Manchester Utd
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“The Arsenal players surrounded the referee and argued with him. Man United players would never do that.” Sir Alex Ferguson. December 2006 Jan 2008: Manchester United when to Saudi Arabia in January 2008 in return for £1 million, in order to lend support for a country which loves to torture non-Muslims and gays. This is the country in which a woman who was gang-raped 14 times was then reported by the men who did it for sexual promiscuity. This is the country of justice administered through stonings and knives. This is the country with 124 beheadings carried out with swords in 2007. Manchester Utd players posed at Prince Abdullah bin Mosaad bin Abdulaziz al-Saud’s palace, to pose with knives and swords. Manchester United and Saudi Arabia – suited to each other. Jan 2008: Top-flight players using the new ‘A-star’ goal celebration are ‘encouraging kids to follow role models who don’t glamourise crime, guns or drugs’. It’s a decent message – and less mixed up than last year’s try: the Government unveiling Rio Ferdinand as official ambassador against gun and knife crime. ‘Kids are led astray by violent computer games,’ said a Government source. ‘Rio’s the perfect role model.’ Five days after the launch, Rio unveiled his own new goal celebration – firing a rocket launcher into the crowd in tribute to stealth stabbing, body-bag heavy console game SOCOM US Navy Seals. ‘The players love it,’ said a Man United source. ‘It’s combat on and off the pitch.’ Source: The Guardian, 6 Jan 2008 Jan 2008: Alex Ferguson says ‘hostile’ supporters who criticised the Glazer family before the United take-over in 2005 were ‘unfair’. ‘You can see how smoothly the club is running now. Those fan protests were unfair – the family weren’t given a chance.’ So who was to blame for whipping up the negativity? ‘I’ve always backed the fans in a lot of their causes,’ said “Sir” Ferguson in late 2004 when the take-over was in trouble. ‘We’re of a common dominator on this. They don’t want this club in anyone else’s hands – I support that.’ Orgies and rape seem to be part of the normal events at Manchester Utd In December 2007 Manchester Utd players organised a party without wives and girlfriends – as they do each year. The 2007 part led to a Man U first team player being arrested and bailed to appear on rape charges. The tabloids were full of details of how the party was arranged and of the girls who were brought in to have sex with player after player. Sir Alex Ferguson, said to be “manager” of the club, said after the party, “it is business as usual at Old Trafford”. The Mirror reported that before the party he told them not to get into any trouble. How the party works In the lead up to the party, the first team of Manchester Utd have agents who go around the shops that make up the centre of Manchester, picking up tarts who work in the stores. The girls often speak about being enticed back to the houses of Manchester Utd players to watch pornography (Guardian Dec 22). Even the hookers are fed up with Man U Consider this from The Sun in September 2007: “Two of the five hookers who romped with United ace Ronaldo and pal Anderson at Ronaldo’s £3 million mansion said the players had “no morals”. “They made me fell cheap,” said Tyese, 18. “I’ve slept with 200 clients and I’ve never been treated with such little respect.” By December it was even worse for Man U as the Sun’s reporter said, “The girl roasted by three Man U stars at their rape claim Christmas party said… The men were shrieking like hyenas – it was vile.” More about Man U Manchester Utd are sometimes put forward as a club that can always spot a great deal, and always bring in young or talented players – even if they have to pay. So, as we contemplate this, let us think of Diego Forlan, Eric Djemba-Djemba, Kleberson, David Bellion and Sebastian Veron. The point here is that these are not necessarily bad players – Veron certainly was not a poor player. Rather that Man U has a view that all the world has to adapt to their approach, and that it is not their job to teach players their system. Their view clearly is, “he looks good, buy him” without thinking, “will he fit our system”. To make this mistake once or twice could be excusable, in that everyone can make mistakes. But to make the same mistake over and over again suggests a total inability to learn. Finding a good player and paying lots of dosh for him is not enough – the player has to be able to play in your style. Now it is perfectly obvious that M Wenger has made errors in his transfers – but two things are different here. Firstly it is hard to find too many players that Arsenal have bought under the Wenger regime in which Arsenal have paid a fortune for the player, he has been no good, and Arsenal have then lost money. Secondly, Wenger clearly does take into account certain key attributes when buying players and does insure that he is buying players likely to fit. Thus when people list Wenger’s failures in the transfer market what they tend to do is forget how much he paid for these players – usually (not always but usually) small sums, often recouped in the subsequent sale of the player. To consider the picture as a whole you need to think of how much money the club has to spend, how many mistakes are made, and how much money is recouped. On this basis Manchester Utd plc in the last five years has a terrible transfer record, and one they should be thoroughly ashamed of. Price Fixing The OFT published its decision on Price Fixing of Replica Kit on 1 August 2003. The decision found that a number of sportswear retailers (including but not limited to Allsports Ltd and JJB Sports plc), Manchester United plc, the Football Association Ltd and Umbro Holdings Ltd had entered into price fixing agreements in relation to replica football kit infringing the Chapter I prohibition contained in section 2 of the Competition Act 1998. Financial penalties totalling £18.6 million were imposed in respect of the infringements. A copy of the full decision is available on the CA98 Public Register section of the OFT. Appeals against the OFT decision were brought by Umbro Holdings Ltd, Manchester United plc, Allsports Ltd, and JJB Sports plc. JJB Sports plc and Allsports Ltd appealed against both the findings of liability (i.e. the issue of whether they were party to the price fixing agreements) and the imposition and the levels of penalties imposed. The appeals brought by Umbro Holdings Ltd and Manchester United plc were confined to the issue of the imposition and the levels of penalties imposed. The appeals were turned down. |
