Manchester United vs Liverpool will be a tense affair. #mufc

This weekends Premier League is gonna be huge guys n girls. We play the Klanfield racists again! This week the Scousers are coming to Old Trafford, I hope we smash them. I think we will too, we have been scoring freely we just need to stop leaking goals like we have been lately. Against Chelsea we showed both our strengths and weaknesses.

In the FA Cup loss to Liverpool we played well but still conceeded soft goals. Thankfully the absent Wayne Rooney and Luis Nani will be available.

so I hope we can defend a bit better and if so I am sure we will win. The atmosphere is going to be insane, especially after the scousers booes Patrice Evra at Klanfield in support of racism charged Luis Suarez. Apart from that there isn't much news on the United front today.

 

I've picked up a couple of news stories from the webs so here is an update: 

 

Ravel Morrisson left Man United during the January transfer window and is already acting the fool at West Ham United. He has been investigated by the FA for making homophobic comments on Twitter . The conversation was a confrontational one in whch he challenged a user to 'slap' him if he sees him around Manchester. The kid really is totally stupid. 

 

Edwin Van der Saar, Man United ex keeper has commented on David De Gea's debut season at Man United and has been basically told to man up and deal with it. I couldn't agree more as if De Gea is going to succeed at United he has to be able to take the pressure and respond positively to the huge responsibilty laid on his shoulders. It is the only way he is going to improve and survive at Manchester United. After losing in the FA Cup to Liverpool Man utd have a chance to regain some pride and hopefully some confidence for the Premier League rematch.

( Reuters ) - Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson says it is time that soccer took a hardline stance against racism and that he could not believe the problem had re-emerged in the sport. Speaking before Saturday's clash with Liverpool at Old Trafford, their first league meeting since Liverpool's Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez served an eight match ban for racially abusing United defender Patrice Evra at Anfield in October, Ferguson told CNN: "I don't understand at all where its coming from. "This is a moment where we have to take stock and we should do something about it, if it's surfacing again, and be really hard and firm on any form or shape of racism.

"There have been a couple of examples recently which is not good. In 2012 you can't believe it. It was obvious maybe 20 years ago and the improvements have been there for everyone to see." Suarez missed the FA Cup win over the Premier League champions on January 28 while still banned but he returned to the Liverpool side as a substitute against Tottenham Hotspur on Monday and is likely to play at Man United at the weekend. Chelsea skipper John Terry is awaiting trial in July after being charged with racially abusing Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand, which Terry denies. However, he was stripped of the England captaincy last week by the English FA, who ruled he could not lead the England team until the trial was over. (Reporting by Mike Collett; Editing by Alastair Himmer)

Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United top soccer's rich list

By STUART CONDIE
AP Sports Writer

AP Photo/Arturo Rodriguez

LONDON ( AP ) -- Real Madrid and Barcelona are soccer's biggest moneymakers for the third straight year and look set to top their rivals for the foreseeable future.The annual review of soccer finance by Deloitte shows Madrid topping the list for the seventh straight year with revenue of $636.5 million for the year ending June 30, an increase of 9 percent from the previous 12 months. 

English Premier League champions Manchester United was again third with $487.2 million, the highest of four English clubs in the top 10. Bayern Munich was fourth at $426.6 million, with Arsenal, Chelsea, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Liverpool and Schalke next. One more year at the top for Madrid would equal United's No. 1 streak from 1997-2004 but the accountancy firm says on-field success could yet push Barcelona into first place next year. 

Barcelona trails Madrid by seven points in the Spanish league but its revenue increased 13 percent to $599 million and it could rise further if the team retains the Champions League title. Defending Spanish and European champion Barcelona receives about $40 million per season in a sponsorship deal from the Qatar Foundation and earned $68 million from the Champions League, beating Man United 3-1 in last season's final at Wembley Stadium. It can already count on $4.65 million toward next year's total after winning FIFA's Club World Cup in December. "This may allow it to narrow, or even bridge, the gap to Real," 

Deloitte sports business group partner Dan Jones said. "However, relative on-pitch performance, particularly in the Champions League, may determine next year's top two Money League placings. United is certain to trail again next season after its early elimination from this season's Champions League, only the second time it has failed to progress from the group stage in 16 seasons. Madrid and Barcelona have both advanced to the last 16 and have such earning power that even a move to collective bargaining for broadcast revenue - the model long employed by England's Premier League - is unlikely to affect their financial dominance. 

Madrid earned 36 percent of its revenue from commercial activities such as merchandising and sponsorship, 26 percent from matchday income, including ticket sales, and 38 percent from broadcast agreements. The top 20 clubs in the Deloitte list generated a combined $5.8 billion over the 2010-11 season, about 3 percent up on the previous year's $5.6 billion 

Tottenham rose above Manchester City to 11th place following its run to the quarterfinals in its debut Champions League campaign, but City could leapfrog its English rival next year after six matches in this season's group stage. Borussia Dortmund, Valencia and Napoli were newcomers in the top 20, replacing Atletico Madrid, Stuttgart and Aston Villa after a season of greater domestic success. French champion Lille was the only winner of one of Europe's five major leagues - Spain, England, Italy, Germany and France - not to make it into a top 20 entirely composed of European sides. Deloitte said that Brazilian clubs Corinthians and Sao Paulo, with reported revenues of between $93 million and $106 million, would only make a top 50 list.

Feb 7 ( Reuters ) - Bulgaria's second largest mobile operator Globul, controlled by Greek telecoms firm OTE, has signed a three-year sponsorship agreement with English Premier League soccer club Manchester United, Globul said on Tuesday. "Under the agreement, Globul will offer the club's fans in Bulgaria access to exclusive Manchester United news, interviews, special features and other content over its mobile network," Globul said in a statement. "Furthermore, Globul and Manchester United will jointly develop a promotional micro site in Bulgarian and English, specifically tailored for local supporters." Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

Loading

The recovery begins admidst debuts for youngsters. #mufc

Well last night United began to repair some of the damage sustained at the weekend. A quick and decisive recovery is needed and I was happy to see a determined performance. What made me even happier was to see young players like Fryers, Morrison, Pogba and Keane make appearances. These young lads are the future stock that will hopefully take us forward as others have done in the past. It's always exciting for me to see new talent like these.

Ravel Morrison had a great debut in the League cup last night; he seemed to be given a free role and he was all over the pitch for the final 20 minutes of the game. He reminds me of Wayne Rooney in a few ways. He is very aggressive and strong, he loves to run at defences as well as shoot from range. His short passing is sublime too and he linked up beautifully with Dimitar Berbatov who might I say put in a top draw performance; chasing lost causes and creating and scoring a goal.


Paul Pogba is another favourite of mine and had a good game once settled down from a couple of mis-timed tackles early on. Pogba is a central mid-fielder who has great composure on the ball and is always looking to recieve in space. I think the future is bright for both us and them.

Tom Cleverley also played an hour in his return from injury- He damaged a ligament in his foot I believe.  The injury was caused by an idiotic Kevin Davies' tackle at Bolton.  That was a great away day despite Davies being a w@#ker as usual.

In other news, Manchester Uniteds shirt sponsor; AON is to announce Third quarter results.

Aon Announces Third Quarter 2011
Earnings Release and Conference Call

CHICAGO, IL - October 17, 2011 - Aon Corporation (NYSE: AON) plans to announce third quarter 2011 results on Friday, October 28, 2011 in a news release to be issued before the market opens. Greg Case, president and CEO, will host a conference call at 7:30 am Central Time on Friday, October 28, 2011. The conference call will be broadcast live through Aon's website at www.aon.com. Windows Media Player is required to listen to this webcast. A replay will be available shortly after the live webcast. The earnings release will be available on Aon's web site at www.aon.com.

About Aon
Aon Corporation (NYSE:AON) is the leading global provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, and human resources solutions and outsourcing. Through its more than 59,000 colleagues worldwide, Aon unites to deliver distinctive client value via innovative and effective risk management and workforce productivity solutions. Aon's industry-leading global resources and technical expertise are delivered locally in over 120 countries. Named the world's best broker by Euromoney magazine's 2008, 2009 and 2010 Insurance Survey, Aon also ranked highest on Business Insurance's listing of the world's insurance brokers based on commercial retail, wholesale, reinsurance and personal lines brokerage revenues in 2008 and 2009. A.M. Best deemed Aon the number one insurance broker based on revenues in 2007, 2008 and 2009, and Aon was voted best insurance intermediary 2007-2010, best reinsurance intermediary 2006-2010, best captives manager 2009-2010, and best employee benefits consulting firm 2007-2009 by the readers of Business Insurance.

For those who don't know- here's some footage of the highly talented Ravel Morrison:- the next United Star.

Loading

Marketing deal from Malaysian financiers comes ahead of IPO float on Singapore Stock Exchange. #mufc

 I've had a great week following United, the trip to Leeds was epic!  Apart from their fans chuckin' stuff at my head that is.  The atmosphere once inside the ground was fantastic and my throat has only just recovered from the singing.  I wish we could have continued the run into the Stoke game but yet more injuries ( Wayne Rooney and Chicharito) and an extremely dogged and physical performance from Stoke meant we could only get a point.
  Ah well, I'm off to Old Trafford on Tuesday for the Champions league match against Basel.  C'mon The Reds!

 The English Premier League has always been very big among Malaysians. Well established teams like Liverpool, Everton and Arsenal have their fans here, and let us not forget the ‘hottest’ team, Manchester United. Everyone loves a winner, and Malaysians are no exception. Manchester United has a near god like status here among Malaysian fans, so it is not surprising to find Malaysian brands linking up with English Premier League teams in terms of advertising.

The most recent addition to Malaysian advertisers in the English Premier league is none other than Mister Potato. Yes, the potato chip maker has decided to grab some publicity by tying in with Manchester United! But no, we won’t be seeing any jerseys with Mister Potato’s face on it anytime soon, the advertising will be on digital boards at Old Trafford, Manchester United's homeground.

The plan comes as the Premier League team plans an initial public offering in Singapore to raise $1 billion later this year, three people familiar with the IPO plans said last week. A stake of up to 30 percent may be sold, said one of the people. The club wants to cut financing costs and raise money that could be used for players. It spends about 45 million pounds ($74 million) a year to service a 500 million-pound bond.
The club, which Forbes magazine estimates is now worth $1.8 billion and Deloitte LLP says is the richest in revenue behind Real Madrid and Barcelona in a list published in February 2011, has about 190 million of its 330 million fans in Asia.

“The multitude of local events we run with global and local partners, and a prospective forthcoming tour of Asia in 2012, necessitate expanding our footprint both with people and office space,” Manchester United said in a statement earlier this month. “This is consistent with the huge appeal of Manchester United in the region, borne out of nearly 40 years of visiting.”

 Strategic Shift
 
The deal with Mamee Double Decker will allow the use of Manchester United’s Red Devil logo and images of star players such as Wayne Rooney and Javier Hernandez, according to one of the people familiar with the plan.
Under the U.S.-based Glazer family, the team’s owners, and former JPMorgan Chase & Co. banker Edward Woodward, the team’s chief of staff, Manchester United changed the way it deals with sponsors in 2008 to capitalize on its global appeal.
The club has signed regional and sector-specific deals as well as preserving the rights of global partners, allowing commercial revenue, excluding shirt sales, to grow 10-fold to 40 million pounds since June 2008.
The team’s principal sponsor Aon Corp. (AON) agreed to pay 80 million pounds for the right to have its name emblazoned on the team’s shirt for four years. The contract with Mammee Double Decker, will be the latest to be signed with an Asian company,

Asian Sponsors

Existing sponsors from Asia include India’s Bharti Airtel Ltd. (BHARTI), South Korean tire-maker Kumho Tire Co. and Thai beer brand Singha. In August, the club signed PCCW Ltd. (8) as its official telecommunications and broadcast partner for Hong Kong.
The team has won four Premier League titles and appeared in three Champions League finals, winning in 2008, since it was bought by the Glazers in 2005. A decline in performances on the field won’t affect its income from sponsors because none of the contracts carry success clauses.

Overall commercial revenue is close to passing 100 million pounds for the first time, which would bring it in line with the team’s broadcast and match day income. The club has 70 employees in a London-based commercial sales office and plans to relocate to a larger property. It’s also seeking to open an office in Asia. The team is seeking global partners in the energy, information technology and mobile-phone industries.
The club’s revenue puts it in third place globally for sales behind Spain’s Real Madrid and Barcelona. Last month, Premier League rival Arsenal announced record sales of 379.9 million pounds on property sales. Yet, the sales for the team’s soccer activities declined by 1.3 percent to 222.9 million pounds.

Story from Bloomberg.com

Images from HQworld.net

Loading