Manchester United

[Bredbury Blue 2,538]

Not having a pop here, but do you get the feeling that the media want this to be Fergie's last season?

Regadless of the media's knives, he's going to go eventually, so any feelings on who it might be to replace him - would it be David Gill or the Yanks (or Sir Blobby?) who'd pick the replacement?

I can't wait until it happens - whatever one thinks of Fergie, he's going to be a bastard to replace, figuratively and literally.

[muckypups 0]

Yes Bred, I do think this will be his last season. Of course a lot depends on how United do in not only the league but (very important for the Glazers this..) in the Champions League. Last seasons failure to go beyond the group stages was a killer for the supporters and, I suspect, a bitter financial blow for the new owners..

If our season is reasonably successful then I expect Fergie to be heavily involved in the search for the next manager, if we fall apart along the way.. and say we get a third place finish in the league.., quarter final knockout in the Champs League.. and maybe a cup semi-final?.. Well, that would be failure.. and the Glazers might lose patience..

I'd hate Fergie to be pushed sideways or sacked in the event of a poor season but I think they'll be ruthless. For what it's worth I think he should have gone when he originally stated a few years back.. on a high.. as for the next manager?.. Hard to say.. but I hope it's not Quieroz!

Of course, Fergie being Fergie I'll probably end up eating these words...

[nev 5,226]

must say a very big thank you too mucky for keeping me updated with the score, made my taxi trip very pleasant.!!

good to see bred blue back!!

[muckypups 0]

Happy to oblige Nev.. and a good result too. Carrick on, Ole scoring.. Fletcher played well! Chelsea lose..

Perfect..

[muckypups 0]

The Champs. League draw is taking place.. our first opponents in the group: Celtic! 2 more to come...

Oh, and Chelsea v Barcelona..

[muckypups 0]

Revenge time.. 3rd team in our group.. Benfica

[muckypups 0]

Final team in our group.. F.C. Copenhagen. Their first appearance in the Champs. League.

[redrus 879]

AIG TO HELP THE WORLD’S CHILDREN

Their PR is as good as United's.

From yesterday's Guardian Diary;

Hats off to Manchester United's new sponsor, American International Group, which according to a breathless announcement in the club's programme on Sunday has launched an exciting new initiative, Goals for Kids, to "benefit children across the globe". For every Red goal this season, the programme revealed, AIG "will donate £1,000". Now we've never been terribly good at maths, but we reckon the £80,000 or so the world's fourth largest company will probably end up forking out at the end of the season represents roughly 0.143% of the £56m it paid to get its logo on Man U's shirts, 0.009% of the £843m fine it agreed to pay in the US to settle allegations of accounting fraud, or five days of Rio Ferdinand's wages. Far be it from us to carp, but this looks like generosity indeed.

redrus

[redrus 879]

Hargreaves fined, From the Guardian;

Owen Hargreaves's publicly expressed desire to leave Bayern Munich for Manchester United has proved expensive for the England international after it emerged the Bundesliga champions had fined him a week's wages.

Bayern are incensed that Hargreaves reputedly had face-to-face talks with Sir Alex Ferguson at United's training ground and have reminded him that, if true, he is breaching the terms of his £18,000-per-week contract. According to reports in Germany, the club's general manager, Uli Hoeness, rounded on Hargreaves in front of the other players. "I am incredibly disappointed in you," he reportedly said. "You are prostituting yourself to Manchester United."

Hargreaves yesterday abandoned the idea of a press conference after it was made clear he was risking a backlash from Bayern's fans should the transfer fail to go through. He had been expected to re-iterate his plans to move to Old Trafford.

redrus

[redrus 879]

...........and finally, from the funnies;

YOU'RE NOT FAMOUS ANYMORE

From yesterday's Guardian.

Fewer than 4 million viewers watched ITV1's coverage of Liverpool's Champions League match, which was beaten by BBC1's Holby City.

redrus

[lampard10 1]

Oh, and Chelsea v Barcelona..

Thank gawd for that........so we can't play them again till the final.

[nev 5,226]

good draw for us,the red army will be out in force in glasgow,and i am sure celtic will bring loads to old trafford.

[muckypups 0]

I think it's a decent draw, against Celtic we should be O.K. Benfica, well we owe them one for last year of course.. and Copenhagen? I don't know anything about them although they did dispose of Ajax in the qualifiers.

I'd rather we had teams that made us play.. after all, look at last season; of arguably the weakest group we came bottom.

Oh, and Chelsea v Barcelona.. great, but they should be the two qualifiers from that group.. unless Werder Bremen have other ideas of course..

[muckypups 0]

This from the United web site:

Group F Fixtures

Wed September 13 - Celtic (H)

Tue September 26 - Benfica (A)

Tue October 17 - Copenhagen (H)

Wed November 1 - Copenhagen (A)

Tue November 21 - Celtic (A)

Wed December 6 - Benfica (H)

[redrus 879]

I'm well happy with that.

Gonna try and make it to both Celtic (my other boyhood club) games and Copenhagen away.

redrus