England manager Fabio Capello has branded hot-headed striker Wayne Rooney "a crazy man" after his antics at Craven Cottage last weekend.

The 23-year-old was one of two Manchester United players to see red in the 2-0 defeat by Fulham last Saturday - receiving two yellow cards after midfielder Paul Scholes had been sent off earlier for a deliberate handball.

Rooney received his marching orders from referee Phil Dowd for hurling the ball back at the official when he demanded that it be re-taken from the correct spot.

After remonstrating with Dowd, Rooney stalked off in a rage and punched a corner flag on his way to the dressing room, which prompted cheers from the home crowd and led to speculation that he could face a further rap from the FA.

However, despite being spared a personal hearing - and receiving a standard one-match domestic ban for his two yellows - renowned disciplinarian Capello gave Rooney a dressing down as the squad met up ahead of this weekend's friendly against Slovakia at Wembley.

"What were you doing punching the corner flag?" the Italian queried in front of the rest of the squad.

"You're a crazy man, a crazy man."

Capello also reminded the rest of the squad of their responsibilities in the public eye after a spate of recent off-field problems for England internationals.

Ashley Cole was recently held in a police cell after abusing officers while on a night out in London, while Steven Gerrard has been in court after being charged with assault and affray relating to a recent nightclub incident.

The charge of assault was later dropped, although he still faces a trial over the second charge.

- .inthenews.co.uk

Manchester United players could be looking for summer transfers if these leaked photos of their 2009/10 prototype kits get the go-ahead.

New kit designs for Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea and Manchester United have been published on The Spoiler and early indications suggest it is United's players who could come off worst.

Designers of the white and red away shirts have used a lace-up collar to finish the neckline similar to that last seen on their green and yellow shirts in the mid-1990s . The second effort is kinder on the eye, with a '60s feel about it.


Liverpool are next, and it is pretty much as you were with the away kit design, apart from a slightly more pond-like shade of green.

Anfield officials have already said they will stick with their current home jersey, and also appear relatively happy with the travelling strip.

Chelsea appear to be contemplating adding a zip to their home and away kits, with new designs giving off a slight impression of body armour.

And congratulations to Arsenal who have come up with a design that represents actual change [and still resembles a football shirt].

This season's lemon yellow could make way for a demure shade of racing green. However, Arsenal fans have already noted that the last time the club wore green was the 1982/83 season - when they finished.

- Telegraph.co.uk

Manchester United are set to have the AIG logo on their shirts for another season despite attempts by the crisis-hit American financial giant to rebrand its "wounded and disgraced" name.

United are seeking a new sponsor to replace the £56.5 million four-year deal with AIG which expires at the end of the 2009-10 season.

The European champions are confident of securing a lucrative agreement by the autumn, with both Saudi Telecom and Indian financial services company Sahara linked with replacing AIG

But with next season's United strip – due to be launched in China on the first-leg of the club's Far East tour in July – already in production with the AIG logo in place, moves by AIG to change its name to AIU could leave United with a redundant sponsor for the duration of the 2009-10 campaign.

A Nike spokesman said: "For the 2009-10 season all Manchester United shirts and training products have been produced with the AIG logo in line with the company's continued sponsorship of the club.

"The speculation surrounding AIG had very little impact on the process of manufacturing this product."

AIG has been bailed out four times by American taxpayers in recent months after incurring colossal losses during the global credit crisis.

And the company's security team has been forced to warn US-based employees to take special precautions and "avoid wearing any AIG apparel with the company insignia" as a result of growing hostility towards the company following revelations of bonuses paid to employees from bail-out funds.

The company's Manhattan offices have already been renamed AIU Holdings and chief executive Edward M Liddy has admitted that AIG have no option but to change their discredited name.

Liddy said: "I think the AIG name is so thoroughly wounded and disgraced that we're probably going to have to change it."

United are due to receive the final £14 million instalment from AIG ahead of the start of next season, but the American company, rather than United or Nike, would be forced to foot the prohibitive cost of any logo changes on next term's kit.

The club will play in the four-team Audi Cup in Munich at the end of July. The two-day competition, held at Munich's Allianz Arena, will feature United, Boca Juniors, AC Milan and Bayern Munich.

United will face Boca on July 29 following their four-game tour of the Far East before tackling Milan or Bayern in the final/third-place play-off on July 30.

- Telegraph.co.uk

Sir Alex Ferguson may be forced to risk fielding a weakened team in Manchester United’s vital Premier League game with Aston Villa because of the demands of playing two crucial televised games in two days.

Martin O’Neill’s side visit Old Trafford on Sunday April 5 for a 4pm game on Sky before FC Porto arrive for the first leg of the Champions League quarter final, to be played on Tuesday night.

United have not exercised their option to bring the domestic game forward to 12.45pm on Saturday to allow extra rest before the European clash, meaning Ferguson may have to juggle his resources in a bid to keep his big hitters fresh for the Porto game.

While such a move could have serious ramifications for the Premier League title race, that concern aside, Ferguson and his captain Rio Ferdinand both acknowledge United have been handed a favourable draw, though they admit there is no room for any complacency.

The Portuguese champions are a very different side to the one which, under Jose Mourinho’s tutelage, dispatched United in the last 16 en route to lifting the trophy in 2004, and were comprehensively beaten 4-0 in the group stage by Arsenal – who United could face in the semi-final - and had been identified by Ferguson before the draw as one of the easier options.

He said: “It’s a good draw for us. You sometimes wonder if being at home first is a good or a bad thing but I think in this modern-day competition there’s no indication of what is better. The only thing you hope is that you don’t lose a goal in the home tie.

“We’ve met Porto before and obviously we respect any Portuguese team. We’ve had a huge Portuguese influence in the club, firstly with Carlos Queiroz but now with Cristiano and Nani. We understand Portuguese football.”

Ferdinand, too, preaches caution, but admits facing Porto at Old Trafford on April 7 before travelling to Portugal eight days later is a far more appealing prospect than the internecine warfare of an all-English tie.

He said: “I’m pleased to have avoided the English teams. Emotionally and physically it would have been draining, more than against a European team, because there’s so much that goes along with playing English sides in this tournament.”

- telegraph.co.uk

Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo hopes to hit the music scene big time when he hangs up his boots by teaming up with Brazil superstars Ronaldo and Ronaldinho to form an ex-footballers’ super group.

Ronaldo says: “Somebody mentioned to me a few years ago that it would be a great idea if myself, the Brazilian Ronaldo and Ronaldinho made a band called The Three Rs .”

“I loved the idea, it was so funny. I’ll mention it to them when I retire, we might even have a No1,” The Sun quoted him, as saying.

“I don’t know what the other two would like to do, but it would be brilliant if I was lead singer. You never know, I will have to do something after football,” Ronaldo said.

- Times of India

Manchester United wing wizard Cristiano Ronaldo almost missed the train to London today - and it didn't go unnoticed by boss Sir Alex Ferguson.

The Portugal international arrived at Wilmslow station at 3.10pm, just one minute before United's train south was due to depart at 3.11pm.

Sir Alex's side play Fulham tomorrow in a must-win match if the Red Devils are to put their title charge back on track after last week's mauling by Liverpool.

Luckily for Ronaldo - and team-mate Rio Ferdinand, who was also running late - all squad members boarded the train as planned.

Ferguson was no doubt preparing a blast of his famous hairdryer treatment as he appeared to be constantly checking his watch on the platform.


- Daily Mail

Nani is happy at Manchester United, despite so far failing to nail down a regular start.

"Playing irregularly like I have been doing this season makes things harder," he told Portuguese newspaper Record.

"First of all, I must gain my place in the team. Then, I can have higher ambitions. But I have all the conditions to be one of the best in the world.’’

And Nani says the memory of last season’s successful climax, when United won a Premier League and Champions League double, is inspiring him to go for the quintuple this season.

"Last year was amazing achievement," he recalled. "There were much older players than me that never had won a Champions League, for instance.

"I feel privileged to have won so many trophies so young. I remember a chat I had with Ronaldo in the last days of last season: we were one win away from winning the Premier League and we still had to play the Champions League final. ‘What would you think if we won it all?’ we asked each other. We were riding a bicycle in the gym, and wondering what it would be like to win all that. And we did win.

"Now, we have everything in place to make history and win all the English competitions and also the Champions League. We have a fantastic group full of great players and we are determined to succeed."

- TribalFootball

Portuguese international Nani hopes his fellow countryman and highly-rated manager Jose Mourinho will join him at Old Trafford when Sir Alex Ferguson decides to call it a day...

When Jose Mourinho returned to England to take on Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United in the round of 16 clash in the Champions League, much was made about the Scot meeting his contemporary foe - a manager whom he had rarely beaten, whether the Portuguese was at the helm of Chelsea or Porto.
However, perhaps it was not a meeting between two rival managers, but more a further chapter in what could turn out to be the mentor grooming his mentee.

There have been escalating rumours that Mourinho is one of few club managers who could suitably take Manchester United forward after Sir Alex Ferguson helped change the club's fortunes and propel them into stardom throughout the 90s and 00s.

Portuguese international Nani believes that Mourinho is the ideal candidate for the role.

"Everyone knows Jose Mourinho’s qualities as a coach," Nani explained, according to the Irish Examiner. "For him to manage a team like Manchester United, with this club’s potential, would be an easy job.

"The way he works and with the players this team has, he would be successful without any problems."

Mourinho, despite failing to secure a quarter-final passage with Inter, is still on course to guide the Milanese side to their first Scudetto under his tutelage.

Martin O'Neill is also a favourite to eventually take over Manchester United when Sir Alex decides to retire from the game.

- Goal.com

Cristiano Ronaldo has dismissed Sir Alex Ferguson's claims that Manchester United will fail to pull off an incredible Quintuple.

The Manchester United boss believes that winning five trophies this season is beyond his all-conquering stars.

But World Player of the Year Ronaldo insists United are ready to add the Champions League, Barclays Premier League and FA Cup to the Carling Cup and Club World Cup they have already secured.

'We’re positive about all the competitions we're involved in and we want to win them all,' said Ronaldo. 'It would be great to achieve that.

'Last season we won the league and the European Cup, and this year we have the opportunity to do even better. We’ll continue working hard and we believe we can do this.'

The Red Devils are currently four points clear in hand in the league with a game, while the European draw for the quarter-finals takes plave tomorrow. They are also two Wembley victories from lifting the FA Cup.

Fergie said: 'The thing about cup football is you need to be the best but you also need a lot of luck, and I think it's asking a lot for all the games to go your way.'

- DailyMail

Manchester United cannot do the quintuple. Who says so? None other than Sir Alex Ferguson, the United manager.

In a wide-ranging interview with his friend Alastair Campbell, the communications and strategy secretary to Tony Blair when he was Prime Minister, Ferguson says that a clean sweep of five trophies is “too tough a call”.

He also picks his Manchester United dream team — well, two, actually — and names Ryan Giggs as the player he would “never, ever leave out” of his best side. He admits that his biggest mistake was letting go of Jaap Stam, the Holland defender, and that his biggest regret was failing to sign Paul Gascoigne.

Ferguson believes that his present squad is the best he has managed, but although United have won the Club World Cup and Carling Cup and are favourites to retain the Barclays Premier League title despite last Saturday’s 4-1 home defeat by Liverpool, Ferguson fears that cup football’s unpredictable nature means that they could come unstuck in the FA Cup, in which they play Everton at Wembley in the semi-finals, or the Champions League, in which their quarter and possible semi-final opponents will be revealed tomorrow. “The thing about cup football is you need to be the best, but you also need a lot of luck, and I think it’s asking too much for all the games to go your way,” he said.

When asked by Campbell in today’s New Statesman to pick his best United XI, Ferguson, who took over at Old Trafford in 1986, says: “My problem is I have had so many great players that I can’t do one dream team.

“I ask myself who were the players you could not leave out. Roy Keane, Scholes, Giggs — [I would] never, ever leave him out if I was playing my best team. Ronaldo and Cantona are both ‘never leave out’ players. You’d have Beckham knocking on the door. As for Rooney, if I left him out, I’d have to do it by e-mail or I’d never hear the end of it. God, when you go through it like that, I have been blessed with terrific players.”

Ferguson’s relationship with Stam soured after the player published an autobiography, Head To Head, in which he revealed behind-the-scenes secrets from the United training ground. The former Holland centre back, who joined the club in 1998 and had been a mainstay of United’s 1999 treble-winning team, was sold to Lazio for £16.5 million. Although Ferguson was reported to have questioned Stam’s long-term fitness after Achilles tendon surgery, he went on to play at the highest level for several seasons. His departure left a hole in the United rearguard and it cost £30 million to fill, with the signing of Rio Ferdinand from Leeds United 11 months later.

Ferguson, 67, also discusses politics and the early experiences that have made him a lifelong supporter of the Labour Party, and names the players and managers that he admires.

He also reveals that he supports in principle the idea of a Great Britain side at the 2012 Olympic Games, although he is noncommittal about the prospect of managing it.

Furthermore, he mentions his eventual retirement — although Messrs Benítez, Wenger and others will be disappointed to learn that he is unwilling to name the date.

- TimesOnline

Manchester United could face a fixture pile-up as the title race reaches its conclusion as the FA have announced the league leaders will travel to Wigan Athletic on Wednesday, May 13.

In addition, if the Premier League leaders reach the semi-finals of the Champions League, it will result in five games in fourteen vital days as they seek to retain their league and European crown.

Sir Alex Ferguson, the United manager, caused a storm by refusing to talk to Sky Sports after their 4-1 humiliation to Liverpool – angry at his side having to play at 12.45pm on a Saturday following a Wednesday night Champions League tie against Inter Milan. United will now play Manchester City at home, Wigan away and Arsenal at home in a critical seven-day period.

The match at the JJB Stadium was originally scheduled for April 18 but had to be postponed because of their FA Cup semi-final clash with Everton at Wembley that weekend.

- Times Online

Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo is set to undergo a specialist sprint training session with world champ Usain Bolt.

Ronaldo is set to be given a special training session with the world's fastest man - Usain Bolt, says the Daily Star. Triple Olympic champion Bolt will be in Manchester to run in a one-off 150m street race in May.

A Manchester United fan, Bolt added that he had an ulterior motive for racing in the city.

"I am also looking forward to going to Old Trafford to support my team," he said. "I've wanted to come to a match for a long time and am delighted to get the opportunity."

- Tribalfootball.com

Phil Thompson believes Manchester United Football Club are on the ropes.

The Reds looked decidedly shaky despite their 2-0 UEFA Champions League win over Inter Milan last week, in which the Italians twice hit the woodwork.

Days later Liverpool struck four at Old Trafford to go within four points of the champions, and former Anfield hero Thompson believes the title is up for grabs.

"United look as though they are cracking up,” he said. "Defensively, United have been so strong, but there were signs of chinks in the armour against Inter Milan."

- FansFC

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson admits at times he hates his own rotation policy.

In his match programme notes for Saturday's defeat to Liverpool, Ferguson wrote: "I hate pulling a player to one side and telling him that though he has perhaps just delivered a top-class performance, I will not be using him in the next match. It’s not nice, but it helps that the players understand.

"I also feel blessed that we have players like John O’Shea, who in the absence of three injured right-backs – Gary Neville, Rafael da Silva and Wes Brown – has stepped in to play out of his skin."

- TribalFootball

AMSTERDAM — Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar has turned down an offer to come out of international retirement for a second time to help the Netherlands qualify for next year's World Cup.

Coach Bert van Marwijk told the Algemeen Dagblad newspaper he called the 38-year-old Van der Sar "against my better judgment" to ask him to play because of an injury and form crisis that has hit the three keepers named in the Netherlands' roster.

"I knew beforehand what the answer would be, but I called him anyway," Van Marwijk said in the interview published Wednesday.

Van der Sar, the most capped Dutch footballer of all time with 130 appearances, retired from internationals after Euro 2008. However, he agreed to make a one-off comeback last October for qualifiers against Iceland and Norway to cover for injuries. The Netherlands won both matches and he kept two clean sheets.

Van Marwijk tried to persuade Van der Sar to come back again for home qualifiers against Scotland on March 28 and Macedonia on April 1.

The squad's three keepers, Maarten Stekelenburg, Henk Timmer and Michel Vorm, "are all sick, injured or coming back from injury," he said.

Stekelenburg, who has recovered from injury but has not managed to regain his place in Ajax's first team, remains Van Marwijk's first choice.

"Of all the keepers at the moment, he has the most potential," said Van Marwijk, who names his squad for the Scotland and Macedonia qualifiers on Friday.

Van der Sar set an English league record this year after going 1,311 minutes without conceding a goal for Manchester. The stretch started Nov. 8 after Arsenal's Samir Nasri beat him twice in a 2-1 victory and ended March 4 when his blunder gifted Newcastle's Peter Lovenkrands a goal in the ninth minute of Manchester United's 2-1 Premier League victory.

- The Canadian Press

Sepp Blatter, the more I hear that name, the more ridiculous this guy has become. If you’re a football fan, you must have heard about the 6 + 5 system that he is trying to implement. His argument was since EPL being introduced 16 years ago; only 4 teams have won the league. So, he want make the league ‘more competitive’.

Yea right! What he is trying to do is to lower the standard of EPL and at the same time demolish the dominance force of the English teams in the Champion League. Let me ask you something, since 1993, how many times English teams have won the Champion League? Only 2 teams and 3 times (Manchester United 2 times, Liverpool once).

Where is FIFA and why nobody said anything when Spanish and Italian teams dominated the Champion League few years ago. Still remember when Juventus vs AC Milan in the final and how boring that game were? The only time when lots of people watching the game is when there is English team playing but Sepp Blatter have something else in his mind.

If let’s say they actually implemented the system, do you really think that Manchester United, Chelsea or Arsenal will suddenly becoming ‘weak’? I don’t think so because they still have the spending power and they will buy every good English player they could set eyes on and other teams except ‘The Big Four’ will to lose all their English players and need to find players from the lower leagues and this could make the league weaker.

Worst of all, ALL big teams will snatch young talented players who haven’t play for the country where they were born and force them to represent the club’s country. Now, the player is in dilemma whether to play for the dream club or to represent their beloved country.

To me, this is the real ‘modern slavery’, where good players can’t play for their favorite team due to the restriction. Unfortunately, FIFA only cares about protecting certain leagues and not the entire football community.

Fergie rules out January transfers

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson admits he is unlikely to sign any players when the transfer window reopens in January.

Ferguson, who has been linked with a move for Serbian youngster Zoran Tosic, insists there will be no new faces arriving in the New Year.

The United chief says he is happy with the squad at his disposal, but he believes Manchester City, backed by the Abu Dhabi United group, will be flexing their muscles when the transfer window reopens.

"There definitely won't be anyone coming here but I'm pretty sure City will do some business," Ferguson told the club's official magazine Inside United.

"You don't talk about having all this money and then not use it. They'll have plenty of ideas - the fact that they tried to buy four or five player in an hour on deadline day gives you an indication of what they want to do.

"But at the end of the day you can't buy them all."