United Rant

Rant’s Premier Predictions 2012/13

Each year Rant predicts the outcome of the season to come – winners, losers – Manchester United and others. There have been mixed results in over the years – 2009/10, 2010/11 and 2011/12. Add your predictions in the comments section below and we’ll revisit this post at the end of May 2013 to find out [...]

Rant Cast 119 – Money, it’s a hit

New season, new hope! Well not if you’ve been following Manchester United’s IPO in New York this summer. But with Shinji Kagawa, Nick Powell and Robin van Persie joining* there’s plenty to talk about in the first Rant Cast of the new season! Regulars Ed and Paul talk the summer transfer window, financial shenanigans in [...]

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Season preview 2012/13

What to make of the season ahead? As ever with Manchester United the target is victory on all fronts, although after a campaign in which Sir Alex Ferguson’s men finished trophy-less in 2011/12 there may be more realistic ambitions in the months ahead. Most supporters will settle for bringing back the Premier League trophy to [...]

Reds approach campaign with no trepidation

As much as Sir Alex Ferguson hoped otherwise, Manchester United’s pre-season friendly against Hannover 96 on Saturday night was unable to detract attention from his employers’ financial proclivities in New York. On the opening day of trading a ‘disappointing’ IPO raised approximately $100 million less than initially sought by the Glazer family, while a myriad [...]

In defence of Ferguson

Boxing Day 1989, Villa Park.  Not much Christmas cheer; another defeat, another dreadful performance and real anger on the away terraces.  Predictably, the final whistle was greeted with a cacophony of jeers and boos, but as the players troop off towards the tunnel the fans find one voice and one target.  The noise is deafening: [...]

Liar liar Gill’s on fire as market pours cold water on IPO

There was something vaguely sickening about the spectacle as Manchester United’s chief executive David Gill, adorned by two grinning Glazer brothers, rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange this afternoon. Brothers-in-arms to a less than noble cause: the continued fattening of the Glazer wallet at United’s expense. Indeed, the sight of Gill [...]

Reasons to be cheerful

Though last season’s climax will linger odiously in the minds of Manchester United fans, the summer which has followed is one easily forgotten. On the pitch, the absence of key players, due to international commitments at both the European Championships and Olympics, has seen United’s depleted squad score just three goals in five games against [...]

Curb your enthusiasm

A full strength Manchester United drew against a poor Vålerenga IF on Sunday afternoon in sunny Oslo, in yet another dire performance on this year’s money laundering pre-season tour. Football romantics, and those of a nostalgic bent, will remember when a pre-season tour was actually a means of getting into shape before the coming season. [...]

Reds (almost) re-United in pre-season action as speculation mounts

Manchester United’s Euro 2012 contingent finally returned to action on Sunday as the Reds drew with Norwegian side Vålerenga in Oslo. With just two weeks before the big Premier League kick off, Sir Alex Ferguson’s players were reunited as an almost complete squad for the first time this summer after injury and international commitments disrupted [...]

Hit the road Malc

Manchester United’s commercial team launched the club’s investor roadshow on Thursday ahead of an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in New York this August. The team, comprising chief strategist Edward Woodward, commercial director Richard Arnold, and operations head Michael Bollingbrook, is meeting potential investors in Asia, Europe and the US ahead to drum up interest in [...]