Sir Alex eyes further expansion

Sir Alex Ferguson wants Old Trafford extended even further.

A Premiership record of 69,070 watched Manchester United´s 3-0 win over Birmingham on Sunday.

That mark will be bettered numerous times over the coming months until their proposed expansion is complete and 76,000 will be able to fit into the biggest club ground in Britain.

Three quarters of the ground will be complete once the new corners are finished, leaving only the South Stand to be developed.

Old Trafford could be raised to around 92,000 with this further expansion, but the expense would be huge given the restricted room around the stadium.

"I am delighted, it shows the progress the club want to make and it is the right step," Ferguson said of the record attendance.

The Scot admitted he would like to see United´s home get bigger and bigger.

"If possible we want to make this stadium the biggest we possibly can and the next stage is to extend over the railway," he said.

"And if David Gill [United´s chief executive] is listening, he will faint - but you have got to want that at United and be the best you can be."

bonne nouvel

Man Utd : Van Nistelrooy devrait rester (27/03)
L´attaquant néerlandais de Manchester Utd Ruud Van Nistelrooy, annoncé partant depuis plusieurs semaines, devrait finalement rester chez les Red Devils. C´est en tout cas ce qu´a déclaré l´entraîneur adjoint du club et ancien entraîneur du Real Madrid Carlos Queiroz : "Il n´y a rien à dire à propos de Ruud. Ce que l´on a dit à propos de son avenir s´applique cette semaine, la semaine prochaine, et toutes les autres semaines." Queiroz tente de mettre fin aux rumeurs annonçant le buteur hollandais, en proie au doute depuis quelques mois, du côté de l´Inter Milan ou de Tottenham. Il affirme que l´attaquant de 29 ans figure dans les plans de Sir Alex Ferguson pour les prochaines saisons. Mais Sir Alex sera-t-il encore sur le banc mancunien en 2006-2007 ? Indéniablement, le sort de l´international néerlandais (33 séléctions, 14 buts) semble lié à celui de son coach ... A suivre.

Jones: I´m ready for United

Manchester United midfielder David Jones believes he is now ready for Premiership football.

The former FA Youth Cup-winning captain was initially loaned to Preston this term but United felt he would obtain more benefit from joining NEC Nijmegen in a surprise temporary move in January.

Having impressed at both clubs, particularly with NEC, the 21-year-old is hopeful he will be considered for first team action at Old Trafford next term.

United are woefully short on central midfield talent and Jones is ready to make the step up after playing in pre-season last year.

"Personally, I hope to return to Manchester United," he revealed to Algemeen Dagblad.

"I have the feeling I am ready for The Premiership.

"I don´t want to play for a team in a lower English division.

"If I get the guarantee from Sir Alex Ferguson that I will get a serious chance, I want to return.

"If not, I would like to stay at NEC."

Jones has been a big hit in Holland, scoring six goals in 13 games in De Eredivisie, but will have a key meeting with Ferguson about his future on Tuesday.

Je le sens bien David Jones

Ronaldo not for sale
Stuart Mathieson

Cristiano Ronaldo
MANCHESTER United will fight off any summer interest for Cristiano Ronaldo after Valencia targeted the 21-year-old.

The Spanish giants have declared they are ready to launch a £15m swoop for the Portuguese international, who signed for the Reds from Sporting Lisbon for £12.5m in 2003.

But Sir Alex Ferguson is keen to keep the winger and has stated he sees Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney as the future of the club.
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Ronaldo signed an improved lucrative two-year extension to his Old Trafford deal that will keep him at the Reds until 2010. And the player has stated he wants to repay United for sticking by him through what has been a tough season.

"United have supported me all the way this season and for that I am grateful," he said.

"They have stood by me and been there for me and I want to repay them for that. They were also the only club that showed 100 per cent commitment towards me. There is nobody else who could make me what I am now and I am thankful. I will repay the faith."

Ruud assured of World Cup place

Holland coach Marco van Basten has told Ruud van Nistelrooy that his inability to start for Manchester United will not hinder his chances of starring in the World Cup finals.

The prolific 29-year-old has been benched in favour of Louis Saha in United´s last five games and Sir Alex Ferguson´s continuing refusal to pick The Premiership´s joint leading goalscorer has led to mounting speculation about his future.

However, all parties have downplayed the suggestion that the striker is unhappy at Old Trafford, with van Nistelrooy himself insisting rumours linking him with Real Madrid and Internazionale were ´absolute nonsense´.

The former PSV Eindhoven man´s lack of playing time comes at an inopportune time with the World Cup looming large, but international manager van Basten has told van Nistelrooy he should not fear for his chances of travelling to Germany with the Oranje.

"I made clear to him that he should not worry about his spot in the Dutch squad," Van Basten told Voetbal International.

Indeed, Ferguson may be ready to reintroduce van Nistelrooy in Wednesday´s Premiership clash with West Ham after he replaced Saha for the final 15 minutes of the 3-0 win over Birmingham.

The Scot made clear in his programme notes for the visit of Alan Pardew´s Hammers that all three of his key front men, with Wayne Rooney making up the triumvirate, would feature in the climax to the season.

"It has not been easy for Ruud sitting on the bench but...it has been impossible to leave Louis Saha out since the Carling Cup final, given his tremendous scoring form," wrote Ferguson.

"Playing three strikers is possible in some games...but not always because it can leave the wrong balance.

"The one thing that´s certain is that all three will play their part and help us maintain the momentum."

Fergie: Send off the divers

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson believes referees should be allowed to send players off for diving.

Although most teams have culprits in their ranks, arguably including The Red Devils, Ferguson thinks the time has come to empower match officials to make brave decisions when spotting deliberate acts of cheating.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Ruud van Nistelrooy and even Wayne Rooney have all been criticised in some quarters for alleged instances of ´simulation´ in the past.

The Scotsman would also like to see the grappling inside penalty areas from set-pieces stamped out.

"The difficult thing is, in terms of stopping it, you can´t give a red card for diving," he said on Sky Sports News. "That´s the amazing thing.

"Referees are not allowed to give a red card for diving. They can give two yellows but I don´t think that´s an impact.

"Therefore, they are at an advantage over a guy who makes one tackle in the game, he could honestly be trying to tackle player and be given a red card.

"I see Keith Hackett [Head of Referees] in the newspapers talking about jostling in the penalty box.

"That´s taken from Italian football and he´s right in that respect - it´s a wrestling match and it´s starting to emerge in our game in the last four or five years maybe. It´s getting worse all the time.

"You can´t get a free kick or corner kick without an absolute melee in there. It is an impossible task for referees to sort that out, they´re all doing it.

"Even if we had six referees on the pitch, they´d find it difficult to sort that out.

"This kind of thing is increasing in our game, it´s not the part we want to go and watch football for."

Ferguson is also upset that William Gallas was not punished for gesturing to the Fulham fans recently after Gary Neville was fined £5,000 for aiming his celebrations towards the Liverpool supporters within Old Trafford.

"The FA could not prove what Gary was doing because none of the footage showed the fans, whereas the Gallas one was obvious," he stated.

"I am not really bothered about that, I just don´t think the compliance unit has any real purpose because they don´t do anything unless the press report it.

"Unless the press report it, they don´t act. That cannot be right, it cannot be a proper system."

Fergie backing for Park

Sir Alex Ferguson says summer signing Park Ji-Sung has been a great addition to the Manchester United squad.

The midfielder moved to Old Trafford for £4 million on a four-year deal but although making 38 appearances for The Red Devils this season, the majority have been from the substitute´s bench.

Park has failed to hold down a first-team place in United´s side and was only selected on the bench for Sunday´s game against Birmingham City with Kieran Richardson taking up the left-wing position.

"Park Ji-Sung has been fantastic for us, he has been terrific," insisted Ferguson.

"He adds something different to the way we play with his movement and desire to find space.

"He just needs to score a couple of goals in a row to get him going.

"He gets into good positions and is a good finisher and a couple of goals would do his confidence good.

"I don´t know if it´s affecting him because he is a quiet lad, you can´t ask him about it either because if you do, it might make him start thinking about it more."

Park is likely to get his chance on the left-side of midfield in United´s game against West Ham on Wednesday after injury forced Richardson off early at the weekend.

Le groupe pour mercredi:

Man Utd (from): Van der Sar, Howard, Neville, Ferdinand, Vidic, Pique, Silvestre, Evra, Ronaldo, Giggs, O´Shea, Park, Fletcher, Van Nistelrooy, Saha, Rooney, Rossi, Neumayr, Gibson, Jones.

Sir Alex Ferguson has drafted untested youngsters Markus Neumayr, Darron Gibson and Richie Jones into his squad.

Wes Brown (groin) is again missing, while Kieran Richardson (foot) is also absent after limping out of Sunday´s win over Birmingham.

Vive l´anglais ( Hihi ^^ )

Everton manager David Moyes will make a summer bid for the £2m-rated Manchester United goalkeeper Tim Howard. (Daily Mirror and The Sun)

Watford want to extend Manchester United keeper Ben Foster´s loan to the end of next season. (Star)

Sinon une victoire ce soir et on revient à 9pts de Chelsea, ce serait surtt important pour assurer la 2e place.

Le Real Madrid, et sa nouvelle équipe dirigeante articulée autour du président Fernando Martin, s´est mis en tête de recruter Wayne Rooney, l´attaquant de Manchester United. C´est en tout cas ce qu´affirme la presse espagnole ce mercredi, et notamment le quotidien As.

enfin des rumeur sur rooney ca métonnai kan meme^^mais obn il restera a manchester c´est l´avenir de mu kest en lui!

De toute façon, cet été on va encore nous demander Ruud, Rooney et Ronaldo, on risque donnc d´en voir pas mal des rumeurs.

Le départ de Ruud ou Cristiano je veux bien qu´on puisse s´amuser à émettre des hypothéses, mais Rooney à Madrid c´est fort en connerie ^^

ils ont déja eu owen ca leur suffit pas ..

Les "journaux" espagnols et anglais font un petit concours pour savoir qui aura la palme de la rumeur la plus stupide. ^^

On parle encore de Steven Davis pour renforcer notre milieu.

Je me demande si on ne ferait pas mieux de mettre Jones titulaire et voir ce que ça donne.

Et puis ce serait pas mal de laisser leur chance aux jeunes de MU plutot que de tout le temps chercher à acheter.

Ptit extrait audio de Greater Manchester Radio lors de la finale de C1 de 99, co-commentée par Wilf Mcguinness, ex manager de MU...Lors du but d´Ole Gunnar:

http://www.btinternet.com/~c.beirne/public/solskjaer_gmr.mp3

Du délire mdr, la folie

Ils sont trop fort ces anglais, ca rapelle thierry roland quand la france a gagné la coupe du monde.

est ce que ruud joue en ce moment contre west ham?

ruud joue est tjr 0 0 a 45 ´