New signings 'will be worthy'

Thursday, June 18, 2009
18/06/2009 13:46, Report by Steve Bartram


Sir Bobby Charlton is confident that Sir Alex Ferguson will make the right signings to compensate for Cristiano Ronaldo's impending departure.

The Portuguese winger is set to join Real Madrid for a staggering £80million, prompting a whirlwind of speculation over who will be replacing him.

Speaking at a press conference in China to launch United's sponsorship deal with aigo, Sir Bobby said: "I'll have to leave that (deciding how to replace Ronaldo) to Alex Ferguson.

"He is a great judge of a player, he's very brave with his decisions, he's very decisive with his decisions and that's why he's been a great success. Who the players will be I don't know, but they will be worthy of putting on the shirt for Manchester United."

Charlton concedes that there was little point in trying to coax Ronaldo away from his childhood dream of joining Real, although he feels that hindsight may show the winger that his best days of his career were at Old Trafford.

"He is a great player," he said. "He's been with us for five or six years and in that time he has improved beyond all recognition. I suppose, in time, he will reflect, and say that the best time he ever had in football was when he was at Manchester United. It was better for him and it was fantastic for the club.

"But we have no divine rights, we talked him out of it for one year but he's gone and we move on. Ronaldo leaves us because as a young boy he always dreamt about playing for Real Madrid, so if he leaves us, it's with our blessing.

"It's a lot of money, but it's a little bit soul-searching. You never know if you've made the right decision until the start of the season. It's an enormous amount. We will make sure we will use it properly and our club will be better for it."


cristiano ronaldo pictures


cristiano ronaldo photos


cristiano ronaldo, nani, evra, manchester united


cristiano ronaldo images


cristiano ronaldo freestyle

Brum relishing OT opener

18/06/2009 08:00, Report by Steve Bartram

The new Barclays Premier League season may be just under two months away, but Birmingham City manager Alex McLeish and co-owner David Sullivan are already looking forward to their opening day trip to Old Trafford.

The Blues, promoted as Championship runners-up behind Wolves, visit M16 in the opening weekend of the season. While the Midlanders have quickly been established as rank outsiders to take even a point from the game, manager McLeish has taken heart from United's slow start to the last two seasons.

"If I remember rightly a couple of years ago Reading went there on the opening day and dug out a draw and Newcastle did the same last season," he told BCFC.com. "So we'll approach the game in a positive frame of mind and hopefully with a good pre-season behind us we can go there and cause a shock."

Co-owner Sullivan is similarly optimistic - albeit with a dose of realism - and is hoping the excitement of being back in the top flight can inspire a storming start to the campaign.

"Realistically we are going to be 10-1 to win and they are going to be 5-1 on, but United have had some slow starts to the season and let's hope that continues," he said. "We go to Old Trafford with optimism but the reality is that we are going to get nothing."

Birmingham's last visit to Old Trafford was on the first day of 2008, a year in which the Blues were relegated while United conquered England and Europe. Carlos Tevez scored the only goal of the Reds' New Year's Day win.


Edwin van der Sar
Edwin van der Sar


Tomasz Kuszczak
Tomasz Kuszczak


Ben Foster
Ben Foster manchester united


Owen Hargreaves
Owen Hargreaves


John O'Shea
John O'Shea


Dimitar Berbatov
dimitar berbatov bulgaria


Jonny Evans
jonny evans


Rafael Da Silva and Fabio Da Silva
rafael da silva and fabio da silva brazil


Rafael Da Silva
rafael da silva brazil


Rio Ferdinand
rio ferdinand


Nemanja Vidic
Nemanja Vidic Manchester United


Ji-Sung Park and Sir Alex Ferguson
Ji-sung Park, Sir Alex Ferguson Photos


Anderson
anderson manchester united 2


Darren Fletcher
Darren Fletcher


Darron Gibson
Darron Gibson


Federico Macheda
Federico Macheda


gary neville
gary neville


Michael Carrick
Michael Carrick Photos


Paul Scholes
Paul Scholes


Ryan Giggs
ryan giggs manchester united


Wayne Rooney
wayne rooney posters


Zoran Tosic
Zoran Tosic Manchester United


Sir Alex Ferguson and Nani
Sir Alex Ferguson and Nani of Manchester United celebrate


Carlos Tevez and Cristiano Ronaldo
carlos tevez and cristiano ronaldo manchester united

Blog: Big-four clashes are key

United legend and popular pundit Pat Crerand gives his personal take on the 2009/10 fixture list...

Like any fan, I always look to the run-in as well as the start of the season when the fixtures come out.

While our run-in looks good on paper, we could find ourselves playing teams fighting for their lives at the bottom. The Premier League is a very difficult league to win, because as well as the top four, you’re meeting teams fighting their own battles, and all of them want a piece of you.

We’ll play Sunderland and Stoke City in May, and both could be fighting for their lives. We’ll meet Chelsea in April, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. By then we’ll know what we have to do and how the top is shaping up.

I expect it to be a case of the usual suspects competing for the title. City will have spent a lot of money by the time the season starts and they’ll be hoping to be up there, but I think we can expect a bigger challenge from Liverpool.

Last season will have given Liverpool a bit of a lift - with better home form, they could have won the league. Like us, they are one of the teams everyone else wants to beat. How you react to that decides who’ll finish top.

I think more so than ever we'll have to beat the big teams to win the league. I know it didn’t work out that way last year – we didn’t have the best ‘big four’ record – but this time it could come down to who takes points off who.

Another huge factor will be how United react after the European fixtures. In an ideal world you’d want all your games at home after playing in Europe, but that’s not the case – we go to Liverpool after Matchday 3 and Chelsea after Matchday 4.

Still, we talk about this issue every year and the lads know what’s needed. We’ve got the players and the experience to do it again, and the manager has been getting it right for the last 20 years. He’s been through it, done it and he’s obviously getting something right in terms of the trophies we’ve won.

You can read Paddy's full season preview in the next issue of Inside United, on sale in early July. The summer issue is out now.

The views expressed in this blog are personal to the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Manchester United FC.


Edwin van der Sar
Edwin van der Sar


Tomasz Kuszczak
Tomasz Kuszczak


Ben Foster
Ben Foster manchester united


Owen Hargreaves
Owen Hargreaves


John O'Shea
John O'Shea


Dimitar Berbatov
dimitar berbatov bulgaria


Jonny Evans
jonny evans


Rafael Da Silva and Fabio Da Silva
rafael da silva and fabio da silva brazil


Rafael Da Silva
rafael da silva brazil


Rio Ferdinand
rio ferdinand


Nemanja Vidic
Nemanja Vidic Manchester United


Ji-Sung Park and Sir Alex Ferguson
Ji-sung Park, Sir Alex Ferguson Photos


Anderson
anderson manchester united 2


Darren Fletcher
Darren Fletcher


Darron Gibson
Darron Gibson


Federico Macheda
Federico Macheda


gary neville
gary neville


Michael Carrick
Michael Carrick Photos


Paul Scholes
Paul Scholes


Ryan Giggs
ryan giggs manchester united


Wayne Rooney
wayne rooney posters


Zoran Tosic
Zoran Tosic Manchester United


Sir Alex Ferguson and Nani
Sir Alex Ferguson and Nani of Manchester United celebrate


Carlos Tevez and Cristiano Ronaldo
carlos tevez and cristiano ronaldo manchester united