MANUNITED.NETLANE.COM : TODAYS NEWS
Date: Wed Apr 29 05:23:46 GMT+00:00 1998
Mail: barry@www.red11.org

Tuesday, April 28, 1998

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson effectively conceded the Premiership
title to Arsenal last night despite a 3-0 win at Selhurst Park that
condemned Crystal Palace to relegation.

Ferguson said: 'The way Arsenal have been performing, you have to say a
collapse is unlikely to happen. All we can do is keep winning our games and
put a bit of pressure on them.'

United now trail Arsenal by only one point but the Gunners can sew up the
title by beating Derby and Everton this week.


This Issue:
1. Mirror Report (Palace)
2. Stam Wants To Stay For Life (Mirror)
3. Giggs Interview
4. Stam's The Man (D.Mail)
5. Stam's The Best" & Pobs Payment (PA)

++++++=========+++++++========+++++++++========++++++++


Glory Glory Man United!


Date: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 18:33:04 +0200 (CEST)
X-Sender: wpa01977@mail.web4you.dk
X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Version 1.4.3
To: barrylee@post3.tele.dk
From: barrylee@post3.tele.dk (Barry Leeming)
Subject: Mirror Report (Palace)

FERGIE'S MEN CLING ON TO TITLE HOPES
C.Palace 0 Man Utd 3

UNITED kept the title race alive last night but squandered the chances to
bag a hatful of goals.

If Alex Ferguson's team had not beaten the club condemned to their third
exit via the trap door in six seasons, then Arsenal would have been handed
the championship without much of a fight.

But with such feeble opponents - Palace have only managed one home win and
that at the 16th attempt - it would have been a surprise even by United's
declining standards to have let this opportunity slip.

And within 21 minutes United were two goals ahead and closing the gap on
Arsenal for a change. First it was a slick move between Teddy Sheringham and
Andy Cole and a perfect finish by Paul Scholes.

It was a Palace throw-in that went horribly wrong and when Sheringham gained
possession his slick pass was moved on swiftly by Cole for Scholes to shoot
past keeper Kevin Miller.

It was his 10th goal of the season and United's 66th in the Premiership.

With an average of 1.68 goals per game and with Palace having conceded 60
goals at an average of 1.76, it didn't need an expert to work out what was
coming next - another goal.

It duly arrived with a feeble defensive clearance that Nicky Butt gobbled
up. His 20-yarder seemed to go through the keeper.

In between, Cole was stopped on the edge of the area by the keeper and a
glorious run and pass by David Beckham was wasted when Ryan Giggs' shot was
blocked. But United had to wait until the 84th minute for their third goal,
when Cole tapped in Scholes' header across the goalmouth for his 24th strike
of the season.

Palace needed the unlikeliest of victories to carry on with only their
mathematical chance of survival. But, apart from a couple of off-target
shots from centre forward Neil Shipperley, only player-manager Attilio
Lombardo posed much of a threat.

The Italian hasn't lost his silky skills, even though he's lost his hair,
and he certainly gave the United defence a hair-raising start after just 45
seconds. Lombardo clipped the ball over Scholes, centre half David May
slipped and the Italian ended his 60-yard run with a shot that Peter
Schmeichel saved diving to his left.

The Danish keeper was back after injury in a close to full- strength United
team apart from, of course, long-term casualty Roy Keane and the injured
Ronny Johnsen, while Gary Neville was sick.

In fact the whole club has been feeling a bit sick lately. Despite being
unbeaten in their last four games, two successive draws virtually handed the
championship to Arsenal.

Although it was only a question of how many goals United would finish up
last night, Arsenal still only need two more wins.

And the title is there to be taken at Highbury, with home games against
Derby tomorrow night and Everton on Sunday. Beckham unleashed a curler
tipped over by the keeper and Giggs shot wide when through down the middle.
Then a long-ranger from Scholes was covered by Miller as United produced a
succession of chances.

It was appropriate, if not a touch pathetic, that Palace's demise should be
confirmed at Selhurst Park, where last week's 3-1 win over Derby was their
only home win of the season.

For United's fans it was an opportunity to dust off the cobwebs from their
Eric Cantona theme song - a chance to insult the Palace supporters in
remembering that infamous kung-fu incident on this ground.

Many might feel that Cantona's defection is one of the main reasons for
United surrendering the championship. Although Sheringham arrived from Spurs
he has not made anywhere near as much impact as the French genius.

Cole missed with a header plumb in front of goal from a Butt cross, even
though United stepped down a gear in an embarrassingly easy encounter. Even
so, it was an amazingly long wait for a third goal and even Palace managed a
few chances of their own.

But Ferguson won't approve of the succession of squandered chances. With a
three-pronged attack, of Cole, Giggs and Sheringham United's intentions were
clear. All that was missing was some deadly accuracy in front of goal.

At least Palace went down with a spirited second half display, a penalty
appeal and a few near misses. Schmeichel spilled Dean Gordon's 25 yard
free-kick straight to the feet of Shipperley, who lofted the ball over the
bar from five yards.

Selhurst Park has never been much of a happy hunting ground for United and
their far from convincing second-half performance threatened to let Palace
stage some sort of remarkable comeback.

But when Shipperley squandered such a gift it just wasn't likely to be
Palace's night despite all of Lombardo's promptings. United were just as
lackadaisical in front of goal. Sheringham had only the keeper to beat but
this time Miller pulled off a save. A few seconds later another 20-yarder
from Butt was aimed straight at the keeper's midriff.

This Premiership encounter mustered almost 40 shots on goal between the two
teams and really there should have been a higher quality of finishing.

Lombardo was forced back into central midfield from his right-wing position
to try to stem the tide, but even he at times stood and watched alongside
Tomas Brolin and Sasa Curcic as United piled forward in numbers.

Maybe it was all too easy for the visitors, but they relaxed the pace as
Palace tried to make a fight of it. Curcic was left shaking his head in
disbelief as his appeals for a penalty, claiming that he had been tripped by
Butt.

Then Shipperley incredibly lifted his shot over the bar from all of four
yards out, after Schmeichel had spilled Dean Gordon's free-kick.
Glory Glory Man United!



X-Sender: giggs@tiac.net
X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Pro Version 3.0 (32)
Date: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 10:36:43 -0700
To: suggs@tiac.net
From: "Red Devil Marcus"  (by way of Red Devils Mailing List )
Subject: Stam Wants To Stay For Life (Mirror)

STAM GETS A LIFELINE
BY STEVE MILLAR

JAAP Stam last night told Manchester United: "I want to stay for life". The
£10.5million Dutch star flies to Old Trafford next month to officially sign
as the world's most expensive defender.

But Stam is so committed to his new club that he will happily agree to a
mega eight-year deal. That will take him to 33 and possible earnings of
£12million, with a contract until 2006.

But Stam is adamant that he's not quitting PSV Eindhoven to go to Old
Trafford for the big bucks.

He says: "I am joining United for the spirit of the sport and the club
itself. It's not a case of going for the money. I want to stay there, too. I
am now 25 and it would be nice to play for eight years at United until I am
33.

"I am not sure how long they will want to sign me for until we meet for
talks. But they will not be paying so much money for a player and then put
him on a contract for two years.

"I would love eight years. I have waited a long time for this after I said
five or six months ago that I would leave PSV.

"Now I am joining my favourite team and I'm looking forward to going to
England very much."

United, I'm told, had been thinking of at least a seven-year contract for
the hottest defender in Dutch football. But now with Stam's admission they
could readily add another 12 months.
Glory Glory Man United!



X-Sender: jackit@indigo.ie
X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Light Version 3.0.5 (32)
Date:         Tue, 28 Apr 1998 18:03:58 +0100
Reply-To: "Manchester United Football Club (soccer)"
              
Sender: "Manchester United Football Club (soccer)"
              
From: J Callaghan 
Subject:  Giggs Interview

“WE COULD HAVE WON THE
CHAMPIONS' LEAGUE WITH KEANE”
The Ryan Giggs Interview
What’s the mood at United right now, Ryan?

We're obviously disappointed with a few of the results in the last few
games, drawing against Liverpool and Newcastle when we should be winning
our home games. With Arsenal playing so well, we had to keep the pressure
on them so we're a disappointed with the way things have gone of late."

Could Arsenal still slip up?

"Yeah, you never know what might happen in football. We've seen teams
slipping up in the last few games and Arsenal still have a heavy programme,
so anything’s possible. You have to believe that you can still do it,
although Arsenal are obviously in the driving seat now. There’s no getting
away from that.”

Have you been impressed with the momentum that Arsenal have built up in the
last few weeks?

"Of course. Arsenal had a really dodgy period around Christmas, but from
then on they've played really well. All the results have gone their way and
they're flying at the moment. We've got to be hopeful that they slip up,
but unfortunately it's not in our hands any more. We have to put pressure
on them by winning our games. That's all we can do."

How do you feel about your own form this season?

"I’ve been happy with it all season, but it’s got to be one of the main
disappointments of my career that I missed out on Europe. I pulled my
hamstring just before we were about to go back into Europe and for the
vital title run-in as well. It’s fine now, but I was fully fit for the game
against Blackburn. That game was my first in seven weeks and I felt a
little bit of a reaction because of that, but I decided to play against
Liverpool and I felt it again then. It was more of a precaution to come off
rather than have it going again completely.”

Of the 18 games you’ve missed, United have won just six. Is that significant?

"When you're not in the side it's not so bad when the team are doing well,
but when they're losing you obviously feel like you could do a little bit
better. It's the most frustrating thing for a footballer. You're taking
away his trade. All he wants to do is play football. Being injured is part
and parcel of football, but it's still frustrating."





The club have suffered with injuries all round. Do you think having players
like Roy Keane out was the decisive factor in not winning the Champions'
League?

“I do, yeah. In the qualifying stages we had the best record. The football
we were playing at that point was so good we felt we could beat anyone.
Then we had the break and we had a few injuries, which was unfortunate.
Maybe if we'd had a full squad with the experience of last year going to
the semi-finals, then we could have won it. We were playing so well that we
didn't really want the four or five month break. We wanted to be playing
the quarter-finals then. We beat Juventus at home and then Feyenoord away
and we were playing our best football then. I don't know if it's the best
football of any United team I've played in - it's difficult to compare
teams - but the team that we won the first double with, I don't think we
lost a game with our first choice team. That was a great team, but early
this season we played brilliant football, scored a lot of goals and didn’t
concede many."

Do you think you maybe concentrated too much on the Champions' League?

"No. We obviously wanted to do well in the Champions' League, because it
includes the best teams in Europe. We've more or less dominated domestic
football in the last four or five years and we wanted to prove ourselves in
Europe. But you always want to win your own league, you always want to be
the best team in the country. We really were going for both. Every game we
play we want to win.”

Are you aware that fans of other teams around the country would love it if
United won nothing this season?

"Yeah, we know that. United are the team everyone wants to beat. I think
that's because we're the best team. That's the challenge you've got to
accept. Every team wants to beat you, all the fans want to see you get
beaten. That's part and parcel of playing for Manchester United, isn’t it?"


A Manchester United is for life, not just for christmas.
---------------------------------------------------------
JacKiT@indigo.ie

---------------------------------------------------------
If tomorrow was today, it would be yesterday.

Glory Glory Man United!



Date: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 19:19:06 +0200 (CEST)
X-Sender: wpa01977@mail.web4you.dk
X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Version 1.4.3
To: barrylee@post3.tele.dk
From: barrylee@post3.tele.dk (Barry Leeming)
Subject:  Stam's The Man (D.Mail)
X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by eris.web-plus.dk id TAA09209

Stam will be United's main man

Tuesday, April 28, 1998

Alex Ferguson has been told that Manchester United have grabbed the
'complete player' now they have agreed a £10million fee for Jaap Stam.

As the United boss hailed the imminent arrival of the 25 year-old PSV
Eindhoven defender as 'the world class defender that we need,' the Dutch
giants were underlining Stam's qualities.

Club spokesman Pedro Salazar-Hewitt said: 'Jaap Stam is one of the most
complete players in the world.

'He's good in the air, he's good with the ball at his feet and he can impose
his big personality on the whole game. He has wonderful ideas as a player,
and Manchester United will have a lot of good days with him and a lot of
pleasure.'

Stam is expected to fly to Manchester next week to agree personal terms
which are reported to be around £20,000 a week.

He said: 'I'm glad the clubs have agreed the fee. I am looking forward very
much to going to England and I don't think personal terms will be a
problem.'

Ferguson was delighted that the deal had finally been agreed after weeks of
negotiations.

And he admitted: 'I tried to sign Stam last summer. We tried very hard to
get him but PSV wouldn't sell. Everyone recognises Jaap Stam as a world
class defender and that's what we need. He is a terrific defender who is
quick and can pass the ball.

'We need top defenders like him for the very top level. We have to get
stronger to handle everything that's involved in domestic and European
football. The Premiership is a hard league and if you are in the Champions
League as well, it is very tough.

'There is talk about four groups of six next season in the Champions League.
That would mean ten group matches as opposed to six now. That puts
tremendous pressure on your squad and as we hope to be in it, we have to be
ready ourselves for it and to strengthen. We have other ideas we are looking
at as well.'

Glory Glory Man United!



Date: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 19:19:19 +0200 (CEST)
X-Sender: wpa01977@mail.web4you.dk
X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Version 1.4.3
To: barrylee@post3.tele.dk
From: barrylee@post3.tele.dk (Barry Leeming)
Subject:  "Stam's The Best" & Pobs Payment (PA)
X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by eris.web-plus.dk id TAA09220

MUHREN: STAM CAN LICK THEM ALL
By Ian Rodgers, PA Sport

Former Manchester United midfielder Arnold Muhren today claimed that his
former club had spent wisely on PSV Eindhoven defender Jaap Stam.

And the former Holland international added that the £10million world-record
defender could have helped Alex Ferguson secure the Premier League title if
the Old Trafford boss had moved before transfer deadline day.

Muhren said: "It would have given the Manchester United side an enormous
boost if they had bought them one or two months ago. But it is easy talking
afterwards.

"I'm not saying he is a bargain but he is worth every penny. Players cost
£15million to £20million these days and United have bought a very good
player.

"He is one of the best defenders in Europe. He is like a typical English
defender - fast, good in the air and strong technically. He possesses a very
good long ball and is an ideal professional."

Muhren is now coaching at Volendam in the Dutch League and as recently as
yesterday saw just how great an influence Stam has on his team PSV
Eindhoven.

"Yesterday PSV were playing Feyenoord and were 3-0 up at half-time. Stam
went off in the second-half and Feyenoord scored three goals to draw.

"That shows that he is one of the most important players in the PSV side.

"They have bought him for £10million which tells its own story."

Ferguson was not the only European manager who wanted to snap up Stam.

And 46-year-old Muhren who spent three years at Old Trafford in the 1980s
believes that the fact the Dutch international only wants to play for United
will be another huge confidence boost to the club.

Muhren said: "There were others interested in him but he said he wasn't
interested in anybody else. He just wants to play for United and that's a
good thing.

"He will be playing in the World Cup and if so many clubs are interested he
must be a good player."

© PA Sporting Life

FIFA SET TO PENALISE BENFICA
By David Anderson, PA Sport

Benfica could be punished by FIFA today over the non-payment of Karel
Poborsky's transfer fee to Manchester United.

FIFA's players' status committee, which deals with transfer disputes between
clubs, was meeting today to decide whether or not to penalise the Portuguese
side.

United have still not received one penny of the reported £3million sum they
agreed with Benfica for the Czech Republic international at the end of
December.

This is despite an assurance from the Portuguese FA two weeks ago that
Benfica were ready to begin payments.

A FIFA spokesman said: "The Portuguese FA had informed us that Benfica were
taking steps to make payment but that has not happened.

"The case was one of the items due to be discussed by the players' status
committee today.

"The committee has the power to impose sanctions if they so wish and their
decision will be made known via the respective national associations."

Benfica, who are managed by Graeme Souness, have run into difficulties
raising the money after plans to float on the Portuguese Stock Market were
blocked.

© PA Sporting Life
Glory Glory Man United!




Keep The Faith -- barry@www.red11.org -- Red Til We're Dead
    
-------Manchester United for life not just for Christmas-------
   

    
 barry@www.red11.org   Webmaster: Barry Leeming
     Theatre Of Dreams: http://www.red11.org 
      
      " If ever they are playing in your town
	  You must get to that football ground
	  Take a lesson come to see
	  Football taught by Matt Busby

	  Manchester, Manchester United
	  A bunch of bouncing Busby Babes
	  They deserve to be knighted "
           $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Calypso available here: mp3

Manchester United index:
Results
Mailing List Digest Archive
WhosWho
Archive
Pics
Statistics
Reserves
Team
Trophy's
History
Munich
Manchester United Webring

                           ______________