---------------------------------
[31] Giggs hopeful of tying up new deal
---------------------------------
Posted Wednesday, January 10, 2001 by bar-knee:
"We're in talks at the moment. My agent has met with the club, and we're waiting for
them to come back to us now. As far as I'm concerned, I think it's all looking good. I
have never had any problems in the past with contracts and I don't foresee any
problems this time.
I don't want to go and I don't think the club want me to, so I can only see it going
smoothly. I wouldn't be surprised if it went through in the summer, but there's no
hurry. United will certainly want to get it sorted before next season starts because I
would only have a year left after this one. They wouldn't want to get into the Roy
Keane scenario again where he could have talked to foreign clubs after Christmas and
there was all that speculation about his future."
---------------------------------
[30] Red News teletext article for ITV, page 514
---------------------------------
Posted Wednesday, January 10, 2001 by bar-knee:
How many plusses can we keep taking from each week. We already know - especially with
the Fergie retirement stop watch clicking ever, unfortunately, onwards - that we have
to keep savouring every sweet United moment, but with Jaap and the rest hopefully
returning to full fitness, a side showing that idle talk of 'striker crisis' after the
Liverpool defeat was nothing more than ABU wishful thinking, the icing on the cake was
the way we grappled a win over Fulham on Sunday in the closing stages. Sound familiar?
Of course it was - like an exec munching his prawn sandwich whilst failing to sing at
Old Trafford - that is and was the testimony to so many great recent United sides -
and with late flourishes you can't help but compare how things are shaping up to two
years ago. Of course talk of how many it could be is equally idle - but that doesn't
mean we won't and can't enjoy the singular pleasure of enjoying the here and now as
well.
---------------------------------
[29] Becks and Barthez get a breather
---------------------------------
Posted Wednesday, January 10, 2001 by bar-knee:
>From Midas soccer...
'While the rest of the United first team squad were sunning themselves around the
pool in Spain on Tuesday, Fabien Barthez and David Beckham were 'working'. Sir Alex
Ferguson had sent his team for a three day break in Southern Spain and, quite
conveniently, kit makers Adidas were filming their latest advert nearby.
Beckham and Barthez were joined by French superstar Zinidine Zidane, Spain's Raul and
Italian ace Alessandro Del Piero. The ad is to be screened in the summer.'
---------------------------------
[28] Utd quick off the ball as ever
---------------------------------
Posted Wednesday, January 10, 2001 by bar-knee:
As of midday today...
"I've just checked the official site and the date is now given as:
Sunderland v Manchester United
Stadium of Light, Wednesday 31st January, Kick off 7.45pm.
There's no obvious announcement on there about the change, I haven't heard anything on
GMR or anywhere else and I wouldn't have noticed had I not been told about the
announcement on the Sunderland site - presumably United fans are expected to find out
fixture changes via the opposition's website these days!"
---------------------------------
[27] Pompey escape punishment
---------------------------------
Posted Wednesday, January 10, 2001 by bar-knee:
Now if this was Utd...
Just announced on 5 live - Portsmouth are to escape punishment (through lack of
evidence) after trouble at a recent game at Craven Cottage.
Incidents included :
The Fulham keeper being pelted with coins and other missiles. A linesman being hit by
a snooker ball thrown at him. And the Ref having to leave the field wearing a
motorbike helmet (honest).
The FA cited that as it resembled a typical day out in Croxteth, they could see
nothing wrong with the behaviour of the Pompey fans - they also dismissed reports that
fans were stopped whilst attempting to smuggle a scud missile in disguised as a huge
flag!
---------------------------------
[26] Rest in Peace
---------------------------------
Posted Wednesday, January 10, 2001 by bar-knee:
'An American Football fan who died suddenly has had an appropriate headstone erected
over his grave - two plastic seats from his team's stadium. Paul Wellener was a season
ticket holder at the Pittsburgh Steelers for 42 years until he passed away last year.
Now, ten months after his death, son Paul, and widow Mary Ann, have bought three pairs
of stadium seats from the Three Rivers Stadium for $2,100 (£1,400) at an auction.
Paul said: "He would just love to have them near him. He hadn't got a headstone and we
said, 'Why not put two of them seats there'?" The Welleners say they hope to install
the seats permanently on a granite or concrete base with an inscription.'
---------------------------------
[25] Irwin unsure of future
---------------------------------
Posted Wednesday, January 10, 2001 by bar-knee:
"I've not heard anything from the club but one year has been the deal for the past
two or three seasons. Over the last six months I have been left out more than ever,
though I have had my share of games when I've been fit. I will battle away and see
how the next four months pan out."
---------------------------------
[24] Way down the list
---------------------------------
Posted Wednesday, January 10, 2001 by bar-knee:
I like this line: Litmanen, a lifelong Liverpool fan, has been handed the No37 shirt
at his own request.
Justified thus:
He said: "Kevin Keegan and Kenny Dalglish were the players I admired and they wore
the No7 shirt, so I wanted the figure seven in some form or another."
---------------------------------
[23] Massive profit man
---------------------------------
Posted Wednesday, January 10, 2001 by bar-knee:
city showed a profit for the first time in five years, a first-half profit of
£376,000 against a loss of £996,000 in 1999.
Chairman David Bernstein said: "Our income has moved up to Premiership levels and it
gives us the power to do the things that we need to do. It is self-evident that we
need to stay and progress in the Premier
League. We are focused on doing this while maintaining our commitment to longer-term
progress and stability. The operating profit is a tribute to everybody at the club
and is no mean feat since the period includes June and July, the two quietest months
of the year.
We have to speculate to some extent by building up the squad and
paying Premier League wages, but there are no guarantees of success. If we were not
successful, our wage bill would be quite high for the first division, but I think we
would have a much stronger squad than we came up with. There is no perfect answer to
the question. We agonise every day over whether to bring in new players. We are doing
everything we can to maximise our chances of staying in the Premier League, that's
what we have to do, but we are doing so responsibly."
'No guarantees of success' - nope but there are of failure.
---------------------------------
[22] Why don't they just use the phone
---------------------------------
Posted Wednesday, January 10, 2001 by bar-knee:
They may want freebie jaunts to Rio - instead they get Carlisle...
'The Football Association are to despatch a representative to Carlisle to give bad-boy
Richard Prokas a stern reminder of his responsibilities to the game.'
"After speaking with Ian Atkins Carlisle manager, an FA representative will visit
Richard Prokas this week," said FA spokesman Adrian Bevington. "He will make it clear
that we do not expect any repeat of the type of challenge made on Patrick Vieira.
There are no disciplinary channels that are available to us. However, we want to make
it perfectly clear that there is no place for this type of thing in football."
So a bloke tries to decapitate another player - forget who it was - but there are no
'disciplinary channels available' - can just see that if it were a Utd player who did
it - not.
---------------------------------
[21] Sunderland change confirmed
---------------------------------
Posted Wednesday, January 10, 2001 by bar-knee:
Sunderland have agreed to the game being switched back a night to Wednesday, January
31.
---------------------------------
[20] Teddy on Oldie award
---------------------------------
Posted Wednesday, January 10, 2001 by bar-knee:
He has won Match magazine's 'Golden Oldie' award.
"I had a little giggle with my agent when he told me I'd been awarded this and I was
in two minds about receiving it. But any award is nice to get. I know it's a bit
tongue-in-cheek, but I'd like to thank the readers.
Winning the League again was the best moment of 2000 for me. It's a big achievement
and although we won with lots of points to spare, it's still a big thing to win. It
was also nice that we got the trophy at our home game to Spurs and that I scored that
day."
Fergie is named 'Manager of the Year 2000', while Roy Keane is 'Captain of the Year'.
---------------------------------
[19] Mexes latest
---------------------------------
Posted Wednesday, January 10, 2001 by bar-knee:
AS Roma have confirmed what we told you earlier and what the player himself told us -
from Roma president : "We are looking for a defender for next season. Cannavaro ? No,
I think of Mexès".
Get in quick United.
---------------------------------
[18] More from Nicky Butt
---------------------------------
Posted Wednesday, January 10, 2001 by bar-knee:
"People can have their own opinions and a lot of people have said different things,
but at the end of the day Sven has been appointed and the sooner he gets in the
better. It must have been hard for him knowing he has a lot of important games coming
up, but he couldn't have much hands on involvement.
So the sooner the better for everyone really and this is good news. I'm always
hopefully of playing for the national side and I keep my fingers crossed that if I'm
picked that I will train well and get my chance. If Steve McClaren is involved that
can only be for the good of the Manchester United players as well."
---------------------------------
[17] New date for Youth Cup match
---------------------------------
Posted Wednesday, January 10, 2001 by bar-knee:
United vs Scunthorpe United
Will be played on Wednesday 17 January 2001 at Gigg Lane, Bury - kick off 7pm.
(Rescheduled from Tuesday 9 January).
---------------------------------
[16] Butt happy with Sven
---------------------------------
Posted Wednesday, January 10, 2001 by bar-knee:
Nicky Butt: "For English football the sooner the better for him to come in. It's
definitely good that he can get more involved with the on-the-field stuff over here
now"
And obviously pick a player better than Shirley Temple, aka, Ray needs to get a hair
Parlour.
---------------------------------
[15] Already a sad start
---------------------------------
Posted Wednesday, January 10, 2001 by bar-knee:
As Sven is likely to choose West Ham versus Sunderland as his first game to watch as
official England boss - poor sod.
---------------------------------
[14] Fixture change still to be confirmed but already the locals are revolting...
---------------------------------
Posted Wednesday, January 10, 2001 by bar-knee:
A Sunderland Webzine raises it's handbag and speaks:
[readytogo.net - actually a very good site]
'Once again we see a last minute fixture change - This time our match against
Manchester United, scheduled for the Tuesday 30th January has been moved to Wednesday
31st January.
Why?
To allow Manchester United an extra days rest as they are playing West Ham on Sunday
28th - this match having being moved so it can be
televised. One day, the powers that be will realise that the fans matter in the game
- many of the exiles (and presumably Manchester United fans) will already have
arranged time of work, booked travel tickets, accomodation etc and now all of this
needs to be cancelled at the fans expense. Of course this doesn't matter because the
great Manchester United will be tired.'
Actually it pisses off Reds who have already booked half-days, etc, so once again we
can have a silly timed kick off fostered on us for the Cup game. We, the fans, mean
nothing to those that make the decisions. Just mushrooms kept in the dark.
---------------------------------
[13] As we told you weeks ago...
---------------------------------
Posted Wednesday, January 10, 2001 by bar-knee:
LAURENT BLANC has ruled out the prospect of joining Manchester United.
"I have two possibilities," he told France Football. "Either I continue to play in
Italy, probably at Inter, or I return to France to end my career."
The rest of the world plays catch up to a story we had, oh, a year ago!
---------------------------------
[12] Say it with flowers and get off an FA charge?
---------------------------------
Posted Wednesday, January 10, 2001 by bar-knee:
A Carlisle statement said: "Richard Prokas would like to publicly state that he
regrets the incident last Saturday and certainly did not intend to injure Patrick
Vieira. He regards Vieira as the best midfield player in the Premiership and
particularly admires his competitive qualities in these circumstances. However,
Richard accepts that his challenge for the ball was mistimed and would like to
publicly apologise to Patrick. At the same time he will be seeking to privately speak
with Patrick to offer him his personal apologies and best wishes for the future."
---------------------------------
[11] We don't need this sick kind of reference
---------------------------------
Posted Wednesday, January 10, 2001 by bar-knee:
We really don't need shit like this: From The Sun regarding Jon Venables, one of the
***** locked up for murdering James Bulger.
"Venables, whom Psychiatrists described as "Emotionally Immature" when he was first
sent to the unit, is said to have developed into a confident well-balanced teenager.
He has developed a fanatical obsession with Premiership soccer giants Manchester
United.And he has told friends that one of his ambitions is to watch his hero David
Beckham in action for the league champions once he is released.
The Liverpool born youngsters room at the centre is bedecked with United scarves, plus
wallpaper, pillowcases and bed linen in the clubs world famous red and white colours"
Why have the tabloids put our name into this story. Out of order.
---------------------------------
[10] Celebrity Red, Part 23937
---------------------------------
Posted Wednesday, January 10, 2001 by bar-knee:
Eamonn Holmes: "People asked me what I wanted to do to celebrate my 40th. I couldn't
think of anything better than going to the match to see United play."
And collapsing in a gutter surely being another pre-requisite.
---------------------------------
[9] Players start crawling to Sven
---------------------------------
Posted Wednesday, January 10, 2001 by bar-knee:
Rio : "Sven-Goran Eriksson could come from Mars, I'm not bothered. As long as we win
the World Cup or European Championship. He was almost in a no-win situation at Lazio.
If he had won the League he would have been all right, anything less than that and he
would have got grief from the fans. I think they should get behind him and back him.
His record kind of speaks for itself."
Crawl, crawl.
---------------------------------
[8] Gary Nev on Fulham
---------------------------------
Posted Wednesday, January 10, 2001 by bar-knee:
"Our first game back in the F.A. Cup against Fulham on Sunday was very
important to United for two reasons. The win keeps our momentum going, at a stage of
the season where we can't afford to give any teams hope. If Fulham had defeated us
then people would have started to believe there could be a chink in our armour. It
was also important that following our withdrawal from the competition last season
that we proved to everyone how important the FA Cup means to us.
We'd drawn a very difficult tie against Fulham. Having watched them several times
this season they've looked every bit a Premiership side. They have some quality
players in their side and have been producing some great form in Division One. Their
position in the League speaks for itself.
In the first 45 minutes of the game, the pressure was switched between the two sides.
The first 15 minutes belonged to United - we made a great start and were rewarded
with a goal by Ole, who once again proved that he s one of the game s best finishers.
His goal was typical: he makes it look easy, but not many can produce his results.
The next 20 minutes, which coincided with Butty going off, was all Fulham's. The
substitution in the midfield seemed to change the momentum of the game and Fulham
started to look very dangerous and put us under a lot of pressure. We were happy to
go in 1-1.
In the second half we started to get on top of them and began to wear them down. With
half an hour to go, there was a definite change to Fulham's game and they started to
tire. We took full advantage and produced a couple of chances. At this stage,
although the score remained at 1-1, I knew that only one team was going to win the
game.
Teddy Sheringham came on for the last 15 minutes and carried on where he'd left off
before his recent injury. He scored a fantastic goal from outside the box to give us
the victory. We were delighted with the result, and I'll be very surprised if many
teams go to Fulham this season and win. I ll be equally surprised if we're not
playing Fulham in the Premiership next season. I give Fulham full credit for the way
they played and wish them every success for the rest of the season.
At one stage on Sunday I can imagine that some people thought our F.A. Cup run was
coming to an end before it had even started, but we stuck together and came through
with a result."
---------------------------------
[7] Jaap feeling good
---------------------------------
Posted Wednesday, January 10, 2001 by bar-knee:
"I'm back"
(cue Arnie images in all our minds...)
"I'm pleased to report that my first dose of competitive football for nearly three
months went very well and I'm back in contention for a place in the first team as of
this week. The run out at Wrexham went very well last week. It was so lovely to
actually be playing football again after so long out. I've been working for this
moment for months, so it was a relief that everything went well. The pitch down there
was a good one on which to launch my comeback, being quite big and soft.
I played without any fear. I wasn't nervous of damaging my Achilles again because I
ve been training with the first team for the last couple of weeks so I didn't think
about it at all and just got on with playing my normal game. I'd go as far to say
that the game was a complete success for me. I had agreed to only play the first
half, but I felt comfortable enough to play on for longer. There was no soreness in
the Achilles at all. It was like having a brand new one!
There was no talk about me being involved in yesterday's FA Cup third round game at
Fulham. It was probably just a bit too early for me. Before the Wrexham game, the
manager and I agreed that I could have a few days off and then come back this week
and prepare for our trip to Bradford on Saturday. I think I'll be travelling with the
team to Bradford. It's the manager's decision what part I'll play there, but I feel
fully fit.
The good news is that all the other players who had a run out at Wrexham, Andy Cole,
Mark Bosnich, David May and Teddy Sheringham came through it well. Both Teddy and
Coley looked to be in good form. I suppose Teddy proved that by coming off the bench
and scoring a late winner for us at Fulham. Unfortunately, I missed seeing the game
against Fulham. I've used my time off to come back home to Holland, but Dutch
television didn't show the game, so I had to make do with reading a report instead."
(hopefully at www.rednews.co.uk!)
"From what I can gather we did well to get a win there and I'm just pleased we're in
the next round, so I can get a chance to play in the FA Cup this season. I hear we
have West Ham at Old Trafford in the fourth round. Of course, we ll be hoping to
repeat the performance we put on only a week ago when we beat them 3-1 in the
Premiership."
---------------------------------
[6] Knowing me, knowing you should leave now
---------------------------------
Posted Wednesday, January 10, 2001 by bar-knee:
Not a bad little player - scored against us and looked good - and it allows us to get
the pathetic news headline in (sorry, but I'm 30 now - what else do you expect but
downhill, and quickly).
Latvian footballing chief Guntis Indriksons on Soton's Marian Pahars: "Marian is an
idol there and that says it all. He has probably grown above the level of his club."
But who is going to buy a Marian? Notts Forest? (geddit - I'll get my coat then shall
I?).
---------------------------------
[5] When is Wes banned?
---------------------------------
Posted Wednesday, January 10, 2001 by bar-knee:
We were right to query which match it was - it turns out nobody knows
for sure yet!
'United are still waiting to hear from the FA as to whether Wes Brown's one-match ban
will take effect for the visit of Aston Villa or West Ham. It was widely reported
that Wes, who picked up his fifth
booking of the season against Fulham, would be forced to sit out the 20 January clash
with Villa. However, it seems more likely that the
young defender will be out of the FA Cup fourth round match with West
Ham at Old Trafford.'
It's bloody simple really - bans work 2 weeks after an offence, Fulham was Sunday 7th
- meaning ban would take place 21st onwards - meaning the ban should surely be West
'Am!
---------------------------------
[4] Please let this be the end to Norwegian saga
---------------------------------
Posted Wednesday, January 10, 2001 by bar-knee:
As Norwegian PFA Morgan Andersen head says: "We have agreed on the contents of the
deal and there are just formalities left now".
And 6 billion people breath a sigh of relief that it's all over.
---------------------------------
[3] Fergie has an ally
---------------------------------
Posted Wednesday, January 10, 2001 by bar-knee:
In his call for a sensible mid-season break or easing of the fixture chaos.
Wigan's Bruce Rioch said: "Whether it is a break or a reduction in the number of
games, something needs to be done because we cannot continue with the schedule we've
got at present."
And that's someone at Wigan talking of congestion.
---------------------------------
[2] Weah faces jail - and it's not for being a Bitter once
---------------------------------
Posted Wednesday, January 10, 2001 by bar-knee:
'George Weah, 34, faces the threat of a spell in a Portuguese jail. He has been sued
by Porto's Jorge Costa, who has accused him of breaking his nose during a game in
1996 - and libelling him in the Italian press.'
---------------------------------
[1] One for our Far East readers...
---------------------------------
Posted Wednesday, January 10, 2001 by bar-knee:
Confusion still reigns over our pre-season tour. We know dates have been confirmed for
July but the last match clashes with the apparent date of the Charity Shield - and in
typical FA fashion the dates have yet to be confirmed for next season (4th August is
when league could start) so we are still up in the air with Reds planning to go on the
close season tour as confused as we have been for the last 30 odd years! So if any
info has come to light of our Far Eastern readers, let us know...
(you'd think Utd would try and get the CS moved to midweek - but that would probably
go down like a lead baloon to a lot of people - although now Wembley is just a
building waiting for someone to do something to it, all talk of tradition is well out
of the window.)
