Ferdinand to return?

Ferdinand has been to Germany for treatment on his injured calf and if he responds well he could be back in a red shirt sooner than thought. Which is obviously good news, with our defensive problems he can't back soon enough.
Ex United youth Craig Cathcart sticks up for his ex team mate and Northern Ireland colleague Jonny Evans over the Stuart Holden challenge that saw him receive a red card and holden miss a semi final and the next six months of football. I always thought Cathcart would make it at United, good to see him fulfilling some of his potential at Blackpool. I'm sure if the worst happens and the seasiders are relegated he will find plenty of premier league suitors.

The FA have brokered peace talks between Fergie and the BBC reports the Mail. As neither side will back down, in the BBC's case correctly, i can't see much coming from them. I don't expect Fergie to talk to the BBC until after he has retired, if that. Patrick Collins argues that the FA  wouldn't have done this for any other manager and shouldn't really be doing so with Ferguson.

James Robson with some fantasy football reporting has United going on a spending spree of Cityesque proportions. The fact he can name all those targets and not mention one of the hot young prospects coming up through the youth system tells you all you need to know about his credibility on United and Fergie's future plans. We may buy Young at a knock down price, a goalie and one of Rodwell or Henderson, but i can see no further than that, unless he really does start to cut adrift some of the deadwood in the squad in the summer.
Fergie tells the press that all our on loan players will come back next season to join up with the first team squad. I have to admit i had forgotten about Diouf, whom when i have seen him has done well.

United have set up a deal with Dutch club FC Twente to act as a holding club for five promising Brazillian youngsters. I don't really like this, there should be some kind of way of stopping the big clubs indulging in this sort of thing, but what, i have no idea. City will be bound to follow suit.

The Glazers show they haven't lost their cuddly side as they decide to sue one of their own clubs fans for posting names and addresses of its corporate clients on the internet. Amazingly their chances of winning any kind of meaningful victory would appear to be small, little consolation to the man who did the worthy deed.

Robbo feels lucky after successful operation to cure the recently diagnosed throat cancer, great news for captain marvel and those of us that had the good fortune to see one of the greatest players to ever put on a Manchester United side.

The Guardian's football man in Manchester Daniel Taylor gives an interesting interview about his job and time as the football correspondent for the city and his thoughts on the club and especially Fergie. I loved the Fergie quip about him being the bass player for Oasis and the United staffer who was quoted saying of Bebe " it's like watching competition winner".

Paul Wilson on the global spread of rugby league, it's a great game that deserves to be a far more successful sport than rugby union. I can't help being cynical about any future expansion though, i'm afraid.

Ahead of the budget Faisal Islam looked at the implications for the rumoured proposals for merging national insurance and income tax. I can see why small star tories would love to merge the two taxes in an effort to stop any future Brown type tax rises by stealth. But if the economy does go down the sink and Osborne's plans to bring down the debt in the lifetime of the parliament with it he will be looking for stealth taxes of his own.

Post budget Larry Elliott welcomes us to planet Osborne, where his modest plans to turn the UK into a rival version of Germany run into the ever so slight problem that his current policies risks plunging the economy into a spiral of low growth and inflationary problems.
Martin Wolf writes in the FT that Osborne made the best of a bad hand, which of course is partly his own fault. He salutes some of the budgets measures for helping business, but like Elliott he is sceptical they will do much good against the current economic background.
Will Hutton was singularly unimpressed by the so called growth plan announced in the budget and argues the return of Martin Sorrel and his conglomerate WWP sends out all the wrong signals. 
Unsurprisingly David Blanchflower argues that the budget will be a failure and predicts that OBR predictions of future growth, whilst lowered, are still too optimistic. William Keegan thinks Osborne has boxed himself in, though he agrees with Elliott that at least manufacturing is being taken seriously again.
Mary Ann Sieghart believes the Lib dems can't have been happy with last weeks budget and wonders if the governments actions which could very well cause a structural cyclical deficit which will leave todays unemployed still unemployable in five years time are quite the legacy Osborne and the coalition government had in mind.
Craig Murray a liberal who sees the merits in a smaller state thinks of Osborne "as a petty man for a great task".
Philip Stephens concurs with the consensus that the real action happened during the last budget and that the chancellor is locked on autopilot to plan A. As Larry Elliott wrote in his budget analysis he will need a plan B. Robert Skidelsky and Felix Martin chart a possible plan B with proposals for a way out of Britain's grwoth dilemma.


A fascinating blog that looks at the thesis that big government has served the interests of capitalism rather more than free market, small state ideologues would ever let on. Jon Snow blogs after having watched the oscar winning documentary inside job which sounds well worth watching.
David Prosser writes of an industry even less trusted than the bankers as OFGEM accuses the six leading utility providersof rigging the market. Another 80's tory success story, i'm convinced that they will be renationalised again one day, especially when oil starts to run out. Speaking of which George Monibot writes why the events at Fukushima have made him stop worrying and come to love nuclear power, as he argues that atomic power has to be part of a future mix of resources used to replace fossil fuel energy.


Robert Fisk with one of his latest pieces on the Arabian democratic uprising, written before Syria became the latest country to kick off, now that country could make Libya look like a tea party.

Simon Reid-Henry argues that Obama is right to restart to court some of his troublesome neighbours to the south. Whilst the Economist's correspondent writes that Brazillians like Obama, but would like him even more if policy changes were to be announced on the trip.

The Economist's Blighty column wonders why politicians have such an obsession with choice in the NHS. As he states most people just want a good local hospital, as i would argue most people just want a good school as well.







Music
Aretha Franklin - I've never loved a man the way i love you: I have heard most of her classic tunes but have never listened to one of her classic 60's albums before. It is excellent, with a mixture of covers and Franklin originals and the band as usual with 60's soul is excellent.

Beach house -  Teen dream: I had never heard this US indie duo before, which was my loss because this is a pretty good album. The songs have just a hint of 80's electronic pop added to the left field indie of today, and it works well.
Darkstar - North: Dubstep outfit morph into a more progressive/regressive sound. Once again hints of 80's electronica but moody and dark, but with the dubstep influence hasn't been totally lost.

Deerhunter - Halcyon digest: I hadn't heard this US indie outfit either, another mistake as this is even better than Beach house, in fact this really is the digs proverbials. Not as progressive as Animal collective but this is almost as good as Merriweather post pavillion.

 Laura Marling - I speak because i can: Another artist that has been around for a couple of years that i have only just got around to listening to, this time UK singer songwriter Laura Marling. I have been missing out again because this is another excellent album.

Radiohead - The king of limbs: I finally got around to listening to the surprise new album from one of the best bands in the world, and it doesn't let you down. It's not as good as In dreams, but that was a woefully under rated album. I'm not sure the songs will work as well live, as that albums, but they are brilliant live so they will probably fit right in.

Manchester United 1-0 Bolton Wanderers

If we do manage to make it nineteen, it looks like we are going to do it the hard way. I had this down as a tough fixture, and it didn't let me down. In fact i can't see us having any walkover's from now to the end of the season. When Evans got sent off, with about ten minutes to go, United looked out on their feet, and even though the reds brought Jaaskaleinen into the game regularly for the first time in the second half a goal didn't look like coming. So when the goal did come, the celebrations by fans and even more so by the players themselves were as if we had just won the league.
In fact with Arsenal dropping two points, a draw wouldn't have been a total disaster for United, but it would have been another missed opportunity for us to give ourselves a little breathing space. Fergie was right to welcome the international break as we definitely look in need of a recharging of the batteries. With all our defensive injury problems the last thing we needed was to see the returning Jonny Evans get sent off, let's hope Vidic will be back soon.
On the evidence of the first half Fergie dropped a bit of a clanger starting with Hernandez ahead of Berbatov. He was obviously looking to get the Mexican in behind the big Bolton rearguard. But with Bolton coming to take the game to us, United could never get a grip of the midfield in the first half, and with Hernandez unable to compete physically with Cahill and Wheater United were unable to build any momentum as we didn't have anybody to hold the ball up front. United should have had a penalty in the first half, but the ref missed the raised arm that stopped Hernandez's goalbound effort. saying that we wouldn't have deserved to have go in at the break in front.
Fertgie rectified his mistake by bringing on Berbatov for Hernandez at the start of the second half, he also brought Fabio on for Wes Brown. I don't know whether that was injury related or tactical. Whilst it didn't really make us look any more like scoring, it did make Coyle change his tactics as Bolton eventually dropped deep and only rarely through men forward.
United pressed forward in search of that winning goal, but it looked like it might be one of those games, as we never really looked like breaking through that Bolton defence. At the match i thought the Evans dismissal may have been a touch harsh, as he had gone for the ball, but after seeing the replay, i would have been unhappy if that tackle had gone against us without a red card, so i can't really complain.
Rooney seemed to be out on his feet for the last ten minutes of the game but he and Nani had their best spells of the game, both driving forward and forcing Jaaskeleinen into his busiest spell of the game. It was ironic that it fell to Berbatov to hit home the winner, as to be honest he hadn't really that much of an influence, but we will take it. The celebrations from the players showed how important they knew that goal could be.
I still can't see Arsenal pipping us to the title, especially with the soft goals they keep giving away. But as for Chelsea, i am worried about them, they seem to be fresher than either us or Arsenal and it was around this time of the season that they moved into an extra gear last season. Thos two games against Arsenal and Chelsea are huge, and i have to say if i have any confidence of us getting results in those games, i would be more confident of us getting a result at the Emirates. We can only hope Chelsea have left it too late to really take advantage of our problems.

Fergie hails United character, that was definitely what got us through Saturday. Mark Ogden argues that Berbatovis still out in the cold despite his 88th minute winner, he notes that seven other first teamers have signed new contracts, but Berbatov hasn't and that the club holding all the aces in contract negotiations. Acclaim from Jaimie Redknapp as he praises United's never say die attitude, whilst his  dad reckons the rest of the league is trying to hand the title on a plate to United.

Wayne Rooney assures the press that the rumours of him leaving United in the summer are nothing to do with him, he wants to stay at United until he is in his thirties. Jim White believes that Rooney is the key to United's season, he has improved, but i wouldn't go that far. He still blows hot and cold but the one thing he does seem to have got back is his drive, now if he could only get his touch back we would really be back in business.

The latest news on Rio Ferdinand wasn't what the doctor ordered, but has Mark Ogden gone slighly over the top describing Rio as a man fighting to save his United career.

This blog takes a look at the taken for granted brilliance of Michael Carrick, but whilst i would agree that the stick he gets is sometimes over the top, i can't go along with that. He came with an eye for a pass, but over the last two seasons he seems to have completely lost. I would agree that he i asked to keep it simple in his more defensive role nowadays, but there are times when he attempts what used to come naturally and more often than not he doesn't find his man. He does do a good job defensively when the game is not a battle, but as at Liverpool, where he wasn't alone by any means, he can be found wanting.
What there can be no denying is that he isn't the player he was for us in those first three title winning seasons.

Gerard Pique interviewed in the Indy has warm words for his time at Manchester United. I always thought he was going to be a great player, but wondered whether we were the club for him. At least Arsenal have got their worth from Fabregas who will also surely end back back at Barca in the near future. At least with Tunnicliffe, Morrison and Pogba, if they make they will hopefully be at the club to fulfill all their dreams.

James Forsyth looks at the current state of morale in the tory camp, which he belives is surprisingly low and thinks the budget maybe Osborne's last chance. His shadow Ed Balls believes Osborne is defying history in this interview in the Telegraph. His response to the budget will be fascinating to watch.
Will Hutton is pessimistic over the future course of the British economy as budget day approaches and is another commentator to talk of coaltion panic behind the scenes.
Steve Richards wonders whether Cameron will come to regret his hawkish stance ove Gadaffi, as he notes the similarities between the press reaction he has received and that which Blair received at first over Iraq. I'm not sure about the no fly zone, though id do support arming and giving logistical help to the rebels. I do not support sending any British or foreign troops into the country.

Tim Wu predicts that we are at a watershed moment in the history of the internet.

Steve Hillage
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/mar/17/the-master-switch-tim-wu-internet

Manchester United 2-1 Marseille

Due to now having to work a 2.30-10.30 shift for the next 8 months, which i'm really thrilled about, you will have to make do with the views from the press. Sam Wallace reports that United did it the hard way, in a season of living dangerously. To be honest if we don't get Ferdinand and Evans back soon, our season could begin to resemble last years campaign that choked at tha last. Henry Winter reports in a similar vein, writing that United never do things the easy way.

Rooney fears no one in the next round writes Mark Ogden, funny how he seems to have come alive all of a sudden. Is that due to the resumption of champions league football, the return of Antonio Valencia or a final flourish before he ups sticks in the summer as the rumours suggest.
Even though Barca aren't totally at the top of their game at the moment, i dread to think what they would do to us at the moment. With a very ordinary midfield and defensive injuries galore, we could well do with avoiding them, and if we do play them, as late as possible.

Ironically, seeing as though he wasn't picked again, Ian Herbert had written before the game that United needed Berbatov to quickly rediscover his brilliant best form in Europe. On the evidence of last night for all his goals, fergie still doesn't really trust him. After sitting out most of the big games we have just played, which saw Rooney enter the period with his form as inconsistent as all season, i thought he was a certainty to start last night. I can't imagine Berbatov has been happy to have spent so much time on the bench over the last few weeks. Fergie may well have been right to have left him on the bench, but those suggesting he hasn't scored much recently, slightly overlook the fact he hasn't actually played very much.
It seems even more weird if Rooney is going to seek pastures new in the summer to either help pay the debt or help bring in finance to buy new blood. You would have thought Fergie would have wanted to keep the striker that is definitely staying at the club sweet.
As for that man Rooney, maybe the return of Valencia will rekindle his enthusiasm for the club. It has been obvious he has missed the service from Valencia as much as United have missed the brilliant south American. The return of Valencia is an enormous boost to our hopes of regaining the title, seeing him come on against the Arsenal and then putting in a performance just reminded us what we have missed all season, Fergie was right to call him brilliant. He is obviously not as talented an individual as Ronaldo but as a team player he is just as vital to the red cause as the Portugese man was.
Speaking of which, the news that Nani and his agent are considering their options doesn't come as a massive surprise. He was our best player of the calender year 2011, and is probably our player of the season so far. But he can revert to his former self at times when it's not going for him. He didn't do himself or United any favours during the Chelsea and Liverpool games whilst he was on the pitch. When the opposition seems to have his measure, he reverts to the inconsistent winger who almost always seems to pick the wrong option. To be fair to him, Ronaldo never really shone at Anfield or Stamford bridge either, but with such a lousy midfied at the moment, the last thing we needed was Nani having an off day. Still i'm not sure we can afford to let him go next season.

The news that Bryan Robson is faing a battle against throat cancer has come as a complete shock. One of the all time great Manchester United footballers, anybody that followed the reds that in the eighties will know that, what a footballer.

There will not be " one more year " for Edwin Van Der Sar as he made clear after the Arsenal game, he wants to go out at the top. He will be a big, big miss.

Capable hands proves to be a little uncapable at the houses of Parliament, well he doesn't have any political ambitions, does he.

Sky sports coverage of Spanish football gets the once over in this piece in four four two.. I have to admit there i times i watch and wonder why the fuck they have Terry Gibson commentating on football full stop, never mind Spanish football a country he never played in as far as i know

David Blanchflower reveals that a former number 10 adviser fundamentally disagrees with boy George Osborne's economic policies. Every piece of economic news and every piece of global news seems like a nail in the coffin of the growth deniers economic strategy. Larry Elliott agrees with Mervyn King that the global economy and the power of finance has to be reformed if a global slump is to be avoided.

Steve Richards argues that Ed miliband and Balls face a more difficult political challenge to define a successful opposition strategy than that which faced Blair and Brown.

Roy Greenslade questions why the usually excellent Henry Winter decided to omit any hint of the darker side of the already cynical enough side of Don Revie in this piece he recently wrote. As he says, the guy was a proven cheat, and his team were universally loathed, not just in Manchester.

I thought The Wire creator David Simon's response to Felicia "snoop" Pearson's arrest was interesting.

George Monibot explains why the west will not trouble Saudi tyrants whilst they crave their oil. There wasn't too much reporting of the Saudi's excursion into Bahrain, i hope we get no wikileaks showing US compliance in that.

The Keynesian Liberal blog presents an egalitarian approach to the future of pension reform, those figures seem pretty fair to me. 

Spiked salutes a new documentary charting the life of suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst, it sounds interesting.

Manchester United 2-0 Arsenal

Along with almost everybody else, when i saw the teamsheet before yesterday's game i feared the worst. Reports were predicting a 4-4-2 with the twins on the flanks with O'Shea and Gibson in the middle. As we trundled off to the game all the talk was of seven defenders in the starting line up. That wasn't particulaly what concerned me, as the Da Silva's are both very attacking full backs, that is their strength. I felt they would do a job, and boy did they really do a job for us in that first half. It was Gibson and O'Shea in the central midfield i was bothered about.
As it turned out, Fergie pulled of a masterstroke, his tactics, substitutions and the timing of those substitutions all came off on the day. The two twins covered every blade of grass on the pitch allowing Gibson and O'Shea to sit just in front of the defence. Rooney was dropping deeper than we have seen for some time. The plan would have been perfect if Fergie had been able tp pick Scholes as one of the holding players as he would have been able to hit the kind of balls that Hernandez, the twins and Rooney were making which had the vistors defence looking nervous when we looked to attack.
If it's possible to feel sorry for Arsenal, i'm not sure how they came out of the match without a goal down to their name. The second half in particular was as open a game as we have seen this season and as open a game between two of the top four as i can remember. I suppose the difference was that i felt that we always looked more like scoring than Wenger's men. Van Der Sar was outstanding, but the majority of the visitors shots were invariably hit straight at him. The pick of his saves was the save from Koscielny just after half time which proved to be even more important by United going almost straight up the other end and after another fine move whichRooney finishing off to put United two up.
The first half half had been a fair spectacle with United scoring after a fine move which saw one of the twins, Fabio getting on the scoresheet and Van Der Sar making a tremendous save from Van Persie. Arsenal had most of the possession in the first half as United sat deep and played them on the counter attac. But the second half was absolutely magnificent stuff.
I was sorry to see Fabio go off at half time, but he was probably knackered, but that was made up for by the excitment caused by the re-appearance of Valencia. That was probably the best news of the day and even better he looked like that horrendous injury has been totally ovecome. He looked like he had never been away, his pace, strength and great footballing brain were all still there and he was a major handful for the vistors defence.
The wonder is how the game ended without any further goals as both teams took turns to attack and both goalies made fine saves. Vidic was once more immense in defence but a special mention must go to Smalling who was once again absolutley outstanding. It looks like he is going to be one hell of a player.
So the season is back up and running and United will probably be confident of defeating Marseille on Tuesday even though we learnt before yesterday's game that carrick and Fletcher will both be out of that one. I don't think that will be easy , but our firepower should see us through.

Wenger wants Arsenal to bounce back, whilst Fergie is very pleased to have Antonio Valencia back. He is right, he is a brilliant player, totally under rated. On friday he had told the press that it had been a tough week for him and the club, but the reason for the media blackout was because he wanted to avoid any more controversy as he didn't think United could win.

Daniel Taylor hit the nail on the head with this piece on the enigma that is Michael Carrick, ironic he didn't play. The Telegraph report that Hargreaves has made one more last ditch attempt to save his United career, we all know what the reult of that will be.
The two defeats, especially last Sundays at Anfield has led to a week of renewed press speculation as to United's summer transfer list, with the main names being the familiar, Rodwell and Ashley Young. The Mail reckon Young is very keen to make the switch, i should think he is. I'm not sure how good he really is, but i do remember thinking that Dwight Yorke was a pretty good player when he was at Villa, but when he came to United and played with better players realising he was a bit better than that. Young has skill, seems like he has a good engine and definitely has a good attitude, so i wouldn't mind seeing him in a red shirt.

Sky sports scout takes a look at United's midfield youngster Ryan Tunnicliffe and likes what he sees. He isn't alone, i'm very excited about Tunnicliffe, Pogba and Morrison. Tunnicliffe has been compared to Robson and Keane and he is in that mould, but from what i have seen of him so far, Steve Gerrard is the player i would most compare him to. But Bryan Robson is the player to emulate, any manager would kill to have a Bryan Robson in their team.
The youth team came up trumps earlier today with a gutsy victory at Anfield coming from two goals down to triumph 3-2 with Ravel Morrison scoring thw winning goal four minutes from time. It must have been some game with each side eventually replaced to nine men, Pogba's sending off was bizarre by the sounds of it. I haven't seen it yet, so can't comment any further.

Andy Mitten writes about every reds worst nightmare in his evening news column.

God news for north west cricket fans as the redevelopment of the other old trafford Lancashire CCC can now go ahead. I'm no fan of the redevelopment plans, i think they are terrible, but as a cricket fan i want to see the Ashes at old trafford. As Manchester confidential points out if Derwent had won it would have been disastrous for Lancy and would have been much good for the area or the council. Good to to see the tax avoiding wanker get beat.

John Kampfner discusses how a fearful BBC must regain its nerve. In the Telegraph Neil Midgeley argues that Chris Patten must tune the BBC to its strengths.
Michael Wolff looks at Rupert Murdoch as the news international owner celebrates his 80th birthday. It sounds like he belongs to the school of thought that believes that once he is no longer with us, his empire will fall apart.
Meanwhile whilst he is still on planet earth Chris Bryant points out the malign influence the people that run his organisations in this country have on our governing representatives. He claims a Murdoch ally warned off MP's from pursuing the phonetapping scandal and attacks the police for their role in a "full blown, copper-bottomed scandal". Yates of the yard has now started to feel the heat surrounding the affair. Good.

It's not been a great week for Nick Clegg's leadership of the Lib dems, but Andrew Grice thinks he is bearing up reasonably well under his thickening layer of skins. Holding the Lib dem spring conference in his home constituency of Sheffield doesn't look such a goodidea in retrospect. Barnsley by-election candidate Dominic Carman warns that the Barnsley public saw his party as tories with a yellow badge on. Unfortunately it's a pretty fair assessment of their role if you are voting for you own self interest as most voters do. Peter Oborne contrasts the warm reception given to Tim Farron to the dutiful one received by Clegg.
Mehdi Hasan describes why he is not a Lib dem hater and argues that the coalition has brought the Labour parties worst tribal instincts. At least the Lib dem rank and file at yesterday's spring conference showed that they are not tories with yellow badges on as they voted overwhelmingly against the governments plans for a radical overhaul of the NHS that was in neither parties manifesto, and should never have been allowed to proceed this far by the Lib dem leadership.

Paul Mason blogs on oil, inflation, soverreign debt and revolution as he thinks the world economy is on the brink of a collision of three strategic problems that could derail the economic recovery. One of those strategic problems was the Euro and news that Spain has seen its credit rating downgraded shows that Europe's economic problems maybe be about to erupt again. Philip Inman writes that Spain and Portugal are in "debt denial". Ambrose Pritchard-Evans talks of a EU paralysis driving a fresh bond route.
David Blanchflower reminds readers of Osborne's track record on economic predictions, and they are not very impresive, wrong on almost all the major economic issues of our time. Both the FT and the Economist have come down on the side of those support the thesis that the bankers threats are bluff and should be faced down. Liam Halligan of the Torygraph also comes down on the side of those who feel the banks should be faced down by advocating retail and investment banking should be seperate. Robert Skidelsky doesn't believe that the government's economic policies, ie cuts, are neccessary but if that is where we are, they must then put the emphasis on growth by getting serious in funding its Green bank and investing in our creaking infrastructure.

Faisal Islam claims that Lord Hutton's report on public sector pension reform shows that claims that it will spiral out of control if left unreformed to be untrue as it shows that by 2050 the total cost the nation will be less than it is now. Martin Wolf of the FT supports reform, up to a point.

David Bowden reminds Spiked's readers that a couple of years ago professor Niall Ferguson was telling us that Islam was about to bring down the west. In his latest TV series he joins the Chinese bandwagon, predicting the transfer of economic power from west to east. I'm a big history buff, and even though of the liberal left will usually watch programmes by conservative historians. But i have never watched anything by him, he just seems to always want to provoke.

Chicago with Beginnings from their brilliant debut album

Gill in town

David Gill appeared in front of parliamentary select committee for culture, media and sport yesterday and showed he hasn't lost his touch. He told the committee that United would not talk to MUST or IMUSA whilst the aim of thoses groups was a change of ownership and that United had 330 million fans worldwide, the latter statement part of the usual bullshit.It would seem he was speaking for more than Manchester United when he argued that the FA should adopt major reform. The only obstacle being that it's the premier league blocking any meaningful reform.
Gill also defended supposedly rewarding bad behaviour by rewarding Rooney with a new improved contract. You have still got to wonder whether the Glazer's were making sure they didn't lose him on the cheap. Though what his market value would be after this pretty dismal season, you can only guess at, £50 million as was suggested at the time would seem ludicrous.
Andersred didn't take long to query Gill's adding up after he had told the committee that the net spend on transfers unders the Glazer's has been greater than in the five or six years before that. A period that saw us buy Rio, Rooney for not inconsiderable amounts of money, it seems unlikely without even checking it.

Nani will face a spell on the sidelines after being on the receiving end of Carragher's boot last Sunday with some reports saying a month and the Mail saying the next three games. I suppose we are lucky that we have Park and Valencia coming back. We have just got to hope they are reasonably fit, though it seems to be asking a bit much to expect Valencia to immerdiately reacptute of last season after such a horrendous injury. I think those expecting him to start putting them on a plate for Rooney again, as he did last season may be disappointed.
What we won't replace with those two those is the goals that have been coming from the boot of Nani over the past season. He wasn't at his best during the last two games though, blunder against the dippers aside, when we wanted him to step up to the plate, he didn't or couldn't. One mitigating factor i will give him is that he didn't get half as much support from O'Shea as he does from Rafael. Who knows if he had stayed on the pitch on Sunday, maybe he would have had some joy in the second half.

Ex United right back Paul Parker dissects Sunday's disaster and applauds the mickeys for wanting it more and is yet another pundit to take at our deterioration in the centre of the park. Alarmingly he thinks that teams may have woken up to the fact that if they have a go at us they will have some joy. At least we will hopefully have one of Rio or Vidic available for the remainder of the current season. Smalling has done well and wasn't to blame for Sunday's debacle and as long as we have those three available at centre half we shouldn't be found as wanting at the back as we were on Sunday.
Ian Wright warns the knockers that it is far too soon for United to be written off but does argue that Vidic will be vital to the future of our campaign as he is the man that has kept us together. That's fair shout, though going in the final stretch of the seasons, you need all departments of your squad firing. As at Blackburn at the tail end of last season it's no good being able to keep the oppostion out if you can't put them away at the other end. Anything could happen on this run in yet, those not ruling out Chelsea and City aren't mad. 

If United are to strenghten the midfield in the summer, which i'm not at all sure will happen, unless Scholes retires, it doesn't look like Jordan Henderson will be one of the players that will be on the shipping list as the Mail report that he is more than happy to stay with his home town team.
That would be the best move for his own career, whilst he stays at Sunderland he will play every game. Better to stay and wait a couple of years until he is more of the finished article before he considers a move to one of the top five or six. That is assuming that he makes the progress that most pundits assume he will.

The Evening news claim that Fergie won't receive any action against him for last weeks media gag. Though other papers write that the BBC will put a complaint in, is an interview with Phelan that vital too them. To be serious though, it's pretty small time and doesn't really reflect well on the club. Though i have always thought it's ridiculous that a manager is asked to comment after the game before he has had time to calm down from the heat of the moment.

Martin Keown thinks Wenger must pick his strongest team on Saturday to get the fans back on side after admitting what a remarkably one sided affair last nights defeat from Barca was.

I stayed up to watch the highlights of the world cup clash between New Zealand and Pakistan last night. I'm still not sure whether most of the credit goes to an amazing batting performance from Ross Taylor and New Zealand or to wonder just how inept the bowling was as the Pakistani attack fell apart in those last ten overs. It was great viewing either way.

Craig Murray doesn't accept the official explanation of the SAS Libyan cock up expedition and offers a theory that he thinks is at least more believable. I don't really believe that, it presupposes that they had enough intelligence in the country to even know about the arms dump, which on all the available evidence doesn't seem likely. I agree with him though, they were not there to make contact with the rebels. Whatever they were there for, it was to do with the interests of the British government as opposed to the interests of the British or indeed Libyan people.

David Prosser writes that wherever you look you see evidence of bankers fighting back and that Bob Diamond meant exactly what he said when he told MP's that the time for remorse was over. Larry Elliott explains what a brave chancellor would do, whether Osborne is brave or not, he is there to do the bidding of the tories paymasters, so not much chance he will follow that advise. There will be a decision for Clegg and Cable then, as if they are to disolve the coalition government before the five years are out, an argument over a refusal to accept the Vickers commission on banking, if it is too radical for the tories to stomach would be the most electorally advantagous for the party.
But Jeremy Warner wonders whether we are putting the cart before the horse. He thinks it would be fine to dismantle the banking sector and thoroughly reform as long as it's co-ordinated with the rest of the developed world. If it is done alone, he thinks we will just be throwing one of our only world leading industries away to be picked up by one of our competitors. The argument against that is surely that at least then British tax payers wouldn't have to pick up the bill for the next banking bail out that would be seemingly unavoidable without fundamental reform.
David Blanchflower gives Iain Duncan Smith a lesson on unemployment and how it actually works. He points out that of those half a million vacancies in the economy at the moment how many are the 2,500,000 actually trained, qualified or experienced enough to fill.

US financial manager and investment author Bill Gross explains why the richest should be paying more in tax and doing their bit to help bring down US debt.

Ambrose Pritchard-Evans reports on the delicate balance of the oil markets and the danger to global recovery of getting output boosted at the wrong time.

Ariel Pink - Haunted graffiti ( Before today): An excellent piece of US indie with influences from the 80's 60's and all over the shop. At the poppier edge of the indie spectrum, though it does rock at times.

 Avi Buffalo - Avi Buffalo: More US indie pop and also from California. It's a decent album with a Byrdsian infleunce at times, never a bad thing. It's a decent album, though not quite good as Ariel Pink.
Best coast - Best coast: Another piece of US indie, this time a pretty good debut album from the female fronted outfit, again it's on the poppier edge of indie, but there are some strong tunes on it.

First aid kit -  The big, the black and blue: Supposedly Scandanavia's answer to the Fleet foxes, they are not quite that good but it's a very good album. Most reviews questioned the strenght of the songwriting, but i thought that was sound enough. As all recognised the vocals are excellent.
Magnetic man - Magnetic man: The dubstep supergroup, this is a bit too commercial for me, it has some decent moments, but i can't see myself coming back to this too much. It just sounds a bit too twee for me at times, the vocals mainly.
No Age -Everything in between: Us indie duo, heard that one before, but it's a fair album. More on  the heavier punkier side of the indie spectrum, it's not earth shattering but enjoyable all the same.

Liverpool 3-1 Manchester United

More away day blues, this one hurt a whole lot more than Tuesday though. For the thrird year in a row we went to Anfield and weren't up for the battle. At times we played ok but we never really got on top of them during the whole match. Of course you can't forget we were without both Vidic and Rio and i'm afraid it showed.
All three goals came from poor defensive play. Suarez made a great run but he was allowed to turn too easily in the box to start his run which led to our defenders being scared to touch him. The less said about the second goal the better and Van Der Sar didn't cover himself in glory for the third. As other have said Kuyt will never score an easier hatrick.
I have to admit i was happy enough when i saw the team and happy enough for us to be going into the game in a 4-4-2 formation. But Fergie got it badly wrong and i will have to hold my hands up and admit that we cannot get away with 4-4-2 away from home anymore. We have too many players not up for the fight at the moment. In games like these you have too earn the right to play your football by winning the physical battle and currently we never look capable of that. I always want to see Giggs and Scholes when we hit the big games, but yesterday was just too fast for them. We can't keep relying on them and more games like yesterday where Scholes is given no protection and he might not be signing a new contract for next season.
Liverpool managed to play better football than i expected them too but they didn't do anything special. Our demise was down to poor defending, catstophic mistakes and the inability to compete physically. When Keane left the club we all wondered who Fergie would get to replace his leadership qualities, but Fergie got round that by changing our system so we didn't need a Keane or a Robson in the middle of the park. How we could do with someone like that in the middle of the park now though. Carragher's foul on Nani yesterday was a disgrace and should have been a straight red, but his reaction, running to the referee and then collpasing on the crowd crying, was just plain embarrassing. Oh for the days when Robson and Whiteside used to win the physical battle against the dippers and then go on to win the game. You just couldn't imagine either of those two crying.
We could still end up with the title, look at Arsenal on Saturday, they didn't really start playing until the last quarter of an hour and though they did have some great chances and had decisions go against them Sunderland managed to create two great chances. I was going to say that the game at the Emirates is going to be big, but to be honest every game away from Old trafford is going to be a test for us.
Am i confident, not really, but i'm clinging to the hope that it's those perennial bottlers Arsenal chasing us and not Chelsea.

Fergie gave no press interviews after the game and the BBC didn't even get to talk to Phelan, probably just as well after the Carragher incident. Gill was incensed enoguh about the Nani tackle to have a go at the referees chief Mike Riley at half time. James Lawton writes of United's midfield reeking of decline and the scandal of Carragher's tackle on Nani. It's reeked of decline all season, the wonder is that no one has able to take advantage of it yet.

Daniel Taylor with his five things we learned colum has a dig at Nani and carrick and sees a bright future for Suarez. We'll have to see with Suarez, i didn't rate him in the world cup, Forlan was head and shoulders above him as a footballer. I suppose Rooney's arrival was part of the reason Forlan left, i know who i would sooner have in my team at the moment.
As for carrick he puts his finger on why he hasn't got the fans on his side, his lack of self belief and yet again yesterday his wobbly confidence in the big matches.
Greg Stobart writes that yesterdays abysmal showing shows the urgent need for midfield reconstruction, and claims that Fergie privately agrees that the squad is on its last legs. Mark Ogden compares the state of the current United squad with the demise of the Liverpool trophy machine 20 years ago, ouch. I can't argue with that too much, except to say we do have Welbeck and Cleverley to come back and we do have some talented youngsters in the youth team. But he is right to state that we can't go on relying on Scholes and Giggs and to question what Gibson and Bebe are doing in our squad.

There was lots of talk of a record breaking 19 titles and knocking Liverpool of their perch in the press on Friday and Saturday. Daniel Taylor wrote that for United fans and Liverpool alike 19 is the magic number. Whilst Mark Ogden wrote that if Dalglish happens to be in charge of the mickeys when the 19th title is delivered Fergie's smile would be as wide as the mouth of the Mersey.
It's still on of course but what delight they will take in yesterday's result, especially if our title charge had been derailed.

Kevin McCarra thought that United's rare defeat at Stamford bridge highlighted Ferguson's excellent use of the resources available to him and wonders what he could do with the warchest available to Mancini and Ancelotti. The point is he doesn't need that kind of money he just needs to be able to spend what he would normally be allowed to spend without the Glazer's in charge and the need to pay off the Glazer's debt that he is so comfortable with.
I'm not sure how comfortable he would be if City suddenly got shut of the ultra negative Mancini  and got a decent manager in and bought the couple of players in that would change City from a club challenging for a top four to challenging for the title as a club that has spent as much as they have should be.
He would find out the fans patience levels, i'm fairly sure of that. We have Welbeck and Cleverley to come back in the summer, but an experienced top quality creative midfielder would still not go amiss. And if Scholes did call it a day in the summer, it would become crucial for us to still be competing for
titles and future champions league titles.
So yes there can be no arguments that he has done a magnificent job in marshalling his resources, but how much of the job has the continuation of the careers of Giggs and Scholes to do with that. Because it can't have been in his long term plans for those two to still be playing and to still being so influential to our hoped for success. You can't help feeling he has got more than a little lucky with those two. Imagine our midfield without those two and the money it would have cost and may still cost to replace them. We have very exciting youngsters coming through, but we have no certainty that they will replace those two.

Whilst the consensus amongst most time served reds and press alike is that this has been the most workmanlike and least impressive United midfield we have seen in years, Fergie has been in the process of getting said midfield to resign on longe term contracts. After Anderson signed around christmas, a move that still loses me, he has now got Carrick and Fletcher to sign new extended contracts. For all those reds expecting the reds to finally splash some cash under our detested owners, methinks there is a clue to this summer's spending plans there.
I know Carrick is not every reds cup of tea, he isn't exactly mine, but he does do a job for the team that no other midfielder at the club does for the team. His defensive work may not be as eyecatching as others around Europe but he does a job for the team. My only problem is that he is nowhere near as effective in a 4-4-2 without a Scholes besides him.
As for Fletcher, he tailed off alarmingly during the latter part of last season, which i put down to having to play too many games. But after a full summer off, unlike most of our others who went to South Africa, he has not shown a glimpse of a return off the form that saw us miss him so badly in Rome against Barca. I have always been a fan of his, but i have to admit that his form this season doesn't really warrant a contract extension at this point in his career. Unless Fergie knows better, which of course he may well do, i would have been waiting to put a string of consistent performances in before entertaining a contract extension.

One good piece of news from the weekend was the return to action of Danny Welbek for Sunderland at the Emirates. He looked good and that would have been a superb goal but for an outstanding save from the home teams keeper. I'm absolutely certain that lack of injuries permitting, he will get more than his fair share of games in a red shirt next season.

I missed the beginning of Eric's interview on football focus but heard the two shopkeeper's responses to it, and people wonder why we loved Eric. I shall be catching up with it no doubt. I'm never sure how much of what he says he actually means but the man is never dull, not a comment ever heard labelled at Alan Shearer.

After Robert Fisk's latest colum piece in the Indy where he predicted that the end game to the Arab revolt would take place in Saudi Arabia, he reports the Saudi military mobilising to quell the under reported tensions within the country. A world, and the west in particular, holds it's breath. What would western governments anguished response be, if the Saudi's did enter Bahrain to put their revolt down. It would be hard for the US and less importantly the UK's politicians to defend, and we know that they will try to defend any Saudi crackdown.

David Cameron got a pretty damning press last week with his flip flops over the western response to events in Libya. It was pretty ludicrous and you wonder who was giving him this advise. They seemed to have forgot that George W. and his neo con chums don't frequent the white house any more. Saner poeple preside over US foreign policy nowadays.
Matthew Norman reminds David Cameron of the reality of this countries place in the world in his usual humorous way, but i wonder argue with any of his analysis for a second. It's hard to see any politician levelling with the British public about our reduced standing in the world with the Mail's and the Murdoch's of this world holding so much sway over them. It would take the real form of proportional representation to be adopted in Britain for that to happen.
As for the neocons, they have had their time and the politician who doesn't see that will eventually be yesterday's men.

Paul Goodman is the latest tory to warn David Cameron of the importance and danger that the referendum on the Alterntaive vote poses for his leadership of the conservative party. And in what was a terrible week for both sides of the coalition government John Curtice writes whilst the Lib dems disastrous result in the Barnsley by-election has took all the headlines, the tories drop in the share of the vote should be equally worrying for the a Cameroons.
For Clegg events seem to go from bad to worse, he was utterly unconvincing trying to explain away the Lib dem share of the vote in Barnsley and his party must know it. Those May local council elections are going to be a blood bath for them in the north of the country, and if he loses the AV referendum it is surely just when he is deposed and then how long it is before the coalition is disolved and we fight a new election. I suppose the doomsday scenario is then that the tories win an absolute majority, the way the tories have upset middle England as well as the parts of the country they just don't care about, i just can't see that happening.
Andrew Rawnsley still believes the lib dems can come through this if they hold their nerve.They will struggle to ever regain the progressive vote they once possessed back if they stick with this coalition to the end.

Deborah Orr agrees with Mervyn King that the banks are to blame for the current economic mess. The Telegraph interview with Mervyn King the governor of the bank of England reminded everybody who was to blame for the mess that economy is in. I would love to know reason behind the interview and the timing of it. Robert Peston argues that entente may be impossible between governors and banks, the real reason behind the interview no doubt.
The confessions of a non baby boomer from Keynsian Liberal, the kind of Liberal i would align myself with, and unfortunately the kind of Lib dem keeping their heads down  at the moment. A fascinating chart which shows the lie behind the claim that our debt is at a historic lie and shows why the coalition's economic policy is pure ideology.
Bernie Maddof, the financiers fall guy wonders why no one else is facing a spell behind bars.

Another article about the Killing and BBC4 and European thrillers which also namechecks that great 80's German drama Heimat. Now i would love BBC4 to repeat that, the first series in particular was outstanding.

Peter Wilby predicts that the skilled middle class will be the next victims of neo liberal economic ideology as a decline in middle class pay, job opportunities and job satisfaction has only just begun. I can see him being proven right. I still can't see how the events of 2008 could have led to the formation of the most neo liberal government we have possibly ever seen. I'm certain it will be the last, is the only silver lining on the political horizon. But who will lead us to the post Thatcherite world, that i cannot see.
Martin Kettle predicts that the party who will find the next big question will go on to win the next election, i get where he is coming from and agree partly, but i don not think the debate over the cuts will have been settled by the next election, especially as i don't think it is going to be in 2015.

Jeremy warner talks of the government bending the rules for Rupert Murdoch and predicts that the tories will regret giving the Aussie such a free hand with our media. Predictably News corporations media rivals have cried foul and have announced they are pondering their next move. The move got a mixed reception from media analysts. Polly Toynbee tells the lib dems there is still a way they can win this, but knows that it won't come from Vince Cable.

Chelsea 2-1 Manchester United

Well i feared the worst before this stretch of games but after the Wigan game i had regained some of my inate enthusiasm. And when i watched the first half display at Stamford bridge i half allowed myself to get a little bit giddy, only to be brought back to reality back the disappointing second half performance.
I'm not sure about the team selection, leaing Berbatov out of the team and including Hernandez, Chicarito is going to be a top player, but he has a long way to go yet and Berba's abilty to hold the ball up, early in the game and later on in the game would have been more then useful.
It was a surprise that we started with a 4-4-2 and no doubt those who say the days where you can't get away with a 4-4-2  will have a field day. But the first half did show that maybe it's still alive and for the first 45 minutes it seemed we were in total control of the day.
It looks as if Saturday was a dry run for last night as Fergie played an unchanged team for the first time in almost three years with Fletcher once again on the right hand side. Fletcher is no right winger but it worked well enough in the first half. My only complaint about the first half performance was the quality of the ball into the box.
But as soon as the rent boys equalised the game took on a quite different hue. As good as we looked in the first half, we only ever looked like scoring against the balance of play in the second half. We just don't have the players who can dominate a game for ninety minutes, against the top teams by the looks of it.
The hardest part of last night to take was knowing that they are not the side they were and that they would have been there for the taking if we had been good enough. But there is the rub, we aren't and we weren't. We definitely don't get decisions down there either, how Luiz wasn't sent off, for his foul on Rooney that should have seen him collect a second yellow i don't know. There was a bit of debate over the penalty, but if you stick your leg out, you are running the risk of giving a penalty away. Other than that Smalling once again had a fair game. As for Vidic's sending off, i hoped we had seen the last of that kind of thing. Here's hoping that Ferdinand is fit for Sunday. If that game wasn't big enough, after last night it just got a whole lot harder because they would love nothing more than sinking those 19th title hopes below the water line.
Before this stretch of games i would have glady took a win and two draws, after last night we have now got to be looking for two wins. We all know this is one of the poorrest United sides for a good few years, here's hoping that the 19th title is the trophy that makes it way back to the Old trafford trophy cabinet as we all remember the anniversary of that team who haven't won anything for 35 years.

Fergie was unhappy with the refereeing of Martin Atkinson last night criticising him for the soft penalty and for not sending Chelsea centre back David Luiz off. It's a blow to hear that Ferdinand probably won't play.

It wasn't the best way for Ryan Giggs to celebrate the week when he reached his twentieth year of playing for Manchester United. But what an achievement for a magnificent player. I'd like to see him back in the starting line up on Sunday.

Robert Fisk has a feeling the end game for the upheaval hitting the Arab world will play itself out in Saudi Arabia. It sounds as if he fears the worst.

The Economist's Bagehot column notices Cameron's attempt to show the Arab world that Britain is prepared to disagree with US foreign policy. Will it last? Charlemagne argues that out of self respect and self interest, Europe must do more to help the Arab world.
Frasier Nelson argues that corporatism is not enough to make an adequate foreign policy. 
Max hastings puts the case for non intervention in Libya. I don't support intervention, but support the rebels obviously. But western intervention is a total no no.

Neil Midgely writes that Chris Patten can be a success if he can streamline the BBC's output, i think he is right, BBC drama is definitely nowhere near as good as it used to be or as it should be. But where to axe, it's probably easier said than done, look at BBC radio 6, that was a bad start. Nick Cohen writes about Danish series The killing, another fan, but goes on to write of the future strength of the BBC when it opens the archives to a digital audience. I must admit i'm really looking forward to that. I just hope the countries broadband packages keep up with the change in viewing habits.

The financial times reported that Rupert Murdoch was close to victory in his attempt to convince ofcom and the office of fair trading that it's attempt to take full control of BSkyB will not harm media diversity. If this report in today's Telegraph is correct, i can't believe that it will not be challenged if the government gives it the nod. How many times has he made arrangements with Goverments, in this country alone, only to completely disregard them in time.
Will Hutton argues that if Murdoch wins it just goes to show what a feeble nation that we are. It's also not what i voted Lib dem to see, if this goes through, they could well have lost my vote at the next election.

John Harris argues, as others have, that the coalition has no mandate for a lot of the most controvertial of its policies. It would be a good argument for the no to AV campaign if it wasn't the tories behind the majority of these policies such as the reorganisation of the NHS. They would be kicking up one hell of a fuss if they were in opposition and this were happening.
Olly Grender replies in the new statesman by asking for a definition of mandate, fair point.

Ed Miliband shows signs of radicalism coming out in favour of a living wage, promising. This used to be a Lib Dem policy back in the days when it thought of itself as a party of the left, will the left of the party support this.
Polly Toynbee is the latest pundit to hark back to the days of the SDP and look at its influence on modern day politics and argues that Labour could learn some lessons about the core values it needs to anchor it in its post new labour days.

Stephen King warns of the dangers in the price of oil and warns it is coming at the worst possible time. Whilst Larry Elliott argues that if Primark is struggling policymakers should take heed as things must be bad. Robert Peston reports on an under reported speech from Lord Turner which suggests radical financial reform is still on the cards for the British banking sector, hopefully he's right.
Jeremy Warner argues that whilst the US will never be the pre eminent power it has been over the last couple of decades it is too early to write it off completely. There is something in that, anything could still happen in China, with it's lack of democracy and worrying hints of inflation.

Oscar winner Colin Firth interviewed in the new statesman name checks one of my favourite films, Come and see.