Last night the footballing world witnessed yet another controversial decision, in a season that has had countless examples serving as proof for the introduction of replay technology in football. The only difference with Thierry Henry’s handball is that not only has it ended the world cup dream for so many Irish players, but has ultimately cost the Irish economy-one of the few nations in a worst predicament than Britain- the vital economic boost that could have been experienced through the teams inclusion in next summers World cup.

But before we get into a French bashing campaign or a defence for Mr Henry from Uber-Loyal Gooners, it must be stated that the French have been on the receiving end of some controversial decisions themselves. And as for anyone who wishes to defend Monsieur Henry, there is evidence that this is not the first time the ex Arsenal forward has cheated the officials.

So we bring you…

Le Good, Le Bad and Le Ugly of French football

THE GOOD

EURO 2000 Final vs Italy

Euro 2004 Group game vs England

The French Resilience: As shown in the Euro 2000 final and Euro 2004 group tie with England, the French team of recent years have shown great resilience in coming back from behind to provide classic games in major tournaments.

THE BAD

Cheats: It is also unfortunate that the French national team has been linked with allegations of cheating in recent years and it may come as a surprise to some but Thierry Henry has been a serial offender over the last 3-4 years.

Exhibit A: World Cup 2006 R16 vs Spain

Exhibit B: World Cup 2006 QF vs Portugal

Exhibit C: World Cup 2010 Play off vs ROI

THE UGLY

The French national team have also been involved in some ugly encounters in yesteryears, with the Zinedine Zidane’s headbutting incident still fresh in our memory. Yet some of us are too young to have seen the German keeper Harald Schumacher’s assault on Patrick Battiston in the 1982 World Cup, which the French would argue to this day cost them World Cup glory.

Schumacher World Cup 1982

Zinedine Attacks: World Cup 2006

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‘Poor Alan Riley… enough is enough’ seems to be the universal call from all neutrals, after Sir Alex Ferguson’s rant about the referee’s fitness last week. But those of us that have been here before know that this is nothing more than an attempt by the United boss to direct the media attention away from a poor performance.

Sunderland’s unfortunate draw could have been the wake up call to the rest of the premier league needed to see that United are not anywhere near a championship winning form. Steve Bruce’s team showed that an ambitious 4-4-2 formation against the red devils is just what the doctor ordered a la Burnley, but once again the media frenzy has overshadowed the performance and I am pretty sure the next mid table club that faces United will resort to a negative 4-5-1 formation, leaving with nothing more than an increased deficit on their goal difference.

At some point over the last decade or so, every football manager to ever manage a premier league team other than United -obviously- has been on the receiving end of the wizardry tongue of Sir Alex Ferguson. But we would all be surprised and happy  to know that his success rate isn’t exactly on the 100% mark, and that there has been a few successes in recent past.

In order to pinpoint the few men that stood their ground against the Scotsman, I guess its fitting to first highlight those who fell on the wayside and hopefully we can begin separate the boys from the special ones.

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INDIRECT TACTICS

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Fergie has a wide range of psychological tactics in his arsenal, but possibly the most lethal of the lot is his ability to indirectly push the opposing manager into a press conference rant about everything under the sun, other than their own football team.

Year:1996
Victim: Kevin Keegan
Background: Alex Ferguson had previously suggested that premiership teams were playing ultra defensive against Man Utd, while taking it easy against Keegan’s Newcastle.

Year: 2009
Victim: Rafa Benitez
Background: Alex Ferguson made suggestions that Liverpool’s lead at the top of the table would not last or as the reporter put it they will ‘choke’.

The infamous ‘I will love it if we beat them’ and Senor Rafa’s ”FACTS” rants are perfect examples of how managers have failed in an attempt to redirect the pressure towards United. Instead they end up putting more pressure on their own players, who -I am sure you have guessed- do not have any prior experience of being in a championship race.

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HOW TO NOT FALL IN THE TRAP?

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Shut Up! Its that simple, unless you have a CV that boasts in and around 20% of what Alex Ferguson has achieved in English football, just zip it. Because this tactic is not entirely targeted at the manager but the inexperienced players in the opposition. The aim is to stimulate doubt in the player minds whether they are indeed good enough to win the title off United. Hence it reads ‘off United’, because even when United are playing badly Ferguson knows how to keep them in everyone’s minds as title favourites, by overlooking performances such as the Sunderland’. Being that post-January happens to be the period where players look to their managers for the vote of confidence, any manager that shows any signs of weakness in the press  is likely to be adding more fuel to the fire rather than defusing it.
This is why Sir Alex tends to only serve up this tactic to managers and teams who do not have any experience of winning an English title.

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WINNERS

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Kenny Daglish (1994-95): The then Blackburn Rovers manager already had two English league titles under his belt as player manager of Liverpool FC. So the Blackburn players knew they could look to King Kenny for the right vote of confidence. Plus Kenny was seen by many to be an honest bloke that never really got into war or words, instead had spokesmen like keeper Tim Flowers to answer Sir Alex’ attempt to question Blackburn’s bottle.

“Don’t talk to me about bottling it, cos that’s bottle out there. That’s quality players out there, giving their all … we’re gonna fight to the death, cos we’ve got bottle … all we can say is we’ll give exactly what we’ve given today, exactly what we’ve given all season, and that’s 100% bottle.” - Tim Flowers after making a string of super saves in a 1-0 win over Newcastle.

Arsene Wenger (1997-1998): Where Monsieur Wenger lacked on the CV, he made up for with a back four that boasted four players with two league titles under their belt. The likes of Steve Bould, Tony Adams, Lee Dixon and Nigel Winterburn were instrumental in the first title winning side of 1998. This later gave Wenger the platform along with players like Viera and Ray Parlour the experience required to overcome Fergies tactics. This could begin to explain why Arsenal have struggled to win the title since the exit of these experienced leaders.

Mourinho (2004-2005): Jose Mourinho came in with a CV that if compared to Ferguson’s -based on age- was far superior. At the age of 41, he had already beaten Sir Alex on the way to Champions league title. Morinho understood that the advantage Sir Alex Ferguson had over the other managers was his ability to control media through his mastering of press conferences. Therefore Jose was able to shut off Ferguson’s mind games with his first ever press conference, referring to himself as the special one, as if the Chelsea players needed any reminder that they had a winner in their camp.

NEXT WEEK ON THE FERGIE SERIES: HOW TO WIN THE BATTLE OVER THE REFEREES?

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Article written by: Go-Realer

Its not everyday I find myself defending Sir Alex Ferguson, during what seems to be a universal claim  of another end to a dominant era. I am usually part of the wishful band hyping up the prospects of United being nothing more than another mid-table team. But who would have thought, me as a supporter of a team that marginally escaped relegation to the championship last season will be counselling Manchester United fans at 8AM this morning. I am sure you are aware that trying to convince anyone that all is well when they have just lost the worlds best footballer and all possible replacements to Real Marrii (Madrid, as pronounced by SkySports Guillem Balague), is no small task.

So as I bombard my friend with a volley of lies on the phone and facebook of how all is not gloom, I was slowly daydreaming of the prospects of seeing the likes of Mamadou Sidebe and Ali Dai sporting the United shirt, because lets be honest, it seemed as though they were being bullied in the transfer market by Perez for any major replacement.

Then the news arrives that Manchester United have signed Michael Joseph Owen (added the middle name to show off the extent of my research) on a free from Newcastle United. I have to admit  many football fans, oh yea and Manchester United fans have made valid cases for why the deal was not a good idea. But I will take the opportunity of making this article a testimony for an ‘I told you so’ campaign at the end of the season.

Yes, I believe the Owen deal is a good idea, and here are my 10 reasons why…

Ten reasons why the Michael Owen deal is a good idea

1. OWEN > TEVEZ

He is a replacement for Carlos Tevez, who was rumoured to be costing United around £90k+ a week with the £10 million paid to obtain his contract. This deal came with a return of 19 league goals in 63 games, with 49 starts. Many Manchester united fans believe that Tevez was a success at Old Trafford, maybe that is due to his work rate, but you have to admit with such a heafty wage package anything below 20 a season for a center forward at Man U is rather a sub-par performance. Now when we look at Owen’s numbers at a less creative and attacking team that is Newcastle United - don’t forget the recurring injury problems- he managed 26 goals in 69 games, with 51 starts, it is evident that he is likely to be a success by Tevez’ standards.

2.BENCH WARMER

Owen knows he is likely to start off on the bench, this is evident because he could have joined Everton who were offering him £65k as a starter. This shows hunger and commitment towards silverware, which can only be beneficial for United. So United fans should not expect transfer rumours similar to those circulating around Tevez last season.

3.EXPERIENCE

He is an experienced centre forward who has played for some of Europe’s biggest clubs, so pressure should not be a factor and he should be expected to fit right in.

4.TACIT KNOWLEDGE

United have two young prospects in the centre forward position in Danny Wellbeck and Frederico Macheda, and I am sure both players would relish the tacit knowledge that is likely to be transferred from a seasoned forward like Owen. Wayne Rooney is still young and learning himself, whereas Dimitar Berbatov does not seem like the type of player that is bothered to play at times let alone lend a helping hand to the kids. Plus from the bench, Owen will be spending alot of time with the two lads.

5.FREE

He is free. £80million - £18 million for Antonio Valencia, means that United still have £62 million in the bank to pay towards their debt, or put a serious bid in for Ade Ankibiyi.

6.SOLSKJEAR IN DISGUISE?

He managed to get 2 league goals from 2 appearances last season off the bench and a majority of his 13 goals at Real Madrid were as a substitute, so there is some ‘Solskjear’ like quality about him.

7.THREE LIONS

He is English, which comes with its benefits, such he is unlikely to get home sick, choose to leave for a more glamorous European team or dive…ermm..or is that so?

8. WORLD CUP 2010

If ever there was an incentive for Michael Owen to give his all at United, its the prospect of playing in his forth World cup at the age of 30. This can only be beneficial for United and a possible Owen and Rooney club and country combination could be one for the nation to smile about.

9. TEDDY AND HENRIK No.3

How many times have we seen strikers who have supposedly passed their sell by date join United and be a success?  Henrik Larsson contributed to United’s title winning season while  Teddy Sheringham helped United achieve their greatest season yet.

10. LIVERPOOL

Could you imagine the celebrations from the United bench if Owen was to score the winning goal against Liverpool at Anfield ala John O’shea?

I can…

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This transfer window has proven to be not only the most active and possibly the most controversial yet. With Manchester City now joining the European financial elite and city rivals Manchester United accepting Real Madrid’s world record bid for Cristiano Ronaldo, we could be looking to see nearly half a billion pounds spent between five European clubs.

With constant rumours and negotiations going on with Europe’s biggest and smallest clubs, we here at BS have decided to keep you up to date from the bank breaking transfers at the Bernabeu, to the pint of larger agreement of at Cole Park- that is the home of Haringey Football Club, for those of you unfamiliar with life below the Rymans league. On this page you will be able to find the latest rumours and confirmation going on in the world of football plus share your gossip and thoughts with the team and other readers.

Major deals

Kaka: - AC Milan to Real Madrid (£59 million)

Gareth Barry: - Aston Villa to Manchester City (£12 million)

Roque Santa Cruz: - Blackburn Rovers to Manchester City (£17 million)

Glen Johnson: Portsmouth to Liverpool (£17 million)

Antonio Valencia: Wigan to Man Utd (£18 million)

Cristiano Ronaldo: Man Utd to Real Madrid (£80 million)

Michael Owen: Newcastle Utd to Man Utd (Free)

Karim Benzema: Olympique Lyon to Real Madrid (£35million)

Gabriel Obertan: Bordeaux to Manchester United (£3 million)

Major Rumours

Carlos Tevez: - In talks with Manchester City

Manchester United interested in Samuel Eto’o

Man City £33million bid for Guisseppe Rossi rejected by Villareal

Deco and Ricardo Carvalho in talks with Inter Milan

Arsenal and Real Madrid are interested in Karim Benzema, the £25m Manchester Utd target

Man City bid £25million for Barcelona’s Samuel Eto’o (News of the World)

Other Transfers and Rumours

Blackburn Rovers linked with Egyptian striker Zidan

Birmingham have had the bid for Cardiff centre back Roger  Johnson accepted

Peter Crouch linked with Sunderland, Fulham and Blackburn Rovers

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According to SkySports the Middlesbrough chief executive Keith Lamb has confirmed that Stewart Downing would be aloud to leave the club  for the right price.

Having been relegated from the Premier League at the end of the season, it was expected by many that Downing would be one of the many players in the Boro team likely to generate interest from top flight teams.

Downing , who handed in a transfer request in January after interest from Tottenham, is expected to most likely be on his way to the lane after this revelation from the Boro board. Whether Harry Redknapp will put in the right bid or any bid at all is likely to be unveiled before the premier league season kicks off in August.

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