As retirement came calling.

To say the past season wasn't  a bizarre season would be an understatement and quite frankly an insult to the previous season where the Premiership title was decided on the last day, in the dying moments by an injury time goal that resulted in the title being lost for the first time on goal differential. No this past season was just a downright mix of highs, lows, sadness and joy but then again doesn't that sum up most Manchester United games anyway?
The season started with the unbelievable signing of former Arsenal Captain Robin Van Persie. United paid roughly 24 million pounds for the Dutch striker and it turned out to be money well spent. He lead the team with 30 goals in all competitions with most of them coming early in the season when United struggled defensively and needed the goals. With Manchester City feeling the strains of dealing with the pressure that comes when you are the defending champions United continued to rack up points winning all but 2 of their first 17 games including a 3-2 win at the Etihad stadium, a match that once again bore the trademarks of the Alex Ferguson era as a free kick late in injury time by the a fore mentioned Van Persie saw United get all 3 points. The die was cast and City having embarrassingly crashed out of  the Champions league just days earlier were never able to recover and ultimately with still 4 matches to play on April 22nd, 2013 United were officially EPL Champions for the 13th title and extended their top flight championships record to 20.
Their European campaign was not as successful although it was not for a lack of trying. United drew heavyweights Real Madrid in the round of 16. A matchup that neither team wanted to see but with Real Madrid finishing as runners up in their group it was a distinct possibility and indeed happened. United took a 1-1 draw from the Bernabeu stadium and when United took the lead in  what had been a throughly dominant display in the 48th minute, things were looking good for United to proceed. Things changed in the 56th minute however when Nani was awarded a straight red card for a high boot, a move that was derided by fans, pundits and even the Real Madrid coach himself who had an incredulous look on his face in the post match press conference. United looked stunned and before they knew what happened were down 2-1. It was definitely a sour note on the season as United were looking quite confident in their European travels and felt they had a good chance of making it to the finals which were being played at the venerable Wembley Stadium
So with the 20th title in the bag all eyes were fixed on next season and rumours of possible off season acquisitions until the morning of May 8th when the news broke that Sir Alex Chapman Ferguson was retiring at the end of the season 


 The architect of arguably the greatest sporting franchise in the history of sports was hanging it up after exactly 1,500 games in charge.That is right. The moment that all United fans knew would come but never openly spoke of had come.  
All of a sudden United went from celebrating to sadness back to celebration because alas while one of the greatest men to ever grace the side of a soccer pitch was retiring, United fans were able to take a step back and look at the accomplishments during his career. 26 years 1000 games. 37 trophies. hundreds of moments of sheer joy.

Everton manager David Moyes has been subsequently named  and has taken the reins today as his replacement and saying he will have big shoes to fill is an understatement but if there is one thing that Ferguson taught United fans, its that no man is bigger than the club, even with Ferguson moving on to some much deserved rest we are assured that the ideologies that have been instilled in the club will carry on forever.

It has been said time and time again over the last weeks but for one last time I would like to thank Sir Alex Ferguson for making my life as a Manchester United fan just that bit more enjoyable.

Thank You

Glory Glory Manchester United. 

From the Eyes of a Fan (Manchester United going forward)

Congratulations to all those that were connected to Manchester United Football Club – owners, Board, Manager, Coaching staff, non-coaching staff, players and fans for winning the 20^th title for the prestigious club.

A special thanks to Sir Alex Ferguson for his distinguished stewardship of the Club we love for 26½ years. His legacy is very much unlikely to be surpassed and we wish him well in his retirement.

Welcome to David Moyes as he begins his reign as Manager of Manchester United Football Club. I hope you go on to achieve as much feat as your immediate predecessor at least in terms of trophies if not in length. It will be important that you be your own man. Your skill, attribute, characteristics and personality got you here. It is important you embrace Sir Alex’s legacy. No need to fight it, ignore it or try to out-do it. Just be you.

Well done to the Glazers for letting Sir Alex be. Whilst I, as a fan, still detest the level of debt you loaded on the Club, I am humble enough to still admit that by letting Sir Alex be, United continued to maintain its success on the pitch. It is important, if not more so, that the Owners do likewise with David Moyes. The Owners have got to back him in the transfer market. The good news is not a lot needs to be changed in terms of structure – but new players have got to be brought in to refresh the squad and replace those that are in need of a new challenge or have become disillusioned at being at Old Trafford for so long. Some even have failed to deliver on their potential.

In my opinion, I believe United need a maximum of five players to come in to either bolster the squad or replace players exiting the club through outright sale or retirement. One deal has already been completed in Wilfried Zaha. The players I will be mentioning in the rest of this post are players already linked to United – very good players in fact. Some may be unrealistic but will only be so limited if the Glazers refuse to come up with the cash needed to conclude the deals. The players I’d like to see join United this summer are: Gareth Bale - £80m, Cristiano Ronaldo - £65m, Thiago Alcantara - £18m and Marouane Fellaini - £24m. I am not jumping on the bandwagon here. I believe each of this players will bring a different dimension to United’s game and will also give the team a very good chance of not just winning a trophy in Moyes’ first season, but should retain the title and get to at least the Semi-final of next season’s European Champions league.

Let me list my full squad for United if these deals are done.

1.Fabio da Silva – 2.Rio Ferdinand – 3.Patrice Evra – 4.Jonny Evans – 5.Nemanja Vidic – 6.Chris Smalling – 7.Phil Jones – 8.Rafael da Silva – 9.Wayne Rooney – 10.Danny Welbeck – 11.Robin van Persie – 12.Michael Carrick – 13. Shinji Kagawa – 14.Tom Cleverley – 15.Wilfried Zaha – 16.Cristiano Ronaldo – 17.Marouane Fellaini – 18.Thiago Alcantara – 19.Gareth Bale – 20.David de Gea – 21.Anders Lindegaard – 22.Ben Amos.

From the above you would have noticed the following departures:

1.Paul Scholes – 2.Ryan Giggs – 3.Bebe Oliveira (£5m)– 4.Kiko Macheda (£5m) – 5.Antonio Valencia (£10m) – 6.Anderson Oliveira (£10m) – 7.Luis Nani  (£20m)– 8.Ashley Young (£15m) – 9.Javier Hernandez (£35m).

Getting the four players in I previously mentioned should cost United no more than £187m in transfer fees alone. United should be able to raise some £100m from sales making it a net spend of £87m. Nike will likely contribute to that net spend amount. This should also be the bulk of spending United will need over the next 3 to four seasons with good reserve players coming through in Nick Powell, Jesse Lingaard, Angelo Henriquez, Keane brothers, Davide Petrucci, Larnell Cole and especially Adnan Januzaj.

I agree that £80m for Gareth Bale is definitely too much and that he should cost no more that £60m but with real Madrid also interested in making him their marquee signing, I’d expect Daniel Levy to create a bidding war and drive up the price. I suspect Gareth Bale will choose staying in the premier league above moving to Spain if he can get into one of the top 4 premier league teams. I doubt he fancies going to another London club for fear of fan repercussion making the two Manchester teams his real options. It goes without saying that going to United would be more attractive to Gareth than City if one considers the history and pedigree of both clubs. Choosing United will also mean Gareth can be close to his family in Wales whom he visits quite often – rumour has it that he often gets homesick if he doesn’t visit Wales in more than two weeks. If Gareth hands in a transfer request and specifies United to Daniel Levy then that should help with the negotiating down the price but we all know Levy to be a hard man to bargain with.

On Cristiano, his public moves so far – refusing to sign a new contract and putting up his villa in Spain up for sale – shows that United have a real chance of getting him. The Club and fans love him and he loves them back, the only issue is if Real Madrid will prefer to risk losing him for nothing and Fiorentino Perez is currently used him in his re-election campaign although he is unopposed.

On Thiago Alcantara and Marouane Fellaini – meeting the exit clauses should do the job for United. Fellaini clearly wants to play for a top team and should be willing to follow David Moyes to Old Trafford. At €18m, going for Thiago is a no-brainer. He is unsettled and unhappy at Barca and should settle well at Old Trafford considering the amount of Spanish speaking players United have.

In trying to avoid creating a selection headache for next season, I think Moyes may need to sell one of Javier Hernandez or Wayne Rooney. Those two also represent United’s biggest chance of recouping some of their cash outlay on transfers. United should be able to get at least £35m for either of them. In contrast, Moyes may think having both players in his dressing room is a good selection headache and that he will prefer to deal with the respective players’ ego. But I think he’d want as little headache as possible in his first season as United’s boss so he can get on with matters on the pitch. Wayne offers a lot of versatility that Javier doesn’t. I know Wayne would like to play up front more but what he really wants is to enjoy his football. As long as he’s enjoying his football, where he plays on the pitch matters little to him. It is his versatility that may mean he gets to stay ahead of Chicharito.

Nani and Anderson have not lived up to their respective potential. They may have come to the point where they need a new challenge to jump start their football career. With Nani entering the last year of his contract next season, now is the best time to sell him to get maximum money. Anderson will hardly be a regular starter for United and if he wants to be a part of Brazil’s world cup team next summer, then he’ll need to move away from United.

Ashley Young and Antonio Valencia are both 28 in July and August this year respectively. I’ve proposed he be replaced by Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo – two of current top three world footballers behind only Messi. Ronaldo was 28 in February whilst Bale will be 24 in July. There is no doubt on any football scale or yardstick used that Ronaldo and Bale and infinitely better than Young and Valencia. Besides, Young can be used as a cash plus player in securing Bale although I can’t imagine Spurs not wanting a straight cash deal so they can go after their own transfer targets.

The remainder of the departures are no-brainers in Bebe and Macheda. I can’t see both having a future at United and I suspect Moyes will share my view. Scholes has already announced his second retirement and I think Giggs should do too and become a coach at United.

If my above opinion on transfers holds true, United can easily play a European 4-2-3-1 formation or 4-4-2 and 4-3-3 in the league.

                                                                         David De Gea

  Rafael da Silva                   Rio Ferdinand                    Nemanja Vidic           Patrice Evra

                                                         Marouane Fellaini            Michael Carrick

                    Gareth Bale                             Wayne Rooney                           Cristiano Ronaldo

                                                            

                                                                  Robin van Persie

Rooney can step up to join RvP with Fellaini and Carrick Stepping up to form a 4-4-2 or Rooney can step into the middle of Fellaini and Carrick with Ronaldo and Bale stepping up to form up in 4-3-3.

The subs can contain first class players in: Lindegaard, Jones, Fabio, Kagawa, Alcantara, Welbeck and Cleverley.

The above 18 man squad look like a team full of goals and should trouble any defence on the planet if David Moyes can get them playing together as team. The Midfield core of Carrick and Fellaini should also provide the necessary protection and defensive cover for the offensive players to do work their magic. The front four players will need to play very fluid football with great off-the-ball movement and should be energetic enough to press for the ball and win it back high up the pitch thereby allowing for fast transitions.

We all know every David Moyes team are usually disciplined, solid and work as a team. If the Glazers can bring the above team together and the players respond well to Moyes’ methods – then I have no doubt that United will be favourite to retain the title and perhaps even win the Champions League within the next two seasons.