Mar 04
Newcastle Preview and Ronaldo’s Contract
Another midweek game, another game I’m sure to miss thanks to work. Living stateside, midweek games are tough on the fan. I guess I’d have to rely on the next best thing; the recorded game.
Yesterday, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea all won. And for all Arsenal’s troubles and Villa’s current position in the league, I suspect, with games like Villa’s capitulation against Stoke, the big four will wear a familiar look come May. [I may have to eat my words, but then, those words will taste sweet if one of other three finish out of the top four.]
Today we meet Newcastle. A team that has been in a state of perpetual shambles. Yet, we managed to draw that trainwreck of a side in our first game of the season. In my match day previews, every once in a while, I get the odd cretin from a rival club side sneaking in through the corridors of Newsnow to accuse me of being smug about our side [apart from other unprintable stuff; but we'll not go there]. But then, when you play the likes of Newcastle, West Brom etc., what else can you do? Again, I could eat my words at the end of the day [which would make them painfully bitter], but then, one must back ones’ convictions, and all that pap.
Right, before I earn the wrath of the superstitious of my United friends, enough sticking out my neck for the day.
Meanwhile, Ronaldo, according to various reports, is set to be offered a whopping £200,000 a week contract. One suspects the veracity of a news story, whose origins are from the eminently respectable News of the World, but let’s suspend our disbelief for now. Now, the line of thinking from United is obvious: make a statement of intent, both verbally and financially, on the club’s commitment towards retaining its prized asset/star/commodity — however one prefers to call him.
My line of thinking is slightly different. I tend to agree, more or less, with Scott over at RoM: outstanding player, but not worth £200,000 a week. It begs the question, if 140,000 — or whatever he’s on at the moment, with his image rights added to it — is not enough to keep him happy in a contract that goes till 2012, then I really don’t know what will. Real Madrid will knock bang on our doors, offering sums laughably below his market value, and we’ll have to endure another summer putting up with, not only Madrid’s shit, but even that of Ronaldo (actually it’s not him, he brings God into the picture.) In passing, anyone recall his ‘Only God knows’ antics from last summer? We’ll he’s already started a bit of it, recently.
Ok, I may be going overboard, but the overbearing presence of Real Madrid makes me want to throw up at the prospect of wading through another summer of bullshit, for want of a better word. And if Ronaldo plays the only God knows card again, I will eat my shoe. In preparation for such an unlikely event, I have a shoe made of butterscotch flavoured ice-cream in my freezer.
Back to today’s game. It would hardly be surprising to see Vidic returning to partner Rio at the center of our defence. Evans will earn a well deserved break to give his ankle more time. The boy’s done very well this season — adds weight to Fergie’s decision to sell Pique to Barca. He looks the real deal to me. He’s young, but defenders peak well in the late 20s. I see a bright future for him at United. I hope he does too. O’Shea should play at right back, despite reports of a heel injury — Neville’s not likely, as far as I’m aware, and Brown, I haven’t heard much about.
In the middle, Carrick should definitely play alongside Fletcher, as Scholesy and Giggsy get a game off following their involvement in the Cup. Of course, there is Anderson who, for his exploits as a sub last weekend, could get a run out today for about an hour, instead of Fletch. Ronaldo will inexplicably play, despite running himself to the ground for 120 mins on Sunday, again. I would go with Park and Nani. Upfront, there’s little doubt Rooney and the BerbaCount will play.
SAF as usual finds the right things to say on our title bid and, what I think to be, the ridiculous quintuple claims in the media:
“You hope to disturb your opponents and I have done it myself because you hope to get nearer, but we won’t take anything lightly and we go to Newcaste on Wednesday knowing that they are fighting for survival and that it won’t be easy. It will be nip-and-tuck for all teams in the division, so we will not be falling into any traps.”
Right, I’m off for now. See you later, when I get the time to log on.
Oh, and before I forget, my prediction: 2-0 to United. Call me cocky.
Related items from Red Rants:
- Man Utd vs Newcastle Utd: Preview
- Man Utd v Newcastle: Preview
- Manchester United confirm new contracts for Brown, Ferdinand and Carrick
- Update on Red Rants
- Man Utd v Everton: Preview
Tags: Manchester United News
Opti (541)
Stephen (479)
RedDevilEddy (459)
Craig Mc (345)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
@RedDevilEddy: Errrr Eddie, correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t Park OUT for a long time when we were winning our trophies last year
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@Dan: Mike Basset. I loved that mate
And although I am one who can carry a grudge, I certainly don’t with you mate. You’re a standup bloke in my books. Sometimes we’re just in different corners of the ring, thats all.
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Man what is it about people on here and exams the next day lol, i got bloody coursework in due tomorrow and im nowhere near finishing. If i was as dedicated to my work as i was to talking about united i would be top of the class. Ah well better get some rest and be fresh for tomorrow. Night all.
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@Dan: Absolutely right mate. Hargreaves would be the first choice at Right Midfielder because frankly he is outstanding in that role, can mark as well as park and has the ability cross the ball ala Beckham. Great point. But then everybody expected that from me because I have my bias love for Hargo.
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@Gubby: Gubby, don’t worry mate. What’s up with us, is that seemingly there is too much bollocks talk. I was at the game though Gubby, and Park was on his arse a lot. Don’t deny he has had some exceptional games for us though
. Especially the Barca OT semi final. He missed a sitter though mate, as he often does. But then, they all do, except Nani of course 
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@NicoQB: Remind me to get as wise as you Nico, and avoid things that do not yield, as you superbly say
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@Craig Mc: One of the most ‘experienced’. He is obviously the most important by some distance
@Grognard: If I was you I would go to the doctor, you are agreeing with me far too often lately!! You’re not running a fever are you
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@Rd: Aaaah RD, you know now don’t you Bro, I have a huge Nani bias
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@JB: Oh Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, Grog’s agreeing with BOTH you and a certain other person, who believes powers from another world have been influencing Grog to be more harmonious
. Now I stand ALONE 
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@Grognard: Bias love and Bollocks talk – what a combination eh Grog? Hargo is such a great, great footballer Grog, I really hope beyond hope that his ops are successful, and we can see the very best of him next season.
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@RedDevilEddy: Damn straight. Hargo is my boy and I have loaned him to United. United was lacking a little Canadian style heart and soul.
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@Aleksandar Macedonia: Well said mate. Ronaldo has problems with his form this season but that has a lot to do with injury, conditioning and having to alter his game a bit because teams are clamping down on his style of play because of his incredible season last year. So this is nothing more than a transitioning period for him and I pity the teams in the next couple of years when Ronaldo will himself have adapted to the tricks being used against him. Remember, he has a genius in Fergie in his corner too. He will be back to his former form sooner than later and he may even exceed it. He is truly special.
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@Craig Mc: Faith in Lil Man Nani. He’s too good not to come good. FAITH!
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@James: Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
God how I hate when we get invaded by trolls.
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@Craig Mc: Yes but last year Nani was frakken great too. In fairness he has gone backwards this year so the reemergence of Park has been a godsend. Hopefully Nani will also have the resurgence next year and make that position his. He needs to start offering Fergie what Fergie wants. He’s slowly coming around.
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@Craig Mc: Craig, how did you find ST James Park and it’s atmosphere as parks go? Curious to find out what you think seeing you are a regular at OT too.
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@JB: No but it could be that time in the month.
Actually, it’s amazing what a good mood can do for one. I’ve been in a pretty good mood of late. Up until James showed up and started messing with my bro Craig. 
I do like it when we agree though JB because even when we do I have a great deal of respect for your views and knowledge of the game.
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@Craig Mc: You said it mate. I can’t wait to see Hargo come backe better than ever. I really believe he will make a full recovery and i just salivate at the look of our team next year with him being slotted all over the place based on what Fergie wants for the day. Hargo is the man for me mate. My favorite United player and a player who makes me proud to be Canadian. Lets keep our fingers crossed and hope he comes back at 100%.
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OK, this may or may not be on topic,
)on and off the field, the fella must be needing a bit of a break soon…
but how long do ya think ronnie can keep playing without being rested?
apart from all the BS he cops (and gives
i mean we have the most potent offence in europe it seems, shouldn’t we be able to rotate our players a little?
we’ll definately be needing a healthy ron + the rest of the front row if we’re gonna challenge all the titles to the end
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@Grognard: Dunno, what would you prefer, Carrick and Hargo in the centre with Park on the right/left with Ronnie or Carrick and Fletch with Hargo on the wing? Scholes and Giggs start one every 3 games each probably so until they retire it looks like there wont be any first choice, just rotation.
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@Natzca: Probably the FA cup game on Saturday, Fabio will hopefully play. I think he’s probably my favourite young Latin player and I’ve only ever seen him play once for the 1st team and 2 or 3 reserve games. I just have a feeling that he will be amazing, I don’t know what it is because even though Rafael has been good I just can’t shake the feeling that his twin will be better. Also, Fabio is right footed so why hasn’t he been given any gametime with all of our RB injuries? O’Shea has been good but he is playing roughly every 3 days now and could do with a break
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@Natzca: You mean we have a topic here Bro, well I never
. I have thought for a while that Ronnie needs to be forced to take a break, but because Ronnie always insists on playing every game, Fergie allows him too mostly. I have never seen this side of Fergie with any other player before, and it worries me! Yes mate, Ronnie should be rested, but with important games coming up, I don’t think he will be.
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@Grognard: Grog, I have only been at St James Park when United have played there, and the atmosphere is MEGA. I have to give it to the Geordies Grog, they are fantastic supporters of their club, and salt of the earth diehards mate. They don’t deserve to drop down into the championship, it will be a travesty if they do.
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I just went back to the 2nd article ever done on this site and it was about transfer targets. It’s good reading in retrospect.
http://redrants.com/possible-transfer-targets-for-man-utd/
One question however makes me cringe going back to it ‘Who is better, Ribery or Nani?’ In that Summer we effectively paid a couple of million less to get Nani when we could have gotten Ribery. I’m sorry but for this I blame Queiroz who obviously wanted to be credited with finding the next Ronaldo.
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@Liam: yeah, imagine when both of them become regulars… man our sure hope whoever follows SAF knows how to harness the full potential of our youngsters…
here’s a scary thought, a few months ago, I mentioned that Hiddink would be a good replacement, I watched how he pulled teams like Korea and Australia to new heights, but then i realised he seems like a bit a freelance specialist, come in, fix a team, get paid a lot then move on to the next “project”. United doesn’t deserve a manager like that, so here we are now, he’s managing Chelski another side “project” team added on to his main project Russia.
wow this post doesn’t really flow, anyway it’s a rant in’it?
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@Craig Mc: Yes all posts should be strictly on topic, using good grammar and punctuation, with logical well thought out responses
I know i’m not one to have much credentials on this blog as i don’t post much, but i read the previous posts re: James, man the poor fella got hammered, guess he deserved it, but it’s fun reading this blog with people with diff opinions, biased or not.
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http://www.redcafe.net/f6/anyone-else-seen-238701/
a must watch. Dr. Rooney and Super Ronnie
Edwin looks like a fireman too
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@Craig Mc: Same goes for Upton Park, they have passion and then some for their club, I love how they cheered Tevez when he gets subbed off/on
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@Liam: The more I think about it the more it becomes impossible to select. Todays games are about rotation so really is there such a things as a main lineup? My ultimate setup would be Carrick and Hargreaves with Ronaldo and Nani because I still believe Nani can make good and because I always liked the pairing of Hargo with Carrick. But I have no problem placing Hargo on the right side Carrick and Scholes in the middle and Ronaldo on the left side or make that Carrick with Giggs or Anderson. Fletcher is fine but he is never on any of my preferred lineups. And the jury is still out on Tosic. One thing is for sure, with Hargo on the team, I have no use for Park other than a spot start to rest Hargo or another player and on as a sub. Hargo can do whatever Park does and he offers so much more after that. With Scholes, Anderson, Giggs and Fletcher you have four players you can rotate and keep fresh. Carrick for me starts 4 out of 5 games as does Hargo and Ronaldo, well it looks like he may never sit a game out again.
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@Craig Mc: I can see a conversation between Fergie and Ronny this past summer in Portugal go like this;
FERGIE: Cristiano, Cristiano, why all this nonsense about Real Madrid? What have I done to deserve this kind of disrespect? I loved you like a son.
RONNY: I need more adventure, I need more spice in my life, I have girlfriend, she tell me, Ronny, why you not come to Spain, play every game and we shag all night.
FERGIE: Laddy Laddy, now you can still have that back in Manchester. I’ll get Lil Man Nani and Anderson to stop all they are doing and to go out and get some top of the line English hostess bitches for you to throw parties and have a great time. You don’t need some Spanish fly to do do that.
RONNY: I am bored, I hate Manchester it’s too cold, rainy and the fans sing Ronaldo Ronaldo only when I score. I want them to sing continually.
Sometimes they boo me when I div……I mean get fouled and fall. They not always show me special love that make my toes tingle. I think I want Spain. Cannot see life in England. No appreciate step over, no appreciate wink, no appreciate special attitude. and country loves Mourinho too much. Makes me want to die. I hate him, he not more special than me. He Portuguese piece of shit.
FERGIE: Ronaldo, all I can say is forget about the pretty boy Mourinho. You are my pretty boy and United is your team and I love your step overs
and your attempts to turn Savage into a woman on every free kick. What will it take for you to come back and honor your contract? I cannot let you leave, Fuck Laddy, I won’t let you leave but I will grant you one wish to keep you playing with us. What will it be eh?
RONALDO: OK, I come back. I love you Boss, you treat me good but you sit me down too often. Makes me cry and very lonely. Ronny need to play and Ronny need to play all the time. I come back if you promise never to sit me down again. I play every day even if I look sad and tired and even if my hair is not playboy cute. I need to play and to have special love with goal and with ball and I love to wear my yellow boots. They make me sexy yes? You play me every game, I come back. OK Boss.
FERGIE: Ah very well Laddy. I hate to be told how to do things but I’m getting old and I don’t care anymore. I just can’t bare the thought of trying to replace you and your cute step overs and back heels. Also, Rooney will kill me because he will be forced to give up his Ronny hand puppet and he will die if that happens. OK you play every game.
There you have it. The hidden transcripts from last summer when Fergie met Ronny in a famous summit. Now we all know why Ronny is not be sat down at all this season.
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@Craig Mc: A team as big as that should not have such a Mickey Mouse owner and should have been able to secure better talent this January to ensure their survival. It would be sad to see them go but the attitude at the top was always too negative for the team to handle. And too much money was always spent on lost causes like Barton, Owen etc. It’s too bad.
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@Natzca: We appreciate new bloggers mate and even if you aren’t necessarily new, the more you contribute, the more we appreciate it. James got hammered because Jame’s intentions on this site were never honorable. He came in like trolls do to cause havoc and remind us all how pathetic and lonely he is and to then get under our skins. Well he succeeded in getting under our skins but he didn’t have the intellectual capacity nor the bollocks to come to a gun fight with nothing more than a stick. And frankly he picked on the wrong fellow unfairly. We here at Red Rants protect those we like and respect.
You on the other hand are more than welcome because it seems like you want to offer and contribute some interesting thoughts and ideas. Get things percolating a bit and offer some food for thought. And you are more than welcome to it mate. Welcome to the family
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@Liam: Loved it Super Ronny and Rio the Thespian. And Ronny, you already are Superman to me because only a super human could survive the abuse you take from game to game.
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@Pangasinan Football: Have faith mate. They will do good by us in the end.
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I still don’t understand the concept of comparing one player with another?
I guess you could say Ronaldo scores more often than Nani, or Vidic starts more often than Evans, Ferdinand in older than Rafael and that Rooney has bigger ears than Tevez! I mean these are facts that we can get our head around – indisputable, concrete and satisfying.
Where I have a problem is when, for whatever reason, we start to talk in terms of talent. Park is “better than” Nani, Hargreaves is “better than” Park and Carrick is “better than” Hargreaves. Just doesn’t make sense!! For Christs sake, where does Park fare with Carrick or Nani with Hargo and come to think about it, where do our 2 young Brazilians fit in with the equation??
I also want to know what “better than” means. Does it mean one has more social condiments than the other or that ones footballing brain has a measurably larger surface area than its counterpart. Pretty tough to tell!! One things for sure, it’s impossible to argue it all to a conclusion!!
I know this is a passionate game, and I curse at every United player that puts a foot wrong and I yell and holler at all the great touches of brilliance but to say that its all better or worse takes the fun out of it for me!!
Live for the moment!, know that Rooney’s goal was an instance of brilliance, not better nor worse than anything else he’s done. That VDS’s fluff was something that was bound to happen, not better or worse than he’s ever done. That Vidic’s season is spectacular, not better than Ferdinand’s!
AS for SAF, he’s the best fucking manager ever, period!!
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@Redrich:
Well said.
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@Craig Mc: I was thinking more of the Barca game at Old Trafford last season… I dont think we would have won not for Park(He and Brown were my men of the match.)
About that other comment, yeah she is young and goregous.
But Ive got more things than that too! School fucking sucks out your soul, and bores you to death. Ive got my footy to think of, my health, chilling, friends… School is the most important of all, but boy could I use a vacation right now! 
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@Redrich: Well here’s the thing mate. You enjoy the game the best way that makes you comfortable but try not to get down on many of us who may over intellectualize every play. It’s our way of enjoying the game. We can’t all be the same. I’m not trying to be rude here but if I discuss the poor first touch of a player, it is my prerogative and it is my form of reflection and contemplation on a subject. If it’s not your cup of team by all means ignore it and ignore posts that discuss these things. As for me, sitting back and taking in a game like a house plant isn’t exactly what I call stimulating. The game has more to offer than it’s simplest form. It is a game played with intelligence, vision and sublime skill. And the best way to respect and honor it is to notice those aspects and report or debate them. Sorry but I just don’t agree. Comparison between players and coaches is part of the game.
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@Redrich: It can mean anything you or anyone else wants it to mean, and that’s the FUN of it Redrich. We don’t all say or think the same, and so express it – thats the variety and colour of it. Has everything always got to make sense, I don’t think so. Hell the whole world doesn’t make sense – if it did, there wouldn’t be any feckin useless wars, where the young men and women of this world are lost, cut off in their prime. If we tried to make sense of everything, we could all go mad Bro. Where sport is though, folks are always going to debate and discuss the merits or non merits of players. That’s all part and parcel of sport, and terrace/forum/blog talk.
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@Grognard: Grog
, I think it was more like this:-
Fergie – What the Feck you think you have been playing at all summer fellow? You aint going nowhere Sonny. You signed a contract, and you will see it out – no questions. You wont get any more money than you signed for either, don’t try and screw us laddy, because your messing with the wrong club. You wont get much support or anything else from the terraces for a while, because you bolloxed up all the love and respect given to you by United’s faithful. So get your act together, and be back on time for training after your foot operation. Mess with us anymore, and I will have no problem sitting you in the stands. You writing all this down Sonny?
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@Natzca: I Don’t the Hammers will be going down this season though Bro. They do have a similar great crowd atmosphere and diehard support like the Geordies, so yes mate, I agree with you. Hammer supporters sure love Tevez, your right
.
That brings up another topic of debate though doesn’t it? Is Tevez staying with us, or going elsewhere in the summer. I think he has nailed his colours to the mast that he wants to stay put, but United have gone very quiet about it all. So guess we wont know anything until summer transfer frenzy comes.
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@Pangasinan Football: Yes we do indeed all want the PL and CL trophies again, especially has retaining the CL hasn’t been done for years. Or has it never been done before – I can’t remember. I think in it’s present format it hasn’t been achieved before. JB perhaps will tell us
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With regards to the title given to our team of ‘THE UNTOUCHABLES’, Hmmmmm, we have been plating some slippery slope football for a few games, shakey, but it doesn’t matter does it, because we are seemingly the ‘Mean, Lean, WINNING machine.’ Oh Yes. If we win the next three games, the United faithful will all be on cloud nine – so Fulham, Inter, and ScouserFOOL beware – we’re coming straight for you.
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@Craig Mc: Yes I get that but you missed the point of my conversation piece. It was intended to answer the question of why Ronaldo never gets rested, not what really happened and how Fergie probably took care of the situation.
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@Craig Mc: To my knowledge it has only been retained the following year when it was just the old European Cup format. In that instance Real Madrid won it five years in a row, Ajax and Bayern won it three years in a row and Liverpool and Nottingham Forest won it twice in a row.
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@Pangasinan Football: Did u just say ‘MANU’??? Get a grip of how to appropriately address our team. Or are you a scouser in disguise??? Whatever the reason, don’t do it again.
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@Grognard: The secret trancsript was a gem!
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@Grognard:
, I know Grog, I got what you were getting at mate, but you know how devilish I can be. Well you should do, you’ve put up with me long enough 
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I would bloody love Newcastle to get relegated. I hate Shearer. I hate Keegan. Here’s a few seasons in the Championship for you, sleeping giant.
I hate barcodes.
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Grognard, my man, that behind the scenes exchange between Ronnie and Fergie was hilarious! It sounds exactly like the sort of deal they would have cut out.
James, you have some interesting views and you justify them. But it is not OK to attack the views of others in such an aggressive way. We all have our personal truths and any opinion is going to be partly subjective.
We really did miss a trick not snapping up Ribery. Also I’ll be pissed if we go for Valencia at the end of the season when we could have got him for half the fee last season.
Part of Ronaldo playing on the left is that Park is a right midfielder whereas Ronaldo is versatile enough to play on both flanks.
Last season we were playing Giggs on the left a fair bit, and sometimes Nani as well. But Giggs is now past it, and Fergie doesn’t seem to trust Nani. So we go with Ronaldo on the left, Park on the right.
Even if we got Valencia…he’s a right winger, so Ronaldo would end up on the left.
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