A Certain Shade of Red - Manchester United

RossDee · 08-01-2007, 07:58 PM

BBC News - 30th July - Sir Alex Ferguson steps down

Sir Alex Ferguson has Retired from footbal, the decision was made by Ferguson to allow a "Younger, Fresher manager" to "Take the reins of Manchester United".

Young manager Ross Delany has been appointed as an immediate replacementon a one year contract. Delany had worked in a coaching capacity for Man Utd previously and has clearly done enough to convine The Man Utd board to appoint him as Manager.
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Hi, I'm Ross Delany. I try not to read my own press, but I felt that I had to give you this. At 23, I'm possibly the youngest manager of a prfessional club in England, pehaps the world. I was never a good player, but I always had a tactical aptitude, I've been working at Old Trafford for 2 years already.

I didn't expect to be offered the Manager's Job, but when I was, I jumped at the offer, Sir Alex always said I'd be a good manager, and I wouldn't be surprised if he'd pulled more than a few strings...

1st July - Daily record

The Story of the boy who could

Glasgow youngster Ross Delany has been surprisingly appointed as Sir Alex
Ferguson's successor at Man Utd. Delany
had worked as a coach for Utd for 2
years previously. Chairman David Gill
called Delany "A Breath of fresh air"
and "ayoung manager with a lot of talent"

(Full Story P96)

RossDee · 08-01-2007, 08:00 PM

sorry, messed up formatting.

RossDee · 08-01-2007, 09:03 PM

A week into my tenure at Man Utd, A week of assesing the squad, the only defensive players I really have 100% confidence in are Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, and, despite Newspaper reports otherwise, Gabriel Heinze. The Board have given me £16Million which is going to go into the defense, a defense in which I have no confidence in for the most part.

Well, apart from some of the young defenders, Evans and Piqué look like they'll form a solid cental pairing in the not too distant future. but that doesn't solve my devensive worries just now. I need a strong Right Back, but with about 6 Million going into my bid for young Leighton Baines of Wigan. I'm going to need more money; Hopefully I can persuade the board to give me it

RossDee · 08-01-2007, 10:13 PM

The Guardian - 9th July

Delany Shows Interest In Corluka and Baines

Manchester United manager Ross Delany has spoken out on the transfer speculation linking him with NK Dinamo's Croation International, Vedran Corluka, Delany described Corluka as " An extremely talented player who has more than enough talent to step into the defense of any team in the world." as well as" "[having] the potential to set the Club and International stage alight". when asked if he would make a bid for the Croatian, Delany said "Why not? He (Vedran) is quality and it never hurts to have quality in your defensive line. Good teams are always built from the back line onwards, we have a brilliant midfield and a more than capable front line, why should the uglier side be left behind?" when asked if young Wigan defender Leighton Baines was going to be a part of his sunmmer buying, Delany was concise "Yes, and no more talk about specific targets, lest the board crucify me for missing anyone". even at this early stage, Delany looks to have Ferguson's wit, mixed with a wenger-esque youth policy which is strong, yet sustainable.

RossDee · 08-02-2007, 02:52 AM

I Had asked David Gill if it would be possible to get the transfer budget increased before Carlos took the squad on the Turkish tour that Sir Alex had planned before stepping down. When I walked into my office today, there was a post-it note with the words "budget's now 30M," I would have loved to go, but I had some deals to finish up. Carlos understood and told me that "he'd keep me up to date while I went about my business".; at least someone understood. because the post-it finished up with "P.S. you might want to think about PJS, as he looks like he could be a disruptive influence on the squad". the post-it was stuck on to the back page of The Sun.

Quote:

The Sun - 20th July

Useless, Lazy and unpredicatble
No, Not Chelsea's latest signing, but Man Utd's new Manager, Ross Delany

In a scathing attack on his new boss, Man Utd player and South Korean internationalist Park Ji-Sung labelled new Manchester United boss "Lazy" and "Tactically inept". this comes after an announcement from Delany saying in no uncertain terms that the defense is in need of a total makeover. "Of course he would think it's useless, he has next to no football knowledge whatsoever. Whoever said he was fit for coaching badges is, as you Brits say, bonkers." Ji-Sung then went on to say that "he (Delany) is obviously a behind-the-desk kind of manager. opting to work on transfers in the office instead of joinin [the team] in Turkey." whether or not Ji-Sung views are that of the whole squad or not are to be seen, however, Delany is more than likely to take action against this or not, But Ji-Sung may find himself on the transfer list when he ant his teammates return to Manchester. Park Ji Sung signed for (Continued on Pg 80)

while it may all be wrong I had already been thinking about selling Park Ji-Sung. Bayern had already enquired and he was surplus to requirements. alll that was left was for me to fax back an appropriate price.

Besides, if worst came to worst, I always had Solskjaer and Fletcher to cover for Ronaldo on the right, and if the Guardado deal comes off, he'd be fourth choice behind Giggs, Richardson, and this young man who, while he's a left back, has all the attributes of a young Ryan Giggs; at least they got this story right.

Quote:

The Sun - 20th July

Bale Bails out on Southampton

Gareth Bale will become a Manchester United Player today after leaving Southampton for an undisclosed fee. when asked about the deal, Gareth said " I never thought once while I was a young lad growing up in Cardiff that I would play for Man Utd. they could have paid me £10 a week and I'd have joined the club. It's a dream come true". Bale can now include himself with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand, although, when asked who he had looked forward to meeting was, the Cardiff born player gave an answer that some may say, was expected. "Ryan Giggs of course! it's not every day that you get to count a player who you idolised in your younger years amongst your friends and equals. he's a really nice guy and I think I'll learn a lot from him, as well as others at the club". Although being trained as a left-back, Bale's left-footed prowess and free kick ability have evoked comparisons to the legendary left-footed winger Ryan Giggs,

If Guardado agrees a deal with us and gets his permit, along with Corluka - who I must admit, surprised me by turning down an offer for Barcelona to join us- along with Leighton Baines agreeing a contract and Zaccardo being allowed to speak to us, I'll be a very happy chappy indeed.

RossDee · 08-02-2007, 04:56 AM

Thanks a lot for fixing the formatting Faramir
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Not everything went as well as the Gareth Bale deal. Vedran Corluka Was turned down for his work permit, even after the appeal, so a fresh bid's had to be put in for him, but my original offer of 2.5 Million would be laughed away now, Dinamo are demanding 3M + for him. But still, I have enough faith in his talent to pay that for him. Leighton Baines cost me £7.25 million in the end, 2 million more than I wanted to pay Wigan, but Paul Jewell's a very shrewd man indeed. and that's with a 5% sell on clause, 15% less, but it cost me an extra 2 million to get rid of that 15%. PJS was indeed a disruptive influence, so as soon as Bayern faxed through a bid, although it was half a million short of my valuation, I decided I could sleep soundly knowing that the unity of my squad was worth more than that.

that pales in significance to the one major transfer woe I have though, one of the players I'd have cut my right arm off to buy is going to be playing against us this season, and probably a good few seasons after this one as well

Quote:

The Sun - 31st July

Liverpool buy "Next Cristiano Ronaldo"

Liverpool have bought Mexican winger Andres Guardado for 2.5 Million pounds. Guardado is understood to be Mexico's answer to Man Utd Winger Cristiano Ronaldo. United were also in talks with the young Mexican, who New Manager Ross Delany believed would be a more than adaquate understudy to Ronaldo. Earlier this month, Delany was quoted as saying "Guardado's a sublime talent and to have him on our books at Old Trafford would be an incredible thing." By the looks of it, Rafa Benitez thought the same...

However, as those indefatigable Optimists always say, Every cloud has a silver lining, in this case... well... see for yourself

Quote:

The Sun - 5th August

Zaccardo Joins Utd

Established Italian internationalist Cristian Zaccardo became the latest player to join Manchester united today for £5.5 Million from Palermo. Zaccardo, who played with Bologna before joining Palermo told reporter that "It's not often a club the size of Manchester United knock at your clubs door and want to speak to you. Manchester is a big club with a massive fanbase who are challenging for trophies every year. Joining United is possibly the best thing that has ever happened to me apart from my first international cap.

this is one of my business masterstrokes if I say so myself. i bid £7M first, which the counter-offered £9.75M. while I thought he had potential, I need that money for something else so a very audacious £3.5M + 45% of next sale offer was put in, to which Palermo replied with a counter-offer of £5.5M. no clauses. the rest was simple

however. going through the squad, something jumped out at me. I haven't got really good cover up front, I have Rooney and either Saha or Larsson until Alan Smith comes back. Larsson leaves in March for the new Swedish season and Solskjaer is only at the club due to has calming influence on the younger players, not for his ability. I had no choice; my new priority would have to be offensive cover, my backline is, admittedly, rather young, but I hav faith in them. hopefully an offer will come in for Richardson and Fletcher, together, they're about £12M
minimum.

RossDee · 08-02-2007, 08:06 PM

It had been a week since I had signed Zaccardo, and 3 days since I made the decision to offer Kieran Richardson out to clubs, admittedly, he's not a bad player but he just doesn't fit into my plans at the club, considering I had back-up in Gareth Bale if Giggs picked up an injury. All I had to do now was tell Kieran, which was a shame, I'd known him since my early days at Old Trafford, and was rather friendly with him. I took him aside at the end of training.

"Kieran, Could I talk to you in my office a minute?"

"Kieraaaan, wotcha done now?" this was the usual squad cry when I took a player aside.

"leave it boys" I said, stifling a giggle, I'd started this in my first week of coaching, when I seen Ruud Van Nistelrooy on the deck after a mistimed tackle from Rio in training, "Riiooo... wotcha done now?" was all I said, and it turned into a squad catchphrase.

We sat down in my office, I had the West Ham offer in my desk drawer, so as to put it to him gently, He was a good guy, only 2 years younger than me at the age of 21, and It felt horrible to tell him that he didn't have a place at United anymore.

"Kieran, you have a lot of potential, do you know that?"

"Yeah boss, you've only told me every week for the past two years"

" I really think you're going to have a place in the English national first XI in the future. But you know yourself that your opportunities are mainly going to be in reserve football again this year?""

"Boss, have you brought me into your office for the sole reason of bumming me up?"

"No Kieran, I brought you up here because... well I think it's better that I show you myself."

I took the faxed offer with the West Ham United crest out of my desk.

"Alan Curbishley sent me this Offer this afternoon, I've told you, quite plainly that you more than likely won't get first team football this season, correct?"

"Yeah, I knew that already, I know I'm 3rd choice after our own two Welsh dragons."

"I want you to be honest with me, I won't force your hand on this; do you want me to accept the deal, and let you discuss terms with West Ham? I'm pretty sure that Alan would play you ahead of Boa Morte on the left or Bowyer through the middle.

"Boss, I won't forget the help you gave me through my time here, you and Sir Alex... you both taught me a lot."

"Is that a yes Kieran?"

"It is Boss, and I mean what I said."

"Thanks Kieran, I appreciate it, and if you agree terms... best of luck at West Ham"

It wasn't an easy decision to make, but he's too good to languish in the reserves again, and he really deserves every chance he can get. plus, the money can help me look for some cover up fron and on the Right side of the park.

marcftm · 08-03-2007, 01:03 AM

Good Start

:thup:

RossDee · 08-03-2007, 01:18 AM

"OK guys, everything before this is irrelavent. Wigan's not exactly what I would have preferred as my first game of the Premiership season, but we can only take what we've got; at least we've got home field advantage."

It was my first competitive game as a manager, playing wigan at home, not my ideal start, but there's worse...

"right Patrice, you're playing left back, Rio, you're playing Centre D, Nemanja, you're playing sweeper behind him. Gary, you're playing at right back, I want you and Pat to work the defensive elements of the wings and feed the ball to Leighton, speaking of which, Leighton, you're playing a central holding role. Paul I want you in that Centre Mid/Attacking Mid role you used to dominate, keep it up and you might get the place ahead of Carrick. Cris, Ryan. you're on the wings, feeding in balls to every [i]INCH[/I} if the opposition box, flood it. Louis, your speed will be needed to beat the defense on any balls played through the Middle, Henrik, I watched you play in the Hoops and then play the same way at Barca, you've got carté blanché, do what you feel you need to."

"Boss?" -Cristian Zaccardo had kept quiet until now- " Why am I not playing?" I thought he'd ask this, "Wigan look to be a big challenge, and because I'm still buying, I need to use the XI Sir Alex gave me unless I know for sure if any player'll slot in. Otherwise, Gareth Bale would be in right now."

this was a half truth, I knew my strongest 11, and I wanted to play Zaccardo against Sheffield, who, unlike Wigan, were forecast to shoot right down and stay down.

"OK... ARE WE READY TO WIN!"

numerous shoutings of "YEAH!" resulted.

The game started pretty quickly, one thing I wanted to try and beat out of the Man Utd demeanor was the tendency to sit and wait, keep everyone sweating bullets, then score in the last minute; although that being said, Man Utd's most glorious moment in the past 10 years came that way. I had the same feeling when Pat Evra hauled Antonio Valencia for a free kick. luckily for us, Unsworth couldn't convert it. 10 minutes passed before, thanks to some spectacular link up play, we scored with a sublime Louis Saha volley after being set up by Vidic; 1-0, and we had no intention of losing our lead. Wigan decided the only thing they could do was sit back and hope to hit us on the break. which worked... up until the 71st Minute, the match had been a non-event after starting so promisingly; until the wigan defense got a bit over-zealous

Quote:

Match of the day, 19th August, Man Utd vs Wigan @ Old Trafford

"Larsson, to Evra on the left, he's in a perfect position to whip in an early cross, OH! body-checked by Antonio Valencia, how he's not recieving a ookking at least for that challenge, I couldn't tell you, but at least there's a free kick. Baines looks around the box... swings it in... Evra, Evra... WHAT A STRIKE! Patrice Evra with a Sublime strike, and I don't think there's a better way to open your account, Man Utd 2, Wigan 0, and with just under 20 minutes of regulation time remaining, it's highly unlikely that Wigan will be able to pull themselves back into this.

They were partially right, they couldn't pull themselves right back into it, but Antonio Valencia gave it a shot, cooly slotting the ball past van der Sar after being laid on by Emile Heskey. It ended up being a consolation goal after Louis Saha slammed the ball past Chris Kirkland to seal the match, and earn himself the Man of the Match award and, perhaps more importantly, rest my fears over a lack of attacking options.

" We played really well today guys. Wigan didn't stand a chance, the one thing we've got to ensure is that we don't allow complacency to creep in. We may not have as many big names as Chelsea or Liverpool, but that doesn't matter a jot if we work together as a unit."

"But surely big players make all the difference?" Wes Brown had asked the question I had been asking myself before the game.

" Wes, some of the best teams in the world were built around the basis of teamwork and unity, and less on individual skill, some players stood out, but they'd have been nothing without the strength around them. We beat Wigan with teamwork, not individual skill"

I was saying this to convince myself more than anyone else, i still need some cover in the midfield and up front, but there's 2 weeks left, anything can happen.