Wenger’s challenge to United rests in balance
By Matt Dickinson, Chief Football Correspondent

ARSENE WENGER woke to headlines yesterday calling him a loser, a failure and a chump rather than a champ. Wonderful, he must have thought. That is the appreciation you get for creating the most attractive Arsenal team ever and for finishing in the top two of the Premiership for six consecutive seasons.

In surrendering the championship to Manchester United when his team should have wrapped it up a few months ago, Wenger has laid himself open to accusations of underachievement, but he is entitled to wonder if he and his team can fairly be described as losers. The Wenger regime is as good as it may get for Arsenal supporters, many of whom seem to have forgotten that the club finished twelfth, below Queens Park Rangers and Wimbledon, two years before his quiet revolution.

“If finishing second is a disaster, things are not so bad,” he said. “With 50 per cent less budget than United, I hope it goes on like this for the next ten years.”

The concern for Arsenal should not be whether they can catch United, but whether they should even be trying to. That is not to say that they should accept second best because, thanks to Wenger, they have knocked United off their perch in two out of six seasons. It is a warning that they might be overstretching themselves in trying to construct a rival superpower rather than sticking to prudent management.

The new 60,000-seat stadium at Ashburton Grove is beginning to look overambitious. The need for its extra seats and hospitality suites has been explained endlessly by the Arsenal board, but their timing, as income from television rights is about to plateau, could not be worse and the rising costs and delays will take a toll on team building.

Wenger’s contract expires in 2005 and the opening of the ground has already been put back from that summer. Asked if he would still be around to open the new £400 million ground, Wenger was laconic. “Maybe I will have to start building it myself,” he said.

No wonder a director at Old Trafford was so dismissive last year when Wenger talked about a shift in power. “We have paid for our stadium and we can concentrate all our resources on keeping the team at the top,” he said. “You cannot underestimate how far that puts us ahead of Arsenal.”

On that basis, it could be said that the surprise is not that Arsenal lost the title but that Wenger keeps putting them in contention. The Frenchman would reach that conclusion on financial grounds. “Last year, United lost the championship and reacted by buying a player for £30 million,” he said. “If we both want the same player this summer, I will have to look somewhere else. Our most expensive player cost £12 million. They have three or four for nearly £30 million.” Wenger exaggerates United’s spending and no one could claim that Sir Alex Ferguson has bought his eight titles in 11 seasons. The Scot overspent on Juan Sebastián Verón and Rio Ferdinand, but he has mostly used his club’s money wisely and has built the country’s most productive academy. United’s success has been good for England.

Wenger’s comparison of financial muscle is valid, though, and it is a mismatch that is likely to be underlined during the next two months. Harry Kewell, for example, has been offered to United and Arsenal and, if the Leeds United forward goes to London, it will only be because Ferguson is chasing other targets.

He will not get them all, unless he manages to find someone willing to pay £30 million for David Beckham, but he is eyeing Ronaldinho, Claude Makelele, Jermain Defoe, various left backs and a new goalkeeper — possibly Brad Friedel, of Blackburn Rovers, although Paul Robinson, of Leeds, could also be part of the Elland Road sales.

Wenger has insisted that he could not afford to cash in on any of his star players, in which case he will have a maximum budget of £10 million. He, too, wants a new goalkeeper and the chance of luring Rüstü Reçber, the Turkey No 1, on a free transfer from Fenerbahçe may fit his requirements. The only certain arrival is Philippe Senderos, the 18-year-old Swiss centre half rated as one of the best young players in Europe, but Wenger’s defence needs more experience. He could free money by waving a sad farewell to Dennis Bergkamp, as well as a fond goodbye to the hapless Oleg Luzhny.

“I hope we can find a magician,” Wenger said when asked how he was going to bridge the financial gap. He will have to come cheap.

( "Times Online")

Un " up" en passant.........

up, en passant ^^

Si qq a un job a proposer pr cet ete bien paye......n´hesitez pas ^^

En passant une info, Vieira veut rester a Arsenal l´an prochain......

si y veut rien gagner il a ka rester parce ke l année prochaine man utd fait le triplé

a si il y aura la coupe de la ligue

depuis quand ete vous fan de MU ?

moi c depuis kil y a le king CANTONA

Moi depuis les debuts de Giggsy et surtt l´arrivee d´Eric the King ; -)

lounsss Posté le 06 mai 2003 à 23:23:38

Quand j´écoute trop Wagner, j´ai envie d´envahir la Pologne

Woody Allen ( l-o-l)

Il y a deux choses d´infini au monde : l´univers et la bétise humaine....mais pour l´univers j´en suis pas très sûr

Albert Einstein ( je l´aime bien celle la)

=>pas mal.......surtt celle de Woody ^^

lounsss Posté le 06 mai 2003 à 23:34:25

" J´aurais voulu être un espion, mais il fallait avaler des microfilms et mon médecin me l´a déconseillé. "

[Woody Allen]

=>eh eh ^^

=>http://www.lebetisier.com/

Je vous conseille la rubrique citations ^^

Ce n´est pas que j´ai peur de mourir. Je veux juste ne pas être là quand ça arrivera

[Woody Allen]

=>elle est mortelle celle la ^^ ^^

( oki je sors----------->^^)

moi, chuis fan de MU depuis la saison 1998/1999, la saison du triplé! aaahhhhh quelle équipe!!! : )

MAN UTD 4EVER!!!

Beckham rules out Madrid move

Beckham says he wants to stay
David Beckham has revealed that he wants to stay with champions Manchester United and will not join Real Madrid in the summer.

The England captain insists he has had no contact with Spanish giants Real Madrid.

The news is a major boost for United who celebrated winning the Premiership title at the weekend for the eighth time in 11 seasons.

Beckham, who has been linked with a £30m-plus move to the European champions for weeks, said he was happy to stay at Old Trafford.

" There´s been lots of stuff in the media about me and my future, but I can honestly say that there has been no contact between either me or my adviser, with Real Madrid, or any other club."

HAVE YOUR SAY
Only if he puts on the red of Man Utd in August will we know he´s a man of his word

From John Sinclair
Join the 606 debate
" My feelings for Manchester United, the club itself, the players, the fans and the backroom staff, are as strong as ever," he told the Manchester Evening News.

Beckham was elated by United´s title success, saying: " "The whole team is buzzing. I think we are all still on a high because the scale of our achievements is only now sinking in.

" People had written us off before Christmas and that makes our success even sweeter this time.

" It has been a tough battle for all of us because we have had to be so focused on our aim to win the league by winning every game and not to worry or get distracted by the opposition.

Beckham watch: Every twist from the transfer saga
" It´s been an amazing season for the club and I have never known the team spirit to be as good as it is today.

" The supporters have been fantastic as always and it´s great to reward them with the title."

United chief executive Peter Kenyon insisted on Sunday that Beckham would remain a Manchester United player next season and dismissed reports which had claimed the 28-year-old would move to Spain.

Beckham added: " I know Peter Kenyon and the manager are saying they want me to stay, and that´s good enough for me.

" My affection for the club has never changed from the day I signed for United."

=>eh eh BECKHAM VEUT RESTER ; -D ^^

=>qq news vite fait . ..

Brazilian defender Mazilli de Oliveira Athirson will join Manchester United for £4m in the summer. ( Daily Mirror)

David Beckham has two new tattoos reading Amare et Fovere ( To love and to cherish), and Septem est Perfectum ( Seven is perfect). ( Daily Mirror)

But the Mirror´s great rival says Beckham´s new tattoos read Perfectio in spiritu ( Spiritual perfection), and Ut amem et foveam ( So that I love and cherish). ( Sun)

=>un gd debat sur les tatouages de Becks ds le " sun" et le " daily mirror"...^^

" Becks stays! "

David Beckham says that he has no intention of leaving Old Trafford this summer.

Newspapers have been full of rumours claiming he was on the verge of a £38 million switch to Real Madrid, but Becks has spoken out to deny the reports for the first time.

" I want to stay at United," David told the Manchester Evening News on Tuesday.

" There´s been lots of stuff in the media about me and my future, but I can honestly say that there has been no contact between either me or my adviser, with Real Madrid, or any other club.

" My feelings for Manchester United, the club itself, the players, the fans and the back room staff, are as strong as ever.

" I know Peter Kenyon and the manager Sir Alex are saying they want me to stay, and that´s good enough for me. My affection for the club has never changed from the day I signed for United."

Becks has also declared that the team´s Premiership achievement is only now beginning to sink in with the lads.

" The whole team is buzzing. I think we´re all still on a high because the scale of our achievement is only now sinking in. People had written us off at Christmas and that makes our success ever sweeter this time," he said.

" I think for all of us it has been a very tough battle because we´ve had to be so focused on our aim to win the league by winning every game, and not to worry or get distracted by the opposition.

" It´s been an amazing season for the club and I have never known the team spirit to be as good as it is today. The supporters have been fantastic as always, and it´s great to reward them with the title."

Report by Simon Davies

Becks: It´s up to you, Alex
David Beckham last night put his future in Alex Ferguson´s hands by finally admitting he wants to stay at Manchester United. Old Trafford boss Fergie must now prove that he wants to keep the England skipper, who is a £30million-plus target for Real Madrid - or else cash in on his prize asset. Becks insisted: " I want to stay at United. My feelings for the club, the players, the fans and the backroom staff, are as strong as ever. There has been lots of stuff about me and my future. But I can honestly say there has been no contact between either me or my adviser with Real Madrid - or any other club."
Neil Custis, The Sun

Baby love won us title
Ryan Giggs has revealed how the joy of fatherhood changed his life and spurred him on to become an even better footballer. Manchester United star Giggs joined an elite group of players with eight title medals on Sunday as the Reds triumphed once more in the Premiership. The Welsh wing wizard admitted the concerns over his baby daughter Libby being born two months premature had played on his mind. But once she was given the allclear, his form and life picked up again. And last weekend was perfect. Giggs´ girl came home for the first time on Saturday, then United won the title the next day thanks to Arsenal´s 32 defeat against Leeds. Giggs, 29, said: " I think becoming a dad has given me an extra spur."
Shaun Custis, The Sun

Arsene Mex Alex sweat
Manchester United and Arsenal are heading for a bust-up in the battle for brilliant young French defender Philippe Mexes. Old Trafford boss Alex Ferguson has been trailing the powerful Auxerre centre-half for the last FIVE YEARS. But Arsene Wenger is trying to pinch Mexes from under Fergie´s nose just 24 hours after declaring he cannot compete in the transfer market with United. Mexes, 21, has fallen out with Auxerre following a bitter legal wrangle with the French champions. And the French star, rated at £12million by Auxerre boss Guy Roux, could now be free to leave for as little as £4m. Mexes, 21, is regarded as Marcel Desailly´s long-term successor in the French national team. Ferguson has been on his trail ever since inviting him to Old Trafford back in 1998. Mexes, then only 16, was given a personal tour of the club by Fergie.
Mark Irwin, The Sun

Alex is on the defensive
Alex Ferguson will not be fooled by the tributes that have flowed his way over the last 48 hours. Though he will take great delight in detecting that the awful, stomach-churning noise currently assailing his ears is the sound of what was once Fleet Street eating its words. The same Street of Shame - along with its Manchester offices - that wrote him off late last year as a busted flush, well past his sell-by date, should-have-packed-it-up-in-the-summer, etc, etc. This column, for once, can bask in the self-righteous afterglow of having tipped Manchester United to win the title at the start of the season before reaffirming the same view on January 1. But, apart from his personal victory over the " idiot" hacks he usually dismisses with the words " away and write your s***e", Ferguson knows this latest championship proves little in the grand scheme of things. With their vast resources enabling them to bring in players their so-called rivals can only dream about, the only shock is when United DON´T win the title.
Steven Howard, The Sun

It´s Ruud to ask for more
Ruud van Nistelrooy will not pester Manchester United for a pay rise. The Dutch striker, 26, has grabbed 24 league goals this season. But his agent Roger Linse said: " There is no question of him asking for more money. We signed a five-year deal two years ago and are happy with it."
Sports staff, The Sun

United is my real love
David Beckham last night pledged his long-term future to Manchester United and revealed why he could never turn his back on his beloved Old Trafford. The England skipper ended weeks of speculation about his future by insisting he had no plans to leave the newly-crowned Premiership champions for Real Madrid. He said: “There’s been lots of stuff about me and my future but I can honestly say that there has been no contact between either me or my advisers with Real Madrid or any other club – I want to stay at United.”
David McDonnell, Daily Mirror

Beckham prefers it raining in Manchester to reigning in Spain
So the biggest guessing game in football is over and United eyes are smiling. David Beckham has chosen the Red badge of Manchester United over the romantic lure of fantasy football. The England skipper will have been watching Ronaldo and his Real Madrid team-mates with a tinge of regret in last night’s Champions League semi-final victory over Juventus. But the pull of his first love was ultimately too strong to allow Beckham to turn his back on the club that unleashed him on the game a decade ago.
David McDonnell and Darren Lewis, Daily Mirror

I want to stay – star snubs Real deal
David Beckham last night broke his silence on talk of a mega-move to Real Madrid by insisting: I want to stay at Manchester United. The England captain entered the great ‘will he, won’t he’ saga when he declared: “I know that Sir Alex Ferguson and Peter Kenyon are saying they want me to stay and that’s good enough for me.”
Bill Thornton, Daily Star

Sell Becks if you dare
David Beckham has delivered a defiant message to Manchester United: Sell me if you dare. The England skipper pledging his future to the Premiership champions will be music to United fans’ ears. It is probably the only truthful statement amid the rhetoric which has been flying around about Becks and Real Madrid.
Danny Fullbrook, Daily Star

Big Red wedge
David Beckham is the world’s best paid player with a staggering annual wage of £11m, it was revealed yesterday. He earns more than Real Madrid stars Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo. But in a surprise attack, Chelsea’s French defender Marcel Desailly blasted: “David Beckham is no longer in the soccer world but he is an integral part of show business. His wife is already part of showbiz circles and he’s surrounded by people who give him advice, from the shoes he should wear to whether he should get a tattoo. Beckham has left the context of traditional football while Zidane and Ronaldo refuse to.”
Sports staff, Daily Star

I can’t wait to get my claws into Fergie again, says Wenger
Arsene Wenger’s appetite for revenge is so strong that he wants the new season to start straight away. The Arsenal boss has looked a broken man in recent weeks under the relentless pressure from newly-elected champs Manchester United. But 48 hours after losing this year’s Premiership title, Wenger was yesterday bullish about his desire to get stuck into next year’s campaign. Wenger admitted yesterday: “I hate the summer break. I don’t find it refreshing. I just want to get back again and start winning.”
Danny Fullbrook, Daily Star

So, were they all just having a laugh?
Asked whether he felt vindicated that Real Madrid’s interest in David Beckham had not succeeded in tempting the England captain to Spain, Sir Alex Ferguson chose to offer only a few words. “No, not vindicated but also not surprised,” the United manager said with a smile. “I don’t think it is a matter for me to consider. Look, this type of story was something I felt could have arisen anyway. I’m not even bothered.” If Ferguson really was never troubled by suggestions that he could lose his No.7 to the European champions this summer, then he is surely the only person in the red half of Manchester to have been so sure.
Ian Ladyman, Daily Mail

Watch out, we’re on the up and up
Ryan Giggs fired a warning to the rest of the Premiership and Europe by saying Manchester United will only get better. The 29-year-old Wales winger has played in all eight of United’s Championship-winning sides under Sir Alex Ferguson – equalling the record shared by Liverpool’s Alan Hansen and Phil Neal – and believes the current side are the most talented of the lot. He said: “The 1993-94 side takes a lot of beating for it’s combination of experience, steel and ability, but for pure talent and ability, player for player, the current team is the best I’ve played in – and it can definitely get better.”
Richard Tanner, Daily Express

Fergie wants boy from Brazil
David Beckham’s decision to stay at Manchester United will not deter Sir Alex Ferguson’s rebuilding plans – and Brazil star Mazolli de Oliveira Athirson could be the first recruit. Fergie is determined to make the newly-crowned Premiership champions kings of Europe again and the World Cup winners’ squad player is being checked out this week. The United boss plans to add at least three new faces to his already formidable squad this summer – Ronaldinho is on the brink of a £10million move and Leeds star Harry Kewell is another on the wanted list.
Alan Nixon, Daily Mirror
£10m bid for Ronaldinho is Ferguson’s final offer
Manchester United have told Paris Saint-Germain they will not pay more than £10million for Ronaldinho. Sir Alex Ferguson sees Brazil’s World Cup winner as the ideal foil for Ruud van Nistelrooy in next season’s assault on the Champions League. French club PSG are already resigned to losing the 23-year-old to United and have been in regular contact with the new Premiership champions since pricing the player at £25m last summer. Beset by financial problems and aware that Ronaldinho is their most saleable asset, PSG have already dropped their asking price to £15m.
Ian Ladyman, Daily Mail

The United boss plans to add at least three new faces to his already formidable squad this summer

=>on va etre tres, tres fort l´an prochain...^^