Manchester a "hazard" free zone

So the circus isn't coming to this particular town, it's the rent boys for Belgian international Eden Hazard. I honestly don't know what to think about this whole episode. Firstly i haven't actually seen him play, i'm not alone there, i would venture to guess. It's hard to get too worked up one way or another about a player about whom you have heard so much, but seen so little.
Next what United really need is a central midfield player to take replace Scholes when he finally calls it a day, presumably at the end of next season. According to all i have read, he has played mostly out wide, but has told his suitors that he sees his future as a classic number ten orchestrating play in the hole. I'm not arguing we shouldn't be looking to strengthen all over the pitch, but when your'e working on Glazernomics, you have to prioritise. We already have Rooney to play in the hole, though not much back up, i'll admit i'm not a fan of Young in that position. But as we saw last season we are embarrrasingly low on mumbers and quality in the engine room of the pitch.
Some reds have wondered if we were ever really in for him at all or if it was all a ploy to keep fans happy whilst season ticket renewal time is in progress. I think we were probably genuinely interested in him, whether we ever really had a chance of landing him, is of course a completely different question. The circus that increasingly surrounded the drawn out saga, didn't reflect well on the player and his insistence that he would move for footballing reasons have tunred out to be totally laughable. Never mind the £6 million to his agent, and the eye watering salary for an unproven talent, going to a club without a manager and an owner known for virtually picking the team beggars belief. I don't think i'm alone in thinking that whilst he may have turned out to have been a class player for our club, it's hard to believe he was the type of individual that the Stretford end, as was, would have took to its heart. 
Still it's hard to get away from the signals this sends out to the world of football about where Manchester United stand stand as clubs attractive to the world's best football talent, and it is firmly on the second tier, alongside Arsenal, if anybody, i suppose. And we all know there is only one reason we have slipped from the top table. If the debt was removed we would be competitive with the oil money and the La Liga two, even if Manchester as a city would still probably mean we would never attract the cream of latin American talent. That's why yesterday's events still had the power to depress.


It seems we have Kagawa's signature all but wrapped up, though in the present circumstances, i'll believe that when i see it. I have seen a little of him and he looks like he will be at the very least a decent squad player. My only problem with that signature is i can't see him working in a 4-4-2 formation, he seems the perfect fit in a 4-3-3 formation as the central midfield player given most licence to get foward.
I saw Nick Powell, the 18 year old the media are saying will sign for us for £4 million playing at Wembley for Crewe in the play offs and he looked reasonably promising. Going off that performance he looked more of a classic number ten himself, than the midfield man some papers had described him as. The goal he scored was absolutely fanatastic and he showed a reasonable amount of vision and skill. It will be interesting to see what Fergie does with him next season, if we do end up getting his name on the dotted line. For all his promise he didn't look first team squad material yet. 

Chatter box Dave Whelan managed to hit the headlines again last week, claiming that after Ferguson's nose bleed episode that next season would be his last at the club. I have no idea whether he's on the money or not, but i'm sure that it was of more importance to Ferge himself and to the club, than the media have reported. Unsuprisingly and unconvincingly Whelan's words have been dismissed by a key ally, i wonder why the fears were dismissed on that side of the pond.
I have been arguing recently that all this talk of him carrying on for another five years was far too optimistic. Without this warning, i expected two to three years at most. I really can't see a 75 year old man managing in the premier league, never mind managing possibly the biggest club in the world. Of course the timing couldn't be much worse for the gimps. As someone mentioned on one of the United messgaeboards, if the IPO does get off the ground, Fergie health would have to be assessed and made public. For their long term plans to make as much money out of the club as possible, Fergie is absolutely vital.

Ryan Giggs is raring to get 2012-13 going, telling the official site he still feels good. It was notceable how Scholes return ended up meaning less minutes on the pitch for Giggs, i feel both will play more of a back up role next season, injuries permitting that is. Next season will be a biggie for Tom Cleverley, he started last season so promisingly and looked like he would be a shoe in to go to the Euro's, but those injuries cost him and us dear.
We need a injury free season from him next season, just to prove that we can rely on him to be a part of the clubs future. Of course this will probably mean Scholes won't be playing every game as he basically did when he returned from his retirement. With the introduction of Kagawa as well i'm hopeful that we can start next season as well as we did last season. Staying injury free and hopefully having a more settled back four will be the key to success or failure after that.

According to the Mirror Blackburn boss Steve Kean wants to take Keane and Keane to the club to start a new legal firm, there is probably as much chance of that happening as there is of taking them on loan with the instability at the top of that football club. I'm a bit torn over a loan for Will Keane as i think he isn't far of being good enough for the first team squad as our fourth striker. Of course on the other hand he needs to get regular football and acquire the experience that both Welbeck and Cleverley took from their time away from the club on loan.
I'm not sure it's such a wise move for them to go to the same club though. I have got a lot of time for Michael Keane, but i don't think he is as near first team squad standard as his brother. If we are going to send them out on loan i would like to see Will go out to either a top championship club or a premier league team in the bottom half of the table where he would be sure to get plenty of playing time. Will's name has been linked to Stoke, i'm not too thrown on that, i would be looking at Wigan, somebody like that, a team that plays football but don't score enough goals.
I don't think brother Michael is ready for the premier league, it would be interesting to see him in the championship. I have a hunch he could turn into a decent over lapping right back and that would be an easier way for him to go out on loan and get the much needed experince required to get him ready for our first team squad. They are definitely too good to languish in our reserves. I'll be keeping my eye on who else Fergie sends out on loan next season.

Paul Parker draws the reasonable conclusion to last Saturdays narrow victory by England over Norway that England still have a long way to go. I looked at the team selected before the game and expected little and wasn't let down. I was a bit bewildered that the first half was seen as vaguely encouraging as i just saw the same old England who couldn't keep possession for more than five seconds against as poor a side as Norway showed themselves to be.
To see how far away England are away from being a serious proposition in international football at the moment, have a look at the midfield selected for the Spanish squad and compare them to ours, because the disparity is like looking at a team at the top of the premier league and a team relegated from the premier league. One thing is for sure, it won't be pretty watching our national team this summer, neutrals won't be wetting their lips at the thought of watching Gerrard and Parker in midfield with Carroll up front.
They will do well to get to the quarter finals, i supose with a bit of luck and a backs to the wall defensive attitude they could make the semi's, but to be honest English football needs to find out how really poor it is before it can get better. I'd expect Cleverley and Wilshere to be in that squad for the world cup, injuries permitting, but they need more coming through to give that squad some depth. Of course they have lost Smalling and Kyle Walker at the back as well, but the lack of depth in talent is shocking.

Utd after left back

The Mirror report that United are after Leighton Baines, going off twitter this afternoon, i know i know, they are probably bang on the money. He isn't top class, he won't be as good a player as Evra was for us at his best, but we couldn't continure with just one option at left back after Evra's desperately disappointing last two seasons. I expect him to estabish himself as the first choice left back if the deal does go through, i just can't see Evra re-discovering the form that made him one of the best left backs in the world at his best.
But Baines is pretty solid at the back and is probably better going forward as well, who knows we may even see some goals from full back for the first time since Denis Irwin left the club. £12 million seems a bit steep to me though, never mind the £ 15 million supposedly wanted by Everton.
Fergie obviously has doubts in his mind about Fabio being able to fill the role and i really don't see Fryers as United first team material, so we definitely need a left back this summer. Of course in my dreams, a Glazerless United, would be breaking the bank to convince Gareth Blae that his future would be in a red shirt at left back for Manchester United. Back in the real world Baines seems a fair enough option. It would be nice if we could get this all sown up before the Euro's begin.

The Mail reckon United have sealed a deal for the highly rated 18 year old Nick Powell from second division Crewe. The now usual scoffing has been doing the rounds on the various United messageboards rtegarding the deal. I have got no problem with United going in for young home grown potential, if we had only got Bale from Southampton. The Glazer's have a lot to answer for, but some times reds can sound off like some right spoilt bastards, we all know we need, and in an ideal world would be spending big this summer, but there is still roon for deal like this.

Miguel Delaney plots out United's transfer strategy for the summer,he has a decent track record apparently, and to be honest it sounds plausible enough. The proirities seem to be in the right order anyway, the left back we need and a couple of midfielders all within the, nice description here, Glazer era minimalism. My only question would be, if we are to get Nick Powell does that mean we are only now in for one attacking midfielder or is he indeed one for the future.

If there was any doubt about Bebatov's future i think his recent interview cleared it up, he will be joining Michael Owen in looking for a new club. I think we can safely say that Berbatov will find it easier to have clubs lining up to take him off United's hands than our former number 7's who won't be joing the illustrious roll call of United greats to have graced that number. If that kind of thing bothers you, that is, it's all a load of bollocks to me, a shirt's a shirt.
There has been speculation that United have tried to sign Lewandowski from Dortmund and that they may try and use the Bulgarian in part exchange to get their man. I can see that would be attractive to Berbatov, but i'm not sure he would fit in with Dortmund's style of play. More to the point, i'm not really sure what the big pole would bring to our squad. He's a decent playerbut i'm not sure what he'd bring to the party for us.

Van Der Sar thinks De Gea did well in his first season and advises the Spaniard to become his own man as aims to become a worthy successor to the big Dutch nember one after noting the trouble United had in trying to find an able replacement for Peter Schmeichel. Don't remind us of that unhappy time, it was no coincidence that is took the arrival of Van Der Sar to allow United to dominate the premier league again as they had with Scmeichel between the sticks in the 90's.

Gary Neville explains why he couldn't say no to Roy Hodgson and England and assures his fans on Sky that he won't be quitting his punditry role. I can't say i was that impressed with the squad Hdgson chose, but then again he hasn't got the depth in talent that he would like and England probably should be producing.
Roy Keane and Gareth Southgate warn the press that Gary Neville won't be as influential as the seem to expect, with Southgate expecting him a to assume the role that Bryan Robson filled under Terry Venables during the Euro's in 96.

An interesting article in Prospect over the future political realities in the south Atlantic as Britain's diffculties are predicted to get even more complicated as Brazillian economic strength is about to translate into serious naval strength with construction of five nuclear subs. So much for all that oil around the Falklands.

George Monibot takes the fight to the genocide deniers of the usual suspects of the old anti US left. I like reading some of Pilger's and Chomsky's stuff, but i would be totally with Monibot on this.

Walter Ellis looks at the changing face of America and warns that like it or not, and i think we know Telegraph readers probably won't, the US is becoming a post white nation. The interesting thing about that for me is how that will affect the politics and how it will effect the ruling elite. Will Wall street and oil continue to call the shots.

Alexis Tsipras, the leader of the far left Greek Syriza is described as the only European politician talking sense on Greece and the Euro, well he is the only one addressing thr reality of the situation, that's for sure. Larry Elliott argues that the Euro is ripe for a bit of Schumpter's creative destruction or it will carry on in its zombie-like condition.

Mary Riddell see's Miliband's appointment of Jon Cruddas to head the parties policy review as a big gamble and argues if he gets it wrong, Miliband will be left without a prayer. I can't say i'm much of a fan of blue labour, i'm not saying he doesn't have some good idea's, he does, but i don't see him as particularly progressive. We'll see.

The damp squib of a reaction to his extreme neo-liberal report seems to have put Beecroft's noise out of joint with him accusing Vince Cable of being a socialist, get it right social democrat and tells the Telegraph he is setting the record straight. Let him carry on and drag his patries chances at the next election down with him.
Alex Brummer sees the latest IMF report as the possible beginnings of plan B and a less than enthusiastic thumbs up from the organisation on Osborne and the bank's naigation of the economy since it took charge.

It looks like the work to welfare fraud is worse than we thought as tory MP's basically gagged the sector's whistleblowers, ordering them to give the selct comittee looking into the abuses behind closed doors, now why would they do that.

The Glazer's money crossroads

The Guardian report that the Glazers have took £71 million out of the club in order to pay off the debt and buy back the bonds, yet still the tabloids will link us with everyone under the sun. That story about United sounding out clubs about the availibilty of Nani if he doesn't agree a new contract sounds feasible after those figures. To bring anybody in United will have to sell more than just Berbatov. Of course that makes absolutely no sense football wise. I'm not Nani's biggest fan, but when he is on his game he is a top European talent, he's far more talented than Ashley Young and more skilful though far less consistent than Valencia.
Still those are not the headlines that the Glazer's will be glad to see, i wonder if these kind of quotes make there way into the press in south east Asia, that would be most unwelcome for the hoped for IPO. The BBC report might as well have come from the Glazer's PR department, pitiful.
Andersred blogs why the Glazer's future strategy for the club and possibly for getting out of their takeover with a healthy proft is heavily bound up with the proposed far eastern IPO. If they don't buy and the IPO went ahead and didn't value the club at a price they are happy with, what then, for them and the club.  

It was nice to see the reserves beat the divs last night at the council house to finish the season off by winning the Manchester senior cup 2-0 , last minute crowd invasion and all. United played reasonably well for the first 45 minutes, and just about deserved the lead given to them by Will Keane's goal.
The second half wasn't pretty to watch to be honest, United just seemed to sit back and hope to catch City on the break. Problem was you still have to play football to do that and too often our lads were just booting the ball anywhere instead of trying to build from the back to catch them on the break.
United still had all the best chances, Lingard had a chance and Will Keane set up Pogba superbly but the Frenchman couldn't finish it off. It was great to see the young sub, Salfordian Giverin brought on at the death, break free in the last minute to seal thw in and celebrate like it was the best thing to ever happen to him. What a week for him, he got a 45 minutes with the first team and then this. He will obviously never make it at the club, but he will have a couple of special special moments.
Nobody expected Pogba to play, and i suppose some will hope this was a sign that maybe he will stay. Of more note to me, was the fact that once again he couldn't manage to stand out at this level and yet his agent wants and United seem to be prepared to pay him a supposed £20 grand a year. That just seems totally unjustifiable and totally nuts to me.


Whatever happens over the summer, barring the exit of the Glazer family from the ownership of our football club of course, it looks like we are in for one more season of apalling atmosphere at Old trafford after the news that the setting up of a singing section inside the ground has been postponed.

Gill talks the talk about United being able to compete for the very best players, unfortunately for him it's the gimps that will have to walk the walk.  Ronaldo talks about losing money when City pipped us to the title, wow that must have hurt his bank balance  and then goes all coy when asked if he would come back to United. How can they write that with a straight face, i'm sure i'm not alone in fearing the day he comes back to Manchester, it would be in a sky blue shirt, not red.

Patrice Evra reflects on a difficult season, talking of the pressure surrounding the Suarez controversy and playing the Manchester derby after hearing that his brother had just died. I suppose it a bit hard, but the way he played in that gam, maybe Fergie should have left him out. Because in another sub standard season from the French left back, that was up there with his worst performances.We really must buy a left back or somebody who can do a job there like O'Shea did this summer, we can't put up with another season like the last two in this position.

Fascinating piece by David Winner on Wayne Rooney, if you didn't know who had written it, but had read Winner's book on Dutch football, Brilliant orange, you would probably be able to guess who had wrote it. I'm a fan of Rooney but i'm afraid a smirk appeared on this mush when i read the sentence "his close control is miraculous", when he is on his game it might be, but when it's not, for a top player, it can be fucking embarassing at times.

I'm not sure what to make of the possibility of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer taking over the reigns at Villa Park. I'm aware that to enhance the possibility of him succeeding Fergie he could do with establishing himself in the premier league. I'm just not sure that Villa park is the best place to start.
I haven't got much time for Villa's fans though i don't mind the club that much. They were always one of the potentially bigger clubs in the years before the money started flowing into the premiership. But they haven't really competed since, it said it all to me that the fans took Lerner's side over O'Neill. It was obvious to me that they were a club punching above their weight mainly due to the manager. The record since would seem to bear that out.
Going there at this present time with an unhappy fan base, what appears to me to be a piss poor squad and presumably only modest means to stengthen it means he is giving himself a really tough challenge. If he does take this, i suppose it shows two things, firstly he is up for a challenge and secondly he must have confidence in his own ability.
He is a top man, so if he does take the job, i will be watching out for Villa's results and hoping that he can turn things around for the Villaaa.

Rafael Behr looks at Europe's endgame and asks who will dare make the pro-EU cas, whilst Peter Oborne asks why on earth are we trying to save the Euro. Robert Peston tried to make that case with his BBC2 documentary tonight, an interesting watch.
We really could be at that much prophesied Lehman brothers moment as Ben Chu reports Europe and the markets have been spooked by a potential Spanish banking crisis. 

Jeremy Warner tells David Cameron he should admit the truth about the UK economy, i have noticed recently that the tory press have become even more critical of the coalition's competence over the economy than the usual subjects.
Zoe Williams can't believe Cameron and his tory chums, now we no whose fault the recession is, ours.

End of season 11-12

We can't go on relying on him forever, but after what happened the first half of this summer and what yet might not happen this summers, midfield reinforcement it's got to be good news that the ginger prince will give it one more year. I know some will say that this just means that the gimps will refuse to open their wallets this summer, "if there is no value in the market", but seeing as though they wouldn't open it last summer after he announced his retirement, at least it's a little insurance. 
Ryan Giggs was sure that Scholes could have done a job for England at the Euro's, and i read somewhere that the appointment of Gary Neville to Roy Hodgson's backroom staff might have made Scholes more amenable to the call. If England were to play 4-3-3 i'm pretty sure he could have done a job, but Hodgson is seemingly a rigid 4-4-2 man as was his predecessor so the fact he didn't get the call today didn't come as much of a suprise.
I wasn't that suprised that Carrick wasn't called up, but was a bit suprised that Hodgson told the press that Carrick had told him he was retired from internatonal football. With the depth of our midfield options that is at least good news for Fergie. It has to be said that whilst Carrick never set the world alight when selected for the national team, he was never really given any kind of extended run in the side and henceforth never really given a fair crack of the whip. Like Scholes another victim of the national press's yearning for Lampard or Gerrard to prove them right.
I wasn't as suprised as most other erds seem to be that Rio was omitted from Hogdson's Euro squad. He would struggle to play back to back games, you would be taking a big chance that his back would completely pack up if tried to play three back back surely. If United have better luck with injuries next season he should be down to third at best in the pecking order for a centre half birth so it's hard to see how he could be an automatic spot for England.
He has done better than any of us, Fergie included i suspect, could have expected during the latter half of the season, but he is still nowhere near the player that made up the best centre half partnership in Europe with Vidic from 2006 to 2009. Even on Sunday his back threatened to pack up on him, with the lack of protection i'm expecting England's central midfield to provide for a less than stellar defence, his long term reputation will probably be all the better for not being chosen. He may not have had the England career that had wished but in the big tournaments he did actually get to play he was recognised as one of the best in his positions  
Oliver Holt talks up the chances of Ryan Giggs being the man to take over the reigns at the top of the club, when Fergie hangs walks away. This has been roundly poo pooed on the United message boards, but it doesn't sound too outlandish to me. There will be hardly anybody more versed in the ways of the club than Giggs when he hangs his boots up. And as for age or experience, that hasn't harmed Guardiola at Barca and Brendan Rodgers is a few years Giggs's junior at Swansea. All this season's experience on the bench maybe all a part of the master plan. Of course it could well be bollocks as Fergie has said it is not a job for a young man, but he has been known to tell a porky or two, so we will see. I wouldn't be that convinced of a trumvirate of Giggs, Scholes and Neville running the club though, all will surely have some role at the club in the future but that smacks a bit too much of fantasy football.
Matt Lawton has Gary Neville down as a potential England number one after his appointment by Roy Hodgson earlier in the week. I suppose it's a possibilty if Hogdson's tenure isn't a complete disaster, i'm sure they would love his media friendliness after Capello's stint and i have a feeling that Gary Neville will do his share of the media for Hogdson this summer.

Bobby Charlton thinks that City's rise and title success is nothing to be worried about, we have the right men at the club. Unfortunately we don't really have the right men owning the actual football club, do we. Ian Herbert describes the financial reality, trying to play catch up to City, United know they need to buy, but know they must sell as well.
Who goes out this summer will be as fascinating to me as who comes in. But does Fergie dare sell, before he knows who he has actually brought in. I can't actually say i'm as convinced at the press seem to be that Kagawa will be playing in a red shirt this summer. If it comes to an auction, that could be yet another one to bite the dust.
A couple of youngster have exited the club this week, De Laet and Matty James have left for Leicester City. It's a shame that James career stalled after his seemingly decent loan ended at Preston and he then suffered a prolonged injury nightmare that saw him miss a lot of football. He was rated within the club and captained England under 19's a couple of seasons ago.
As to De Laet, to be honest i have never known what to make of him. Not good enough for United obviously, but miles too good for our reserves, yet he never really seems to have done as well as i expected out on loan, even at championship level. I'd say this was a big moment in his career, if he bombs this chance, it may be down a division for him with his next move.
Maybe Fergie is really going to chop some of that dead wood away this season, there was a report this week that Michael Owen may be given one more year. Thank fuck that was wrong, that would have sent out all the wrong signals to fans and press alike. I never rated him when was he was the national darling never mind the injury prone left over that we bought, so i never really got the transfer. I think the stats tell their own story on his time here. next up is will Berbatov still go and if so, who comes in to fill that fourth striker spot, or is Fergie going to go back to 4-3-3. There is Josh King and more likely Will Keane at the club with potential, i don't think Will Keane is a million miles from being a first team squad player. But maybe a season or even half a season on loan would give him the game time it might be better for his career to get now.
If we did get Kagawa i'm not sure i see him fitting into s atraight 4-4-2, so there is always the chance that Fergie just stays with Rooney, Welbeck and Hernandez. If that was the case i would definitely like to see us bring a couple of central midfield reinforcements, rather than just the one, wishful thinking i suppose.

Alan Hansen is disappointed for his old pal Dalglish and thinks if he had landed the FA cup as well as the league cup his job should have been safe. He reckons the owners, now looking for a fourth manager in two years have set the bar high. If that's right we should have wanted them to win it as well, because they were going nowhere under KKK. The Kenny must stay hashtags didn't do the trick, did they.
Somebody tweeted after the sacking was announced yesterday that this was a big decision for Liverpool's US owners that they could barely afford to get wrong. That's a fair assessment and their judgement so far gives cause for hope that they will fuck it up again, should Henry have stuck with Baseball?

James Landale reports on an unhappy ship as the tories squabble amongst themselves, it would be classic if they creaked up to the next election divided and with their economic competence shattered all over again, 1997 all over again. The damage that Osborne is wreaking on the economy we could do with that showe out of power for 13 years again. Of course it would be nice to actually have 13 years of real centre left government this time.
The tories probably sing the old Millwall song to themselves to keep themselves happy, no one likes us, we don't care. Alistair campbell blogs that they seem to dislike everyone who works in public service, probably not a winning strategy.

Robert Peston asks does JP Morgan loss show regulators great failure? you bet it does. Larry Elliott explains that if the UK economy were a football team it would be fighting relegation, not the first time he's used that analogy. This blog from Chris Dillow predicts the coming crisis of conservatism as the realisation that the ideology that has sustained and fed it for the last thirty odd years has failed. He compares what might happen to the crisis facing the Labour party during the seventies when the post war Butskelite consensus fell apart.

It reall does seem that time it' shit or bust for the Eurozone, the Economist describes the EU groping towards Grexit, which is possibly already out of date. The UK government puts the cost of a Greek exit at $1 trillion as it makes contingency plans for a possible financial tsunami. Of course there are some in this mad world of ours who are doing just fine out of this potential economic disaster.
Faisal Islam describes the economic drachmail between the Greek political class and Brussels, it could just turn out to be a game of Russian roulette.


Music
Band of skulls - Sweet sour: I saw the wrote up as the Uk version of The black keys and after listening to this i can see where that was coming from. It has the same blues rock and slower softer mix that differentiates the black keys from the white stripes. It's a good album that shows if they can improve they could well be as good as that band.

Lana Del Ray - Born to die: I can see why this was so popular, it has some catchy tunes on it alright, but i seem to admire it than really like it. It will be interesting to hear her next record.

Portico quartet - Portico quartet: Another decent album from the jazz/world Uk band. Sounds almost ambient at times, i could do with a bit more jazz in there at times, but it's definitely worth a listen.

Sharon Van Etten - Tramp: It took me a few listens to get into this album, there is a lot of this kind of indie/folk Americana coming out, so you have to be good to compete in this genre at the moment. It's a good album that goes off in different directions, but is worth the effort.

The twilight sad - No one can ever know: Another fair effort from the Glaswegian indie outfit that doesn't particularly hit any heights. There don't ever seem to be any stand out tracks on their records, no poor ones admittedly either.

Voices from the lake - Voices from the lake: A pretty good ambient album from a couple of Italian techno artists, to be listened to in the right mood, either loud or with headphones on.

Sunderland 0-1 Manchester United

I think we can safely say i have had better Sunday afternoon's than yesterday. Although to be fair it isn't hurting as much as i thought it would. For that i can thank resigning myself all last week to the thought that the title had gone, City wouldn't blow it at home.
Surely you might then say that the events of yersterday must make that even worse. Not really, even when it was 2-1 to QPR, i was just waiting for City to get the equaliser, and once they got it for them to go on and win it. When the news hit the fans at Sunderland that they had equalised in the last minute, i just knew they would go on and get that winning goal. When it came i just felt numb, as if throwing away an eight point lead wasn't bad enough, it was the final kick in the bollocks for a season that started so brightly.
Fergie's team selection was pretty conservative, but unlike plenty of other reds i couldn't argue much with it. We saw against City and Arsenal at times that even at home, Sunderland like to get men behind the ball and try to play on the break. So the decision to play with Giggs in a 4-3-3 made sense to me, United bossed the possession and bossed the game almost completely. The home team had a couple of little spells, but if United had took their chances this would have been a far more comfortable three points than the scorline suggests. I had put a fiver on Rooney to grab a hatrick before the game, so i was less than thrilled that he had left his scoring boots in the dressing room.
It was a fine cross from Jones that led to the only goal of the game and a ice reminder that a fit and confident Jones does put a decent ball over from right back. He seems slowly to have ragined his form over recent weeks which is nice to see. I was very impressed with Jonny Evans as well yesterday, next season will be a big test for him, can he kick on and repeat this form over a season with Vidic alongside him. We need him to because i have long thought that Ferdinand is on his last legs and Jones and Smalling aren't the finished article yet.
It's hard to assess this season, given the injury nightmare of the first half of the season and the crucial loss of Vidic for the season, so for us to have got so close to winning the title is some achievement. But of course that has to be balanced with the throwing away of an eight point lead when almost all of us thought City had gone and title was as good as ours. I still think the return of Scholes was vitla to our title challenge, if he hadn't returned i don't think City would have had to wait for the last day of the season. But that highlights yet again our failure to strengthen in the midfield, yes we were unlucky to lose Cleverley for the season and some might same of Anderson, though don't count me amongst them, but this summer just has to see us invest in this part of the squad.
I'm on as much of a media blackout i can follow without going to deepest Siberia for the next week, i haven't actually seen any of the other games and don't intend to, i still haven't seen the sending off or the two late goals from the boo camp. I suppose i'll be unfortunate enough to see them eventually, but it won't be this week that's for sure.

Daniel Taylor reckons that Paul Scholes might be open to the idea of returning the international fold this summer. I'm not sure Hodgson will go for him myself as he seems to be a stickler for 4-4-2 and i'm not sure that at the very highest level that would suit Scholes any more.

So much for those rumours that Vidic might return before the end of the season was over, he still won't be fit for the first part of United's pre-season apparently. The 64 million dollar question for the summer to me is whether he resumes his career next season the same top quality centre half we have missed so badly. He is 31 and at an age where injuries could start to affect his game, and let's face it that's the last thing we need with Ferdinand's problems and Evra's seemingly permanent decline.

Daniel Harris highlights the urgent need for midfield reinforcement this summer, whilst despairing of the cancer to the club that are the Glazer family. Mark Ogden warns United that Wayne Rooney's contract stand off was an early warning sign to the club that the rise of Manchester City was going to be a challenge as United come a distant second best in the transfer market.
It's going to be a happy time for the nation's press as transfer speculation hits fever pitch and United and City are linked with everybody, City realisticly, United ahem, less so. The Mail link us to Fulham's Dembele, a pretty good player, though i'm not sure he's good enough for us. Let's face it we can't really afford to get this summer's transfers wrong. Harry Dillon profiles Dortmund's Shinji Kagawa who seems to be the man who Fergie has targeted. I have seen a bit of him and he looks as though he could be a useful addition the squad. I'm not sure he's at the very highest level, but then he's young so there could be further improvement. Obviously being Japanese tick lots of boxes for the gimps, but i'll leave the cynicism alone, hard as that is for me.

Andy Mitten interviews ex red Louis Saha who has what likes an interesting new book out and talks about his injury problems during his time at the club.
Fellow ex red striker Ruud Van Nistelroy has announced his retirement from football this morning, what a player he was, definitely my favourite Manchester United centre forward. As he himself has said, it was a shame the way things ended at the club for him and for us.

I finally got around to watching the documentary Inside job by Charles Ferguson last week, and this piece by  Matt Taibi reminds me of the final part of the film where he lists the people Obama chose to form is economic strategy, the same old faces who's disastrous action had led to the debacle of 2008.
Simon Jenkins warns that George Osborne's calamitous reign as chancellor of the excheqeur risks turning British cities into Detroit UK. Still who cares as long as the city of London gets what it wants, hey. One has to look after one's own, after all.

The Independent looks at the city trader who lost $2 billion and warns that he was the risk expert who was meant to play it safe.

Thanks for the memories Ruud, apologies for the abysmal music

United premier league play off winners

United's reserves won the play off against Villa at Old trafford last night, winning on penalties after the 90 iminutes ended 0-0. As no score draws goes, it wasn't a bad game, the first half was pretty dreary as neither side really tested the the opposition goal but the second half saw both teams going for it, with United possibly just the better team.
As ever with the reserves, it seems to be more about giving players a game rather than about picking the best balanced team and the first half saw United struggle to mount any serious pressure on Villa's goal. An example would be the ninety minutes from Larnell Cole, who when stuck out on the right in the first half couldn't get into the game at all or should i say he couldn't affect the game. He doesn't have the pace to play out wide and the lack of an attacking right back didn't help his cause. Once he was switched into the middle at the beginning the second half there was a drastic improvement in his game and United's ability to effectively use the possession and eventually to dominate for periods. If you watched that first half you would have said he would struggle to have a career in professional football, but if you had watched the second, you'd have come away enthused by his technique and ability to use the ball against bigger opponents. Despite missing a great chance, Will Keane once more caught the eye with an eye catching performance.
Others to catch the eye were Michael Keane with his tremedous runs out od defence and for the most part his good use of the ball. He has tremendous pace and seems to be able to recover postions as Ferdinand did before his legs and back went. Whether he will be strong enough to make it at centre half at first team level is the question. One thought occured to me last night, with those long raking runs he makes, it might well be worth trying him at right back at some stage, he could make a great over lapping right back. Petrucci was decent in the first half but he seemed to fizzle out during the second half.
My man of the match would have to have been Jesse Lingard, who was excellent and got stronger as the game went on. I'm not sure i have ever seen him have a bad game. I won't say it's a shame he isn't bigger, it's more a case that i wish he was more powerful. He doesn't seem to really have a best position, he started out wide last night as he usually does but his best work is nearly always done during the latter stages of a game where he roams across the pitch and just behind the forward.
Needless to say Johnstone had a great shoot out but he was just as impressive during the ninety minutes as well as making a couple of great saves. Tunnicliffe gave us a few of his trademark forward runs in the first half but was a disappointment again for me, his first touch and use of the ball weren't good enough. He gets caught on the ball too much for someone who has a chance to make it at the top level. It maybe he has hit a dip in form, but he doesn't look like he is going to fulfil the promise he showed at youth team level.
It was nice to see some silverware won by the club, whilst we all want the first team to be winning titles, it is important that the youth team and reserves have successful seasons. For any that do make it through to the first team let's hope it's the first of many.

Fergie won't walk away writes James Lawton, he will be up for his biggest fight. Andy Mitten concurs, and wonders how Fergie can manage to turn such an insurmountable challenge with the financial restraints placed upon him.
The question is will he still be able to compete when the Glazer debt is threatning to handicapp his team out of the race. It seems every summer, especially since Ronaldo left, we all go around saying that the summer transfer dealings are vital to the club's future prsopects. I don't know whether this one will be any more important than any other, it depends on our ambition. To compete for the title again,this is surely the summer where at least one central midfielder has to be brought into the club.
To be honest in reality we need far more than that but given the miracles that Fergie has done with this less than stellar squad, that would probably keep us relatively competitive for the next season's league title. But if we are to not to fall behind, never mind compete in the champions league, big money would need to be spent. It's hard to have any confidence that we will see the kind of tranfer activity we would like to see or that without the gimps debt would easily be affordable.   
I have a few idea's about what positions need looking at and where we need to invest, but i'll leave that until after the season has finished.

David McDonnell tells the Mirror's readers that the Glazer's must open their wallets to stop United heading into decline. Over at the sun Steven Howard tells Fergie that he needs to persuade the Glazer's to spend £100 million to stop City drawing away from us.
It's nothing new to most United fans, the fact that we are a team in decline, but it seems to have gained currency across the football punditry world over recent week. Of course relative decline is probably to be expected during a transitional period in a club's history.
We have been in a slow decline since Ronaldo's last season at the club, maybe not in results, but in performance and the reliance on players such as Giggs and Scholes who should have become more squad type players than the vital cogs in the machine that Giggs was last season and that Scholes has been since he came out of retirement in January. The fact that Fergie is desperate to keep Scholes for another season probably tells us what kind of summer we can expect during the summer. I'm not saying i don't want him to sign on for another season, of course i do, but i don't want us to have to rely on him to the extent that we have had to since he came out of retirement.
And this is the worry for us all, that we won't or can't replace these two giants of our recent history. It's not as if this worry is new either, we were saying this before Ronaldo left the club. Of course we have to realise that replacing two such great players is an easy task, in fact i'm positive Scholes isn't replaceable, unless Xavi and Iniesta got pissed off in the Catalan sun and were immune to the financial rewards on offer across the city. But just as we replaced Keane with Carrick, a totally different player, so we have to go forward eventually without Scholes and will have to find someone that can do a job at the very top level in the centre of our midfield, even if he doesn't bring the same qualities to the table.
I must admit i hoped that that we may have been able to get by for a couple of seasons with our limited midfield options until some of our promising youngsters came through. I have a feeling that this was Fergie's long term plan. Well if it was that has been blown apart with Morrison's desparture, Pogba's probable departure and Tunnicliffe's relative failure to progress. The biggest shame was Morrison's unwillingness to grow up, i still think that with the right attitude he would have eventually walked into our first team.
I have to admit i'm fed up reading about Pogba and actually hope the rumours are right and he leaves for Juve. Firstly he obviously hasn't got the right character to be a long term part of out future and secondly if anybody has actually watched our reserves he seriously doesn't deserve the contract that hid agent is apparently arguing for. He may turn out to be the real deal, i'm not sure either way, but i'm sure he won't be ready to play a big part as part of our central midfield over the next couple of seasons. If he had knuckled down and done well for the reserves this season i would have been looking to send him out on loan to a Wigan or a Bolton next season.
I thought Tunnicliffe had reportedly done reasonably well on loan at Peterbrough in the championship but i have to say he hasn't looked to have improved at all from his appearances that i have seen in the reserves since he came back to the club.
We have prospects in the academy system but they are too far from first team football to bring into this end of season moan. I don't really watch enough European football to know how good Hazard, Kagawa or the Gotze's are so i can't really have an opinion there. I really like the looks of Munian of Bilbao, but whether he would leave his basque region and whether he would come to United should United still be able to afford him after his outstanding season who knows. I thought he was magnificent last night during Bilbao's 3-0 defeat in the Europa cup final, both technically and in his fight for the cause.
As for the perennial talk of Modric, i have to say i'm not convinced, whichever you look at it. He's a good player, but i don't ever see him at the very top level in European football, which is what i hope we are looking at. And i'm totally unconvinced by his attitude, his start to the season after failing to get his move to Chelsea and his form loss for Tottenham when the going got the tough at the business end of the season.
All those words and i have only mentioned our midfield problems, i'll allude to other areas of concern with the squad after Sunday has come and gone.

All that talk and i never mentioned Phil Jones who i giddily thought might have found his best position there during one fo our good spells of form during the first half of the season. Ok i probably got that wrong, though i still think he will be able to do a job there in the future. I notice his first half season form has been totally forgotten on the messageboards in all the doom and gloom abounding at the moment.
He was excellent for the most part during that phase of the season, his dodgier games were at centre half where Fergie hopes he will become the bedrock of the team. But he was only 19 and during that first part of the season our defence hardly got any protection from the players in front of him, so it was to be expected really. The injuries at christmas seem to set him right back and he never really came back the same player after that, which he alludes to himself in this piece. Which was a pity because we could have done with some of those barnstorming forward runs we saw during those excting first couple of months of the season over the title run.
I would have liked him to go the Euro's this summer to get vital top class experience for his United future, i'm not so sure any more. It may be the case that a complete summer's rest would be better for us and him next season. If Capello had still been manager he was a certainty to go, i'm not so sure Hodgson will be so keen to be so reliant on him. Though looking at John Terry's form recently and Ferdinand's inability to play back to back games who knows. The news that Chris Smalling will not now be going in the summer probably means that Jones will be travelling with England at the summer 
Anybody thinking England have a chance at the Euros must surely be hoping Hodgson doesn't go with Ferdinand and Terry during the summer whilst playing 4-4-2 because that is an accident waiting to happen.

John O'shea warns United not to expect any favours and lets slip that he couldn't believe United had let an 8 point title lead slip. If he had stayed at United this season there is every chance that could have ended up first choice left back. I would certainly have preferred going to the recent derby with O'Shea at left back instead of Erva. Add in our centre back troubles in mid season and he was a big big loss to Manchester United footbal club this season. There were rumours that he had to go to keep the wage bill down to allow last summer's purchases, if so, that was one false economy.

The MEN report that Gary Neville's Old trafford hotel plans are set to get the go ahead. I thought the plans were for a club house but anyhow i wasn't actually that bothered it about really, i can remember O'Neill badgering Neville about this years ago at an IMUSA meeting in those days when those things actually happened. But the fact that United decided to object to the proposals, led me to hope it would get the go ahead, that says everything about the way club i support is run, i suppose.
I doubt i'll go in much, but if it becomes a real fans club, not a day trippers experience it can only be a good thing.

The Portuges police are investigating the transfer of Bebe to United, but United say they have nothing to hide, no but there will be face to lose and ridicule to held up to. I'm not sure we can blame the Glazer's for this one.

Elsewhere i was asked why the referendums for city's mayor mattered and i answered that to me, mayor or no mayor the important thing was for powers to be devolved back from whitehall to local goverment. I didn't want it for Manchester that's for sure. I was then asked what an elected mayor would do, and i answered in London and most big cities he would be answerable for the public transport system and the other big concern should be social housing.
A London mayor has control of London transport, which of course makes them unique in this country as the Thactherites privatised it for everyone else, which gives you some idea about the priority they give the capital over the regions. And we know all councils have their hands tied over social housing. So what the proponents think city mayor's would make i still cannot grasp. To me they would just be personality contests as indeed it seemed to me London's election's were. Where the boost to democracy comes from in that i am at a loss to know.
Far more important to the state of the health of this countries democratic health is the gap between the super rich and the rest as described in John Gray's review of Ferdinand Mount's latest book.
A fascinating piece on the world of the city of London as a derivative trader tells his interviewer that the trouble is regulators are idiots.

Paul Mason gives his take on what the political situation is post election and quite possibly pre-election, he could have labelled it catch 22, with the Greek people as Yossarian.

This is for Fergie as watches the summer's transfer activity

Manchester United 2-0 Swansea City

A grim Sunday to follow a grim Monday, City's victory, barring a miracle should be enough to land them the title, that all those petro dollars demanded. You have to hand it to them, that was a good result to come away with at any stage of the season but even more so given the stakes. It's not them landing the title hurts as much as the way we have thrown it away. I think most of us had come to terms with the fact that if we didn't win the title then they would, earlier in the season. But for us to go on that run and end up with an 8 point lead and a title run in to die for, and then well and truly bottle it, is what really hurts.
It's hard for the atmosphere to be any flatter than it already is, but the result from geordieland well and truly managed the feat as we all knew that the title had probably gone. To be fair to the players, they managed to get themselves up for the only thing the day still had going for it, trying to claw that goal difference back, even though we all know that was mission impossible. It was good to see Valencia back, its still annoying as fuck that he was dropped for Park last Monday night. When we went 2-0 up i thought United might actually make a fist of cutting the goal difference but half time allowed them to go in and re-organise and re-compose themselves and they imposed themselves on the game better and United ran out of ideas and even when we did create a gilt edged chance near the end Rooney managed to miss the target.
It was nice to see Scholes back on the scoresheet, especially when you'e got him for first goal. Young gave what i have come expect, some good things and some bad but at least he manages to get on the scorsheet. If i was Fergie i would stick with Jones at right back next week, he seems to be going through a bad time, confidence wise, hopefully he will come good, and he'll only do that by playing. Smalling defended decently enough but his passing seems to have a gone a bit this season. When he came to us last season, that was the part of his game that really impressed. The injuries seem to have kncked his game back a bit as well, he'll only get it back by playing, i would play him next week, whatever the state of our injury list. Whatever happens next week, it will be character building for a lot of our younger players, one way or the other.
I don't know what to say about Hernandez's performance, he wasn't particularly poor, he was just completely ineffective. For whatever reason you give, his last game at Old trafford, the goals we needed or his ability to make things happen outside the box as well as in it, Berbatov should really have started the game. When he actually came on, he didn't look particularly interested, whatever your thoughts on the player, he should have gone out on a better note than that. I don't know where we go with Hernandez, his game outside the area just isn't good enough. He is just an out and out goalscorer, but United have never really played with a front man that doesn't offer anything other than his finishing prowess. Of course the paucity of our creativity in midfield has hardly helped his cause this season either, but Rooney has managed to bang the goals in without ever to my mind really playing anywhere near his best.
Well lets hope miracles really do happen, because that's the only way, we will be above Sunday, come next Sunday evening. In all honestly i'm expecting City to do something akin to what Chelsea did the last time they won the title when they trounced Wigan 8-0 on the last day of the season.

Daniel Taylor pointed out in yesterday's Observer that Wayne Rooney had a point about United's Manchester United's spending power, or should that be ambition last season. Let's face the next time a 16 Wayne Rooney ytpe prodigy bursts on to the scene, unless he is a died in the wool red, he won't be ending up in a red shirt for the best years of his career. All this bollocks about not being able to compete is utter, utter bollocks, we all know that if the gimps had never landed us with all this debt, we could compete with anybody. We are fighting City, Chelski and all the rest with one arm forcibly tied behind our backs.
Jim White argues that even if the impossible happens and United retained the title, the evidence is clear that United are a team in decline rather than transition. This summer is going to be very interesting, to say the least.

Glenn Moore thinks Bayern's success in the champions league this season proves that the Bundesliga is Europe's best league, it certainly is the best fan friendly league, hands down the best. I hope they do the business against Abramovitch's boys in blue. Glad to see Chelski do the scouse on Saturday, but even more cheered by the way they seemed to run out of steam in the last twenty minutes. I'm just imagining Robben getting at that Chelsea rearguard.

As Guardiola says his farewells' to Barca, Jonathan Wilson asks why do great teams come to an end. 

Alistair Campbell thinks it's game on for Labour's chances at the next election after the coalition's drubbing at last week's local elections, especially if the tories think that their problems stem from poor communication.
Interesting article from Jonathan Portes who believes David Cameron didn't learn from his former boss Norman Lamont that early short cuts hurt. Martin Wolf reminds the coalition that flexibilty is no sin when your policy is failing, in other words there's nothing wrong with a plan B.
It has been a bad week for the reputation of the governor of the bank of England Sir Mervyn King as the court of King Mervyn comes under scrutiny from the F.T.'s economics editor Chris Giles. Will Hutton joined in yesterday arguing that King didn't grasp the crisis then and he doesn't now .
James Galbraith, son J.K tells the Washington Post how economists have misunderstood inequality.

Welbeck and Evans out

According to the MEN Welbeck may be back for the game at Sunderland, but along with Evans he will be an absentee from this Sunday's last home game of the season against Swansea City. It's not ideal as we have played our best football this season when he has been paired with Rooney up front. But if he is back for Sunderland, that is to be welcomed, because if City don't get the three points at Newcastle, we should be able to beat Swansea without him, but will definitely need him if we are to pick up three points up on Wearside.
As to this Sunday, presumably Valencia will be back, Park will be out and we won't be sitting back waiting for things to happen. I have read others online and on twitter hoping that Berbatov gets a last run out at Old trafford. So do i, but becasue that would be our best foward line from the squad available and not from any sentimental reasons. There is no getting away from it, Hernandez has been a big disappointment this season. If Fergie hadn't been planning for the future, on form Berba would surely have been ahead of him in the pecking order for our home games at least.
I hope the prognosis on Welbeck is right, i want to see Welbeck back in the team for that as Berbatov has never really delivered the goods away from home. That is one of the reasons he hasn't been the big success that i really thought and hoped he would be when we got him.

Jim White reckons that to City's Arab owners view United as merely a paving stone on Manchester City's path to world domination. They may well think like that, but football doesn't work as easily as that, ask Roman Abramovitch.
That's not say that they won't pull away from United, once Fergie goes and the gimps handywork becomes obvious to everyone, who can say what will happen to our club. I have always thought that they would want to cash in before he goes, but the financial crash changed everything.
What's galling to all of us who supported the campaign to stop them taking over the club and who had opposed the Murdoch's bid before that is how different things would be if they had been unsuccessful with the takeover. We might not have been able to bulid a team from scratch as they have done, but we wouldn't have had to. We would have been able to compete at the top end for the very best players, unlike at present where United have to try and hide who we are after in case City, Real or Barca gazump us.
How long can the guff about us being the top brand in sport get pedalled out when we can't compete for the world's very best players.
David Conn spells out the gruesome details of the Glazer regime to the long term health of Manchester United and wonders how long Fergie can keep on with his praise for them.

Just as we read how this was going to be Fergie's finest achievement, or up there with the best of them, since City's victory it's been time for footballs hacks to tell Fergie what to do to keep United competitive with the Manchester headquarters of the Abu Dhabi tourist board.
Ian Herbert lays out five ways Fergie can reclaim his City for Manchester United, there isn't much to argue with in that, but it would have been better writing that after the last day of the season. For once Mancini was not playing mind games today when he said the game at St. James park would be tougher than the derby, i can't see Newcastle going 90 minutes at home without recording a shot on goal. It was a great win for the barcodes at Chelsea last night, but Sunday would have been a hard game for City whatever the outcome last night. No team wants to go out with a whimper in their last home game of the season and with the 52,000 behind them after a season beyond the geordie nation's wildest dreams that will be the case on Sunday.
Ian Ladyman talks about why City haven't given up in their attempts on trying to tempt Wayne Rooney across the Mancunian divide. One thing is for sure, whatever happens this season, if United stand still this summer in the transfer market, City will become more attractive to Rooney. If that ever happened, the Glazer's certainly will have wished they had got out of this club earlier, because there would be no PR on earth that could put a psitive spin on that.

Ahead of Monday night Gary Neville wrote of the stakes involved for the future of football in the city of Manchester, no doubt with his fingers crossed for the three points to end up at Old trafford. I can't say i heard what he had to say after the game as once the whistle went i couldn't watch any more. I didn't envy him having to sit there during that blue giddyfest, the appointment of Niall Quinn to commentate on the game was beyond belief, unfortunately his commentary wasn't, it was as embarrassing as i had expected.

Roy Keane admits he won't be exchanging texts with Fergie any time soon and defends his criticism of the current United set up. He makes an excellent point about United's record over recent years in the big games which is definitely not what it was. I'm a natural optimist going into the big games, i always have been, even when we were crap, but at the moment even i struggle to contain the doubts before the very biggest games.
I know our record has been pretty good this year apart from the two defeats against City but let's be frank that has been down to the opposition as much as us raising our game. The Arsenal 8-2 at home saw the visitors weakened severley and at a low ebb after the summer departures. We played Tottenham at home at a good time and away we were appalling for the first half and how we came away with a 3-0 win was as much down to them folding in the second half. Chelsea at home could just as well have been 3-1 to them as some of us recognised at the time. Arsenal away was probably one of our best performances of the season and at least we showed the old spirit to come back from going down 3-0 to salvage a point. But it was the cup competitions that really showed that Keano's arguments have legs, we were truly appalling in all of them.
It's not that hard to know why we are struggling in them, we aren't as good as we were, we have struggled at the back and in the middle of the park. We mustn't forget our terrible injury record has hampered us badly this season, but our struggles to dominate games from the middle are nothing new. Cleverley getting a reasonably injury free run next season would be a bonus and if Pogba stays he might show the potential that some people see, that i'm not sure about myself, but this summer he really will have to enter the market in this area or City will probably get further away from us next season

David Blanchflower thinks it's time for the recession deniers to face reality, he wouldn't let it lie would he. Will the phrase stick, Ed Balls mist hope it does. Will Hutton labels Osborne, intellectually broken and the real enemy of business, well he is the enemy of the majority of the British people, if they did but know it.
Sherelle Jacobs is the latest commentator asking what the ailing UK economy can learn from the German model, how long has this been going on.

Donald Sassoon argues that we shouldn't just look back to the 1930's looking at how we went wrong and how we can get out of our present economic mess, but should learn from the long depression that the Victorian world suffered from during the latter decades of the 19th century. Get real that was the era that Keith Joseph and Thatcher saw as the model we had to go back to, Victorian values and all that.

Ambrose Pritchard-Evans thinks the emergence of Hollande and his probable election will lead to a "growth block" that will spell the end of German hegemony, i love the way he compares Germany's current relations with the rest of Europe's to Bismark's during the unification of the Reich with with Bavaria. I suppose there is both good and bad bews in there for the Bullingdon boys, good in that the Eurozone my come of life support, but bad for their pusuit of austerity.
Paul Mason looks at the politics of Europe and in Marine Le Pen's suprising higher than expected first round vote sees a crisis of the centre. Another dangerous comparison to the Europe of the 1930's. Simon Jenkins remembers 1931, but thinks it's democracy that can save us from the blunder of the single currency.

Peter Oborne ponts out that at the beginning of the Murdoch and News international it wasn't about tory party sleaze, Blair, Brown and new labour were just as implicated, but it's all about the conservatives now. That's another fine mess that David Cameron and George Osborne has led the party into.

A fascinating piece by Edward Luce about how the US military is way ahead of it's political class about a realistic foreign and domestic ploicy future. Let's hope there are some links between them and the Democrats, because rationality and realism are completely alien to the modern Republican party.

Music

Dave Brubeck - Indian summer: Solo jazz pianists isn't really my thing but this isn't bad, pretty recent offering shows he can still play.

Dinosaur L -  24-24 music: I have heard Arthur Russell namecheked a few times, but had never got around to listening to any of the stuff he made whilst he was alive. On the basis of this album, it's a good job i started to rectify that position because this is a fantastic album. I suppose it's categorised as dance, but there is so much more there to it than that. He was well and truly ahead of his time.

Django Django - Django Django: A pretty good debut album that owes more than a little debt to the under appreciated Beta band. Which isn't that much of a suprise when there is a family connection. It has to be said though, they sound very like them. It will be very interesting to hear the follow up.

Fucked Up - David comes to life: I have only just got into this Canadian hardcore band, but i have to say that, surprisingly enough i really like them. Hardcore, post punk, whatever you want to call it isn't really my bag, the vocals usually do my head in for a start, that's before i even get to the music. But this just is just great driving hard rock.

Julia Holter - Tragedy: This couldn't be more different, i'm not sure how you'd label it, ambient, prog without the rock, it's good. The shorter, hookier tracks perfectly balance the longer more out there moments.

Tindersticks -  The something rain: Stuart Staples men latest proper studio album doesn't disappoint if you're a fan of their modern avant-pop as i have just read them being described as on the all music site. An acquired taste, but once acquired, i've never got bored of it.

Manchester City 1-0 Manchester United

Grim, i don't know which was worse, thinking we would lose before the kick off or going into game to game with hope. There have been plenty of doomlords around United's support since the Everton debacle, but i thought we had a chance going into this game.
That confidence took a dent though when i read the rumours that Park would start. That could only mean one thing, that it would be 4-5-1 and he would start in midfield. I had no problem with the formation but i did have a problem with the Korean starting. He has done a job for us in the past, but as we have seen against Barca, against the very best opposition, his work rate doesn't compensate for ability on the ball. It's not even as though his work rate is that special nowadays. I understand why Fergie wanted to get an extra body in midfield, who couldn't after our defensive disasters this season. But i was never confident that why could go there and shut shop and catch them on the break, well not with that team anyway. What is wrong with Cleverley at the moment, he was tailor made for last night, i'm afraid his injury record means Fergie would be wise not to be basing his future plans for his midfield around him.
United started reasonably well, taking the game to City, pressing hard and keeping possession pretty well. But once City got into the game United just got deeper and deeper leaving Rooney an isolated figure and though we looked fairly assured at the back we possessed no attacking threat whatsoever. The goal came at a killer time, though City had been in our half for most of the first 45 minutes, they hadn't really looked like scoring. So to conced from a bog standard corner, just about summed up our season at the back, we actually defend decently and we still found a way to shoot ourselves in the foot. To be fair to Smalling he had a pretty good game, that apart, seeing how little football he has actually played in the second half of the season.
I have no idea why Fergie didn't take Park off straight away at half time, it was obvious his plans hadn't worked and that Welbeck or possibly Valencia would have to come on. To me that was just 15 minutes wasted, pusuing failed tactics. Even when the changes were made, it was hard to escape the feeling that this wasn't to be our night. Our game just never clicked at all, we hardly created a decent chance all night. You can look at that two ways, we aren't as good as City or Fergie got his tactics spectacularly wrong. Player for player, squad for squad, City probably are better than us, but they weren't anything special last night. It probably wasn't the night for experimentation but i would have liked to have seen Valencia in that team somewhere last night, he has played in central midfield, thoug not for us, he would surely given Rooney more support which was where our game fell apart.
One last thought on the game, i don't think Michael Carrick has ever played as well as he did last night in a red shirt. He was the only one who could really say he didn't deserve to be on the losing side.  
The season isn't finished yet, Newcastle is no pushover, their that result at Wigan could hardly have come at a worse time for us though. Three points for City and it will be all over, our game against Swansea will either be as flat as a pancake or unbareably tense. That last ten minutes against Everton looks even worse in retrospect.