Breaking News
Manchester United chief executive David Gill has exclusively confirmed to MUTV that Nemanja Vidic agreed a new long term deal four weeks ago and will put pen to paper when he returns from holiday in early August.
Best bit of news we’ve had all summer and will now surely put an end to all those rumours of him leaving for Real Madrid.
The French Football Federation have accepted the request of new manager Laurent Blanc to not select any member of France’s world cup squad after their dismal display, picking up just one point.
All 23 players will now be unavailable for selection for the friendly against Norway.
Laurent Blanc stamping his mark on the squad from the off. Massive wake up call for all involved.
Manchester United go into their second pre-season friendly on their Tour of America after a less than comfortable 3-1 victory over Celtic in Toronto last Friday.
Goals from Dimitar Berbatov, Danny Welbeck and Tom Cleverley saw off the Glasgow giants but it wasn’t as easy as the scoreline suggests.
Leading 1-0 at the break, United were put under pressure at the start of the second half. Substitute Geogios Samaras was on top form as he dazzled his way past United on a number of occasions and not long after drew Celtic level from the spot after Chris Smalling gave away a penalty on what was otherwise an impressive first outing for the young defender. Second half United subs Welbeck and Cleverley wrapped up victory as Berbatov shined for the Red Devils.
Tonight/early morning, United play Philadelphia Union in Philly in their second friendly. United will be giving a run out to most of the squad as they continue to build on their fitness ahead of the new season. One absentee from the squad will be Darron Gibson who has returned home to Derry for his grandmothers funeral, but will be arriving back in the States in the next 24 hours.
Looking forward to see the likes of youngsters Welbeck, Macheda and Cleverley again. All very exciting and also hoping Corry Evans gets a run out. Need to get these youths experience in case we need to call on them during the season.
Celtic, as always, will be tough opponents and there have been many battles between the two sides in recent years, most notably in the Champions League. This is Celtic’s second pre-season game, having already lost 1-0 to Philadelphia Union, who United face next week.
After ten days of tough fitness tests and training, Manchester United’s 22 man travelling squad are ready to get down to business on the pitch when they take on Scottish giants Celtic at the Rogers Centre in Toronto today (July 16, 2010).
New signing Chris Smalling will be looking to play a part as he gets set to begin his career as a Manchester United player.
These games aren’t about results. They are about players getting fitness and being ready when the new season kicks off.
Man Utd travelling squad: Edwin van der Sar, Tomasz Kuszczak, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Dimitar Berbatov, John O’Shea, Wes Brown, Rafael, Jonny Evans, Darren Fletcher, Darron Gibson, Chris Smalling, Nani, Fabio, Federico Macheda, Danny Welbeck, Javier Hernandez (will join in Houston on 27 July), Mame Biram Diouf, Tom Cleverley, Ritchie De Laet, Corry Evans, Ben Amos, Gabriel Obertan.
After week’s of reports saying Manuel Pellegrini would be sacked as manager of Real Madrid, he was finally shown the door yesterday.
His sacking came after Real Madrid ended the season trophyless despite spending over £200 million on star players like Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo, Xabi Alonso and Karim Benzema.
In any other season, Real Madrid’s final points total (96) in La Liga would have been enough to win the league but it just shows how much stronger Barcelona were to finish with a total of 99 points.
Pellegrini can feel disappointed that despite setting a new points total with Madrid that he got sacked but Madrid have shown in the past that even if you win the league it doesn’t mean your job is safe.
Here are some of Pellegrinis parting comments from FFT
I came here with high hopes and great pride to manage this team. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to do what I wanted to do and I had differences from the beginning of the season
There were a lot of disagreements in the club. I asked for them to keep (Wesley) Sneijder and (Arjen) Robben, who were two very important players for me. I missed having a debate on sporting issues, with the coach included.
As (former Real coach and current Spain boss) Vicente Del Bosque said, even the club show no respect for the position of the coach, and they don’t give them the authority internally or externally.
Florentino’s project is extraordinary but I think he’s got it wrong.
For weeks now, Jose Mourinho has been constantly linked with the Real Madrid job for next season and that speculation increased weeks ago when he said it was impossible for him to stay at Inter.
After guiding Inter to Champions League glory last week at the Bernabeu, he said that it would be his new home and he would become to new manager of Real Madrid. After a tearful exchange with his players, Mourinho left.
Mourinho has today promised an attacking and winning Real Madrid side but should his team fail to win La Liga and the Champions League next season he could be another managerial casualty on the Real Madrid merry-go-round.
The La Liga season only ended last weekend but Barcelona didn’t hang around long to make the first top signing of the close season. The moved quickly to wrap up the signing of Spain’s world class striker David Villa before he leaves for the World Cup in South Africa.
The deal was first announced Monday after agreeing a fee of €40 million with Valencia. This morning (Friday) Villa passed a medical and was paraded to the thousands of fans who gathered at the Camp Nou.
The image above of Villa in a Barcelona jersey has got fans excited about next season already and no doubt fans will be expecting another one or two world class signings at the Camp Nou in the coming weeks and months with rumours of Fabregas and Torres flying about.
Barca's new number 7
Premier League Trophy - Who will lift it tomorrow?
The day that all English Premier League fans hate has come – the last day of the league season. Although there is World Cup football this season, it will seem a long time before we see our team take the the field again in August.
After an intense battle for the title, and a three horse race for most of the season, it has come down to two teams with just one game to play.
Chelsea go into their game against Wigan at Stamford Bridge knowing a win will guarantee them their first league title since 2006. Arguably the best team throughout the whole season, they still remain just one point ahead of title challengers and reigning champions Manchester United.
Manchester United are also at home on the final day against Stoke City and will go out and concentrate on their side of things knowing all they can do is win and hope Chelsea slip up. A win for United and a draw or loss for Chelsea will see Manchester United lift the title for the fourth consecutive year.
After losing Cristiano Ronaldo and all the goals he gave the team over the last few seasons, United will see this as a transitional period but they will be hugely disappointed going so close if they don’t end up as champions.
It’s all to play for tomorrow at 4 pm and there are sure to be some up and downs and twists and turns during the 90 minutes.
Manchester United to tour USA
Manchester United have officially announced their pre-season plans as they prepare for next season with a tour of America.
It is six years since United last played in North America and Sir Alex Ferguson has said he is looking forward to going back.
It all kicks off with a training camp in Chicago, the home of new sponsors Aon, where they will unveil next season’s new shirts. They get down to business on July 16th when they face Glasgow giants Celtic in a friendly at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Canada.
Five days later they travel to Philadelphia to face Philadelphia Union and four days later stop off at the Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City to play the Kansas City Wizards. The final friendly in North America will be in Houston as United face an MLS All-Star side on July 28th.
As part of the tour, United will then head on to Mexico for the first ever time where they will open Chivas’ new 45,000 capacity stadium. This is part of the deal that sees Javier Hernandez move to Old Trafford next season.
It is unlikely any of the United team going to the World Cup will be present on the tour but there will still be plenty of star names on show along with some of United’s most exciting youngsters.
Drew's Football Blog 