Once again, Martin Samuel's spot on

[ell]

I think what he is saying is if Rooney had signed for city we would have won because yoonited really are shite without him

 

[bernabias home shirt]

I like samuel always a decent read regardless if it is the mail..

I think he has seen an oppurtunity to get on the right side of city.

And why not.

 

[samharris]

Not reading it mate, god I hate that twat.

Thats a shame gaz....its a good honest read.

 

[bookiesgirl]

always read his column, one of the best journos around, if anyone wants a go read steven howards in the sun

 

[bookiesgirl]

always read his column, one of the best journos around, if anyone wants a go read steven howards in the sun

 

[Frank H]

General standard of football journalism is so low that it doesn't take much to be one of the best. Martin Samuel is certainly one of the best, although not a "country mile" ahead of the rest, as some claim.

As a supporter of the extinct Wimbledon FC, I will always be grateful that he was one of the journalists most opposed to the theft - indeed annihilation - of our club by the asset-stripping owners and the Milton Keynes mob.

But most journalists have their weak points, and one of Samuel's is his massively OTT regard for Rooney.

 

[Mikeegrini]

Enjoyed the article, good read....

And, deep down, Ferguson knows it, just as he knows that, in victory, this game spoke as worryingly of United’s current predicament as it offered strange positives for City

sorry if already posted but I read this on Sunday in the Guardian

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/jan/07/sir-alex-ferguson-manchester-united" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012 ... ter-united</a>

Sir Alex Ferguson powerless to stop Manchester United empire crumbling

Manchester United may go on to win the Double, but there can be no happy ending for a decaying club

Rob Smyth
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 7 January 2012 22.55 GMT

It did not take a couple of spineless defeats to Blackburn and Newcastle, or a reminder of the apparently inexorable breakdown in the relationship between Sir Alex Ferguson and Wayne Rooney, to confirm that Manchester United are on their knees ahead of Sunday's FA Cup tie at Manchester City. The defeats and the latest Rooney story barely registered. After a while, you stop noticing the nails going in the coffin.

There is a perception, born of ignorance or sandyheadedness, that United fans complaining about the state of the club are just spoilt brats who can't handle the odd bad result. Poppycock. You would be surprised how many fans welcome defeats, even humiliations, on some level, because they hasten an industrial cleansing of the club that has been necessary since United embarked on the road to ruin with the Glazers on 12 May 2005. The sooner United hit rock bottom, the sooner the club can regain its identity.

Every significant aspect of the club is decaying. The squad is riddled with uncertainty. The star player, Rooney, has gone from having a sulk every football season to a sulk every calendrical season and seems certain to have one fallout too many with Ferguson sooner rather than later. The fans have been replaced by consumers, people who see no contradiction in draping a green-and-gold scarf over a replica shirt and who seem to take their attitude from Nirvana: here we are now, entertain us. The wall of silence against Blackburn was a shocking nadir.

The Glazers are siphoning money in such staggering quantities that, in the past three years, United's net spend is lower than that of Hull City, Blackpool and Burnley. There are now rumours of a move for Frank Lampard and a return for Paul Scholes. Lampard, Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Michael Owen and Rio Ferdinand. All hail the geriátricos.

Then there is the manager. In terms of results, Ferguson has arguably never been better than in the past few years, manipulating limited resources and imposing his obscene will to stunning effect. Last season's title was almost entirely down to him. Ferguson is a miracle of longevity who has emerged triumphantly from deeper holes than this in the past, and may do so again. Yet all genius is finite. It is not just all political lives that end in failure.

Ferguson has looked weary in the past two games, slumped passively in his chair when before he would have prowled the touchline, liberally applying the fear of God. His often eccentric selections have started to verge on the wilfully perverse. He is also picking more fights than usual, almost bringing to mind the last days of Tony Montana and Tony Soprano as they burned bridges with humanity.

Ferguson often says nobody is bigger than the club, yet there are signs that he has started to believe in his own omnipotence. His greatest strength – the absolute conviction that no challenge is too great – may become his defining weakness. It's a textbook tragedy: a genius unwittingly presiding over the excruciatingly slow ruin of the empire he created. United may beat City on Sunday and go on to do the Double; it does not matter. There can be no happy ending here.

One bit I'm struggling to believe though is this...

The Glazers are siphoning money in such staggering quantities that, in the past three years, United's net spend is lower than that of Hull City, Blackpool and Burnley. There are now rumours of a move for Frank Lampard and a return for Paul Scholes. Lampard, Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Michael Owen and Rio Ferdinand. All hail the geriátricos.

Have they really spent less than Hull, Blackpool and Burnley???

 

[allineedisjo]

It is testament to City and a worrying development for Ferguson that even a three-goal and one-man lead is barely enough to keep the neighbours at bay these days

Only dees