More than 10 months on from the scene of Manchester United’s most traumatic title defeat in recent memory, Sir Alex Ferguson’s side returns to the Stadium of Light on Saturday lunchtime. United beat Sunderland last May. but few remember the game or result amid Manchester City’s celebrations that followed. While the Blue quarter of Manchester [...]
Saturday, March 16, 2013
When Manchester United faced Reading at the Majesky in December the sides conceded seven goals between them in a little over 30 minutes. Little wonder that last month’s FA Cup tie at Old Trafford took more than an hour to spring to life, with the Reds eventually running out 2-1 winners as the sides scored [...]
Monday, March 4, 2013
When Manchester United conceded three during a tragi-comic first half at Reading’s Madjesky Stadium in December it appeared to sum up a campaign. After all, while the Reds’ fragile defence was brutally exposed by limited opposition, United still won the game – netting four against the relegation threatened Berkshire side. The game at Reading moved [...]
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Who would have thought it, some 22 years on, that the gangly kid who floated like a paper-thin butterfly, on as an early substitute for the injured Dennis Irwin, would make 1,000 senior appearances for club and country. The number is arbitrary of course; just one more excuse to laud Ryan Giggs’ extraordinary career. But [...]
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Top versus bottom in the Premier League and another comfortable victory for Manchester United as Sir Alex Ferguson’s team marches towards another Premier League title. That is, of course, the most comfortable of scripts – one that United has not always read with ease this season. And with Queens Park Rangers fighting an unlikely battle [...]
Monday, February 18, 2013
“Success is the result of what sociologists like to call ‘accumulative advantage’,” argued Malcolm Gladwell in the peerless Outliers. “Those who are successful are most likely to be given the kinds of opportunities that lead to further success.” It is a viewpoint with which Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson might agree. After 26 years [...]
Monday, February 11, 2013
“It’s ridiculous to think,” said Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson ahead of United’s 2-0 victory over the Toffees on Sunday. “That we play on the Sunday and Real Madrid play on the Saturday with that extra day’s rest.” Thus grew a thousand headlines – and whether Ferguson’s “anger” at the Premier League’s Faustian pact [...]
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Three days ahead of Manchester United’s trip to face Real Madrid in Spain, supporters might be forgiven for having one eye on the Champions League Round of 16 clash next Wednesday. After all, this is a match between two of Europe’s most storied institutions, and a first meeting in almost a decade. Sir Alex Ferguson, [...]
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
“The ides of March are come. Ay, Caesar; but not gone.” Julius Cesar (III, i) There was a time, shortly after Manchester United stretched the club’s Premier League lead to five points last April, when United Rant threw caution to the wind. “Hubris be damned,” was the cry, with the Reds’ lead seemingly unassailable and [...]
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Complacency. The amour-propre that comes so inevitably with easy success; the original sin of man. Yet, it it surely with conceit in mind that Sir Alex Ferguson dispatches his men south this Saturday – Manchester United seeking a 10 point lead in the Premier League and a second successive victory over Fulham. After all, Sir [...]
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Friday, March 29, 2013
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