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In the good old, (bad old?), days back when WSA was unheard of and was, in fact, just a strip of a lad, trekking down to Old Trafford every other week to watch a decent team which didn’t win very much , football was a very simple affair.

Arriving at the ground by 1:00pm if United were playing another big club usually ensured that we would get a seat in the Stretford End. If not then it would be standing in the Stretford End and, due to my size, or lack of, back in those days, standing did not always guarantee a view of the game. If United were playing a lesser team then we would arrive around 2:00pm and usually have no trouble getting a seat. Read the rest of this entry »

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Well, it’s that time of year again! The football season is over and now we look forward to some World Cup qualifiers.

At least we won’t be whingeing and whining quite as much as we do when the “real” football is interrupted by these international fixtures. No, now we tend to grab at them, as a drowning man would grab at a lifebelt. We even watch the occasional friendly without so much as a murmur of complaint. Read the rest of this entry »

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If reports in the Daily Mail are to be believed then Wayne Rooney is considering staying at Manchester United to see out the final year of his contract. Forgive us our cynicism but why is this thought even crossing his mind? Not through his inherent greed surely?

Reportedly, Everton would like to take him back, but can’t match the wages he is currently paid at Old Trafford. Fine, surely Wayne would be happy to take a pay cut to rejoin his boyhood club, after all he is an Evertonian and loves them far more than he has ever loved United. And he doesn’t need the money. Read the rest of this entry »

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Now that Antoine Griezmann has shown his true colours by saying it would be a low move to leave a club who are being punished for even lower moves, and Romelu Lukaku is probably going to Chelsea to replace Diego Costa, which is fine by us, we look at who may actually turn up at Old Trafford and who won’t.

The number of publications we have waded through in order to find some transfer stories with real foundation as opposed to just simply being pure invention to be used as click-bait, is exhaustive but, as always dear readers, it was worth every hour just to bring you a measure of truth to your rumours. Read the rest of this entry »

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Is scouting the most difficult job in the Premier League? We suppose it depends on what your brief is. If, for example, we had been sent to watch Glasgow Celtic three or four years ago, we would have noticed two standout players who we would recommend be playing at a top six club. Read the rest of this entry »

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Having been linked with nearly every player available to buy since the season finished and having been linked with a lot of players who aren’t and won’t be available to buy, Manchester United have until now bought, or more precisely, announced the purchase of,……………………nobody. Read the rest of this entry »

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Good old Arsene. He never lets you down. Well, not very often anyway. OK, quite a few times in recent years. But give the guy a break, after all he keeps having to play teams like Bayern Munich in the Champion’s League. Quite why this appears to faze both him and his players so much is a mystery. He can come up with tactics to beat the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea in knockout tournaments, he just can’t seem to do it when it’s a foreign team, (or Manchester United in Europe). Read the rest of this entry »

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Antonio Valencia is a survivor if nothing else. He arrived, largely unannounced and with very little fanfare, from Wigan back in 2009 and has seen the “arrival” of four managers and the departure of four managers during his time at Old Trafford! In fairness, the manager experience has happened entirely within the last four years.

Many thought that Valencia would be surplus to requirements as, following the temporary employment of Ryan Giggs, first David Moyes and then Louis van Gaal came through the door, presumably with their own ideas of what they wanted from the team. Their problem was a simple one. It did not appear as though the team was either sure or convinced about what they wanted and, consequently, neither of them kept the chair warm for very long. Read the rest of this entry »

The Final

The main reason Manchester United have never won the Europa League before is because it is a competition in which they have rarely been involved and, when they have been, they haven’t taken it particularly seriously.

Even under it’s previous incarnation as the UEFA Cup, it was a trophy only flirted with on four occasions since Sir Alex Ferguson took over in 1986. On those four occasions they lost to what can only be described as mediocre opponents. Read the rest of this entry »

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So it’s nearly all over. On Wednesday night the fat lady will sing, at least as far as any English interest in Europe is concerned. To continue the mixed metaphors from the previous article, then is the time that JosĂ© Mourinho will find out if the straws at which he has been grasping can be pulled through the silver lining he has decided the Europa League to be, or if they will get stuck in the cloud.

Read the rest of this entry »