It seems Wayne Rooney and Anderson have both gotten the attention of Sir Alex with their off the field antics, and Rooney’s rumored punishment may actually be a good thing for United fans. In other news, the hunt for van der Dar’s future replacement continues in Denmark and United may be twice as valuable as Liverpool.
Red faces at United as duo spark off-field controversies – The Daily Mail
Anderson’s weekend car crash generated headlines yesterday, and now Wayne Rooney’s actions could cause the gaffer further stress. Rooney was photographed Saturday night smoking and urinating in public; while Anderson was involved in a car crash at 7am on Saturday following a night at the clubs in Portugal. Sir Alex is now under pressure to discipline these two players for their actions. Anderson is now facing the possibility of a police investigation to determine if alcohol was involved in the crash. The Brazilian midfielder has insisted he is okay and will continue his rehab so he can contribute to the club in the upcoming season. There are not enough facts to judge Anderson yet; accidents happen and as long as he wasn’t intoxicated I don’t see a problem. Though, I do question his staying out at the clubs until 7am when he should be focusing on getting fit. Meanwhile, I think punishing Rooney would be overkill. Sure, he’s in the public eye and shouldn’t behave like this, and he certainly shouldn’t be smoking if it affects his ability to perform. However, we all have nights where we go out and have a bit too much to drink and make stupid mistakes. Like Anderson, he shouldn’t have been out so late with the season rapidly approaching, but this is hardly worthy of punishment. Is it really fair to punish a 24-year-old for having a bit of fun with his wife before the season begins?
Community service for Roo – The Sun
I already said I don’t think Rooney deserves to be punished for a night out on the town, but if the club does intend to punish him I hardly see how forcing him to play in the Community Shield is punishment. Rooney loves to play football. Our chances of winning the Community Shield with him on the field are much better than without him. This seems like a good thing…
United take Finland goalkeeper on trial – The Daily Mail
I suppose with every season Edwin van der Sar prolongs his career these rumors linking United with young goalkeepers will persist. However, this one if better than a rumor. 20-year-old Lukas Hradecky is on trial with Manchester United now. I had never heard of him until this article, but apparently he already made an appearance for his country. He is currently playing for Danish side Esbjerg.
Are Manchester United worth two Liverpools? – The Guarian
Yes; how is this a legitimate question? Tom Hicks and George Gillett are asking for £650m for Liverpool, but Kenneth Huang’s offer yesterday was much lower than that. Yet the Glazers reportedly turned down a £1.5b offer for United. So is United really worth double of Liverpool? Putting all bias aside, let’s look at the numbers. Would it be too easy to simply point out that Manchester United was ranked the most valuable sports team in the world by Forbes at $1.83b (£1.15b) while Liverpool was valued at $822m (£517m)…
Another new endeavor… In the past few weeks, Stretford-End had undergone a major expansion. Doron and I joined the writing team. We set up a page on Facebook. There is a Fantasy Premier League competition we’re hosting. And now, Yolkie has brought us Stretford-end’s newest project – a Stretford-End.com league on XBox Live for FIFA 10! All you need to to do is message “#yolkiexbox” to Yolkie on Twitter to get the password. As someone who regularly plays FIFA 10, I look forward to playing all of you online.
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