manchester united Category
Manchester United football club news, Manchester United transfers, Premier League
Transfer madness: Manchester United spunk £80m on Harry Maguire
Manchester United have invested £80m on Leicester City’s Harry Maguire. The 26-year-old is now the world’s most expensive defender.
Posted: 2nd, August 2019 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
Talking balls: Manchester United mix up and Arsenal’s Pepe not African
Tip-top reporting from the Daily Star, which manages to illustrate a story on Romelu Lukaku with a pen pic of his Manchester United teammate Paul Pogba. It also hails Arsenal’s new player the “France winger” Nicolas Pepe. He plays for the Ivory Coast, which isn’t in France. S
Oh, and Pogba hasn’t been left out of the United squad in Norway. He’s on the bench:
Such are the facts.
Posted: 30th, July 2019 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Key Posts, manchester united, Sports, Tabloids | Comment
Transfer News: Liverpool sign Elliott, Arsenal sell winger, Dybala doesn’t want Spurs move
Liverpool have signed Harvey Elliott from Fulham. He’s 16, wears his hair in a bun and boasts the record of becoming the youngest player to feature in the Premier League when at at the age of 16 years and 30 days old he played against Wolves.
Big clubs are chasing youth.
Xavier Amaechi has left Arsenal for £2.25m. The 18-year-old has joined Hamburg on a four-year contract. The hope is that these young players go on to command very high transfer fees. If Harry Maguire can be worth £80m to Manchester United – the fee his current club Leicester City are asking for the defender – the sky’s the limit.
Manchester United are spending big and have agreed a £65m deal for Sporting Lisbon’s Portugal midfielder Bruno Fernandes, 24. And money is scheduled to come in: noises from Spain indicate that Real Madrid or Juventus are to offer £150m move for Manchester United and France midfielder Paul Pogba, 26. United also fancy Lyon’s Moussa Dembélé if Romelu Lukaku joins Internazionale and view Lazio’s Sergej Milinkovic-Savic as replacement for Pogba.
Even Spurs have £80m for Argentina forward Paulo Dybala, 25. But he wants to stay at Juventus.
Posted: 28th, July 2019 | In: Arsenal, Liverpool, manchester united, Sports, Spurs | Comment
Transfer balls: Spurs will get nothing for Alderweireld; Manchester United wait
Transfer Balls: No club bid the £25m that would have triggered Spurs defender Toby Alderweireld’s transfer from Spurs. The Sun reasons that because the deadline for that “bargain of the summer” (Telegraph) expires at midnight tonight, the Belgian’s value “has increased dramatically”. Alderweireld is now in the final year of his contract with Spurs. In June 2020 he can leave for free and pocket all that extra cash in a signing-on bonus and wages. The player has already rejected a long-term deal to remain at Spurs. He’s 30. The next move will be his last chance to maximise his earnings.
The Sun thinks he’s now worth, well, what: £50m? £70m? More? Alderweireld earns around £80,000 per week at Spurs. He can earn much more than that a top club. And with no transfer fee, he’ll surely get it. 442 reasons “the club will be delighted” that their “Rolls Royce” of a player hasn’t left for a low sum of £25m – low given that Aston Villa paid over £20m for Bournemouth lummox Tyrone Mings.
Manchester United wanted him last year but cooled their interest. Roma wanted him this summer but thought the £25m fee too high. So Spurs are stuck with an ageing player in the final year of his contract. Where’s the win?
Posted: 26th, July 2019 | In: Back pages, manchester united, Sports, Spurs | Comment
Transfer Balls: Zaha to Everton, Everton to Arsenal, Dyabla to Spurs
Everton fans must be thrilled. With £80m to spend on new talent, the Toffees are after Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha – the player who supports the Arsenal, loves the Arsenal and wants to play for the Arsenal. Compared to the £80m Manchester United want to spunk on Harry Maguire, Zaha for the same fee looks like good value.
One other issue for Everton is that their midfield tyro Idrissa Gueye is off to Paris Saint-Germain for around £30m.
As Arsenal faff about and hope Palace get desperate as the August 8 transfer deadline approaches and sell Zaha to them for some buttons, promises and a Carl Jenkinson – or buy Brazil’s Everton for £30m – Spurs make plans. Like Manchester United and Bayern Munich, they’re after Paulo Dybala, the Juventus striker. And like Maguire and Zaha, he too is in the draw marked ‘£80m’.
Meanwhile, back on planet earth away from hot football flesh, it’s boiling.
Posted: 25th, July 2019 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, manchester united, Sports, Spurs | Comment
Transfer balls: Bale sale kickstarts Pogba leaving Manchester United and Spurs getting Lo Celso
Gareth Bale’s people say Real Madrid have disrespected their cash cow. Chinese clubs Beijing Guoan, Jiangsu Suning and Shanghai Shenhua say Bale would get private jets full of respect should he choose to pull on any one of their club’s colours. And if playing for the badge isn’t enough, Bale can also get a £20m golden hello and £1m a week after tax. Not too shabby, then, for the high-achieving Real benchwarmer .
Bale’s leaving Real would allow Real to recruit the marketing machine that is Paul Pogba. Manchester United will then spend the £150m they’ll get for Pogba on Juventus striker Paulo Dybala, Spurs’ midfielder Christian Eriksen and Inter Milan’s Ivan Perisic.
Spurs will use the Eriksen cash to buy Fulham’s Ryan Sessegnon and Real Betis midfielder Giovani lo Celso. Or maybe Bale will take cut in wages and play for PSG?
Posted: 23rd, July 2019 | In: manchester united, Sports, Spurs | Comment
Arsenal Transfer News: Zaha for £65m plus one Jenkinson and a sexy car
Crystal Palace think Wilfried Zaha is worth £80m? Is he? Arsenal think he’s worth £55m plus £10m in add ons should they win the league (10-1) or Mustafi mishit a pass that lands on the moon (7-1). For a player who flopped the last time he left Palace, £80m could look like a huge risk – Zaha transferred to Manchester United in 2013 only to return to Palace in 2015. A player happy to be the star at one lower mid-table club might not shine at a club with loftier ambitions and a more demanding fanbase.
But Zaha has improved. And of that time at Manchester, where he played under the limited David Moyes, Zaha offered:
…Moyes took issue with the way he dressed and even the car he drove. Zaha felt further let down by the club’s failure to shut down false rumours he was sleeping with Moyes’ daughter and that his absence was due to an attitude problem. He remembers being ‘belittled’ in training by one United coach after scoring. On another occasion he was shown a video of himself in tricky winger mode for Palace and was asked how he could recapture that form, having already been told by Moyes to cut out the fancy footwork. ‘You see the mind games they were playing?’ a bewildered Zaha asks. ‘But when he took me out of the Champions League squad and put in Adnan Januzaj, who had never played for the first team, I knew then that this is way bigger than I ever thought and had gone way beyond footballing reasons,’ he says. ‘When it was not about football or ability, what could I do?’
“There were rumours that the reason I wasn’t playing [many games] for United was because I slept with [then manager] David Moyes’s daughter, and no one [at the club] attempted to clear that up.
“So I was fighting my demons by myself, these rumours that I knew weren’t true. I was dealing with this at 19; living in Manchester by myself, nowhere near anyone else, because the club had a hold over where I lived. They hadn’t given me a car, like every other player [had]. Nothing. I’m living in this hell by myself, away from my family, and I thought, ‘If this doesn’t make me stronger, what will’?”
He’s stronger now with oodles of charisma. How Arsenal need him…
Posted: 22nd, July 2019 | In: Arsenal, manchester united, Sports | Comment
Transfer balls: £60m is more than £65m as Spurs beat Manchester United to Giovani Lo Celso
Transfer Balls hears the rumours that Spurs want to sign Real Betis midfielder Giovani Lo Celso. The tabloids are confused as to his value and what Spurs are willing to pay:
“Tottenham are refusing to pay £60million for Real Betis’ Giovani Lo Celso” – The Sun
“Spurs are set to smash their transfer record for a second time this summer as they finally step up their interest in £70million-rated midfielder Giovani Lo Celso” – Daily Mirror
The Mirror says Spurs are “desperate to land Lo Celso after shattering Tottenham’s transfer record to sign Tanguy Ndombele for £65million”. But the Sun says they’re not all that desperate for the player who flopped at PSG and won’t pay over £60m.
The tabloids don’t have the foggiest. The Mirror (prop. Reach plc) says Spurs will get their man – it’s a sure thing. But Football.London (prop Reach plc) says Lo Celso could be off to Manchester United.
Such are the fatcs.
Posted: 19th, July 2019 | In: Back pages, manchester united, Sports, Spurs | Comment
Transfer Balls: Bale ‘agrees’ Manchester United terms and ‘agrees’ Spurs return; plays for Real Madrid
The latest transfer balls has Spurs buying Gareth Bale from Real Madrid for £55m and somehow managing to finance his £600,000-a-week wages. The 30-year-old player’s agent declined to go on talkSPORT to discuss his client but said of the Spurs rumours: “I don’t comment on rubbish.” Having thus offered a loud comment, Manchester United fans can wonder what happened to their target?
And as for Bale returning to Spurs, well, Daily Express readers know that he rejoined the club last summer:
Such are the facts.
Posted: 16th, July 2019 | In: Back pages, manchester united, Sports, Spurs | Comment
Manchester United transfer balls: Paul Pogba yo-yos between homes
Whoever takes the penalties for Juventus had best watch out: the Turin club is preparing a £120m bid for Manchester United’s 26-year-old France midfielder Paul Pogba. United should bit their hand off at the shoulder.
Juventus know what to expect from their former player – which makes you wonder how they think he’s worth such a vast sum of money. Having retuned “home” to United – his word for rejoining the club he left for Juventus in 2012 – Pogba told us in 2016, when his then world-record £89m transfer to United was completed, that “the time is right to go back to Old Trafford… This is the right club for me to achieve everything I hope to.”
The collaboration with Kanye West on a range of leather shorts and a starring role in Game of Thrones were surely near the top of the list of Pogba’s hopes. The football was okay in parts (those penalties taken in the style of a dressage pony) and less ok in others.
The tosh that heralded Pogba’s return to Old Trafford was not confined to Pogba Inc. BBC pundit Danny Murphy told us that “with their summer signings and with Jose Mourinho in charge, United will soon have their old fear factor back.While Pogba has arrived, I do not see Juan Mata being at Old Trafford for too much longer.”
Mata has just extended his United contract by a further three years. Pogba has been telling his United teammates he’s ready to leave. Presumably it’s the ‘right time’ to embark on another marketing project.
The Times says United want Pogba to be the pivot for manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s new team. Pogba’s agent Mino Raiola says he is “in the process” of arranging a transfer for Pogba. “Everyone within the club from the manager to the owner knows Paul’s wishes. Everyone knows the willingness of Paul to move on. We are in the process of that. Everyone knows what the feelings of Paul are,” said Raiola.
And for the right fee, you can feel the love.
Posted: 8th, July 2019 | In: Back pages, manchester united, Sports | Comment
Manchester United appoint Ole Gunnar Solskjaer – a manager who has won nothing
From the hunt for proven winners – Louis Van Gaal and Jose Mourinho – to the decision to settle for a man who has won nothing as manager. Manchester United have appointed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as permanent manager on a three-year contract. Solskjær has won the Tippeligaen as manager of Molde. And that’s it.
“This is the job that I always dreamed of doing and I’m beyond excited to have the chance to lead the club long term,” says Solskjaer. “From the first day I arrived, I felt at home at this special club. It was an honour to be a Manchester United player, and then to start my coaching career here. The last few months have been a fantastic experience.”
The expectation levels are far higher now than when he joined. Much to do…
Posted: 28th, March 2019 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
Manchester United balls: Anthony Martial and the moving goalposts
Anthony Martial is making news on the front and back pages. The Sun tells us that Martial is due a call up to his national side: “Anthony Martial’s return to form will cost Man Utd £8.7m after France recall.”
Good for him. But why will hi success cost United so much money?
Martial’s deal from Monaco in 2015 included an add-on triggered by 25 caps for his national team. He needs to play 45 minutes in the game for an appearance to count and is so far on 11 before losing his place in Deschamps’ squad for the World Cup. The France boss is now considering a recall for next month’s European Championship qualifiers against Moldova and Iceland – and Martial could hit the 25-cap mark before the end of the 2020 campaign including finals.
Really? No. Here’s the Daily Telegraph:
The France forward’s 76th minute equaliser at Old Trafford on Saturday was his 25th Premier League goal for the club and triggered a clause in his contract entitling his former club Monaco to a €10 million (£8.73 million) windfall.
United paid Monaco an initial £36 million when they signed Martial in September 2015 but the cost of the transfer has now risen to what is expected to be a final fee of £44.73 million.
The French club had a longer wait than they might have expected for the additional sum, though, since Martial had been stuck on 24 league goals for more than eight months. His previous league goal was against Burnley on January 20.
Under the terms of the original deal, Monaco were due two further payments of £8.73 million each if Martial played 25 games for France and was nominated for the Ballon d’Or before the end of the current 2018/19 season. Yet with Martial not among the Ballon d’Or nominees announced this week and out of favour for France, for whom he has played 18 times, seven games short of the stipulated target, neither clause will be met.
And the Mirror in March 2018:
…back in 2015, Monaco president Vadim Vasilyev proudly announced: “The price for Martial is £57.6million but take into account this sum includes bonuses, which are very realistic.” Manchester United included three bonuses amounting to £7.2million each in the deal to sign Martial – all of which must be triggered by 2019…
United agreed to pay Monaco an additional £7.2million if the France international scores 25 Premier League goals for the Red Devils before 2019..
Prior to joining Manchester United, the talented 22-year-old forward had already made seven appearances for France. The Red Devils agreed that should Martial feature in an additional 25 games while representing the Old Trafford club, they would again fork out £7.2million.
The target is not 25 international matches but 32. Such are the facts…
Posted: 22nd, February 2019 | In: Back pages, manchester united, Sports, Tabloids | Comment
Manchester United Balls: Solskjaer gets the job full-time; Pochettino earns Spurs £34m transfer fee
On February 12 2019, the announced that Manchester United had chosen their next full-time manager. “IT’S OLE YOURS,” stated the Sun. “Solskjaer to be appointed Man Utd manager permanently as board finally choose the club legend over Pochettino.” Good news for Spurs fans worried that their manager was on his way to Old Trafford.
“OLE GUNNAR SOLSKJAER will be named the full-time manager of Manchester United,” says the Sun’s Neil Curtis in an exclusive. “The decision has now been made at board level… The hunt is over with co-chairmen Joel and Avram Glazer now convinced they have the right man for the job in Solskjaer.” Adding: “The news will end speculation that Mauricio Pochettino could be tempted away from Spurs to Old Trafford next summer.”
Done. Or as the Sun notes on February 18 2019:
Such are the facts…
Posted: 18th, February 2019 | In: Back pages, manchester united, Sports, Tabloids | Comment
Transfer balls: Zidane to Chelsea; Pochettino and Saudi bone-saws to Manchester United
Is Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri spending the windfall in his severance clause? Maybe. The talk is of Sarri being given the boot and Zinedine Zidane the golden hello. ZouZou loves Chelsea – and if Roman Abramovich gives him £200m to spend on players, Eden Hazard forever and, naturally, a guaranteed huge payoff should he displease the Russian, the Frenchman will be on his way.
Or maybe he’ll head to Manchester United. Or maybe United will go shopping at Spurs once more. The Red Devils are willing to pay Tottenham a £34m compensation for manager Mauricio Pochettino.
More stories are emerging of Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman’s rumoured £3.8bn bid for for Manchester United. But the Prince is good at denials (see bone-saw murder). A flunky called Turki al-Shabanah tells us: “Reports claiming that HRH the Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman intends on buying @ManUtd are completely false. Manchester United held a meeting with @PIFSaudi to discuss sponsorship opportunity. No deal has been materialised.” What would the Saudi’s sponsor? Do Manchester United have their own branded petrol yet? Bone saws?
The Sun hears Turki gobble and says: “Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman hopes to complete a £3.8bn takeover of Manchester United before the start of the next season.”
In other news, Romelu Lukaku is wanted by Inter Mila, who have had it up to ‘here’ with Mauro Icardi. Chelsea want Icardi and Paulo Dybala. Zidane might not.
Posted: 18th, February 2019 | In: Back pages, Chelsea, manchester united | Comment
Manchester United Balls: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer named new manager – but only in the Sun
As you were Spurs fans. Relax. Mauricio Pochettino is no longer wanted by Manchester United. The Sun bellows the news that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be named the full-time manager at Manchester United. It’s a matter of when not if. The Sun says United will wait until the end of the season.
Not so, says the BBC. Solskjaer has does brilliantly in his first 11 games as Manchester United’s caretaker manager. He’s rid United of the “toxic atmosphere” created by Jose Mourinho. He’s delivered ten wins from 11 matches. He won over United’s staff with bars of chocolate – on his first day at the club Solskjaer gave all backroom staff bars of duty free chocolate. But the BBC notes: “What happens in the next 11…will probably determine whether the 45-year-old Norwegian gets the job of replacing Jose Mourinho full-time.”
Do we all believe the Sun?
Might be best to wait and see…
And this is what the Sun said of the Norwegian way back in January 2019:
Despite an encouraging start to life as interim manager, Solskjaer has a chequered record as a coach. Having taken Cardiff down he is yet to win a trophy since returning to Molde. How he would deal with a major transfer budget also requires consideration. There must also be questions over whether he possesses the tactical nouse to improve United beyond his honeymoon period.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer it is, then.
Posted: 11th, February 2019 | In: Back pages, Key Posts, manchester united, Sports, Tabloids | Comment
Martial Phwoar! Manchester United striker in Paris sex scoop
Anorak was looking for the headline ‘Martial Phwoar’, but instead has to make do with the Star’s “exclusive” that Manchester United forward Anthony Martial is a “Cheapskate”.
The paper alleges the player cheated on his pregnant partner, squiring his extra-martial lover in a £70-a-night budget hotel. Or to put it another way: pennywise football does not squander cash but seeks out best rates – possibly by the hour.
Martial’s partner has since given birth to the couple’s son… Swan. And today readers meet “French beauty Malika Semichi”. She says of her alleged tryst at the two-star Hotel du Midi near the Gare de Lyon train station in Paris: “I have to say I was surprised when he told me which hotel he had picked. It wasn’t the nicest and was a bit rundown and cheap, especially seeing as he’s used to much nicer hotels. But I knew he had a girlfriend so presumed it was because he didn’t want anyone to see us together.”
And who can presume anything other than that. After all, as Malika says: “He kept referring to me as his second girlfriend. He made me feel special.” You’re a number 2. Aw, shucks. And it get still more romantic in Paris, city of car-b-cues, angry people in yellow vests and snails a la mode. The Star claims he sent her “a string of snaps showing off his manhood, which this paper has seen”. The paper has seen Martial’s bellend? Bu at least we know now what what a load of snapshots of your knob is called: a string – a word once reserved for pearls?
Posted: 10th, February 2019 | In: Key Posts, manchester united, News, Sports, Tabloids | Comment
Manchester United to double Rashford’s wages
How much is Marcus Rashford worth to Manchester United? Talk is of Real Madrid testing the water with a £100m bid for the striker. United pay Rashford around £75,000-a-week. They pay Anthony Martial £200,000-a-week. Clearly either Rashford is being underpaid or else Martial has just agree a five-year deal that overvalues his contributions to United.
Rashford has started all eight Premier League games since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took over from Jose Mourinho, scoring six times. In that time, Martial has scored twice.
Meanwhile… over in Russia, Mourinho was tossing an ice puck to start an ice hockey match. There he was was stood on a roll of carpet between two players. On the way back to his seat Mourinho slipped. Lots of people noticed – but we’ve one question: what is it with Mourinho and red carpets?
Posted: 5th, February 2019 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
Manchester United transfers: Felix in; Martial signs; Fellaini gone
Farewell, Marouane Fellaini, who has left Manchester Untied for Shandong Luneng on a three-year contract in a deal worth around £8million a year. We only pity whoever’s sat on the plan next to the jutting Belgian. Those elbows never did have enough room on a pitch. But he’s on decent money and can book three seats.
In place of the big lad in the middle and up front and in your face, Manchester United will look to buy Benfica and Portugal’s 19-year-old Joao Felix. In 2018, Fellaini calculated that it would cost Manchester United almost £44 million to replace him. Felix should cost less. The rest of us should wonder if Fellaini estimates his value by the square inch and not in terms of dribbling ability and other more traditional skillsets.
In other news, Anthony Martial has agreed a new fie-year contract. The burly Frenchman has scored 46 goals in 161 outings since joining the club for £36m in 2015. Back then he was the main man. Then came another teenage sensation, one Kylian Mbappe, and Martial looked lackadaisical and aloof. Still, a big money, long-term deal will surely enliven him – and give United a better chance of getting a decent return on their investment.
Posted: 30th, January 2019 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
Transfer Balls: Liverpool £61m for Felix; Martial stays at Manchester United; Everton in for Chelsea striker; Higuain jets in for Spurs
A round-up of today’s transfer rumours and other fluff and nonsense in the Press. Let’s kick off with Liverpool, who’ve bid £61m bid for Portugal Under-21 attacking midfielder Joao Felix, 19. Correio da Manha says Benfica, his current club, think the teenager is worth more. Someone arguably worth less is Philippe Coutinho. The Liverpool Echo in a no-news special says Liverpool won’t be resigning the Brazil midfielder, 26, they flogged to Barcelona for a whopping £142m just 12 months ago. Many other clubs also won’t be buying Coutinho.
One player who could be finally on his way to the Premier League is Juventus and Argentina striker Gonzalo Higuain. Chelsea want to sign the 31-year-old before week’s Carabao Cup semi-final second leg against Tottenham, says the Sun. That’s the same paper that told us Higuain played for Arsenal. That story remains live on the paper’s website. Chelsea fans shouldn’t buy those Higuain replica shirts just yet.
In the sunny uplands of Manchester United, Anthony Martial, 23, is all set to agreeing a new five-year contract, says Sky Sports. And Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (aka Fergie Mark 2) wants to leave his rooms at the Lowry Hotel in Salford and find a permanent address in Manchester.
Everton have £40m for Chelsea and Belgium forward Michy Batshuayi. Everton are determined to catch the so-called Big 6. That means gaining ground on Arsenal, a club seemingly determined to return to a state of mid-80s torpor. News is that James Rodriguez, 27, will remain at Bayern Munich for the rest of season. The Express says Arsenal have as much chance of signing him as they have of keeping a clean sheet.
And finally Barcelona have had enough fo Malcom, 21. ESPN says that any club offering the £35.2m they paid Bordeaux for the player last July can have him. Spurs are interested.
Posted: 19th, January 2019 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Chelsea, Liverpool, manchester united, Sports, Spurs | Comment
Manchester United transfer balls: Fellaini out; Carrasco, Brooks and Under in
Manchester United are trying to offload the Hairy Elbow, aka Belgium midfielder Marouane Fellaini. The club says he can go if a bid for around £15m arrives. AC Milan, Porto and Chinese side Guangzhou Evergrande are said to be interested.
Once upon a time, Arsenal wanted Fellaini. They couldn’t afford him now. Just as they can’t afford Cengiz Under or Yannick Carrasco. Both players are wanted by the Gunners. But United have the cash to take them. Mrs Carrasco, aka Miss Belgium 2013 Noémie Happart, was asked if she knew of Arsenal and United’s interest in her husband. “Yes they are very interested,” she offered. “I do not hide it but nothing is signed.”
Rumours abound that United also fancy Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly, Juventus’s Douglas Costa and Bournemouth’s David Brooks.
Finally, filed under one of the future is Tromso’s over 14-year-old Norwegian Isak Hansen-Aaroen. Everton and Liverpool are also keen.
Posted: 16th, January 2019 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
Transfer Balls: Liverpool old boy Coutinho to Manchester United and maybe Man City
The Manchester Evening News rivals the Daily Express for Transfer Balls – that strain of football reporting that treats readers as mugs. The latest tosh is that former Liverpool players Phillipe Coutinho will leave Barcelona for Manchester United. This would be quite some transfer given that Coutinho played for United’s rivals and became the world’s this most expensive player when he moved to Barcelona in 2018 for £106m. But news and no news is coming thick and thicker in the MEN:
“Manchester United ‘open talks’ to sign former Liverpool FC midfielder Philippe Coutinho and more transfer rumours” – January 7, 11.20am.
“Manchester United fans are saying the same thing about Philippe Coutinho transfer rumour” – January 7, 14.17pm.
“Why Manchester United won’t move for Philippe Coutinho in the January transfer window” – January 8, 5am.
“Manchester United favourites to sign Philippe Coutinho in the January transfer window” – January 8, 11.21am.
“Philippe Coutinho, Toby Alderweireld and the 30 players bookies are linking with a transfer move to Manchester United” – January 9, 6:30pm
Any Manchester United fans dreaming or dreading Coutinho joining the club can read another story by Aidan McCartney. This one was also published on Jan 9:
The choices cut of the tosh linking Coutinho to Manchester City being: “Pep Guardiola’s side have been handed odds on signing some of the biggest names in world football.” Pep had no idea which players he was going to sign until Paddy Power and the mugs who make them rich told him.
Posted: 9th, January 2019 | In: Back pages, Key Posts, Liverpool, Manchester City, manchester united, Sports | Comment
What Jose’s hotel cost Manchester United in rent
Freshly sacked by Manchester United, surly Jose Mourinho is back living at his London home. The Riverside Suite at Manchester’s Lowry Hotel, where he stayed since July 2016, is available to any new manager unwilling to commit to living in the city. But what was the bill for Mourinho’s stay?
The Sun: “Jose Mourinho hotel: Inside the exclusive Lowry where axed Man Utd manager lived for 895 days and spent £779,000 on rent.”
The Mail: “Jose Mourinho finally checks out of the Lowry Hotel… after 895 days and an astonishing £537,000 bill.” Although the Mail also notes: “What’s so special about the Special One’s £600,000 hotel suite? That’s the bill Jose Mourinho ran up in nearly three years.” Are we including tips?
Does the Lowry charge the Sun’s holidaymakers more than Mail guests? But the bill could have been higher. In January 2018, 442 magazine told us: “If Mourinho stays at the Lowry until July 1 2021, it will have cost him £1,489,200.” That figure is based on the rooms costing £816-a-night. But the Guardian can get the same digs for £600-a-night.
It pays to shop around.
Posted: 31st, December 2018 | In: Back pages, manchester united, Money, News, Sports | Comment
Manchester United sack Mourinho
Farewell then Jose Mourinho, sacked as as manager of Manchester United for being overrated, whining, bitchy, sarcastic, negative and possessed of all charm of next door’s cat say by a large pile of poo.
After two and a half years in charge at Old Trafford, Mourinho finally got found out by the club’s lazy owners. Yes, he did lead United to the League Cup and Europa League titles. But they are sixth in the Premier League, already a whopping 19 points behind leaders Liverpool.
“A caretaker-manager will be appointed until the end of the season while the club conducts a thorough recruitment process for a new, full-time manager,” says United in a statement. Since Sir Alex Ferguson left, all United managers have been in the caretaker told. United are a desperate club run by a marketing machine. The current owners never knew how United struggled for 26 years to win the title before Ferguson took them to the top. They just saw a chance to make a lot money fast from perennial champions. United can sell you an official noodle but they can’t sell you a dream of glory even in defeat.
So Mourinho goes the way of David Moyes and Louis Van Gaal in the post-Fergie mess. Who next in the hot seat? Given that United’s kingmakers’ lack proven lack of vision, it’ll be a tried and tested name. They should begin their headhunting at Spurs…
Posted: 18th, December 2018 | In: Back pages, manchester united, Sports | Comment
Bigots use Raheem Sterling racism row to control football fans
No Chelsea fans were at the Etihad last night to see Raheem Sterling and the rest of his Manchester City team beat Hoffenheim in the Champions League. No-one called Raheem Sterling a “fucking black cunt”, as is alleged, or a “Manc cunt”, as is claimed. (Lip-readers are on the case.) No tabloid today links Sterling with rising sea levels, knife crime and the unravelling of Brexit. The Mail does, however, say that some of the visiting German fans gave City’s German flyer Leroy Sane, scorer of both of City’s goals, “some stick”. Sane “appeared to be the subject of a verbal volley”. Tsk! Calling people names at the footy. Whatever next?
On Tuesday, the Mail told us Watford striker Isaac Success “was subjected to aggressive behaviour by local supporters” against Everton. Both Sane and Success are black, like Sterling – the player who illustrated his claim that racism is fueled by media bias with two stories from the Mail. The paper denied the allegation, and appears to be at pains to show readers that other players not in its crosshairs also get shouted at. There’s no claim that Sane was racially abused, and the Everton fans in the photo the paper used to illustrate its story aren’t even looking at Success. They were appealing for handball.
Hand balls!
The overriding impression is that football fans are thugs in need of control. That taps into an age-old tale that portrays them as a race-riot in waiting. It also fuels the bigotry that casts people who read and enjoy the tabloid press as violent fools. If Sterling was racially abused – and it’s still alleged that he was – it’s the rarity of the incident that makes it newsworthy. In the 1970s and 1980s, racism was the norm. At Chelsea FC it was condition of entry for many. And, for what it’s worth, nobody else at Chelsea claims to have heard racist language, including a black fan near Sterling’s abusers.
Racism still exists, of course it does. But this singling out of tabloid readers and largely working-class football fans as the root and result of the problem is to pander to other prejudices.
Posted: 13th, December 2018 | In: Back pages, Key Posts, manchester united, News, Sports | Comment
Manchester United balls: bury your hatchets – Mourinho’s team did well
That Manchester United are not all that good is clear. That they are also not all that bad is missed by people who see the badge and expect the points to follow. In the Sun’s report on United’s 2-1 Champions League defeat to Valencia, David Coverdale says finishing second in their group means United are “second rate”. By that measure so too are Liverpool and Spurs.
Of the four English clubs in the CL, only Manchester City topped their group. Liverpool and Spurs had to rely on results elsewhere going their way in the final round of group games to secure their places in the next stage. Both teams finished second place in their respective groups. Manchester United secured progress from their group with a game to spare. To further prove the point that United were not terrible – far from it – the mighty Juventus lost 2-1 to Young Boys.
United are away to Liverpool on Sunday. Coverdale says that had Mourinho picked a better team, United could have topped their group. That much may be true. But Liverpool were at home in their CL match and played a day earlier than United, who traveled to Spain. United are a plodding team of over-hyped players, but don’t let their lack of spark mask a decent job.
Posted: 13th, December 2018 | In: Back pages, manchester united, Sports | Comment
