The Telegraph has an interesting little article today which briefly explains that Manchester United earned over £60million from TV appearance money this season just gone – more than any other club.

However, that was on the old TV deal which has now just expired. The new TV deal promises even more and, according to the Telegraph, the bottom club in next season’s Premier League will receive even more than that.

The winner of next season’s Premier League could earn as much as £100million!

The way the Premier League hand out the money to the clubs is interesting. 50% of the total money is split and distributed evenly between all twenty clubs. 25% of it is split on a merit basis whereby the higher up the league you finish, the more money your club receives. The remaining 25% is split according to how many of your club’s games appeared on TV.

With this new deal, there really should be no paupers in the Premier League any more but it does go some way to emphasise the importance of getting promoted to the Premier League and staying there.

Relegated clubs will continue to receive parachute payments and I believe that the Premier League are still in discussions to have this increased from the current £48million to £59million spread over four years. Not inconsiderable sums of money but clearly nowhere close to the likely minimum of around £63million all Premier League clubs will receive next season alone.

There is, of course, the fear that this will only further increase the financial divide between the Championship and the Premier League and, even to some extent, the divide between relegated Premier League sides and the rest of the Championship.

When viewed alongside a full-blown Financial Fair Play set-up, it is not difficult to see that it could end with a situation where the same few clubs are bouncing up and down between the leagues and no other Championship club can benefit from an external injection of cash required to allow them to compete financially for the better players.

The sad thing about all this is that the bulk of this money is likely to find its way into the pockets of already over-paid footballers and, even worse… much worse, their agents.

A few quid off the price of actual match tickets wouldn’t go amiss. Watching footie on TV is a superb experience these days but it would lose a lot of its lustre if everyone stayed at home to watch their football, leaving the grounds empty.

It’s not going to happen though, unfortunately. The Premier League is rapidly becoming an even bigger gravy train than it ever has been.

Next Monday, Watford face Crystal Palace in the Championship Play-Off Final. The financial reward for winning that match will likely be higher than the reward Dortmund or Bayern will receive for winning the Champions League on Saturday.

It really has gone crazy.

As I said in a previous post, this managerial merry-go-round has become quite alien to us Manchester United supporters. Our manager is Fergie. In many ways, it feels like he always has been.

Whilst our rivals swap and change their managers almost as often as they change their kits, we have remained constant on the manager front and with that continuity, the success has followed.

Until this summer. Fergie dropped the bombshell we had all been fearing for a few years now and the new man Moyes was installed.

But look at the pictures in yesterday’s Daily Mail. The new and the old working together. Fergie introducing David to the backroom staff, the academy staff and generally giving him the personal guided tour of his new workplace.

How different is this to the usual managerial changes? Usually, the old manager has been sacked, he has cleared his desk and is long gone before the new one even steps foot onto the premises. The new one then has to suss everything out for himself. It is like beginning from scratch every time.

Of course, this may not always be such a bad thing. When you enter somewhere with a fresh outlook that hasn’t been influenced by the opinion of the previous manager, you may well see things differently and, possibly, more accurately.

However, I just think that, overall, this way is so much better. Obviously, it is not something that every manager can benefit from. As I say, the usual story is that the old manager has been sacked. It would be the height of cheek to ask him to show the guy who has just taken his job around and show him the ropes!

But, I can’t help but feel that even in this, Fergie and Manchester United are showing a bit more class than the usual. It all seems so right.

I thought yesterday’s match against West Brom would be a low-scoring affair – possibly a 1-1 draw. I couldn’t have got it more wrong.

5-5 is a scoreline we had never seen during Fergie’s reign so I suppose it was on the cards if you look at it that way but, seriously… 5-5!!!???

I didn’t see the match so I was watching score updates and when I saw 5-5 I thought that the players had all just been messing about with our defenders bombing forward just trying to rack up a crazy scoreline but when I saw a replay of the match, it was quite the opposite. It genuinely looked like we were trying to defend our lead at 5-2 but we let West Brom claw us back to 5-5.

Yes, the game was largely meaningless – the occasion was more important – but Fergie still didn’t look too pleased at the final whistle.

It’s a little worrying.

Still, it’s all over for a couple of months now. Fergie will shuffle upstairs, Moyes will come in and then we’ll see where we’re at during the pre-season tour.

Should be interesting.

The Hawthorns
Sun, May 19th 2013 Kick Off: 16:00

When Sir Alex leads the team out today, it will be the 2,154th time he has led a team out in a managerial career spanning 39 years. Today marks the last.

As well as being one of the longest managerial careers on record, this also feels like the longest of goodbyes with the Premier League title-winning celebrations seemingly serving a dual purpose and conflicting emotions – joy at the success but sadness that the architect of all that success is about to bow out but it has been nice to be able to give Sir Alex the send-off he so richly deserves; it would have all felt a bit flat had he told us during the close-season.

West Brom are the side who have the dubious honour of facing the last ever Fergie side – dubious because Sir Alex will no doubt want to go out with the winning feeling he has grown accustomed to, even though the result is largely meaningless to the rest of us.

They actually have a lot to be cheerful about themselves this season. There is a big gap in terms of points between themselves (8th) and Liverpool (7th) but they look likely to finish as “best of the rest” this season.

Their season did start a lot better than it has finished though and wins have been few and far between over the last couple of months and last week’s 4-0 defeat against Norwich was by far their worst result of the season and suggests a side that has half an eye on the summer break.

After a couple of matches where we haven’t looked truly “at it”, the players did rouse themselves to give Fergie a fitting Old Trafford send-off last weekend to suggest that they do at least want this season to end on a high so I would expect more of the same this afternoon.

Our record away to West Brom is as good as it gets over the last ten years – we’ve won them all. A draw this afternoon wouldn’t be a great surprise, though.

I expect this to be a low scoring game but 2-1 to United is a possible scoreline which makes the Over/Under markets a bit iffy. However, I do think that this makes the Under market a little more appealing.

An interesting infographic just dropped into my inbox courtesy of SportingIndex.

Manchester United Say Goodbye to their Most Successful Manager in the Last Forty Years.

Manchester City Say Goodbye to their Most Successful Manager in the Last Forty Years.

Classy City, Classy.

Us United fans have been spoiled for the last 26 years. We have known year after year who our manager will be. This managerial merry-go-round has become quite alien to us and I, for one, have looked on in disbelief at some of the shenanigans that have gone on at big clubs around Europe during that time.

The weirdest one without doubt was Del Bosque at Real Madrid. After being appointed at the back end of 1999, he delivered them Champions League success in 2000 and 2002, the La Liga title in 2001 and 2003, the Spanish Supercup in 2001, the UEFA Super Cup and the Intercontinental Cup in 2002 as well as finishing in the last four of the Champions League every year he was in charge. His reward? The club chose not to renew his contract in 2003, the week after he had just won them the La Liga title.

Del Bosque has since gone on to become the manager of the incredibly brilliant Spanish national side.

Some clubs just don’t know when they have it good.

Which brings me on to the point of this article because it concerns Manchester City and Roberto Mancini.

After more than forty years without a trophy, Mancini brought them the FA Cup and the Premier League. The Community Shield was also won which, considering that City never even had a sniff of winning it for forty years, should also be counted as a bit of an achievement.

They sacked him yesterday.

I don’t know what the future holds for Bobby Manc but I hope that there’s a vacancy somewhere in England for him because I like him.

Last season, he was magnificent. When we came to “squeaky bum time” our winning experience and team full of seasoned winners was supposed to pull us through. Our vastly experienced manager was supposed to push all the right buttons that would send Mancini over the edge.

Mancini had none of it and, for the first time I can remember, I actually think Fergie was “out-mind-gamed”. Bobby would come on the TV telling us that all was lost, that it was United’s title, that City would just keep playing and hope for the best.

The fact is that Mancini and his boys finished the season like the team that had won twelve Premier League titles in the last twenty years whilst we went to pieces, got beaten by them 1-0 in the crunch game during the run-in and the rest is history.

The word is that Manuel Pellegrini is in line to take the vacancy at City – this is the man who, whilst managing Real Madrid, bought Kaka, Ronaldo, Benzema and Alonso in the same Summer transfer window for a combined total in the region of £200 million and was sacked less than twelve months later because, even with that lot, he still won nothing.

What could possibly go wrong?

On the day Sir Alex announced his retirement, another bit of news leaked from Old Trafford – Wayne Rooney had handed in a transfer request.
On any other day, this would have made all the headlines but on this day overriding sentiment was along the lines of “That’s nice. Sir Alex is retiring!!!”

Now that we’re at the acceptance stage of our loss of Fergie (although I appreciate that many are still going through the depression phase) thoughts are now starting to return to the Wayne Rooney saga, the fires of which were stoked yesterday by Rooney’s complete omission from Fergie’s big OT leaving party yesterday and then Fergie’s confirmation that Rooney had indeed handed in a transfer request.

So… what’s with Wayne Rooney? Why does he want to leave this time?

In 2010, Wayne Rooney handed in a transfer request which stunned everyone. Prior to the 2009 season, Rooney had spent a couple of seasons in the shadow of Ronaldo and was often asked to sacrifice his own game to accommodate Ronaldo. However, with the departure of Ronaldo, Rooney was given a much more attacking role.

Rather than roam all over the pitch, it did seem that he had been told to remain in that area directly in front of the opposition goal.

This approach saw Rooney have his most prolific season in terms of goals (34 in 32 appearances) and by the time he handed in his transfer request in the early stages of the 2010-11 season, he was at the height of his powers and held all the cards at the negotiating table.

Rooney has never been held in the same high regard by United fans since.

Personally, I had some sympathy with Rooney’s position at the time. I think that United fans have to bear a few things in mind about the whole thing.

Firstly, Wayne Rooney is not a Red. He’s a Blue. If Rooney had his way, Everton would be in our position domestically and in Europe and he never would have had to leave them in order to fulfill his ambitions. However, he left the team he loves in order to join us and compete for silverware – that has always been his motivation. In short, we were quite happy for ambition to overrule loyalty in 2004 but not so happy when the tables were turned against us in 2010.

Secondly, Wayne Rooney, at the time, was around 24 years old. It is often said that a player reaches his peak at around 26-28. Whatever deal Rooney was to commit to at that stage would take him into that period and so he needed to make absolutely sure that it was the right one for him – that he would be spending his peak years at a club that would be contesting for honours.

At the time, Manchester City were really making a statement in the transfer market – that summer they had spent something in the region of £126 million on players such as Yaya Toure, David Silva and Mario Ballotelli.

By contrast, our transfer activity around 2009-10 amounted to the selling of arguably the best player in the world for £80 million and we watched Carlos Tevez leave us and join City.

We bought Antonio Valencia for around £17 million and we got Michael Owen on a free. The rest of our purchases were all rookie unknowns: Gabriel Obertan, Mame Biram Diouf, Javier Hernandez and Chris Smalling.

Remember also that 2010 saw the height of the Green & Gold campaign, MUST and Andersred doing everything they could to bring down the Glazers and “that” Panorama documentary on the Glazers.

If Rooney was looking at what was going on in the transfer market and what was going on on the wider scene and having his doubts then he was really only echoing our own, if we are absolutely honest.

We simply weren’t competing with City or indeed any of our major rivals in the transfer market and the reasons being put about were clear: The Glazers were bleeding the club dry, the “Ronaldo money” had gone to pay off their debts and Fergie had been left with a few peanuts with which to spend in the transfer market.

I honestly believe that it was this, rather than his own contract, which was Wayne Rooney’s problem.

However, a last minute intervention from the Glazers appears to have settled Rooney’s doubts and he was convinced to stay.

Unfortunately, the damage had been done and Rooney was never fully taken back in by many Reds which is a massive shame.

The main complaint was that Rooney was seen to be questioning the ambition of the most successful club in England but when you’re seeing the likes of Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez leave your team only to be replaced by the likes of Gabriel Obertan and Mame Biram Diouf, you have to admit that maybe, just maybe there’s something wrong and Rooney wasn’t happy.

Anyway. Since then, we’ve had sporadic bursts of brilliance from Rooney but he has never quite matched the heights of the 2009-10 season (although he did score 34 goals again in the 2011-12 season).

This season in particular has been largely disappointing for Rooney. With the arrival of RVP he has again been asked to sacrifice his game and he can be seen on the edge of his own box as much as the edge of the opponent’s box these days.

One of the reasons why Rooney came to United was to play in Europe against the best teams in Europe so when he was benched for the Real Madrid tie that must have hurt even more because this was the first time we had beeb pitted against Real Madrid since signing Rooney.

At the time, Fergie said that it was for “tactical reasons” and that “Rooney was fine with it”. I would suggest that Rooney was far from fine with it and it was that that tipped Rooney back over the edge.

If you’re one of your club’s best players (and Rooney is) and you’re not picked for the biggest games against the biggest teams, you would have to have something wrong with you if you didn’t question your future. If the reasons for his omission were indeed tactical then that in itself would suggest that he’s at the wrong club.

Tactics should involve all the best players and if they don’t then there are clearly players who are surplus to requirements.

Personally, I think that the problem was more to do with Wayne’s conditioning. Rooney has always been a stocky lad and at a younger age, his natural fitness could carry it. At 27, he is starting to look a pound or two too heavy for his own good. The explosive powerhouse of yesteryear is starting to look a little ponderous and Rooney is as likely to go to ground as stand it in a 50/50 challenge these days and whilst he can still ping a 50 yard pass like the best of them there are times when a 5 yard pass escapes him.

All in all, Rooney comes to the negotiating table with no aces up his sleeves this time and the general opinion is that he isn’t quite as irreplaceable and integral to the team as he was in 2010.

There is also the Moyes element now. Rooney and Moyes have history after Moyes sued Rooney for allegations made in his biography a few years ago. Maybe Rooney doesn’t relish a re-union with Moyes. Personally, I think this is a bit childish and certainly unprofessional if that’s the case. Moyes seems to have put the whole thing behind him when Rooney called him to apologise – the issue is history as far as he is concerned.

Whatever happens from here on, it looks like Rooney has a decision to make. I’d hate to see him leave because I still feel that there’s a great player in there but it has become harder to prove this season.

As for the club… well, if we do want to cash in on him then I think they should do the business as soon as the transfer window opens.

Images of Rooney smoking, drinking and pissing in the street whilst on his summer holidays will do little to increase his transfer fee.

Old Trafford
Sun, May 12th 2013 Kick Off: 16:00

Our last home game of the season would be a non-event were it not for the fact that this will be the chance for a packed Old Trafford to say farewell to the man whose name now graces the North Stand. I think it’s going to be emotional.

Hopefully, the players, who have looked like they have had their minds on sunnier climes since sealing our 20th League title, can regain their focus and provide an Old Trafford send-off worthy of the great man.

The Premier League trophy presentation will also take place after the match and, whilst it is customary for the team captain to lift the trophy, the word is that the players want Sir Alex to do the honours this time and if that is the case then I suspect that it will be one of the most photographed trophy presentations in the history of Manchester United. It will be the last time we see Sir Alex lift aloft a piece of silverware.

As for the side-show that is the game itself… I have no idea what will happen. The occasion and the fact that neither team really needs the points at this stage of the season could make this a messy affair but I hope that it will bring the best out of both teams and we get an entertaining match.

Based on how we’ve been playing of late, though, I don’t think there’s much reason to believe that we’ll be bursting a gut to win this by a massive margin and I think Swansea in the Asian Handicap is worth a look.

If ever a demonstration was needed of the speed with which things can be decided and acted upon with our current ownership model then today provided it.

Most of us were still reeling from the news that Fergie had retired yesterday while David Moyes was signing a six year contract to be the next Manchester United manager today.

They don’t hang about, do they?

I must admit that while I have been expecting Fergie to retire just about every year for the last four or five years, I always thought that there was only one possible replacement; only one man with the ego to not only step into Sir Alex’s shoes but to actually complain that they were a little tight – Jose Mourinho.

When we met Real Madrid in the Champions League this season, Fergie and Mourinho were so gushingly mutually respectful that not only did I start to wonder if their respective wives knew, I started to wonder if it was because Mourinho and Fergie knew something about a future marriage between the Special One and the Theatre of Dreams.

However, for the last few years, one name that has refused to go away in the Future United Manager betting markets was that of David Moyes.

It always seemed a strange one to me. Sure, he’s Scottish and Scottish managers and Manchester United do seem to have a special affinity but beyond that… what did Moyes have that, say, Jose didn’t?

The answer to this question was to prove key in the decision to appoint him.

Sure Jose has the European pedigree whilst Moyes has little (Everton were knocked out in the Group Stage when they qualified in 2005) but it is clear that Fergie and the other VIPs at United don’t see this as quite so important as some might think.

At the end of the day, I don’t think there’s a manager in the world with more Champions League experience than Fergie but that didn’t stop us going out inexcusably in the Group Stage last season and the Last 16 this season so CL experience does not necessarily guarantee CL success. I doubt very much that Moyes will win it in his first year in charge of United but I would be surprised if he doesn’t do better than we have done in the last couple of seasons and then after that, he has some more experience and from there, things can only get better.

But what does Moyes have that Jose doesn’t?

Well. Loyalty for one thing and loyalty is something that Fergie holds higher than most other virtues.

I’m pretty sure that this offer to join United is not the only job offer that has come Moyes’ way in the last ten years whilst he has been at Everton but he has always chosen to stay at Everton, perhaps to repay the club that gave him his chance in the big-time.

The problem with Mourinho is that he just doesn’t seem to stay in one place for too long. Three years is about his maximum. That’s no good to a club like Manchester United. We want a manager who will immerse himself, as Fergie did, not only in today’s picture but the future picture and bring youngsters through as much as possible.

Moyes has shown that he is quite willing to do that at Everton and, if he thinks a youngster is good enough, he will give him his chance.

It was, of course, Moyes who handed a 16 year old Wayne Rooney his Everton debut. A manager with the courage to do something like that is exactly what we want at United.

The slight problem Moyes had at Everton though was the fact that they were always skint. No sooner did Moyes play a half-decent youngster than the clubs with the money would come sniffing and the money inevitably proved too good to refuse for Everton.

He shouldn’t have that problem at United. Unless he happens to bring through a Portuguese winger whose mother always dreamed of seeing him in the white of Real Madrid but that’s another story.

His managerial ability should not be questioned. Some might argue that managing Everton is one thing but managing Manchester United is another entirely. Many of those people probably said the same thing when he made the leap from Second Division Preston to Everton before guiding Everton to a top four finish within a couple of years.

Given the resources available to him, that was no mean achievement.

Personally, I’m happy with this appointment and I do hope that it goes well from the start for Moyes – a couple of defeats early on will heap all kinds of pressure on him and that would be a shame. A few wins early on will set a much more positive tone.

Welcome to Manchester United, David Moyes and after Busby’s Babes and Fergie’s Fledglings, I look forward to seeing Moyes’ Munchkins very soon!