The relationship between clubs and players, players and managers and players and fans is not that different in essence. [Of course, if a player spites his fans, then the gloves are usually off, and we see even mild-mannered, cultured adults turn juvenile -- but I digress.]

Carlos Tevez, falls in the second category. And, by recent evidence, has shown little signs of growing up.

According to today’s report in the MirrorTevez accuses Fergie of lying to him about his squad status after signing Berbatov.

“Ferguson still believes I will be at United next season. He thinks I will return. But I know what I want and I know that Ferguson did not respect me as a player. Before Berbatov arrived in Manchester, Ferguson told me, ‘You will still be the starting striker, so be cool’. But he lied to me! That is why I know I will not return to United.

For one, football has become a squad game. Much of United’s success over the course of the past three years has been built around having good squad depth and players understanding that rotation is a part of life at United. Rotating players kept us in the hunt for a good part of the season. And for a manager, the toughest job is to ensure a reasonable mix of players for the right game. Tevez’s appearances over the course of the season is proof that he has got more playing time than some others in the side. He was mis-treated by the club management, of that there is little doubt. The United management weren’t forthright enough to work out his contract details, and we all know that. But today he still feels he has to whine some more to the press:

“What I want to do next season is score against United. I promise I will not celebrate in front of the United fans but I will shout in Ferguson’s face. You can be sure of that - and it will be one of the most beautiful things I have done in football.”

Well, Charlie. We wish you good luck on that. And you don’t have to bother trying to show respect to us fans. We aren’t really on your side anymore. And, just so you don’t wear a bewildered look when you visit OT, expect some booing from the stands.

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Also, we have a facebook page now where you can join in and continue to fool around discussing all things United. Click here and become a fan or click the facebook icon on our sidebar.

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Update: Also, in case you haven’t heard, Wayne Rooney had a minor accident when he bumped his head. Doctors thought he may have had a concussion. But it was reported to be nothing serious. Today Rooney updated his twitter status, and like we jobless folks track stuff like this, here’s what he says on his head and Owen:

Thanks for all the messages my heads fine it wont stop me starting preseason il be there on Monday looking forward to meeting up with Michael Gosh that was a shock but hes a proven goal scorer but maybe just not been at the right club thats no offence to Newcastle. The Gaffer knows what hes doing always has I think this could be a Great season again for Utd Cant wait , Hols nearly finished! Bye 4 now.

So with those golden words from the Roon, we can sleep today in peace.

To be honest, I’ve never felt so underwhelmed by a United signing when I first heard it. I’ve been intrigued by some of Fergie’s buys but never so underwhelmed as I have been with this one. What shocks me is the PR on full tilt on the official site. Yes, we know it’s the official site etc, but to publish a headline that went ‘Reds fans excited over Owen signing’ made my stomach curdle.

I was extremely mad yesterday when this Owen signing gathered pace and didn’t even know how to react. Today I have better control over my emotions and I might be able to string a few sentences together. But first, the manager reaction:

“Michael is a world class forward with a proven goalscoring record at the highest level and that has never been in question. Coming to Manchester United with the expectations that we have is something that Michael will relish.”

Yes, Owen would definitely relish it. He should be thanking his stars for being given a chance to redeem himself.

A free transfer is something one can hardly argue against. But we’ve had our trysts with injury prone players in the past with Saha, and Hargreaves now. I just wonder how Owen’s thigh, knee, groin, ankle, nose, eye will hold up. Our record with keeping injury prone players fit hasn’t exactly been a paragon in sports science excellence.

While describing Owen, one must be wary about his usage of tense. He was a world class centre forward. He was clinical. He was pacy. He is still a prick to a lot of fellow reds.

But he’s a United player now. I will always view this signing with scepticism until I see something on the pitch that changes my opinion otherwise. I would love to be proved wrong on this and he actually ends up rediscovering some of his past form. But he has a two year contract with us, and would be less demanding of a place on the first team. He will hopefully get a pay as you play contract on top of a modest weekly wage, and that should suit me just fine.

My main worry is this shouldn’t be viewed as a sign of desperation. Ferguson clearly wants his signings before the pre season. And that’s reflected by his need to get things out of the way in a hurry upon his return from holiday; we were in on the Benzema deal quickly to be fair whether we got him or not.

The main question will be whether he will persist with trying to buy another striker (and if so, why sign Owen then?) Or will he go for a winger or midfielder? These are questions I’m sure Ferguson will have to address if he wants his starting XI and formations sorted out before the season.

So I’m sorry, Manutd.com, I don’t currently share the excitement you seem to have gleaned from your messageboards. I may get excited if Owen actually stays fit for a few months in a row. Till then, I’ll wait to see if we have any more signings lined up.

If it was the second it’s a shame. If it was the former, I’m not sure how to react to it; I am torn between lauding them for not paying £32m for a largely unproven, albeit talented, 21 year old and expressing bafflement over their refusal to budge on £6m when we have £90m lying around. [Correct me if I'm wrong, but Fraizer Campbell's this close towards completing a £6m move to Hull.]

Personally, whilst I liked Benzema, the player, I never really found his general demeanour endearing. For one, he seemed to favour a move to Spain more than England. He was known to be moody, although I wouldn’t rate that quite as important as the first reason.

It’s obvious Ferguson loves the player, and what Ferguson likes he tries his level best to get. Predictably, a good performance against us — in particular, his blinder of a goal in the 07/08 Champions’ League encounter when surrounded by gazillion red shirts — nailed it for the manager. Only on this occasion, Ferguson didn’t get what he wanted. It’s also unlikely waiting a year for his target is bound to work this time; unlike RvN, Berbatov et al.

Our current situation resembles that line from the Rime of the Ancient Mariner: ‘water water everywhere, not a drop to drink‘ (More like money, money everywhere, not a player in sight.) Of course, there is still enough time to bring in two players to get us going before things actually escalate towards desperation but it would be a stretch to expect to bring in everyone by the cut off pre-season training date that is July 13th.

We have been linked with the likes of Aguero and AS, the Spanish newspaper, have us linked with Huntelaar. Bringing in Huntelaar should be easier, provided Ferguson really wants him. Hell, if he really wanted him, he would have come in long before Madrid even had a sniff. Aguero gives us star power, real creative energy around the box, although, if Rooney is to be played in his preferred role, the Argentinian would have to be played out wide.

Despite all this transfer talk, I really have two major concerns that need to be addressed. Which is what I want to end this post with.

1. Rooney needs a full season where he can play in a central role. I think Ferguson has little excuse to sacrifice Rooney this time round. There’s no Ronaldo to ‘accommodate’ in this team anymore. Rooney plays in the role he plays for England. No dicking about sticking him in the wing. Most of Ferguson’s rebuilding exercises have revolved around switching focus and building the side around that focus. It could be based on a good strike partnership, like the side of ‘99; or relying on the interchangeable play of the front attackers, [the 2008 side with Ronaldo as a focal point]. This time attention obviously shifts to Rooney, and he needs to be played as a number ten. So why am I talking about Rooney in the midst of discussing transfer targets? In order to ensure Rooney does not get played out wide, we need to ensure there is enough credible depth on our wings. We have Valencia and Nani (and a rookie in Tosic) as attacking wingers (Park is a defensive midfielder, and Giggs is not a left winger anymore). We clearly need reinforcement there. Aguero might help, but his talent could be wasted out wide. So one more decent winger should fix that worry.

2. A box to box midfielder, or an attacking midfielder who’s capable of scoring from midfield.
The first one ties into the lesson learned from our defeat against Barcelona. Despite our success, we haven’t really got a midfielder who can grab the game by the cliched scruff of the neck. We have Hargreaves, but he’s not back until January. And I really won’t believe his fitness reports until I see him on the pitch. True Fletcher had his moments, but doubts still linger over his consistency.

The second part, regarding the need for a creative attacking midfielder, sort of ties in to our need to spread the goals around this season instead of relying on a couple of players. But this is an either-or requirement. I wouldn’t want both to be signed simultaneously. This would mean Carrick would be marginalised, or if we were to go for a 4-3-3, Rooney would be forced to plough a lone furrow on his own — again, not something I’d want.

Anyway, that should be enough tactical analysis from my side for the day. for general transfer stories, half baked thoughts during the day, you could either find me here, or in the comments section of this post.

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In other interesting tidbits, Scott sheds more light on the scouse delusion.

And 101 Great Goals has a three part video link to MUTV’s Ronaldo tribute video. To be honest, despite my strong opinions over the deterioration of his attitude over the past year, there are still enough clips in the video to make me relive some of those special moments with fondness; especially the parts where he was a scrawny, little teenager.

This is a story of a man, sorry boy (manchild?), who wishes to remain anonymous; let us call him Charles.

For the purposes of lending authenticity to the story, this writer wishes to narrate it in the first person. So sit back with your cup of coffee, and read.

Hello, dear fans. My name is Charles (real name withheld). Most of you might recognize me for my steadfast commitment to your dear club. You see, I’m the one who runs for the whole 90 minutes when a certain preening prima donna looks to whinge most of the time, only turning up to score some flukey free kicks; while some east European lazy oaf saunters about, like he was paid to walk about the park. (What do you say? He leads the assist chart? Well let me tell you something, statistics are like arseholes, everyone has one. Er, that analogy didn’t fit, but you get the point, don’t you? He’s an arsehole.)

But I digress; I work my socks off, dear fans, and your love for me proved that I was right to work said socks off for the team. Yet, what do I get? An away game to Liverpool? Just 34 appearances this season? About £10m for the two years of running every game for 90 minutes?

I tell you what, Britain has a new President. What is that you say? Prime minister? Sigh! You know very little, dear friends. Very little. Sir Alex is the president of Britain. It’s true. Which is why I have gathered you all. He is the president of Britain and he controls the world from his office at Old Trafford, and I’ll tell you what, I think I have discovered he’s a part of the Govan mafia. Don’t you get it? I mean, tell me one thing: who sips wine in the vineyards of southern France, with a cell phone on the other hand, belting out orders to his minions. I don’t know about you, but for someone like me who’s grown up in tough neighbourhoods, that looks like the overlord of a vast criminal organisation. You know, what I saw was just the tip of the iceberg. I know you may talk about David Conn’s new column on the Guardian that promises to uncover the murky footballing underworld, but I have far more murky information. My murk wipes the floor with his murk.

But despite this knowledge I thought, for the good of the team and, especially you, my dear fans, I would keep mum and hope my loyalty to the President, and Great Master would be repaid. But, you know what, he turned out to be colder than any of the Scorsese gangsters rolled into one. At least, they cared for family. This man, made me feel an outsider to the family. And when I went home to my family (my other one), I took only sadness with me.

The recession hasn’t helped either. (I believe I must blame recession too, because everyone seems to blame it for everything, and I think one can make perfect sense by ending any sentence with the phrase ‘due to recession’. But then, I digress.)

I tell you. The life of a footballer is not easy these days. Especially at a club like United. I know, I’m sorry, dear friends, I love you all, but I must tell you, I wasn’t loved at the club. And hence I thought I must move on. Also my best friend — some people say he owns me and my rights, but I am a self made man — let’s call him Hyundai (I can’t let you in on his real name, but Hyundai is the only other Korean car manufacturer I could think of, the other being my ‘owner’s’ name) said United weren’t even making an offer for us. I mean, they made an offer for us but he said there wouldn’t be enough time for us to make up my mind. I know, it sounds crazy, but Hyundai never lies. He’s a man of integrity, and I’ll ever be indebted to him, even though I’m a self made man.

So, on that note, I have come to the conclusion that loyalty is a two way street. And since I was never felt wanted, I must leave with a heavy heart. I still love your City. The rain calms my nerves, and at least the blue side will give me enough money to be able to put food on my plate three times a day. Now I can at least fly to the training ground instead of driving. Take that, you Real Madrid loving, United-betraying winker! And with a heavy heart I must say again, I love you dear fans, and thank you for sticking up for me, which is why I am sticking it up to you.

Regards,
Charles.

PS: BUT SAF SHOULD HAVE STARTED ME FOR THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL!!!!!!!!!!!

The sum quoted is £16m which is what I have a problem with. Personally, any sum over £12-14m is too much for a winger who’s been consistent, but not outstanding. True, he’s an out and out winger and does give us some width.

But his stats don’t necessarily pop out to hold anyone’s fancy. I would hope this is only a straight buy, unlike other media sources that revolved around using Nani as a makeweight in the deal; that, to me, would be unacceptable because despite his reduced appearances last season he deserves a season where he’s given the chance to express himself and step out of Ronaldo’s massive shadow. He may never come close to Ronaldo’s ability, but he still deserves a chance.

Valencia again, might be a player that hugs the touchline and tries to cross it in, but our system has evolved to the extent that we don’t really have a striker that lurks in and around the box. Berbatov may have been bought for that purpose, but his lack of pace makes it difficult to have him in the area during a counter. I would pitch for Huntelaar, but there seems to be very little talk about the Dutchman. And I think Ferguson might opt for giving the likes of Macheda and Welbeck more of a chance the next season.

Valencia might be an improvement over Park or a now past-it Ryan Giggs (at least as a winger), but he’s an expensive one at that. But then, we seem to be having little options in the market with players either pricing themselves out of a move or just declaring their interest to play for Madrid.

I hope he turns out to be a great buy; to be honest, the compilation video (not that they are the final say on any player) show him to be a more direct player. It will be great to be proved wrong on him. But for now I’m not sure I can say I’m overjoyed by this transfer. I’m sure I may be stuck up in the ‘we-need-a-Ronaldo-type-player’ mode, but there are so little of them around these days. I believe Ferguson will change the system to a more orthodox 4-4-2 system now.

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In other news, Rooney, in an interview with the Times has made it clear that he’s ready to flourish if he gets a more central role — which is his preferred role.

The confidence in the lad is good to see, and I’m sure the manager sees it too, but has perhaps been hamstrung by the need of his system, which sought to accommodate Ronaldo. Now that he’s gone, I see SAF go out of his way to satisfy Rooney. If he does that and stays injury free, I can see Rooney help shoulder a burden of our goals.

We have also been linked to Sergio Aguero, and his release clause is well within our reach. I like the player, but with Berbatov and Rooney expected to partner upfront, Aguero might be bought to provide a creative spark in a wide floating role behind the strikers — if at all he’s bought.

And that should wrap it up for today. Updates, if any, on the Valencia transfer will be added to this post. So watch this space.

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Also don’t forget to hop over to Scott’s ROM blog who is running a Summer competition for which, anyone with a passing experience dabbling with MS Paint can join.

For those of us who have supported the club from before 99 or even before the Premier League started (I got in at ‘94), it’s quite amazing to see United completely dominate English football for the best part of two decades and as a result become the most popular and most valuable sports team in the world.

It’s good to focus on the here and now and we’ve seen with Liverpool how ‘past glories’ get you nowhere, but once in a while it’s good to step back and get some perspective on what United, and to a great extent, what the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson and (Sir) Ryan Giggs have achieved.

In any case, here’s the interview with David Prosperi (Aon).

From initial images it seems to be a plain red top with the white shorts bearing a red stripe down the sides. The white V-neck collar that some leaked images showed earlier this summer is missing, but there does seem to be a ‘V’ across the shirt, either in a darker shade of red or in white (with the color blacked out for the promotional images).

The kit will be revealed on 1st July and launched on 16th July.

If you’re not into buying team kits, then feel free to ignore this post. On the other hand if you want to buy the new Manchester United home shirt, buy it from us and help support this community.

First of all there is a quote from Bernard Lacombe, the advisor to Lyon’s president, who talked about clubs being flush with cash. And that it would be difficult to resist a big bid if it came: “If United want to buy Karim then what can you do?”

Which is a question. It’s an indication that Lyon may be willing to sell. But at what price? £25million? Really?

I wouldn’t bet on it.

Ferguson has been a big fan of Karim Benzema, which is well documented. But he’s also fully aware of who he’s dealing with, when it comes to talking business. He made an observation way back in early 2008 — before our Champions’ League fixture against Lyon — about Jean Michael Aulas, which is very valid to date:

“The president is a very clever man. He’s so clever he can sell midfield players for £20m. That’s amazing,” Ferguson said, referring to the hard bargain Aulas drove when Real Madrid bought Mahamadou Diarra in 2006. “That [Jeremy] Toulalan he bought from Nantes just sits and does the same job Diarra did. When they sold Michael Essien [to Chelsea, for £24.4m], they took Tiago then sold Tiago to Juventus for £6m. Eric Abidal, £10m for a left back [when he moved to Barcelona]. They’re a well-run club.

Well run club indeed. We are really talking a French Daniel Levy here, who knows how to get the deal he wants. So I remain sceptical about a deal being done quickly on the Frenchman. I hope I’m wrong, but when he can sell the likes of Essien and Diarra for about £24m, I don’t think we’ll get this lad for the quoted £25m.

Of course, the actual gist of Lacombe’s statement wouldn’t deter papers from splashing stuff like “United close in on Benzema” (Manchester Evening News) and the extremely enticing, ‘authentic’ looking “Benzema heading to United — report” (Setanta Sports); actual juice in that article is really the first line that says he’s at the top of United’s list, attributed to the dreaded “unnamed source” — by that logic all clubs should just create a list of coveted players, throw in some magic beans, and the players would appear out of nowhere.

If you’re still interested in his quoted market value, The Daily Mail reckons £35m, the Mirror £30m while some others say £25m. Take your pick. Although if you were to go by Sky Sports — rather, his agent — he’s going nowhere, and intends to stay put. But then, that’s boring to hear, no?

Well, that’s all I have to say on this. Will be back tomorrow for more. Unless this mysterious Sheik-over (excuse the pun; couldn’t resist it.) involves our club.

Question asked yesterday: “When did you know you would be going to Real Madrid?”

“After we won the European Cup I thought there is no more I can achieve here. And when you have done all you can, you know it is time for a new challenge.

The News of the world article says it all really.

Note: Comments closed on this one. Enough discussed about Ronaldo already. For any discussions, please head to the previous post.

Following contact received from Carlos Tevez’s advisors last night, in advance of the deadline the Club set for concluding negotiations, Manchester United announces that Carlos will not be signing a new contract with the Club. The Club agreed to pay the option price of £25.5m and offered Carlos a five-year contract which would have made him one of its highest paid players. Disappointingly however, his advisors informed the Club that, despite the success he has enjoyed during one of the Club’s most successful periods, he does not wish to continue playing for Manchester United. The Club would like to thank Carlos for his services over the last two seasons and wishes him good luck for the future.

As drab as official statements usually go, it does confirm the word going around that United did indeed offer the option price of £25.5m for Tevez. It confirms that our option price was £25.5m. That price, since it was known by the club for a while now, was clearly excessive in my opinion — which is why David Gill was perhaps hoping, over time, to haggle with Kia Joorabchian to bring his price down.

Now, there is a valid case to be made about the treatment meted out by the club towards Tevez. But, whilst Tevez gave everything he could on the pitch, his attitude off it needed to be questioned. I understood his frustration at being marginalised at the club by Fergie upon Berbatov’s arrival, and excused him when he went public about it in a radio interview in South America, back in December. I was willing to understand his point of view when he again did it in February/March. But he kept doing this as the season wound up towards its closing stages; his reaction upon scoring the goal against City; him playing the victim card using the massive fan support as a stick to beat the club with made me wonder what he’s really upto.

What shocked me was the willingness of the fans to boo Ferguson when he substituted Tevez, and even drown out the manager’s address to the crowd. What the hell were they thinking?

Following the Tevez deal cancellation announcement, Kia Joorabchian clarified his side of things:

“When Man United made their offer about ten days ago, for the first time in two years, we never went back to them to ask about money. We just asked for some time to think about it. Obviously they have had two years to think about it and Carlos had to make a decision based on his family. Just to make it clear, this has been Carlos’ decision. Nobody else would make this decision for him. We didn’t actually reject the offer. Manchester United have ruled themselves out of the running. We actually asked for more time and if they could not give that we would have to walk away. He wants time to digest it and to know which club would suit him because now he is committing the next five years of his future.”

Now this makes little sense to me. Joorabchian said that Tevez needed more time to think this over. But, ironically, it was Tevez who went public on two things:

1. that he always wanted to stay at United, and it was United that didn’t seem to want him. He in fact said that he’d sign up in a flash had they offered him a deal, not too long ago.
2. that he ruled out Spain and feels settled in England, and liked the fact that his daughter feels happy growing up in England.

Kia’s suggestion seems to contradict these two points because it makes it seem like Tevez actually feels the need for time to decide between United and City, when it doesn’t even involve moving house. He says he needed time to figure out which team would suit him. But is there even a choice to be made between City and United? Sure, he’ll get more starts in City, but would it meet his ambition right now?

He says his close relationship with the fans meant that he wouldn’t go to Liverpool, but Kia also mentioned Chelsea as an option. Now a Chelsea move wouldn’t infuriate United fans as much as had he moved to Liverpool, but they still are a title rival and to me, that would certainly disappoint. City, not being a threat at present wouldn’t present the same challenge. Also I doubt he can be assured of starts even in Chelsea, something that’s been a thorny issue for him at United.

But leave all that aside. Joorabchian goes on to add:

“If it was, let’s say, Wayne Rooney’s contract finishing six months before, or Cristiano Ronaldo’s contract finishing six months before, would they have tried to secure their services a bit sooner? He has that little bit of a feeling that maybe he wasn’t the most wanted person at United. Rightly or wrongly, that’s how he feels.”

Now regarding Wayne Rooney and Ronaldo there is a major difference. Regardless of who the player is, if the club owned the player, they are never going to let his contract run down. In Tevez’s case, we never owned him, so it wasn’t a bad idea to see how he performs over the season to ensure he’s worth his asking price.

It now hits me, and shocks me that United actually offered £25.5m and Tevez might have actually accepted it. This is over the £9m that it cost to bring him to the club on loan. Tevez is a really good player, but certainly not world class, which is what those sums of money dictate. My mind boggles if I think about how we would have bought a striker that might do a lot of running and grafting but isn’t really a better player than Rooney or Ronaldo. And for a striker that demands such transfer fees, he would have to score a lot of goals to justify it.

I find it sad it had to end like this. But I can’t say I’m too sad to see him go. I would have found it hard to wrap my head around overpaying for a good player. I am actually glad United showed some urgency in enforcing the strict deadline to show that they need to resolve this issue before sorting out the squad for the next season.

Here’s hoping for the same decisiveness whilst dipping into the transfer market.

On Tevez, we sincerely wish him the best of luck, as long as he doesn’t score against us. (It’s nice to see he had the good sense to reject the cesspool; we’ll grant him that.)