a bit mis-leading this one....... all he says is that he would "prefer to play for madrid than barcelona" which doesn't tell us anything about whether he wants to come to united or not.

using the same type of questioning, you could convince us that Wayne Rooney is "leaning towards stockport" by asking him whether he would prefer to play for stockport or altrincham. rubbish journalism i'm afraid!

That was a close one! For one horrible moment I thought he was bound for us! Vastly overrated I think.

possibly is bad journalism, but i dont think ribery or villa have any intention of playing in england, although we will definately be used along with chelsea to hike the price up for eventual employers in spain.

Ribery wants to go to Spain, Benzema wants to go to Spain, Slatan wants to go to Spain, etcetera wants to go to Spain.

And we let go one to wanted to stay..........

have their been any serious indications that we are interested?
I doubt that we are and certainly not at the fees being bandied around. The only player I would exceed 40m for is Aguerro.

He'd probably command a fee of more than £50 mill in today's climate, and that's far too much. So he can go to spain. I'd be content going into the new season with just Valencia instead of being linked with players priced 50% over the odds...

Zidane and Real have filled his brain with images of milk and honey when the reality is that perez just wants shirt sellers. so we have a guy converted to muslim in a non-religious dressing room, does not get along with team-mates and wants to go to spain and he is 50m. then we have valencia who is younger and cheaper and does not have to move house. Let them rob the taxpayers yet again and "buy" him. Him and devout christian kaka would get along like a house on fire and perez would play him where exactly given that ribery (and valencia) play in the same position on the field so someone has to be out of position - and kaka has to fit in as well. Like his master stroke of selling makelele and buying beckham to play him in defensive midfield and giving all the free kicks to roberto carlos. He will have the most expensive team ever put together and it won't be a team as it will have no proper balance. I'll raise a glass when barcelona still beat them to the title easily.

steve in brussels- dont know about him selling many shirts, you might be correct, but he aint going to sell many duvet covers or pollow cases thats for sure.....seen that fizgog?........12 months ago he ws valued at 25 mill... id say anyone going over 30 mill today for him wants their head testing...

If Spain wans'nt sunny no one would go there! its a bloody two team league! Real and Barca.

English Premiership is still the best

How many brits move to Spain every year? the truth is we will flip and flap and then you will here Fergie telling us how good Scholes Giggs and Neville are and VDS can shake for another year.
Even Larsen only stayed for half a season.

No thank you. Bought by Bayern for less than £20m two years ago - seems they are trying to up his value so they can cash in. Bayern are a minor side, in a minor league who managed to finish second to Wolfsburg (who??) last year. Ribery has never been a prolific scorer and his glut of goals last year was a surprise to everyone. I suspect this 'fluke' has convinced Bayern they could sell him for big bucks but, please not to United. If Ribery wants to go to Spain, I'll help to pack his bag!!

He would suit United because all of the other players are cosmetically challenged,and by that i mean GOD DAMN UGLY !!!

i like the way tour slating ribery for admitting he'd rather play in spain than go to manoo. get a grip and stop eatin sour grapes.

Has anyone considered that why some top players appear reluctant to sign for United is because they fear the imminent retirement of SAF? After all, most agree that the principal reason for United's phenomenal success is SAF. So, it may be that some players don't relish coming to OT because they believe that without SAF the club will not be the force they have been and might not win so many trophies. Look at the three 'top' coaches who have worked under SAF and left to pursue their own managerial careers - Brian Kidd, Steve McClaren, Carlos Queiroz. None of them exactly lit up the world of football with their achievements. In fact, they all failed miserably to measure up to the hype that followed them from United - Kidd getting Blackburn relegated, McClaren's sacked by England and Queiroz by Real. It might be an idea if SAF came out and publicly stated that he intends to stay as manager of United for another four years at least. That may allay the doubts of the top players United are chasing.

Better than bitter lemons foxhole BERTIE.

No way do United want to get Ribery ,vastly overated.

My season ticket price dropped by 9% for this season. How much did yours go up by? I will be watching genuine world class players every week. You can sit back and watch Nani, Anderson and Park. We will be challenging for the title. You will be struggling for champions league. Every dog has its day.

My season ticket price dropped by 9% for this season. How much did yours go up by? I will be watching genuine world class players every week. You can sit back and watch Nani, Anderson and Park. We will be challenging for the title. You will be struggling for champions league. Every dog has its day.
fred tilsons dynamite shot

genuine world class players? challenging for the title? you obviously don't support citeh then

fred tilsons dynamite shot "My season ticket price dropped by 9% for this season" by a strange coincidence, City's prize money dropped by 9% also. However, the debt rose 900% and the wage bill rose 190%. There must be something about the figure 9. Maybe 9 weeks into the season Hughes is sacked? Or 9th place is the ambition? Or only 9% of the stadium being the blue plastic fans is the target next season. Who knows and, frankly, who cares on a United thread.

Red Apache, you are right, that sums the whole country up in one short sentence and not just for football reasons alone.

Dave Mac - The probable reason that the coaches failed as managers is because they werent cut out to be managers, it doesnt have any bearing on there coaching ability though mate. Also your presumption that players don't want to play for United in case SAF leaves in the near future doesnt make much sense, why are players going to Madrid? To play for there 'fantastic manager'? No i dont know who he is either, are players going to City to say that they had the pleasure to play under managing icon Mark Hughes? Who can forget the plethora of players who joined the gravy train at Newcastle under the guidance of the 'highly decorated' King Keggy Keeg. The chance to pull the shirt on at OT should be enough for any footballer, mercaneries, cowards and under achievers can ply there trade elsewhere.

Dave Mac - The probable reason that the coaches failed as managers is because they werent cut out to be managers, it doesnt have any bearing on there coaching ability though mate. Also your presumption that players don't want to play for United in case SAF leaves in the near future doesnt make much sense, why are players going to Madrid? To play for there 'fantastic manager'? No i dont know who he is either, are players going to City to say that they had the pleasure to play under managing icon Mark Hughes? Who can forget the plethora of players who joined the gravy train at Newcastle under the guidance of the 'highly decorated' King Keggy Keeg. The chance to pull the shirt on at OT should be enough for any footballer, mercaneries, cowards and under achievers can ply there trade elsewhere.
barca99, Salford
25/06/2009 at 07:48
I couldnt agree more about the pulling on of that red shirt and playing for the world famous mufc the worlds most heard of team im ex navy and have travelled the world over on the 7 seas and where ever ive gone when we got shore leave and had a bevvy in the local in what ever country theres all ways the subject of football and every body knows of mufc no matter where in the world,i know ive been the world over.
When they ask where in the uk they used to say oh bobby charlton law best,then as time went on cantona hughes et al....im 38 this year i joined up at 17 and i own my own company now but untill utd sort there crap out i wont go to watch a match again,id sooner go to my local adopted team where i live and watch passionate players play to a crowd of 3,000 and come home with a smile on my face win loose or draw as i know that those players have put in 110% and are on low wages not 100k a week.
And i can get a seat at old trafford any time i choose as i worked there and know alot of ppl there on the turn stiles to the ppl on security to the joiners and plumbers.

Barca99.

A manager of the stature of SAF attracts top talent by reputation and, in tandem with the stature of United, that is an unbeatable combination which attracts the very best. Unfortunately, it isn't enough because at the end of the day hard cash enters into the equation, too. When United say that a player is on £100k a week - five-million a year - that is a basic wage. But all full-time professional footballers in the UK are subject to PAYE and cannot claim to be self-employed. So, a players on five-million a year pays 40% tax, which is a massive two-million a year. There isn't a get out clause on this, it's an irrefutable fact of British tax life.

How United players make more is from bonuses for winning trophies year after year after year, and from other cash perks simply for being at a club as consistently successful as United. Real Madrid players don't have to worry about winning trophies for bonuses because when Real say a player is on £100k a week that is what they are on because Real pay the tax. That is because most Spanish football clubs like Real, Barca, etc., are not private companies or PLCs but Spanish Membership Trusts owned by the membership and pay hardly any tax. Also, because Spanish clubs are mostly owned by the membership, they don't pay our equivalent of corporation tax either. Spanish football clubs at all levels get massive government cash concessions and in Madrid, the city council give Atletico and Real concessions, too, such as not paying rates for their ground, etc. That's why Real have so much money to splash around. When it comes to paying for players and paying players wages, no one in Europe can compete with them. Hard cash is one of the main reasons players sign for Real Madrid.

You also say that the reason Kidd, McClaren and Queiroz failed is because they weren't cut out to be managers but that doesn't have any bearing on their coaching abilities? Of course it has a bearing. All three achieved at United because they were working under SAF. Given the quality of the players they inherited at Blackburn and Real, the failure of Kidd and Queiroz is proof that their coaching abilities were not up to scratch without SAF. And, as for Steve McClaren, you only have to look at Capello's achievements with England using the same core of players that he had - Terry, Lambert, Ferdinand, Rooney, etc. - to see that McClaren was never fit to be given the job in the first place.

The job United have replacing SAF will be the greatest challenge the club has ever had to face. Fergie has made United into one of the greatest football institution in the world. Whoever follows him into OT will do so in the knowledge that they are replacing the most successful manager in the history of British football. Such a task will make the very best of managers baulk at the challenge. There is a real danger that there is no one out there capable of doing it in the short term, so there is also a real danger that United could go into free fall for years while they try to.

davmac, really good comments.

davmac, I think your comments on Queiroz at Real are a little unfair. He probably still is one of their longest last coaches of recent years. He arrived at a time of maximum instability after the ridiculous sacking of Del Bosque. He knew he wouldn't get a say in buying players but he thought that he'd have some input. He wanted Real to sign Pepe at £2m but defenders don't sell shirts. He soon found out he didn't have a say in retaining players either as Makelele was shunted out because he wanted paid more than a third of the salary of the Glacticos. Queiroz wanted him to stay but was put in his place by El Presidente. Next Queiroz found out that he couldn't pick the team without interference either. He tried to tighten up the system and rotate his forward players but was told that all of the Glacticos played in every game and he couldn't rotate them or change the system. So he was always on a hiding to nothing. Real started very brightly but the internal bickering and the undermining of the manager by the president saw them drop away very badly in the last weeks of the season. So Madrid probably isn't a good way to judge his coaching. They played some sparkling football early on, which may have been down to him, but with him not able to make decisions on players or the system, he became a glorified conditioning coach.