Ronaldo delivers the inevitable

Only somebody with half a brain couldn't have seen this coming. He has to be sold, end off. I don't think United and Ferguson have handled this very well, but i have to admit that they were in an unenviable position. But still he has made it clear since day one at Old trafford that he doesn't like Manchester, and seems to adore Madrid and especially Real Madrid. When you add in his admirably strong character( though not admirable in wanting to move to that low life institution ) United were never going to keep hold off him once he made up his mind he finally wanted to go. It will be sad not to be able to watch a magnificent footballer any more. But life goes on and more importantly Manchester United goes on.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/jun/21/manchesterunited.premierleague2

He has obviously thought he was bigger than the club for some time and when you think of the Bryan Robson's and the Roy Keane's and then the still worshipped Eric his mere 2 magnificent seasons make that more than a little hard to take. Daniel Taylor in the Guardian has written an article this morning arguing he must be sold. The childish comments at the end are a bit of a joke, do any proper United fans ever bother with shite like that.
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/06/21/why_united_should_let_this_ego.html
He will obviously do well at Real, but whether he will do as well as at United, i somehow doubt. At United he had two other magnificent forwards who did a hell of a lot of work for him. I can't see that happening for him at the Galactacto club. I can see his status as the best player in the world coming to a pretty quick ending too. When he is pitted on whatever is the Spanish equivalent of match of the day against my idea of the best player in the world, Messi i am pretty sure he will come off second best .

Scolari urged Ronaldo to join Real?
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/transfers/ronaldo-says-scolari-urged-him-to-take--road-to-real-851686.html
It would be interesting to know whether Scolari told Ronaldo he wasn't bothered if he came out with that in the hope of Unsettling Ferguson or whether he is a bit embarrassed and annoyed with the ego that wears no.7.

If Queiroz leaves Old Trafford and i think that is an extremely likely scenario when Ronaldo goes, as his big claim to be the next manager, his ability to keep Ronaldo at United will have gone up in smoke, United's transfer strategy is going to need closely looking at. Since Queiroz came we have scouted more and more Portuguese and South American players. I have never been comfortable with this, let's be honest our climate is not what these people are used to, or like. Added to that is the fact that Manchester United will never be the draw that Real and Barca is for them and it seems pretty obvious that taking these young players and hopefully helping making them great players is just going to turn us into the embarrassing position of being a feeder club. That should be unthinkable but we have just seen that it is not. I am much happier going for northern European players, the Ole's, the Yip Jap's and hopefully promising local and British isles talent for whom Manchester United are the biggest and the best and anywhere else is a step down. I like Anderson but if Real come sniffing around him at the end of his contract are you confident he would stay because i am afraid i am not.
Having lost out on Ramsey, the kind of British talent i was talking about and supposedly a United fan, and now probably about to lose Ronaldo, this summer has so far been a pretty big comedown since that high of Moscow. It goes without saying we will now come back down to the level of the other big four without Ronaldo in the side next season. Unless we have some blinding transfer lined up, something i am disinclined to believe is about to happen as United now have to start paying for last Season's transfers. And that Ronaldo money will go to clearing the debt off whatever the Glazer's say, there is no way they are going to lay all that out on players. And to be honest i wouldn't want to see us going out and doing a Chelsea anyway.
Who should our transfer targets be? i am not sure anybody stands up and says buy me to be honest. The only player i would love to see in a United shirt is Messi, ironically after all i have just said. But he is not going to want to leave Barca and they wouldn't be mad enough to sell him anyway as they are going to build their future around him and good luck to them, and i really mean that. It would be great if Real spend £80 million on Ronaldo and then the Catalan giants go on to dominate the next few seasons around the presumptive best player in the world the diminutive Argentine. What i would love to see at United, if i am honest is some youngsters finally coming through the ranks. But is it likely to happen, it has to be admitted it looks unlikely. Welbeck looks very promising, but i don't know what next season holds in store for him. I liked the look of Brandy, but i thought he would force his way into the Swansea team more than he did, so that was a bit of a worry. Campbell looks promising, but promising enough for United's first team, i am not sure.
One thing i am looking forward to seeing next season is whether Rooney feels liberated by Ronaldo's departure. Don't get me wrong as i have said before i would sooner have Rooney in my team than Ronaldo. And if i was a Real Madrid fan i would look at Ronaldo's performance at home in the Derby without Rooney before they think spending £80 million on him is really such a good idea unless they are going to have players doing some grafting for him. But it has to be admitted he has not progressed as much as we had hoped over the last couple of seasons whilst Ronaldo overtook him as the best player at the club. Hopefully this will be the making of him, it's not as if he has much progressing to do. Putting the ball away more regularly than he has done over the last couple of a seasons would be a big start.
The departure of Ronaldo means the lack of goals from midfield and defence is something that has now got to be addressed as well. I would like to see our goals shared out around the team a lot more than has been the case over the last couple of season. In fact i thought that when we got rid of Ruud that was going to be the case. But of course then along came Ronaldo. If Anderson can finally start to score the goals he supposedly has in him that would go some way to softening the blow of Ronaldo's departure on the goalscoring front. But everybody else is going to have to chip in with more than they have over the last decade if we are honest.
That was a bit of a long rant assessing where we are and what might happen over something that has not actually happened yet. But i am pretty certain it is going to happen, and i am certain i want it to happen. I don't want players who don't want to play for our club at our club however good they are.

An old story, but worth reading again. From a man who will always be a legend at Manchester United, not justwho shone briefly and then was gone. We all hope he makes a success of his new job at United in charge of the reerves
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/manchester_united/s/1054240_solskjaer_so_content_with_reds


Lancashire suffer third twenty20 defeat on trot and against the Old foe Yorkshire
http://www.lccc.co.uk/index.php?p=news&id=2126
that has probably put paid to their hopes in the competition. I can't say i am a big fan of this form of cricket, it is not bad watching on TV. But i can't say i think it is great to watch live. It is over miles too quick, if you try and get a pint you can end up missing half the game. Not good.

The Mugabe way to win an election.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun/21/zimbabwe

A Guardian editorial on Britain arms export industry, supposedly number 1 in the world. Mainly thanks to a contract with that beacon of everything that is good in the world Saudi Arabia.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jun/21/armstrade.military
I can't argue with a word of that. What makes me laugh is the Saudis don't need them. If Iran ever invaded their territory the yanks would be in their pronto. It would be disastrous mistake for the yanks as they would then be stuck in quagmire miles worse than Iraq, but Saudi and its oil is one of the Americans top defence priorities .
Does anyone imagine that corrupt kingdom would be able to protect itself for a minute without that backup.

Simon Mann in court, an embarrassing story for more than one country.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun/17/equatorialguinea2

Jason Burke on the international commitment to Afghanistan and the mistakes made in that country since the US defeat of the Taliban
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jun/17/military.defence

Darling pays price for Browns end to boom and bust quote
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/columnists/article4183368.ece