Cleverley to pie eaters?

Sky sports report on the rumours that Fergie has changed his mind and will now send Cleverley out on loan to Wigan. I can't say i'm not disappointed, i am, as are quite a lot of reds from comments i've read. I can see why Fergie might think the move will be good for him. After Nzogbia's presumed move away from Wigan there may be a vacancy out wide at Wigan and Cleverley could well end up playing every game, injuries permitting.
My problem is, if he can't force his way into our squad this year when it seems to me and more than a few others that he is more than ready for first team action, how will he force his way in next year. Are we going to see players move on, or does he expect Giggs to call it a day next year. On the evidence of pre-season and last Saturday i can see Giggs still playing next season.
We have a lot of young players out on loan this season, and the good news is that they are all doing well and getting good reports. I don't know how many will be good enough, i'm certain that at least three of them will make it into our first team squad eventually. It will be interesting to see how long that takes and whether it will be a case of first team revolution or evolution, i suspect the latter with them being introduced into the squad in batches.
The three i think will definitely make it are Welbeck, Cleverley and i really like the look of Josh King. For King to have established himself as a regular at first team level with Preston at the age of eighteen promises big things for his future.
Besides those three there is also Matty James who is well thought of at Preston and Danny Drinkwater likewise, this season at Cardiff. Whether they make it at United or not the academy is starting to deliver the good big time with the likes of Ravel Morrison and Pogba following in their footsteps. It's a pity about Pogba's bad injury he looked very promising.
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11682_6348930,00.html

The super soaraway Sun links us with a transfer deadline move for Jack Rodwell with Carrick to go the other way. I can't see it myself, i'm sure united would be interested, but i can't see Everton being interested, having tied him to a new contract and with his value set to soar in a couple of years time if he makes the progress expected.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/3116633/Man-Utd-have-lined-up-a-10m-bid-plus-Michael-Carrick-for-Jack-Rodwell.html

Giggs was happy with the performance of Nani on Saturday and calls for more goals from midfield.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/aug/30/ryan-giggs-nani-manchester-united

Ferguson has 48 hours to make a decision over whether to include Hargreaves in his 25 man squad. Surely this is a no brainer.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-united/7971528/Manchester-United-manager-Sir-Alex-Ferguson-in-dilemma-over-Owen-Hargreaves.html

Mark Ogden fears Hragreaves may be facing his own black Wednesday
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/sport/markogden/100012056/owen-hargreaves-facing-his-own-black-wednesday-at-manchester-united/

The proposed bid for Blackburn is likely to come under scrutiny after this piece of news came out, i should think.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11129127

Things don't look good for the Pakistani cricket team this morning.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/cricket/police-find-cash-in-pakistan-cricketers-rooms-amid-bribery-charges-2065554.html

Dileep Premachandran looks at the underlying problems with Pakistani cricket and it doesn't look good.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2010/aug/29/pakistan-team-malaise-money
I'm afraid i would go along with the pundits that advocating lifetime bans for anyone thatis found guilty in this sorry mess.

James Lawton takes aim at the smug double standards of the chairman of the ECB Giles Clarke
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/james-lawton-where-was-clarkes-disdain-when-stanford-came-calling-to-buy-up-crickets-dignity-2066161.html

Stephen Glover gives his view on Thompson's underlying reason for attacking BSkyB
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/opinion/stephen-glover-thompsons-attack-is-more-than-it-seems-2065378.html

Just when you thought his reputation couldn't fall any lower, more evidence of Blair's grubby standards.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/blair-secretly-courted-robert-mugabe-to-boost-trade-2065557.html

Polly Toynbee tells the Blairites to shut up, its over they had their time and they messed it up.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/30/vain-venal-has-beens-mandelson

Alex Preston tells us that the sovereign wealth funds are the new kings of the markets and reminds us that this was yet another call Thatchers mob got wrong.
http://www.newstatesman.com/economy/2010/08/swfs-banks-financial-funds

Robert Skidlesky reviews three books that try to point to the future of capitalism and economics.
http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2010/08/market-capitalism-kaletsky

Los Angles finest Ozomatli

Manchester United 3-0 West Ham United

Another easy home win that could have and maybe should have bagged us more goals as we aim to chip away at Chelsea's advantage in the goal difference stakes. It was a bit of weird game really, as poor as West Ham were, until the Giggs bit of magic that conjured up the penalty United were huffing and puffing to no avail really.
Rooney returned to the fold and Giggs got his first start of the season on the left with Nani on the right. Other than that it was the usual suspects so far this season, in the starting line up. I was a bit surprised i thought Rafael might get a start and thought Carrick might get on the pitch for his first start of the season.
Once again our best two offensive players were Scholes and Berbatov, Vidic should get a mention as he was imperious in handling the limited but physically intimidtaing Carlton Cole with two vital blocks one in each half. Rooney looked to be getting somewhere near to full fitness as the game went on without ever hitting the heights. Even though Fletcher has started each game so far, he hasn't really hit the ground running as well as he did last season when he started the season on fire. He hasn't played badly but his passing as been up to standard, he has given it away a bit more than he usually does.
The first twenty minutes saw United create very little but chances did start to come eventually. Nani came closest when a fierce shot was tipped onto and over the bar by Green. With just over half an hour gone a superb bit of magic from Giggs saw him ghost past ex red Spector only for the US international to drag him back in the box. Rooney picked the ball up and made no mistake from the box.
With five minutes of the second half gone Nani made amends for his shocking miss just before the break with a superb run, shot and goal. We will be wanting to see more of that this season, if he gets enough games, which i'm certain he will, he should be getting into double fgures by the end of the season.
United were totally on top now and after some glorious chances went begging, Nani turned provider with a lovely cross that just invited Berbatov to smash it home which he duly did with a sweet volley.
The big disappointent of the day was the way the performance dipped so alarmingly when our two best performers went off. When Scholes and Berbatov wet off to be replaced by Carrick and Owen, United's penetration just went with them. Surely the point of having a strong squad is so when the players on the bench get their chance they get out onto the pitch and show the manager why they shoud have started. I'm afraid when Carrick and Owen came they seemed to settle for the easy pass and the 3-0 scoreline.
I didn't think Smalling had the greatest fo starts either when he came on, that pass across his own box that somehow found its way to a red shirt was horrendous. He may turn out to be Ferdinand's replacement eventually, may, but he is nowhere near ready to be trusted as first team starter regularly at the moment. What a vital bit of business it was getting Vidic his new improved contract

Duncan White writes that Bebe is undergoing a special training programme to get him game ready, and the rumours of him mot being up to scratch are nonesense. Well i suppose we will find out for ourselves eventually.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-united/7969600/Bebe-will-go-from-strength-to-strength-for-United-says-Sir-Alex-Feguson.html

Mike Phelan thinks Rooney needs a few more games yet before we start to see the best of him.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/players/wayne-rooney/7970370/Manchester-United-striker-Wayne-Rooney-dishevelled-from-Englands-World-Cup-flop.html

Kevin McCarra laments the sorry state of Scottish soccer after the departure of McGeady to Russia. I actually think the fact he is using his departure highlights his point, because whilst being not a bad player, he is nowhere near the heights of the real greats of Scottish football.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/29/scottish-football-aiden-mcgeady

Wenger, a hypocrite, never
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/wenger-is-a-hypocrite-and-loser-who-lacks-respect-according-to-his-rivals-2064119.html

Sid Lowe writes of Real Madrid's great gamble, the special one, and where do they go then if it doesn't work.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/aug/29/jose-mourinho-real-madrid

The BBC's Mark Thompson lays into Murdoch's BSkyB, accusing it of lack of investment in British broadcasting. The argument that they should pay a retransmission fee is a bit of a minefield for Murdoch's Tory allies.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/for-bbc-chief-mark-thompson-revenge-is-a-dish-best-served-cold-2064011.html

Martin Kettle writes about the contest between the Milibands for the keadership of the labour party. I don't take Ed Miliband's stance over the lib dems that seriously and i'm not that sure to many labour members will. As for his position over Nick Clegg, if Labour did end up the biggest party at the next election but without an overall majority, there would probably a fair proportion of lib dems happy to see the end of Nick Clegg. If i was a Labour member i think i would vote for Ed Miliband, but i wouldn't be absolutely sure i had made the right decision.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/27/labour-miliband-politics-religion

Hamish McRae thinks once the recovery is well established, poilcymakers will have to start to tackle the mountain. And then can we get around the rebuilding of a fairer and more workable economic model.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/hamish-mcrae/hamish-mcrae-the-debt-mountain-is-the-backdrop-to-the-bankers-bash-in-the-rockies-2064651.html

Which is what Ruth Sutherland uses her last Observer column to ask for.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/aug/29/four-years-that-shook-the-world

Robert Chesshyre writes of how the lucky generation got it wrong, can't argue with much of that. I am not too sure how many actually realise it though.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/robert-chesshyre-we-were-the-lucky-generation-ndash-and-we-got-it-wrong-2064048.html

Googe is attempting to enter the phone market via it's Gmail service
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/7968595/Google-Gmail-calls-calling-time-on-the-telephone.html

Johnny Marr talks toMojo about writing soundtracks. I'm looking forward to the David Cross comedy that he talks about.
http://www.mojo4music.com/blog/2010/08/johnny_marrs_epic_soundtracks.html

Rio back soon for United?

Ferdinand could be back sooner than preciously thought according to the Indie
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/ferdinand-close-to-manchester-united-return-2063629.html

David Gill tells the press there will be no more new signings, there is a surprise.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-united/7967142/No-new-signings-for-Manchester-United-in-transfer-window-says-David-Gill.html

The police are getting ready for the Rangers game already. They lived up the nickname the Celtic fans give them the last time they were in Manchester, the huns.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/european/police-to-boost-security-for-rangers-manchester-visit-2063388.html
It's a decent enough draw, the Valencia games would have been a test a few years ago, but with them having no money and having sold their best players over the last couple of seasons i'm not expecting them to be too exacting. The only travel concern is the Turkish games, but that could have been worse it could have been Moscow.

Capello thinks Scholes must make a public statement if he wants to play for England again. Don't do it, Scholesy, what's the point, the wordl cup has gone.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/international/scholes-must-make-public-statement-if-he-wants-england-recall-2061972.html

Unsurprisingly the Sun says that Scholes has no intention of coming out of retirement for Euro championship qualifiers.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/3113565/Paul-Scholes-has-no-interest-in-playing-for-England-coach-Fabio-Capello.html

Rooney would love to have him back, he would be one of our best players, he says. No surprise there, think of the service he would start to receive for once.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/aug/25/wayne-rooney-england-return-paul-scholes

The Telegraph's Mike Norrish asks is Mourinho right about Capello, to which my amswer would be yes.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/sport/mikenorrish/100011942/is-jose-mourinho-right-about-fabio-capello/

Jonathan Wilson wonders whether "playing the right way" has become too important for the Argentine national team. I hope not, they were never going to win the world cup for the same reason as England there defence wasn't good enough. But at least unlike England they showed the watching world that they can play the beautiful game. To go further in world cups they need better quality in defence before tactics come into it as far as i am concerned.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2010/aug/25/argentina-romantic-view-beautiful-game

Johann Hari with an a column on the drugs war, states the obvious, legalise it.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-violence-breeds-violence-the-only-thing-drug-gangs-fear-is-legalisation-2062252.html

Larry Elliot lays into the coalition and epecially the party of Keynes and Bevridge over their economic policy as the fallout from the IFS report continues.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/25/austerity-progressive-budget-liberal

The new statesman's latest edition focuses on the labour leadership election. Jon Cruddas gives his reason for backing David Miliband.
http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2010/08/labour-cruddas-miliband
And the somewhat less influentila Mehdi Hasan tells us why the magazine back shis brother Ed
http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/mehdi-hasan/2010/08/labour-leader-miliband-brother

Andy Burnham argues for a land value tax describing it as not old or new but true labour. He himself describes its origins as going back to Tom Paine, but it was another liberal that seriously wanted to introduce it, David Lloyd George. In fact i think there are still serious supporters of it within the left wing liberals today. How about radical or progressive, Andy.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/26/land-value-tax-labour-party

Bert Jansch on his fight with cancer and his comeback tour with Neil Young.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/aug/25/bert-jansch

Robert Plant interviewed in the Indie
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/robert-plant-i-feel-so-far-away-from-heavy-rock-2063017.html

Paul Weller interviewed in the Guardian about his recent resurgence. as much as i like the last album, i still think it's predecessor 22 dreams is even better.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/aug/26/paul-weller-interview

The Indie reports on the live Libertines reunion
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/first-night-the-libertines-the-forum-kentish-town-london-2062330.html
I have to admit i think they are a class act, not great but they could have been. The guitar interplay of Barat and Doherty reminds me of the loose raw live sound of the stones at the end of the sixties but with punk and new wave influences added.

the boys themselves

Utd reserves beat the Elite 3-1

That must have been the strongest reserve eleven United have put out in a while. Maybe it was down to the fact that quite a few of them haven't played that much football that it took them most of the first half to get going. I'm not sure how much we learnt, though. Macheda took his goals well but is still nowhere near the finished article outside the box. Cleverley looks a first teamer and the sooner he starts appearing on the bench and in the team the better.
The Telegraph reporter must be the only spectator of that game that thinks that the sixty minutes or so from Anderson makes him anywhere near a first team recall. His appearance recalled our first sightings of him in a United shirt, where the size of him made us wonder just what kind of athlete we had bought.
Gibson doesn't even impress me even at this level, surely somebody striving to get into the first team squad should stand out more at this level than he does. Shooting aside, and even that is a hit and miss affair, i really can't see what the coaching staff see that makes them think he could be United first team material.
Smalling played well but given the opposition, City didn't take the opportunity to give their squad an outing, it was all youngsters, so he should have done. Gary Neville showed a willingness to get forward and overlap that is sorely missed at first team level where O'Shea just seems to go through the motions sometimes. Carrick did alright and i would like to think West Ham at home is the kind of game where we might get away with two creative central midfielders, either him and Scholes or Giggs.
Of the youngsters that came on, Will Keane showed a few nice touches, but the game was finished as a contest really by then.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-united/7962896/Manchester-United-midfielder-Anderson-returns-to-action-for-first-time-since-cruciate-injury.html

I didn't expect all the twitter and messageboard rumours about Bebe to make the back pages so soon. It's a bit soon to say we are worrying about signing a flop, though obviously it wouldn't be the first time.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1305825/Manchester-Uniteds-7m-man-Bebe-fails-make-reserve-squad-mini-derby.html
http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Manchester-United-s-Bebe-pulled-out-of-reserve-game-over-fears-that-he-could-be-a-flop-article563497.html

Glazers shopping mall operation facing even more difficulties, according to Andersred's latest blog. I would think he had done most of that research before the terrible US economic results that have come out during the last two weeks. Something will have to give, but will it be the Bucs or United.
http://andersred.blogspot.com/2010/08/first-allied-corporation-watch-no-2.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/aug/24/manchester-united-glazers-mortgage-malls

Mourinho thinks it's crazy Scholes isn't playing for England, hailing him as still one of the best midfield players in the world. He then goes on to have a bit of a dig at United's tactical approach in Europe, thinking it not conducive to winning champions league titles. I would read that as meaning we are not defensive enough, exactly why i would never want him in charge at old trafford.
http://foreign.peacefmonline.com/sports/201008/74474.php

Evra will appeal against his five match French international ban. From a United perspective i'd rather he didn't bother, but after what happened in the summer i don't think he will have much chance in overturning it anyway.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1305749/Patrice-Evra-appeal-game-France-ban.html

Bear shits in the woods moment as the IFS claim the budget is regressive and will hit the poorest hard. As if the tories were ever going to do anything else. Osborne won't be able to label them as labour loving lefties, and it will be another weapon for the lib dem left to use against the orange bookers.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/budget/7963080/Budget-hits-families-and-pensioners-twice-as-hard.html

Is the economy on the path to a perfect storm as yet more gloomy news and forcasts appear by the day.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/double-dip-concerns-send-gilt-yields-to-an-alltime-low-2061133.html

Hopi Sen wonders what lib dem leader labour could work with in the future. I agree with him that there is no reason for labour not to let everyone know now that there is no way they could work with a lib dem party led by Clegg.
Maybe Michael White was right yesterday, a liberal split is the most likely result of the coalition. Unfortunately if that turns out to be the case, Cameron will have secured a brilliant result for the centre right from a poor general election performance.
Instead of being a country with an anti conservative majority, Britain that is, not England, he could well position the tories and orange book liberals, if they haven't gone the whole hog and repeated the history of the national liberals as the majority in the country.
http://hopisen.wordpress.com/2010/08/19/ed-miliband-is-right/

John Harris thinks talk of lib dem upheavals are being undone.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/25/lib-dem-civil-war-power

The latest film by the maker of the brilliant Belleville rendezvous is admiringly reviewed in the New Statesman.
http://www.newstatesman.com/film/2010/08/edinburgh-film-tatischeff

The brilliant Fleet Foxes

Capello to give Scholes another chance?

Capello to ask Scholes one more time about his international future. I can't see anything here but a no thank you.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/aug/24/fabio-capello-paul-scholes-england

A rare BBC interview with the ginger prince, who shows true Mancunian wit, sarcasm, call it what you will. Example of stupid question, don't you get bored of playing at the same club every week. Answer, bored of playing in my hometown, bored of winning every week, well most weeks and of winning medals, yes right, bored.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/8933749.stm

James Lawton writes about Capello's failings but mentions the wrong headedness of one of his predecessors, Ericksson who else, who moved Scholes out onto the left to keep the press happy and hastened Scholes international retirement.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/james-lawton-scholes-will-surely-never--play-for-england-again-but-where-else-can-capello-turn-2060166.html

Lee Dixon thinks that the wounded animal that is Manchester United, will end up as this years premier league champions according to this BBC column.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/8935263.stm

I watched City's victory over Liverpool last night and whilst they looked good going forward, i'm not going to start worrying about a title challenge just yet. Liverpool were tuly abysmal, i don't know if the Mascherano saga affected the mood of their camp, but a five minute spell either side of half time apart they were never in it. There is no way Torres will be there next season if that kind of performance continues.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/city-project-starts-to-live-up-to-its-billing-as-johnson-pulls-the-strings-2060287.html

Ed Miliband wants to tackle low pay through tax cuts, Interesting, though how viable it would be i don't know. There hasn't been much of interest, policy wise to come out the labour leadership race so far.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/aug/22/ed-miliband-minimum-wage-labour-leadership

Steve Richards isn't impressed by Clegg's support for the wild cuts proposed by his tory allies.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/steve-richards/steve-richards-clegg-has-no-room-for-manoeuvre-2060182.html

Mary Riddell thinks Clegg could become the unwitting kingmaker of the labour leadership election. It would seem that there are indeed serious ruction going on inside the lib dem party if the last few days are anything to go by.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/maryriddell/7960735/Despised-Clegg-could-become-Labours-unwilling-kingmaker.html

Whilst Michael White forsees a future lib dem split.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2010/aug/23/nick-clegg-lib-dems-australia

An old forgotten play about the beautiful game is to be resurected from the cobwebs. I'm not sure there can really be much relevance, the strength of that era's players vis a vis todays is just too different. The players really were treated like chattel.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2010/aug/22/harold-brighouse-football-play-revived

William Dalrymple examines the Pakistani states role in subversive activity in Afghanistan and India
http://www.newstatesman.com/asia/2010/08/india-pakistan-afghanistan

The Ponys

Fulham 2-2 Manchester United

Well that wasn't supposed to be in the script, it's us that score in the last minute. To be honest i wasn't expecting an easy game, there was no way we were scoring six, that's for sure. I did expect us to win though, so yesterday, was disappointing.
There wasn't too much wrong with the team selected, once we learnt that Rooney hadn't travelled with the squad. I would have picked Hernandez over Owen and i would have played 4-4-2 though i would have preferred Cleverley over Park. I'm a bit disappointed that Cleverley has not even got on the bench yet. He is the type of player i would have thought you would really want on the bench, someone who has goals in him.
United started well enough and the opening goal was just pure class, and Vintage Paul Scholes. How many times have we seen him do that, i don't think it was a planned corner, it would have been perfection if it had of been. The one disappointment of the first half was the lack of link up play between Berbatov and Hernandez. In pre-season they had seemed to have hit a good rapport, linking up and seeming to read each others runs. But yesterday it was non existant. After the giddiness of our reaction to his displays in pre-season Hernandez's first two appearances in the premier league have been a bit of a reality check. Berbatov looked good again though, he has really started the season well.
Fulham weren't playing badly themselves but they weren't creating much end product until Van Der Sar was forced into making a brilliant double save from Etuhu. But United went into the half time break with a deserved one goal lead.
The second half was a much more even contest, Fergie said after the game that Fulham had the better of the second half. I think that would be going a bit too far, but they were at least the equal of us. There couldn't really be any complaints when they equalised through Simon Davies though Evra may not be too happy with the way he was beaten by Duff who fed Zamorra to cross for Davies. I think Zamorra is a good player and Fergie was right, he did cause us problems in the second half.
The way the match progressed after that, as good a game as we got, i just couldn't see us getting a second and when it did come, unsurprisingly it was an own goal. When we were gifted the penalty with just four minutes to go it seemed all over. But i suppose justice was done when the goalie saved it because i would have been livid if that had been given against us. Still the three points seemed to be ours until Hangeland popped up in the last minute to make up for his own goal when he rose highest to head home from the corner. I don't know if a fit Ferdinand would have been able to stop that, but it has to be admitted our defence isn't as strong nowadays .
So you can look at it as two points dropped, but after the last two seasons, maybe it was a point gained. If Fulham play like that against the Chelsea's of this world it may come to be seen as a good point.


Fergie admits that United didn't deserve to win and Fulham fully deserved the last minute equaliser.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/aug/22/fulham-manchester-united

Vidic isn't a happy bunny atthe last minute equaliser.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1305354/Nemanja-Vidic-Manchester-United-improve.html

Ferguson admits that Anderson wanted to quit United last season.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-united/7957603/Anderson-nearly-quit-Manchester-United-says-Sir-Alex-Ferguson.html

It would seem he is in trouble for not talking to the BBC after the game.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1305363/Premier-League-discuss-Sir-Alex-Ferguson-sanctions-fresh-BBC-snub.html

United have upset Ajax with the poaching of their youngster Van Velzen. I have to admit this kind of thing doesn't really sit right with me. I can't remember who proposed that young players should not be allowed to move until they are 18, but i thought that was a fair and sensible proposal.
Though after watching Ajax on Saturday night i can see why he would want to come to United. The standard of play was not very high, i'm afraid.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/aug/22/manchester-united-gyliano-van-velzen

Is Clegg's situation starting to get serious wonders Nigel Morris in the Independent.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/remember-whose-side-youre-on-clegg-warned-by-allies-2059351.html

Sholto Byrnes gives 10 reasons why he thinks Charles Kennedy should not defect to the Labour party.
http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2010/08/labour-party-kennedy-lib-iraq

Larry Elliot with an interesting piece on the end of the American century.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/aug/23/us-economy-unemployment-property-market

Mary Ann Sieghart asks where is the coalition's economic plan B
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/mary-ann-sieghart/mary-ann-sieghart-cuts-are-one-thing-revenue-another-2059380.html

Ryan Adams and the cardinals

Wenger on the dark side of Scholes

He makes it sound like something out of star wars, of course he has a dark side, most great players do, it's part of what makes them great players, winners even. But of course Wenger seems to have forgotten about that over the last five years. Vierra and Petit weren't angels.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/arsenal/7957227/Manchester-Uniteds-Paul-Scholes-not-a-fair-player-says-Arsenal-manager-Arsene-Wenger.html

Yet another article on the ginger prince, this is turning from a United blog to a Paul Scholes blog.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/8927818.stm

People in the game have their say on Scholes, i love the piece from Keano on Scholes, especially the last line "They say he can't tackle but he can - it's just that he mistimes a few!"
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1304883/Paul-Scholes-Manchester-Uniteds-pass-master-red-devil.html

Vidic finally signs that new four year contract extension, possibly the most important bit of business United have conducted this season.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1304868/Defender-Nemanja-Vidic-extends-stay-Manchester-United-2014.html

Ferdinand is not expected to be back and competing for the first team until the end of September. It wouldn't amaze me to see him not featuring too often even when or should i say if he gets back to full fitness. He could be played consistently at first to try and get full fitness and his touch back and then to use him sparingly in the big games.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/aug/20/rio-ferdinand-manchester-united-september

Fergie expects Rooney to get back to goalscoring form when he hits full fitness.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-united/7955877/Manchester-United-striker-Wayne-Rooney-needs-a-goal-says-Sir-Alex-Ferguson.html

This Yahoo blog by Alex Chick makes a sound point about the recent adulation over the form of Paul Scholes. What's the fuss, he has always been this good.
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/football/world-cup/armchair-pundit/article/8319/

Fergie thinks Anderson needs to mature, i think he needs to learn to pass the ball to a player in red a bit more often myself, and that would just be the first on my list of aspects of his game he needs to improve.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/aug/20/sir-alex-ferguson-anderson-manchester-united

The Glazers financial genius continues to hurt United, when it comes out in plain black and white ink may take a few months yet.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/8931026.stm

Andersred's blog looks at their talent for running a US sports franchise. How would they go on without Ferguson at the helm over here, you can't help thinking they would be doomed.
http://andersred.blogspot.com/2010/08/blacking-out.html

Bagehot's economist column isn't that impressed with the A level examination results debate.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/bagehot/2010/08/british_education

Johann Hari looks at the scam that is management consultancy.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-the-management-consultancy-scam-2057127.html

I'm glad to see some Lib dems are really fed up with the parties involvment in the coalition. I would respect Kennedy more if he stayed in the party in order to take the party back from the right wing orange bookers such as Laws and Clegg. Obviously if the left lose and the mass of the party decide they want to be a British version of the German FDP then short of splitting the party the more reformist wing of the labour party would be the only place left open to a former social democrat. And i couldn't criticise any of them for choosing that option.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/aug/20/labour-hints-charles-kennedy-defect-liberal-democrats

A Guardian article on bands that split up early.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/aug/19/bands-split-pixies-lcd-soundsystem

Jose Gonzalez

Everybodies raving about the ginger prince, Scholes

Paul Scholes is the man that everybody is talking about. Alan Hansen used his BBC column to lavish praise on the ginger prince.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/8922460.stm
And then another piece in just-football
http://www.just-football.com/2010/08/paul-scholes-the-man-who-would-be-king/

Oliver Holt talks to our exciting new youngster Tom Cleverley. I was a bit disappointed he wasn't on the bench against the geordies, but when i heard he had played in Dublin for the reserves i suppose it made sense. I thought Monday showed what a great addition to the squad he will prove to be.
I am a big Valencia fan but it just didn't really happen for him against Newcastle, the full back had a good game against him. If we hadn't have got the two first half goals, Cleverley would have been a good option to bring on for Valencia as he is a totally different type of player and would have given the Newcatle defence a whole different set of problems, not to mention goal threat. Of course add to that, you could have brought him on for Nani on the left or for Fletcher in the middle. Thoses must be great options for Fergie to have. Places on the bench will be as hotly contested as places in the first eleven this season.
http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion/columnists/oliver-holt/Oliver-Holt-column-Tom-Cleverley-interview-How-Manchester-United-starlet-is-spearheading-Sir-Alex-Ferguson-plan-to-bow-out-with-legacy-of-youth-article557109.html

According to this piece on goal.com it's now a matter of sitting and waiting for the Glazers to realise that their valuation of United is unrealistic and that for now the red knights aim to sit tight and wait for the price to come down. Your guess is as good as mine as to the source might be, hopefully not Keith Harris.
I'd love this to be over soon, and to be honest i thought it would but if it takes that eighteen months to pick the club up for the right price, then the prize would be worth the wait.
http://www.goal.com/en/news/9/england/2010/08/18/2075937/goalcom-special-report-red-knights-recruit-wealthy-anchor

More financial shenanigans, this time in the world of rugby league. I feared Salford's council would get taken to the cleaners when they got into bed with Peel in an attempt to get a new stadium built. And the fact that it the council that is lending £22 million to Peel to get the stadium bulit and not the other way round, leads me to belive i will end up being right.
http://www.manchesterconfidential.co.uk/News/General/Salford-Council-backs-22m-Peel-loan_11907.asp

John Kampfner assesses the coalition's fits 100 days and the response from the opposition.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/john-kampfner-labour-will-have-to-grow-up-eventually-2056106.html

Dan Kennedy on the latest machinations of Rupert Murdoch in ths States.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/aug/19/rupert-murdoch-republican-party

Paul Goodman tells the torygraph readers what they want to hear, blame the cuts on anybody vaguely to the left. It's as if the financial meltdown caused by the banks irresponsibilty or astounding incompetence, take your pick, and the last goverments, regualtory cave in to big business and the city never happened.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/liberaldemocrats/7952539/The-middle-classes-can-thank-Vince-Cable-for-their-double-whammy.html

Jeremy Warner has been impressed by George Osborne's tenure as chancellor so far but warns the real test still lies ahead.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/jeremy-warner/7945030/George-Osborne-hit-the-ground-running-but-can-he-stay-the-distance.html

Meanwhile in his latest New Statesman column David Blanchflower is unsurprisingly rather less impresssed.
http://www.newstatesman.com/economy/2010/08/consumer-confidence-government

The guardian reports that we will be seeing the fourth season of mad men in a few weeks time months ahead of schedule. I suppose that makes sense of the fact that they have just started to reshow the first three series on the bounce.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2010/aug/18/mad-men-series-four-uk

Bebe wants to work hard

United's latest Portugese signing wants to work hard and emulate compatriot Ronaldo. Well we can only hope he doesn't mean engineer an £80 million transfer to Real Madrid. Though i'm pretty sure the Glazer's would be more than happy if that came to pass.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-united/7951430/Manchester-Uniteds-Bebe-wants-to-emulate-Cristiano-Ronaldo.html

Ferguson admits that he hadn't seen Bebe play when the deal was done. Usually he likes to watch players we buy at least once, how to explain Liam Miller then, Bellion, Djemba Djemba etc.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/aug/17/manchester-united-transfer-window

He went on to decry the kamikaze spending of un named rivals, unsurprisingly believed to be City.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-united/7950709/Manchester-United-manager-Sir-Alex-Ferguson-decries-rivals-kamikaze-spending.html

James Lawton's latest Indie column asks whether Mancini will be successful with the biggest gamble in football history.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/james-lawton-mancini-has-raised-the-stakes-in-the-greatest-gamble-in-football-history-2055201.html

David Conn discusses the surprise announcement that Arsenal are to offer Arsenal fans the chance to buy into the clubs shares and start to build a fan custodianship. Full marks to the Arsenal supporters trust and to Arsenal football club. I had hoped that United would be the first to go down that route, but my consolation is that if as club a big as Arsenal is to go down this route it makes the chances of this happening at old trafford more rather than less likely. It will be a long term goal, but if everybody is behind the scheme it must have a good chance of success.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/david-conn-inside-sport-blog/2010/aug/18/arsenal-kroenke-usmanov-owners-fanshare

Henry Winter writes that the Arsenal scheme is the path all premier league teams should follow
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/arsenal/7950987/Henry-Winter-Arsenal-Fanshare-should-be-adopted-by-all-Premier-League-clubs.html

John Harris looks at the news that profits from Blair's new book will be donated to the British legion. He makes a good point about new labour, i'm not thrilled by the lib dems part in the coalition and don't really see how on earth i will be able to vote for them at the next election. But i'm not very comfortable about voting for a labour party that is still infected by the new labour warmongers and city loving types that took over the party in the 90's and 00's.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/17/tony-blair-book-journey-over

Samira Shackle asks whether Simon Hughes is setting himself up for a tilt at the lib dem leadership when things go wrong. Whilst this morning he said a centre left coalition was still on his agenda.
http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2010/08/lib-dems-party-election-hughes
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/aug/18/lib-dems-should-be-able-to-veto-coalition-policies-hughes

Jonathan Freedland writes that even if you disagree with their policies you can't deny the first hundred days of the coalition have been a success. I'm afraid i still belive it will be all downhill eventually.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/aug/18/100-days-coalition-government

Mick Hume's Spiked column looks at the economic forecasts that seem to vary from day to day.
http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/9412/


Music
Crystal castles - Crystal castles 11: The Canadian duo deliver the goods once again on the second album. I'm not sure what genre you would bracket them as but i like the experimental side of their music as well as the more radio friendly side ( that's radio 6 friendly, not radio 1 ).

Stanley Clarke - Children of forever: There is some brilliant playing on this classic mid seventies jazz rock or fusion album. The songs aint bad either.

Teenage fanclub - Shadows: The latest album by one of my favourite indie bands. They rarely disappoint and this is no exception. They have always ben great songwriters and there are more gems on this.

The Drums - The drums: The debut album from the New York based outfit shows it joy division influence openly but there is more to them than that. This is a cracking album chock full of top tunes. Album closer, the future, does a pretty good impression of pets sounds era beach boys.

The Long blondes - Someone to drive you home: The Sheffield based indie outfits debut album has its moments but the second album is a more solid effort for me. That's not knocking it though, there are some seriously good songs on there.

We are scientists - Barbera: Another solid album from the new york based indie outfit. I love the track, you should learn, even though it reminds me of the formulaic end of U2 that i'm not so keen on.

Manchester United 3-0 Newcastle United

So finally United's season is up and running and the first three points are safely in the bag. They didn't really ever hit top gear but they were far too good for Newcastle, well they were eventually. I was a bit worried for the first half hour, the barcodes came and unsurprisingly got bodies behind the ball, trying to stop United from getting behind their defence. And for the first half an hour it worked for them as they nullified Valencia and denied Scholes room in midfield. Rooney was finding it hard going, in fact i thought Fergie might start with him on the bench and bring him on in the second half. But Fergie must think it important to give him minutes on the pitch in his quest to regain full fitness.
In fact Newcastle probably had the best chance of the opening exchanges as Carroll headed narrowly wide after ten minutes. But after half an hour minutes Scholes managed to find space to put through an inch perfect pass into the path of Berbatov who made no mistake with a excellently executed side foot finish. United were now up and running and ten minutes later Evra and Nani combined down the left for Nani to deliver a cross that was well controlled by Fletcher just outside the six yard box before swivelling and shooting hard and low to give us a two goal lead before half time.
Newcastle weren't going to come back from that and the second half saw United move up a gear to totally control the game. Scholes and Berbatov were on top form and the only blot on the Bulgarian's performance was his failiure to add to the goal scored in the first half. He had a fair few chances but couldn't manage to find the net. It looked like it was going to be one of those halfs where the ball just doesn't go in, but Scholes found one more great pass to set up substitute Giggs who made no mistake with a left foot volley to make it 3-0 with five mintes to go.
Standout performers were Scholes , Berbatov and surprisingly Evra. I say surprisingly because i hadn't expected him to play after having hardly been back in training for five minutes. But he was back and up to speed, it doesn't look like the French debacle is going to affect his form for United, not that i expected it to. Hernandez came on for the last thrity minutes replacing Rooney, but to be honest he never really got into the game. Fergie reckoned he was over anxious to make an impression on his old trafford debut.
Newcastle weren't up to much, but i don't think they will go down, at least they seem prepared to graft which the team that got relegated were sometimes reluctant to. I'm not sure who will go down to be honest. Like almost everybody i fully expect Blackpool to go straight back down, but i have no idea who will join them. On Saturday's evidence maybe Wigan will finally go back down to where they probably belong.

Ferguson hails Scholes as a master of his trade as he produces another virtuoso display against Newcastle.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-united/7949453/Manchester-United-midfielder-Paul-Scholes-hailed-by-Alex-Ferguson-as-master-of-his-trade.html

Berbatov reckons United will be the beneficiaries of his decision to retire from international football.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-united/7949785/Manchester-United-will-benefit-from-my-international-retirement-says-Dimitar-Berbatov.html

Alan Hansen thinks United can't rely on Rooney to the same extent as they did last season if they are to challenge for the title. He also mention as our ageing defence. That is fair enough we all know we are not as strong at the back we we were from 2006 to 2009. But are Chelsea any stronger in this area, Terry is not the player he was, Carvallho has gone, and he was a great foil for Terry by covering ro Terry's lack of pace. In fact i always thought the Portugese was the better player. Our squad is stronger than last season and i am confident that we will give them more than a run for their money. I will take notice of Chelsea when they start to visit the top six teams away and their defence is given a proper testing. They were found wanting more than once last season.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-united/7946744/Alan-Hansen-Manchester-United-cant-rely-on-Wayne-Rooney-alone-to-challenge-Chelsea.html

Carrick knows last season wasn't the best for him and hopes that things will turn out better for him and for United in the season ahead.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/carrick-hungry-for-success-with-manchester-united-2053848.html

Fegie was in confident mood ahead of last nights game laughing off journalistic suggestions that United were a squad in decline.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-united/7945836/Defiant-Sir-Alex-Ferguson-scotches-talk-of-Manchester-United-decline.html

Kevin Garside writes that it is Arsenal who are the team in crisis, not Liverpool after Sunday's 1-1- draw. Whilst i think he is wrong about the dippers, they are a whole fucking football club in crisis, i know where he is coming from. I don't know how anybody could have tipped Arsenal for the title. They looked like the Arsenal we have come to expect over the last five years, and they will have a fight on their hands to achieve a top four place, never mind getting anywhere near the top two.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/arsenal/7947226/Kevin-Garside-Its-not-Liverpool-who-are-in-crisis-its-Arsene-Wengers-Arsenal-side.html

Is this the sign of a healthy economy? 24000 people have applied for 221 apprentice ships at BT.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/24000-apply-for-bt-apprenticeships-2053787.html

Ruth Sutherland writes that this country should be looking at the German business culture as we supposedly diversify the economy away from the city of London. I just can't see it happening, business owners in this country see money as their god whilst the Germans know that is just one part of the equation in running a successful firm. Of course during the industrial revolution, Birmingham would have been our version of the German Mittlestand. The two recessions suffered under the Thatcher administration did their best to kill off the many small to middle engineering firms that we still had left in the early to mid eighties.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/aug/15/german-growth-business-culture

William Keegan sees more than a trace of the early Thatcher administration in the current coalition government and fears their shared instincts will lead to similar disastous economic consequences.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/aug/15/cameron-osborne-tory-cuts-thatcher

Mary Ann Sieghart is glad that house prices are falling.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/mary-ann-sieghart/mary-ann-sieghart-house-prices-are-finally-falling-good-2053554.html

Th chartered institute of housing declares golden age of home ownership is over and call sof rurgent attention to be paid to millions of young people who will need accomadation from the private rental system. What are the apologists for the golden age of Maggie going to be left to cling to as her lasting legacy.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/aug/15/housing-crisis-rental-market

Ladytron with the superb seventeen

2010-2011 begins

Fergie reminds the press of the importance that he atttaches to doing well in the champions league. At least injuries notwithstanding the squad looks better equipped this season to cope with the twin challenge of league title and champions league campaing. He is right that we weren't far off a third consecutive champions league final. But the fact we didn't was down to bad luck and the fact the squad wasn't quite good enough. Hopefully tha addition of Smalling, Cleverley and especially Hernandez will put that right.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-united/7945144/Sir-Alex-Ferguson-Champions-League-must-be-a-priority-for-Manchester-United.html

Fergie picks City to finish top four, putting the pressure on Mancini already. He also thinks Everton could surprise people if they can keep everybody fit.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/aug/13/alex-ferguson-manchester-city-everton

Carrick is determined to come back strong after last seasons disappointment. Him regaining the form he showed at United in his first two seasons would go along way in helping us regain the title that's for sure.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1302779/Michael-Carrick-admits-Sir-Alex-Ferguson-lost-words-Manchester-United-lost-crown-Chelsea.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Henry Winter thinks City reflect the spirit of the premier league, foreign owners big signings and spiralling wages and wonders how Mancini will fare with his squad this season. I can't say i'm worrying about them challenging for the title, they will be challenging to get in the top four again, is my prediction. Unfortunately Liverpool won't be as bad as last season, but i would predict the same for them.
It will be us and Chelski for the top two with us coming top and Arsenal and Tottenham making up the other challengers for the other top four places. I see Kevin McCarra has picked Arsenal to come top, i have no idea he has come to that decision. They may have two decent centre halfs after the signing of Koscielny to partner Vermaelen but Wenger has never been the best spotter of defensive talent so we will wait and see on that score. But they still haven't bought a decent goalie , Fabregas can't be a happy bunny having been denied the move he wanted and there must be still questions about the mental strenght of the squad. How will Fabregas respond if Arsenal don't start well.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-city/7944940/Manchester-City-coach-Roberto-Mancini-riding-Premier-League-title-rollercoaster.html

The Guardian review of the season had Chelsea as the collective decision of their football journalists to retain the title and yet when they are all asked individually in this piece far more pick United than the rent boys. I can only presume Chelsea pipeed it on second preference choices.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/aug/13/premier-league-new-season-predictions

Arsene Wenger has a go at the new 25 man squad rule and the new home grown rule. I'm in favour of both myself, but he does make interesting points about the effects on agents. it doesn't change my opinion though. Unfortunately it's also good news for the gimps, i'm presuming.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/aug/13/arsene-wenger-arsenal-squad-limits

I don't know whether it's because the building of the new stadium near Barton airport seems to have finally fallen into place but Salford seem to have really started to make some serious aquisitions for next seasons super league. If they can find a decent playmaker they might start to threaten the top eight.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/aug/12/salford-stephen-wild-signing

Simon Hughes thinks the twenty20 finals day paints the domestic county cricket in a bad light. You can say that again, i have stopped going watching Lancy since the obsession with the twenty over game took precedence over eferything else. The way the fixture and competitions are spread out makes a mockery of the summer. There is no continuity for the teams, players and more importantly for the fans. I'm afraid it's yet another sport run by incompetents, although i can't call them greedy in this instance, it's more like desperate.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/sport/simonhughesanalyst/100011642/twenty20-finals-day-paints-domestic-game-in-a-bad-light/

More reasons for the government to stop and think before axing the film council
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jameshall/100007290/spielberg-casts-axeman-george-osborne-as-screen-villain/

Coalition appoints tax exile to mount a spending review of whitehall, showing their true colours.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/aug/13/unions-question-appointment-philip-green-spending

The telegraph discuss net neutrality
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/internet/7939531/Net-neutrality-what-is-it-and-what-does-it-mean.html

The book that was supposedly setting the climate for the current political scene suffers a free market counter attack, what a surprise.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/14/the-spirit-level-equality-thinktanks

The brilliant Elbow in concert at the bridgewater hall with the Halle orchestra

United sign homeless Bebe

United sign Portugese youngster Bebe for £7 million. At first sight i thought much the same as everyone else, why the hell do we need another centre forward, but the independent report that he can play attacking midfield as well. Seeing as though that is a position we are definitely short on, i hope that turns out to be his true position.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/transfers/united-snap-up-portuguese-rising-star-bebe-for-1637m-2050279.html
The cynic in me has to say, before he is sold to Real Madrid, Glazer debt an' all.

Gill admits Bebe came from nowhere, they had been watching him but after talking to people they went ahead and signed him this week. He admits that he is hopefully one for the future.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-united/7941474/Manchester-United-chief-executive-David-Gill-admits-Bebe-has-come-from-nowhere.html

Cleverley thinks that the success of the under 21's the other night and the fact that Wilshere and Gibbs were promoted to the senior team and both were given their debut's as substitute shows that there is young talent out there. He is delighted he will be staying at United and just wants to learn and show what he can do. I'm pretty certain he will get his chance, maybe more than he thinks. I notice Giggs mentioned the fact that Cleverley had been oustanding on the tour of North America last week. He aint a bad judge and we know Fergie listens to him.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/cleverley-backs-english-youngsters-to-come-good-2050006.html

Welbeck finally seals his season long loan to Sunderland. It looks like they were waiting for Kenwynne Jones to leave for Stoke. It should be a good move for all concerned.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/aug/12/manchester-united-danny-welbeck-sunderland

The BBC asks who will be champions, that's another set of red faces come the end of the season.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/8909054.stm

Capello in bad books again this time for the mishandling announcement of Beckham's international retirement. Actually i have a bit of sympathy for the Italian here, as last night was to be about the future and going forward from South Africa. Every time Beckham gets involved in anything it becomes a media circus revolving around him.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/aug/12/david-beckham-fabio-capello-england

Alan Smith thinks there were some signs of progress on Wednesday night as England managed to win after falling a goal behind to Hungry. I agree with his assertion about the woeful lack of real international class strikers at the managers disposal. Though I think Zamorra is a fair centre forward myself, pretty under rated. The more youngster came on the better England got, it wouldn't surprise me if the Terry's and Lampards of this world start to get slowly phased out of the picture over the next couple of years.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/england/7940141/Alan-Smith-England-start-to-shape-up-as-manager-hints-at-change.html

Ian Herbert writes that Lerner has partially admitted O'Neill left due to lowered ambition as the two no longer shared a coomon view on the way forward. He will have to be careful, it's not that big a drop from top 6 to mid table and worse mediocrity.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/lerner-admits-villas-lowered-ambitions-led-to-oneill-walkout-2050004.html

The indies obituary of Jimmy Reid. I was too young to remember the work in, but i have seen documentaries about it and i watched the documentaries he made himself about the USSR. The work in was they type of union leadership the trade union movement could have done with a hell of a lot more during the seventies.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/jimmy-reid-inspirational-trade-unionist-who-led-the-workin-at-upper-clyde-which-reversed-government-policy-on-the-docks-2049987.html

The German economy bucks the trend to post 2.2% growth. We don't hear free market nutters telling us Germany is finished any more , i wonder why?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/aug/13/german-economy-fastest-growth-ever

The torygraph reports that the bank of England is fully behind the coalition's policy. That's no surprise, Mervyn King has been pretty dangerously alligned with the coalitions economic position. His position hasn't really come under the pressure it should have done because he didn't exactly have a great credit crunch. If we do enter a double dip recession, should questions be asked about his leadership of the bank again?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/7939764/Bank-of-England-backs-Coalition-cuts-despite-double-dip-fears.html

I'm no great fan of Seamus Milne but can't argue with much of this piece on the present economic situation. It will be interesting to see what Osborne will do if we do enter a double dip recession, as his whole strategy will have been blown out of the water. Will he have the chutzpah of new labour who totally disregarded the first ten years economic recored when the storm truly hit home in 2008 or will he do a Geoffrey Howe and kill of what remains of our manufacturing base. And in so doing destroy what small chance we seem to have in restructuring our economic base. The latter is too awful to contemplate.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/11/double-dip-recession-cameron-u-turn

Is this was what David Blanchflower is worried about.
http://www.newstatesman.com/economy/2010/08/growing-families-inequality

An interesting article about the Chinese economy and western attitudes to it from Daniel Ben-Ami in Spiked.
http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/9406/

Julian Fellowes agrees with the decision to cut the film council.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/7941224/Cut-the-Film-Council-and-end-this-1970s-navel-gazing.html

Whilst a fellow traveller of the right argues for it to be saved
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/aug/09/clint-eastwood-film-council

Babyshambles

United no to Evra release?

According to the Guardian, United may follow Bayern Munich's lead in denying the French FA the opportunity to question Evra in disciplinary hearings.
At the end of the article it mentions that Evra hopes to be picked against Newcastle if fit. It's very hard to see him appearing in that game so shortly after resuming training. To be honest after the amount of games he has played over the last few seasons i'm surprised Fergie hasn't given him a longer rest.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/aug/11/manchester-united-patrice-evra-france

Giggs reckons Sunday was a good day for United to put one over Chelsea and set down a marker for the season, we made them look ordinary at times, he said.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/united-already-on-top-in-league-rivalry-says-giggs-2048004.html

The Guardian's premier league preview laughably has United outside the top two, not a chance.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/aug/10/manchester-united-premier-league-preview

I only saw the second half of the under 21's last night so can't comment on Rodwell too much, though we already know he is going to be a good player. But with Welbeck coming on at half time United ended the game with three players on the pitch and they all did well. To be fair Smalling didn't have much to do against an unadventurous Uzbekistan but Cleverley was the pick of the players on show for me closely followed by Welbeck, who when he came on who showed he had far more dimensions to his game than Sturrige who i thought was pretty disappointing.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/england/7937811/England-U-21-2-Uzbekistan-U21-0-match-report.html

Nice to see Josh King has started to make an impression at Preston as they ran out 5-0 winners at Stockport in the carling cup . Apparently he came on with twenty minutes to go and immediately made a great run setting up Hayes before scoring his first goal for the club in the last minute. Hopefully the goals will be shown on the highlights tonight.
It was said that Fergie was there, hopefully that was right, as Matty James was also on the scoresheet. James is supposed to be highly rated, so i watched him for England under 19's in the recent tournament that France won. Unfortunately i can't say that he stood out, but in his defence that was a piss poor England team.
As for King, well i have been very excited about him since seeing him at the start of last season. I have been watching United since the mid seventies and we have never had as many promising young forwards coimg through the ranks as we have now. I would be amazed if at least two of them aren't nailed on for the first team. It could well be more.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/league_cup/8886055.stm

This has been on the cards apparently, Cathcart sold to Blackpool for an undisclosed fee. It's funny how football careers can go, i thought youth level Cathcart showed as much if not more promise than Jonny Evans. In his first loan period at Plymouth it seemed to go well for him, but last season was one to forget. I still think there is a good player in there somewhere, and i expect him to end up at a bigger and better club than the Tangerines. Maybe he will follow in Shawcross's footsteps in making a name for himself away from old trafford.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/blackpool/8904013.stm


Google and Verizon's joint proposals turn out to be not as significant as first reported by the New York Times
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/richard-adams-blog/2010/aug/10/google-verizon-net-neutrality

George Eaton asks where will the savings made by the war on benefits will be spent. Doesn't 2008 seem a long time ago, whatever happened to making the bankers pay, as if, that was ever going to happen. You could take those savings and times them by fuck knows what and you still wouldn't approach what is lost to tax avoidance by the rich and by corporate interests.
We are still a country where there is one law for the rich and another for everyone else. Of course with a mass media owned by those very same people, the electorate will be fed the usual bullshit propoganda and go along with it like sheep.
http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2010/08/40bn-lost-savings-avoidance

Cameron calls for bounty hunters to use credit agencies to catch benefit frauds, he'll be setting up a British stasi next. As i have said before will the same effort go into reforming the financial system, will they upset the institutions that feeds the tory parties hand.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/cameron-calls-in-bounty-hunters-to-catch-benefit-fraudsters-2049096.html

Benedict Brogan writes that it is common knowledge that Ian Duncan Smith will resign if he doesn't get what he wants from Osborne to help him with his welfare reforms.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/benedictbrogan/100050166/welfare-reform-will-ids-walk/

The people's history museum in Manchester has a very interesting new exhibition on during August. It tells the story of the men and women who went to Spain to fight during the Spanish civil war to fight Franco's fascists.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/manchester/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8885000/8885466.stm

The bluetones

Manchester United 3-1 Chelsea

With an impressive 3-1 win in yesterday's charity shield against Chelsea. Hopefully my pre-season optimism isn't going to turn out to be misplaced as we got a good work out for the players and gained a deserved win. For all those doomlords who have been moaning about our lack of big name signings this was a good response from Fergie's squad. Of course we are still relying on our golden oldies, Scholes and Giggs who will have to be replaced over the course of the next couple of seasons. But as long as Scholes, especially, is nursed along, he will still deliver the goods for at least another season if not more.
The most impressive aspect of the victory for me was the ability of a 4-4-2 formation, with Scholes in it to boot, to compete with the rent boys midfield. I have a feeling we may see a lot more of a 4-4-2 starting line up than we have for two or three seasons.
Seeing as though Rooney is nowhere near 100%, fitness wise, he put in an excellent first half display capped off with his run and inch perfect pass to set up Valencia for the opening goal. Of course he was found by a superb inch perfect pass from Scholes who showed us the type of service thar Rooney was starved off in South Africa. And that was one of any number of beautiful passes for us aficianodo's of the ginger prince.
Rooney's performance was all the more impressive because it has to be said that Owen had one of those games where he may as well not have been on the pitch. Carrick was a surprise starter and whilst not anywhere near back to his best, it was a damn sight better than the performance's we saw towards the end of last season. Valencia again looked the part and if he can improve on his first season, which there is no reason to doubt he will, he is going to become some player.
The second half saw Hernandez and Berbatov come on up front and Nani come on for Park. I had said in one of my summer blogs that it would be perfect for us if those two struck up a good understanding as that would mean that Rooney could be rested more for the bigger games where Fergie plays 4-3-3 with Rooney up top on his own. Well it is certainly looking like they have already gelled and if they can give Chelsea problems like they did yesterday it might be more than the lesser teams they start against. Both of their goals were super moves if Hernandez's finish had more than a touch of fortune about. It was just the start we would have wanted for him though, no waiting for that first goal. It wouldn't surprise me to see Berbatov and Hernandez start against Newcastle next week.
At the back Fabio had a reasonable game and Vidic and Evans paired up well. Smalling looked a bit shaky when he came on, as i expected, i think this will be a learning season for him. Van Der Sar had a couple of wobbles but in the main showed why replacing him is going to be as hard as replacing Scholes and Giggs. All in all though it was a perfect curtain raiser for us.
Ian Herbert wonders whether Valencia will gardute from the list of good United players to the list of greats.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/slowburner-valencia-shows-signs-of-joining-united-greats-2047210.html

Fergie was happy with Scholes and Berbatov during yesterday's victory over the rent boys.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/8895987.stm

Jim White salutes a Scholes masterclass
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/manutd/7933424/Jim-White-Manchester-United-midfielder-Paul-Scholes-gives-a-masterclass-against-Chelsea.html

Exciting youngster Josh King went out on loan to Preston at the last minute. I really like the look of him, let's hope he gets plenty of minutes on the pitch and starts to fulfill some of that potential.
http://www.lep.co.uk/sport/football/pne_sign_up_manchester_united_player_1_1156024

More cost cutting from the Glazers according to the news of the world. Wouldn't the wiser economy be to drop the basic wage and increase the bonuses. You would of thought that incentivising the staff would be the type of employment practice the gimps would appreciate. It's hard for me to get worked up about this one way or another to be honest. All professional footballers earn too much anyway.
http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/sport/football/901895/UNITED-CUT-BONUSES.html

Evra stiil wants to be a part of les bleus even after his treatment after the world cup
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/international/evra-keen-to-play-for-france-again-despite-sanctions-2047569.html

Jonathan Wilson looks ahead to the tactical trends we can look forward in the coming season and decade after the lessons of Inter's triumph and the partial success of negative tactics in the world cup.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/aug/07/football-tactics-premier-league

The real reason for the urgency for the RBS to get a sale of Liverpool was always pretty obvious, it wouldbe bizarre to think that the tax payer part owned it if it comes to that, which it may well do.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/aug/08/liverpool-rbs-takeover

Vince Cable interviewed in the guardian says oppositionis more fun.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/aug/09/vince-cable-liberal-democrat-business

Sean O'Grady worries about incorrect inflation forecasts
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/sean-ogrady-wrong-inflation-forecasts-and-mixed-messages-can-lead-to-dizzying-confusion-2047173.html

Jason Burke writes how Cameron and the west just don't get Pakistan.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/08/jason-burke-pakistan-changes

John Harris describes the chasm that the north south divide is set to become under the coalition.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/08/north-south-divide-soon-become-chasm

Rebecca Front discusses her career in the Telegraph before the start of a new show she stars in on the BEEb written by Simon Amstell
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/7929070/Rebecca-Front-Men-dont-trust-women-to-be-funny.html

British claasical, some Elgar