It was six years ago, 27th February 2007 when United travelled to Berkshire to entertain Reading in an FA Cup 5th round replay. The first game, six years ago today in fact, finished 1-1 at Old Trafford after Brynjar Gunnarsson’s header cancelled out Michael Carrick’s opener on half time.

Four changes were made from the first encounter with Ronaldo the most notably to not feature although made an appearance late in the night. I remember the game mostly because of the opening six minutes.

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This page is a tribute/shrine (call it what you may) to our greatest manager of the modern era. Here we attempt to feature quotes, media (in the form of video, audio and pictures) and other things that we haven’t come up with as yet, concerning Sir Alex Ferguson.

We hope to create a good repository of the best of Sir Alex and we will add to this page as and when we come upon new stuff that we feel is worth publishing here.

So keep visiting this page and Red Rants.

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Okay okay so the title suggests I’m about to reveal I have inside information on what would be an unbelievable scoop but honestly I don’t and I’m not, so please, before you jump down my throat, hear me out and realise this is all hypothetical not another one of the 1,000′s of Manchester United transfer rumours.

There’s been a lot said in recent times regarding the rotation of players at United and how it’s possibly to blame for some of the failings in the season so far, that, despite being top of the table and well ahead of closest rivals Citeh in the goals department; something I hope we’ve learned to concentrate on after last years disappointment.

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A slightly unexpected defeat at home to Spurs and a typically difficult encounter leading to defeat at Goodison on the opening day (well Monday….again!) of the season are the only blemishes on an apparently shaky start to United’s season.

One thing’s for sure, Everton away is no gimme and Spurs beating us at OT has been coming for a few years now, neither game was a guaranteed three points. In truth I’d say that after 9 games of the season we’re sitting just about where we should be in terms of ‘points on the board’.

In the Champions league we’re sitting pretty at the top of Group H needing (you would think) just one more point to secure a safe passage through to the knockout stages.

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I was approached over the weekend by @suryasolanki12 and asked to RT his article about Javier Hernandez, instead, with permission, here’s the article which could originally be found on The International Business Times.

I chose to publish it for various reasons but most of all I found the reasoning to cash in on Hernandez a fairly compelling one so soon after our three main forwards hit the net in the same game, it seems to make sense. I also however, found it slightly shortsighted because we all know that the minute Hernandez is sold; Welbeck, van Persie or Rooney gets injured, it’s sods law and almost a dead cert! Henriqiuz is drafted in and fails to impress and Sir Alex is left with egg on his face and another barrage of criticism, it’s inevitable, isn’t it?

Anyway, here’s what Surya had to say:

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Another round of World Cup Qualifiers means that club football takes a back seat and we get a chance to watch international teams and the different tactics they use. Now, on Friday, October 12th, there was a World Cup Qualifier in South America that every Manchester United fan should have taken note of, even though there wasn’t a single United player on the pitch. The game in question was Argentina’s 3-0 win over Uruguay.

This was an important World Cup Qualifier between 2 national teams in the top 8 of the FIFA rankings, but there was one aspect of this game that should be noted by Red Devil fans, as it may be a look into the future this season. This should have been a close game, but Argentina was able to dominant the 2011 Copa America champions through their use of a lopsided 4-4-2 Diamond formation. This is a formation that most Manchester United fans have become familiar with in the past few weeks, but Argentina played the formation different in several ways that the Red Devils should take note of. Before looking at Argentina’s approach, first we’ll look at Manchester United’s.

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Has a player in United’s history ever split public opinion the way Nani does?

I guess Veron was in a similar boat to Nani and it’s only now, 10 years on, that Veron’s memory is one of ‘mis-use’ rather than use-less.

Does Diego Forlan fit into the category of ‘players who split opinion’? I’m not sure, although he’s another one who fans now seem willing to look back on and suggest he might have been mis-used rather than simply a bad buy.

Peter Davenport used to split opinion, so too Ralphy Milne. Gary Birtles didn’t split opinion he was simply considered useless by 100% of anyone and everyone who watched him play for United, in his case United just wasn’t the right club for him.

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Don’t let the title of this article deceive you, the original author of the piece really does appear to believe that Liverpool’s squad of 2012 is better equipped to take on the season than United, he even dares to suggest we could be heading for a spell in The Europa League next season.

Thanks to @nazeemmazhar for Tweeting this to us and making us aware of its existence, I hope it gives other as big a laugh as it gave me!

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Ravel Morrison is facing further turbulence in his troubled career after it emerged that Lee Clark wants to send him back to parent club West Ham.

Clark, the Birmingham manager, is already losing patience with the controversial midfielder and is keen to strike a deal with Sam Allardyce and cut his loan move short in January.

Morrison, 19, joined the Championship club on loan in August but has frustrated Clark with his general attitude and alleged lack of commitment in training. The former Manchester United trainee has not been included in Birmingham’s first-team squad for the last three matches and has made only one start in the league.

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Last night Anderson produced a performance to make people sit up and believe once again that the young Brazilian midfielder is possibly ready to take his chance at Old Trafford and work his way into the thoughts of Sir Alex Ferguson.

United take on Spurs in the evening kickoff at Old Trafford this Saturday and Anderson must now stand a chance of starting after his powerful, all action display against Newcastle United in the Capital One Cup saw United advance to the next round where they’ll face Chelsea.

Looking fitter and leaner than ever, and looking hungry to get on the ball and run through the heart of midfield and defence, Anderson displayed the sort of attacking talent that convinced United to purchase him from Porto in 2007  in a rumoured £20M deal, at a mere 19yrs old.

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When Robin Van Persie completed his hat-trick on Sunday not only did he ensure that his manager would celebrate his 1000th league game in charge of Manchester United with a win, he also confirmed that Sir Alex Ferguson has still an eye for a good transfer coup.

Since the Dutchman signed from Arsenal less than a month ago many speculated, perhaps rightly, that he wasn’t what United desperately needed if they were to wrestle the title back from City’s hands and have a real shot at reaching the final stages of the Champions League.

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Robin Van Persie scored an injury time winner as Manchester United clinched a hard-fought 3-2 win at Southampton.

The Dutch striker had missed the chance to equalise with his club 2-1 down as he fluffed his line from the penalty spot with 20 minutes left but made amend with the clock ticking down as he converted Nani’s corner with a brilliant header to send the United end berserk.

While Fergie will celebrate a win in his 1000th league game in charge of United, Nigel Adkins and Southampton will feel hard done by as they were three minutes away to claim a famous victory – their first since their return to the top-flight.
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Manchester United on Friday rejected an approach from Chelsea for Mexican striker Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez, according ESPNFC reporter Miguel Delaney in London.

Although Chelsea did not put in an official cash offer, they made an inquiry to United, based on the team’s wealth of forwards in the wake of its signing of Robin Van Persie earlier this week.

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The 4-4-1-1 started as a variation of the 4-4-2. It became more common in the 1990s, when teams started to combine a deep lying forward with a more traditional striker up front. The deep lying forward would drop deeper, playing in the space between the opponent’s midfield and defensive lines. This formation is a link between the 4-4-2 that has dominated the past 40 years, and the 4-2-3-1 that seems to be dominating football today. There are only a few differences between the 4-2-3-1 and the 4-4-1-1, with the main difference being the player in the gap, or the playmaker. In a 4-2-3-1, it is a playmaking midfielder (normally called a number 10), while in a 4-4-1-1 it’s a forward. Continue reading