Sir Alex Ferguson stand named at Old Trafford.

On Saturday as I made my way to the gate at Old Trafford there was an announcement on the Tannoy; it asked that all spectators be in their seats 10 minutes before kick-off because Sir Alex's 25th anniversary as Manchester United manager was to be recognized in a small ceremony.

Both teams' players lined up in a guard of honour style and Chief Executive David Gill was waiting near the Centre spot for The Boss with a microphone.  A few words were said which I didn't fully hear and then as everyone quietened down David Gill Chief executive announced that the North Stand was going to be named after Sir Alex Ferguson!  The place was for a moment really quiet apart from the dumb Sunderland fans trying to ruin the occasion, as everyone was very surprised by the announcement.  Even from the second tier of the Stretford End I immediately knew that Fergie was just as surprised because his body language said it so loudly and clearly.

The majority of the songs were for Fergie from that point on and even though I was a little dissapointed by some of our play, it will be one of the most fondly remembered days at Old Trafford I have.  Regarding the match itself, there were some very good individual performances and I felt Patrice Evra played some wonderful attacking football.  Phil Jones deserves a mention for his attitude alone, Wayne Rooney worked as hard as usual and Chirarito's hold up play is ever-improving.  All together it was a disciplined display from United and although Sunderland didn't offer much of a test for our defence they worked very hard at stopping the Reds and their keeper saved them from a heavier defeat.

The following stats are from Man United Official Website.

Sir Alex's trophies in numbers

Silverware is a true measure of success and Sir Alex has seen plenty of it in his time at United. Here we take a look at his trophies in numbers...
Premier League (1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011)
1999/00 – United’s most comprehensive league title yet – biggest winning margin of points (18), most goals (97), most points in a 38-game season (91), joint-most wins and joint-least defeats (28 and 3)… good job all round, we’d say.
111 – Wayne Rooney has scored more Premier League goals for Sir Alex than another other player, netting 111 goals in 226 league appearances (up to 05/11/11) – almost exactly one in two. His goals have contributed to four league titles.
1597 – the total points we've amassed in all Premier League campaigns (up to Everton) – that’s an incredible 202 points more than our nearest challenger, Arsenal. Catch us if you can…
7 injury-time minutes had elapsed before Steve Bruce won all three points against Sheffield Wednesday in April 1993, spurring us on to our first Premier League title.

18 – the number of points directly delivered by Eric Cantona goals in 1995/96’s Double Double season. Five games had a score of 1-0 (Cantona), and he hit our goal in three draws.
FA Cup (1990, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2004)
85’ – the magic-minute mark when Cantona grasped history in May 1996. The Cup-winning goal made United the first team to land the Double on two occasions – in the space of three years as well.
9 – Roy Keane lasted less than 10 minutes of the final in 1999, injured in a Gary Speed challenge – two minutes before Teddy Sheringham broke the deadlock. Sheringham had been Keane’s replacement and had only been on the pitch for 96 seconds before he was celebrating finding the net.
15 – United hit three goals in the final against Millwall in 2004 and bagged 12 to get to Cardiff in the first place. Cristiano Ronaldo got one and Ruud van Nistelrooy a brace to tame the Lions. Ruud’s first came from the spot, only his second success from five penalties that season.
11 – Sir Alex is the most decorated boss in FA Cup history. His five trophies have made United the most successful club
in the competition, contributing to our 11 Cups.
£100 – the amount Dennis Wise bet Cantona he’d miss his first penalty in the 1994 Cup final against Chelsea. Eric
also bagged a second spot-kick in a 4-0 victory. To be fair to Wise, he did pay up.
Europe (Cup Winners' Cup 1991, Champions League 1999, 2008)
4 – United’s Cup Winners’ Cup triumph in 1991 was the first time we’d won the competition in four attempts. Sporting Lisbon ended Sir Matt Busby’s run in 1963, Porto were the victors in 1977 and Juventus halted Big Ron in 1984’s semi-final. The boss called the victory ‘a major step forward’.
759 – Ryan Giggs broke Sir Bobby Charlton’s appearance record in Moscow in 2008 by making his 759th bow in Red.
180 – There were three minutes, or 180 seconds, of injury time added to the final in 1999, a period Sir Alex said encapsulated United spirit. “They summed up everything that’s made United the greatest club in the world,” he said.
81% of fans believed that United’s 1999 European title was “good for English football”, according to a Gallup poll.

League Cup (1992, 2006, 2009, 2010)
50 – United successfully defended the League Cup for the first time in 2010, in what was the competition’s 50th anniversary.
6 – Carlos Tevez was joint-top scorer in the 2008/09 cup with six – four came in the quarter-final with Blackburn.
15 goals were scored by United on the way to lifting the League Cup for the first time in 1992. Brian McClair netted in the first match on the road to Wembley, against Cambridge United, and scored the only goal of the final against Nottingham Forest.
66,866 – the number of fans who watched United lift the 2006 League Cup at the Millennium Stadium, the last trophy we picked up in Cardiff.

Sir Alex's other trophies

Super Cup (1991)
Community Shield (1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011)
Inter-Continental Cup (1999)
Club World Cup (2008)
30 – On as a sub at half-time in the 2010 Community Shield against Chelsea, it took new signing Javier Hernandez just half an hour to register his first competitive goal for the Reds – a shot that rebounded off his face. United won 3-1.
22,110 – Due to redevelopment work at Old Trafford, just over 22,000 saw our 1-0 Super Cup victory over Red Star
Belgrade in 1991. The tie was supposed to be over two legs, but only the game in Manchester was played because of political unrest in the Yugoslav capital.
1 – No British side had won the Inter-Continental Cup before – United lost out to Estudiantes in 1968 – and Sir Alex
described the victory over Palmeiras as ‘no mean feat’ and quite liked calling his club ‘world champions’.
575 – In the 2008 Community Shield against Portsmouth, Sir Alex fielded a side with 575 caps between them. The experience told from the penalty spot. Jermain Defoe was the only Pompey man to score, while Tevez, Giggs and Carrick netted for us.

Watch the naming of the Sir Alex Ferguson Stand at Manutd.com

Also, here is a channel with some great old footage about Manchester United and it's history.

Watch live streaming video from mymutv at livestream.com

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Book by Law is about to be released. My Life In Football. #mufc

Denis Law has a new book out, I shall be checking this one out soon. Denis Law famously relegated United after joining Manchester rivals - City. His back-heeled goal sent us down and Dennis never played again after what was a sad day for him and many other United fans. He can still be seen at Old Trafford functions and matches. I heard from a freind that he along with Pele and Eric Cantona  he spent the evening with Paul Scholes after his teatamonial this year and was  entertaining everyone with his funny stories from his carreer.  I am sure this book will give us a taste of that character, after all this guy was along with George Best one of the first football pin-ups back in the day.

Denis Law: I'm delighted that Manchester City and Manchester United still love to play attacking football
Manchester is the Capital of Football, a title that thrills Denis Law, who served the forward lines of United and City with such distinction. He enjoys the edge, the rivalry and particularly the high quality of football flowing from two famous sides.

“It’s lovely for the city of Manchester to have two good teams, as they had in the Sixties,’’ recalls the bright-eyed 71 year-old, drinking tea in his golf club on the edge of town. “It brings the city of Manchester to the world.
"City had a really good team in the Sixties – Francis Lee, Mike Summerbee and Colin Bell. They were winning everything. I’m excited by City now.
"One of my children is a City fan so he’s delighted because he hasn’t had a real good life these last few years. City went for it against Bolton recently and it’s nice to see teams like City and United scoring goals.
“United have always been famous for attacking football. As a manager, Sir Alex [Ferguson] is the spitting image of [Sir Matt] Busby really.
"He doesn’t have the same temperament by any stretch of the imagination – Busby was calmer — but he also wants to play attacking, entertaining football.

"Sir Matt wasn’t greatly into tactics. He just wanted you to entertain the people if you can, try your best. It was lovely to play under Matt with Bestie [George Best], Bobby [Charlton], Pat Crerand, Nobby Stiles.’’
Law remembers those days with a smile.
“It was the Swinging Sixties. I listened to The Beatles, Stones, Elvis. I tell my grandchildren that Sixties music was the best period ever. Roy Orbison! Fantastic. I saw Neil Diamond a few times, Manchester, Birmingham, London. He’s still going.


“I saw Rod Stewart in the Seventies. Rod’s not a bad player. He’s got a pitch in his back garden. Unbelievable pitch. Wembley would die for it.
"I was down there last year and this band was playing Rod’s team. It was one of those heavy metal bands I’m not into. Iron something.’’
Iron Maiden? “Well, I’d never heard of them. I got back into Manchester that night, turned on the computer, looked them up and there’s a picture of them playing to 100,000 people in a stadium in America. They were huge. Oh dear!”
As he talks, Law flicks through his beautiful new book, My Life In Football, his eyes lingering on that wonderful photograph of him and Best, stripped to the waist, running hard during pre-season training at the Cliff.
“That’s probably the best picture ever. We were both looking reasonably good! What a good player George was. But we didn’t see the best of George. He went on the decline from 27 when you don’t hit your peak until 28.
“I couldn’t give him a great deal of advice. I enjoy a beer and a glass of wine at night-time, when the curtains are drawn, but not in the morning. It was sad to see with George.
"He had all the qualities a great player has — doesn’t give up, gets kicked, whacked, doesn’t stay out of the fray, scores goals.
“He had courage. When I watched Barcelona play United at Wembley last season they reminded of the old days. Lionel Messi got knocked down, got back up.


"He didn’t roll around like Arjen Robben, the Dutch guy who was at Chelsea, who could roll back to Amsterdam.
“We [the Best, Law, Charlton team] would have done reasonably well against Barcelona but they played some lovely football. I enjoy watching United.
"They’ll miss Paul Scholes; you wouldn’t have a better player: lovely passer, didn’t roll about, maybe got a bit stuck in too much at times.
"I enjoy watching Wayne Rooney. When I saw Rooney as a young lad, I knew he’s got something special. He’s a goalscorer.
“My favourite goalscorer was Jimmy Greaves. When he got the ball, I thought 'that’s in the back of the net’. When he didn’t play in the World Cup final, I couldn’t believe it.
"I wrote down my prediction and it had 'Germany 6’ in it! I then went on a golf course when the final was on.
"When I came round to the last hole, all the English members were waiting for me! I thought: 'I’ll get Bobby and Nobby going on about it for the next 20 years.’ But we had a wee result the next year.”
Scotland certainly did, defeating the world champions at Wembley, Law opening the scoring. That was an era of supreme Scottish skill.

“Jimmy Johnstone was a magician! He would give me a dummy as well as the full-back! I did my cartilage and he’d throw another dummy. I remember when Jimmy went out on the Clyde that night in a boat [in 1974].
“The next day Jimmy was told to do a press conference and he asked me to come and sit alongside him for support. So I did. He said to the press: 'Denis and I decided to go out on the Clyde.’
"My wife said: 'You’ve been on the Clyde?!’ I hadn’t! I don’t even swim! Two days later Jimmy went out and annihilated England. Scotland haven’t got the players now, only really Darren Fletcher, yes, and Kenny Miller, Gary Naysmith.’’

The game’s changed. “We had more fun back then. After the game we would go to the pub for a beer with the supporters. Can you imagine that happening today?!
"We felt lucky we were playing football and not down the pit, or in the North Sea. My father was a trawler-man for 40 years.
"I remember going on the boat with him and the boat going up and down — and the North Sea was calm that day. I could only imagine when it was stormy. Some people didn’t come back.
“I didn’t even think of making a living out of football. I wanted to be an architect. I was good at technical drawing.
"I still do some drawing with the grand-daughter, designing a house on paper. I would design a nice comfortable house, a place overlooking the sea but I am in Manchester!
“I have a very curious mind. I came from Aberdeen, all working-class people, tenement houses, and a few years down the line I’m travelling with United and Scotland to Australia, America, New Zealand.

"When we went to Rio, we went up to see Christ the Redeemer. Different class.
“I enjoy watching the Discovery Channel and documentaries. It’s interesting to see what’s happening in China, Japan. I watch Al Jazeera to see what they’re thinking. I never watch soaps.
"The ones out fishing in the Bering Sea or North Sea – this is life. I look at fishermen under stress and think: 'but what about the camera guy? How’s he coping?’ Like when the [BBC 'Natural World’] cameraman was surrounded by Komodo dragons. Dear oh dear!”

Always a thinker, Law always kept his career and fame in perspective, an outlook strengthened in 2003. “After I had a biopsy, I went in to see the consultant at the Christie Hospital and he said: 'You’ve got cancer.’ I just conked out. That’s the Law trait: all my family keel over, bang, when we see a needle, blood, or a hospital.
“The consultant thought I’d had a heart attack. Then I came round and he said: 'You’ve got to have the op.’ You always think it will happen to somebody else, so why me? It makes you look at life differently.
"When I was going back and forth to the Christie, I saw kids with leukaemia and thought: 'Ah, Jesus, I’m not too bad really’.’’
Denis Law: 'My Life In Football” (Simon and Schuster, £25).

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Ethical practice award for United boss. #mufc

 Sir Alex Ferguson has become a recipient of the renowned 'Tor Vergata Ethics In Sport Award' from the Tor Vergata University, in Rome, Italy. The Scotland born and bred football manager was praised for the way he handled the humbling 19th Barclays Premier League title win and being gracious in defeat to FC Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League Final. The gaffer gave a speech to students upon accepting the prestigious gift. 

Ferguson is closing in on his 25th year at Manchester United, having 37 competitive trophies to his name and even more with previous Scottish clubs St. Mirren and Aberdeen. In total, he has won 48 titles as a footie boss. In his playing career, he featured for Queen's Park, St. Johnstone, Dunfermline Athletic, Rangers, Falkirk and Ayr United, before starting his management spell in charge of East Stirlingshire, and later coaching the Scotland national team. 

He has presided over more than 2,000 matches as a manager, the majority of them (1,400) with United. He still looks as hungry as ever, and recently recieved the Barclays Manager Of The Month award for August. Sir Alex gratefully accepted the 'Ethics In Sport Award' from the Tor Vergata college in Rome, and spoke of his personal experience as manager of one of the greatest football clubs of all time.

Italian players' association president Damiano Tommasi - former Roma midfielder - presented Mr. Ferguson with the accolade which he previously benefited from. Former winners of the gong include current UEFA President Michel Platini, former Roma President Franco Sensi, football manager Zdenek Zeman, and cross-country skier Stefania Belmondo. Fergie stands out as one of the only holders outside of Italy to be awarded the prize.


Sir Alex Ferguson has already seen off a few pretenders to his Manchester United throne - and he intends to repel a few more even though he will celebrate his 70th birthday later this year.  It will be 25 years since Ferguson was appointed United manager on November 6. It is also nearly a decade since he performed an abrupt U-turn on his retirement plans.

What has followed, in addition to five more Premier League titles and another Champions League triumph, has been a guessing game about when Ferguson will eventually call it a day.

With that, comes the topic of his successor.   At various times, Bryan Robson, Steve McClaren, Mark Hughes, Martin O'Neill and a host of top continental bosses have been linked with the job.  Current favourite to replace Ferguson is Jose Mourinho, although a mounting disciplinary crime sheet at Real Madrid is not helping his cause.  Yet, speaking to the Italian media at an awards ceremony at University of Rome Tor Vergata, Ferguson confirmed he is going nowhere.

"Over the years I've had the question who do I think could replace me? Now in those years, some of the coaches they were talking about to replace me don't have jobs any more.
"So it becomes very difficult because someone who I think has potential may be sacked by his club and disappear.

 "I think you would need someone very experienced in the long term. But I have absolutely no idea... first of all, I'm not retiring."
 
With Arsene Wenger's crown slipping badly in recent times, Ferguson is unquestionably the most powerful manager in England. At United, his authority over team matters is absolute. It is impossible to imagine any player being bought or sold without his agreement, although he does not always get his man.  

"There's only one certainty: I will always be in charge.
"I wanted Maldini. I asked his dad Cesare about Paolo and he told me I was crazy."
Nobody told Ferguson he was crazy for trying to sign Wesley Sneijder in the summer and for a long time, even the Dutchman thought he would end up at Old Trafford.

Eventually, Ferguson decided the sums did not add up given he was not the like-for-like replacement for Paul Scholes he had been after."Sneijder is not the ideal replacement for Scholes," he said.
"He's a fantastic player but he was not who we were looking for to replace Scholes. Only Xavi and Iniesta are comparable to Scholes."

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Paul Scholes' Testamonial.

Paul Scholes played his last game for Manchester United in front of 75,000 fans last night.  Every seat in Old Trafford was filled, and Paul Scholes couldn't deny how much he is loved by the United fans.  None other than Pele and United legend Eric Cantona put a team together to face the reds, representing New York Cosmos in their first match in many years.  Nicky Butt, Gary Neville and Dwight Yorke were wearing the Cosmos for this friendly, as well as Patrick Viera who was soundly booed every time he went near the ball.  Actually I was glad he played because it only added to the atmosphere.

In these games I always hope the player being honoured plays well, although Scholes almost always does. Therefore I shouldn't have been surprised when The Genius struck a thunderous 25 yard shot right into the top corner after 20 minutes of play! It was just perfect and Scholesey went on to spray long passes all over the pitch. He really could have bagged a hat-trick to be honest and when he was subbed after 75 minutes he really didn't look ready to come off. The youngsters came on and took over from a full strength starting line up, finishing the game off at 6-0 to the reds. Danny Welbeck, Anderson, Wayne Rooney (pen) and  Mame Diouf (x2) were the goalscorers.

We will never really replace a player such as Paul Scholes but he can rest assured he has given us some amazing memories and will never be forgotten.

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Paul Scholes the legend.

I was about 14 the first time I met Scholesy, it was in the toilets of The Albion pub in Middleton.
I shouldn't have been there really, It was the first time I'd been to a pub and I was nowhere near 18.
I never said anything to Scholesy but it didn't matter because over the next Fifteen or so years I saw him around town quite often.  Looking back it amazes me that a man who has recieved the plaudits of some of footballs' greatest, would be so down to earth. Paul Scholes will come over to you for a chat when he catches you staring as he takes the kids to McDonalds!  The man really is one of a kind, you only have to see Rio Ferdinands tweets today, the guy can't big him up enough.
But as you should know, tonight is the Testamonial match for Scholesy and so the final curtain comes down on what must be One of the greatest football talents of my generation, or in my opinion of all time.

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