Aplogies for the dodgy title.

It, of course, refers to the news that Michael Owen has not been offered a new contract at Manchester United and is now looking for another Premier League club to come along and secure his services for next season.

Last time he found himself in this situation (i.e. before we took him on a free a few years ago) he had some marketing company produce a promotional brochure which was novel but seemed to do the trick as he landed what must have seemed like a dream outcome.

Personally, I always thought that Owen on a free was a fantastic bit of business but the question marks over his fitness (which Owen was eager to repudiate around the time we signed him) were always a concern and they proved to be justified in the end.

In total, Owen made 52 appearances for us and scored 17 goals which is obviously just about one in three – still a fantastic return but when you consider that many of those appearances were never for the full ninety minutes then his goal ratio on a per minute basis would probably have been as good as anyone we have at the club during that time.

Last season he made just four appearances (though he still managed to bang in three goals!) and with squad limits now in place for the Premier League perhaps his place on the list could no longer be justified – especially with Danny Welbeck now of an age where he needs to be listed as a senior player.

Personally, I also started to have concerns about his commitment to football in the last couple of years. He seems to be into his horses more than his football these days and I found it hard to see how he could combine that with the focus and discipline required when playing at a top level club like Manchester United.

Still, I wish Michael all the best from here, wherever he ends up.

Manchester City might have landed the most recent blow but Michael’s late, late winner against them in our 4-3 victory a few seasons ago – at a time when people were still deciding on the wisdom or otherwise of bringing in Owen – still brings a smile to my face.

England’s squad for Euro 2012 has just been released and there was something of a surprise from new boss Roy Hodgson as he’s left our Rio out.

Rio must be wondering what heinous crimes he committed in some previous life to deserve the ill treatment and bad luck he’s been on the wrong end of whenever he’s been involved with the FA and the England set-up.

He was once banned by the FA for virtually a whole season for failing to piss in a bottle (which meant that he couldn’t go to Euro 2004) and then learned that Fabio Capello had stripped him of the England Captaincy from his media friends on Twitter or something.

Even when things have looked good for our Rio, they’ve invariably turned sour. He missed out on the last World Cup after breaking down with an injury during England’s first training session – he hadn’t even pulled on his shirt and his dream of leading his country to victory was over.

We didn’t even qualify for Euro 2008 so Rio didn’t get the chance to strut his stuff there either.

There have, of course, been suggestions that the whole “John Terry/Anton Ferdinand” thing might have something to do with it but I personally think that this is nonsense. If Roy Hodgson was about to take a stance on the episode then surely it would have had to be John Terry who he left behind?

No, I personally think that Roy Hodgson has taken the decision because Rio is now coming to the end of his career and Roy has an eye on the future as much, if not more, than the coming tournament.

There are a few oldies in there (Gerrard, Lampard and Terry) and a couple who are, in footballing terms, “middle-aged” but generally, the squad Roy has picked for Euro 2012 has a decidedly youthful flavour to it:-

Goalkeepers - Joe Hart, Robert Green, John Ruddy.

Defenders - Leighton Baines, Gary Cahill, Ashley Cole, Glen Johnson, Phil Jones, Joleon Lescott, John Terry.

Midfielders - Gareth Barry, Stewart Downing, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, James Milner, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Scott Parker, Theo Walcott, Ashley Young.

Strikers - Andy Carroll, Jermian Defoe, Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck

You can certainly see 80% of that squad playing a key role in our next World Cup campaign.

I just think that Roy recognised the need to take a handful of experienced players and had to make a decision to take either Rio or Terry with the latter being given the nod purely because of his leadership qualities.

This does, however, probably signal the end of the line for Rio’s International career and it is incredibly sad that one of England’s best defenders of the last dozen or so years has had such a miserable experience at that level but it probably won’t have Sir Alex in tears.

I’m sure he’ll now be encouraging Rio to go and have a bloody good holiday and come back to Carrington refreshed and raring to go for next season.

I felt as far back as February that Antonio Valencia, despite his injury problems, the arrival of Young and the coming-good of Nani was not only our best wide player but our best player full-stop and his excellent season was rewarded last night with the Sir Matt Busby Trophy for being the fans’ choice of best player of the season and player of the season as voted by his teammates.

It’s a remarkable achievement for Valencia who was given the unenviable task of filling Ronaldo’s boots a few years ago but almost from day one, he proved himself to be as strong of mind as he is of body (as any defender who has found himself bouncing off Tony in full flight will testify).

He’s a no-nonsense type of player who rarely shows any emotion on the field as he drives himself tirelessly up and down the right flank. The steely look of determination in his eye being the only clue as to the character that lies behind the unfazable facade.

If there was perhaps one thing that Valencia could have improved on, it was his goal-scoring output but since coming to United, it has become clear that he can shoot – he can strike the ball as cleanly and as powerfully as almost anyone else in the team – but his lack of goals is probably more down to his unselfish approach to the game than any lack of ability. Indeed, he ended this season second in the assists charts with 13 from just 27 games played in the Premier League.

However, he has now scored 16 goals since his arrival – there’s still room for some improvement there but let us not forget that he spent most of the 2011-12 season out following his horrendous ankle injury.

So I’d just like to congratulate Antonio on a superb season and let’s hope that he can reach even greater heights next season.

We came within a whisker of securing our 20th League Title yesterday but none of us really knew how.

We had it in our hands a few weeks ago. An eight point lead, City seemingly in freefall and we were coasting. It all seemed bizarrely easy. Perhaps too easy.

Because, being honest – and it really sticks in the craw to say it – we have largely been second best to City this season.

In the end they scored more goals than us, conceded fewer, they beat us home and away and probably played the more attractive football on a more regular basis. When they were good, they were very good. When they were bad, they were generally a bit unlucky.

Whilst we have generally lacked flair this season, we have had an air of efficiency about us. An air of “been there, done that”. We knew how to get the results we needed and went about it with methodical precision.

Except for the two occasions that mattered most – those against the eventual champions.

A lot of United fans are blaming the defeat against Wigan and the draw against Everton for our downfall. This is a veiled attempt to take credit away from Manchester City. We lost the title because we were a) beaten 6-1 at Old Trafford by Manchester City (a goal swing which would ultimately prove crucial) and b) beaten 1-0 at the Etihad by Manchester City in the run-in with the title hanging in the balance and ours to lose.

Forget Wigan and Everton – Manchester City could point to a few inexplicable results of their own.

The other thing that has been mentioned is our injury list and, yes, we have been up against it on this score for much of the season with perhaps the biggest miss being Vidic. I too believe that had we had a fully fit Vidic in the team, one or two of the softer goals we have conceded this season would not have happened.

But for our missing Vidic, city can point to an awol Tevez, a missing Toure for the African Cup of Nations, a suspension for Kompany at roughly the same time and a Ballotelli who couldn’t seem to string two games together without getting himself sent off.

It’s desperately gutting (not to mention highly unusual) to finish a season with no silverware to show for it – especially when you consider that the likes of Chelsea and, until recently, Liverpool, who have both been appalling in the Premier League this season, could have ended the season with a Cup Double (and Chelsea could yet lay claim to the title of “Champions of Europe”… bleurghh!!!) but I still maintain that Fergie recognised the clear and present danger of City in the Premier League and put all of his eggs in the PL basket.

To a certain extent, City played the same game – going out of almost every other competition at exactly the same stage and I don’t think Fergie counted on that. I suspect that he thought the younger Mancini would be tempted by pride to make a fist of the Europa League especially but I’m convinced that Mancini threw that one as much as Fergie did.

And this is where we come to this crucial area – that of the two managers. Fergie has been there and seen it all during his time as a manager (not just at United) and he has seen off most opponents during his time. I’m still of the opinion that overall Mourinho was his toughest adversary but Mancini is rapidly going up in everyone’s estimation.

He was supposed to crack at some stage in the last few months but he never did. He remained as calm when the title looked to have been won then lost as when everyone was telling him that he had the title as good as won again.

Unfortunately for us, there were to be no “Luv it” moments from Roberto.

And then we come to what we have in abundance – experience. This probably did play a key role in our resurgence since the turn of the year and explains why we were able to overtake City and come within a whisker of taking the title but City were still able to overcome this deficiency by winning the games when it mattered most.

In their last six games – when bums are at their squeakiest – City recorded six wins. In their last three games they had to overcome ourselves, a Newcastle side that were playing as well as anybody and vying for Champions League football and a QPR side who were faced with relegation on the final day. Not exactly an easy end to the season but yet again, City ticked all the boxes and passed the tests put before them.

The other thing we were perhaps relying on is that the City players, attracted to the club by riches, would not dig in when the going got tough. They were all a mercenary bunch whose only motivation was the pay cheque.

Well, this was perhaps a naive belief. With the odd exception (Ballotelli), City appear to have bought a bunch of players who are highly professional, have bought into the City “plan” as much as City have bought them and are willing to do whatever it takes to win.

I suppose that few ever make it to the very top without being highly competitive. When the ball is there to be won, thoughts of pay-cheques don’t enter their head – they just want to win the ball. When the goal is gaping, they just want to score. When an attacker is challenging them, they want to put in the tackle, win the header, save the shot… whatever. It’s just something in their blood and it isn’t affected either way by how much they are being paid at that precise moment.

Now, in case you’re thinking I’m a closet Blue at this point. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I’ve heard all kinds of stuff about this Manchester United side in recent months. “It’s the worst United side in years”, claim some.

Well, this terrible side took the stupidly expensive City side right to the wire this season and it finished a whole nineteen points ahead of the third placed side so if we’re as bad as that then City must have just won the poorest quality Premier League ever. In any other season, they’d have been buried.

The fact is that over the course of the season City were the better team. Sometimes you don’t lose the title. Sometimes you just have to hold up your hands and acknowledge that the other team just won it. Fair and square and by doing all the things that Champions need to do at the times when they need to be done.

We’ve been here before though. With the exception of Arsenal, all the teams that have denied us the title in the Premier League era have been sugar-daddy funded upstarts. We’ve had to watch them have their day but we’ve always come back again.

The Blue Moon may have risen yesterday but if you think that the Red Devils have fallen, think again. We’ll be back again next season stronger than ever.

Well, we always knew that this title race would go right down to the wire but today was ridiculous!

I can’t quite describe at the moment how gutting it was to be on the brink of an unlikely Title win one minute and then to hear that City had snatched it back at the death but I don’t need to describe it – every United fan will have felt the same.

I’ll write more on this tomorrow perhaps, after I’ve had the chance to get my head around it all.

For now though, we can only say “Congratulations City”.

Stadium of Light
Sun, May 13th 2012 Kick Off: 15:00

The Red half of Manchester go into today more in hope than any expectation. The title is as good as City’s and today we will all go through the motions before it is finally confirmed. Apparently, there will be two trophies and two sets of winners medals on standby but one lot seems largely pointless.

However, stranger things have happened this season so it is vital that we at least do our own job properly and take all three points at Sunderland. Should it transpire that we lose the title on goal difference then that will be a pretty depressing outcome but there’d be no shame in it.

Of course, with QPR fighting for Premier League survival, there is still a chance that there could yet be one final twist in this Premier League title race but, as I say, it is imperative that we do our job in order to take advantage of any bizarreness that may go on back in Manchester.

Sunderland have proven to be tough to beat at the Stadium of Light this season and Arsenal are the only team to have gone there this year and come away with the three points and whilst we haven’t lost there for a long time, our recent matches have been tight affairs and it could well be that today will be the same.

I do feel, however, that so long as the players don’t let their heads drop should, for example, news reaches them from Manchester that City are 3-0 up at half-time, then we can play with a degree of enjoyment today. The pressure is off us and I’d like to think that we can get back to playing some of the more carefree football that we were playing at the start of the campaign.

I tend to feel that this still won’t be a high scoring game though and that’s going to be the basis of my bet.

The bet is 2 points Und 2.5 Goals @ 2.37 with Stan James.

Old Trafford
Sun, May 6th 2012 Kick Off: 16:00

For the first time this season, we go into a game knowing that the fate of the title is now out of our hands and that we are relying on what happens elsewhere to keep our title hopes alive.

By the time this match kicks off, we will know the result of the Newcastle/City match and that could well have a bearing on how we play in this one.

Whatever the situation, I would like to believe that we will go out in this one and just go for it. Old Trafford has been the scene of some of our biggest disappointments this season and, with this being our last game, it would be nice to leave with something good to remember – regardless of the situation with the league.

However, Swansea have proven themselves to be no pushover in their debut season and Brendan Rodgers was rightly aggrieved by Roberto Mancini’s suggestion that Swansea would roll over here today.

I do expect us to win but I seem to have said that before every Old Trafford match this season only to be left with egg all over my face.

I’m not going to over-analyse this one. I think we will be going for all out attack here this afternoon and if we can recapture some of that cavalier style that we started the season with then we could be in for a treat in this one.

The bet is 3 points United -5.5 Corners @ 1.92 with Bet365.

First of all, let me just say that this is clutching at straws. After holding an eight point lead in the Premier League with a handful of games to play, we should have had this wrapped up by now. In some ways, we probably don’t even deserve to win the Premier League after recent results/performances.

However, in a couple of weeks, the records will either show us as champions or they won’t and few will remember the manner in which it was achieved in years to come.

Tonight, two very important matches were played. Spurs took on Bolton whilst Newcastle took on Chelsea.

Spurs and Newcastle are in a very similar situation to ourselves and Manchester City. Spurs lead by an unassailable goal difference for that all-important fourth place over Newcastle but are locked level on the points score.

What this means is that Newcastle simply have to give it their all for their remaining two games of the season.

Their next game, as you probably know, is against Manchester City – at St James’ Park.

When we went there earlier in the year, we were roundly spanked 3-0. Newcastle absolutely hammered us. Can they do it again to Manchester City?  A draw might not be enough for Newcastle but it would suit us just fine.

On one condition: that we win our remaining two games.

It’s not over yet, folks. Believe.

The actual football season is not even over and there are still two pieces of domestic silverware to be decided as it all looks likely to go right down to the wire but that hasn’t stopped the journalists from telling everyone who Sir Alex Ferguson will be buying this summer.

As United fans, we’re used to this now. We seem to have been linked with just about every midfielder in the Europe at some point in the last six or seven years with “Giggs and Scholes getting on and nearing retirement”.

Indeed, Richard Tanner of the Daily Express not only seems to know who SAF will be buying but he has also allocated our manager his spending budget – £100million!

I normally treat all of these articles with the contempt they deserve – 99% of them turn out to be pure fabrication written by journalists with not enough real news to write about.

However, I have to say that, whilst £100million might be stretching it a bit, we really do look like we need to splash some serious cash this summer.

Let me just say right away that I am not one of these United fans who think that we should be winning everything every year. What I want to see is United competing for everything every year. It would actually be very boring if we won the Premier League every season.

Despite what some people have said about our team in recent years, we have been competing.

In the last five seasons (excluding this one), we have won four Premier League titles, two Carling Cups, one Champions League (and four Community Shields).

In 2010, when we didn’t win the Premier League, we finished second and, as well as our Champions League success, we were also beaten finalists in two other years in the last five.

I would obviously have preferred to have won at least one more of those Champions League finals but we had to accept on both occasions that we just came up against arguably the greatest ever club side the world has seen.

This is what I call competing and I’ve generally been a pretty happy United-supporting bunny for the last twenty years, not just this last five.

As things stand, we are still in with a shout in the title race. It is probably out of our hands now (I very much doubt we will make up an eight goal deficit in two matches – stranger things have happened, though!) but if it ends up with us losing out on goal-difference well, that would be gutting but it makes a bit of a mockery of anyone saying that this team “isn’t good enough” or whatever.

We remain the team to beat on a domestic level.

The problem this season is that the depth of our squad has been a bit exposed and this, I believe, is why we have been poor in all the other competitions. I still disregard the Europa League, I said at the time and I remain of the same opinion – we didn’t want that one and it was no great shakes when we went out when we did.

We had a tough Premier League fixture list around that time which we negotiated brilliantly to put us in a commanding position in the League and it may well have been the case that we wouldn’t have seen that had we attempted to play midweek Europa League matches here, there and everywhere.

What was never a part of Fergie’s masterplan for this season though was for us to go out of the Champions League in the Group Stages.

The group we were handed was, on paper, one of the easiest we have ever had. We should have sauntered through it but we were, frankly, appalling at times. I still have no explanation for why this was the case – the team was largely the same team that had done so well in Europe in recent years and was still largely the same team that has put in some excellent performances against better domestic opposition this season.

I did question at the time whether some of our players had perhaps lost some of the “appetite” for the Group games. That after the glamour of a few Champions League Finals in recent years, the grind of the Group Stage wasn’t quite so appealing anymore. I don’t know but if that’s at all the case then those players need to shape up or ship out.

What has also gone against us this season is the most horrendous injury list. The loss of Vidic early on was the biggest blow and I do wonder if some of the “softer” goals we have conceded this season (especially in our last couple of games) would have been prevented if we’d had Vidic in there.

But the midfield has also had major problems. The jury has always been out on Anderson and this year was, perhaps, make-or-break for the lad. Unfortunately, due to injury, he hasn’t had the chance to make his case. This hasn’t exactly been unusual for Anderson though so if he is as injury prone as he seems to be then perhaps that makes most of the decision for SAF.

Then we have Tom Cleverley. This was supposed to be the season when Tom came back to Manchester United and showed us all that he was ready to take the step up and become a first-team regular. Again, injury has blighted his season, though and the jury remains out.

Darren Fletcher has had no luck with injuries throughout his career but this season was perhaps the cruelest blow of all for him as it was revealed that debilitating illness that he has been suffering from for quite some time was the reason why he took so little part last season and next to none this season.

What all this meant is that Paul Scholes had to come out of retirement to answer what basically amounted to an SOS (Save Our Season) call. Paul remains as superb as ever and has certainly had an impact since his return but his return did have a whiff of desperation about it.

What we have started to get used to in recent seasons is Fergie sitting at Press Conferences as the season is about to start and saying “I’m happy with my squad. I’m happy with what I have got.”

As I said earlier, our record in recent seasons has proved him correct in his assessment, despite the disappointment from some of our fans that he hadn’t gone out and splurged £40m on the pet midfielder of the month.

In Fergie’s defence, he couldn’t have predicted the injury situation we have had to contend with but I do feel that there were some signs already there. This isn’t the first time we have had massive injury problems in recent years (Carrick and Fletcher as centre-backs, anyone?)

Fletcher’s situation was perhaps “predictable”. Anderson had never really shown enough to suggest that he was going to come through this season and become the missing piece of the jigsaw even had he not suffered his injury problems (which, in themselves, have been something of a recurring, hence perhaps “predictable”, problem). Cleverley was always going to be a bit of a gamble.

I think most people felt that we needed to spend on a top-notch, proven midfielder last summer but I do accept that to spend £30-40million on a player “just in case” is the type of extravagant excess normally associated with our money-no-object rivals in blue.

And, let us not forget, that the last time Fergie spent big on that “match winning, answer-to-everything” midfielder (Veron), it didn’t exactly work as planned. Once bitten, twice shy and all that.

However, looking back on the season, he must surely accept that we are now in need of something more in midfield? There are question marks over almost all of our midfielders for one reason or another (Carrick is probably the only one who still ticks all the boxes for me and god only knows where would have been this season had he picked up a nasty injury).

Paul Pogba, should he ever decide to commit to us, remains an interesting prospect but he still looks at least half a season away from even being considered for the first team and, clearly, getting his head in the right place is the more immediate priority with that player.

I’d still say that £100million is a little over the top for what we need right now but I can see a net £50million being spent this summer. Not just on midfield, might I add. With Fabio looking likely to move away from the club, the left-back cover needs to be addressed and I do believe that Evra could use the competition.

So, yeah. Silly season is upon us and I suspect that Fergie will make his transfer moves early this summer because buying after a major International tournament (Euro 2012) has not always been the best policy. Interesting times loom.

I normally like to watch a replay of a match before writing these reviews but on this occasion, I don’t feel it it necessary.

Thankfully, this match was not decided by any dodgy refereeing decisions. In fact, the referee had very little to do. He gave out a few yellow cards but I think all were probably correct. There were no dodgy offside decisions to make. There were no dodgy penalty decisions to make. There was certainly no need for any goal-line technology.

It was all very straightforward, really.

City won fair and square.

And this result puts them in pole position in the title race with just two games left to play.

Of course, every one is assuming that we will both win those remaining games and that City will now go on to win the title on goal difference. I’m not prepared to throw in the towel that easily and I am certainly hoping that our lads can now lift themselves to take six points from the remaining two games and so fulfill our end of the bargain – how gutting would it be for us to drop any more points only to see City drop a couple here or there?

However, the title was not won or lost here tonight. If it has been lost then it was lost at Old Trafford last weekend.

It was probably lost, if indeed that proves to be the case, when everyone believed that it had been won.

We have now dropped eight points in our last four games and that has to be seen as a bit of bottling. At the stage of the season when we normally come into our own and show our experience, we have been the ones found wanting whilst City have gone from strength to strength.

I don’t care what Fergie might say to the contrary, he went for the draw tonight with an eye to catching City on the counter.

I had severe reservations when I saw the team sheet. Giggs is obviously a legend and has been rested somewhat in recent weeks and so he was fresh for tonight. Scholes is another legend who has proven to be the catalyst for our incredible form since his return. Park Ji Sung has often been the unsung hero in some of these big games and he usually saves his best for such occasions.

To see all three in the starting line-up, at the expense of the likes of Valencia, who has been incredible all season and Young who, diving exploits aside, has been a superb attacking addition to the squad and Welbeck who had just had his finest ever game in a United shirt and had seemed to be just getting into an almost telepathic relationship with Rooney – well… I just think Fergie got it wrong tonight.

He went with the past when in the past he would have gone with the future.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating and tonight we were as lacklustre as we could possibly have been. We did not have one single shot on target (and I can’t remember too many off-target, either). We were basically trying for a 0-0 with the possibility of a breakaway goal.

This was all changed when Kompany headed City ahead on the stroke of half-time.

As the second half progressed, Fergie gradually went with something more like the line-up I think he should have started with. Scholes went off, Park went off, Nani went off. Valencia came on, Young came on, Welbeck came on but it was all too little too late for me.

On the night, City were always that extra 5% better than us in all areas. They looked more threatening in attack, their midfield were more than a match for ours and their defence never gave us a sniff. It’s hard to rate Hart because he had next to nothing to do.

And that is what is so disappointing about tonight. If this was the final act in our title challenge then I hoped it would have been with a bang and not a whimper but … it was a whimper in truth.

I’m not going to say any more until the title has been decided one way or the other. At this moment in time, it does look to be City’s but they do still have the tougher games than we do to play and it could still swing in our favour. It’s not over yet.

Let us hope that we take six points from the last two games and, if it ends with us second on goal-difference, well… so be it but please don’t let us drop the same number of points as City, should that be the case. That would be really hard to take.