United Forum
Go Back   United Forum > Manchester United > Football
Closed Thread
 
Unread 30-09-2010, 04:17 PM
borsuk
 
Thumbs up bloody hell a decent article from the grauniad

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/b...ampions-league


Quote:
[SIZE="5"]Exquisite Hernández upholds United's youthful tradition

Youth ought to be easy to sell to Manchester United's followers, who saw a dynasty built on the stuff when miraculous discoveries were rolling in from local parks 20 years ago. For the first time in more than a year, in Valencia last night, Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes were all absent from a United match, but they sent Javier Hernández and Federico Macheda along as proxies.

Back in the 1990s United found their starlets around Greater Manchester, or in Leytonstone, in David Beckham's case. This answered a yearning for the Busby Babes to be renewed. In those simpler times United fans embraced the romance of home cultivation. Now, though, there is a problem in their thinking that will interfere with the joy of watching the likes of Hernández and Macheda mature.

The reflex is to believe this latest wave of youngsters point to the club's impotence at the top of the transfer market. A mistaken view is that Hernández was bought out of Mexico for £7million solely because debt precluded United from buying David Villa or another A-list striker. Equally Macheda's appearance for Dimitar Berbatov after 85 minutes at the Mestalla Stadium will have been seen by some as proof that United's bench is "thin". Warming it were two bucks who won them the game in the five minutes they were on the field together, plus Michael Owen, who has scored 40 times for England.

United's borrowings are an outrage which the supporters are right to resist. Not even Ferguson's assurances have persuaded them that the £80m from the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo was available to the manager. Doubt assails them when a Chris Smalling arrives from Fulham. The understandable suspicion was that Real Madrid's money went straight to the banks, thus forcing Ferguson to shop lower down. It serves the club well for there to be pressure on the Glazers to keep pace financially with Chelsea, if not Manchester City. But it would be a travesty if United fans were to see Ferguson's latest fledglings only as part of the Glazer curse.

The two can be separated: Alpine debt on the one hand, real youthful promise on the other. The sequence that raised United to the top of Champions League Group C in Spain was Nani to Macheda to "Chicharito", whose touch and finish were exquisite. Cushioning and moving the ball in one defence-busting moment he saw the only viable angle for the shot and dispatched it in the style of a master.

Another complication in the Old Trafford psychology is that United's strategy changed in the early Noughties to increase their strength in Champions League combat. Juan Sebastián Verón, Rio Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney were huge investments in a European future. United were evolving beyond domestic hegemony. An expectation took hold that each summer would bring a new £30m idol. They are victims of their own ambition from the days when the club's vast revenues seemed to go straight back into the first team squad rather than down a pipe to Wall Street.

But to see Hernández and Macheda combine to impale Valencia was to be reminded that the faith in youth is genuine and not only a penny-pinching strategy. Hernández was not bought on a whim. He was tracked for several years and meticulous research was carried out to ensure he was right for the Carrington template. Plainly Bebé, the Portuguese forward, was a gamble, but one that might be set against two gold strikes in that sector of the Iberian market: Nani and Ronaldo.

Most of United's bingo moments are still in the under-25 sphere. Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney were both bought as teenagers. Rooney's talent was an open secret but there was no guarantee Ronaldo would mature beyond extravagant trickery. Any club that finds a stepover-addicted kid at Sporting Lisbon, develops him into a title-winning striker and then sells him for £80m is entitled to think something is going right in the scouting department.

A golden age will expire when Giggs, Scholes and Neville part the gates of Carrington for the last time (one, or all, will be back, as coaches, one imagines). These days the net is thrown internationally and not just across Salford. Yet the club's warped ownership model is not the only truth. If United were owned like Chelsea or Man City their raison d'être would still be scouting and educating young players capable of taking over from Giggs and Scholes.

Even without the Glazers, Hernández would be wearing a Manchester United shirt. This is not to say that £700m-plus of corporate borrowing is suddenly laudable or even tolerable. But when the fans see him land a goal of the calibre he displayed in Valencia they are not watching a compromise with the banks. They are observing a tradition.
 
Unread 30-09-2010, 04:21 PM
red red robbo
 
Default

I read that. Thought it was good as well.

TBF quite a lot of their stuff is pretty decent, and they have always presented the Glazer situation properly as well.
 
Unread 30-09-2010, 04:23 PM
elephantstone
 
Default

bravo
 
Unread 30-09-2010, 04:29 PM
MJ Ramone
 
Default

who wrote it?
 
Unread 30-09-2010, 04:34 PM
andyroo
 
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by MJ Ramone
who wrote it?
Paul Hayward.
 
Unread 30-09-2010, 04:35 PM
Zorg
 
Default

Good read that.

His goal reminded me a bit of Benzema's against United a couple of years ago. Quick control with one foot, bang with the other.
 
Unread 30-09-2010, 05:52 PM
borsuk
 
Default

it's a bit flimsy as a piece, mentions two strikers because they came on last night and smalling and bebe because they arrived this summer but not a word about the prospects we have on loan/in the youth side. all a bit superficial. the overall point is bang on, though.
 
Unread 30-09-2010, 06:06 PM
Switching Off
 
Default

Quote:
A mistaken view is that Hernández was bought out of Mexico for £7million solely because debt precluded United from buying David Villa or another A-list striker.
Not sure how he can be sure of that. Maybe it is a mistaken view, maybe it isn't. Who knows?
 
Unread 30-09-2010, 06:17 PM
£#%&! KFC
 
Default

as soon ass LittlePea came on last night I predicted he would score

what a £#%&!ing finish and loooked even better when I finally saw the replay this morning
 
Unread 30-09-2010, 06:30 PM
MJ Ramone
 
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by £#%&! KFC
as soon ass LittlePea came on last night I predicted he would score

what a £#%&!ing finish and loooked even better when I finally saw the replay this morning
 
Unread 30-09-2010, 06:32 PM
£#%&! KFC
 
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by MJ Ramone
 
Unread 30-09-2010, 06:33 PM
MJ Ramone
 
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by £#%&! KFC
 
Unread 30-09-2010, 07:08 PM
red in cumbria
 
Default

A decent Grauniad article on anything is a depressingly rare event these days
 
Unread 30-09-2010, 08:00 PM
andyroo
 
Default

There was a good bit on Sid Lowe's bit of the Granuiad podcast this arvo, where Lowe was talking about how "Manchester" are seen in Spain... "everyone respects them, they're a proper football club, what everyone aspires to". So nice after all the tired old ABU shite we always get.
 
Unread 30-09-2010, 08:07 PM
Terry Silver
 
Default

Paul Hayward - he's good, but he's no Cascarino.
 
Unread 30-09-2010, 08:20 PM
redmike
 
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by red in cumbria
A decent Grauniad article on anything is a depressingly rare event these days
Hayward is that rare event, top scribe, no wonder he's won journalist of the year umpteen times, never resorts to personal attacks either.
 
Unread 30-09-2010, 08:22 PM
red in cumbria
 
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by redmike
Hayward is that rare event, top scribe, no wonder he's won journalist of the year umpteen times, never resorts to personal attacks either.
Blotted his copybook by taking the Daily Heil shilling, though
 
Unread 30-09-2010, 08:35 PM
dunk
 
Default

I've read that article, practically, several times, posted on this very forum in various guises by certain posters.

He could've lifted it from the summer transfer %@#$&!s thread alone tbh.
 
Unread 30-09-2010, 08:41 PM
Tumescent Throb
 
Default

pretty lazy article tbh

agree with the general theme of course

but as the 'business plan' and the transfer policy of the last decade or more are separable why hasn't he?
 
Unread 01-10-2010, 03:25 AM
waynes ear's
 
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tumescent Throb
pretty lazy article tbh

agree with the general theme of course

but as the 'business plan' and the transfer policy of the last decade or more are separable why hasn't he?
you are a £#%&!ing clown
Closed Thread
Thread Tools
Similar Threads for: bloody hell a decent article from the grauniad
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Decent Little Article on Martinez ragnorak Football 7 18-08-2022 01:08 PM
15 Years Bloody Hell Crumps Manchester United Hall of Fame 44 27-05-2014 01:24 PM
Football, bloody hell by Patrick Barclay safingtons Football 57 28-01-2011 04:07 PM
the glazers' other businesses - article this morning from the grauniad borsuk Love United, Hate Glazer 8 28-12-2010 03:19 PM
Play brilliant = Lose. Play Shite = Win. Football, bloody hell! Sparky*** Football 24 27-08-2007 09:49 AM
All times are GMT. The time now is 10:10 PM.
Copyright ©2006 - 2024 utdforum.com. This site is in no way affiliated to Manchester United Football Club.