Thank You Jonny

With football dominating sport headlines on near enough a day to day basis and of course with the big news that Ryan Giggs has finally retired as a player, even though his role in the past few years has been far less pivotal, it could have been easy for me, as a United fan, to buy into the hype or worshipping of the welsh wizard and focus my blog on him.

Well to cut a long story short, I am not. That is because this week saw the announcement of the retirement of someone who deserves the spotlight far more than Giggsy and that man is Jonny Wilkinson.

So the obvious question people will ask is why?

Well, first of all, within his sport he truly has won everything. From league winner honours in both England and France, to Six Nations championships a plenty and of course the most coveted prize in any sport the World Cup, something that Giggs hasn't even played in for his country.

But more so because Jonny Wilkinson took a sport still in its relevant infancy of professionalism and invigorated it.

That moment in Sydney, with just moments remaining of a pulsating battle between two of the games biggest rivals, changed the way this country looked at Rugby Union.

Gone was the image of larger louts with beer bellies ambling around a pitch and then getting hammered afterwards and in had come this new image of the dedicated player who trained hard and kept discipline.

Jonny Wilkinson is everything that embodies that and more. Rugby at the top level is far more physically demanding than most sports. So much so that boxer Chris Eubank was once quoted as saying that his son couldn’t play the sport because of the dangers caused by its physicality. This is a guy who one tragically hospitalised Michael Watson in one of his fights.

Yet Jonny has remained committed to the cause and at the age of 33 he finally got his hands on European club rugby’s top prize, the Heineken Cup.

There are plenty of comparisons between Jonny Wilkinson and Ryan Giggs. Obviously longevity in a sport they love is one of them, which to be fair Giggs far outlasts most sportsmen in the world.

Then there are the constant battles against injury that at times threatened to prematurely end both of their careers.

Dedication to the sport is the main, key comparison that brings these two great sportsmen together though.

Both players have lived by tough disciplines and commitment to ensure that they can continue to provide top quality performances, even going into the twilight years of their careers, which is further emphasised by the fact, Wilkinson, before he retires, could be celebrating a French League and Heineken Cup double before he goes.

But the thing that divides them is the overall example they have set. Ryan Giggs’ career has been blighted with off the field incident, culminating in his dalliances with his brother's wife, something that, rather unfortunately will always be mentioned when his legacy is talked about.

Yet there are no such incidents to talk about with Wilkinson. He is tee-total, who kept his nose clean and his eyes consistently on whatever prize he was chasing, regardless of any distracting characters or increase in fame and wealth that follows with being a professional sportsman.

In truth he is the ultimate example for budding sportsman. He is someone you can tell your child to go and Google, and learn about without fear of press stories defiling his nature, he has been one of the greatest players to grace the sport and certainly the most influential and for that he will be remembered by nothing but fond memories…. Unless of course you are from Scotland, Ireland, Wales, France or, of course Australia.

Here is that magic moment to enjoy one more time.

My Apology to Liverpool Fans

Yes, I believe now is the time for me to face up to facts and issue an apology to all the Liverpool fans out there.

When Fergie walked away at the end of last season, an uprising of Reds fans from Merseyside began to crow about how the domination of Manchester United was over, and how suddenly, despite lying in seventh, they could now win the title.

It was laughable and I lambasted them on my Facebook account by insisting that there were at least another five teams that were better than them. How wrong was I?

This season has seen Brendan Rodgers lead an astonishing transformation at Anfield. His belief in the youth set up at Melwood, coupled with his commitment to play concise, disciplined and entertaining football has seen Liverpool rise from mediocrity, to stake their place as front runners to win the title.

The transformation didn't begin in August though, like many would perhaps think. No, Rodgers, who seems to make a habit of proving people wrong (in particular the great Sir Alex Ferguson, started his club’s transformation in the January transfer window last year..

Fergie once echoed the words that there was no real value in the window, that it was almost impossible to get the best players and, in many senses, insinuated that it was mainly a portal for clubs who were in trouble to panic buy.

But Rodgers bucked this trend with the signing of Daniel Sturridge, a player who had previously been at Manchester City and Chelsea and not got the game time or backing of their respective managers, for whatever reason, that he was about to get at Liverpool.

Ferguson again offered his vision on the transfer, labelling it as a 'huge risk' and, whereas this has caused offence among many Liverpool fans as well as a stick for them to now beat him with, Fergie was right.

Taking risks is what has served Ferguson so well over the past 20 years and is, in many ways, what makes a winner.

The ‘Class of 92’ are the biggest example of this. ‘You can not win anything with kids’ are the immortal words sounded out by Anfield legend, and Match of the Day pundit, Alan Hansen.

It was a huge gamble by the Manchester United manager yet he was repaid for his faith back then in 1996 and prospered from it for many years afterwards.

With his former clubs, Sturridge was a player deemed to have an attitude problem, someone who was difficult to manage and on his way with failing to fulfill his true potential.

Rodgers, who worked at Chelsea in the past, obviously knew of his temperament but realised there was something in the lad if he was given the backing and faith. 

He knew it would be a gamble, but winners take risks in order to get to the top and so Rodgers hedged his bets with the signing, and what a signing he has been.

Not only has he introduced a second source for an unbelievable amount of goals over the 13 months he has been at the club, but he has also brought the best out of his strike partner, Luis Suarez, and even helped revitalise the captain, Steven Gerrard, who even the staunchest of Liverpool supporters could admit, had started to wane a little as he moves further into the twilight of his career

This brings me to the controversial Uruguayan or Liverpool’s Eric Cantona as I like to refer to him.

At the end of last season he was hated by everyone and problematically for Liverpool, he had got himself suspended for ten games for biting an opponent, which would mean he would miss the first six games of the 2013/14 season.

Don’t get me wrong, there is never a way I can like Suarez and the personality he carries with him, but since his return he has turned a corner in terms of his discipline and you can only admire his ability and performance, which have seen Liverpool rise as contenders to more than just a European qualification spot.

Of course this again is largely attributable to the manager and his risk taking. All summer Suarez was lined up for moves away to various big clubs who are already playing in Europe’s elite competition. A temptation which brought about a transfer request and a desire to leave the club.

But Rodgers was not about to let Suarez leave Liverpool without at least attempting to repay the club and the fans for sticking by him through his worst times.

He even had the strength to make Suarez, the club’s star player, train on his own as punishment for making a fuss about a potential move away, which could have torn the harmony at the club in two.

Through all of this though, Rodgers had faith though that he and his captain could get through to Suarez and make him see that they were on the brink of something special. Within a matter of weeks he had signed a new contract and the rest is on course to be a big addition to the clubs already impressive history.

The Suarez gamble has paid off and the Uruguayan has been in sensational form for the most part of the season, forming a formidable partnership with Sturridge and spearheading Liverpool’s return to the Champions League in style.

As I said I could never like the man, but his 'Cantona’esque' turnaround has to be admired and yes, every club would love a player of that ability in their squad, perhaps minus his controversial antics.

In truth the entire Liverpool story this season has been based on gambles and risk. Take Raheem Sterling for example, a young lad who couldn't stop letting his personal life effect his professional.

The manager sat him down and told him to go away and sort himself out if he wanted to be a part of Liverpool football club, knowing he could have potentially pushed away one of the brightest young talents in European football.

Yet Sterling has come back with the perfect response and this has transformed his performances on the pitch. Gone, is the lad who has potential but doesn't look strong enough to fulfill it and now, week in week, week out, he is the star man, creating and scoring goals from nothing and running defenders ragged.

There is no way I would have put him on the plane to Brazil six months ago, but now I would gladly let him fly it.

Jordan Henderson is another player who looked finished not so long back. Liverpool fans wondered why they had wasted their money on such an abject performer, but Rodgers again showed faith in the man.

At Sunderland, Henderson looked the real deal and obviously his manager now must have remembered this and realised that, with the right amount of nurturing, there was a top player ready to shine.

Stats show that he has been the best midfielder in the Premiership this season, not bad for someone who has probably been one of the worst for the previous two and again he will surely go to Brazil this summer as a potential starter, rather than staying at home wondering what could have been.

There are success stories throughout the Liverpool squad, all with similar background stories and all with the same common denominator and that is Brendan Rodgers and a crazy thing called belief.

If you ask United fans why we have been so successful over the past 20 years, they will tell you one name, Sir Alex Ferguson. The same respect should be applied when Liverpool fans look back over this past 12 months, with Brendan Rodgers.

He has galvanised a squad that had been strained first of all by the lack of motivational ability shown by Roy Hodgson and then perhaps the dated approach from an out of touch Kenny Dalglish.

That said the latter does deserve credit for getting that winning feeling back at Anfield with the trophy he delivered during his tenure and perhaps providing the launchpad for Rodgers to take the club on to bigger and better things.

Rodgers breathed new life into the players and they have responded by being unplayable for the best part of this season but it is not just the players he has effected in this way, it is the supporters as well.

I remember going to watch Liverpool play at Bolton a few years ago (my mate is an avid Bolton fan) and I was expecting a deafening atmosphere, created largely, with all due respect to Bolton fans, by the away support.

This was not the case, well not until they grabbed a late winner and I remember walking away from that game thinking what was up with the Liverpool support because having heard so much about their 12th man and seeing it at big occasions on the TV, it was always one thing you were forced to admire about the club.

I concluded that they had to be subdued by a lack of belief in the football they were watching. It wasn't what they had gone through three decades of watching and did not give them any hope of challenging, even for a Champions League spot.

But since the Rodgers revolution has kicked in, this couldn't be more different. They are now seeing football being played the way they have been generously treated to for many years. 

There is flair and discipline, the basics are done right and instead of sitting back and accepting their fate in games, this Liverpool team are making their own, like the teams of old.

It has given them an extra volume and the ability to believe again and when you believe in something you will give it that little bit more in vociferous support. .

To conclude Liverpool for 20 years have suffered the indignity of watching their biggest rivals win everything while they have been limited to short term gains, peaking with their Champions League success in 2005.

That must have been hard, none more so for their captain and talisman, Steven Gerrard. After years of trying, and millions of potentially good but often disappointing signings, they have finally built a team capable of competing and barring an unlikely capitulation in the final three matches, the great man will no longer be known as the greatest ever captain to never win the league title.

So to Liverpool fans I apologise for writing you off and salute what you have done over the last 13 months. It has breathed new life into the Premiership and given every United fan, like myself, a swift kicking while we are down.

Dust Down and Rebuild

So the Champions League dream finally came to an end for David Moyes and Manchester United.

A brave effort in Munich, which produced a 20 second, or so, glimpse of hope, was all United could offer, as Bayern Munich showed their true class, with a 15 minute master class on how to finish off opponents when it matters.

I will be honest, I have been left scratching my head at times this season. The scratching started towards the conclusion of last year’s triumphant Fergie swan song, as I asked myself, why would the club appoint a manager whose only trophy was the Division 2 title from over a decade ago, to replace the most decorated manager in the history of the English game?

It continued throughout the transfer window when a club that was once the peak of a player’s career to play for, became more unattractive than a coalition government and by the end of it we ended up with an expensive disappointment, much like the coalition government.

As the season has passed, it is surprising as a United fan, I have much hair left, as month over month, more disappointment has followed and more questions have been asked about whether or not David Moyes really is the man for the job.

All of this has culminated with a Champions League quarter final, where we were expected to get drubbed into oblivion, where the beleaguered manager finally seemed to stand up and stand tall against the growing discontentment and the furore reigning from supporters and the press who like me sit behind keyboards.

In truth Moyes was not my number one choice and at times there has been mornings where I have woken up and hoped to see the headline ‘Moyes leaves by mutual consent’, but throughout I have remained in vocal support for the team when they have played and found the stunt to fly a plane across the ground embarrassing and completely detrimental to the team’s hopes of revival.

Now the season is over and we have just the Community Shield to show for it. Perhaps we are blessed to have won that. What went from being a bright new era for both the club and Moyes, has become a nightmarish season, full of battered pride and emotional heartache.

But this is football, and that is what many a supporter has had to endure over the past 20 years while we have dominated the English game. We have no right to complain or chastise any of the other emerging clubs because our own success has finally caught up with us.

Now is the time the club, the players, the fans who have been so gifted with success show their true mettle and support and get behind the new era, however difficult it may be.

There were a lot of positives to be taken from our European Cup run this season, not least that we showed great determination and heart to turn round the 2-0 deficit against Olympiakos, which, let’s face it, would not have happened if this result occurred earlier in the year and we capped that off with a show of heart and resolution against a side in Bayern Munich, that have been proven to be unplayable when there is something on the line.

The key now for Moyes is to dust himself and his squad down, forget about all that has gone before and start rebuilding immediately.

That means there should be no room for sentiment with those who are set to depart, not until the final games at least and that night in Bayern should, unless injuries dictate otherwise be the last starts for Vidic, Evra, Rio, Giggs and the likes.

Yes, they represent a golden era for the club and yes, there is homage to be repaid for their efforts, but the club has to move on and to start doing it now would go a long way to avoiding the sort of terrible start to next season that David Moyes can’t afford.

Realistically the manager and his board need to identify their targets in the transfer market immediately and work on bringing them a step closer to the club. They don’t have the guarantee of European football to offer and a reliance on the club’s illustrious history may not be enough to attract the very best players, so the next option is commitment to the player.

They need to go out to their identified targets and make them feel that a club of this size really wants them. Look at Daniel Sturridge as an example. He had a place in the squad of a champions league team guaranteed and Liverpool managed to lure him away because they offered to make him a star attraction and show faith in what he can do, something neither Manchester City nor Chelsea did when they had him at the club.

Some players need that feeling of importance and if the results are as good as what we have seen with Sturridge then surely it is of benefit to go out there and do the same.

Moyes can no longer sit behind his board officials while they bungle the transfers either. He needs to be proactive within himself and go and meet players and sell himself and his ideology over to the players.

Whereas players like Sturridge need love, others need guidance and a leader and Moyes must become that character.

In terms of youth, now is the time to bring them into the squad. Players like Januzaj, James Wilson, Jesse Lingard, Nicky Powell would all benefit from runs in the team. We know what Carrick, Rooney and the like can do, but Moyes can effectively play the rest of the season out as a trial now due to the weight of expectation being lifted.

He also needs to make his mind up about what he wants to do with his attackers. In Mata and Kagawa he has two forward thinking number ten players who play superbly together behind a front man

Get that partnership right and next season United will be difficult to stop, but the real question is, who should play in front of them.

Well, we know he has tied Rooney down with a new, highly lucrative deal, but he was missing in Munich as he was against Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea and as he has been in previous ‘big games’ for which he is supposed to be the player who can make the difference.

On the other hand Van Persie has been missing for other reasons, most notably his injuries. He is also not getting any younger and this may be why Moyes favours Rooney.

To be honest, maybe both of them should be moved on. Their inability to connect with each other has, at sometimes this season, been crippling to United and both at some point have had their attitudes and desire to play for the club questioned.

To me if there is any question, then they don’t belong at the club and I know there will be a lot of people who say Rooney has carried the side but only when he got his own way in regards to his salary, access to club plans and potentially the captaincy next season.

Personally, I think Hernandez should be given his time from now until the end of the season. His attitude can’t be questioned, despite being sat on the bench longer than a player of his quality should be.

He is always ready for action and almost always scores when he comes on so it would be interesting to see how he would fair in front of Mata and Kagawa. Judging from the Newcastle game, the answer would be very well.

We all know that there are huge issues with United’s midfield. Nani doesn't want to be there and shouldn't, Valencia is inconsistent, Fletcher is still recovering from his illness and Cleverly has no place in a top 8 premier league side, which leaves Carrick and Fellaini.

Neither of them have been particularly good this season. Carrick has somewhat drowned in a midfield of mediocrity and Fellaini, has failed to live up to the minimal hype he brought from his Everton career.

Moyes would do well to cut his losses with the big Belgium this summer and accept that he isn’t good enough to fit into the role but what should he do with an aging Carrick.

If rumours are to be believed, Toni Kroos is heavily on the club’s radar and reportedly displaying interest in joining the red devils. This could end up compromising Carrick’s position, especially if another defensive midfielder is brought in as part of the mass overhaul.

Do you keep Carrick and rotate him through the squad or is the time right to cash in and bid farewell to a player that, certainly over the last two years, has been a great servant and played some great stuff.

I would have to say the latter. I am not sure whether it has been because of the nature of this season, but Carrick has become far more negative as the season has rolled on in terms of his play.

He has never been one to roam forward and score goals but what I am talking about was best displayed at the Emirates where with minutes to go and United on the front foot moving forward he elected to pass backwards and accept a draw.

We used to be the kings of taking chances and scoring late winners and now it is as if we can’t even be bothered having a go. This isn't just down to Carrick of course, but sometimes a player just has his day and I think with Michael Carrick, this is the case.

Notwithstanding the obvious Midfield conundrum, however, I believe our biggest concern has to be in defence.

Vidic has been a real leader in his eight years and there aren't enough words to describe his value to the club.

Personally, I would have liked Moyes to offer him at least another year, but sadly this isn’t happening and as things stand that sees us relying on Jonny Evans, Chris Smalling and Phil Jones in the centre back department.

All three have played at times this season and for me the most established is definitely Jonny Evans but that has to come from the fact that he has had more game time alongside the guidance of either Vidic or Ferdinand when they were still at the peak of their powers.

This season Jones has gone from useful and versatile, to clumsy and out of position and Chris Smalling has struggled, largely to the fact Moyes keeps picking him at right back, but when he does play in the middle his lapses of concentration have given him the tag of being slightly dodgy and unreliable.

The frailties in the middle are further backed up by the erratic on the flanks. At times Rafael seems to forget he is a defender whereas Evra this season has seemingly decided he is not a defender at all.

Moyes needs to look at his defence and invest heavily in either the development of what he has got or in new talent to replace the likes of Rio, Vidic and Evra.

Luke Shaw has been rumoured and if signed would be a great addition but a centre back who can lead from the back, such as a Chiellini or a Kompany style figure is what the club really needs.

The final thing Moyes really needs to take a long, and perhaps harder look at, is his coaching team.

It is simple his buddies from Everton are completely out of their depth, much like the manager himself. When Ferguson talked about a great foundation being left for his successor it is clear to see now that he was talking about playing personnel, but the structure of coaches he left in place for Moyes to utilise and get the best out of.

Moyes dismantled it within weeks and like any great structure, when you remove the glue that is holding it together, the planks, or in this case some of the players, that remain will simply fold. Then when you try to rebuild it using second rate equipment it will continue collapsing until it is in a state of disrepair.

That is the perfect way to sum up the way things are currently working at the club. A formerly great structure that was stripped of its foundations and collapsed and currently the rebuild is being performed by cowboy builders who are not qualified for the job.