A player like Inter’s playmaker could be United’s missing ingredient

I’ve been a fan of Wesley Sneijder for several seasons now and was hopeful that Sir Alex would sign him in part of the deal, which saw Cristiano Ronaldo move to Real Madrid. Sneijder was quick to rule out such a switch though and to me it showed a touch of class and sense of self – that he refused to be bait in a transfer deal.

Last night, Sneijder was part of the Inter line-up that defeated Chelsea at the San Siro.

While his performance wasn’t perhaps world-class or draw-dropping, it was very good and eye-catching. Sneijder conintues to give midfield performances, which Manchester United seem to lack these days. We don’t seem to have an attacking midfielder and haven’t had one for quite a while – at least not in that mold. Fergie doesn’t seem to be a fan of this type of this player, but we sure could use a player like him at the moment.

Sneijder was dynamic, displayed good ball control, kept possession well, passed the ball very well, put in dangerous crosses and stretched play whenever he drifted left, by making some direct runs.

He’s also a player who consistently displays a great desire to win and this is a great attribute to have.

In short, I would love to have a player like Wesley Sneijder in the red of Manchester. Signing him would be very unlikely, but I would really love to see an attacking midfielder like Sneijder to help us unlock defences. Fergie currently plays Berbatov to provide some creative spark to unlock stubborn defences, but hasn’t yet struck up a great partnership with Wayne Rooney. If we could supply that creativity through the centre from midfield, Fergie could pair Rooney with a more suitable partner.

Many names have been mentioned as possible transfer targets in the summer, but so far none seem to be in the same mould as Sneijder. This transfer will be an intruiging one indeed and I will be hopeful that Fergie will sign a creative midfielder or at least a box-to-box midfielder. Hargreaves still has to get back to fitness and if Scholes renews his contract, he will be on his last legs, so we should be safe, not sorry.

The Serbian rock ‘murders’ transfer talk yet again

Fresh on the heals of a highly-satisfying win against AC Milan at the San Siro, Manchester United received positive news from Serbian defender Namanja Vidic, who stated  that he is definitely staying with the Red Devils.

The Spsnish rumour mills have been in overdrive yet again and European websites have been publishing countless “articles” with no quotes whatsoever that Vidic will be transferred to either Real Madrid, Barcelona or AC Milan.

To the delight of United fans though, Nemanja has once again dismissed the speculation out of hand, several days after his agent did the same.

“I will repeat for the 100th time: my contract with Manchester is until the summer of 2012 and I want to stay in Old Trafford until the last day,” Vidic told Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti.

“Only this is true, everything else is a baseless story.”

Vidic also denied that there has been any approach from other clubs.

“No, no, no. I have made a career in Manchester and I respect that fully,” he stressed.

“No-one has contacted me and I have not spoken to anyone.”

Vidic has missed a number of recent matches due to injury but he is now looking forward to getting back onto the pitch.

“Firstly, I had troubles with a calf muscle, but I started with training too early and felt strong pain in the back of a calf,” he explained.

“I am healthy (now). I feel strong and I believe I can return in full.”

The current debt situation is not sustainable

What started as an idea on Manchester United internet forum has become a full-fledged movement visible to millions of football fans around the world. Man Utd fans have been wearing the Green and Gold colours which were the official club colours of Newton Heath, the original name of a club.

The debate amongst United fans over the past few weeks has been whether such an open show of disapproval and unhappiness at the Glazers would be detrimental to the club. There are some who put forward that we should be backing our club and stand United especially in these troubled times.

My take on it is the following: prior to the issuing of bond notes – and with that the famous prospectus – we really didn’t know for certain to what extremes the Glazers would go to extract money from the club, but we do now. Before the prospectus, we could give them the benefit of the doubt, site a few things that are working better now and be content that the club had one of its most successful periods during their ownership.

This has all changed.

The Glazers would not have built all the various clauses and caveats into the bonds, if they had the best interest of the club at heart. Previously the Glazers owed about 500million pounds to banks, which had rules that restricted the “creative” ways in which the Glazers could move the money around. Now that they have issued bonds and paid off the banks, the Glazers are governed by the far less restrictive rules of the bonds and can help themselves to the cookie jar. They fully intend to pay off the 206mil pounds worth of payment in kind notes using the club’s money. They even went as far as having MU Finance loan the parent company money, so that it could pay out dividends that they previously could not do.

Thev eventual cost to Manchester United Football club for bring owned by Malcolm Glazer and his family? 1.1billion pounds. That’s right. Read it and weep.

What have we gained? A few trophies that will look useless if we are liquidated.

What have they added?

Sky Sports News reported this week that the net spend on transfers during the Glazer’s reign is £8m. The Glazer’s took control of the club in May 2005. That means we are currently in the 10th transfer window since they took over, so even if you dismiss the Ronaldo sale, we have a figure of £88m, that’s an average of £8.8m spent per window or £17.6m per season. We easily spent that while were a plc.

The Glazers business plan look very frail to me and not sustainable at all. A bad season or another economic downturn might push the club over the edge and none of us want to see it happen.

Several influential and rich business men are said to be mounting a bid to buy Manchester United from the Glazers including Fred Done, who has openly declared that he is one of the so-called Red Knights. A group of wealthy reds who would have the best interest of the club at heart and who believe that the Glazer’s didn’t do their sums correctly and that their business plan is fatally flawed.

For me, sticking by the Glazers is akin to a beautiful woman roughing it out with the biggest jerk on the planet just because he’s rich. He can give her all the luxuries in the world, but at the same time is extinguishing a little bit of her soul every day.

Whether we will be new ownership will not let us be as successful, but at least we will be happy knowing the owners really have the best interest of the club at heart so bring it on.

Man Utd fans can hurt the Glazers by not renewing their season tickets, ceasing to buy merchandise and thereby forcing them to sell. Hopefully to the red knights and not a bored billionaire.

Hargo still can play a vital part for Manchester United

The headlines have been choc-full with Owen Hargreaves experiencing yet another injury setback after Sir Alex Ferguson left him out of his Champions League squad, but I believe it was a precautionary move rather than a setback.

He has been participating in training and looks like he is enjoying his time back kicking the ball with the other lads.

Since joining from Bayern Munich in what was one of the most protracted transfer sagas in recent memory, Hargreaves has only shown glimpses of his actual ability and actually impressed more on the right of the pitch than in the middle.

But it is the centre of the pitch where he shown for Bayern Munich. He was somewhat wrongly branded as a defensive midfielder by fans in England who had not seen much of him, but he was more of a box-to-box midfielder, who also could hustle opponents tenaciously and break up any attacking move coming through the middle. Hargo would have complemented Manchester United’s midfield perfectly and he said as much in interviews, acknowledging that he felt he could add something to a blessed United squad.

Unfortunately, Bayern played hardball, refused to sell Hargreaves and he had the bad luck of breaking his leg. Having fought his way back from injury, Bayern realized he was not the player he once was and United moved to seal the deal, hoping to nurture him back to the midfield force he once was.

They probably tried to force it too much.

Hargreaves played 34 matches in his first season for United and many of which were under the influence of pain-killing injections and while Owen fought bravely, he probably did himself more damage than good.

However, he had an important part to play in the Champions League winning season, even starting the final in which he snuffed out much of the threat from the opposition and scored the best penalty of the night.

Just for his versatility alone, Fergie should keep faith with Owen Hargreaves. He has played with distinction as a right back and as winger and if he can come back from his current injury, he will play an important part in our history yet.

In addition, Fergie will be keen to see if Hargreaves can work his way back to the best form he displayed at Bayern – a feat which would see him become one of the finest central midfielders in England. A midfielder with energy, tenacity and skill, as well as score from dead-ball situations. These are qualities you don’t often find in a single player and he has proven he can do so at the highest level – totally unfazed by the occasion with an uncanny ability to perform under pressure.

At 29, he would still have 3 to 4 seasons of football in him and rather than sell, Sir Alex should take a gamble and keep the faith in Hargreaves, because if he can come back and rediscover his best form, he will be a vital part of Manchester United moving forward.

Promising youngsters continue to progress

Danny Wellbeck scored his second goal in as many matches.

Tom Cleverly continues his impressive season by scoring for Watford in their victory over Sheffield United. That makes Cleverly Watford’s top scorer and joint fourth in the league. What a wonderful achievement for a midielder and only enhances Tom’s credentials, because a free-scoring midfielder is a rare asset, esepcially at Old Trafford these days.

In other news, Ravel Morrison has signed professional forms with the club and I couldn’t be more delighted.

This boy is a genius in the making. A diamond in the rough. His ability to run at players, ball control, turn of pace and trickery, as well as desire will hold him in good stead and I’m convinced he has a future at United.

Danny Welbeck is already learning how to score for a Ferguson

Making the most of his debut for Preston North End, Danny Welbeck grabbed the chance of regular football with both hands and repaid Darren Ferguson’s faith by scoring a wonderful chip.

Here’s a clip of the beautifully-weighted shot.

Ole’s boys run out comfortable 0-3 winners against Stabaek

Mame Biram Diouf continued his good run of form by scoring for the reserves against Norwegian first team Stabaek. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took the reserves on a tour of  Norway which is usual practise during any prolonged break the reserves have.

Here are some highlights from the game with the goals towards the end of the video. The starting line-up for United Reserves were:

Amos, Gray, Brown, Dudgeon, Gill, Obertan, Evans, Norwood, James, Brandy, Diouf