BREAKING NEWS - FERGUSON OUT
11.07.09
9:32am
Ground breaking news has just been released from Old Trafford as Sky Sports sources can reveal. The Glazer family, who very controversially took control of Manchester United in 2005, have today announced the departure of club legend Sir Alex Ferguson, and have claimed that this was down to a cost cutting excercise. The Glazer's, known to be in billions of pounds worth of debt, have said that Ferguson's wages and bonuses were too much of a drain on the club's finances, and a replacement manager will be announced in the short-term future.
The Glazer's angered fans further by announcing that they are placing a ban on any transfers into the club, and that the new manager will have to use only youth players to expand his squad as others leave or retire. This is surely going to be a turning point in the history of Manchester United, as they surely cannot compete with the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City or Spurs without spending any money. Only time will tell whether these radical decisions will pay for the the debt ridden Glazer family, but right now they face a very public backlash from the fans of Manchester United fans, who are already Protesting at the clubs ground.
A photo from Old Trafford just moments after the Glazers announcements.
NEW MANAGER ANNOUNCED
11.07.09
11:47am
Another announcement has just been released from Old Trafford and the Glazer family. They have announced the new man to take control of the club is to be former Welsh footballer, Jake Hopper. Only recently retired from the game after a long and relatively succesful playing career where he represented clubs such as Swansea City, Derby County, Newcastle and a short spell at Espanyol late in his career. This will be Hopper's first test in the management side of the game and he faces an enormous task in contiuing the clubs success with the strict transfer policies the club set earlier today.
Hopper was unavailable for interview at the time as it is said he is meeting his new team for the first time. Fan's are said to be angered by the appointment of such an inexperienced manager as it could result in the Glazer's dictating the way the club plays, as they will have a huge influence over the new manager.
As a special Sky Sports programme, we have looked into what fan's can expect in the future from the current squad of players and the youth prospects that Manchester United have.
Goalkeepers
Edwin Van der Sar
Tom Kuszczak
Tom Heaton
Ben Amos
With the experience of #1 Edwin Van der Sar and the capable backup of Kuszczak, United don't seem to have many problems here for the forseeable future. After Van der Sar leaves United have 2 great prospects for the future in Heaton and Amos. These young keepers should provide enough competition to keep Kuszczak on his toes and he will not be able to take his place in the first team for granted.
Defenders
Wes Brown
Rio Ferdinand
Nemanja Vidic
Rafael
Fabio
John O'Shea
Jonny Evans
Gary Neville
Patrice Evra
Ritchie De Laet
Craig Cathcart
Chris Smalling
There seems to be enough about Man United's defense to be solid enough for the next few seasons, but with players such as Ferdinand, O'Shea, Neville, Evra and Vidic ageing, United will soon be looking for the youngsters to step up and offer some fight for the places with the older generation. Youngsters such as Fabio, Rafael, Evans, Smalling and Cathcart all look to have big futures in the game, and has massive potential to be a really good defense in a few years time.
Midfield
Paul Scholes
Ryan Giggs
Michael Carrick
Owen Hargreaves
Anderson
Darren Fletcher
Darron Gibson
Matt James
Corry Evans
Rodrigo Possebon
With Giggs and Scholes surely playing there last season as the elite of the Manchester United team, Manchester United look to be pretty weak for the future in the position of Centre Midfielders. After the likes of Carrick, Hargreaves and Fletcher start moving into the later years, many will not have full confidence in the likes of Evans, James, Possebon or Gibson to step up to the plate and become top class midfielders to which Manchester United are used too.
Wingers
Luis Nani
Antonio Valencia
Gabriel Obertan
Park Ji Sung
Zoran Tosic
No real age concerns here as most are under mid 20's. Should have good strength in this department for the forseeable future.
Strikers
Wayne Rooney
Dimitar Berbatov
Javier Hernandez
Mame Biram Diouf
Danny Welbeck
Federico Macheda
Michael Owen
Some really good youth prosepects here with the likes of Hernandez, Macheda and Diouf, and Wayne Rooney who has many years left in his career. This area should provide no problems for future years and should have a continued supply of goals for years to come.
PRE-SEASON
With the transfer ban in place at Old Trafford it was inveitably going to be a quiet window in terms of incoming transfers for rookie manager Jake Hopper. Not being able to add to his squad he obviously found it integral to the clubs fortunes that none of the star players left the club, as they would be near impossible to replace with anyone from the Youth system. With such an emphasis on the youth for the future Hopper obviously found it important that they get some first team experience in order to better prepare them for the future.
To help the development of the youth players Hopper has opted to loan many out to other teams where they will have a much higher possibility of playing in the first team. The loan deals completed involving youth players for Manchester United this summer are as follows:
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Manchester United had a relatively successful pre-season, conceding just the 1 goal in 7 games, and scoring 20. Despite many of the opposition being weak, the solid defense will be a positive point in a relatively bleak summer so far for Manchester United's fans.
The results and goalscorers are as follows:
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Community Shield
United's unimproved team face the first test of the season today in the community shield against title rivals Chelsea. This will be a good test for the manager's to see how their team stands for the upcoming season, although I am sure the losing manager will dismiss any suggestions that they are not up to speed. More importance has been placed on this fixture by Manchester United fans as they are putting the pressure on their new manager already, claiming he is not good enough despite not taking charge of a game yet.
Chelsea 1 - 3 Man United
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Despite going a goal down, United today showed they have what it takes to mount a succesful title challenge this season. They were the better team against a strong Chelsea side and once Rooney had equalised, never looked like losing the game.
Rooney was fantastic today and is clearly going to be integral to the success or failure of Manchester United over the coming season. Owen added the 3rd in extra time after a good impact substitution from Jake Hopper. Owen came on around the 65 minute mark and provided the assist for Rooney's second to give Manchester United the lead, before wrapping up the game himself late on.
Rooney celebrates equalising just after half time. He said Hopper was fantastic at half time and was the reason United turned the game around second half.
United's fans were still not impressed by the new manager claiming that "Nobody cares about this mickey mouse cup anyway, we will see after a few games in the Premier League whether he is good enough!!"
UPCOMING FIXTURES
United face a relaitvely easy start to the season with the first 5 games against probable bottom half teams.
Wolves (away)
West Ham (home)
Sunderland (away)
Bolton (home)
Fulham (away)
Many United fans will be expecting their new manager to be taking maximum points out of these games, and if not they are sure to get on his back right from the word go. It will be interesting to see over the coming weeks whether the new manager can live up to the pressure placed on him by the fans.
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