Alex Ferguson

Tottenham, who have been one of the biggest spenders in the Premier league this summer, do not appear to have finished with their transfer business as of yet. They are targeting the signing of Manchester United striker Javier Hernandez, who is thought to be unsettled at Old Trafford due to lack of regular first-team football.

The striker was signed from Mexican club for £ 7 million a few years ago. He turned out to be a bargain in his first season at Old Trafford by scoring 20 goals, but he has found first team opportunities limited since then.

Hernandez has been linked with a move to the likes of Valencia in the last few weeks. He is keen on playing regularly ahead of the World Cup in 2014. Even though the chances of Mexico playing in this competition appear extremely low, Hernandez wants to be involved regularly. New United manager David Moyes has preferred to using Danny Welbeck up front along with Robin van Persie. Even the star striker Wayne Rooney has found himself on the bench at the start of the season. Despite his good performances last season, Tottenham are looking to sell Jermain Defoe before the close of the transfer window.

They have already brought in Roberto Soldado from Valencia for a club record transfer fee of £ 26 million. They are widely thought to have agreed a fee to sell Gareth Bale to Real Madrid, which will see the Premier league club getting around £ 86 million in return. They have already invested a sizeable portion of this money in buying players like Soldado and Paulinho. Manager Andre Villas-Boas recently said that he expected more transfer activity from the club.

Hernandez may have to put in a transfer request or Tottenham need to come up with around £ 15 million in order to make the transfer happen.

David Moyes attended his first press conference as Manchester United manager yesterday and he made it quite clear that Wayne Rooney is not going to leave this summer.

There had been a lot of speculations in the last couple of months that Rooney is unhappy with the way he was treated by Sir Alex Ferguson in the last season and he wants to make a move. But, those speculations have been denied by Moyes.

When asked if Wayne Rooney is going to be sold this summer, Moyes said, “No, we haven’t put him on sale. He is not going anywhere.”

“I am very impressed with the way Wayne has been training since the last few days. He is getting into great shape.”

“I have talked to him a couple of times recently and I have told him to forget whatever happened in the past and just focus on the upcoming season.”

“Wayne is one of the best in the business and if he hits top form, that will be good not only for Manchester United, but, for England as well.”

When asked when he came to know that he was going to be the next Red Devils manager, Moyes said, “Sir Alex rang me up one day and asked me to meet him at his place. I went there and he told me that he was quitting management. I couldn’t believe that and suddenly, he shocked me even more by saying that I was going to be his successor at Manchester United. That was an amazing moment for me. I didn’t know how to react.”

When asked if Sir Alex Ferguson’s presence during the matches will pressurize him, Moyes said, “No, not at all. I want him to be present during all our matches. That will make me happy. He is such a legend. I have already gone to him a couple of times for advice.”

‘Game On’ the online casino game may have captured football punters attentions in the football-less summer months, but the start of Serie A is on the horizon.

The biggest fight in Serie A looks likely to take place at the bottom of the table this season, with the newly promoted team Livorno (1/2), Sassuolo (11/10) and Verona (6/4) all amongst the favourites. To oppose any of the three to go straight back down, you need to find a team that might underperform this year.

Genoa have finished 17th of 20 for the last two seasons, missing relegation by a place both times, but have avoided the drop by a relatively comfortable six and eight points. Therefore, combining the three newly promoted teams in a treble to go straight back down looks a worthy bet at around 13/2.

Top-three betting revolves around last year’s top three Juventus, Napoli and Milan, but there may be a little bit of value in backing Fiorentina to usurp at least one of them. Last time Napoli played Champions League football they could only manage fifth place in Serie A, whilst Fiorentina made a giant step forward last year and 3/1 or better looks value to take another rung up the ladder.

If there’s an unusual bet to be had, then it concerns the best of Emilia Romana and Best of Lombardia group betting. Parma are 9/10 favourites to beat Bologna and Sassuolo in the former with Milan 1/3 to beat Inter and Atalanta in the latter. The double looks well worth an investment.

If you can’t quite draw yourself away there are plenty of great football themed games at online casinos. As well as ‘Game On’ a slot named ‘Shoot’ may also take your fancy for those breaks in play to keep your adrenaline surging.

At the top of the table, Juventus bid for their thirtieth Serie A title – and third in succession. Despite only scoring a similar amount of goals as Napoli, Roma and Fiorentina, Juventus finished nine points clear of their nearest rivals; testament to the tightness of their defence. A third title looks likely and the current 20/21 on offer is probably fair.

After losing the Manchester derby yet again, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has said that his team will not be complacent like they did last season. Manchester United managed to throw away an eight goal advantage in the finals few matches of the last campaign to lose the Premier league title on goal difference. Memories of the loss were once again brought about after United were defeated 2-1 by Manchester city on Monday night. As a result of this victory, city have managed to reduce the deficit to 12 points from 15 points.

Even though Mancini said after the match that the title race is definitely over despite this victory, there have been suggestions that United may crumble like last season due to the tough fixtures they have from now till the end of the campaign. Ferguson has said that the critics should only look at the history of the club to know that they will not become complacent. There are only seven matches remaining in the campaign. United managed to lose the title in similar circumstances last season.

Even though they took the lead in the Manchester Derby on Monday night through an own goal from defender Vincent Kompany, they conceded a late winner from Sergio Aguero to once again suffer defeat at the hands of Mancini.

“If you look at our history over the years we always make it difficult for ourselves. The supporters are hanging on the edge of their seats every year. It is a 12-point lead, we go to Stoke at the weekend and we will have a go. It wasn’t a bad performance by us, so I’m not disappointed in that respect. But I’m disappointed with the goals we gave away. For the first goal I thought their player [Carlos Tevez] was offside and interfering with play by standing in front of David de Gea,” said Ferguson.

The Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that the defender Phil Jones will not be taking part in the last 16 stage of the Champions League match against Real Madrid. The second leg will take place at Old Trafford. Despite coming into the match with a slender advantage due to the away goal, Ferguson would have liked to have his entire squad fit and ready. However, he will have to do without the services of the former Blackburn Rovers defender Phil Jones. Jones suffered an injury during the FA Cup match against Reading a few weeks ago.

He has not taken part in the training session ahead of the match, thus confirming fears that he would miss the encounter. Ferguson confirmed this fear by stating that Jones will have no part to play in the match. However, he is confident that United will progress to the next round. This match has been billed by the two managers as the match that the world would like to see. Jones missing the match will be extremely crucial for United given that he had a major role to play in keeping the Real Madrid attacker Cristiano Ronaldo quiet during the first leg.

Ferguson has praised the history of both clubs, and has said that he is looking forward to the match. “He’s not fit. He won’t be fit for tomorrow. His performance over there was excellent but we do have options and hopefully it is something we get right. I think that both teams are in form. Real put in two fantastic performances against Barcelona. I was there on Tuesday and they were superb. They’ve found form at the right time for a game of this nature but we’ve been consistent for quite a while,” said Ferguson ahead of the match on Tuesday night.

The Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and the Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has said that they do not believe that the Premier league is on the decline even though the league has only two representatives in the last 16 stage of the Champions League competition.

Manchester city and the current holders of the competitions Chelsea have both crashed out of the competition at the group stages itself. Even though Chelsea have the Europa league to still play for the rest of the season, Manchester city are out of the European competitions entirely as a result of finishing bottom of the group.

Despite this failure coupled with Manchester United’s inability to get past the group stages last season, many have been saying that Premier league is on the decline. Ferguson and Wenger, though, believes that both these two seasons are exceptions rather than examples. Ferguson has said that European competitions have been disappointing for most of the English clubs apart from Chelsea in recent years. However, he thinks that the league is still one of the most exciting in Europe, which is the reason for attracting lot of audience for every match. Wenger has also said the same thing along with the fact that he felt the margin of error was extremely small in European competitions.

“Europe has certainly been disappointing for Premier League teams – Chelsea apart – in the last couple of years, whereas for quite a few years prior to that we had three teams in the semi-finals and an all-English final between ourselves and Chelsea [2008]. Sometimes, however, you get blips but I don’t see this happening consistently as I feel English teams will always be challenging in the latter stages of the Champions League,” said Ferguson, whose Manchester United team have qualified as the group winners.

The Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has said that the club are in no hurry to support to the future of the star midfielder Paul Scholes, who is out of contract at the end of this season. The 38-year-old midfielder had to be persuaded to come out of retirement in order to help Manchester United challenge for the title. Even though the title challenge was unsuccessful in the end, Paul Scholes has decided to carry on playing for another season. He has been once again instrumental in the good start made by Manchester United, which have called for the club to retain his services beyond this season as well.

However, the manager Sir Alex Ferguson has said in great confidence that the talks about the future for the 38-year-old midfielder can wait given this incredible loyalty to the club. Paul Scholes is one of the few players in world football to have spent the entire career with one club. He came through the ranks at Manchester United more than 20 years ago, and has been part of the enormous success that they have enjoyed during this period. Ferguson has said that he will not be putting too much pressure on the midfielder to continue playing football.

“It is not a time to make a judgment on that [Scholes’ future]. Paul will know himself. He still has the desire to play. That has not stopped. He is still the best passer of the ball in the country. It is amazing. He has had one or two injuries over the years, quit last summer and came back. He made a fantastic contribution in the second half of the season and I just think he should keep doing what he is doing. He will sort the rest out himself,” said Sir Alex Ferguson.

The manager of Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson, has hailed the new signing of the club, Nick Powell, for his brilliant performance in the match against Wigan Athletic which was played at Old Trafford a few days back. He told Man Utd news that Powell was the future!

That was the first Premier League match for the 18 year old English midfielder. He came on to the park in the 71st minute of the match and he looked in great touch. He scored his first goal for the club in the 82nd minute and impressed everyone with his fantastic temperament in his very first match. Manchester United won that match quite comfortably by a big margin of 4-0.

Ferguson seemed to be quite impressed with Powell. As per Ferguson, he is only 18 years old, but, he has got a terrific attitude. He was playing at such a big stage for the first time, but, he didn’t show any signs of nervousness. He was so calm and relaxed. He is certainly a player to watch out for in the ongoing season.

Before joining United, Powell used to play for Crew Alexandra. He has been performing quite well for Alexandra since the last two years. He was the hero of Alexandra’s victory over Cheltenham Town in the final of the League Two play-off in May 2012. He had scored a total of 15 goals in the last season and he was the top scorer for his club. His consistent performances prompted Ferguson to sign him.

As per Ferguson, it’s important for Powell to keep his feet on the ground and not to get carried away with the appreciation that he is getting due to his performance in his debut match. He has got enormous talent and if he keeps working hard, he would definitely do well in the future.

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson finally looks to have decided upon his retirement date after a close source revealed that the manager will finally leave the club after two years. In order to go out on a high, Sir Alex Ferguson has also managed to convince the owners that they need to splash the cash on players that the manager wants and not based on the re-sale value of the players. As a result, Manchester United have broken the recent transfer policy of not signing players over the age of 26 by bringing in the 29 year old Arsenal striker Robin van Persie.

The total value of the deal is expected to cross £ 70 million over the course of the four-year contract that was signed by the player. The transfer fee of the player might be just £ 24 million, but his astronomical wages mean that the total value of the deal will cross the £ 70 million mark after the end of the four years. Sir Alex Ferguson is not looking to finish his summer purchases with Robin van Persie, as he is keen to add the signing of the Everton defender Leighton Baines for around £ 20 million.

“Alex will only be manager for a couple more years so it was time the owners gave him what he wanted. That’s Van Persie,” said a source close to the manager. “There is only one position in particular we are looking at. We’ve splashed out quite a bit of money this summer but I’m sure if I went to the Glazers, they’d say ”yes”,” said Sir Alex Ferguson after sealing the signing of Robin van Persie. The manager Sir Alex Ferguson took personal interest in completing the deal for the Arsenal striker, who scored 37 goals in the league last season.

Manchester United are undoubtedly a team in transition. With a few notable exceptions the majority of the squad that won the 2008 Champions League remains intact, albeit four years older and wiser. In addition to this old guard, Ferguson has begun to blood the new generation; the youthful exuberance of messrs Welbeck, Cleverley, Smalling and Jones yielding remarkable success in the early stages of last season, but ultimately lacking the substance to push United over the line to secure a record 20th league title.

That the margin of failure was so narrow- United were mere seconds away from snatching league victory from their cross city rivals- must stand as testament to the extraordinary ability of Ferguson to craft a successful team from a squad which, on paper, appears somewhat inferior to those of his Premier League title rivals. The fear from Manchester United fans must be that Ferguson’s managerial wizardry can only bridge the gap in quality for so long, and without serious investment the sky blue ribbons which adorned the Premier League trophy in May could become the norm rather than an anomaly.

Ferguson has indeed acted to strengthen his squad this summer with the additions of Japanese playmaker Shinji Kagawa and promising youngster Nick Powell, as well as the promise of “one or two” more to still to come. However, that the iconic number 7 shirt has been given to last year’s Player of the Season Antonio Valencia after being respectfully declined by Kagawa perhaps suggests that the forthcoming arrivals may not be the true marquee players that the fans so crave and that City have recently made such a habit of acquiring.

Although quiet thus far in the transfer window, it is surely just a matter of time before City hunt down their next superstar, which combined with Roman Abramovich’s renewed enthusiasm for big money signings mean that United face another fierce fight for the title. The United old guard must remain assured as ever and the young generation must grow up quickly, or else United fans face the very real prospect of another trophyless season.