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.