www.red11.org DAILY NEWS
Date: Mon Sep 14 05:14:08 GMT+00:00 1998
Mail: barry@www.red11.org
This Issue:
1. Stand up if you love Man U by "Our Salford Lass"
2. Report Yorke strikes rich seam (Times)
3. Personal Report United v Coventry by John Walker
4. Report (D.Mail)
5. Matchfacts data http://www.matchfacts.com/
6. MYSTERY CLIENT'S RIVAL UNITED BID
7. Stumbling Barcelona hold no fears for United (Times)
8. Ferguson to be offered new contract (ET)
++++++=========+++++++========+++++++++========++++++++
Daily RED Trivia Monday 14th September:
1956: Ray Wilkins born in Hillingdon, Middlesex. Captain of both club and country,
Wilkins was signed from Chelsea for £825,000 and made his debut against
Southampton in August 1979. The classy playmaker won an FA Cup winners medal
in 1983, scoring in the first game against Brighton. He also played in the 1983 League
Cup final, and made 193 appearances between 1979-1984, scoring 10 goals. He won
84 caps for England, and joined AC Milan for £1.5 million in June 1984. Wilkins later
won a Scottish Premier League title with Glasgow Rangers in 1989.
1994: In the Champions League United beat IFK Gothenburg 4-2 at Old Trafford
watched by 33,625. Ryan Giggs 2, Andrei Kanchelskis and Lee Sharpe scored for
the Reds. Team was: Schmeichel, May, Irwin, Bruce, Sharpe, Pall
********************************
Next 4 games:
Index: http://www.red11.org/mufc/fix9899z.htm
Wed 16/9 Barcelona (H) CL
Sat 20/9 Arsenal (A) PL
Thu 24/9 Liverpool (H) PL
Wed 30/9 Bayern M (A) CL
UNITED Stats v Barcelona are here:
http://www.red11.org/mufc/stats/vsbarcelona.htm Url
http://www.red11.org/mufc/stats/vsbarcelona.xls Excel File
*** TEAM RESULTS - MANCHESTER UNITED - AS AT 12/09/98 ***
Date Opposition Score Pos. Attend.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
15/08/98 Leicester City Home D 2-2 11 55,052
22/08/98 West Ham United Away D 0-0 11 26,039
09/09/98 Charlton Athletic Home W 4-1 9 55,147
12/09/98 Coventry City Home W 2-0 5 55,193
++++++=========+++++++========+++++++++========++++++++
Subject: Report Yorke strikes rich seam (Times)
Yorke strikes rich seam Ian Hawkey at Old Trafford
Manchester United 2 Coventry City 0
ONE supporter, a touch pre-emptive, had embroidered his replica shirt with
the name "Murdoch", and below it, the number 623. In front of him, the
difference between sizing up the potential riches of BSkyB and wearing plain
old Sky Blue yawned wide. Manchester United's fortunes, on the field at
least, continued their upward turn with a victory over Coventry, which makes
it two wins within four days at Old Trafford. Once it is three on the trot,
and includes the visit of Barcelona in the Champions League on Wednesday,
then they can start thinking big.
Alex Ferguson, the United manager, could take courage from several aspects
yesterday. Dwight Yorke, the club's record signing, opened the scoring and
had an alert game up front. Defensively, United had few difficulties with
either Dion Dublin's awkwardness or Darren Huckerby's fleet of foot,
although neither saw enough of the ball to provide serious examination, and
only threatened once United had established a cushion.
Ferguson's one concern for that encounter surrounds Ronny Johnsen, who
scored the second goal but then limped off late with an injured ankle.
"Hopefully he'll be all right," said Ferguson. "I think it's just a knock."
There is cover, in Henning Berg, and, indeed Gary Neville, who yesterday
returned to the starting line-up.
Naturally enough, Ferguson had retained the forwards who scored two goals
each against Charlton Athletic last Wednesday, Yorke and Ole Gunnar
Solskjaer. No part, then, for Teddy Sheringham, and only a place on the
bench for Andy Cole. Yorke, however, seems to be settling in well enough.
Certainly, his carriage yesterday suggested a man who feels he belongs. He
took the field with his collar turned up, à la you-know-who, and a neat
one-two between Solskjaer and Yorke in the 10th minute held early promise.
"He's relaxed, has great confidence and always plays with a smile," enthused
Ferguson, "and Yorke and Solskjaer worked well together." Indeed, but for
two smart interceptions by Jean-Guy Wallemme, Solskjaer might have had his
own early reward.
The first true opportunity came to Yorke, who nodded off target after
meeting a superb cross from David Beckham at the near post. Not long
afterwards United were in the lead and if the finishing touch from the
scorer could have been cleaner, then the overall architecture of the goal
more than compensated. It was Yorke's tender knock-down into the path of
Giggs that initially opened up Coventry, Giggs then centred deep from the
left, Magnus Hedman and David Burrows obliged by colliding with one another
and when Paul Scholes squared the ball low across the penalty box there was
Yorke to bobble the ball home, his third for United in as many games.
Yorke's instincts with his back to goal had also passed muster. Spreading
the play confidently, he helped Beckham to feature more and more as the
first half progressed, two searing crosses troubling Coventry and one dart
and feint drawing Burrows into a late challenge that earned the defender a
booking. On the other flank, Giggs and, when he went wide, Solskjaer, also
had the beating of their opponents.
The interval came as a blessed relief for Coventry, whose openings had been
scarce, or otherwise squandered. When Darren Huckerby was afforded his one
chance to test his pace against Jaap Stam's, his first touch let him down.
Encouragement could be drawn only from the first Premiership steps of Barry
Quinn, the Irish teenager pushed into Coventry's midfield. A member of the
Republic of Ireland's triumphant under-18 team at the summer's European
championship, he does not look like a young man fearful of reputations.
A forthright, and indeed successful, tackle on his compatriot, Roy Keane,
said so loud and proud within the first five minutes. Another, on Solskjaer,
proved it was no fluke. Alas, when presented, later on, with perhaps
Coventry's best chance of a goal, Quinn could not quite capitalise.
Frequently Coventry looked overrun. Paul Telfer sent a header wide after
seven minutes, but it was directed from distance and the visitors' resources
seldom collected for long in the final third of the pitch. George Boateng
drove a long-range effort into the stand, and when Coventry, improving in
the second period, strung something together nearer goal, Telfer again found
himself on the end of it, driving past Peter Schmeichel's right-hand post
after Dublin's delightful back-heel set him up.
By then, United were two up. Yorke had a role in their second goal. A Giggs
corner had been half-cleared when he volleyed in a shot which Gary Breen
scooped off the line. Scholes met the rebound and Johnsen directed his
effort past Hedman.
Beckham had a go from a free kick just outside the box, swerving one of his
trademark strikes past the upright. Shortly afterwards, he was booked,
another tangle with Burrows evening out that particular joust. That provided
just about Coventry's biggest cheer. Even when they had the ball in the net,
from a free kick, late in the second half, the referee Uriah Rennie ordered
it be retaken - with a less successful consequence. Coventry now sit one off
the bottom of the Premiership. As their manager, Gordon Strachan, observed:
"The two surprise teams from last season were us and Southampton - now look
at us."
Substitutes:
Manchester United: Beckham (Butt 78min), Giggs (Blomqvist 78min), Johnsen
(Berg (88min).
Coventry City: Huckerby (P Hall 73min).
Booked: Burrows (32min), Beckham (62min).
Referee: U Rennie (Sheffield).
Attendance: 55,193.
"Dwight is right 3 goals 2 games!"
Date: Sun, 13 Sep 1998 14:25:37 -0700
To: manutd@pipeline.com
From: walker@mail.bogo.co.uk (john walker)
Subject: Personal Report United v Coventry by John Walker
A tricky day weatherwise...luckily I made the right choice as the weather
in london was sunny/cloudy...but brisk! I couldn't imagine it would get any
warmer oop north so I wore the leather jacket. john made the wrong choice,
and turned up in a mere 2 tshirts.
We meet on the concourse of euston station and collect train tickets from
the travel secretary of the london fan club, there are always groups of
other supporters heading off to wherever...this week there were wimbledon
supporters on their way to villa. on the train a quick scan of the fixtures
showed us that we had the dubious pleasure of the company of milwall
supporters going to stoke, which we pass through on the way to manchester.
The train seemed almost full with united supporters, maybe because of the
time of the year, more people seem to be wearing the shirt so it is a sight
to walk along the train and see so many reds.
Once in manchester we went for 'breakfast' in finnegan's wake, then on to
'the bull's head' where a large group from the train drink. in fact the
place is almost exclusively full of united supporters from the london
train. there is little talk of the takeover, people seem to accept that
there's nothing to be done and we more or less just have to wait and see.
Soon after 2 we desert the pub and stagger to the buses or cabs. it's
always amazing to see the throng of reds shuffling down sir matt busby way.
from the junction with chester road it looks like a solid mass of people
swaying along the road towards the stadium. we have the timing down to a
fine art now and take our seats moments before the players take the pitch.
giggs has taken his place again, it seems he had a virus not a hamstring
strain, and gary neville comes in instead of denis irwin. it's good to see
that dwight and ole are being given a chance to forge their partnership.
same goes for ronnie and jaap who are getting better and better as a duo,
so it's worrying that ronnie limps off in the second half with an ankle
injury, I hope it's nothing serious of course...berg or may (or brown) will
cover well for him, but I would like him to establish the partnership with
jaap.
The crowd is very subdued today, coventry don't exactly get the blood
boiling, but I wish the reds would verbalise their support more. burrows
got some stick as he kept niggling becks, and I was pleased that richard
shaw was booed for his part in the eric/sellhurst park incident. he has
never taken the criticism he deserves for that. rules are rules, but it
seems unfair that one player can niggle and foul another all through the
game and then for one little outburst of retaliation the usually more
skilful player gets sent off. same goes for becks in the argentina game.
Gordon Strachan is down on the touchline haranguing the linesman...he's
made some excellent purchases: wallemme the central defender signed from
lens for 500k looks superb. boateng looked excellent last season but seems
to have stagnated a little this season unless this was just a bad game for
him. huckerby and dublin got very little joy and I consider them to be a
decent test for jaap and ronnie. huckerby with his pace and dublin's
strength didn't make any headway.
Dwight scored in the first half, then ronnie stuck his foot out to divert a
scholes shot into the net early in the second. really that killed off the
contest. united seemed to settle for 3 points and thoughts of wednesday
night and barca...i can understand this, but I always want to see the reds
go on and look for 4 or 5 goals. coventry seem to just roll over at old
trafford, this seemed a very easy win, almost a formality, like last
season. they put up more resistance at highfield road. becks got booked for
tussling with burrows...the ref let play go on after the incident and it
took several minutes for the ball to go out of play when he booked
becks...i had a feeling he may have booked dwight at the same time when he
argued about it, but I could be wrong.
Towards the end of the game the rain tipped down, it was one of those days
when we seemed to get all 4 seasons every few minutes.
There is a train from the ground to piccadilly at 17.05 which we couldn't
get on as people leave early (believe it or not!) and the next one isn't
till 17.15. they contrive to stop that one along the way just long enough
to ensure we miss the 17.30 to euston. there's nothing for it! back to the
bulls head!
This little track running past the stadium into town should be a godsend.
with the trafford centre opened now it really should be used more in order
to cut traffic and help get people away from the area. why not have a
couple of trains shuttling back and forth between the stadium and
piccadilly just on match days?
As we trundled south we stopped at macclesfield station and on the opposite
platform a bedraggled bunch of city supporters gave us a rendition of 'do
you come from manchester?' how do they come up with such original ditties?
So now our thoughts turn to wednesday evenings game against Barcelona...
Glory Glory Man United :)
no copyright
"Dwight is right 3 goals 2 games!"
Subject: Report (D.Mail)
MANCHESTER UNITED 2-0 COVENTRY CITY
Yorke (21)
Johnsen (48)
Dwight Yorke's talent is lighting up Old Trafford along with that trademark
smile, and at the end of a week dominated by takeover talk he has captured
the votes of those who will continue to worship Manchester United no matter
who holds all the shares.
The £12.6million it took to lure him from Aston Villa is about one-fiftieth
of the BSkyB bid for control of our biggest club, but to manager Alex
Ferguson and the fans the striking West Indian must seem priceless,
particularly as he is already forging a front-line partnership with Ole
Gunnar Solskjaer that could make all the difference between success and
another failure as they chase the great prize of the European Cup, last won
in 1968.
United start their Champions League group programme with a big clash against
Barcelona, another of the giants of the world game, on Wednesday night.
With Yorke adding another dimension to their attacking play, they are in
fine form and good heart. He followed up his double in the demolition of
Charlton in his first home appearance on Wednesday night with a single in
the defeat of Coventry.
It was the breakthrough after 20 minutes and should have been followed by
many more than the one added by Norwegian defender Ronny Johnsen two minutes
into the second half. But nobody was complaining, because United have
clearly captured something special in this raider with so many strings to
his bow - pace, skill, control, finishing power. You name it and Yorke has
most of it.
He's good in the air, too, as he demonstrated with his part in the build-up
to his goal.
So as the rain lashed down and those leaving the ground were warned of big
traffic delays caused by the huge newly-opened Trafford Centre nearby, they
were still wearing broad smiles, just like their new sunshine boy from
Trinidad and Tobago.
The Independent Supporters Association, strongly opposed to the Rupert
Murdoch takeover, were rumoured to be ready to announce a rival bid
tomorrow, backed by a famous pop star.
Pop star Posh Spice, perhaps. Boyfriend David Beckham wasn't available for
comment and was one of the few outside the visiting camp not in the best of
humour. He was flattened by David Burrows, booked for his sins by referee
Uriah Rennie after 32 minutes. A long time afterwards, 62 minutes in the
proceedings, he appeared to take retribution and floored the Coventry
defender. It was more than a minute before there was a hold-up in play and
Mr Rennie showed him the yellow card. Twelve minutes from the end he
departed, but that was Ferguson's decision as he withdrew him along with
Ryan Giggs and sent on substitutes Nicky Butt and Jesper Blomquist, clearly
with Wednesday night and Barcelona in mind.
But it wasn't about Beckham's petulance or Murdoch's takeover. It was about
Yorke, especially Yorke, and Giggs and Solskjaer and those who are driving
United back towards their old place at the top. The three, along with Paul
Scholes and with the help of Coventry goalkeeper Magnus Hedman, all had a
part in that opener - Giggs a long ball upfield and in from the left, Yorke
a leap and stylish header down, Solskjaer with direct path to goal blocked a
pass out to Giggs, the long cross beyond the far post, the palm down by the
stranded Hedman, a knock back across by Scholes and an easy tap-in for
Yorke.
The second two minutes into the second half followed a Gary Breen block of a
low Yorke drive, with Scholes hitting the ball towards the net and Johnsen
sticking out a foot to deflect it in. There could have been more - and poor
Coventry seldom threatened retaliation, a miss by teenage debutant Barry
Quinn, two shots wide and one header wide by Paul Telfer.
Ferguson was delighted: 'That first goal was a great move, quick, exciting,
a tap-in at the end of the day but I've seen tap-ins missed. Dwight did very
well. I think he's a very good player and I think our supporters are the
best in the country at recognising great players because they've had plenty
here.He always plays with confidence, with a smile on his face. There's a
presence there.
'I'm pleased that we're going into the Champions League with confidence high
and form good. Ronny Johnsen has an ankle injury but we hope he will be all
right. Hopefully, there won't be any injuries and we'll have a full deck to
play with.'
United old boy Gordon Strachan, the Coventry manager, blasted his men:'We
didn't relish the challenge until it went to 2-0. We were like somebody
going to the dentist's, taking the painkillers and waiting until it was all
over.
'Southampton and ourselves were the surprise teams last year. Our players
thought they had cracked it. Look where we are now. I don't like it.'
"Dwight is right 3 goals 2 games!"
Subject: Matchfacts data http://www.matchfacts.com/
Man Utd (1) 2 - Coventry (0) 0
United won at a canter to put them in the right frame of mind for their
European Champions League game against Barcelona at Old Trafford on
Wednesday. United hit peak form only in isolated patches, but it was enough
to beat a Coventry side which was too easily caught off-side and seldom
troubled their opponents. Dwight Yorke scored his third goal in two games
to put United ahead. The game was all but over two minutes after the
interval when Ronny Johnsen scored their second. Johnsen limped off in the
dying seconds and must be an injury worry for Wednesday's game
GOALS
1-0 Man Utd 21 mins Yorke
right foot miss-kick tap-in four yards out at far post after Headman could
only parry Giggs' deep cross from left and Scholes knocked ball back across
goal for Yorke
2-0 Man Utd 48 mins Johnsen
right foot shot eight yards out to turn in Scholes' effort from just
outside box after Yorke's shot following a Giggs corner was only partially
cleared
MATCH RATING TEAMS and player ratings
Schmeichel 7
Neville, G 7
Johnsen 8*
sub 90 mins by Berg -no rating-
Stam 7
Beckham 7
sub 78 mins by Butt -no rating-
Giggs 6
sub 78 mins by Blomqvist -no rating-
Neville, P 7
Keane 7
Scholes 7
Yorke 7
Solskjaer 7
Subs not used: Cole van der Gouw
_________________________________
Coventry Wallemme 8*
Referee U. D. Rennie (Sheffield) (Rating 5)
Yellow Cards
Man Utd Beckham 62 mins (foul); Yorke 62 mins (dissent)
Coventry Burrows 30 mins (foul)
Shots On Target: Man Utd 3, Coventry 2
Corners: Man Utd 6, Coventry 3
Subject: Stumbling Barcelona hold no fears for United (Times)
Stumbling Barcelona hold no fears for United
THE prospect of meeting Barcelona, in their opening European Champions
League game at Old Trafford, will hardly intimidate Manchester United.
In the first place, the Spaniards are old acquaintances. In the second, they
beat Barcelona in the European Cup Winners' Cup final in Rotterdam, an
exuberant success after English clubs had been freed from their five-year
post-Heysel European ban.
Most significantly, Barcelona have made a patchy start to the season. In the
so-called Spanish Super Cup, they were humiliated by little Mallorca, the
unexpected winners of the Spanish Cup, going down 2-1 in the first leg and
1-0 at home in the return.
Nor did they start the championship well, with a goalless draw away to
modest Racing Santander hardly encouraging. Their first home game, against
still-more-modest Extremadura, was hardly a stringent test.
Strange that the relative performances of Barcelona and their traditional
rivals, Real Madrid, had such dissimilar consequences last season. Real won
the European Cup but the club, dissatisfied by the team's limp performance
in the league, sacked their manager, Germany's Jupp Heynckes. By contrast,
Holland's Louis van Gaal survived, despite the humiliation of Barcelona home
and away in the European Cup by Dinamo Kiev. But Real's failure in the
championship let Barcelona take the title by default.
Barcelona have just bought the volatile Patrick Kluivert from Milan, where
things went so wrong last season for the young centre-forward. It was widely
believed he was worried sick about the possible consequences of rape
accusations made against him and his friends by a young woman in Amsterdam,
but the charges were thrown out a second time for lack of evidence.
So, in the World Cup, Kluivert's form substantially improved. Now he is
reunited with Van Gaal, so long his coach at Ajax, though the way may at
first be barred to him by Brazil's Sonny Anderson, bought during last season
from Monaco.
With those other Brazilians, Rivaldo and Giovanni, and the superbly
versatile Spaniard Luis Enrique in midfield, and the dashing Portuguese
attacker Figo, Barcelona are not short of talent. But the parts so far seem
greater than the whole, and it may have been a mistake to let the inventive
"Little Buddha", Ivan De La Peña, move to Lazio.
Real Madrid are engaged in another potentially fascinating match at home in
the Bernabeu in Group C to Internazionale.
These teams, too, are old European adversaries; there have been some torrid
games between the two in Madrid. Inter, holders of the Uefa Cup, having
walked over a feeble Lazio in the Parisian final, have added Roberto Baggio
to their already formidable attacking strength. When he came on at Anfield
against Wales last weekend, his flair immediately transformed his team. But
who will play up-front beside him? Presumably Ronaldo, who seems quite
recovered from whatever mysterious ailment afflicted him before the World
Cup final. But where does that leave the hero of the Uefa Cup final, Chile's
Ivan Zamorano?
By the same token, why have Real signed Croatia's Robert Jarni, an attacking
left-back who surely duplicates the present incumbent, Brazil's Roberto
Carlos? Jarni, of course, can play left midfield or even, if necessary, up
front, as he did last season in the Cup Winners' Cup against Chelsea.
The Londoners, holders of that trophy and conquerors of Real Madrid in the
Super Cup played recently in Monaco, should not be embarrassed by Sweden's
Helsingborg, who visit Stamford Bridge next Thursday. But the Swedes are a
team to be respected, as Aston Villa will confirm. Two years ago, in the
Uefa Cup, Helsingborg qualified through having had the temerity to draw 1-1
at Villa Park with a goal by Wibran, followed by a goalless draw at home.
British names have figured largely in their teams in recent seasons. Before
they knocked out Villa, they surprised Dynamo Minsk, drawing at home but
winning well away, their three goals being scored respectively by Pringle,
Wilson and Powell.
Ajax have a difficult start in the Champions League, in Zagreb against the
Croatia club. These are not the best of times for Ajax and their Danish
coach Morten Olsen, whose tactics have been criticised by certain players.
The disaffected twins, Frank and Ronald De Boer, coveted by Barcelona, are
still determined to leave, even though an appeals committee has turned down
their demand to be released from contracts which run until 2004.
Dutch law, however, does not oblige them to continue playing if they don't
want to, and they don't. It stipulates that if an employee wants to leave
his job, he can do so by paying six months' salary. Since the De Boers could
expect to earn some five times more in Spain than they do in Holland, this
would scarcely be a burden.
Georgi Kinkladze has left Manchester City to join his fellow Georgian
attacker Arvaldze in Amsterdam, but Croatia at home, inspired by Robert
Prosinecki, are a team to be feared, as Celtic uncomfortably discovered.
Bayern Munich also figure in Manchester United's difficult group. They play
in Denmark against Brondby, who are always hard to beat at home. Bayern have
a new manager in Ottmar Hitzfeld, who places great faith in another new
arrival, Stefan Effenberg.
Drummed out of the German national team after making crude signs at the
crowd in the 1994 World Cup, Effenberg, fluent and versatile as ever, could
certainly have done the disappointing international team some good in
France. He did very well indeed at his last club, Borussia Münchengladbach,
even when they occasionally moved him up from midfield to centre-forward.
"He has changed in a positive way and I think he will give us proof of
that," says Hitzfeld. "We want to play an attacking game, and we want to be
aggressive, put our opponents under pressure and take more risks. Stefan
will help us do that."
Hardly the philosophy of Hitzfeld's Italian predecessor, Gianni Trapattoni,
now back in Italy with Fiorentina, but still fondly remembered in Germany
for a glorious rant on television at a post-match press conference.
Hitzfeld knows all about European Cups, having taken Borussia Dortmund to
victory in the 1997 final, where they beat Juventus. Now he says: "I want to
win the European Cup with Bayern."
"Dwight is right 3 goals 2 games!"
Date: Sun, 13 Sep 1998 14:16:42 -0700
Subject: Ferguson to be offered new contract (ET)
Ferguson to be offered new contract
By Steve Curry
THE first major signing Sky television intend to make if their £623 million
takeover of Manchester United, revealed exclusively in last week's
Telegraph, proves successful will be the man who did most to multiply the
value of the club, manager Alex Ferguson.
The 56-year-old mastermind of United's four Championships in six seasons
will be head of the queue to be called before the new main board of United
and invited to extend the existing two years of his contract. BSkyB will
need Ferguson's support and that will be reflected in a multi-million pound
offer.
It will be BSkyB's first demonstration to doubting fans that they do not
intend to interfere with a structure that has catapulted United into
becoming England's most successful club.
Only last week, Ferguson re-iterated that although he has sought greater
relaxation away from football in recent years, not least with his horserace
ownerships, he has no intention of retiring yet.
"I am coming to the last lap in my life," he said. "I have been through all
the playing part and the adulation and being chased for my autograph. But I
shan't retire. I don't believe in retirement. It is against the law in
America to force people to retire. I still have plenty of damage to do."
That will be reassuring news not only for United's fans, whose devotion to
Ferguson approaches the reverence still felt by the club's older generation
for Sir Matt Busby, but also for Sky and the existing board.
Chief executive Martin Edwards last week paid tribute to the part Fergie has
played in strengthening United's stature and, in turn, its valuation, when
he said: "Alex has been a very big part in the success of the club.
"I must say, however, that as we have not been hamstrung for cash we have
never been in a position not to support the manager in strengtheing the
playing staff. So, wherever possible, he has had our support in bringing
players into the club.
"Of course, he has then had to manage them. He is the one who has made sure
the players have been successful, who has groomed our own young players to
success.
"When you are on a roll, the two go hand in hand. As directors we can't take
credit for the tactics on the field but, likewise, if Alex had not had
support from the fans here and, in terms of cash, from the board, if he had
not had the whole bandwagon of Manchester United behind him, then he might
not have won four titles."
Ferguson has not always had a harmonious relationship with his his directors
and there have been occasions when they have drawn the line at certain
player investments. But Edwards was at great pains to emphasise that
Ferguson's summer spending was given the go-ahead before Sky made their
dramatic first phone call to buy Manchester United on July 1.
"When we were pipped by Arsenal last year I was not very happy, and I can
tell you a lot of other people at the club were not happy either. That is
why we put so much of our resources into the team this summer."
Ferguson was handed the £28 million he asked for to purchase Jaap Stam,
Dwight Yorke and Jesper Blomquist, and with the Murdoch millions soon to be
at his disposal, that may not be the end of the spending.
Ferguson, who was not informed about the BSkyB takeover before The
Telegraph's disclosures, is one of the last of the old-style, hands-on
managers and has never had much time for boardroom machinations. He prefers
his homely office at the club's Cliff training ground to the one at Old
Trafford and if he was irritated about not being told about the impending
deal, he was only in the same vacuum as some of the club's other directors.
Ferguson has little grumble with Sky - his son, Jason, is director of the
Monday Night Football programme - other than its denial of live football to
pensioners and people who are hospitalised. He will live comfortably with
his new bosses.
But how much will change? Tim Allan, Sky's principle mouthpiece, assured
Ferguson: "There will be no interference at all on the football side of the
club's business. If it isn't broken you don't have to fix it.
"Alex has proved beyond dispute that he is the best, most successful manager
in modern soccer and it would therefore be rather foolish of us to try and
tell him how to do his job."
BSKyB's move for United, the Sunday Telegraph can reveal, was prompted by
the dismissive attitude of the Premier League chairmen when they met in the
early summer to discuss a joint pay-per-view venture.
"They were so disgusted at their treatment," said a television executive
"that they decided there was little point in having further dialogue with
Premier League chief executive Peter Leaver and the other clubs."
The Manchester United Independent Supporters' Association remain determined
to block the takeover bid, as their spokesman Andy Walsh underlined
yesterday. "We are very tired but very positive and very up," he said.
"We are going to win the battle. We have had support from all areas of
British society, the finance industry and the legal profession. Several
multi-millionaires have pledged their support. We shall be announcing the
support on Monday of a major music industry personality, though it is not
the obvious one who supports Manchester United."
The MUISA will hold a strategy meeting in the city's Bridgewater Hall on
Tuesday and distributed 25,000 leaflets around Old Trafford yesterday.
"Dwight is right 3 goals 2 games!"
Pic Link today is http://www.red11.org/mufc/matdlate.htm
Barry
J. Leeming Digest Prgram
by 
William
McArthur Canada
