Manchester United Banter Archive December 17 2011

17 Dec 2011 22:13:20
Manchester United have been handed an unlikely lifeline back into the Champions League after Fifa threatened to suspend Switzerland over the case involving Sion.

The Swiss FA was told by Fifa on Saturday to impose a transfer ban on Sion by Jan 13 or face a ban from world football, which would result in Basel being expelled from Europe’s premier club competition.

That could potentially see Sir Alex Ferguson’s side, who are preparing for a Europa League campaign, back in the competition to face Basel’s opponents Bayern Munich in the round of 16.

On Thursday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld Uefa’s decision to refuse Sion re-entry to the Europa League after the Swiss club breached player recruitment rules.

Sion had been put under a transfer embargo over the signing of Egyptian goalkeeper Essam El Hadary, but proceeded to sign six players in the summer.

Sion then fielded five of the six players during the Europa League play-off tie against Celtic earlier this year and were kicked out of the competition as a result, with Uefa’s decision to expel them upheld by the CAS.

After being thrown out of the competition, the litigious Swiss club lodged several appeals with Swiss courts - a move which appears to have angered Fifa’s executive committee.

So much so that on Saturday Fifa said in a statement that if Sion were not punished by the Swiss FA by Jan 13, then Swiss football would in turn be sanctioned.

Swiss officials will seek a meeting with Fifa lawyers in Zurich next week to clarify what football’s world governing requires from them.

“We are disappointed. But, in any case, we will do everything necessary to resolve the situation,” Swiss FA president Peter Gillieron said.

If suspended, Switzerland - due to host Argentina in a friendly in February - would not be able to play any international matches and Basel would be unable to take part in the Champions League round of 16 tie against Bayern Munich.

While a return for Manchester United to the Champions League is unlikely - another option is for Bayern to be given a bye to the quarter-finals - the precedent of Celtic’s reinstatement to the Europa League at Sion’s expense this season, suggests it is not as improbable as it seems. {Ed001's Note - all this messing about when UEFA could simply have refused to accept the registration of the ineligible players in the first place!}

17 Dec 2011 20:49:36
''I really hope valencia isnt sold. When on his best he is better than young and lark possibly even better than nani ( much more consistent,better crossing, better defensivly, faster.... )plus the fact that he chose us over real madrid shows how much he loves the club and that he is willing to do anything he can to fight for his place''

is this some sort of joke?
Valencia, is that you? Welcome to the site!
Since when did madrid ever want valencia? And why? I think you confusing real madrid with real betis. If not, then I bet they contacted his agent on 1st april( april fools!)
but seriously dude, valencia has been poor all season, he has only had one good game. I would'nt be too disappointed if we replaced him with gaitian. We would have 3 versatile creative wingers. Creative wingers are the way to go, i mean just look at bayern and you ll see why.

Millz

17 Dec 2011 19:28:30
How long will Torres be a sub like that not gettin on an riskin missin the euros
Fergie shud get him

17 Dec 2011 18:25:36
Possible Outgoings at lowest possible prices & salaries.

Valencia - £12m - £75k p/w
Berbatov - £10m - £80k p/w
Evra - £7m - £90k p/w
Gibson - £2m - £30k p/w
Diouf - £3m - £15k p/w
Macheda - £2m - £15k p/w
Fletcher - £75k p/w
Owen - £50k p/w
Drinkwater/Norwood/King/De Laet/James/Kuszczak - £3m-£4m - £25k p/w

Total - approx £40m raised - approx £400k p/w saved.

So there is money to be raised by sales, plus whatever is there for transfers we shouldn't have any issues bringing in a LB, CM'r & FW. Question is who would the lads bring in for them three positions?

Sydney!

17 Dec 2011 16:12:39
Brady and Macheda to be loaned to top flight clubs in January. Bebe, Berbatov, De Laet, Diouf, Evra, Gibson, Owen, Kuszczak, Park, Valencia will all be available for transfer in the summer if they are not offloaded in January .. Bale and Shaqiri being lined up for 11 and 7 shirts

17 Dec 2011 13:40:44
Well this is very interesting, reading about this whole mess with FIFA potentially suspending Switzerland from football? Which means FC Basel would be out of the CL and United back in to face Bayern Munich. I don't know if i like that idea, seems to me to be artificial and it wouldn't feel right. Besides i'm partially looking forward to playing Ajax, maybe FC Porto later on or a Manchester derby in a European tournament would be intense. Thoughts anyone?

Ozwald

17 Dec 2011 12:39:59
Jermain Defoe may leave spurs? Could we be interested in him as a replacement for Berba?

REDFAITH

17 Dec 2011 12:26:42
Hey Ed, i've heard alot of the Man Utd players are asking Scholes to come out of retirement to ease the injury problems they are having.

Breeno {Ed007's Note - You will have if you've been reading The S*n. Shame on you.}

17 Dec 2011 10:53:17
I know we get posts popping up periodically, but assuming SAF still has another 3-5 years before he retires (and I think even that is pessimistic, since he could easily live for another 10-20 years!), who do people think will have developed sufficiently enough as a manager to replace him?

I know people want a born leader and winner to take over, somebody who has already been there and done it, but does that success have to necessarily be at the top level? I highly rate Paul Lambert as a manager (not just because I'm from Norwich!).

He has completely turned around the team with back-to-back promotions in divisions which are often difficult to get out of. He prefers buying young talent with a hunger to win and developing them into better players. He's obviously a great motivator and enjoys attacking football. He had success as a player at Dortmund. I think given another few years development, if he established Norwich as a top tier team in a similar fashion to Pulis at Stoke, he would be a suitable candidate for the position.

Obviously Solskjaer and Blanc (two more likely candidates, I imagine) will have accumulated more managerial experience over that time and may well prove to be highly successful, but I would be quite happy to see another shrewd Scot take control of the reins to continue the clubs tradition of building teams.

Jerv

17 Dec 2011 09:01:30
FERGY "Pogba has an agent who has obviously become a bit difficult," said the United boss.

"But we are negotiating and we want the boy to stay.

"If he doesn't want to there is not a lot you can do about it. You just hope he gets the right advice.

"We have an option on his contract so in that respect there is not a great emergency. But if he wants to be a Manchester United player he knows what to do.""Matt Busby summed it up perfectly when he said you don't need to chase money at a club like Manchester United," said Ferguson.

"He said it will eventually find you if you are a good enough player.

"You become rich playing for Manchester United. Players can chase money early in their career but at the end it is not the same as if they'd stayed here.

"The player has to take the decision himself but you wouldn't think you'd need to consider what he has too long.

"He just needs to look around him to realise."
JRED

17 Dec 2011 05:07:44
it's really horrible to see torres going through such a bad spell.....before u people say what a lfc fan is doing here,let me say I am a manutd fan.....any football fan would say that torres when in peak form was the best striker in the world.....sad he chose liverpool over man utd when he had a chance to join us....imagine a team consisting of ronaldo,scholes,rooney,torres,giggsy, all in their prime....barca would be sh....ng in their pants....we could still bring in torres if he is available....him and rooney or him and hernandez up front would be brilliant.

17 Dec 2011 00:17:25
Is Arsenal at the Emirates really an home game for them? If you go to the Emirates and listen closely you can hear Luton Town's fans cheering in their game.

Sydney!

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I don't understand this comment.. the Emirates is like 5 minutes from Hibury..?

Joe