Fergie to alter tactics

and wants goals to come from all areas of the pitch to compensate for the loss of Ronaldo.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/jul/31/manchester-united-sir-alex-ferguson-tactics

Midfield puzzle for Fergie according to Tim Rich
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2009/jul/30/antonio-valencia-sir-alex-ferguson-ronaldo
I know Valencia won't come near to equalling Ronaldo's scoring feats, but i am pretty certain that he will score a lot more in the red of United that he did in the blue of Wigan. And after being to both of the games in Munich i am even more excited about his signing, he is going to be a good plyer. Steve Bruce compared him to Kanchelskis, and form the evidence of the audi tournament it's a pretty fair comparison.

Differing views on how United will acommodate its strike force during the forthcoming season. Berbatov looked good last night and we are going to see Rooney back in his best position. I am not too worried about Rooney being a bit off the pace so far this pre season, once the games get competitive he will burst back into life. From what i have seen of Owen so far, my opinion of him in his Liverpool days that he was overrated hasn't changed. His first touch isn't as good as it should be for a European player of the year. But if he is provided with chances in the box he will probably score more than he will miss. If he ends up with more goals next to his name than tevez manages come the end of the season he will have beeen a great signing as far as i'm concerned. We will probably see more of Macheda and Welbeck as well so it all looks pretty exciting to me.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/manutd/5942662/Manchester-United-hold-off--Wayne-Rooney-Michael-Owen-pairing-in-Bayern-Munich-loss.html

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/manchester_united/article6734150.ece

We paid a trip to the Munich disaster memorial site on Tuesday, the day before the Audi cup began. Click on the pictures for a better view
Manchester Platz
The plaque on the front
The plaque on the top




http://www.munich58.co.uk/index.asp
website was a big help, this is the original memorial
The Allianz arena was pretty pleasing on the eye, i thought it was far more impressive than Wembley from both the inside and the outside. The ammenities were far more impressive, i suppose i should have expected the Germans to have done a better job than the FA.
It was great being able to walk around the stand with pint in hand once you had handed your ticket in at the perimiter fence. The fact the weather was in the 80's was nice.
A pretty good view
Slovenia red army, there were loads of European reds at the first night.
I wasn't that bothered about the results, but the win over Boca Juniors did mean we did get the chance to see the outside of the arena change colour after thursday's defeat by Bayern.
One or two sherberts later at the Irish bar Killains just before the Marianplatz
There were a fair few Boca fans around, and pretty loud they were too, until Anderson's goal that is.

Fergie the entertainer

sounds confident doesn't he
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/jul/26/sir-alex-ferguson-manchester-united-interview

Paul Wilson talks about the good copy that Fergie makes
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2009/jul/26/sir-alex-ferguson-managerial-styles

It's still a laugh a minute at the barcodes
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/jul/25/newcastle-united-leyton-orient

Are the republicans finished asks Rupert Cornwell. i wouldn't put any money on it.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/is-the-party-over-for-the-republicans-1757299.html

Will Hutton in the Observer on Gordon Brown and the tories
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/26/gordon-brown-democracy-david-cameron

Trust Fergie ?

is the gist of this Times blog
http://timesonline.typepad.com/thegame/2009/07/ferguson-prepares-to-put-his-faith-in-youth-once-again.html
I definitely trust him to do the right thing for the long term future of the club. Let's face it we have just won 3 titles on the trot, been in champions league finals back to back, plus domestic cup finals and semi finals. You can't carry that on indefinitely. And with the sale of the man who whether you liked him or not that success was built around, and with Giggs, Neville and Scholes in the twilight of their career's it has been obvious to me for the past season that he has been looking to the future. If that means we have to live with a relatively barren couple of years waiting for some of our younsters to break into the team, gain experience and mature, that's fine with me. Of course with the fickleness shown by the new football fans and the muppets that have started to follow us since the Glazers took over i don't suppose that will be the majority view.
The measure of the man, is does anybody not still expect us to be contesting for the major honours next year, not many would bet against it would they. I mean which of the top four has actually really strengthened their squad so far this summer. City have spent money trying to break into the top four, whether they have spent wisely we will have to wait and see. They haven't spent badly by any means but they haven't bought anything that keeps me awake at night. And as for the bindippers, they seem to be having trouble keeing hold of their better players, never mind improving that squad. How long will Torres put up with that state of affairs, because if he got itchy feet they are sunk, as great a player as Gerrard is he won't be able to do it all on his own.

Tevez joins City and his nose is starting to grow already as he accuses Fegie of lack of coomunication and says the lure of a shady Arabs money had nothing to do with it...... hmmm, yeh right.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/mancity/5826161/Carlos-Tevez-says-rift-with-Sir-Alex-Ferguson-prompted-Manchester-City-transfer.html
I was surprised at the lenght of the contract, 5 years, his owners must be making some money out of this to forgo the chance of another hefty transfer fee in a couple of years time.

Music

Doves - Kingdom of rust: Another quality album from the men from Cheshire, it gets better every listen. Manchester has two of our premier rock bands in this lot and Elbow.
Madness - The liberty of Norton Folgate: I like Madness but i wasn't sure what to expect of this. It is virtually a quarter of a century since the last album. What i didn't expect was this superb album, every track is a corker with some real gems. As last year Paul Weller brought out probably my favourite album of the year and definitely my favourite Weller album so it will be some album that beats this.
Sunn 0))) - Monliths: I gave this a try after reading a positive review in mojo, oh dear, one listen was enough. Not for me.
Super Furry Animals - Dark days light years: One of my favourite groups deliver the goods again. The usual kitchen pot of influences are thrown in to come up with that majestic sound. I can never understand why they are not massive.
The Juan Maclean - The future will come: Another corking piece of elctronica from John Maclean, at times a bit more commercial than his first effort but not too commercial for me not to like it.

United sign Oberton

from Bordeax for £3 million as the pre season rejuvenation of he squad continues
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/manchester-united-clinch-obertan-deal-1737287.html

Foster signs a new four year deal as it would seem Fergie has decided that he will be Van Der Sar's successor.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/foster-signs-new-manchester-united-deal-1735547.html
I n the few games he has played he has looked as if he has the character for the role. The worry has to be the injury jinx he has suffered over the last season.

Paul Wilson has a go at the berties transfer targets
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2009/jul/07/manchester-city-manchester-united-paul-wilson
The funny thing is it seeemed to start so sensibly, but i have no idead why they would want to pay silly money for a centre half who seems to me to be permanently injury prone and almost certainly not the player he was. And Carvalho was the the real top centre half for Chelsea during their championship winning years, so to offer 30, 35 or however many miliions was asking for a column like that i'm afraid.

England get decent start in the ashes though it was nearly so much better
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/cricket/article6666558.ece
Mike Atherton thinks England has a great chance and i totally agree
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/cricket/article6662142.ece

Are there no alternate voices going to spring up to blow the bubble on the wildly over the top reverential reporting of the passing of Michael Jackson and that horribly scmaltzy memorial service last night. No Private eye, Francis Wheen or whoever to remind us that having young boys singing at the service might not have been in quite the best possible taste, as the late Kenny Everret might have said. He wasn't my kind of artist, though i can't deny he did bring out some great tunes. But his private life wasn't, just, wierd, was it.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/jul/07/michael-jackson-memorial-los-angeles

Vince Cable in the Times
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6662355.ece

I have started to read a book about the first appearance of youth gangs in this country that just happened to occur in the cradle of the industrial revolution, Cottonopolis itself, Manchester. I have only read the first twenty pages or so, but it is absolutely fascinating alreadyand it shows there is nothing new under the sun.
http://gangsofmanchester.com/

Owen to United

What started as rumour seems to be about to turn into reality.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/manutd/5725623/Michael-Owen-joins-Manchester-United.html
I am totally non plussed by this, it's got to be said. I have never rated him as a player, or should i say i never bought into the hype about how good he could be. His first touch was never good enough for to be him in to the top bracket of European footballers for me. Add to that, what has happened to his career since he came back to this country from Madrid, where it would seem they came to the same conclusion over his ability, and it's hard to know what Fergie thinks he is going to get out of him. Shearer seemed to be one of his many admirers when he took over the barcodes and publicly said he would build the team around him. It didn't take too many games for him to quietly change his mind and relegate him to the bench. All we can hope for is that the author of the next piece is right in that at United, Owen will just be used to rotate with Berbatov and Rooney and his priority will just to finish of chances and not get too involved in the moves leading up to it.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/manutd/5727858/Manchester-United-to-take-a-punt-on-Michael-Owen.html
All of this, is of course, providing that he passes a medical. If he passes the medical he then has to stop picking up the niggling inuries that seem to have blighted his time at Newcastle. A pretty big if, going off the rest of his career.
I know a lot of United fans have been upset by the lack of transfer activity after losing Ronaldo and Tevez, but i have not been too perturbed. I only want us to buy players that want to put on the red of United, and what we are seeing is what the realists amongst us have always known. South Americans and Mediteranean raised players see Real Madrid and Barcelona as their dream clubs with United a long way behind. If Serie A ever recovers you could probably add AC Milan to that. Which is why, in the future, our youth system has to start producing the goods and which i am highly hopeful it will. I do not understand why we are scouting young Brazillians because we know that if they turn out to be quality as soon as get they get near the end of their contracts they will get their heads turned by Espana and will want to go eventually. And if they are not good enough they are just taking up places to that could have gone to a local lad or at least a British based kid who thinks of United as the pinnacle of football and thinks that leaving Old trafford can only mean a move down. If this means we have to have a couple of years of consolidation so be it. You can't be always winning trophies and in the real world we won't. It's better to let Fergie try to produce yet another great United team than hand his successor that poisoned chalice as i dread to think how that would end. The new football fan, the new United fan even, has not been brought up to understand any of this

Cascarino on a strange signing
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/manchester_united/article6626807.ece

Decent blog from the BBC's Phil Mcnulty on the transfer
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/philmcnulty/2009/07/owen_man_united.html
I can't deny that we didn't score as many goals as the chances created dictated meant we ought to have, and if he manges to stay fit he could well see us getting the goals we should have done last season. It is all ifs though. Oh for an in his prime Van Nistelroy.

It doesn't seem as if any of our premier league based rivals are faring that much better in their transfer activities. In fact even though City seem to be unable to prise Etoo away from Barca and as this story says can't get Chelsea to release Terry (though he can't be as happy at the bidge as is being made out if City have come in for him again). They seem to be the only club so far to have made decent purchases with Tevez supposedly going signing next week.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/transfers/chelsea-reject-manchester-city-offer-for-terry-1729807.html


Conor Foley on the BRIC nations and in particular the Financial regulatory regime the Brazillians adhere to.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/03/global-power-south-bric-brazil

Our financial system meanwhile has been like the south sea bubble revisited according to the Banks man in charge off financial stability which does beg the question as to what an independent bank was doing about it, or even could do about it.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jul/01/bank-england-south-sea-bubble

I am no fan of Ken Livingstone but he right about the disaster that has been the privatisation of our Railway service. The last big privatisation that the last bunch of Tory spivs got through parliament to enrich themselves and their chums in the city.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/02/national-express-rail-privatisation

Lions led by donkeys
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/transport/article6626810.ece
One of Capitalism biggest moral failiures is how bosses of corporations are rewarded for shedding jobs to cut costs, how is that a job well done. Firstly how is this good for society or the nation when generally any job lost has knock on effects onto other job losses. And secondly any old idiot could do that so it doesn't show any great business skill as far i can see.