The Devil In Me

After a while of extracting great joy from the spectacle of News International’s dismembering I wondered if there was something inherently evil lurking within. Then I realised that this is the company whose news outlets have been systematically targeting England and United players for years and who had an uncanny knack of leaking scandals directly prior to major finals or world cup tournaments. If only there was a German word for taking pleasure in the misfortune of others.

From snide journalism to Wesley Sneijder, the prospective acquisition for our beloved United. There seems to be an awful lot of smokescreen being put up around this potential deal. Inter clearly need, and want, a lot of money for the guy. Ferguson claims we were never in for him in the first place and I suspect he would rather purchase Samir Nasri. However, especially considering Rafael Van der Vaart success at Spurs last years, I can’t help thinking that Schneijder would be a great buy for us.

There seem to be three groups of people talking about the potential deal. Those close to Sneijder, who say the signing is a good idea. Those at Inter, who say United haven’t got enough money. And those from United who maintain they aren’t interested in the Dutchman at all. My 10 cents says that Sneijder wants out and Inter want bucks. United may or may not stump up the cash.

Traditionally of course, United’s biggest fanfare signings have been rather a mixed bag. For every Bryan Robson there was a Gary Birtles and the retirement of Scholes is proof that decent red tops are impossible to replace. Just ask Rupert Murdoch.

There is also the small matter of the fifty million quid United have already dished out into the ether this summer. That is serious money and expecting the club to chuck another 35 million odd Euros on top could be considered churlish. However, that midfield does look like it could use an extra player. The question is, do we already have that man?

With Michael Carrick this week calling on his colleagues to fill the ginger wizard’s void you suspect we might need to have the replacement in house. Nani’s improvement last year was phenomenal and one wonders if this could be the year Anderson steps up as well. Young has started very well pinging in crosses and the New England Revolution but only a fool judges on a player on one game.

Nonetheless, this summer’s tour of North America is certainly worth watching for United fans. The team it is ‘a changin’.

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Individual Performance of the Season
Dimitar Berbatov vs Liverpool

They are high pressure games against the team from Anfield and our record against these opponents has not been terrific of late. What’s more, having endured an enormous amount of criticism during his first two seasons at the club the Bulgar had a huge point to prove in 2010/11. His sublime hat-trick here, culminating in one of the most exquisite overhead kicks you will ever see, buried his critics at the bottom of the ocean. A stupendous performance from a stupendous player.

Honorable mentions: Wayne Rooney vs West Ham & Darren Gibson (yes him) vs Schalke 2nd Leg

Player of the Season
Edwin Van Der Sar
Despite his obvious howler against West Brom the Dutchman barely put a paw wrong all year. His final campaign at Old Trafford should now define ‘going out at the top’ for all sportsmen. He retires as one of United’s top three goalies of all time and he will be sorely missed

Goal of the Season
Dimitar Berbatov vs Liverpool
In terms of quality it is nearly impossible to separate this goal from Rooney’s against City. The reason this goal wins is because it seemed to defy the laws of physics and still looks improbable even on replay. Plus, it really deflated the scousers for another year. Lovely.

Most Improved Player
Rafael
Despite being ousted from the starting line up by his brother towards the end of the campaign Rafael can claim to have had an outstanding season over a larger sample of matches. Before Christmas he was established as the club’s best right back and putting in exceptional performances every week. In fact, he has played so well that the retirement of club captain and winner of more than 80 England caps, Gary Neville, is barely seen as a loss. That is impressive.

Signing of the Season
Chicharito
There was really only one contender for this award, but he is not only United’s best signing but possibly the best in Europe as well. In his first year at United he has scored against Chelsea, bagged a hatful of goals, netted in the Champion’s League and got the Old Trafford faithful wearing sombreros. I love him, you love him, and he’s great.

Best Opposition
Aston Villa’s youngsters
It seems churlish not to put Barcelona in this category but the whole world knows how brilliant they are anyway. At Villa Park United were nearly blown away by an excellent display of wing trickery and verve from a young side with guts. It is just the kind of thing I like to see on a football field and they deserve great credit. No wonder we bought their best player.

Tactical Display of the Season
(A) vs Arsenal
A terrific performance and one that Fergie really pulled out of the bag. Playing Rafael and Fabio as attacking fullbacks completely flummoxed Wenger and essentially put paid to Arsenal’s title challenge.

Thickest opposition fans
Blackburn – singing ‘Big Sam sort it out’ at 6-0.

Flukiest Win
(A) vs Valencia

The Ralph Milne Award for best Transfer – Bebe

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Every man has his price. Unless of course, that man happens to be Paul Scholes. Friday 5th of August will see the midfield great sent off with the visit of Eric Cantona’s New York Cosmos in a testimonial. It must suit Scholes down to the ground to have ‘le god’ back hogging all of the publicity. It seems interesting though that the club are selling hospitality tickets including a photo opportunity with the ginger wizard himself. How the Glazers convinced him to do that I will never know.

What we will soon find out is if the new signings are likely to gel into the side. Ashley Young looks a good acquisition at the price and his flexibility is indicative that Fergie will looking to play an interchangeable front six, much like we did in 2007/08 when Ronaldo was at Old Trafford.

Phil Jones and Chris Smalling have started to build an encouraging understanding at international level. Unfortunately, England teams have a habit of losing, including at Under-21 level, and that could be either a good or a bad thing in the long run. Two years ago Johnny Evans was the future at centre-back, only time will tell.

There is a lot of talk of Luka Modric, Sami Nasri and Wesley Sneijder at the moment. All three are good players who would cost a giga-tonne of money. My concerns are far more focused on the goalkeeping position. David De Gea is likely to become the world’s second most expensive goalie in his switch. He’d better be good.

One of my Nan’s friends one regaled her with a story about how the neighour’s son had been offered an apprenticeship by Manchester United. Apparently, Alex Ferguson came round to meet the parents and said that the salary was £1,500. The Dad thought, ‘well, fifteen hundred quid, that’s not bad for an apprentice’. He was delighted when it turned out the wage was to be £1,500 a week instead. That apprentice was Paul Scholes and the past eighteen years make that some of the best money Manchester United have ever spent.

There are many who argue that United’s team in 1993/1994 was the best we have produced, my personal reflection is that season was one of the best to be a United fan. We were champions for the first time since man had landed on the moon, seemingly invincible and there were youngsters coming into the side all the time who looked the business. After Scholes’ debut against Port Vale many of us thought that we had finally found a young replacement for the ageing yet brilliant Mark Hughes. In the end, that match was simply the first glimpse of one of our greatest ever players.

Scholes was always described as the best finisher at the club. In a few weeks we’ll see the end of his playing days. Thank you Paul.

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Within every fanatic there is someone who genuinely likes football and appreciates the game at its highest level. Barcelona are simply sensational and it is a pleasure to watch them play. There is nobody to blame for United’s defeat at the hands of the Spanish giants and we have no choice but to be humble, magnanimous and respectful of what is a truly great team.

This Manchester United side have achieved everything they could have this season. They deserve great credit and I am proud of them. Faced with a far superior opponent we looked second best, there is certainly no shame in that. We held our own for long periods against what may well be the finest football team in history.

Pep finally manages to pass the kidney stone

Rooney was nothing short of brilliant. Not only his goal but also his work rate were inspirational. You can see from the look in his eyes that this will not be his, nor our, last Champions League final.

You could not have asked much more from our players. Perhaps Chicharito was a little anonymous, maybe Valencia a touch too sulphurous, but frankly, it wouldn’t have mattered much either way. We were simply torn to pieces.

The tremendous thing about Barcelona is that they are brilliant both with the ball and brilliant without it. As late as the 86th minute they were chasing the ball down in our penalty area. There was constant pressure. They didn’t need to do that. It is just one of many reasons why they are so good. It should also be said that this was a fair game. There was no play-acting, no dirty tackles that I could see. It was only impressive.

In his last game as a professional footballer Van Der Sar put in a performance that reminds us how much he will be missed. The acquisition of a new goalkeeper will be just one of the moves United make in this summer’s transfer window. The elder statesmen, Giggs and Scholes will now need to be replaced too. There can be no more chastening way to learn you need to spruce up your midfield.

One suspects that we have seen the last of Dimitar Berbatov as a Manchester United player too. He was not sat among the players party during the game and his omission from even the bench was glaring. Whatever the story is there you can be pretty sure it is goodnight Vienna for the Bulgar.

Much like in Rome two years ago Ferguson was left motionless on the bench for the last half hour, out of ideas. He knew the jig was up, it would be physically impossible to maintain the pressure we put on them in the first 17 minutes. The great man is realistic enough to recognise quality when he sees it; “In my time as a manager, it’s the best team we have ever faced. No one has ever given us a hiding like that”.

Well done to Barcelona, they are worthy champions and we are lucky we didn’t lose by more. But as a Manchester United fan I hold my head high, we gave it a real go and that was one of the best European Finals for a long while. Besides, we’ll be back; “We’ve raised our play in Europe over last few years because we wanted to. We’ll get better next year,” says Alex Ferguson. It has still been a great season and Manchester United will march again.

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The months leading up to the European Cup Final in 1968 were filled with more idealistic sentiments than those we are faced with today. The Beatles launched Apple Records and the musical Hair! (no connection to Bobby Charlton) opened on Broadway. Students were protesting against the Vietnam war and everybody in Manchester knew that Busby was walking towards his defining moment.

Scan through the news today and you will read about our troops overseas in conflicts nobody remonstrates about much, and how crucially important it is that a certain named unnamed footballer is hung out to dry by parliament and the media.

Having spent some time thinking about it, I am unable to come up with an issue less important than who a footballer spends his free time with. On the subject, I also couldn’t care less what any of players do away from their day jobs. Is it really any of our business to judge them? I think not.

The real judgments in this life are made over longer passages of time and whilst it wasn’t the most scintillating match in history, I very much enjoyed Gary Neville’s testimonial. Seeing Beckham wear the modern United shirt does make me pine for what might have been, and there are those who are livid that Rooney played at all, but the whole affair serves as a reminder that United get this kind of thing right.

The next thing that needs to be executed correctly is the ninety plus minutes that face us on Saturday at Wembley. For the past 25 years I have been attending games with my dad and his friends and one of their favourite stories has always been how they camped overnight to get tickets for the ’68 final. With United’s modern representatives making three in four years our generation can now rightly be called the lucky ones.

Ferguson will not want anything left to chance in London. There has been a quiet confidence oozing from the Scotsman over the last fortnight and you can be as sure as horses that he has something up his sleeve. In Moscow it was playing Ronaldo on the left and Hargreaves at right-midfield that flummoxed Chelsea, this season he cold-cocked Arsenal with the Da Silvas. There will be a tactical surprise at the weekend too.

My preference is for a team containing Giggs, Fletcher, Park, Chicharito, Rooney and Valencia. Unfortunately, Park didn’t do brilliantly in Rome and Fletch may not be fit enough. The back five pick themselves. Barcelona have looked very tired over the last couple of weeks, their series of clasicos seeming to have taken their toll. However, in Messi they do have a player whose skills transcend the boundaries of the sport. However well United play, the Argentinean is a man we may have no answer too.

So it is over to Fergie and his white rabbit routine. The next couple of days will be painful waiting for the kick off, but that’s nothing new. Today and always, we all follow United.

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Manchester United are champions of England for the nineteenth time and, like a broken pregnancy test kit, the city glowed both red and blue on Saturday night. One of my friends made the appalling decision to marry a City fan and neither of them can remember who trashed the house at the weekend. Who cares?

Let’s make one thing very clear, this victory is an astonishing achievement. I was very young when I was made aware of the statistics, at the time we may have been level with Aston Villa on league titles, and there were many who never though this day would come.

It has arrived.

Football is a comparative exercise, for all the talk of concentrating on our own team and paying scant attention to our rivals, sport is competition. It is only when you face up to your opponents that you know how your work stacks up against the standard. Manchester United are now indisputably the top team in this country. The debate is over.

It would also be churlish to do anything other than congratulate City on their FA Cup triumph against a club with a hundredth of their budget. The dynamism and excitement of their play at Wembley reminded me of Brazil 1970. Not. There is talk of changing the Stretford End’s banner to one that reads ‘43’ (years since they won the league). We shall see.

Talking of banners, those brave souls who went to Anfield on Sunday to unfurl the ‘MUFC 19 Times’ slogan have my full respect. Perhaps the closest Red Mancs can get to being suicide bombers.

Against a backdrop of instability with the playing staff (Rooney’s petulance, VDS’s retirement) and massive discontentment with the club’s ownership, Alex Ferguson has delivered the goods again. Whatever happens over the next few days, weeks or even years, this is time to salute the greatest manager of them all.
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One of the best atmosphere’s Old Trafford has produced in a while saw our most dominant display over Chelsea in living memory. And now the secret is out. This title, the nineteenth, is one hell of a big deal for this football club, and it is unthinkable that we won’t claim it now.

No season goes by without its peaks and troughs but this one in particular seems a wonder of achievement for Ferguson. Who could have predicted Rooney putting in performances like that back in the autumn? Quite frankly, if you had predicted this outcome to the title race when we were drawing with the likes of West Brom at home I may well have suggested you seek psychiatric care.

There can no longer be any argument about not only Park Ji-Sung’s place in the team, but his position in United folklore. His performance in particular was magnificent and he has written his way into United’s history books now. It was particularly cheering to see him out-tackle and out-fight Chelsea’s celebrated midfielders time and again.

There were flaws in the show too to be honest. Rooney, terrific as he was, was definitely guilty of trying to get Ivanovic sent off and the occasional bit if play acting. But against these opponents it cn’t really be described as anything other than fighting fire with fire.

How on earth Rooney contrived not to score I will never know, in fact, we could have had ten. There were nerves reappearing again last week after the result at Arsenal but you should always remember to keep the faith. After 36 seconds here that faith was rewarded.

This is a fantastic moment. One I shall cherish for a long time. Let’s hope we can play similarly well against Barcelona too.

Thank you Alex Ferguson. Thank you very much.

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If Navy Seals had stormed my home last week Darron Gibson would have been the first person I used as a human shield. What a difference a week makes. We have long said that United tend to make us suffer, but Fergie’s team-sheet for this game was nothing short of terrifying. Anyone who rocked up to Old Trafford expecting a light evening’s entertainment would have been in for a rude shock. Fortunately, the surprises were all positive in the end.

Some people call it mettle, others call it guts, the Spanish say cojones. Whatever it is, Sir Alex Ferguson has got a massive pair of them. United were dire on Sunday, putting in the kind of performance at the Emirates that makes you want to rip off your own leg just so you can hit yourself on the head with your shin bone.

It looked as though the whole season was about to fracture in the space of a few days and this second leg started to seem like much less of a formality. So whilst my fears spent four days expanding they nearly exploded when I saw the name Darron Gibson in the eleven for a European Cup Semi-Final.

As said in the last piece, memories of Leverkeusen loom large in these parts and we had put out a side well capable of losing. Perhaps this is one the reasons I am so addicted to this football club. It is never a steady stroll with Manchester United, we are always exposed to the full range of the emotional journey. I can think of no other club with such a capacity for drama and romance.

There was no love lost between Barca and Real in the other semi and alas this game was not the most sportsmanlike in history either. It would have been more understandable if this tie were on a knife-edge but, really, it was over after half an hour. We must realistically expect Barcelona to be slightly better than Schalke were.

Rationally, Antonio Valenica surely must be a first pick for all remaining big games. I am absolutely delighted for him scoring the opener. He is, by all accounts, a lovely bloke and nobody deserved that goal more that he did.

Five minutes before kick off I was apoplectic yet five minutes after the final whistle I could do no more than echo the sentiments of the poet Wayne Rooney, “how wrong was I?” Now, let’s unleash Gibson et al on Chelsea and sort out this league title too.

VDS, Rafael, Smalling, Evans, O’Shea, Scholes, Gibson, Anderson, Nani, Valencia, Berbatov

Heroes, every single last one of them.

Thanks to ESPN’s worldwide coverage Mark’s blog has been nominated for a People’s Choice Award in a far-flung land. Please click here and vote for ‘Manchester United Correspondent – Mark Payne‘. Don’t forget to press DONE when you are finished to make your vote count.

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Seeing Fergie smiling and joking on the touchline is a sight rarer than a tackle from Carrick. Yet there he was at 86 minutes, grinning at Mike Phelan through chewed gum knowing that he had just presided over a virtually immaculate performance. Champion’s League semi-finals are supposed to be tense, nervy high-pressure affairs. I have particular memories of the tie against Barcelona in 2008 when me and my Dad exchanged almost no words at all during the two matches, such was the apprehension.

Considering Schalke scored five in the San Siro, it is, I am afraid, still too early to book tickets for Wembley. However, the memories of Bayern, and Borrusia Dortmund in particular, still remain clear and this is a moment to cherish.

In the mid-nineties we played Juventus seemingly every season and it was several years before we got a result against them. At the time it looked very much a case of men against boys. Ten years prior to that and we were losing to the likes of Bournemouth in the FA Cup. It really is wonderful to see the side on the verge of making its third European Cup Final in four years.

The nature of being a fan of this team is that even when they are completely outclassing the opposition, you still expect them to concede imminently. This was hardly helped by Manuel Neuer putting in one of the best first-half goalie displays I’ve seen in my life. For a moment or two there I thought; “Are we Newcastle? Is this 1996?”

The man who was, and has been for ages, rolling back the years is Ryan Giggs. Although there was a little bit of disappointment that he missed his chance early in the second half, the way he combined with Rooney for the opener was sublime.

But there were heroes across the pitch. It isn’t just the players who concentrate more in Europe; it’s us fans too. Personally I feel like I can’t take my eyes of the action. You notice more when you watch games that way and I feel remiss in not mentioning before how superb Valencia’s first touch is. Even more cheering is that Fabio, our third choice right-back, looked like a duck on a pond in this fixture. The future could be just a rosy as the present if we manage these players properly.

Supervising the next three fixtures is going to be tricky to say the least. The return leg of this tie is sandwiched between league matches Arsenal and Chelsea and the destiny of the Premier League title. With an aging manager on the verge of a European Cup Final at Wembley, thanks to a performance from an old-stager, it’s just possible that destiny is on our side.

Thanks to ESPN’s worldwide coverage Mark’s blog has been nominated for a People’s Choice Award in a far-flung land. Please click here and vote for ‘Manchester United Correspondent – Mark Payne‘. Don’t forget to press DONE when you are finished to make your vote count.

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Most realistic Reds accept that City are going to win something, sometime. It would be an awesome achievement if they didn’t after spending £400M. There is a convincing argument that the “35 years” banner should be replaced by one saying “43 years”, i.e. since they last won the league. Appropriate.

Picking a suitable team to get the job done is what you do in semi-finals and many of us are ‘well-annoyed’ that Berbatov started the match. This might well have been a case of Ferguson trying to placate the moody Eastern European. A foolish gamble in the wrong fixture.

Would Little Pea have scored either of the chances Berba missed at the start of the match? We will never know, but my suspicion is that he would have done. One wonders how Rooney feels about his outburst now, surely there must be some sense of taking responsibility for it. I expect top performances from him between now and the end of the season.

After those two misses and Nani hitting the bar I began to feel that it just might not be our day. When Scholes got a straight red for a tackle about a third as bad as Carragher’s last month, we all knew that it wasn’t. Thankfully our friends from Liverpool made sure that Sunday was, God bless them.

The country will not be waiting with baited breath to see if Dalglish is issued a ban for telling Wenger to ‘p*ss off’. That sort of thing simply doesn’t happen to managers who are not Sir Alex Ferguson.

Although it is woeful to see so many disinfectant blue shirts walking around the city at the moment it is still better than losing to Ciddy in a cup final. Which incidentally has never happened.

The message is an old one but you can’t hear it too many times. 
Manchester is Red. 
Here is a quote from Tupac to help you get through the week:

“You can spend minutes, hours, days, weeks, or even months over-analyzing a situation; trying to put the pieces together, justifying what could’ve, would’ve happened… or you can just leave the pieces on the floor and move the f*ck on.”
— Tupac Shakur

Thanks to ESPN’s worldwide coverage Mark’s blog has been nominated for a People’s Choice Award in a far-flung land. Please click here and vote for ‘Manchester United Correspondent – Mark Payne‘. Don’t forget to press DONE when you are finished to make your vote count.