Despite that, the capital lump sum which United owe to banks and hedge funds has actually snowballed by £159m, from £540m in 2005, to £699m in 2008.

That increase is accounted for partly by the very high interest charged on the £275m the Glazers borrowed from three hedge funds to buy United. When the entire debt was refinanced only 15 months later in August 2006, the hedge fund debt had risen by £79.1m, which included £13.2m for “early redemption”. The refinancing paid that off, leaving United with £525m owed to banks and £138m owed to hedge funds. An estimated £29m was paid in professional fees then, principally to bankers, lawyers and accountants. Reports that the Glazers have appointed two banks,JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank, to seek refinancing again with bank bonds should be understood in that context: huge fees will be charged, there are likely to be early repayment premiums again on the £175m hedge fund debt United now owe, and the refinancing is likely to increase the total debt owed.

The Glazer family’s spokesman refused to comment this week on those reports, and both JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank issued no comments. However, City sources indicated the reports are correct, and the refinancing is thought to be concentrating on the hedge fund debt, which is accumulating interest at 14.25%. The interest is rolling up: £38m interest was payable to the hedge funds in 2006-07; £23m in the year to June 2008; £25m to June 2009. By the time the capital is due for repayment, in August 2017, if it has not been refinanced and already paid off, the accumulated capital will have risen from an initial £138m borrowed from hedge funds, when the Glazers refinanced in August 2006, to £580m. That is in addition to the £524m of bank and other borrowings which United owed at June 2008.

The club and the Glazer family’s spokesman have insisted that despite the interest payable, £69m in the year to 30 June 2008, which helped push United from an operating profit of £80m to a £43m loss, Sir Alex Ferguson has money to spend. Ferguson has maintained since the summer that he has not done so because United-calibre players are not available, and there is not “value in the market”. He argues that players are overpriced, partly because of Mansour’s intervention.

After United lost the Champions League final in May, Ferguson might have been expected to substantially strengthen his squad, but instead, Cristiano Ronaldo was sold to Real Madrid for £81m, and the manager signed only Antonio Valencia, for £17.5m from Wigan, Michael Owen, on a free transfer, and Gabriel Obertan, for £3m from Bordeaux. Whatever their protestations that money remains available, United’s weakening through injury, occasional underperformance and Ferguson’s dismissive approach to buying players means United are simply not carrying themselves as proud, cash-rich, Premier League champions with the Ronaldo money still in the bank. Time is surely running out for the argument that the debts – now, with interest, certainly more than £700m, vastly more than any other English club – are not financially constraining.

The Glazers have overseen a period of sustained success at Old Trafford, winning three Premier League titles and the Champions League in 2008, and Ferguson has always spoken supportively of their regime, which he finds easier to deal with than the regulated stock market-listed entity United were before. United insiders credit the Glazers with bringing in some of the roster of sponsors whose lucrative deals reflect the club’s global presence and popularity. However, by far the largest proportion of United’s record £257m turnover was still earned in the UK in 2007-08, and the largest proportion, £101.5m, came from match days at Old Trafford.

There, ticket prices have been increased significantly since the Glazers took over, a policy presented as a commercial virtue when they sought the refinancing in August 2006. Although United still boast awesome near-76,000 full houses for Premier League matches, and 74,526 witnessed the Leeds crash on Sunday, tickets do now remain on sale for most matches. United’s spokesman, Phil Townsend, confirmed this week that bookings of corporate hospitality packages are down in the recession, and a third-round FA Cup exit will not have been in Ferguson’s plan for the season or the Glazers’ financial projections.

Stories have seeped out of United this season about rounds of quite meagre cuts, and Townsend acknowledged that the club has indeed been looking to cut costs. Twelve staff have been made redundant recently, he said, although he pointed out that this was from around 550 people employed in various departments.

“Like all other businesses in the current financial climate we have been looking to keep costs down,” he said. “The demand for match-by-match corporate hospitality packages has gone down, depending on the fixture, but our 55,000 season tickets are sold out. We present a stable business model, the interest payments are serviced from the operating profit, and the club has said there is money for the manager to spend.”

It is difficult to decipher how far the Glazers’ own fortunes have been affected by the economic downturn, because they operate principally as private investors in the US. The family’s charitable foundation says of Malcolm Glazer on its website that he “owns, has owned or has been the largest shareholder” of companies including Harley Davidson, Formica, Tonka, and Omega Protein, but some of those interests were sold off several years ago. The US property industry, in which the Glazers are significant investors, particularly in shopping malls, via their First Allied Corporation, is one of the sectors most pulverised by the economic typhoon.

The family’s NFL franchise, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, enjoyed sustained success under the Glazers, winning the 2003 Super Bowl, yet have just concluded a miserable season, finishing bottom of their division with three wins from 16 games. Media reports, never denied, consistently said the Bucs were spending $30m (£19m) less than the permitted $100m under the NFL salary cap; the system allows franchise owners to take surplus money out for themselves. In January last year, the Glazers replaced the veteran, Super Bowl-winning coach Jon Gruden with Raheem Morris, who at 32 was the youngest coach in the NFL. The Glazers are still hailing that as a “bold decision”, but the series of defeats have led to profound disillusionment among Bucs fans, who have also endured ticket price rises, and crowds at the Tampa Bay stadium have declined.

With a United squad looking suddenly threadbare, and a vintage manager due for retirement himself before too long, United supporters cannot help but see parallels between Stretford and Florida. Duncan Drasdo, chair of the Manchester United Supporters Trust, said this week: “We warned from the beginning that the Glazer takeover would saddle the club with huge debts and now we can see them biting. If it were a race, then United are dragging their owners behind them like a tractor, while City’s owners are providing rocket fuel.”

Before the Glazers arrived in 2005, nobody could have foreseen this bizarre reversal in Manchester. United, then the world’s richest club, are lurching into the new decade with punishing debts, while City, of all clubs, are being roundly criticised after the sacking of their manager for being too ruthless, driven and improbably rich.

• Defender ‘not negotiating with another club’
• Wes Brown says champions’ injury crisis is easing

Nemanja Vidic’s agent has denied rumours that the Manchester United defender wishes to move Spain, following reports that Real Madrid are interested in signing him this month.

“I am quite surprised by all these rumours, the situation is under control and is not unusual,” Paolo Fabbri told ESPN Soccernet. “As far as I know, the player is not negotiating with any other club.

“Regarding the mood of the player, I think it is standard. I have not spoken to him since the last defeat [against Leeds United in the FA Cup] but, as far as I know, there is no problem.”

Although Vidic has always publicly stated his wish to remain at United, speculation to the contrary has been frequent.

Vidic was unable to play in Sunday’s surprise defeat, because of nerve pain in his leg during the warm-up. Wes Brown stepped in at short notice, but knows his own recent injury problems were unhelpful to his club.

Brown’s absence from the pre-Christmas trip to Fulham because of a hamstring injury was one of the reasons United went into the game with only one recognised defender. in Patrice Evra.

A subsequent three-goal hammering by Roy Hodgson’s side created a backdrop of uncertainty, which has only been made worse by Sunday’s FA Cup defeat by Leeds, the leaders of League One.

The abysmal weather conditions that have caused tomorrow’s Carling Cup semi-final at Manchester City to be postponed have either prevented an immediate response or the situation getting far worse, depending on how it would have unfolded.

But Brown accepts his own fitness problems have not helped. “I got injured at completely the wrong moment,” he said. “There were no defenders going into Fulham, just Patrice on his own, which was a bit disappointing to say the least. “Maybe I could have played but I felt my hamstring a little bit and the best thing to do was to leave it. Had I played I could have made it a lot worse and been out for even longer.”

Brown probably took the wisest decision given he was able to play in the subsequent victories over Hull City and Wigan Athletic, and to replace Vidic on Sunday.

The extra recovery time should mean Vidic is available for Saturday’s trip to Birmingham City, with Jonny Evans also in contention after coming through an albeit pretty miserable return to duty at the weekend.

Rio Ferdinand is not far away from a comeback either after spending three months on the sidelines nursing a back complaint. “Soon we will have everyone back, so it is looking a lot more positive on the injury front, which is good news for the team,” said Brown.

Whether he can hold on to his place remains to be seen. The England manager, Fabio Capello, has identified the 29-year-old as one of his back-up defenders for this summer’s World Cup.

Yet Brown knows he will only retain that position if he gets plenty of games for United, something he cannot take for granted after featuring only 13 times last term when he was affected by a variety of different problems.

“It was a disappointing for me,” he said. “This season I have got back in because of injuries and I have done okay. We want everyone back but hopefully I can keep doing well.”

We’re interviewing former winger Peter Barnes. What should we ask him?

WES Brown knows his recent hamstring injury came at the worst possible time for Manchester United.


Brown’s absence from the pre-Christmas trip to Fulham was one of the reasons United went into the game with only one recognised defender in Patrice Evra.

New dates for the Carling Cup semi-finals between Manchester City and Manchester United and Blackburn and Aston Villa are announced

MANCHESTER United’s clash at Manchester City in the Carling Cup has been postponed because of the weather.


The sides were to have met in the first leg of their semi-final on Wednesday night but safety concerns for fans getting to Eastlands mean the game has been called off.

• Carling Cup semi-final called off because of bad weather
• Blackburn v Aston Villa at Ewood Park also postponed

The Carling Cup semi-final first leg between Manchester City and Manchester United at Eastlands tomorrow evening has been postponed because of the bad weather.

The Manchester region saw heavy snowfall this morning and the game was called off today in order to avoid confusion on the match day. The tie will now take place on 19 January, which was originally the date for the second leg. That match will now take place on Wednesday, 27 January.

United had been hoping to bounce back from their FA Cup defeat against Leeds United on Sunday but Sir Alex Ferguson will now have to wait until Saturday’s game against Birmingham City at St Andrew’s to see whether his players can regroup and keep the pressure on the Premier League leaders, Chelsea.

Manchester City’s next game - and Roberto Mancini’s fourth in charge - will now be against Blackburn Rovers at Eastlands on Monday. The club were today forced to close their ticket office and city centre shop due to the adverse conditions.

The first Carling Cup semi-final first leg between Blackburn and Aston Villa was called off earlier today, the hosts saying: “Whilst the Ewood Park pitch is playable we believe it would be unadvisable to expect fans, staff etc to attempt to get to the match. Even if fans are able to get to Ewood Park we would not like to speculate on what type of journey home they may face at 10.00pm tonight when temperatures will be sub-zero.”

Meanwhile, Stoke’s Premier League game against Fulham tonight will go ahead.

United’s Carling Cup semi-final first leg against City has been postponed.

CITY might be thinking they’ve caught United at the best time following that shocking and shattering FA Cup exit.



But I am confident the Blues will discover in the Carling Cup semi-final first leg that it is the worst possible time to be facing Sir Alex Ferguson’s side.

BORDEAUX coach Laurent Blanc has rubbished speculation linking him with Manchester United.


Reports have suggested that the 44-year-old is being lined up as Sir Alex Ferguson’s successor at Old Trafford - where Blanc spent the final two years of his playing career.

Important information regarding opening hours.

Get the essential info for Tuesday’s Carling Cup clash at Eastlands.

• Blanc distances himself from Manchester United speculation
• ‘Ferguson “will not have saved the place” for me’

Bordeaux’s coach, Laurent Blanc, has distanced himself from speculation linking him with the Manchester United job, saying his past at the club and his close relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson counts for nothing when the club appoints the Scot’s successor. “Just because I have strong links with Ferguson he’s not going to come up to me and say ‘Hey, here you go Laurent, I’ve saved the place for you’,” he said.

The highly rated 44-year-old, who has also been mentioned as a possible successor to Raymond Domenech as France coach after next year’s World Cup, added: “I signed a contract with Bordeaux for two more years so there is no urgency regarding my future. I have not received any approaches either from the federation or from abroad.”

Blanc spent the final two years of his playing career at United and has only been in management for three seasons. In his first campaign he steered Bordeaux to second in Ligue 1 before finally ending Lyon’s stranglehold on the French title last year.

Blanc claims that, while he would be delighted to be offered the France job, he could very well turn it down. “It would please me, that’s obvious,” he said. “But I could also refuse it.

“Contractually I’m not free. Don’t forget I have an employer. But if they offer it to me, I would think about it of course. But the problem they will have is with dates.

“The World Cup final is on 11 July, unless they take a coach who’s free, everyone else will be right in the middle of preparing for the new season and I don’t see a coach giving all that up. For me anyway it would be difficult.”

With places up for grabs at Eastlands, who would you take into battle?

UNITED’S dreadful effort against Leeds in their shock FA Cup third round exit has cost some players their place in the first leg of the Manchester League Cup showdown.


So who will feel the sharp edge of Fergie’s axe in the wake of Sunday’s humiliation?

Today’s gossip leaves the festive season far behind as the blurry reality of January sets in, freezing cold and dark – all the time

As a keen student of the failings of others, the Mill has a carefully-tended list of absolute tell-tales, the little things that can only ever act as the subtlest of warning signs. Things like wearing a mobile phone holster when you’re not actually a coach driver or senior foreman on a major construction site. Owning a poncho or a set of nose pipes, or any kind of gap year third-world-ish regalia that you might be tempted to produce from a cupboard after a few drinks. Or liking Jeremy Clarkson even in an ironical way that might seem broad-minded and refreshing, but before you know it you’re talking about “Jezza” and aping his irritatingly mannered way of speaking and pretending to be a free-thinking libertarian who just tells it like it is rather than a bullying dolt.

Not that the Mill is in any way a tiresome, pernickety and self-regarding curmudgeon. But sometimes you just get a feeling, and in rumour terms that feeling generally comes when people start talking, even vaguely, about the idea of signing Patrick Vieira, in particular on any kind of loan deal that may or may not actually happen because there’s still some blah to gah blah dah blah.

So it is that Roberto Mancini’s well-groomed stardust seems somehow tarnished by the news in today’s Daily Mail that Patrick Vieira has now “99 per cent agreed” to join Manchester City on a six-month loan deal from the start of next week. On the other hand Vieira, who now resembles an unusually ponderous semi-extinct Brachiosaurus, might still have to stay at Inter for a bit because they’ve got some injuries. Spurs are after Maxi Rodriguez and will offer David Bentley in exchange. Rodríguez is also wanted by Liverpool, Villarreal and Argentinean prep school Boca Juniors.

Manchester United assistant manager Mike Phelan is in the frame to replace Owen Coyle at Burnley, along with Darren Ferguson and empty hotseat-chaser Peter Reid, who is a bit like one of those long lost uncles who keep turning up at funerals sweating and muttering and drinking too much and eventually asking if they can, you know, stay on the sofa for a night or two, and then just not going away for up to six months. Turkey’s Ankaragucu have unveiled Geremi in front of “throngs of fans” despite Newcastle saying they still own him.

In The Sun Porto’s Hulk isn’t ready to sign for Manchester United yet. His agent Teodoro Fonseca said, who perhaps isn’t destined to be a very successful agent and should think about doing something else instead said: “Inclusion in Brazil’s World Cup squad is the most important thing.” Child starlet Freddy Adu, 46, is “agonising” over a move to Hull from Benfica … “I have some tough decisions to make,” he writhed. Adu is also wanted by Aris, favourite team of Craggy Island’s father Jack. Andrea Dossena has finally gone somewhere else, signing for Napoli for £4m. Next out of the door is Andry Voronin, available for £1m.

Fulham are close to signing 20-year-old Roma striker Stefano Okaka. Roy Hodgson also wants Sereno and Moreno of Vitoria Guimaraes. Wigan are about to bid £3m or Leicester goal machine Matty Fryatt, who deserves a go. And in a story apparently not culled from the pages of Viz, Geoff Boycott has written to Michael Owen offering to help him learn Feng Shui. “He hasn’t replied yet. But if he does, I will put him in touch with some experts in Feng Shui and see where that takes him. “People who don’t know anything about it say it is rubbish. But all I can say is it worked for me and that is the only thing that mattered. “He turned the pillows and beds around so they faced the right way and told me to run the taps every now and again so there is running water going through the house. I believe in it.” So that’s all sorted then.

In The Mirror Mark Hughes could soon resurface as the manager of Turkey, with Tugay as his assistant. The Turkish FA have described this as their “dream ticket”. Bobby Zamora is “attracting interest”. “Oh yeah, he is attracting interest,” Roy Hodgson has said. West Ham and Bolton are leading the chase to sign doe-eyed, olive-skinned Benfica beauty Nuno Gomes, 33. Roberto Martinez is also after Celtic striker Scott McDonald and Stoke have “slapped a staggering £20m price tag on Ryan Shawcross” in order to make him appear less attractive to Manchester City Liverpool and Spurs. The Times have given up on Nemanja Vidic staying at Manchester United, after talking to Paolo Fabbri, “one of his representatives”. Mancini will not be signing shirt-ripping, tiny jockey pant-parading goal lunatic Antonio Cassano from Sampdoria, but still fancies Cristian Chivu and Iván Córdoba, at least one of whom will get roughed and elbowed and head-butted up by Bobby Zamora or John Carew a couple of times before just sort of disappearing. Liverpool have entered the race to sign Marouane Chamakh. Celtic want Dave Kitson. And Lyon are interested in Younès Kaboul. Although, they might just be being polite, or simply have an interest in galloping, calamity-prone Frenchmen called “Younes” generally.

Ben’s been sidelined lately, but he’s keen to play in one of the ties against City.

Michael Carrick spells out United’s unwavering desire to deliver silverware this term.

In 1994, a Kanchelskis treble inspired United’s record derby win at OT.

Shay Given says City are aiming to exact revenge for last-minute loss.

Match postponed due to adverse weather conditions ….

Sir Alex Ferguson has always enjoyed the last laugh before but there are signs he lacks the resources to rejuvenate United

His name was Richard and he came from Manchester. He was the first caller to MUTV and what he had to say made the presenters squirm on a channel known in media circles as Pravda TV, where the interviews with Sir Alex Ferguson are traditionally about as demanding as Hello! magazine. The Premier League champions had just been bundled out of the FA Cup by Leeds United, of League One, and feelings were running high. “It’s not good enough,” Richard announced. “We have to change the manager.”

There is always that danger of the classic knee-jerk reaction when Manchester United have put together a string of bad results and the team have temporarily lost their wow factor. Ferguson loves nothing more than toasting another title by reminiscing about the frequency with which he has seen headlines declaring the end of the empire. “Bloody hell, you had in me in a bath chair down on Torquay beach!” he announced during one press conference last season, eyes sparkling, while the journalists did what we always do in those moments – stare sheepishly at the floor.

There can be no doubt, though, that United’s supporters have authentic reasons to contemplate the future with more trepidation than has been the norm since Ferguson started greedily accumulating all those trophies. Fabio Capello, the England coach, has already said that United are not the “war machine” they were and it is not just a question of the artillery being downgraded now Old Trafford is no longer bedazzled by Cristiano Ronaldo. It is an issue of whether this is a team in decline, and whether the money is there to prevent the downward trajectory. The only logical conclusion is that yes it is, and no there is not.

When Ferguson was asked to respond to Capello’s observation recently he argued that the perception of United regressing was a “media thing”. He insisted that his second-placed side’s experience and strength in depth make them “better placed than most teams” and that their challengers “all know that and they always have to look at Manchester United – there’s no getting away from that”.

The most successful manager in the business was even more forthright when some of his younger players came under scrutiny. The question was asked whether the likes of Darron Gibson, Danny Welbeck and the Da Silva twins were equipped to take over once the club had lost the services of Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville. Ferguson called one journalist an “idiot” and said he should be “bloody sacked”. He found the debate “unbelievable”.

His team, he is entitled to point out, are hanging on to Chelsea’s coat-tails at the top of the league, only two points behind the leaders, and have qualified for the Champions League’s first knockout round, as well as having the first leg of a Carling Cup semi-final against Manchester City tomorrow. Yet this is a question of what lies ahead and to try to pass off everything as hunky dory is to ignore the fact that the failure against Leeds was, in one strange way, not actually as shocking as it first appears.

The truth is that Ferguson’s men have been struggling for fluency and cohesion for longer than they would care to remember and that, by the halfway point of the league season, they had already lost to Burnley, Liverpool, Chelsea, Aston Villa and Fulham. The defeat by Leeds was the first time they have been eliminated from the FA Cup third round in the Ferguson era while, in the Champions League, facing moderate opposition, they found themselves behind in all of their home ties, against Wolfsburg, CSKA Moscow and Besiktas.

What Ferguson needs, above all else, is a show of strength in the transfer market but there are rules in place, financial constraints imposed by the Glazer family at a time when United owe about £700m to banks, financial institutions and hedge funds.

At the same time the club have made the long-term decision not to sign any players aged 26 or above for large transfer fees. Dimitar Berbatov, who was 27 when he joined from Tottenham Hotspur for £30.75m, has been described as the “last of his kind” and the age-before-ability policy means United will entertain big-money deals only if the players involved will still retain a significant market value at the end of a five- or six-year contract. At a stroke, the Glazers were essentially telling Ferguson they would not pay large sums for established international players such as David Villa or Franck Ribéry.

The effects cannot be overstated at a time when the miracle of perseverance otherwise known as Giggs has to be used more sparingly while, in defence, Rio Ferdinand has joined the club’s thirtysomethings and almost instantaneously found his body betraying him. Nemanja Vidic, the club’s player of the year, is reputedly agitating for a summer move to Spain, and nobody can be certain of Edwin van der Sar’s position when the 39-year-old is out of contract at the end of the season and his wife, Annemarie, is recovering from a brain haemorrhage.

It can only alarm Ferguson that so many celebrated players are coming to the end of their professional lives. From time to time, Scholes can turn back the clock, with exquisite results, but this is no longer a guarantee. He and Neville are also out of contract in June and you wonder whether one or both will choose a personally choreographed exit. Neville increasingly looks like a champion boxer who has had one too many fights and, if that does not strike you as an original line, it is because it is not. It was first used three years ago.

That leaves Ferguson relying to a certain extent on the players coming through the ranks and waiting for Gibson, for one, to show he is more than just a decent player. At Old Trafford it is not enough to be “decent”. Superlatives are required. Anderson has made a striking lack of progress. Welbeck may be an exciting prospect but it was also one of Ferguson’s more preposterous statements last summer to say the player, then 18, would make Capello’s squad for the World Cup.

So who else? Zoran Tosic has made a grand total of two substitute appearances since arriving last January as part of the £16.5m joint deal that was supposed to bring his Partizan Belgrade team-mate Adem Ljajic to Old Trafford a year later. Ljajic was marooned after the Glazers decided it was too expensive a gamble and operated a get-out clause in the deal. Nani? United made it clear what they think of his efforts to take over from Ronaldo when they offered him to Benfica as part of a proposed cash-plus-player exchange for the prodigious Angel Di María.

The lesson of history is clear: we should not doubt Ferguson’s ability to reanimate a championship team. The awkward moment on MUTV on Sunday afternoon was edited out from the replays yesterday.

Yet there are more concerns for United right now than at any point since the team failed to qualify from the Champions League group stages in 2005 and Roy Keane went on the attack in another moment MUTV did not want us to see.

With little money expected to be spent in the transfer window, managerial expertise will once again be crucial in the title race

An FA Cup victory over a weakened line-up from the lower reaches of the table would not normally galvanise Arsenal, but the major clubs live in curious days. A recovery from 1-0 down to defeat West Ham United at Upton Park will have been a fillip to Arsène Wenger’s team as they strive to envisage themselves regaining the old ascendancy.

Should Arsenal record the expected win over Bolton Wanderers at the Emirates tomorrow they will overtake Manchester United to stand one point behind the leaders, Chelsea. Nobody would suggest that Wenger has assembled an irresistible line-up, even if the squad strength is much improved. Manuel Almunia should be admired for establishing himself, but few consider him an elite goalkeeper.

At a key moment, too, the lack of a proven alternative to Robin van Persie at centre-forward could be costly as another chapter is being added to his medical history. He was badly missed before the late goals at West Ham. While Wenger intends to obtain another striker in this transfer window it will be a challenge to land one who has the essential qualities.

With the Africa Cup of Nations about to begin, Arsenal must also come up with a deputy for Alex Song, who is making great progress as a defensive midfielder with the athleticism to drive the team on, as he did at Upton Park. Abou Diaby is willing to take on those duties temporarily, although neither he nor, when fit, Denílson looks a natural replacement.

The charm of this season lies in the very fact that flaws need not be fatal. Manchester City, for instance, no longer appear wholly out of contention now that the new manager, Roberto Mancini, has introduced them to the notion of the clean sheet. Regardless of their blunders, some clubs find it hard not to be in contention. United have suffered five league defeats to date and the last occasion in which they endured more over an entire campaign was the 2003-04 season, yet they are far from being also-rans.

The reigning champions have looked as if they are scaling back their operations and in the wake of the £80m sale of Cristiano Ronaldo no eye-catching purchase was made. Sir Alex Ferguson complains of excessive prices being quoted, but he did not balk at exorbitance in former times when bringing in, say, Juan Sebastián Verón, Rio Ferdinand or Dimitar Berbatov.

The current economic conservatism was a subplot in Sunday’s grand drama, when Leeds United ensured that virtually all the subversiveness of an FA Cup third round was contained within their triumph at Old Trafford. Hardly anyone anticipated that result, but too many of Ferguson’s squad can be categorised either as elderly or unsatisfactory. In the recent win at Hull, the contrast between the teams lay almost entirely in the performance of Wayne Rooney.

If an elite group survives then its dominance is nonetheless wavering. Democratisation is at work and there can only be relief at the sight of an important talent being refined outside the current group of Champions League clubs. At Tottenham Hotspur, Aaron Lennon is learning how to be ever more effective, even if a groin strain will stall his progress this month.

Money still has its bearing at White Hart Lane, as it does at other clubs, and Harry Redknapp spent some £40m in the transfer window last January, but the splurge then was a type of prudence since relegation seemed feasible. At the moment, newcomers can only arrive if funds are raised through sales.

Intelligence is once more the key factor, with Manchester City the sole club in England who we can be certain will spend extravagantly if the right player comes on to the market. There is an impression that nothing short of a grandiose move by them would provoke Roman Abramovich into contemplating a return to exorbitant deals at Chelsea. The bookies still make his club firm favourites to regain the league title and their 3-0 trouncing of Arsenal at the Emirates suggested they can touch greater heights than their rivals.

All the same, fatigue has affected a squad that is a little elderly in some areas. When he gets back from Angola, Didier Drogba, who will be 32 in March, will have to be guided through the programme so that Carlo Ancelotti gets the best out of the Ivorian at the moments that matter most. This is the season when management expertise is the true currency of a once affluent league.

A Leeds fan assesses his side’s epic FA Cup victory at Old Trafford and what it meant after three years in League One

Fan’s eye view David Gaertner

I saw a cartoon once of a mouse looking up as a huge eagle swoops down on it. The mouse is holding up its middle finger at the eagle and that’s how it feels to be a Leeds fan. You have got to contend with the things that fans of every club have to put up with: long away trips, defeats and thousands of pounds spent on season tickets, travel, programmes and food. But supporting Leeds is different.

Plenty of people voice their dislike of the club and it breeds a siege mentality. Being a Leeds fan in recent years has been tough. We were relegated, we got into financial trouble, we had points deducted and missed out in the play-offs. Leeds fans are so loyal because we have been slapped in the face so many times there is a “them and us” feeling that breeds unity.

You can see that loyalty when we travel. I think Hull took 500 fans to Wigan at the weekend: we take that many to a reserve game. We had 9,000 fans at Old Trafford and if it had not been for us making the noise it would have been like a morgue.

Being in League One has challenged the resolve of some. There are only five teams in the division within 100 miles, so there is a lot of travel.

It is not just the distance, it is the timing. A lot of police forces want Leeds games scheduled on week nights or early on weekends because they still hold the misconception that Leeds fans will turn up drunk as skunks, ready to trash the town centre on a Saturday afternoon. That may have had an element of truth in the 80s but it has changed.

We get back at 3am or 4am if Leeds are playing somewhere like Southend in the week. It is a long, hard slog– it means taking time off work – but we turn up week in, week out. One fan from Norway flies in for every home game.

I’m fortunate that my wife is a Leeds fan too but I can assure you there are guys out there who remain single because they cannot find a woman who will put up with her husband wandering off to obscure parts of the country every other weekend.

Away matches can be particularly costly. Leeds is usually one of the bigger games of the season for many clubs in League One so they charge higher ticket prices when we visit. We cannot wait to get out of this division because a lot of clubs in the Championship are closer to us – you’ve got the Sheffield clubs, Doncaster, Leicester and Derby. It makes life a bit easier.

Beating United at the weekend felt like a reward for the problems of the past few years. I got a text on Monday morning from another fan. It said: “The first day back at work in the new year usually feels like purgatory. Today I’m in heaven!”

David Gaertner is the press officer of Leeds United Supporters Club

Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini says he will only think about new signings after their Carling Cup semi-final first leg against Manchester United.

• Player has been on compassionate leave after wife’s illness
• United goalkeeper told club he would return by next week

Edwin van der Sar is close to returning to training at Manchester United after the latest medical prognosis revealed his wife had not suffered permanent damage when she collapsed with a brain haemorrhage before Christmas.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s first-choice goalkeeper has been on compassionate leave since Annemarie van Kesteren was admitted to hospital in Amsterdam on 23 December.

United had told him to take as long as he needed but Van der Sar has contacted the club to say he should be back either at the end of the week or early next week.

The Dutchman has been troubled by a knee injury and has not played since the 3-0 defeat of Everton on 21 November.

SIR Alex Ferguson has escaped another ban from the FA over his post-match comments following the Leeds cup shocker.


The Manchester United boss criticised referee Chris Foy’s time-keeping during the 1-0 defeat in the third round tie at Old Trafford.

• Manager criticised referee over stoppage time
• FA says Ferguson will not be charged

Sir Alex Ferguson will escape any FA action over his post-match comments after Manchester United’s defeat by Leeds United in the FA Cup at Old Trafford yesterday. Although he was more annoyed with his own side’s performance, he also criticised the referee, Chris Foy, for the amount of injury time he added on to the second half.

Foy added five minutes but Ferguson said it was an “insult”, leading to suggestions that the FA might enforce the two-match touchline ban that was suspended until the end of next season following his verbal attack on Alan Wiley in October.

However, the FA does not believe Ferguson’s comments crossed the boundaries of acceptability, meaning he will face no charge, one of the few pieces of good news to emerge from the first FA Cup third-round defeat in his 23 years as United manager.

Mark Hughes, the former Manchester City manager, will not face FA action over comments he made about the referee Mark Clattenburg after his former team’s match at Bolton Wanderers last month.

Clattenburg sent off Craig Bellamy in the second half after giving him a second yellow card for an alleged dive and sources at City claim that the referee had turned to one of the club’s physios before the second half began and asked him: “How do you work with Craig Bellamy all week?”

Hughes called the red card “laughable” and said: “I don’t appreciate when referees are going out in the second half and are passing comments on who they like and who they don’t like in my team, which he did to my support staff. He might have been having a laugh and a joke, but if that’s in his head then possibly that might … I’ve got to be careful here because we’re talking about integrity.”

Hughes responded to a request from the FA to explain his comments and will not face disciplinary action.

The Carling Cup semi-final first leg between Manchester City and Manchester United at Eastlands is postponed because of the freezing weather.

Vida may be injured again but Sir Alex insists signings are not the answer.

It’s the first Football Weekly of 2010, and crikey, what a show.

James Richardson’s joined by Sean Ingle and Barry Glendenning, and they begin by discussing all the action - well, what little of it there was - from the FA Cup. Leeds rolled back the years to beat Manchester United, while Liverpool could only draw at Reading. Meanwhile Harry Redknapp indulged in a spot of mind games with his Russian striker Roman Pavlyuchenko - but it was nowhere near as entertaining as his son Jamie’s new advert for Thomas Cook.

Also in the podcast, proper journalist Owen Gibson fills us in on the financial woes at Portsmouth. Is time running out for Pompey?

Finally, Sid Lowe gets us up-to-speed with all the new year happenings and transfer gossip in La Liga.

Post your comments on the blog below - but be civil please, this isn’t Crewe on a Friday night - or find us on Facebook or Twitter.

No excuses. Sir Alex says his men just weren’t up to scratch against Leeds.

Love them or loathe them but football needs Leeds, while the best teenage footballer in England is Welsh

1) Football needs Leeds

Loathe them, fear them, feel irresolvably irritated by them, or support them with an undiminished zeal: either way you have to admit very few teams inspire quite such a broad spectrum of emotions as Leeds United. Beating Manchester United at Old Trafford was a spectacle that only the Cup can give us right now – and what a spectacle it was, riven with tribal and historical significance on both sides. This was also a reminder that Leeds are an irreplaceable chapter in the story of English football’s self-mythologising, a proper, passionate, indispensable football club; a dark heart, perhaps, but a totally compelling one too. Leeds have remained in good spirits during their exile from the top tier. As the Cup showed, this is an absence that has been felt on both sides.

2) No magic here

Not a lot of magic about at Bolton Wanderers (attendance: 11,193), Portsmouth (11, 214) or Wigan Athletic, where 5,335 turned up to watch an all-Premier League tie in the World’s Oldest Cup Competition No One Within A Certain Top Tier Demographic Seems To Care That Much About. You can’t really blame them. The Cup has been diminished in the last decade, but it has also been streamlined at the top and dominated – Portsmouth aside – by the usual four clubs who dominate everything else. So if you’re a mid-to-lower-level Premier League club with pretty much zero chance of actually winning the FA Cup, why would you care about it?

The picture isn’t entirely uniform: in fact, 28 weekend ties attracted 514,172 supporters, an average of 18,363, compared with 19,160 from 30 years ago. But it seems to be going just one way for a certain section of the hierarchy, where the grail quest of maintaining another year of Premier League income (for the players) and seeing your club stave off the future-threat of dropping down a division (the fans) take precedence. Little wonder one international centre-half, asked about his team’s victory, started talking about “needing the points” and seemed to take some time to remember he’d actually been playing in the Cup at all. At which point he started referring vaguely to “the second leg”. Ah, the indignity. Look away, old Cup. Look away.

3) Shock value

One great upset: Leeds at Old Trafford. One extremely mild upset: Ipswich narrowly beating nine-man Blackpool. Elsewhere not a single third-round match was won by a team in a lower league position than its opponents. They say the league table doesn’t lie, but surely we can expect it to make the odd mistake. Is this simply a fluke? An example of the extreme revenue-driven stratification taking place within English football? Who knows. But it is still the Cup’s only other real shock so far this season.

4) Aaron Ramsey is blossoming

It was only the Cup. And it was only West Ham too, who really, really don’t need the distraction of stretching their tiny squad across any more Cup games before eventually losing 4-0 to the first full-strength Big Four team they come up against. But yet again Aaron Ramsey showed that he has emerged from last season’s fretfulness to become a genuine midfield talent, a thrusting creative presence and perhaps a convincing replacement for Cesc Fábregas over the coming weeks. Either way this weekend the Cup told us that the best teenage footballer in England is a Welshman.

5) The South rules

It might have been a weekend for gloves, tights and strictly shirt-on celebrations, but it was also one in which being from the south was a distinct advantage: southern-most teams won 15–6 on aggregate. This probably means absolutely nothing at all, and it may even be an anomaly, but one thing is for sure: Wembley in May is becoming a distinctly southern-themed occasion. This historically northern cup competition has been won by a team based south of Wembley Stadium in nine out of the last 13 seasons. That may change this year: Liverpool and Manchester City are both desperate to win the Cup (as opposed to the usual mildly interested in winning it). But in doing so they will have to fight against a southern tide.

Vote now in ManUtd.com’s latest Player of the Month poll.

AHEAD of the much anticipated Carling Cup double header between United and City, MEN’s James Robson caught up with red and blue legends Paddy Crerand and Tony Book to get their thoughts on two games that are set to grip Manchester.

Join The Saturdays, Tinchy Stryder and football legends at Old Trafford.

It’s a bad start to 2010 as a disappointing display ends in FA Cup third round defeat.

Jonny’s birthday was spoilt by defeat to Leeds, but at least he is back in the side.

CHANNEL M are hosting a special derby debate show tonight at 6pm to discuss Wednesday’s Carling Cup semi-final first leg.


If you fancy giving your view live on the show, simply e-mail your telephone number and the point you’d like to make to
today@channelm.co.uk

EDWIN Van der Sar could be back to contest the goalkeeping spot in the next ten days after his wife’s successful progress following a brain haemorrhage.



The 39-year-old Dutch No1 had been back in Holland for the festive season and to see a doctor over a knee injury that has forced him out since the Everton match on November 21.

MANCHESTER United’s owners are considering a £600m bond issue to ease the club’s debts, according to reports.

Sources say that club owners the Glazer family have asked two investment banks - JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank - to look at ways of reducing the club’s borrowings.

UNITED’S injury crisis has now taken a mysterious twist with Nemanja Vidic back on the casualty list.


The Reds’ defensive woe had appeared to be on the upturn with Jonny Evans back in the rearguard for the FA Cup tie against Leeds.

Stewart Gardner bemoans the ‘magic’ of the FA Cup after United’s exit.

Sir Alex says the Reds need to look ahead after Saturday’s loss to Leeds.