China, hello, goodbye

What purpose this final game of United's out of Europe tour, i'm at a bit of a loss to understand. I know it's done for commercial consideration's, but even that loses me, apparently United were met at the airport by masses of pirated United merchandise, we may be far bigger than City out there, but come on, how hard is that, i can't ever see China being the cash cow that South Korea and possibly Jpan will become for United or any other premier league team.
As for the football, if they didn't treat it seriously, what on earth did that contribute to pre-season fitness, ar least the poor South African outfit's made United work. Kagawa was the big plus of the match and the tour, he looks a real player, from his appearances so far, i'm would liken him to David Silva, but comfortable on right and left foot and i'm hoping he will be the midfield player that will at last get those 10 to 15 goals a season that Scholes did in the earlier stages of his glorious career. I'm looking foward to seeing him against Barca and Hanover in our more testing friendlies.

I'm afraid i wasn't any more convinced by Brady at left back, i don't see him as future United player to be honest, but he defintitely isn't a left back of the calibre that a side competing for champions league are going to need.

News from last night that the gimps have called a halt to the proposed imminent IPO, citing tough market conditions, the same tough market conditions that have been their all year. The rumour going around the Twittersphere last night was that it was off, full stop, that came via MUST, but they seem to have reasonable into the Glazer's machinations nowadays. There has been plenty of speculation as to what the gimps do next all through today, with MUST calling for a full floatation. And the message boards have been full of ponderings as what we can do next to keep the pressure exerted to the max. Of course it's all guess work as to how serious their situation really is. There can be no doubt why Fergie decided to speak out at the weekend, not that there is any excuse still.
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The latest quarterly GDP figures for the British economy were even worse than the worst of forecasts, leaving Osborne to come under even more flak over his economic strategy. Jeremy Warner was one of his champions at the beginning of this government, he lost him a while ago, but even though he lost faith in Osborne some time ago he still can't learn the lesson of the 30's and opt for goverment spending to get us out of this mess.
Larry Elliott describes the GDP figures as the outcome of Osborne's blundering incompetence
Whilst for David Blanchflower the figures are the final nail of Osborne's credibilty, he suggests Britain's triple A credit rating isn't long for this world.

Music

Anna Ternheim - The night visitor: I like the latest album from the Swedish singer/songwriter, heavily influenced by americana and with an almost country feel at times, fittingly having been recorded in Nashville.

Baxter Dury - Happy soup: The son of head Blockhead Ian sounds like a chip of the old block at times and at others as definitely his own man. A decent listen, though no real stand out tunes.

Beach house - Bloom:The follow up to the cracking Teen dream, doesn't disappoint, it's another very enjoyable piece of US indie pop.

Exitmusic - Passage: I admire this album of indie/pop electronica from the the US band more than really like it. It sounds a little like Sigur ros at times, but not quite upas good, maybe the next album they will take it up a notch.

Friends - Manifest: More US indie, but very radio friendly and an excellent listen. Late seventies new wave basslines abound, cracking tunes and a female singer made for the charts.

Ren Hervieu - Through the night: The latest Manchester musical find, she was tipped for big things ahead of the release of this debut album. It got mixed reviews upon it's release, all praised her voice but some questioned the songs. It has three to four stand out's but i wouldn't describe the rest as filler, very promising would be my assessment.

New season, same old story

It's a good job the news on Vidic seems to be positive, because the present tour shows us light at centre back with the new season not that far off, especially with the news that Smalling has done a metatarsal and could be out for up to ten weeks. The promising centre half bought from Fulham spent most of last season out injured and this wasn't the news he or most reds wanted to see.

The South African tour finished with a last minute equaliser from the embarrassment that is Bebe, in an otherwise drab draw. It was actually an excellent finish, the irony being his first touch to set it up was the only decent first touch he made after coming on. I didn't watch it live, thankfully, it was mostly what i had expected, Anderson looked his usual self, poor, Hernandez didn't look comfortable up front on his own, but on the plus side Kagawa showed enough bright touches to suggest he is what the doctor ordered. Shame about the miss, but we didn't buy him for his heading prowess. The twenty minute cameo from Powell was the real bonus, it will be interesting to see him against the Hannover's of this world nearer to the season's opening day. If he can show the glimpses he showed in Cape town i'm pretty sure he won't be going out on loan.
It was nice to see the youngsters get a chance, with Lingard looked good again and Vermijl looked good going forward, providing the overlap in inury time to conjure up the equaliser. Lingard told the official site that he has been doing extra work this summer which is good to hear, Gary Neville type dedication let's hope it leads to a Gary Neville type career for Manchester United.

Disappointing but not exactly a suprise to hear Fergie describe the Glazer's as great owners, for a supposed man of the people, he seem to enjoy the company of seriously wealthy people. People that might even be labelled the unacceptable face of capitalism, as the tory Ted Heath would no doubt seen them. Great football manager's and he is probably without a peer, unfortunately, don't make great men. Mark Kelleher describes the situation as a sad mess, but as he says we were here long before him and we'll be here after he has gone.
I haven't got much time for the argument, that we should forgive the slip of the tongue and be grateful for all the glory. I was going before for a fair old while before the good times came, and whilst i'll be forever grateful for the glory, especially for those ten days in May in 1999 and the glorious night at home to Blackburn in 1993, ending 26 years which the year before had felt like it was never going to end, each statement like that just proves the old adage, great men have feet of clay.

Pre-season begins

The first game of United's pre-season tour took place in Durban last night with the reds registering a 1-0 victory over Amazulu. A mixture of experience and youth didn't really show us anything new or really provide that much entertainment for our overseas support.
I suppose it was interesting to see Fergie start with Berbatov behind Hernandez and Macheda meaning we played without any real width. I suppose some will see that as evidence of a new flexibility in tactics, but unless there is something in all these Van Persie stories, unlikely as they seem, it was probably more a case of choosing a system to suit the players available against very weak opposition.
As for the game, if they had been half way decent in front of goal, it could have been a very different scoreline. I'm not going to judge any of the players as this was a real blowing the summer cobwebs away affair. I can't leave without mentioning Lingard, he showed that he's got the character to do something in the game, he is definitely one to watch if he does go out on loan.

It's hard to really believe this mornings reports that Van Perise will be coming to United, but the Indy did report on Tuesday that the Dutchman's first choice we Turin and Juve, but if they couldn't afford him he preferred United over City. It's hard to see why we would want him, yes he is a good player, but we hardly lack for forwards in the squad. Add to that the last season and a half is the first real period of his career where he has stayed largely injury free and it seems even harder credit we would blow what money we have on another forward when a left back and maybe a midfielder would seem so much more urgent a priority.
Of course it's just as likely journalistic licence to link United with a foward after hearing Fergie admit that Berbatov wants to leave to play first team football. You can't really blame the Bulgarian, he knows he isn't Fergie's cup of tea, he's a footballer and he wants to play.
If we were to bring anybody from Arsenal to United, there would only be one candidate for me, but he would be as risky as signing Van Persie, but Jack Wilshere would strengthen that central midfield .

Ye another negative piece about the Glazer's United IPO from the world's financial press, this time from New Zealand. Reuters report that the IPO launch could happen as early as next week, but it sounds like their hopes for the amount they will raise from it have been watered down. Doesn't sound too promising for them.
Nick Miller can't believe people still believe that the Glazer's are Ok as the owners of Manchester United. You'd think the amount of shit hanging around the world of finance would set people right about the real state of affairs, but of course most of these people read the Sun, Mail and watch the likes of Fox news and reality show crap. Celebrity is today's opium of the masses.

As the Olympics has one more week to show London of to the world, the City of London, it's claim to global fame is under globla regulatory attack.  Faisal Islam reports on the yanks really going for HSBC, and noting the rotten state of Britain's once mighty big four banks.
It looks like the tories will find that the mud is going to stick over Lord Green's position as a trade minister and Osborne advisor, and head of HSBC when warnings were made, ironically after Osborne going after Balls over the LIBOR scandal.

Steve Richards argues that the shambles over G4s are a culmination of events that explode the myth that the private sector is always best. It should be, but when you add the Blairite outsourcer's to their tory and orange book, fellow believer's, it becomes hard to belive it will be.