Milner gossip . . . . .

Lot’s of gossip linking Milner with a move from Villa this summer.
Man Utd and Man City being the two most prominent clubs looking to lure him away from the midlands ASAP.

If he gets a chance at the World Cup don’t be surprised to see more clubs including Liverpool throw in an offer.

Personally I think Milner will decide to stay with Villa and O’neil will bring in 2 big names to show his intent for next season.

Frank Lampard – Money wins again

I have always been a big Frank Lampard fan. Even in his West Ham days there was something about him that made me realise he was destined to be a superstar player.

At Chelsea he has fulfilled that status and I have often defended him whne others around me have slated him for one reason or another. I’d love to have him in any team I support.

This summer though I’ve been telling myself and you through this blog that the best thing to do now is move on to Inter Milan and give it a crack. I think he would have been a success. But Frank Lampard decided to see it out at Chelsea and thought he was worth a 5 year deal of around £150,000 per week.
At 30 I thought he was nuts to demand such a contract. I certainly can’t see him being a top premier league midfielder in 5 years and his cureent game surely only has another 2 years in it before he start feeling the aches and pains more frequent than not.

Some people have turned to me and said well if he keeps himself fit and healthy he can go on for another 5 years. Unfortunately footballers don’t quite work like that. you see their heads still think and feel the same, they start lunging for tackles and running at angles to catch players the same as they always have, however the legs that have covered thousands of miles by the time they are in their 30′s start slowing up and even if it’s one stride they lose per run it’s enough to ensure the timing is off enough to cost them a yellow or even a red card when they throw the tackle in.

Players are finely tuned athleetes these days and I’m worried Mr Lampard won’t have the legs to last 5 years no matter how fit he feels today.

So I guess I should be congratulating him on forcing Chelsea into this move. It is most definately though a case of a player being bigger than a club. This sort of thing would never happen at Manchester United under the mighty Mr Ferguson, but then again Sir Alex would never offer a 30 year old a 5 year contract.

One thing that did miff me though about Frank was him saying he stayed because of the tribute the other players made to his late mother. No you never Frank, you stayed because they finally agreed to your unhealthy demands!

Charity Shield – Manchester United 0 Portsmouth 0

I used to love the charity shield.
It was always the first chance to see new signings kick a meaningful ball for their new team and a good spectacle for the neutral fan.

These days it’s quite low key. You can’t watch it on terestrial tv, the players barely seem motivated and the managers barely break a smile even when they win!

Todays match between two clubs who I believe can both finish high this season, was a largely lack lustre performance. United though to their credit did just about all they could to at least try to make it entertaining. Nani in particular looks as though he will comfortably fill any void left by Ronaldo whilst he is injured and replace him totally next season when the Portugeuse superstar may well finally get his move to Real Madrid.

United are an amazing team, Ferguson truly is a man who can find and build amazing squads and this season if they can quickly snap up a world class finisher, they could win just about everything going.
There’s much talk about the berbatov deal still floating around and I would see him slotting in there much like Van Nistelrooy did. I’m sure he’d be a success, but what I would really like to see is a goal poacher, an out and out striker like Michael Owen play up front for Man United.

Portsmouth are a team I have high hopes for this season. I’m sure crouchy and Defoe can be a hit although based on todays showing, they will need a much better provision from the players behind them. Sol Campbell finally looks his age but Redknapp is no mug. He knows when a player is spent and when he is not.

So to cap it off, it was a thoroughly deserved win for United today but he’my advice to any clubs who watched this and say united are nothing to fear better think again. If they get their allusive striker sorted out they will rip you to bits this season.

Hull City – Eye of the Tigers is on Campbell

Premier League newcomers Hull City have not given up hope of prizing striker Fraizer Campbell away from Manchester United before the transfer deadline.

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson had revealed that the 20-year-old is definitely in his future plans.

But Tigers chairman Paul Duffen says Campbell, who spent last season on loan at the KC Stadium, could still return.

He told BBC Radio Humberside: “It was the best way for Sir Alex to get it off the agenda with the media.”

Huddersfield-born Campbell was the Tigers’ leading scorer last season and set up the goal that saw Hull promoted to the top flight for the first time in their history when they beat Bristol City 1-0 in the Championship play-off final at Wembley.

But the player has always said that he wants to try to force his way into the thoughts of Sir Alex at Old Trafford.

However, if he does become surplus to requirements at the league champions, City are ready to make a move.

Duffen added: “It’s not our call and we’ll wait and see.

“We’ve always thought that Fraizer’s a great talent and that’s why we’re interested in him and personally I don’t think it’s over yet and certainly it will be done or not done within the next few weeks.”

Hull boss Phil Brown added: “I’ve had a lengthy conversation with Sir Alex on Friday and he’s promised he’ll keep me up to speed with things.

“I can only sit and wait and can’t force anyone’s hand and I’m not prepared too. He’s a Manchester United player and he did a great job for us last season and we’ll be there waiting until that door is firmly closed.”

Manchester United and Spurs – £25m for Berbatov

It looks like United will get Berbatov for approximately £25 million.

United have officially started negotiations with Spurs about the Bulgarian striker, although Spurs have apparantly said they will hold out for £28 million.

Ferguson has followed and made enquiries about Berbatov for the past 2 seasons and now appears to be the right time to make an official approach.

I think that Berbatov would be an amazing signing for United, the service he would receive from that team would surely see him hit the 30 goal mark and I see him as the key to deciding whether Ronaldo can go or not.

If they sign Berbatov expect to see Nani start making more appearances as they test the set up for Ronaldo’s departure, and if I am to be totally honest, with Dimitar on the books and Nani maturing into a top player in his own right, I think United can more than survive without Ronaldo.

I think they will have it more their own way this year than they did last year. They got off to a slow start last year, this year I expect to see them come flying out of the blocks and with Chelsea and Arsenal going through quite big changes at the moment I really can’t see Manchester United having much trouble defending their crown as Premier League champions.

And as an Everton supporter that’s not an easy thing to say!!

What do you think about the proposed signing of Berbatov?
Please leave a comment below.

Management – How important is a number 2?

Fergie has announced that there is no rush to find a replacement number 2 at Man Utd, following the departure of Carlos Queiroz.

Queiroz has left to take on the Portugal job, a job I wish him well in. His last appointment at Real Madrid was always a step too far, too soon in my opinion but I do feel he is capable of doing a good job for the Portuguese.

I must say though that I’m not convinced being a good number two automatically means you can go on to be the top man at a club.

We’ve seen this with Queiroz’s first attempt and with other people like Brian Kidd and Steve McClaren.
People who all make superb number two’s, because they are good at relaying information, taking instruction and knowledgable of their opponents. Unfortunately the minute they have not got a good football brain like Fergie’s around to tell them who to sign, when to make a sub or change it around when they go a goal or two behind they stall in the blocks and are just left with an angry mob of fans shouting abuse at them.

I’m not convinced that a number two can automatically go on to be a number one man but I am convinced it’s good for a number one to have a sidekick to help the day to day running of things.

I must say that the fact Fergie is saying he is no rush to take on a replacement to Queiroz, makes me think he may be looking at this as his last season. Leaving the decks clear for a new man to come in next year with his own staff.

Time will tell, one thing for sure though, whether he has help or not Fergie will again be pulling out all the stops to ensure United are the team to beat this year.

Mark Hughes – Has Sparky ignited a fire?

Mark Hughes is a bit of a hero of mine. He was absolutely immense as a player and as a manager he has continued to get the best from his squads.

I always believed he was being somewhat groomed to become the next Manchester United manager and that there was some kind of gentlemans agreement that would see him drafted in in 3 years time when Sir Alex finally walks away.

This week though it emerges Sparky is one of the favourites for two jobs. Chelsea and Manchester City.

I can understand him going to Chelsea, he played for them and the fans loved him there. He was part of the catalyst squad that pushed Chelsea back to the big time and I could quite understand him going there and even believe, though it may be a bitter pill for them to swallow, the Manchester united fans would forgive him if and when he takes the old trafford hot seat.

Manchester City on the other hand is a different matter all together.
Can you imagine if he went to Manchester City and made a success of it???
There’s no way the Old Trafford faithful would let him in as their boss is there??

Sparky by name, Sparky by nature!!

But then again hey it’s Mark Hughes, we can forgive him anything can’t we?