The Devil In Me

Proof that everybody needs a hobby could be found in the fact that I was up long past my bedtime last night checking to see if we had got our man. There have been moments of excitement down the years as a fan of the Reds, but I don’t think I can remember a transfer deadline day providing such drama in the past. Deep in the injury time of signings season we have scored an important victory over our rivals.

I think we all knew that getting this guy was important. With all the hullaballo surrounding those last few hours the question arises ‘is he actually that good?’ I think so, he is a good age for a player and managed to score 23 last year for Tottenham. This, while being derided by their fans for being a bit of a misery-guts. That is not bad at all. Over the last two seasons he has displayed the kind of talent that suggests he is a player who can do things which others can’t. I really am looking forward to this.

Key, and I think the clincher, is that he definitely wants to come to United. After all of Cristiano’s rubbish the injection of an enthusiastic new team member may be just what we need to lift the gloomy faces that we saw in Monaco.

Clearly, it would be insane to get too excited too soon, but as mentioned above, I don’t exactly have any hobbies. Bring on Liverpool.

Looking back at domestic football history there are a few moments that stand out as title deciders. In recent years Jose Mourinho’s super-confident arrival and the emergence of Roman Abramovic’s chequebook stand out, in the nineties Kevin Keegan’s outburst and the Eric Cantona’s signature are obvious watermarks. Block it out as they might, Liverpool fans will remember the day Kenny Dalglish resigned all too clearly, they knew it was only downhill from there. But has the last, last minute takeover, and spending jamboree, that occurred at the City of Manchester Stadium on Monday just handed the title back to the Mancunians in red?

A tedious and horrible summer for United fans has just ended in precisely the fashion they would have liked, and they have Manchester City to thank for it. Not even the most imaginative of pundits has dared predict a Premier League winner emerging from any team other United and Chelsea for the 2008/2009 season, and whilst the neutral would maybe prefer to see Arsenal’s colours on the trophy in May, the pundits have probably got it right.

There is a wafer thin difference between the quality of the teams and only John Terry not being up to the job separated the sides in Moscow. For years Chelsea have been using Kenyon’s knowledge of Ferguson’s transfer targets to gazump United (please read the moves of Essien, Mikel, Ballack and Robben for proof of this). This year it seemed as if both were trying to find the last piece of the jigsaw in an attempt to outdo their rivals. As the clock struck 12 on Monday night, United had their man and Chelsea, palpably, did not.

Robinho, far from turning into a Pumpkin, has become a Manchester City player. Mr. Kenyon and his cohorts are left holding little more than a glass slipper (perhaps the same type that JT plays in), something essentially non-existent and certainly not the marquee new striker they were hoping for. United have gone home with Cinderella.

City fans will treat the takeover with a sense of startled delight, but they are far too experienced a bunch to get carried away immediately (maybe). I imagine they will rub their eyes before reading the morning’s papers to make sure it is all true. In time, City could well become a force in the league if this latest round of promises to their beleaguered fans proves to have substance. But for the time being, the first act of their new owners has been to trip up the neighbour’s main rivals. Happy as the average bluenose is with Robinho’s arrival, they would all have preferred to nick a player off United at the last minute if they could have done.

Not so, and if United march to the title again next may we may have to extend a grateful handshake in the direction of Eastlands, it would be rude not to.

Footnote: Apparently City’s new owners turned down the chance to save crisis-ridden Liverpool before Thaksin approached them. This just keeps getting better doesn’t it?

Just quietly, the word around town is that Berbatov was at Carrington yesterday having a medical and the team photo has been delayed until Friday.

You heard it from thedevilinme first.

You have got to love Fergie. If there is one area in which the squad is currently weak it is in defence. A lot of juggling can be done back there, with Wesley and O’Pie able to play in many positions, but another centre-back or full-back of decent quality would be very useful.

So of course the big man has made a sulking, yet sublimely gifted, striker his sole transfer target this summer. Optimistically I see shades of - wait for it - Cantona in Berbatov’s play. To see him running around with Rooney is something to look forward to.

Down in Stamfordgrad Ambramovich’s mission to destroy the game is gathering pace. How appropriate that a club whose initials are CFC should be slowly eroding the soul of football.

This morning I read that they are dropping funds equivalent to the cost of building 15 hospitals on the doorsteps of AC Milan. All this so that they can head off with Kaka in a limousine sporting blacked out windows. He is a decent player Kaka and will definitely make them more tricky.

There are a lot of decent people working hard in our league but with every transfer of this size I see the gap widening and it doesn’t make me happy. It would be justice for the game if United and Arsenal finished above Chelsea this season. How annoying that Roman seems hell-bent on spending money until he gets what he wants.

As I said this time last year, we are duty bound to keep those men in blue at bay. The thought of their evil clutches on the biggest prizes is too hideous to bear.

He plays for the Reds. He plays for whites…?
Well who knows. It seems as though over the course of the last week the debate has shifted from will he/won’t he, to one for justifying the reasons why we should in fact sell him.

Two things appear to be clear, Ferguson doesn’t want to sell him and he wants to go. I, for one, am not in the business of testing the big man’s resolve on any matter, so I feel it is still a matter of whether or not he goes, rather than simply when and for how much.

History backs me up on this. After the last international tournament Ronaldo publicly stated his desire to leave for Real Madrid only to be talked out of it and quickly hushed upon his return to Manchester. You will have read by now that he has gone on holiday and the state of play has still not changed. Same as last time.

The reasons being mooted for selling him are as follows. Firstly the money. Yes we would get a big pile of cash off the Spaniards but there is no way that £60million would buy us a winger and a goalscorer of such quality in such a short space of time. But the Glazers might want it to pay off the debts I hear you cry! Well that’s their problem, I am assuming they have some kind of business plan which didn’t involve unexpected piles of money landing on their laps so they can stick to that.

No player is bigger than the club. I agree with this one, and there are those amongst us who still rue the sales of Rvn and Sir David but the precedent has been set and we should stick to it. I actually don’t think that he has got to that stage yet, he still plays for the team and is not asking for outlandishly special treatment around the club. His training is legendarily diligent and as such his professionalism is still sound enough for United.

He doesn’t want to play for us so get rid. Fair enough and this is the argument that will be the clincher for most of us but to me it smacks of, well, being a bit self-defeatest. It is important to remember that this guy can do stuff that nobody else can do, he really is that good, and if he plays he will play well of that I am sure.

But the reason I really want to keep him? If he stays I think we can make it in Europe again next year. And you know what? Ferguson agrees with me.

I don’t usually like talking about transfers until after they’ve happened. If it’s a new player who has arrived it is usually better to reserve judgment until we’ve seen him play a few times. If someone has left you usually presume that Fergie has made a decision in the best interests of the team or the club, regardless of whether or not you expect to miss seeing them play for us.

The situation with Gabby seems to be different and answers are not flowing freely. The big question is why on earth does he want to go? We have looked after him with his injuries and even voted him our player of the year in his first season, so how he could even consider going to Liverpool is beyond me.

It is my understanding that all new players are indoctrinated into the history of the club fairly thoroughly. One thinks they might mention during that process that we are none too chummy with the scousers.

I don’t think that him and Fergie have spoken yet and he is due in for training on Monday. I tell myself to remember that he has come back alive from irking the manager before, when he insisted on playing in the Olympics shortly after signing.

It will be interesting to see how that meeting goes and no doubt we’ll get some more solid information shortly afterwards. The bottom line is though, if he wants to go, he should be gone. But it is a big why?