If you register for free, you will be able to post threads, vote on polls and lots more. If you have problems with the registration or logging in, please contact the administrator.
Originally posted by eScotty:
Nice to see the team doing well!
Love the second storyline too ^.^
Second Storyline?? only one so far unless you are counting the games as one?
Anyway I'm somewhat surprised at how well the team has been doing especially as Rio and Rooney aren't back yet
Saturday 29th September 2001
Premier League Portsmouth Fratton Park
MUTV Commentator
“Here we are down on the sunny south coast for the final game of this month. Quite a few changes in the team as you would expect with players returning from being dropped. Carroll is back in goal as Howard is banned for a few more matches meaning young Thomas Heaton remains on the bench.
Heinze is back in for Pique and Ronaldo replaces the injured Kleberson. Benchwise its pretty strong with Brown, Keane, Fletcher and Miller also on it.
GK Carroll
DL Heinze
DR G Neville
DC Silvestre
DC O'Shea
MC Giggs
MC Ronaldo
MC Djemba
AMC Scholes
FC Bellion
FC Smith
Subs:
Heaton
Brown
Fletcher
Keane
Miller
03-25-2005, 05:15 PM
Sir Alex Throws a Wobbler and Other Seedy Goings on Down at Old Trafford Post #62
Another game another win, that's 4 in a row now. A very dominant display saw Manchester United move up to 3rd in the league behind Liverpool and Arsenal. Tonight saw very impressive performances from Smith, Bellion and Ronaldo, perhaps they were aware of the players returning from injury/suspension in time for the next match.
Bellion opened the scoring with a simple volley from a Ronaldo cross early on in the game. Smith found himself tied up later on but managed to squeeze the ball out to Bellion. From no more than a half chance Bellion volleyed another shot home. A Ronaldo shot was then blocked by Hislop but Giggs swiftly pounced on the rebound making it 3-0 with barely a quarter of the match played.
Scholes picked the ball up shortly afterwards and after a quick one two with Smith managed to make it 4-0 before half time. Half time saw Miller come on for Scholes but he failed to impress in the second half at all. Two quick Portsmouth goals rocked United a bit and an injury to Djemba saw a double substitution to rectify things.
Djemba was replaced with Fletcher and Brown came on for Silvestre, who had been partly to blame for both goals. Near the end of the match Bellion managed to find enough room to fire home his third goal completing his hattrick.
Portsmouth 2 Kamara 68 Foxe 70 Manchester United 5 Bellion 7, 15, 84 Giggs 24 Scholes 31
MOM: Bellion
Attendance: 34986
Ratings: Carroll 7, G Neville 8, Heinze 8, Silvestre 7, O'Shea 7, Djemba 7, Scholes 7, Giggs 8, Bellion 10, Smith 10, Ronaldo 10, Miller (Sub for Scholes HT) 6, Fletcher (Sub for Djemba 70 mins) 7, Brown (Sub for Silvestre 70 mins) 6
03-26-2005, 02:54 AM
Sir Alex Throws a Wobbler and Other Seedy Goings on Down at Old Trafford Post #63
David Gill and Stephen Baxter are up on the podium preparing themselves for the press conference.
DG: “Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen. Welcome to tonight's press conference. Before I let you question Stephen I'll be going over the Quarterly Financial Statement first as promised.“
“Since July we have made a loss of £6.6 million but as £6 million of that is interest payments we are more or less running on even. We've received £14.4 million and spent £17.1 million not counting the interest payments. The club's funds currently stand at £16.6 million in the red but I am optimistic this will rise up in the next few months.”
“As you can see so far we are not doing to well but most of the income received during the course of the season arrives in the later stages, like the Prize money for the Premier League for a start. Good European runs in the Champions League also pays you more money later in the season so there is nothing to worry about just yet.”
“I think Stephen has some plans on how to cut back on expenditure and raising money through sales of non essential players but I'll let him tell you more when you question him shortly. I'd just like to add that we currently have £194 million to pay back to the Royal Bank of Scotland and that we envisage it taking until 2010 at least.”
David Gill hands over to Stephen Baxter and he prepares for the questions from the assembled media.
SB: “Good Evening people lets get the questions over with first this time.”
Daily Mirror Question: The team is doing well at the moment what is your key to the success?
SB: “Well its all about a good squad mentality mainly. This means that when we have a lot of injuries as we do now the other players are ready and happy to fill in knowing that they'll probably have to lose out once the injuries heal up.”
Daily Telegraph Question: With the club struggling with cash at the moment, and going by my sources, on the verge of being declared bankrupt. What do you intend to do about it?
SB: “The club is not going to be declared bankrupt as the bank is fully behind us and obviously wants to see some return on their investment. What am I going to do about it? Well Ricardo was sold of earlier on and I have transfer listed a few more players tonight but I'm not going into details. Several players have signed new contracts and currently the clubs wage bill is £48 million which is low for a club of this status, Chelsea are paying £50 million currently with a smaller squad.”
The Times Question: Going back to the bankruptcy question. Is there a specified amount of debt before the club is declared bankrupt according to the rules of the game?
SB: “Yes I think its around £17-18 million below that and we would be classed as bankrupt. All that means is that I'll be looking at any serious offers for our players. Also the HSE sometimes take a dim view of this and may close down part of the stadium, but then as they've been threatening to do this for years over standing we aren't to bothered. The FA have certain rules about bankrupt clubs too which I am sure you are all aware of already.”
David Gill steps forward.
DG: “Time for one more question only folks and keep to footballing matters please.”
Daily Mail Question: With Wayne Rooney returning from injury and Rio Ferdinand from suspension are you still going to stick to your current selection policy?
SB: “Obviously with a greater squad size available to me now the old system is not very useful. It has served it's purpose though as I have seen most of the team play and I know who will be useful and who is sellable. The one problem I have at the moment is for the next match I only have one goalkeeper available as the main two are both suspended.
Squad selection will from now on be more a case of swapping the odd player to give them a rest. I might start fiddling with the formation a bit to not sure yet.”
DG: “Thank you all for coming and I look forward to seeing you all at the next press conference”
03-28-2005, 06:53 PM
Sir Alex Throws a Wobbler and Other Seedy Goings on Down at Old Trafford Post #67
Today Manchester United announced that they were technically bankrupt as the current debt level had dropped to £18 million placing them in breach of the FA Rules. Although the club stressed they were not actually bankrupt the fact that the current account is £18 million in the red is some what worrying.
The club spokesman was quick to stress that one or two players were currently being offered around for sale and also if a sensible offer came in for a more key player it would be considered seriously. Also the spokesman added that most of the income arrives at the end of the season not the start and TV plus season ticket sale income occurs over the summer and makes up a fair sized proportion of total income.
The FA Bankruptcy rules basically state that the club can not turn down sensible offers for any player until they get the current account back up above the bankruptcy limit. It is not expected that any clubs will be slapping down bids on the star players just yet, particularly as Manchester United are doing so well currently.
03-30-2005, 09:37 PM
Sir Alex Throws a Wobbler and Other Seedy Goings on Down at Old Trafford Post #68
“Good afternoon and welcome to Bolton. Today sees the debut of Thomas Heaton as he is the only available goalkeeper at the club for this match. Today also sees the return of Rio Ferdinand, from his stupidly long suspension for alleged drug taking, replacing Silvestre at centre back.
Saha returns to the bench after injury and if the rumours are true could be the next player to leave, especially with Rooney almost back from injury too. Ruud Van Nistelrooy also returns to the team giving Bellion a rest after his excellent filling in as a striker.
GK Heaton
DL Heinze
DR G Neville
DC Ferdinand
DC O'Shea
MC Keane
MC Ronaldo
MC Fletcher
AMC Scholes
FC Van Nistelrooy
FC Smith
Subs:
Saha
Giggs
Djemba
Brown
Miller
03-31-2005, 05:46 PM
Sir Alex Throws a Wobbler and Other Seedy Goings on Down at Old Trafford Post #69
I see you failed to mention anything about the Kid keeper
Daily Telegraph Match Report
Today was never going to be an easy match, Bolton away are always tough even more so when its a local derby match. Rio Ferdinand made his come back today and didn't look fully ready yet. Saha's return from injury was disappointing too as he picked up another injury despite only playing 20 minutes.
United scored first unsurprisingly after Gary Neville picked up a loose ball in the Bolton 18 yard area. The simple task of getting it past Bryn Halliwell was skilfully executed as he wrong footed the keeper superbly. A Ronaldo header from a Van Nistelrooy free-kick saw United ease into a 2-0 lead but it didn't last long.
El-Hadj Diouf found some space soon after and fired a powerful shot past the unlucky Heaton. Shortly afterwards Heirro scored from a header making it 2-2. Heaton didn't do badly really, just doesn't have the experience at this level yet to cope fully.
Bolton 2 Diouf 26 Heirro 35 Manchester United 2 Neville 12 Ronaldo 25
MOM: Ronaldo
Attendance: 27462
Ratings: Heaton 7, G Neville 7, Heinze 6, Ferdinand 7, O'Shea 7, Keane 7, Scholes 6, Fletcher 7, Van Nistelrooy 7, Smith 7, Ronaldo 9, Saha (Sub for Scholes 71 mins) 6, Brown (Sub for Heinze 71 mins) 6
Linear Mode
