Thank You Sir Alex

Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United now seem like a match made in heaven but you only have to look at that game in January 1990 to see that it wasn’t always like that. United played Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup and Mark Robins scored the goal that launched a thousand trophies, ok maybe not that much but it was an important goal. Robins will tell you he saved Fergie’s job and he was never thanked, Fergie has said that he doesn’t think he was ever as close to unemployment as people like to think. I seem to recall Bobby Charlton saying that the OT board was not about to relieve the manager had they lost that day, it’s a good job they didn’t.

But now we face next season and a Manchester United team without direct involvement from Sir Alex, it’s a new one for many and the truth is we have been very very spoilt at our club because of the character and personality of Sir Alex and what all that has brought the club.

Thank you isn’t much but it’s all we have – thank you for making the right substitution more than you made the wrong one, thank you for believing in life beyond ninety minutes, knowing when to bring players in and when they have had their day, thanks for making Manchester United the team that every collective legend seems to regret leaving even if they believe they are right at the time. If we haven’t always seen the long plan when a favourite has departed, we can only apologise, Hughes in a Chelsea shirt hurt, Beckham in a Real shirt killed, Cantona calling it quits destroyed – but you knew we could build again and we stood behind you.

You knew Shearer wasn’t right, Kluivert would have been wrong and John Hartson, well…

You knew that Eric was worth everything.

You know Manchester United and you know when it’s time to depart.

If Sir Alex and our club seem tied together it’s because they are now, they are forever linked and we are forever thankful, but it’s a legacy that is down to no one but the man himself. Every player to a man has spoken of their belief that he is the best, or amongst the best manager they have played for (Michael Owen thinks that there are a few just as good so that qualifies the statement a little).

He said he would put Manchester United on the perch and knock Liverpool off it. He certainly did that, he leaves us an enormous force within the football world and without it too.

I’ve got absolutely no script in my mind, I’m just going to ramble on and hope I get to the core of what this football club has meant to me.

First of all, it’s a thank you to Manchester United. Not just the directors, not just the medical staff, not just the coaching staff, the players or the supporters, it’s all of you. You have been the most fantastic experience of my life.

I have been very fortunate. I’ve been able to manage some of the greatest players in the country, let alone Manchester United. All these players here today have represented our club the proper way – they’ve won the championship in a fantastic fashion. Well done to the players.

My retirement doesn’t mean the end of my life with the club. I’ll be able to now enjoy watching them rather than suffer with them.

But, if you think about it, those last-minute goals, the comebacks, even the defeats, are all part of this great football club of ours. It’s been an unbelievable experience for all of us, so thank you for that.

I’d also like to remind you that when we had bad times here, the club stood by me, all my staff stood by me, the players stood by me. Your job now is to stand by our new manager. That is important.

Before I start bubbling, I just want to pay tribute to Paul Scholes, who retires today. He’s unbelievable; one of the greatest players this club has ever had and will ever have.

Paul we wish you a good retirement and I know you’ll be around annoying me! Also I’d like to wish Darren Fletcher a speedy comeback to our club.

The players… I wish the players every success in the future. You know how good you are, you know the jersey you’re wearing, you know what it means to everyone here and don’t ever let yourself down. The expectation is always there.

I’m going home, well, I’m going inside for a while, and I want to say thank you again from all the Ferguson family. They’re all up there, 11 grandchildren – thank you.”

Sir Alex Ferguson, speaking after last home game v Swansea. Sunday, May 12th 2013.

GTS

4. Stop Crying Your Heart Out

This is how it ends, not with a roar but a whimper… and is the England U21’s early exit the nation’s fault?

Whoosh, what was that? That was England U21’s stay at the European Championship, over pretty quickly wasn’t it?

Stuart Pearce deserves credit because at no point has he tried to defend the team. The most positive thing I heard him say was before the Italy game when he said that ‘form should give the players promise and pride’ coming into the tournament. He was right, it should have done, but promise is nothing if you don’t fulfil it. After the Norway game, when it was confirmed that England would need a plane ticket home rather than a hotel reservation for the knockout stage, Pearce told us ‘the players haven’t done themselves credit. You get what you deserve and that’s nothing’.  It didn’t get better.

Team wise no one covered themselves in glory; Butland looked dodgy, Clyne looked impressive going forward not so much in defence, Jordan Henderson looked okay but will improve greatly if he is given a role to stick to, Shelvey could have done more, Ince is nowhere near as good as his club manager thinks and Zaha was a shadow of the lad we saw at Palace. Redmond deserves a pat on the back for stepping up a level and showing some spirit and Wisdom gave a display worthy of the captain’s armband he wore when he started against Israel.

Now all the players seem to want ‘Psycho’ to stay in charge, but they haven’t given him any reason to. The coaching and ideas from him either haven’t been good enough or the players have not listened. Those outside seem to be very sure that it’s because some eligible players were playing in meaningless senior friendlies rather than playing in this completion. Some point to the fact that teams like  Norway include ‘senior’ players who can step up or down as required, for them the U21’s is not a punishment and it’s not slowing development, it’s gaining experience.

Pearce may well believe he has unfinished business with this squad, he may not want to leave the job on such a low but on the other hand he may just think the time is right to look at other offers and leave the titanic for someone else to steer.

Connor Wickham was in the newspaper this morning saying that he was aware the team had let the country down, on the contrary, I think no-one was really bothered and they wouldn’t have been until we had achieved a place in the knock out stages. I think people will think that the mathematics of we can win added to  first team eliminated equals a sum the English football public have heard many times before. Danny Rose hit the nail on the head with his comments, “I don’t know why people automatically expect England to be contending for these competitions and winning them.” Yes people, it has taken years of phoning in the tournament performances and years of early departures and still we haven’t got the message? Still we expect better?  How dare we! Gawwwwd!

Unrealistic expectations is perhaps what England does at senior level but at U21 level it was not unrealistic to expect qualification for the next stage, just because we haven’t won an important trophy since Noah built the ark it doesn’t mean the football fans of this country will stop expecting from our teams.

The players let themselves down, they know it, they have a manager who knows it, well, for now they do anyway.

3. Young Lions Fail To Roar In Israel

As Stuart Pearce boards the plane that would take him and his squad back to England there are a lot of questions hanging around from their display at the U21 European Championship.  They went into their final game against Israel hoping to avoid the wooden spoon, hoping that they could put on a display which wouldn’t make so many question so much about the U21 National set up.

Israel (4-2-3-1):  Kleyman, Verta, Ben Harush, Davidzada, Krieff, Biton (C), Sallalich, Dabbur, Zaguri, Turgeman.

Subs Used: Altman, Azam, Barouch

England (4-2-3-1):  Steele, Clyne, Wisdom (C), Lees, Rose, Chalobah, McEachran, Zaha, Shelvey, Ince, Wickham

Subs Used: Henderson, Redmond, Sordell

The game, held at the Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem, started once again with England looking bright and full of attacking promise; Wilfried Zaha on the right tried to look dangerous and cross and at one point Jonjo Shelvey did, Connor Wickham left it to Thomas Ince who missed the ball and fell over. Jonjo Shelvey, restored to the starting line up, tried to make an impact; he made a power run and found Ince who had his shot blocked before Shelvey himself put the ball over.

England were dictating a quick tempo in the early going with lots of quick passing and everyone was looking to be involved. A good move from the back saw Danny Rose get forward, the ball found Wilfried Zaha on the left,  Rose made his way into the penalty area between two Israel defenders as the cross came in and the ball fell to the Tottenham man,  who put the shot quite a bit wide of the mark. Just after the half hour Zaha clipped a nice through ball for Ince who was denied by Boris Kleyman in the Israel goal.  Zaha followed up with a header which was also saved.

For the second half Thomas Ince was replaced by Jordan Henderson, somewhat surprising given Ince’s impact in the first period. The second half saw positive work from McEachran and Zaha as they combined before a blocked shot from Connor Wickham and it was the Sunderland striker that benefited when Jonjo Shelvey broke up an Israel attack, Andre Wisdom sprang forward and Wickham caressed  a 25 yard curler, it went just over the bar.

Judging by Israel’s response they didn’t want to be out done by Wickham’s shot from distance and they went close to taking the lead just before the hour through Biton; as England backed off, Israel’s captain unleashed a thunderous shot which smacked the crossbar and rebounded the full 35 yards back to him. That shot was good enough for any team to take the lead, and Israel grew in confidence as a result, Verta shot wide and there was a panicky moment from Luke Steele before they did eventually trouble the scoreboard operator;  Nir Biton played a one two and curls the return pass into the bottom corner.

With that the fat lady sang and as Bruce Springsteen once said ‘man, that was all she wrote’.  At the point of writing I still don’t know if Tom Ince was injured but I think he had to be because England missed him in the second half and you have to think Pearce wouldn’t make that change unless he had to. Annoyingly again, England looked all set to make put the ball in the net, they attacked with promise but never converted. There isn’t many of that England squad that can be happy with their performance tonight or over the tournament in general.

Forget all talk about players who should have been at this tournament and were absent, it has no bearing on anything because the players who were selected should have had enough to qualify.

Man of the Match:

Biton – that shot was class and when Israel decided to go for it, it all seemed to go through him, scoring the winning goal to boot.