Mr Ferguson Talking About Everyone Else Again

[Marky]

Still dont think they'd touch the top 4.

Hughes is clueless and none of the players are there for the right reasons.

I don't think they're an immediate threat either.
Hughes is a good manager but he's not suited to the circus that is going on at City.

[red g]

Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed Manchester United "explored" the potential for a deal to sign in-demand Bayern Munich star Franck Ribery.

France international Ribery has been a target for many of Europe's leading clubs, with Spanish rivals Barcelona and Real Madrid expressing an interest.

Chelsea have also been linked with the winger, but Bayern have been adamant that the club will not be cashing in on the 26-year-old.

United were rumoured to be readying a bid as they sought to spend some of the world-record windfall from the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real.

However, Ferguson confirmed a polite enquiry was met with a firm response from Bayern, who sold Owen Hargreaves to United two years ago.

"We didn't try to buy Ribery, we explored it in a nice, quiet way when David Gill was at one of his meetings with Bayern in March," said Ferguson.

"They told him, 'absolutely no chance' and the one thing you can say about Bayern is that, when they say something, they mean it.

"When we negotiated with them over Hargreaves, at the beginning they said 'no', but they also said that, if it ever changed, their minds, we'd be the first to know.

"It was exactly the same this time. There is no way that they will sell Ribery."

Ferguson also considered signing Karim Benzema from Lyon, but conceded he did not want to pay over the odds for the Real new-boy.

He added: "We tried to spend it (the Ronaldo money) on Karim Benzema as, at 21, I felt that there would be an improvement there.

"He is tough, good physique, a good goalscoring record, so it was worth going a wee bit extra for him because of his age.

"But when it went to £42million, it was beyond his value. We went to £35million and I think that was fair."


I thought ferguson said he wasnt going to sign any players with no resale value? or was the glaziers?

[JohnDoe]

Still dont think they'd touch the top 4.

Hughes is clueless and none of the players are there for the right reasons.

Hughes isn't "clueless". He might not be a top manager, but if they get Terry and Lescott it'll be more difficult for him to screw up than to get it right.

[red g]

Hughes isn't "clueless". He might not be a top manager, but if they get Terry and Lescott it'll be more difficult for him to screw up than to get it right.

i think they will go through at least 2 seasons and 3 managers before they get it anywhere near right.

they have some talented players.....but attacking wise far to many!! i just cant see them being able to perm so many and keep them happy and once they dont have a chance in January of CL football unrest will grow.

[wiw]

"We didn't try to buy Ribery, we explored it in a nice, quiet way when David Gill was at one of his meetings with Bayern in March," said Ferguson.

[JohnDoe]

i think they will go through at least 2 seasons and 3 managers before they get it anywhere near right.

they have some talented players.....but attacking wise far to many!! i just cant see them being able to perm so many and keep them happy and once they dont have a chance in January of CL football unrest will grow.

I don't understand this. Why does this matter? None of the strikers they had on the books were good enough, it was a problem position for them. Caicedo isn't good enough, Benjani is definitely not good enough, Bojinov is a crock, Sturridge wanted out and the only decent striker they had was Bellamy, so they went and bought the best 3 strikers they could possibly get and now they've got 4 good strikers fighting for 2 spots, a healthy situation for any club that wants to compete at the top level. The rest will be out, like they should be.

People may claim they're just throwing money around, but all of their transfers have made perfect sense from a professional point of view. They got Barry who's the best central midfielder that was on the market, and they're going to partner him with De Jong who was also a sound purchase because you need a good ball winner in the middle if you want to challenge. They've got Ireland who'll be a top, top player for them, and you don't see them throwing money on someone who'll take his place. All that's left is their defence, and they're going for the two best central defenders in the league who they can realistically buy (it was obvious that Terry gave them some impression that they have a chance to get him).

So if you look at what they're planning, they're trying to build a squad that will be good enough to challenge, and have enough depth to carry them in Europe next year.

People ruling them out are doing it too quickly. If Hughes fails, I feel they'll go after Mourinho, who looks like he's eager to come back to England, but once they get that CL spot, they'll be able to attract every star on the continent and like a bad turd, you won't be able to flush them down any longer.

[red g]

I don't understand this. Why does this matter? None of the strikers they had on the books were good enough, it was a problem position for them. Caicedo isn't good enough, Benjani is definitely not good enough, Bojinov is a crock, Sturridge wanted out and the only decent striker they had was Bellamy, so they went and bought the best 3 strikers they could possibly get and now they've got 4 good strikers fighting for 2 spots, a healthy situation for any club that wants to compete at the top level. The rest will be out, like they should be.

People may claim they're just throwing money around, but all of their transfers have made perfect sense from a professional point of view. They got Barry who's the best central midfielder that was on the market, and they're going to partner him with De Jong who was also a sound purchase because you need a good ball winner in the middle if you want to challenge. They've got Ireland who'll be a top, top player for them, and you don't see them throwing money on someone who'll take his place. All that's left is their defence, and they're going for the two best central defenders in the league who they can realistically buy (it was obvious that Terry gave them some impression that they have a chance to get him).

So if you look at what they're planning, they're trying to build a squad that will be good enough to challenge, and have enough depth to carry them in Europe next year.

People ruling them out are doing it too quickly. If Hughes fails, I feel they'll go after Mourinho, who looks like he's eager to come back to England, but once they get that CL spot, they'll be able to attract every star on the continent and like a bad turd, you won't be able to flush them down any longer.

Bellamy
Santa Cruz
Adebayor
Tevez
Robinho

Shaun Wright Phillips
Stephen Ireland
Gareth Barry
Petrov
Kompany
De Jong
Elano



there are 12 players there who will expect to play most games and thats not including giving the youngsters such as johnson and they have a few otheres i believe a chance?

They have no european games either and thats also not taking into account another transfer window in January.

I just dont see how they will be able to build a CL challenging squad immediately, i think they will struggle for top 6 this year, although i maybe completely wrong

[JohnDoe]

Given
Richards Terry Lescott Bridge
De Jong
Ireland Barry
Tevez Adebayor Robinho

Taylor
Zabaleta Dunne Onuoha Garrido
Wright Johnson Kompany Petrov
Santa-Cruz Bellamy

That squad is good. Worthy of 4th place at the very LEAST. Only the full back positions are an apparent weakness, then again, Arsenal's weaknesses are much more glaring, and Chelsea without their captain could have serious defensive problems.

[Guest]

City will be more competitive but they won't be a threat this season, I mean not a threat to make them championship contenders. I'm not sure about Mark Hughes either.

[red g]

Given
Richards Terry Lescott Bridge
De Jong
Ireland Barry
Tevez Adebayor Robinho

Taylor
Zabaleta Dunne Onuoha Garrido
Wright Johnson Kompany Petrov
Santa-Cruz Bellamy

That squad is good. Worthy of 4th place at the very LEAST. Only the full back positions are an apparent weakness, then again, Arsenal's weaknesses are much more glaring, and Chelsea without their captain could have serious defensive problems.

but you dont get to play 2 teams, my point is i see to much unrest there, it may well click but i doubt it

[JohnDoe]

but you dont get to play 2 teams, my point is i see to much unrest there, it may well click but i doubt it

Only players I can see throwing a fit are Bellamy and Petrov. The rest will be fine where they are, and they'll just sell whoever moans and get someone else in instead. This whole "unrest" thing about not playing is overrated in its effect. It has no bearing on what the players on the pitch do, and that's a top 4 team I've written down there.

It's not like the other top sides don't have players who moan about not getting picked (Carvalho, Babel, Tevez etc.)

[red g]

but city arent a top side, and will probably play 15 games less than most of the top teams this season

and still not sure if it is a top 4 team......remember hughes is still managing them for the foreseeable future.

[JohnDoe]

Us and the mancs have the advantage over them in the management department, but I'm not even sure Arsenal and Chelsea do.

Wenger is just as clueless sometimes, and tactically, he's a complete buffoon. The man has failed to address a serious problem in his team for years, and will fail to address that this summer as well (No ****ing spine).

He's been living off his reputation for the last few years with nothing to show for it, fortunate enough that Villa's paper thin squad collapsed after they lost Laursen. If I were an Arsenal fan, Hughes or no Hughes, I'd be ****ting myself.

And Ancelotti is far from being a sure success. In fact, I doubt he'd last the season. His football philosophy just doesn't suit this league and he's failed to win the Serie A for 5 years. They also have an aging team that seriously lacks creativity.

City could surprise a few people.

[PTP]

Maybe he does in this instance but he's forever bull****ting about how he doesn't talk about other clubs, only his own. The reality is very different, the cunt has an opinion on everyone and thinks we're all interested in it. This bit about talking to his cronies makes me sick:



****ing gossiping old fool.

haha - i can see it now - an LMA 'meeting' - were allardyce, Brown, Moyes and whatever other cunts are in their group, meet up, drink red wine and agree with everything ferguson whinges about

[Shaggy]

A journo at this press conference asked Ferguson about the CL final:

“I won’t be talking about that. We know where we went wrong. We totally threw it away. But I won’t be talking about it because it’s not worth talking about.”

:whatever: