UnitedViews

Oh dear. Not the end to the summer that Sir Alex would have wished for.

The silver lining to England’s failure to qualify for the European Championship was that it reduced the risk of injury to a United squad that draws more on the talents of the home countries than most others in the Premiership.

It’s an exaggeration to say that one money-spinning pre-season visit to Africa has undermined all of the competitive advantage that Steve McLaren so generously bestowed on us but it’s certainly looking poor value for the £1.5M that United reputedly earned from the Nigeria-based dress rehearsal for [...] Continue Reading…

Had a very pleasant night out on Tuesday.

Not normally the sort of thing that UV reports, I’ll grant you, but bear with me. Having enjoyed the evening and being a man of weighty parental responsibilities, I passed up the offer of ‘one for the road’ with JW and HJD and headed off home, leaving them to their expensive nightcaps at the Charlotte Street Hotel. Half an hour later I get a call from JW to let me know that he’s just had a cosy little chat and a photograph with a celebrity. Guess who? No, not Tessa Sanderson as [...] Continue Reading…

It’s long been apparent that the job of football journalist on a national newspaper is these days limited, at least during the summer months, to checking out the ‘Top Stories’ on NewsNow and regurgitating them as fact the following day.

Confirmation arrived today with The Star picking up the ludicrous story, previously pedalled by 4thegame, that Thierry Henry could be the subject of a bid from United. The problem with these stories is that there is just enough sense in them for you to roll them around in your mind (Along the lines of “I suppose Manchester United could do [...] Continue Reading…

I should say now that I realise what I’m about to suggest is a direct contradiction of my previous posts(s) on the subject of Mr Berbatov but… United face the very real prospect of signing absolutely no one in this summer’s transfer window. OK, it’s called hedging.

After the Fleet Street’s traditional pursuit of linking United with absolutely everyone on the grounds that some of it must be true, it’s all starting to go a bit quiet. In fact, even the outlandish lies gossip that usually fuels everyone’s favourite page on the BBC seem to be drying up.

We seem to [...] Continue Reading…

The perennial question about when Sir Alex Ferguson will hang up his hairdryer and concentrate on mastering the piano at home in Prestbury or start plotting Team GB’s campaign at the 2012 Olympics has been somewhat overwhelmed this year by the Ronaldo circus. Curiously both questions could be answered by a single phrase ‘One more year.’

I don’t believe that Ferguson has made his mind up one way or another on a departure this year. I do believe, however, that he is considering it more seriously than at any time since he [...] Continue Reading…

A slight revision needed to my article on the Levy/Berbatov/United rumble. It seems that Fergie was mis-quoted and never actually named Berbatov as the player in the frame, so apologies to SAF (an avid reader, I’m sure) for this mistake. It all makes Levy look more foolish than before. Clearly he issued the statement without talking to United first, which is naive at best. Incidentally, anyone who has read Daniel Taylor’s excellent book (details) will know that the journalist concerned will be in big trouble next year.

So where do things go from here? Will United sue Spurs? No. I [...] Continue Reading…

Well, can you blame David Levy? He’s had enough of every Tom, Dick and Harry (usually Redknapp) going after his players and has finally reported both Manchester United and Liverpool to the Premier League for their pursuit of Berbatov and Keane respectively.

“The behaviour of both clubs has been disgraceful. We told both clubs very early on that we had no interest in selling Robbie or Dimitar, respectively, and that they should refrain from pursuing the player.”

What seems to have tipped him over the edge is Ferguson’s interview with the Sun (since [...] Continue Reading…

Tags: berbatov, ferguson, levy, real madrid, ronaldo, spurs

Sorry for the lack of effort on the site recently. A new job has meant that I’ve had little or no time to spend on United. They seem to have managed all right without my input…

Anyway, JW has kindly stepped into the breach and come up with a set of predictions for the remaining fixtures. He’s usually pretty accurate with these things but let us know if you disagree with him…

Have you been doing your usual end-of-season results prediction stuff?

Based simply on United’s form so far this season, they should get 16 or 17 points from their remaining seven [...] Continue Reading…

So we know now it’s Roma… again. There’s part of me that worries in these circumstances that giving the same opponent enough opportunities to beat you will eventually end in tears but United should have the wherewithal to beat Roma yet again.

Image from Maximus1978 on Flickr

I’m pleased we can’t face an English team until the final but more than a little concerned at the prospect of Barcelona in the semis. That’s getting ahead of myself, though. The plum tie is, without doubt, the Arsenal - Liverpool match up. It’s always nice to see your rivals knocking lumps out of [...] Continue Reading…

Picture of United’s Champions League medals from Edwin.11 on Flickr

OK. We’ve got 7 teams to choose from. There’s no protection from facing teams from your own country. So we could draw any of the following:

Arsenal
Barcelona
Chelsea
Fenerbahçe
Liverpool
Roma
Schalke 04

Who do we fancy for our quarter-final opponents, then? Let me know in the comments box…