Images from Man Utd vs Benfica, Next stop Birmingham - Villa park. #mufc

I am looking forward to another away-trip this weekend.  I'll be travelling down to Birmingham for the Aston Villa game with my pals and it should be a good day out- as all away games are.  United als play Crystal Palace this week in the Carling Cup quarter final.  I hope that Ravell Morrison gets a start as this lad is set to shine in my eyes.  I think he may be one of the few youngsters to not go out on loan, but stay with United this year to get him in the setup and used to  playing with the first team.  If we had beaten Benfica last week at Old Trafford in the UEFA Champions League tie I'm sure he would have played in our final group game.

Manutd.com has previewed the Carling Cup game as follows:

United v Crystal Palace preview  by Adam Marshall.

The Reds look for a place in the last four of the Carling Cup...
Form guide
United have only lost once all season but have been held to consecutive home draws by Benfica and Newcastle. Sir Alex's side breezed through previous rounds of the Carling Cup against Leeds and Aldershot. Palace's trip to Old Trafford is the Eagles' first away assignment in the competition. Dougie Freedman's team haven't scored for five Championship games but three of those have been goalless draws.
Ins and outsThe manager has dropped plenty of hints about his possible team selection. The Da Silva twins, Ezekiel Fryers and Chris Smalling could all play with Mame Biram Diouf and Federico Macheda also promised a run-out. Paul Pogba, Darron Gibson and Ravel Morrison are in contention for midfield spots while Ben Amos is expected to play in goal. Palace will be without on-loan defender Dekel Keinan as he is cup-tied after representing Cardiff in earlier rounds. Another loanee, striker Chris Martin, should be available.
Last meeting
There was stalemate at Selhurst Park in March, 2005, as Palace held out for a draw despite Vassilis Lakis being sent off after 64 minutes. Big guns Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Paul Scholes came off the bench but there was no way past home keeper Gabor Kiraly.
Star man
Wilfried Zaha imay be a talent but much of the Eagles' best work has been in defence of late and Nathaniel Clyne is a full-back with a big future. The 20-year-old was npower Player of the Month for October in the Championship and made his England Under-21 debut in the recent victory over Iceland. Freedman will be aware of the need to fend
off Barclays Premier League interest in the youngster when the January window opens.
Quote/unquote
"It is about the players enjoying themselves and providing the fans, who have stuck by us through relegation and administration, with a great night. It is amazing to think we are playing Manchester United in the last eight of the League Cup this season. Who would have thought that would happen?" - Dougie Freedman.
Any sub-plots?Palace were the opponents when Sir Alex lifted his first trophy as United boss - the 1990 FA Cup. The South Londers were also overcome at the semi-final stage of the same competition in 1995. The Reds are aiming to win the Carling Cup for a third time in four years after successes in 2009 and 2010.
Whistle blower
Chris Foy takes charge of the quarter-final - the first time he's officiated a Reds match this term. The Merseyside man-in-the-middle has shown four red cards in 2011/2012 including two to Chelsea players in their derby defeat to QPR last month.
Rivals watchThe other three quarter-final ties are all on Tuesday.  Cardiff face Blackburn, Chelsea entertain Liverpool and City are at Arsenal.

Images from HQworld.net

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UEFA Champions League group standings matchday 5 and 6. #mufc

Just a quick update here.   The group standings after the latest round of games in the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League are as follows:

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Injury update and Images from Swansea City Vs Manchester United #mufc

Manchester United have a few players returning from injury, the injury list is now down to 6 players.  One or two new injuries have been added to the list though so it's not all been good news. Wayne Rooney has suffered a few knocks according to Sir Alex Ferguson but didn't play in the  Benfica Champions League tie at Old Trafford this week.  Today the injury list is as follows:

Name.                               Injury.                               Return date.

Tom Cleverley                 Ankle/Foot injury.               4wks
Bebe                                 Knee ligament.                    12wks

Chris Smalling                 Ankle/Foot injury                2wks Michael Owen                 Thigh muscle strain              4wks Danny Welbeck                Muscle strain                       This week. Wayne Rooney                 Unknown                             This week. I'm looking forward to Saturday when Newcastle come to visit Old Trafford.  Hopefully there wont be any silly mistakes like at the Benfica game.  I will try to get some decent pics or something to upload while I'm out and about. Images from Swansea City Vs Mannchester United at the Liberty Staduim.

Images from HQworld.net

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Swansea City 0-1 Manchester United Videos #mufc

I woke up late on Saturday morning so I had to rush about like a fool before getting to the meet up point for my coach.  I managed to get sorted and meet my pals just about in time and the coach arrived at the same time as we did.  We were on our way to Cardiff for a few hours, we were gonna spend 3 hours or so down there and then get back on the coaches and head into Swansea.  We arrived in good time and there was a buffet laid out for us, the very nice bar-staff served decent quality and favourably priced beers as well as supplied us with some of what were the best steak pies I think I've ever tasted.  I think me and my mates munched 10 of them before hitting the buffet!   






Once all the lads were fully fuelled on beer and pies we headed back to the coaches and hit the motorway again.  All in all we probably spent 4 hours travelling down to the Liberty Stadium in Swansea.  Once we were within a few miles of Swansea the Police escort picked us up and from there our 2 coaches were guided by Police motorcyclists to the away car-park.  All traffic was kept out of our way,  side roads and round-abouts were blocked by more police and we sailed right into the ground.  The Welsh coppers had things better organised than when we travelled to Leeds, they made sure there were no traffic jams to hold us up.  In Leeds at Elland road we went from the motorway exit-slip-road  to the ground on foot due to the traffic jams and the police were not aware of what was happening untill we were 30 metres away from 1000+ Leeds fans.  
So I had a hot-dog and lemonade before heading to the upper tier.  The Swansea fans were very loud, maybe the loudest ground I've been to this season and it was a fantastic atmosphere from start to finish.  I really wish there had been a few goals in the game as it would have been even louder had Swansea gotten a goal.                                                                                                                                 


                                                                                               
The game itself was fairly low-key and I was happy to see another clean sheet.  United have been less expressive in their play lately and although I have expected more from our front 6 players it's good to see 5 clean sheets in a row.  We still conceded possession too easily and frequently in the middle of the pitch and although Ji Sung Park was good at winning it back for us we really should have killed the game in the first half but we didn't take advantage of the momentum we built early on.

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Financial results announced by Manchester United F.C. #mufc

The official financial results have been released this week, the figures which show profits, expenditure and a financial breakdown can be downloaded here as a pdf document.

Figures include total turnover of £73.8m (increase of 16.6 per cent on previous year) and EBITDA* of £19.3m (increase of 29.5 per cent on previous year).

There are a lot of different opinions on the internet in relation to the released figures.  Some seem to feel we are on the right track so to speak.  At the same time it's obvious that things can only get better when you consider where we are coming from.  By which I mean the £600 million debt the club was recently saddled with.  Andersred from the caf is unforgiving in his appraisal on his blog and examines the figures in great detail.

MarcRed of the official Man United forum summarizes thus: "
Revenue up by £10.5m to £73.8m. Staff costs up by £4.1m to £37.8m. This is down to all the new contracts and new buys in the summer plus an overall staff increase throughout the club.
Other operating costs up by a couple of million but profit before tax and interest up to £13m from £4.9m. Overall profit/loss however has gone from £2.7m profit to a £6.9m loss. This was due to the way the bond works, we gain/lose money based on the dollar/pound exchange rate, there was a gain last year and a loss this year. It's irrelevent to the company though because it doesn't get paid either way until the bond ends.
Summer spend totalled £47.1m ((De Gea, Jones, Young plus other payments for older buys)minus(O'Shea, Brown, Obertan and other receipts from older sales)). Cash balance is now £65m after summer transfers and the purchase of the bonds, plus some land aruond Old Trafford that the club also bought."


I'm no finance student nor an economist so I shall hve to draw my conclusions from opinions and reviews such as these.  This is what the internet does best though I feel,  lots of very different opinions from a great many perspectives. 

Here is an article on the Man United financial report from Reuters news agency.


* Q1 EBITDA up 30 percent to 19.3 mln stg

* Gross debt falls to 433.2 mln stg from 516 mln

LONDON, Nov 15 (Reuters) - English Premier League soccer champions Manchester United on Tuesday reported an increase in first quarter earnings and said it had reduced its debt, benefiting from a sharp rise in commercial revenue.
The club, which in September put on hold a planned $1 billion flotation in Singapore due to market volatility, said earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 30 percent to 19.3 million pounds ($30.1 million) in its first quarter to end September.
Manchester United, which currently sits in second place in the Premier League, said its gross debt had fallen to 433.2 million pounds from 516.7 million.
The club, which is the most successful in English football, received permission in September for an IPO, through which it was looking to sell up to 30 percent of the club.
It had planned to use some of the proceeds to bring down its debt, a burden which had made the Glazer family, the club's U.S. owners, deeply unpopular with supporters.
The club said it had seen continued momentum in its commercial business and a recovery in seasonal and matchday hospitality businesses.
Total revenue rose by 17 percent to 73.8 million pounds, including a 22 percent increase in commercial revenues to 29.6 million pounds as the club reaped the benefits of a new 80 million pounds shirt sponsorship deal with Aon Corp.
Media revenues, including television rights, rose by 17 percent to 22.6 million pounds. Matchday revenues were up 10 percent to 21.6 million pounds.
Clubs across Europe are trying to increase their revenue streams in order to meet tough new financial criteria set by the game's governing body, UEFA.

 I am now very happy to say I have booked myself and 3 pals onto a coach for the trip down to Swansea,  it's gonna be another early start with a stop along the way.  I have my ticket too, it cost me over double the face value unfortunately.  I heard a rumour that the Manchester United seat allocation has been cut to 1700 just like the Liverpool game at Anfield so maybe this is why it cost me so much.  It should be an awesome day out though and I will do my best to get some decent content for you guys.   

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Away trip: Swansea Vs Manchester United #mufc #soccer #football #images

I have changed my mind, I'm going to travel to Swansea now so I should have some pictures for you guys when I'm back.  I couldn't wait till the Aston Villa game so me and a few friends will be making our way down the motorway to the Liberty Stadium.  It's a bit of a trek but I think the atmosphere will make it worthwhile.

I am glad that a few of our guys have had a rest during the break for international friendlies. Wayne Rooney in particular, and I hope it's given some of the lads on our injury list a chance to recover.

Wayne Rooney missed out on the friendly match that England played but Phil Jones and Danny Wellbeck were amongst the players who managed to defeat the World and European Champions Spain at Wembley.  Both gave solid performances and finished the game injury free so I'm very happy.

Here are some high quality images from Manchester United Vs Sunderland F.C.  There are also images of Sir Alex Ferguson and the ceremony in which it was announced that The North Stand will be renamed The Sir Alex Ferguson Stand.  I had a tear in my eye as I stood there thinking about how amazing the boss is.  It was really that emotional for me.  I love that guy!

Images from HQworld.net

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