Micheal Owen First Interview as a Manchester United Player

Check out Micheal Owen's first interview as a Manchester United player. Owen's move to United could be an absolutely ingenious move by Alex Ferguson, pending Owen staying away from injury. In my opinion, it is a very smart signing. Owen comes to United on a free transfer, and will be paid an a pay you play contract. How can you go wrong? In a time when Real Madrid are splurging on players, over $200 million so far this summer, a recognized striker who has a reputation for being a goalscorer is pretty good value for money (or should be!) I can see Owen doing great things at United, I will even go out on a limb to say that I think he will hit the 20 goal mark next season in all competitions....you can hold me to it!

Manchester United to Expand Old Trafford

It has been announced that Manchester United are to expand Old Trafford by an additional 20,000 seats raising the max attendance to 95,000. This number is bigger than Wembley maximum attendance! Currently a full house at a United home game brings in an estimated $3.7 million revenue, with the increase adding an extra $800,000. According to reports, it was Alex Ferguson who pushed the idea on the Glazer's stating a desire to add cheaper, more affordable seating for fans.

With the current Premier League Averages, only Arsenal and Newcastle would have over half the attendance of United, with Arsenal averaging 60,000 and Newcastle at 48,750. Yes thats right, the only teams to have half of Uniteds! What this essentially means is that United would be pulling in over double the revenue of 85% of the Premier League every home game. This relates into over $25 million dollars more per season in generated revenue, essentially a big money signing! One of the key issues to this is whether it will encourage other teams to follow suit. Liverpool in particular are set to move from their Anfield home in a quest to catch up on United. Chelsea are another team that might need to soon make a transition.

2009 Premier League Average Attendance Numbers:

	Team	Pld	Total	Highest	Average	Capacity		Pct
1	Manchester United (1)	19	1430776	75569	75304	76212		98.8%
2	Arsenal (4)	19	1140754	60109	60040	60432		99.3%
3	Newcastle United (18)	19	926244	52114	48750	52387		93.0%
4	Liverpool (2)	19	828610	44424	43611	45362		96.1%
5	Manchester City (10)	19	820075	47331	43162	48000		89.9%
6	Chelsea (3)	19	790172	43417	41588	42055		98.8%
7	Sunderland (16)	19	763098	47936	40163	49000		81.9%
8	Aston Villa (6)	19	756422	42585	39812	42551		93.5%
9	Tottenham Hotspur (8)	19	682645	36183	35929	36310		98.9%
10	Everton (5)	19	677679	39574	35667	40394		88.2%
11	West Ham United (9)	19	650307	40842	34227	35647		96.0%
12	Middlesbrough (19)	19	540144	33767	28429	35100		80.9%
13	Stoke City (12)	19	512242	27500	26960	28384		94.9%
14	West Bromwich Albion (20)	19	490726	26344	25828	28003		92.2%
15	Hull City (17)	19	471507	24945	24816	25404		97.6%
16	Fulham (7)	19	462462	25661	24340	26600		91.5%
17	Blackburn Rovers (15)	19	446146	28389	23481	31367		74.8%
18	Bolton Wanderers (13)	19	427228	26021	22486	28723		78.2%
19	Portsmouth (14)	19	376762	20540	19830	20688		95.8%
20	Wigan Athletic (11)	19	348656	22954	18350	25138		72.9%

Manchester United Win Premier League

For the third time in a row, Manchester have been crowned Premier League Champions - equalling Liverpool's record of 18 league titles! Arsenal were the ones to play United in the midday kickoff at Old Trafford. There were limited chances in the game, and in the end a 0-0 result was all United needed. When the final whistle went there were huge celebrations on the field, with United now knowing that the Champions League will complete a fantastic quadruple. United now have the World Club Champions, League Cup and Premier League trophies.
After the game, United manager Sir Alex Ferguson gave United players and fans even better news by announcing he is going to stay coaching Manchester United well after this season. He said he was not contemplating retirement, and it would be his health that decided that. When the commentator commented that that could be well over 5 years, Ferguson nodded his head and agreed. Ferguson at United for another 5 seasons? United are sure to reach the 20 League title marks! I am in awe of the squad Ferguson has put together, and there are not many coaches who can boast 35 titles in 35 years as a manager! When Ferguson does decide to retire I think United will struggle to find a replacement, just as they struggled to find a goalkeeper after Schmeichel decided to leave the club. All United fans will be hoping that Ferguson stays healthy, and continues to coach for DECADES to come! Here is the Ferguson interview.


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Fletcher Suspended for Champions League Final

Fletcher Suspended for Champions League Final

Darren Fletcher will not be able to appeal against the red card he received in the Champions League win over Arsenal. In what was a great night for Manchester United, Fletchers red card was the only negative point. A ball into the United area, saw Fletcher stretch across Arsenals Cesc Fabregas and seem to win the ball while taking Fabregas down. Replays show that Fletcher did in fact win the ball, taking it away from Fletchers body. In defence of the referee, he really could not see Fletcher striking the ball, and it did look like he took Fletcher down.

Although the Football Association have moved towards a position where referees regularly rescind red cards, both UEFA and FIFA strictly maintain the rules that match officials' decisions should remain sacrosanct. Thus, unless Fletcher was red carded when it was someone else who commited the foul, it can not be appealed. It is unfortunate for Fletcher who stayed on the bench for last seasons final. "He's one of the most honest players in the game and to miss the final, it's a tragedy," said Ferguson. If there is anyone who can console Fletcher it will be team mate Paul Scholes who, along with Roy Keane, had to sit out the 1999 final when Manchester United beat Bayern Munich.

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Manchester United Win Carling Cup

In what was a pretty low key final between two teams with many of their regular starters watching from the stands, it took penalties to find a winner. Alex Ferguson commented after the game that he did not want the game to go to extra time, just as his Tottenham counterpart Harry Redknapp would not have wanted the extra playing time with both having big Premier League games on Wednesday night.

As it turns out, Manchester United goalkeeper Ben Foster proved to be the Man of the Match, and the game winner with his performance and save off the first penalty. It was Jamie O' Hara who agonizingly saw Foster dive to his left and palm the ball away from goal on Spurs first spot kick. Anderson stepped up to score the winning penalty after David Bentley had stroked his penalty low and wide of Fosters goal. Stars such as Wayne Rooney and Dmitar Berbatov for Manchester United, and Wilson Palacios, Robbie Keane and Jonathan Woodgate had to watch the cup from the sideline, spectators! The game never opened up with little opportunities for either side, Ronaldo's shot that hit the post the closest either team came to winning.

One issue I had with this game, and games that go into extra time in particular, is the substitution rule. Like in any game, 90 minutes should have 3 substitutes for each team. Once these three subs are made, each team should have the option to make one more substitution in extra time. Dawson went down early in extra time for Spurs. He played on but at what cost? Like any player that does not want to let his team down, Dawson played on with the injury. Why not allow each manager the opportunity to make one extra time substitution? Especially since every team going into extra time have tired legs. Its a simple move that could help energize a game late on, and save players from getting unnecessary injuries. Just my opinion, but listen up Sepp Blatter!