Rasmus Højlund appears to be the real deal. Unfortunately this is not massively apparent at present as none of his so-called providers are the real deal. Whenever Marcus Rashford passes the ball it is either a short one back towards his own goal or a forced one whereby, unless he passes or crosses, then the ball goes out of play. Rashford’s go- to tactics include blazing shots miles wide or straight at the opposing defender with the occasional variant being tamely giving away possession. Antony is no better and is very much a one-trick pony. Playing on the right he will cut in and try to shoo ..read more

The best James Bond, by a country mile, was Sean Connery. So good in the role was he that Ian Fleming changed his parentage to reflect the fact he spoke with a Scottish accent. Jeremy Brett, no doubt to the chagrin of Basil Rathbone fans, was the ultimate Sherlock Holmes and nobody, but nobody, has quite mastered the voice and mannerisms of Hercule Poirot anywhere near as well as David Suchet. The point here is that, although many actors took on the aforementioned roles, only the very best are remembered. The ones who became the character. At Manchester United Sir Alex Ferguson is/was the bes ..read more

It started with a 20 minute walk, 75% of which was uphill. We tried to time it so that we didn’t have more than five minutes to wait for the bus and, in fairness, got it right more often than not. After the short wait the number 112 bus would come lumbering around the bend by Moston Lane Junior School and come to a halt at the bus stop outside Langhorns, the Ironmongers. We would board the bus and then I truly got the feeling it was match day. Forty five minutes later we would disembark and join the crowd walking down Warwick Road to Old Trafford. Upon reaching the Stretford End turnstiles we ..read more

So, Sir Jim it is then. Not quite official just yet but he’s well on the way to becoming Mr. 25% at Manchester United. Reports state that he has coughed up around £1.3bn for the privilege of having the Glazers turn down any of his requests that may, in the slightest possible way, cost them any money or profit. Initially there will be no investment in the facilities, the stadium or paying off any of the almost £1bn debt that the self-centred siblings have saddled the club with. In fact, with the exception of the actual sporting side of things, it appears that it will be business as usual down ..read more

Ed Woodward was employed by the Glazers. It was, in many ways, a thank you for the part he had played as an enabler when Malcolm Glazer bought United with very, very little of his own money and a lot of borrowed money. Unfortunately, the collateral for the borrowed money was Manchester United Football Club who, fairly soon afterwards, became plain old Manchester United. Woodward soon became, in his own mind at least, the most important person at the club. Some good sponsorship deals and profitable alliances were coupled with shocking football decisions which, as he had never kicked a ball in ..read more

Erik ten Hag is considered to be a modern coach. He was successful at Ajax and he should, if given time, be successful at Manchester United. Having bought himself a modicum of longevity by winning the Carabao Cup and finishing third in the Premier League, he is now finding out what it’s really like at a big club. Comparisons with Sir Alex Ferguson in his early days are inevitable yet unreliable. Ferguson’s main problem was the drinking culture which had spread around Old Trafford back in the eighties as well as the form and discipline. Ten Hag has certainly needed to be strong with the discip ..read more

Watching Manchester United currently is like a breath of fresh air compared with the dark days of Ole Gunnar Solskjær and the one-hand-tied-behind-his-back management of Ralf Ragnick. Whilst Eric ten Hag has brought in a couple of experienced midfielders, a young left back and a centre back in the same mould as Roy Keane the major changes he has made have been those of discipline and mentality. It would appear that the days of Marcus Rashford, (and others), calling his manager by his first name, as he did with Solskjær, are over. I don’t hear any of the players referring to their boss as ‘Eri ..read more

As England manager, the choice of decent centre backs is extensive. The England manager also has a wide variety of left backs at his disposal. Manchester United’s manager, realistically, has to choose from four centre backs to fill two positions and two left backs for that one position. Given his limited options why would Erik ten Hag choose to start with Varane and Martinez whilst benching Maguire and Lindelof? Also, why would he choose to start Malacia over Shaw? Having comfortably lost their first two games of the season, the above players became the manager’s preferred choice and, apart f ..read more

There may be a new sheriff in town but, unfortunately for him, the posse he sends out to round up the wanted men is full of the same inexperience and clueless leadership as it was under the previous sheriff. John Murtough, who is described as ‘Director of Football’, was promoted to this role based on previous experience of having coached the academies at Fulham, Everton and United which was followed by trying his hand at sports science! Another strange promotion was that of Richard Arnold, a clone of Ed Woodward, who was put in overall charge when the hated Woodward finally fell on his sword ..read more

With the recent protests and pressure from fans around the world, the Glazer family were reported last week to be willing to sell a minority stake in the club. Amid this heated situation and the resulting developments, Joshua Raymond, Director at financial brokerage XTB, has provided some expert commentary on some key points regarding the situation: What are the main reasons for the protests? The protest itself is clearly designed to heap pressure on the Glazer family to sell the club and these protestors have been encouraged by rumours of a potential stake sale to US based hedge fund Ap ..read more