Tag Archives: alex ferguson

Rooney pleads for more games

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Wayne Rooney will not feature in Manchester United’s game at Sunderland on Saturday, with Ferguson stating on radio station Key103: ”Wayne trained yesterday and he wants to play tomorrow. But I have to take the view that this injury has been niggling away for a while and he kept on playing.

”The problem with the lad is that he is too willing to play with injuries. It is a great trait to have in any footballer. I have had many players over the years who might have had injuries but weren’t prepared to miss a game because of them. But with the speed and number of games you have these days, fitness levels are really important.”

However, there appears to be a difference in opinion between Rooney and his manager, with the England striker insisting the only way he will fight his way back into form is by playing football. Rooney is said to be missing the weekend’s game at the Stadium of Light due to injury but, with speculation suggesting that the real reason for his absence may be personal, the striker insists he needs his manager to keep the faith.

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Celebrate 100 years of the ‘Theatre of Dreams’

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This month, Old Trafford, home of Manchester United celebrates its one hundredth birthday and has an amazing history. .

In 1902 Manchester United were known as Newton Heath , newly appointed chairman John Henry Davies pushed for a new stadium to built as he believed their current stadium, Bank Street simply wasn’t good enough for a team who had won both the FA cup and First Division.

The stadium was originally planned to have a capacity of 100,000 but due to the high cost of the land, the capacity was reduced to 80,000. The FA Cup Final was hosted at Old Trafford in 1911 and 1920 the first England international was played there when Scotland visited in 1926.

Football continued at the stadium throughout the 3nd World War, until  the 22nd December 1940 when a German air raid severely damaged the stadium. Old Trafford reopened in March of 1941, but just three days later, most of the stadium was destroyed by another German air raid. During the reconstruction of Old Trafford, Manchester United actually played their home games at Maine Road, home to rivals Manchester City.

Old Trafford finally reopened in 1949 after nearly 10 years. In 1951 work began restoring roof over the main stand, followed soon after by the other 3 stands. and floodlights were installed.

In 1992 the Football League, after the Taylor report into the Hillsborogh tragedy, decreed that all First and Second Division football stadiums had to be made all-seater. Once the changes had been made, Old Trafford had dropped to an all time low capacity of 44,000 seats.

Because of United’s popularity,construction began in 1995 of a brand new twenty five thousand capacity north stand. In 2000, with continued success, second tiers were added to both the east and west stands bringing the capacity to over 68,000.

Between 2005 and 2006 second tiers were added to both the North-West and North-East corners of the ground bringing the capacity to well over 76,000 all- seated spectators.

Why not celebrate 100 years of the Theatre of Dreams with these official commemorative souvenirs, part of the huge selection from Footballbits Football Souvenirs

100 years of Old Trafford Cufflinks

Old Trafford Hip FlaskManchester United 100 years of Old Trafford Commemorative Leather WalletManchester United 100 years of Old Trafford Commemorative WashbagManchester United 100 years of Old Trafford Mousemat

First blood to the blues

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Community Shield trophyWell, the traditional curtain raisers been and gone.
Chelsea managed to get one over on Manchester United on penalties (when will teams learn how to take them?) after a 2-2 draw in the Community Shield at Wembley.

But some things never change….
Sir Alex had a good old rant at referee Chris Foy when he did not award United a foul after Michael Ballack’s foul on Patrice Evra and seconds later Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard scored.

“If the referee sees it properly it is a red card,” said Ferguson.
“He has clearly elbowed him. The referee had a clear view of it, he was in line, he should have seen it.”

United had taken the lead through Nani, but second-half goals from Ricardo Carvalho and Lampard then gave Chelsea the lead. Wayne Rooney struck an injury-time equaliser before Petr Cech saved from Ryan Giggs and Evra as Chelsea won the shoot-out 4-1

So the season starts next weekend, has Carlo Ancelotti got the edge on Sir Alex ? We’ll have to wait and see…

Bring it on !


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