Glazers set for partial float of Manchester United on Singapore stock exchange

After a few months of speculation, the much despised owners of Manchester United look finally set for a $1 billion dollar float (approximately £600 million) of the club with an IPO of around 25-30% on the Singapore Stock Exchange (the “SGX”). It was initially expected the partial share sale of United by the Glazers would be done in Hong Kong (the “HKEX”) after the Glazers were impressed by the floats of western brands such as luggage firm Samsonite in Hong Kong which were oversubscribed but now it is understood by the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14574131) that the club has indeed lodged a listing application to float the club in the far east not in Hong Kong but Singapore. It is believed the whole process could be completed some time around November.

United was the subject of heavy speculation in late 2010 and early 2011 of a rumoured takeover by the wealthy Qatar Holdings who were believed to be very keen on acquiring the club and thus further intensifying the United-City rivalry through a battle of Middle Eastern sheikh oil money, the takeover failed to materialise and looks unlikely to do so in the future with Qatar Holdings now holding investments in Paris Saint-Germain and Spanish side Malaga C.F. Indeed the former have already made headlines this summer completing the expensive acquisition of Javier Pastore, in addition to Jeremy Menez among others. Malaga too are flexing their muscles with purchases of the likes of Jeremy Toulalan and currently have former United hero Ruud Van Nistelrooy in their ranks.

This latest move by the Glazers is seen by a few market experts as a long term strategy for an eventual Glazer exit nevertheless the risk of a leveraged buy out once again resurfaces and as of yet it is unclear how they plan to use the proceeds of the partial sale. The obvious move would be to pay off some of the clubs debts taken on as a result of the bond issue in 2010 which replaced the original bank debts. The club is required to pay £45 million to the bondholders annually. Additionally scepticism remains on just how the Americans were to able to pay off the high interest £220 million PIK’s which were crippling the club and the source of the funds. Such secrecy will be much more difficult for the Glazers after this float where they will come under much greater scrutiny, and United fans must welcome the forthcoming transparency. Thankfully the question should be answered once the Glazers issue a prospectus similar to the one required during the bond issue process. This will outline exactly what they plan to do with the proceeds, it remains doubtful they will declare their intention to pocket the funds as this is unlikely to be an attraction to any investor. What is clear however, at this point in time is that ultimately the Glazers will retain control even with the minority sale but will also be required to pay dividends to investors.

So is this a golden chance once again for United fans to own part of United and finally force out the Glazers? It seems difficult for individuals alone if the listing is in Singapore, but a vehicle such as MUST makes it possible certainly even if I remain doubtful they will amass a large stake.

United’s financial situation can be discussed over on our forum here:

http://www.soccer24-7.com/forum/showthread.php?t=172809

Match Preview: Manchester United vs Tottenham Hotspur

Nani scores controversial goal against Spurs last season

Monday 22nd August
KO 8pm GMT

Only our second game of the season but already a big test for us.

This fixture last season saw one of the weirdest ever goals scored in the Premier League. Nani handled the ball in the area but the freekick wasn't given, as Gomes put the ball down to take the freekick, Nani played on and slot the ball home. Spurs players weren't happy, United players went off to celebrate.

Spurs have a very good squad, IMO they are three players away from having a great squad. They probably need a central defender and two strikers, can't see them getting all three though. They always provide a tough test for us, one of the best games I can remember of the last few years was 5-2 after being 2-0 down.

No doubt Friedel will start in goal for them and have his usual superhero performance like previous years when at Villa. Bale and Lennon will be tough tests for Fabio and Evra, Lennon always seems to get the better of Evra too. Modric, Huddlestone and VDV in the middle is a tough three, just hope they don't control the game with those three against what we put out - being at home, you would hope we would control the play.

As for us, I would definitely not go with Anderson and Cleverley as a two in the middle for this one. We need protection at the back, especially with Rio and Vidic out. Put Carrick just in front of the back four with Anderson next to him and Cleverley pushed a bit further on.

Until Hernandez is back, I would put Rooney up top with Young and Nani either side of him. The interchanging of those three could be lethal just like we saw few years back with Ronaldo, Rooney and Tevez.

My line up: De Gea, Fabio, Smalling, Jones, Evra, Carrick, Anderson, Cleverley, Nani, Young, Rooney

Line up I think we'll see: De Gea, Fabio, Smalling, Evans, Evra, Nani, Carrick, Anderson, Young, Berbatov, Rooney

Injuries: Ferdinand (hamstring), Vidic (calf), Rafael (shoulder), Hernandez (concussion), Owen (back), Fletcher and Valencia (both fitness).

Sparky

You can find the match thread here:

http://www.soccer24-7.com/forum/showthread.php?t=191210

David De Gea - Welcome to England

David De Gea - Under pressure already

At the end of the game yesterday, Sir Alex gave De Gea a pat on the head and said "Welcome to England".

It won't get any easier for De Gea from here, fans will get on his back every game, managers will be urging their players to shoot on sight and places like Stoke where we visit in a few weeks will be hell for him.

At 20 years of age he has left his homeland, come to a new country and having to learn a new language. Those are three things people seem to be already forgetting.

I was very happy when we were first linked with him, he is a quality young goalkeeper and has already played in some big games (Under 21 Championship Final and Europa League Final - winning both). He's also come up against some of the best players in the world whilst in Spain.

As said above, I believe the language barrier is the main issue at the moment. There were times yesterday where the ball came through and I thought 'That should be the keepers ball' but he didn't come for it, where as with van der Sar last season he would have come to make that ball his. Over time he will improve but for now I expect him to get more stick every week - even from our own fans which won't help.

Another issue people seem to have with him, is his build. Sir Alex mentioned he will be put on a special diet program to build him up and get suited to the Premier League but I don't think it is a major issue. The only thing that will be different between here and Spain is challenging the goalkeeper which we saw yesterday a couple of times. He'll have to get used to that, and quickly. If not when he goes to places like Stoke and comes across Delap's throws, he'll have nightmares for weeks.

I've got full faith in David. I believe he was the right singing to replace the great van der Sar and over time he'll prove that. I definitely wouldn't drop him any time soon, that would send out the wrong message and do nothing for his confidence.

Patience is key.

Sparky.

To discuss David De Gea, take a look at his dedicated thread in the Man Utd forum here: http://www.soccer24-7.com/forum/showthread.php?t=184432

West Brom 1 - 2 UNITED

West Brom 1 - 2 UNITED

 Rooney 13, Long 37, Reid (og) 81
 

United are up and running on the opening day of the season with a 2-1 win away to West Brom and no one will be more relieved than David De Gea as the young Spaniard once again came under the spotlight for a softly conceded goal. United fielded an almost identical team that performed so impressively in the second half vs Manchester City in the Community shield with the exceptions of Ferdinand, Vidic and Fabio starting. Infact the team Sir Alex Ferguson started with was the youngest lineup of any team in the premier league this weekend.

United got off to a bright start, as West Brom were unable to cope with the movement and one touch passing  of United's front four. Young particularly looked hungry and it was his pass that led to United's opening goal,  picking up the ball up on the left wing, he cut inside, threatened to cross but instead laid on a pass to Wayne Rooney on the edge of West Brom's penalty box who was allowed to take a touch and shot low across Ben Foster's. United continued to threaten, and looked dangerous on the break with the pace of Nani but failed to capitalise and add to their lead as the Portuguese international spurned two good chances. As it was West Brom grew into the game and were beginning to threaten De Gea, the Spaniard forced to make a save but continued to look uneasy from set piece deliveries. West Brom then equalised as Shane Long shot from just  inside the area from the left hand side and De Gea was unable to get down quickly enough.

Going into the second half there were a few wondering if United's terrible away form would be a regular feature this season as well and things were not made easier as Jonny Evans was brought on to replace Nemanja Vidic, the big Serb picked up a knock in the first half and continued to look uncomfortable, he is excpected to be out for a further two weeks. Looking to his bench for options to shake up the attacking side of things, Sir Alex was unable to call upon the services of Javier Hernandez, United's sharp shooting Mexican still sidelined with a concussion, instead it was Dimitar Berbatov last season's joint top scorer served with the task of attempting to win the game for United. Off came Danny Welbeck perhaps a surprise starter, but United still created few in the way of clear cut chances. The defensive side of things got worse again when Rio Ferdinand picked up an injury which left him unable to move and was subsequently substituted for the new highly rated young summer signing from Blackburn Rovers Phil Jones. De Gea meanwhile continued to be bombarded with aerial balls and more than once found himself on the ground after collisions with the West Brom forwards as he found out first hand of the true physical nature of the English game.

With United on the back foot and no winner in sight, it was left to United debutant Young to win the game. Popping up on the left in the 81st minute, he threw a body feint to go on the outside and drill in a cross which took two deflections before eventually being directed in by Steven Reid with Ben Foster only able to watch and sending United's travelling support into pandemonium.

Scholesy18

Addressing the goalkeeping situation post Edwin Van der Saar.

After months of rumours in the English and Norwegian press alike in addition to constant sightings of Eric Steele and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at matches in which Anders Lindegaard was taking part in, the 6ft 4in, 26 year old Dane looks set to seal a move from Aleslund to Manchester United.

The transfer appears to be all but a formality now as Anders flew in to Manchester yesterday for a medical as well as the negotiation of personal terms. This of course following on from the heavy reporting of an agreement between the two clubs with the fee believed to be around ₤3.5m.

But who is Anders Lindegaard? Why has this shot stopper attracted the interest of so many big European club scouts such as Bayern Munich and Arsenal and is he good enough to eventually succeed Van der Saar without a huge drop in performance levels?

Anders Lindegaard, born 13 April 1984, is a full Danish international with 4 caps having recently won his first cap in a Euro 2012 qualifier Vs Iceland back in September keeping a clean sheet in the process. He started his club career in Odense Boldklub back in Denmark but did not play much ironically due to the arrival of former United keeper Roy Carroll. He was subsequently loaned out to Aaleslund in Norway, where he has been by all accounts the best keeper in the league since.

Lindegaard is described by Tor-Kristian Karlsen as an “old-school” keeper, very commanding, brave, good physique and slightly mental. Not the greatest “footballer” but clearly one who United feel will fit into English football.

Sections of the media and United fans have expressed concern Lindegaard is not good enough despite not having one appearance to his name. The “comments” from United legend Peter Schmeichel influencing a lot of people’s opinions, the fans interpreting the small transfer fee and obscure profile of the Dane as another consequence of the Glazer regime, i.e. a tightening of the purse strings.

Firstly I believe before we can proceed any further, this myth that Schmeichel suggested his fellow countryman is not good enough must be dispelled, for Schmeichel never once questioned Lindegaard’s ability but rather took issue with his lack of experience, pointing out that he was perhaps not ready for such a career move and that Lindegaard might see little playing time to fulfil his potential. He has made no secret that he feels a more experienced option to take over Van der Saar is the best approach for United. And frankly after the period between Schmeichel and Van der Saar with the chopping and changing of keepers, European exits and cock-up’s, I feel he has a very good point. One only has to look down south at the Emirates to see the effects of not having a dependable and consistent keeper. Lindegaard is not a particularly young player, but in goalkeeping terms he is of course nowhere near his prime yet, however he has not played any football in a top league and therefore it is understandable why some may view it as a risk. Nevertheless after the recent captures of Javier Hernandez and Chris Smalling both looking good in their early careers at Old Trafford and both relatively unknown players before they moved, it is perhaps fair we should feel more optimistic and trust Sir Alex and his scouts once again.

Furthermore there is no guarantee a big money keeper would definitely succeed, because if things worked that way Berbatov would be our best player right now and Barthez signed for big money would be a United legend. To play for United in goal is not simply about having talent either; Tim Howard had plenty of that. No. At United, the greatest quality which ensures a long term stay at the club is the mental strength of the player. This was Tim Howard’s downfall and more recently Ben Foster’s as well. The fact remains that even with a substandard defence it is probably far easier to look a great keeper in a mid table/relegation threatened team as opposed to one challenging for honours. In the former, you are likely to called into action far more and therefore are usually always switched on. In the latter, you may have nothing to do for 89 mins. but are required to have the necessary concentration to pull off the game winning save in the last minute.

An expectant and highly critical fan base, United fans are rarely very patient, this is highlighted when it comes to the assessment of young players who display potential. Standards are extremely high at the club and United are expected to win in almost every game in a season. This is the encouraging part with regards to Lindegaard; quite a few sources have spoken of his mental strength. He is said to have a touch of madness that all the great keepers in the past have had. He has huge ambitions to become the best keeper in the world and you know he’ll give it a real go and put a lot of effort in to try make it happen.

On top of mental strength, I feel it is imperative United buy someone who is comfortable with the ball at his feet and whose distribution is of a high quality with his feet and hands. This is essential for a team like United who love to break at pace and launch counter attacks. To say the truth, in this field I have no idea what to expect from Lindegaard, but I hope he is at least decent because Kuszczak’s kicking is a nightmare at times.

Lastly he must be able to cope with the physical and aerial aspect of the league where keepers are rarely protected, but Lindegaard is not worried. United require a keeper who will not flap at crosses, one of my major concerns when it was reported we were interested in Igor Akinfeev this time around last year. Coming from the Norway he will have had a lot of experience in dealing with such things and therefore is probably more equipped than the Russian in my opinion.

There are some who are still adamant the signing of Lindegaard is to fill our void as 2nd choice keeper with Kuszczak departing after constantly speaking of his displeasure at little playing time and United buying a first choice keeper. Indeed the rumours of Buffon, Neuer, Akinfeev, Stekelenburg and particularly David De Gea of Atletico Madrid persist. In De Gea’s case the Times claim United are on the brink of agreeing a deal and Ballague insists the deal is actually all but done for De Gea to come to United next summer. How true this is only time will tell, but De Gea is an outstanding young keeper, one of the best in Europe and seen as the heir to Casillas. He led Atletico to a European trophy last season after ousting another talented Spanish keeper Sergio Asenjo who Atletico had also bought.

It would perhaps be fitting if De Gea went on to replace Van der Saar his hero. The Atletico keeper’s nickname is Van der Gea and he even looks a bit like Van der Saar!!

The catch is of course he would cost around ₤15-20m which can be triggered by activating a clause in his contract. An incredible amount of money for such a young keeper, a position where clubs tend to favour older players. It could even rise if De Gea signs the new contract (tripling his salary) that Atletico have apparently offered. But a big money transfer happened with Buffon at a young age and if De Gea is good enough and United have the money there is no reason why it can’t happen here.

Whether Lindegaard is good enough to replace Van der Saar or whether it will be someone else is difficult to say at this point, simply we don’t know what the club’s long term plans are with this position. For instance as Van der Saar has done over the past three seasons or so is to extend his contract a further year around December. This time however, I’m getting the same feeling I did in Schmeichel’s last season, I truly believe this is Van der Saar’s last season in professional football, you can see the mistakes are starting to slip into his game as we saw with the error Vs West Brom at Old Trafford this season. My personal opinion is we will buy another keeper on top of Lindegaard. But that is not certain, what is almost certain though is Lindegaard is soon to be a United player and therefore he has my full support.

Scholesy18

The midfield conundrum at Old Trafford.

So after a week of astonishing events, where we learned Wayne Rooney, a player who has been a huge fan favourite at the club since his arrival wanted to leave the club, we finally saw the player nicknamed “The White Pele” put pen to paper on a new 5 year contract. But this was only after an un-necessary public war broke out with the papers first breaking the story of Rooney not wanting to sign a new contract, requiring the intervention of Sir Alex Ferguson who over the next few days would go on to deliver a PR master class generating outrage from the football world at what the modern footballer had become and even sympathy in some quarters. Ferguson delivered a bizarre “cow” analogy that could probably rival Cantona’s famous “Seaguls and trawlers” quote, but ultimately he also reminded the world just what Manchester United stands for in terms of its philosophy and commitment to developing young footballers both from home and abroad. There were points when you would have thought you were listening to Sir Matt Busby speak. For the Rooney camp, the end probably justified the means and the view from a few United fans is that United should not have caved in especially after what many considered extremely offensive comments about the club’s “lack of ambition”. It is difficult to know the future and only time will tell whether this is a short-term measure to buy United some time as Ferguson searches for a replacement whilst also ensuring United a big transfer fee should they sell in the future. The rumours till now are that Rooney has doubled his wages to a staggering 160-180k a week more than shattering United’s wage structure and leads me to question under the current Glazer regime whether we can afford a single player earning so much.

My views on the whole Rooney saga have been well documented on the forum, and I don’t wish to get into them yet again. I’m glad that the saga is over and we can get back to the football as well as the task of attempting to make the team strong enough to challenge and win, both domestically and in Europe.

Of major concern to United fans presently is the midfield and just how to solve a problem which over the last 20 or so years never really existed at United. For United just about as long as I can remember pretty much have always had one of the strongest midfields in the league. Our current first team options in central midfield include 3 homegrown players if you include Ryan Giggs’ transformation from a wide player, with the other two being Darren Fletcher and Paul Scholes. The rest of our options are Michael Carrick, Anderson and the never available Owen Hargreaves.

There are 3-4 pairs here if you analyse the options, in the sense that we have 2 harriers or ball winners in Owen Hargreaves and Darren Fletcher, 2 deep lying playmakers and dictating midfielders in Michael Carrick and Paul Scholes and two advanced playmakers in Anderson and Giggs who attempt to use their dribbling qualities through the centre to devastating effect. However you could also make a case for there being two box to box midfielders depending on our system, and these 2 are Fletcher and Anderson.

It is perhaps a bit simplistic to say in the case of Fletcher and Hargreaves their role is simply to win back the ball and distribute it because Ferguson has in the past himself talked of his displeasure in employing a DM in the Makelele mould stating Man Utd should not need a 3rd centreback. Nevertheless Fletcher remains until now our best option at winning the ball back by pressuring the opposition due to Hargreaves continuing absence. Anderson has been tried in a 4-4-2 countless times as a box to box midfielder, but his eagerness to pressure does not really make him reliable and effective, and I’m of the opinion the extra defensive responsibility is not helping him fulfil his potential, I will go into the specifics of this later on.

Because of Fletcher being the only one truly reliable at consistently pressuring, Ferguson has relied on Michael Carrick’s positioning qualities to give us another defensive option in midfield. But Carrick has been criticised by United fans because of his weak mental qualities, lack of aggressiveness and overrated passing. There are now rumours he could soon be on the way out in the summer. As much as I am not the biggest Carrick fan and feel we need a better midfielder to dictate play once Scholes retires, I do feel defensively he is a decent option because his positioning can be extremely intelligent. But there is no doubt another player to replace Hargreaves or, Hargreaves eventually returning would add so much to our options. In a big game, these types of players are so crucial.

My opinion is that if United are indeed looking at strengthening this area of the pitch there are certain criteria Ferguson looks for before committing the funds to an investment. One of these is “How well does the player fit into the systems I employ?” By this I mean can the player play in a 4-4-2 and a 4-3-3 without his performances dropping off too much? It’s an important question because if we look at the number of times United employ either formation throughout a season, it’s around 70%-30% in 4-4-2’s favour. This is often the part many fans don’t get when they cry for a no.10 to be signed like a Rafael Van der Vaart or a Gourcuff and it doesn’t happen.

The truth is Man Utd rarely signs “no.10’s”, there is nothing this type of player will really do too differently to what Dimitar Berbatov already does, and as we all know, we’re just not going to bench a player bought for so much. This type of player is extremely useful in Europe to provide support to a lone frontman but that’s about it, and unless he can play wide or central in a 4-4-2 to a high standard, it is a pointless purchase. By wide, I am talking of how Modric and Ozil have been employed in the past, drifting inwards, and also where Anderson has been tried on a few occasions. This was ofcourse done to also get the most out of Patrice Evra bombing on.

The second thing which I believe Ferguson has valued in his 24 years, is maintaining a British spine throughout the team. If you look at all his great teams of the past, they have largely consisted of a British spine. In central defence, central midfield and attack we have had at least one British player, this is most evident in central midfield with names like Robson, Ince, Keane, Butt, Scholes, Carrick, Fletcher, Hargreaves, even Alan Smith and Phil Neville at time. Ofcourse there have been a few experiments along the way such as Seba Veron, Kleberson, Djemba Djemba and now Anderson, but these have largely been exceptions. Even if you look at it now, Anderson is the only non-British midfielder who plays for us in central midfield.

With these two in mind and having followed the rumours closely, it is little surprise to me we tried to sign Aaron Ramsey from Cardiff only to be trumped by Arsenal and that we have closely tracked Jack Rodwell for a long time. The latest one now is Jordan Henderson. With the new rules for registering players in the Premier league, this will probably increase even more.

The other two midfielders which we have been heavily linked with are Sotiris Ninis and Steven Defour, if I’m honest and from the little I’ve seen the latter is more likely to happen simply because he will fit like a glove. Ninis is a more difficult project, and it’s harder to see him making it at United even if he does look to be gifted. Who knows though, we may yet move for a player who was never on the fans or the media’s radar like Javier Hernandez, time will tell, but I for one am extremely interested to see how Ferguson will look to solve this particular conundrum.

Scholesy18

Clocks ticks down for Fergie??

Is Fergies luck running out??

Now before I start, I am not calling for Alex Fergusons head, nor am I saying I am not grateful for everything he has done to make United into what we are right now. But saying that, no-one is immune to criticism or beyond reproach.

No United fan can be happy with the start to this season, yes we lie in 3rd (at the time of writing this), and yes we are unbeaten in all competitions, but 3 league wins out of 7 (all at home) is not the start many of us envisaged. So what’s happening?

Most people are pointing to the poor form of Wayne Rooney, but surely we are not that reliant on one player?

The brutal truth is that yes we are.

Cast your mind back 4 years, to the end of the 2005/06 season. It had been our third successive season without winning the premiership, not that long for your average club, but for United fans it seemed like an age. The emergence of Chelsea under Mourinho and the massive amounts of cash being splashed about was a major cause for concern amongst the United faithful. There were even murmurings at the time that Fergie had ‘lost it’. The signings of Eric Djemba Djemba and Kleberson were huge flops, Scholes, Giggs and Neville were not getting any younger, and Ferguson had fallen out with top marksman Ruud Van Nistelrooy who was sold.

United fans had to be content with the odd domestic cup win and a special young player who gave the fans hope for the future, Cristiano Ronaldo.

The following season all was forgotten though, Ronaldo fulfilled his promise and along with Wayne Rooney fired United to their first title in 3 years. But looking back at the statistics, it is quite scary how much we relied on those two individuals. Ronaldo scored 17 goals and had 13 assists, whilst Rooney scored 14 and has 11 assists. Meaning those 2 players alone had a hand in 55 of Uniteds 83 league goals that season. A season which turned out to be a very weak one on the whole. It was a 2 horse race between United and Chelsea all along, the 3^rd place team (Liverpool) finished 21 points behind United, and lost more than a quarter of their league games that season. With Chelsea concentrating on the Champions League and Fergie desperate to win the premiership back, United most certainly stole a march on them and deservedly won the league. But take Ronaldo away, I suspect a different outcome.

The following season was much tighter, with only 4 points separating winners United, and 3^rd place Arsenal. United reliance on Ronaldo and Rooney was helped with the arrival of Carlos Tevez from West Ham. Rooney was inured for a long period at the start of the season. But this was where Ronaldo took centre stage. He scored 31 league goals, 7 more than anyone else, and banged in 42 in all competitions in a season which saw United rely on their defence (along with Ronaldo) and win the Champions League. In their Semi final against Barcelona, in the 1^st leg they played a style some refer to as ‘anti football’. Yet but for a missed penalty by Ronaldo they would have won in the Camp Nou. They beat Barca 1-0 in the home leg to face Chelsea in the final which they won on penalties after a 1-1 draw (another Ronaldo goal). Their style in Europe was a far cry from the 1999 success in which we played a brand of football which lit up Europe. But yet again, take Ronaldo out of this team and I doubt it would have won any trophy at all.

The most recent league win took United to 3 titles in a row, and was perhaps the weakest league overall of all 3 titles. Chelsea were unsettled as Scolari was hired as their new boss, but was sacked before Christmas, by then the title has already gone, Uniteds main challengers were Liverpool who faded away and United cruised to a 90 point total, whilst only 4 ahead of Liverpool it was wrapped up fairly easily with a bore draw against Arsenal at Old Trafford. Yet again though it was Ronaldo who did the damage, scoring 26 goals in all competitions. He destroyed Inter, Porto and Arsenal en route to the final of the Champions League where United were totally outclassed by Barcelona.

Last season with Ronaldo gone the big question was how United would fare without him. Wayne Rooney stepped up and basically singlehandedly took United to within a point of eventual champions Chelsea. Rooney scored 26 league goals but it was not enough, had he not got injured in March, who knows. United crashed out of the Champions League at the quarter final stage to eventual runners up Bayern Munich and lost Rooney to injury for the rest of the season.

So to sum up, in each of the past four seasons, United have been over reliant on first Ronaldo, and then Rooney. Rooneys poor form at the start of this season has raised serious question marks about this United team. Giggs and Scholes are still appearing frequently in the first team even now. And with Rooney out of it, who is left to step up and carry United to trophies? Fletcher? Nani? Anderson or Berbatov?

I suspect this could be the start of decline for Ferguson, and United.

Fowksee