Man United Thread

[G-O-D]

Nicky Butt insists Manchester United are not going backwards despite their season of under-achievement.

The long-serving midfielder accepts United have performed well below expectations this term, with an FA Cup final appearance against Millwall next weekend hardly balancing out failures in the Barclaycard Premiership and Champions League.

Yet past experience tells Butt that the Red Devils thrive in adversity. The three previous times United have lost their Premiership title they have claimed it back the following year and with Sir Alex Ferguson's legendary drive pushing the team on.

And England midfielder Butt believes the Old Trafford outfit will make a forceful bid to reclaim their championship in 12 months' time.

'This club will never go backwards,' he told MUTV.

'We have underachieved in the Premiership and Champions League this season but we can get back to the levels we are capable of.

'The age of the playing squad is still young, even though we have so much experience and with the manager here we will only ever go forward.

'Obviously, we can only finish third now even if we win our final game at Aston Villa on Saturday but we have an FA Cup final coming up and we are determined to get on top of our game before then.'

Ferguson has already ruled out any panic buying in the transfer market this summer, although it seems sure there will be some movement as the wily Scot looks to tweak his squad.

Alan Smith and Wayne Rooney have both been mentioned as potential arrivals, while speculation that Real Madrid are about to launch a £40million bid for Ruud van Nistelrooy refuses to go away - despite the Dutchman's firm assertion that he is going nowhere.

Butt's future has also been questioned, even though the 29-year-old has previously claimed he was happy with his decision not to leave United when he was placed on the transfer list in January, frustrated at his lack of first-team opportunities.

Birmingham boss Steve Bruce was one of the men interested in securing the services of a player who is certain to be in Sven Goran Eriksson's England squad for Euro 2004 this summer, although the avenue to St Andrews may have been closed by the reportedly imminent arrival of Muzzy Izzet from Leicester.

Yet no matter who eventually leaves Old Trafford this summer, Butt has been around long enough to know the club will continue to prosper.

It was the departure of Paul Ince, Mark Hughes and Andrei Kanchelskis that gave the Gorton-born star his own chance a decade ago, since when Eric Cantona, Andy Cole, Dwight Yorke and David Beckham have all moved on.

'Big players have left here in the past but Manchester United is like a train - it just keeps moving on,' he said.

'We still have a chance of winning a trophy this season and while we wouldn't look upon the FA Cup as a replacement for what happened in the league and Champions League, it is a special tournament and a game we are looking forward to being involved in

Source

Can Man Utd recover next season, or will they become a fallen giant? I'm betting on the latter.

And this is the summer schedule of Man Utd from here:

21 July Flying to Philadelphia, US

25 July Playing Bayern Munich (Chicago)

28 July Celtic (Philadelphia)

31 July AC Milan (New York)

3 Aug PSV Eindhoven (Old Trafford)

5 Aug Urawa Red Diamonds (Old Trafford)

6 Aug Stan Ternent Testimonial

8 Aug Arsenal - Community Shield (Millennium Stadium)

11 Aug Champions League qualifier

14 Aug Premiership season starts

25 Aug Champions League qualifier

Holy hell, is that hectic or what? And if England go all the way for Euro 2004, Man Utd will be in for a hell of a time.

[TheArsenal]

The Manchester United team used to be a force to fear. You would play them and wonder how you would possibly keep them at bay, and try to prevent the goals from streaming in - because they would.

Now I don't think there is a team in the league that should fear Man Utd - because any team in the league can outplay Man Utd now. To be honest, Ferguson has made some terrible decisions in the transfer market in the last couple of years, involving pplayers going to and from the club. At least the Rolling Contract he is now on means the Old Trafford board can get rid of him at the end of any season with no pay off.

[Guest I Bleed Red]

Hopefully he'll make some better buys this year.

and stay away from the south americans. They're shit in the Premiership

[TMM]

Hopefully he'll make some better buys this year.

and stay away from the south americans.  They're shit in the Premiership

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Gilberto, Edu and Silvinho say hi.

Other than them, the problem is that Premiership teams tend to sign crap South Americans

[FLiam]

Yeh, we been having this discussion on MSN

Others I can think of are:

Kleberson - Shit

Crespo - Ain't proved anything

Veron - Bit poo

Emerson Thome - Not great at all

emerson - Misfit, scored one stunning goal and that was it

Then there is Juninho mind you

[Jook]

shut up young Jook

Edited April 7, 2016 by Jook

[supergrass]

I can't help but think is Ferguson losing it? To think he would even consider Ruud go is something I can't understand. At Arsenal we were offered a blank cheque really for Henry, but he means as much to Arsenal as Ruud does to United. I can't see the logic behind selling people like Beckham or Ruud when they can't or won't be replaced.

It was said recently about Liverpool that teams used to fear Anfield and hope for a draw at best, but now teams want results there. I can see Old Trafford becomming that way. As an Arsenal fan I used to dread going Old Trafford, but now I look forward to that game because I always feel we can beat you, and other teams feel they can now come away from United with something too. Fergie's got a lot of work to do this summer regardless.

[TheArsenal]

Gooner4Life - you forgot Forlan

I still can't believe that last summer Ferguson, as manager of the Champions, went out and bought a player from a relegated team. How can he justify the purchase of Djemba Djemba??

[supergrass]

Spot on. It's all very well being able to spot a good cheap buy, and it's rewarding when it pays off, but you've got a lot to answer to when it doesn't work out.

Why do Man Utd need to look for bargains? Obviously they shouldn't go out and get conned but they've got so much money (plus what they got from Beckham), they could go out and buy good established players.

[Whisper]

As far as our signings we've made this season go, i don't think any of them can really be called "mistakes." As said before Howard and Ronaldo have been two of our best players this season and Djemba-Djemba has shown flashes of what he can do. IMO I can't see Kleberson ever really fitting into the premiership, I recognise his talent but I don't see him ever being a main Utd player. Bellion doesn't look like he will make it, but he hasn't done us any harm this season either.

As far as the Beckham issue goes, I agree he is over-rated. No doubt he's a great player and probably the 2nd most hard-working player in the world (the first i'll get to in a minute). We have missed him but not as much as people are trying to make out.

In the summer we should sell Forlan (As much as I like the guy he just isn't performing) and perhaps Nicky Butt. I personally would LOVE to see us get Alan Smith and I hope Ferguson puts in a serious offer because I can't think of any players who work harder than Smith. I don't really see us signing many other players, a young defender perhaps and maybe a bid for Van Der Vaart, although I'd expect alot of competition for him.

Edited May 13, 2004 by Whisper in the Wind

[supergrass]

I personally don't think Smith would go to United judging by his love of Leeds.

Beckham is by far the best crosser of the ball, most wide players have to beat men to put the ball in but Beckham didn't, he could just curl a ball in. That's pretty handy with the likes of Van Nistelrooy, Solskjaer and Scholes all in and around the box. I think he's been missed every bit as much as he is said to, but I guess we'll disagree there. He might be missed a little less once Ronaldo starts crossing more and not stepping-over, but he's been getting better at that.

United definitely need at least one defender and one midfielder. By that I mean they need one world class player in each position, not a bargain they picked from somewhere. They're not in the position to be able to wait for players to come good at the moment.

[FLiam]

Erm, we signed a player from a relegated team TheArsenal.

Gael Clichy would have been a semi-pro if he stayed where he was, but that is different, Clichy is good

Edited May 13, 2004 by Gooner4Life

[TheArsenal]

BUT!!!

1. Clichy is good.

2. He wasn't thrust into the first team - he was put in the reserves.

Let's think about CONTEXT people!!!!!

[Summers]

BUT!!!

1. Clichy is good.

2. He wasn't thrust into the first team - he was put in the reserves.

Let's think about CONTEXT people!!!!!

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3. Aren't double standards great?

[TheArsenal]

3. Aren't double standards great?

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In a word.

Yes.

PS. - Djemba Djemba sucks.

Edited May 13, 2004 by TheArsenal

[Summers]

PS. - You Suck.

; )

Edited May 13, 2004 by Summers

[TheArsenal]

PS. - You Suck.

; )

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Then Alex Ferguson will probably want to sign me over the summer!!

[Guest I Bleed Red]

Gilberto, Edu and Silvinho say hi.

Other than them, the problem is that Premiership teams tend to sign crap South Americans

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Veron isn't a crap South American, he's a class player.

The problem is that they're used to playing a different style then the premiership.

When he was at Lazio he was great, and it's because in other European games players are given a lot of time on the ball, which isn't the case in the Premiership.

Oh yeah, Silvinho's SUCH a class player isn't he? christ, you're havin a laff

[supergrass]

Silvinho was a great player actually. He had to leave due to those old "Edu passport problems", but while he was there I'd rank him up there with Ashley Cole in terms of good attacking full backs.

So to answer your question, yes he was such a class player, a class player who at the time was challenging Roberto Carlos at left back for Brazil.

Edited May 14, 2004 by supergrass

[TheArsenal]

So to answer your question, yes he was such a class player, a class player who at the time was challenging Roberto Carlos at left back for Brazil.

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He actually pushed him out for a time - albeit a short time. Because when Ashley Cole got his place in the Arsenal team commentators were saying it was probably the first time the current England left-back forced the current Brazilian left-back out of a team.