Red Rants |
- United strike record deal
- We Lack A ‘Manchester United’ Captain
- Step in the right direction shows the way forward
| Posted: 09 Mar 2014 12:32 AM PST
United’s current deal with the American sports apparel giant is set to expire at the end of the season and Nike’s rivals such as Adidas, Puma and Warrior were reportedly keen to win the battle to see their logo on United’s shirts from next season, but Nike have offered United the chance to sign a world-record deal worth over £600m over the next 10 years.
The £60m United will pocket from next season will almost double the current reachest deal between a club and kit manufacturer, which sees Real Madrid earn £31m-a-season from Adidas, and will dwarf United’s current deal with Nike, which is worth £23.5m-a-season, considerably less than what Liverpool, Barcelona and Arsenal earn from their deals. The new deal with Nike is music to Ed Woodward’s ears, particularly as a new contract with Chevrolet, worth £35m-a-season, is set to kick in from next season which, in theory at least, should boost United’s chances of spending big in the summer, if David Moyes decided to do so. |
| We Lack A ‘Manchester United’ Captain Posted: 08 Mar 2014 12:49 PM PST
They all played for the club’s badge, with pride and honour and would fight tooth and nail to help ensure its success. In doing this they produced some truly mesmerizing performances, such as Roy Keane’s performance vs Juventus in the 1999 UCL Semi-Final. Not only were they fantastic footballers, they were also leaders, on and off the pitch, who could single-handedly motivate the whole team by leading through example, and carry them through the most grueling of matches.
Most recently another Manchester United great, our very own captain Nemanja Vidic signed a contract which would see him depart for Italian club Inter Milan. His signing with Inter before he has even left the club seems oddly out of character for the veteran Serbian as his departure will undoubtedly weaken an already fledgling team. His departure will also intensify an ongoing problem this season, which has been lack of leadership on the pitch. An example of the lack of leadership was in our away performance at Greek giants Olympiacos. Yes, there have been worse results such as the 6-1 derby thrashing to the hands of rivals Man City however during the derby we lost the match trying to win it. That is something I am willing to occasionally accept. As long as I can see every single one of the players playing with pride and passion for the club I can occasionally accept defeat. However against Olympiacos, passion was something we were lacking by the bucketful. Our performance was dull and none of the players showed any desire to chase down second balls and fight for the match. None of the players were willing to take the match to Olympiacos. We sat back and just waited for the barrage of Greek attacks. Sitting back and waiting, is simply not a Manchester United trait and I am not going to ever accept it as one. I could have understood if we had gone to Greece, played our hearts out and even lost 3-0 however we put in a lackluster performance which resulted in a totally deserving 2-0 loss.
With Vidic’s best days behind him and his head in Italy, our captain despite putting in a respectful performance, was unable to recall days gone by and act as the Serbian Wall as he once could. The only other player who showed the slightest of desire to take the game by the scruff of the neck was Wayne Rooney, however he was also unable to motivate his fellow team mates. It’s all well and good putting in a respectable individual performance, however whether you can motivate your whole team or just yourself is the difference between simply a Manchester United player and a Manchester United Captain. Currently we have only a handful who can call themselves the former and, in my opinion and at the moment, none who can call themselves the latter. The searching for a new leader is of most urgent importance and the quicker we can find one, the quicker we can commence our path towards long term recovery. You can follow Rafae Qazi's Man Utd Blog here. |
| Step in the right direction shows the way forward Posted: 08 Mar 2014 07:08 AM PST
Did United simply make the most of West Brom’s deficiencies or has the penny finally dropped and has David Moyes realised that he has to build a system around his players to maximise their strengths, rather than shuffle his personnel around desperately trying to come up with the magic equation that will fit his archaic tactics?
The answer is perhaps somewhere in between, for while it’d be foolish to get carried away after a game against a side that has not won since New Year’s Day – after all, United were thought to have turned the corner multiple times this season – it’s also hard not to acknowledge the improvements on display today. After the shambolic defeat in Athens 10 days ago, Moyes restored Juan Mata, Adnan Januzaj and Marouane Fellaini in midfield in place of Antonio Valencia, Ashley Young and Tom Cleverley – to the tune of “You Can Stick Your Fucking England Up Your Arse” the away end let everyone know what they thought about the petition to keep TClevz out of the England squad – and the results were there for all to see. After a laboured first half during which United merely trudged along showing an all too familiar lack of momentum and attacking intent, the Reds produced some excellent football in the second half, with Mata, Januzaj and Rooney combining superbly, while Fellaini looked increasingly at ease in his midfield role and built on the positive performance he had delivered away at Crystal Palace. Everyone’s favourite bog-brush impersonator had, in truth, been little more of a passenger in a first half throughout which United struggled to produce anything going forward, until Januzaj’s superb cross picked out Rafael, whose header was brilliantly parried by former United man Ben Foster. The Brazilian full-back was at his marauding best today and one wonders if David Moyes has finally realised that a trio of attacking midfielders and two overlapping full-backs is an infinitely preferable option to having Valencia and Young patrolling the wingers to no avail, thus slowing down every attacking move and reducing the space available to the likes of Rooney and Mata. Just when the first half looked to be dismissed as another turgid 45 minutes of football in United’s dismal season, Van Persie’s free-kick found Phil Jones’ head and the United centre-back powered an unstoppable header past Ben Foster, who should have then been sent off ten minutes later, after handling the ball outside the box. Given that United get all the decisions, however, Jon Moss opted to forgive Foster’s mistake, showing the same ineptitude he then displayed in the second half, when he declined to send Robin Van Persie off, after the Dutchman lunged into a late tackle that should have earned him a second yellow card in less than 10 minutes. We don’t know the truth about RVP and we probably won’t know until the season is over, but Moyes’ decision to replace him with Danny Welbeck was undoubtedly the right one, given how wound up the Dutchman seemed to be. As Fellaini and Carrick grew into the game, so did United and Rooney soon put his side two up with a well taken header after a superb team move. Having exchanged passes with Mata, Rooney burst into the box at the far post, timing his run to perfection to meet Rafael’s cross and putting clear daylight between the sides, before Zoltan Gera forced the only meaningful save of David De Gea’s game with a low effort at the near post. Shinji Kagawa replaced Januzaj, while Nemanja Vidic was given five minutes on the pitch in place of Rafael towards the end, but by then United had already added another one as Danny Welbeck curled his finish past Ben Foster after some excellent link-up play between Rooney and Fellaini. The Belgian was excellent in the second half and his improvement allowed United to attack more freely and with more vigour also thanks to Juan Mata, who also grew into the game as he was finally allowed to roam through the middle, rather than being ousted out wide and one gets the feeling that Moyes must play this the team for the remainder of the season – apart from the second leg against Olympiacos, given Mata is cup-tied. Fourth spot is long gone, but it’s refreshing to see that United can still play some good football from time to time. More of the same next week, please, David. |
Bryan Robson, Steve Bruce, Roy Keane and Gary Neville. They are all former Manchester United captains. Any one of them would take a rocketing ball to the head if it resulted in a United win, any one of them would play in any position required if it helped the team and any one of them would gladly take a pay cut if it lengthened their stay at their club Manchester United.
During that match we lacked the drive to win. We lacked a ‘Manchester United‘ Captain, who would have pushed each and every single one of those players to the very limits of their abilities. Could you imagine such a performance under Roy Keane? Could you imagine a performance under Steve Bruce? No. They were leaders on the pitch and would have motivated the team. They would have done what all great Manchester United captains do and would have lead through example. If it meant making a dirty challenge to wake up our players they would have done it, if it meant giving each player a stern ‘talking to’ they would have done it. They would have lead that team and would have somehow managed to achieve an acceptable result against the Greeks. Our result however, was anything but acceptable.
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