Fergie last night in South Africa

Hi

Had a fantastic evening last night with Sir Alex, will give you a breakdown of the evening –

The dinner was a benefit dinner for one of Fergie`s best friends who lives in South Africa who has been battling with health problems in the last 2 years.

There was another function last night for players with Fergie and Bobby Charlton speaking at but he left that one early to pay tribute to his friend, he attended with his wife and close friends.

He spoke brilliantly with no speech cards but mainly about his early days in Scotland as a player and a manager, later on in the night there was an organized Q&A session.

He was asked various questions (nothing current or about new signings, although a few shouts of TORRES were heard from the 700 strong crowd!!)

He said that Giggs and Scholes were 2 of the most naturally gifted footballers he was never seen and worked with while he said although a great player Beckham was a manufactured player, due to his hours and hours of practice and dedication.

He also spoke a lot about Cantona and his love for United, he said he was with him in Berlin for the WC Final and Cantona was asking him about youth and reserve team players that were coming through the ranks.

After dinner he was very accommodating with autographs and pictures, I was lucky enough to get a shot with him which I have attached.


Regards

Ilan

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What the Papers Said, part 2

paul mccarthy. people
Where do you think it went wrong - we asked the same question last year hoping for an improvement - and right for United this season?
I can't understand why somebody like Fergie, with all his experience, lets people sway his opinion so much. When I say people, I mean Carlos Queiroz. United have got the most creative and explosive 'second' striker in the country (Rooney) and a striker who you'd want on your side if it meant a goal to save your life (Ruud) and yet Fergie did everything in his power to screw both of them up in the first half of the season.
Playing Rooney on the left was ridiculous. Isolating Ruud up front was a nonsense. The only thing about abandoning that worthless formation was that it made those of us - and the majority of United fans - who'd called for a return to 4-4-2 look like conceptual geniuses while a highly paid coach looked like a mug. Letting Roy Keane go at least re-established Fergie's authority and made it plain that when it came to the big decisions, his was the only voice and opinion that mattered. Having said that, the way the club went about it was particularly squalid and Keane probably deserved to exit with a touch more dignity. Stumbling on a midfield partnership of O'Shea and Giggs was a positive although I reckon it was more of a Band Aid than a permanent solution even if it has given Giggsy a new lease of life.
Elsewhere, Europe was a disaster. Not making the UEFA Cup might have been laughed off by the board as a financial irrelevance but ask any United fan whether he'd like to swap places with Middlesbrough and we all know the answer to that one. Overall, a tepid first half of the season will be forgotten when compared to the way United - other than the Sunderland debacle - finished the campaign.
Best of all, you've got Rooney, what else could you want?
Fergie...do you think he will be given one more season by the new owners? How do you think it will 'end' and have you any very early predictions for next season?
Undoubtedly Fergie has secured another year at the helm, which makes those of us who put forward 10 reasons why he should go in the aftermath of the Benfica defeat look mightily foolish. C'est la vie! The Glazers seem to realise the old boy still has the golden touch about him although - as Mourinho pointed out - three seasons without a title is a bitter pill for any United fan to swallow. The problem for Fergie is that I can't see him going out on a miraculous high this time next year. For all Chelsea's failings off the pitch (lack of class, style etc) when they need to do the business on it, they're utterly ruthless. Arsenal will also be closer next season as long as Henry stays while Liverpool still get themselves up for the big matches. Suddenly Fergie's swansong - and I'm convinced that's what it will be next term - might fizzle out in anti-climax.
United have put further limitations - with the one Friday conference with Fergie - on their relationship with the media, why do you think they did this and would you agree that relations, on the whole, between United and the media are worse than a year ago?
Manchester United do not have a relationship with the press, simple as that. We are tolerated, that's all, nothing more and nothing less. Fergie is the key to this. He can't abide criticism even when it's valid and when he stamps his foot and shakes his fist all the little men in boardroom do the same...it's pathetic really. Somebody with some balls should tell him to stop acting like a petulant child and set some kind of example, instead they just doff their caps and plan for a time when he's no longer around so they can get their media act together.
Phil Townsend and Di Law are top people. If they were allowed to operate the way they would like, United would be the very model of a grown up club in terms of a relationship with their press. However, their best efforts are completely hamstrung and undermined by a manager who has grown so isolated from the media that it makes it impossible to do anything but the bare minimum. It's a shame because a club like Arsenal, who've got everything running perfectly in terms of the press, barely merit a mention when they struggle to finish in the top four yet United have a wobble and it's perceived as a crisis. That's the price you pay, I'm afraid, for treating the press like lepers.
Which do you think is the biggest - or the one that will have the most impact - story at United from this season?
The biggest story by a mile was Roy Keane's departure. It had everything, intrigue, back-biting, two huge egos going head-to-head with each other and a dressing room split. I'd love to hear a candid assessment of it from both Keane and Fergie, that would be a journalistic dream. Instead, we have to make do with rumour and gossip and pray that somebody leaks THAT MUTV tape. Wonderful stuff!
The Glazers have been in charge for nearly a year now. First - and possibly future - impressions?
The Glazer boys look like nodding dogs, their old man looks like the dodgy uncle you try and avoid at family parties and overall they barely merit a mention a year on. The fact that Malcom Glazer hasn't even bothered setting foot in this country let alone Old Trafford disgusts me given that the seventh richest man in the world - and somebody who could swallow the Glazer empire whole if he wanted - has been a permanent fixture at Stamford Bridge for the past three years. Glazer's 'wonderful franchise' spiel summed it up for me. Then again, I don't have too much sympathy for United fans because if you lie down with dogs then you've got to expect to get fleas. Nobody was complaining when the Stock Market gave United the financial muscle to dominate but there's much wailing and gnashing of teeth when somebody exploits those same Stock Market rules to snaffle the club up.

bill thornton. daily star
Where do you think it went wrong - we asked the same question last year hoping for an improvement - and right for United this season?
United got off on the wrong foot by not having bought a replacement for Roy Keane last summer. I'm sure Sir Alex tried to sign someone but, for whatever reason, failed to do so. The absence of a major figure anchoring midfield was a big weakness, especially in Europe. The subsequent success of the Giggs-O'Shea partnership, plus the return of Louis Saha, were the plus points.
Fergie...do you think he will be given one more season by the new owners? How do you think it will 'end' and have you any very early predictions for next season?
I have never questioned whether Sir Alex would be given another season. I think he will know when it's time to step aside.
United have put further limitations - with the one Friday conference with Fergie - on their relationship with the media, why do you think they did this and would you agree that relations, on the whole, between United and the media are worse than a year ago?
Without doubt, the relationship between the manager and the media is at an all-time low, with mutual mistrust ever deepening. I think that the all-in Friday Press conference was conceived as a control mechanism. But it has frequently backfired on Sir Alex because he can be put on the spot in front of live TV cameras. Not so easy to withdraw remarks under those circumstances. .
Which do you think is the biggest - or the one that will have the most impact - story at United from this season?
Roy Keane's sudden, dramatic exit was the big story. I think cracks in his relationship had been widening since he went behind the manager's back over his decision to play again for Ireland - with a 100 per cent commitment i.e. including friendlies. Saha's promotion over Van Nistelrooy has been fascinating, though I don't subscribe to the view that it signals the end of Ruud's Old Trafford career. Famous last words!
Which one question if you could ask any - without fear of retribution - would you ask Sir Alex at this moment in time?
Do you have a retirement date and what will you do then?

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Rooney in his own words

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/sport/football.html?in_article_id=395910&in_page_id=1779&ct=5

Wayne Rooney has revealed that he wept tears of despair as he sat in the dressing room following his controversial sending-off in England's ill-fated World Cup quarter-final defeat by Portugal.

In his new autobiography, My Story So Far - serialised exclusively in The Mail on Sunday today - Rooney says he was initially "too angry to cry" after being sent off but broke down after being consoled by his England team-mates in the dressing room following their defeat on penalties.

"The players came over to me, one by one, said things like: 'Don't worry, Wazza, it wasn't your fault...don't be too upset'", says Rooney. "That was when, for the first time, I felt a few tears come into my eyes. I don't cry often. And I hadn't cried when I'd been sent off. I was beginning to feel sad - this time for them, rather than myself. I didn't feel guilty about what had happened because I still felt innocent. But my sending-off had let them down. Because of me, for whatever reason, they'd been made to struggle on with only 10 men."

Rooney insists that, despite suggestions in some reports, he did not try to confront his Manchester United team-mate, Cristiano Ronaldo, even though the Portugal winger appeared to encourage the referee to send Rooney off after he clashed with Chelsea's defender, Ricardo Carvalho.

Rooney says he and Ronaldo will have no problem training together at United next season and he claims that, while he was angry with Ronaldo for encouraging the referee to punish him, he had calmed down enough after the game to send a conciliatory text message to his United team-mate.

Rooney said: "I was disappointed by Ronny (Ronaldo) trying to get me carded and I gave him a bit of a push in the chest (on the pitch). But that was it. By the next morning I was no longer angry over what had happened, or even with Ronny. It seemed that the papers were trying to stir it up, rubbishing him, blaming him.

"They reported that, after the game, while I was still in our dressing room, I had tried to get into the Portuguese dressing room in order to hit Ronny. That's not true. By then, such a thought wasn't even going through my mind.

"What the papers didn't know, and probably will never believe, is that on the coach, on the way home after the game, I sent a text to Ronny. I told him to forget about what happened. I wasn't blaming him for interfering. Then I wished him and Portugal good luck in the semis and hoped they got to the final. And I meant it.

"On the BBC studio panel, Alan Shearer said that when I met up with Ronny again in training, I should 'stick one on him'. I think Alan said that in the heat of the moment. England had just been knocked out and he was choked, as we all were. But I never thought like that, not once it was all over."

Relating his version of the explosive incident in the 62nd minute of the game, when he appeared to stamp on Carvalho's groin, he said: "I honestly thought I was going to be awarded a free-kick. Each of the (Portuguese) defenders had fouled me, so I thought, in trying to get the ball off me.

"By this time, Ronny had run up, though it was nothing to do with him, he hadn't been involved in the incident. He appeared to be telling the ref I should get a card. And then to my amazement the ref was putting his hand up in the air. With a red card. For me. I was off. All I felt was disbelief.

"In being forced back, I had trod on the player on the ground, I realised that. It turned out to be Carvalho. And I was aware that my foot had landed between his legs, which, of course, is about the nastiest place to get hurt, but it was an accident.

"I couldn't believe that the ref, who was so near, hadn't realised that. Perhaps he was too near. What he saw, close up, was the player on the ground and then my foot going into his groin. I'll go to my grave and still maintain it was a complete accident. I hadn't intended to do it.

"If you study the photographs, you'll see that when I fell I had my back to the player. I couldn't see him, or where I was putting my foot.

"If you think about it, if I'd done it deliberately, if it had been a definite stamp meant to harm him, the fella would still be in hospital to this day. But he was up on his feet in minutes, no worse for wear."

Rooney denies that he has a problem with anger and says that he will not have therapy to curb his frequent red cards. He said: "Another paper said I was going to have anger management therapy. They even named a Manchester woman I had gone to, and was going to see again, so they said. It was all rubbish. I've never seen such a person, and never would.

"Other papers said I was a disgrace, I'd behaved like a thug. Well, that's their opinion. But it's all wrong. Standing on Carvalho was a total accident."

Rooney does reveal that he would rather have played in a 4-4-2 formation than as a lone striker against Portugal but he refuses to criticise former England coach Sven Goran Eriksson for his tactics.

Rooney said: "If it had been my decision, I would probably have preferred Peter Crouch up front, with me behind, but it wasn't my shout. You have to believe the manager knows best. Which I did. I had complete trust in him, that he was doing the best thing in the circumstances.

"Some so-called experts have said that my anger on the pitch, resulting in the red card, was all Sven's fault. I had been forced into a role, given too much responsibility. But I think it could have happened at any time, in any match.

"Sven wanted to pack the midfield. We all knew, and understood that was our plan. I didn't moan about it - and now it's long over, I'm not complaining. It seemed right at the time."

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