Ex - United player News (various)

[Redsbusby]

PAUL INCE PULLED GUN ON ALEX FERGUSON

Saturday January 8,2011
By Niall Hickman and John Wragg

STEVE BRUCE has revealed his former Manchester United team-mate Paul Ince once pulled a gun on Sir Alex Ferguson.

Bruce comes face to face with Ince at the Stadium of Light today when his Sunderland side host Notts County in the third round of the FA Cup.

Bruce was skipper at Old Trafford in the early Nineties when Ince, now manager of Notts County, arrived from West Ham telling his new team-mates he wanted to be referred to by his Upton Park nickname, ‘The Guv’nor’.

And just days later he had all their jaws on the floor when he turned up in the dressing room brandishing a gun.

“Paul was nuts when he was a kid,” said Bruce. “I don’t think Fergie was ever attacked by a rifle before.

“I remember when he brought in his gun. He poked it around the door and it was a big air rifle. Fergie must have shouted at him or something like that to provoke it.

“Incey was larger than life and a good character to have around. He must have had something about him to threaten Fergie with a gun. We saw him do it. He poked the gun through the door and he was only 22 at the time.

“It was just tongue in cheek, though. He just knocked on the door and said something like, ‘You’d better stop picking on me’ or, ‘You had better play me on Saturday’.”

Bruce added: “He liked to think he was the Guv’nor. It just showed you how much front and bottle he had to be called the Guv’nor even when he first walked in the door.

“I just thought, ‘Who’s this cocky little thing from West Ham?’ But when you’re cocky like him you have to be able to back it up – and by god he was a good player. To have him and Roy Keane in front of me in their prime, with Andrei Kanchelskis and Ryan Giggs on the wings and Mark Hughes and Eric Cantona up front, that was some team I can tell you. It could do everything.”

Ferguson and Ince endured a tempestuous relationship for six years before the Old Trafford boss sold him to Inter Milan in 1995, labelling Ince a “bottler” and “big-time Charlie”.

But Bruce and his team-mates were all convinced of his talents.

“We respected Incey straight away as a player,” said Bruce. “He has mellowed and matured since he became a dad. He just carries a pistol now rather than a rifle!

“He’ll be going grey around the gills now and he won’t like that, but he’s a good lad.”

The pair’s friendship has extended to Bruce allowing Notts County to use Sunderland’s training facilities ahead of today’s tie – and inviting his old pal to lunch.

But Bruce is on a diet. He admits he loves a pork pie and has given them up as a new year’s resolution – but Ince reckons if he can pull off a shock result today the need for comfort food will be unbearable. “Let’s see how long that resolution lasts,” said Ince. “If we beat them, perhaps he’ll be back on the pork pies.

“When I went to United I gravitated towards Bruce because he likes a beer – still does by the size of him. We are very good friends. Our houses were about 200 yards apart and we mixed socially. We go on holiday every year to the Algarve. We are very close.

“He looked after me at United and I get pleasure in seeing him do well at Sunderland. He can hopefully go on and become England manager.”

Ince took over at Notts County this season and has led them from the depths of League One towards safety, seeing them unbeaten in their past six games.

“Bruce has the respect of players at Sunderland,” said Ince. “The players can relate to him. You’ve got to have a bond with them. They have to be able to come to you with their problems, even if it’s not football-related.”

Ince and the new County owner, Ray Trew, are still dealing with the bills caused by the Munto Finance takeover debacle that nearly bankrupted the club – a far cry from Ince’s glory days with United.

“Winning the Cup in 1994 was fantastic,” he said. “To win it at as a 22-year-old kid was amazing. I look back and I’m all skinny, hair’s all over the place, and I wore the No2 shirt.

“I got the man of the match. We beat a very good Chelsea side 4-0.

“The only regret I had was squaring the ball to Brian McClair when I could have scored.

“I got a lot of pats on the back for that but I think what a mug I was because it’s always nice to tell your kids you scored in a Wembley cup final.”




Ouchhh...

[Andi Istiabudi]

Mantan Pemain MU Dicurigai Terlibat Aksi Perampokan
Husain Noval



Anda masih ingat mantan pemain Manchester United, Ronnie Wallwork? Pemain yang sempat membela pasukan Sir Alex Ferguson tahun 1995-2002 itu baru saja ditangkap polisi karena dicurigai terlibat aksi perampokan bersenjata!

Berita yang dirilis oleh Expressandstar.com menyebutkan kalau Wallwork dicurigai tergabung dalam sebuah geng kriminal, dan telah melakukan sebuah aksi perampokan mobil yang terencana. Geng ini juga melukai seorang petugas security saat menggelar aksinya.

Enam orang lainnya juga ditahan oleh polisi dan empat diantaranya dicurigai telah melakukan percobaan pembunuhan, serta pelanggaran lain berupa konspirasi perampokan serta pelanggaran senjata api.

Seorang juru bicara kepolisian mengatakan:

“Pria berusia 33 tahun dari Manchester yang ditangkap karena dicurigai merampok mobil, telah ditebus sampai tanggal 18 Januari.

Ya, meski saat ini sudah dibebaskan, namun investigasi polisi masih akan berlanjut hingga kasus ini benar-benar jelas dan tuntas.

Wallwork saat muda pernah digadang-gadang sebagai salah satu pemain masa depan MU. Namun nasibnya ternyata tidak terlalu baik. Selama membela Red Devils, ia hanya bermain di 19 pertandingan.

Setelah itu ia sempat berkelana ke berbagai klub Inggris seperti West Brom, Huddersfield dan Barnsley. Tahun 2008 ia memutuskan pensiun dari sepakbola, dan menutup karir bersama Sheffield Wednesday.

Source : http://www.bolanews.com

[rondwisan]

Mantan Pemain MU Dicurigai Terlibat Aksi Perampokan

semoga kecurigaan di atas gk terbukti deh ...

[Redsbusby]

McLeish hails Foster
Blues boss delighted with keeper's form

Last updated: 21st January 2011 SKYSPORTS

There's more live football on Sky Sports than ever before, including the Barclays Premier League, UEFA Champions League, Clydesdale Bank Premier League, England away Euro 2012 qualifiers and La Liga. With four live Sky Sports channels, as well as Sky Sports News, you'll never miss a moment on Sky. Click here for more.

Birmingham manager Alex McLeish has spoken of his delight at the form of goalkeeper Ben Foster, claiming that he has improved since moving to the club.

Foster was regarded as one of the finest young goalkeepers around earlier in his career, impressing hugely whilst on loan at Watford from Manchester United.

The 26-year-old appeared to have got his break with United last season as manager Sir Alex Ferguson began to use him more often; however he made some costly errors and fell behind Edwin van der Sar and Tomasz Kuszczak.

Foster eventually left Old Trafford for Birmingham last summer, and he has impressed enough to win a place back in the England squad and rival last season's goalkeeping success story at St Andrews, Joe Hart.

Now, as Foster prepares to visit Old Trafford for the first time since leaving, McLeish insisted that he was relishing the chance.

"I'm sure Ben will relish going back. Hopefully he's not kept too busy in the game," McLeish said.

"Sir Alex just felt he couldn't hold onto Ben any longer and he was bursting to get regular first-team football.
Benefit

"It has benefited Ben, without question. He's been in super form, very consistent.

"Sir Alex has been in the game a long time. It's difficult to say he doesn't make the right decisions with any of the decisions he makes.

"I'm sure United will be okay in terms of replacing Van der Sar (when he eventually retires)."

Speaking about United, McLeish felt that the club could continue a run that has seen them go unbeaten all season and claim the title.

"They are probably looking better now than in the earlier part of the season when they had a lot of draws," he added.

"It's amazing that they are unbeaten and I think that they can only get better.

"It would be a hell of an achievement.

"In terms of the title, it is such a tight league but Manchester United have so much experience of this situation.

"There is no man who has got greater experience than Sir Alex when it comes to the run-in, and the run of games after January."

[Redsbusby]

"I held onto the dream of playing for Man United too long"

Author: Sam Rider and Ben Moss
Posted on:28 January 2011 - 16:32

Former Manchester United youth academy graduate Adam Eckersley believes there is a tendency in English football for top Premier League clubs to nurture young foreign talent better than homegrown ones.

Eckersley, who joined Manchester United as a nine-year-old but subsequently left in 2008 after years spent on loan at the likes of Barnsley, Port Vale and Royal Antwerp, suggests there is a wider issue in British football, whereby expensive young imports get a fairer crack of the whip than their English counterparts.

The 25-year-old Englishman is currently thriving in Danish football with AGF Aarhus, but the left-back looks back on his footballing education at Old Trafford with a tinge of regret, suggesting he should have left the Premier League giants sooner than he did.

Eckersley told Sport.co.uk: “It’s just such a big club (Manchester United),

“No one’s established themselves (from his peer group).

“In my year there was Giuseppe Rossi and he was the standout guy. Even Gerard Pique never quite made the grade even though he was given chances.

“Players like that have gone abroad and done well. Man United sign a lot of players nowadays so it’s difficult to make your grade at a club like that.”

He continued: “At Man United I think it was quite a big problem,

“Pique and Rossi were in and must have played a handful of reserve team games and were pushed straight into the first team.

“I had been there, done three or four years in the reserve team and got one chance to play in the first team, did really well and never got a chance again.”

A man-of-the-match performance in United’s Carling Cup victory over Barnet proved to be his last major contribution for the Red Devils. Ill-fate and ill-timing meant George Best’s death overshadowed the next round of matches and as a consequence the manager put out a full-strength team.

“Being at Man United I think some players get looked after better than others,” Eckersley continued. “With Sir Alex Ferguson I only ever exchanged a ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’ if I saw him walking down the corridor.”

He concluded: “The foreign players that come in get looked after a bit better than the local players. I saw that coming. I think it’s been like that since I was the age of 10 or 11.

“I think I held onto the dream of playing for Man United a bit too long.”

[Andi Istiabudi]

Saha Pemain Terpenting Everton
Bramirus Mikail - Okezone

LIVERPOOL - Gelandang Everton Mikel Arteta yakin dengan kemampuan rekan satu timnya, Louis Saha. Menurut Arteta, Saha akan membawa timnya dalam permainan terbaik, meski belum lama ini The Toffes harus takluk dari Arsenal.

Arteta mengaku cukup menyesal dengan kekalahan atas Arsenal. Menurutnya, tim telah melakukan kesalahan mendasar sehingga harus pulang dengan tangan kosong. Padahal saat itu Everton sempat unggul lebih dulu lewat gol Louis Saha.

“Louis adalah pemain kelas dunia. Ketika dia tampil dengan bentuk seperti saat ini, dia bermain sangat baik, dan dia menunjukannya pada babak pertama,” papar Arteta mengomentari performa Saha saat laga kontra Arsenal, seperti dilansir Tribalfootball, Kamis, (3/2/2011).

“Saat Arsenal mencetak gol balasan, Jack Rodwell tidak beruntung, karena bola melewatinya sehingga memudahkan Andrey Arshavin mencetak gol yang tinggal berhadapan dengan Tim Howard,” tutupnya.

Sejak memutuskan pindah dari Manchester United pada 2008 dan bergabung dengan Everton, Saha memang menjadi andalan di lini depan The Toffees. Sayang, Saha kerap dihantam cedera. (zwr)

Source : http://bola.okezone.com

[Redsbusby]

BRANDY TRAINING WITH PRESTON

Preston boss Phil Brown has revealed that striker Febian Brandy has been training at Deepdale following his departure from Manchester United.

Brandy is without a club after being released by the Red Devils and is currently stepping up his recovery from injury with North End physio Mick Rathbone.

Brown told PNE Player: "'Basil' brought it to my attention that Febian had been training with him on a three or four-week basis.

"He had been to Leicester on a trial period, but Leicester had five, six or seven strikers to choose from. Obviously there was no room for him there.

"I need to speak to his agent and we will see where that takes us."

[fredrian.seven]

Originally Posted by Redsbusby

BRANDY TRAINING WITH PRESTON

Preston boss Phil Brown has revealed that striker Febian Brandy has been training at Deepdale following his departure from Manchester United.

Brandy is without a club after being released by the Red Devils and is currently stepping up his recovery from injury with North End physio Mick Rathbone.

Brown told PNE Player: "'Basil' brought it to my attention that Febian had been training with him on a three or four-week basis.

"He had been to Leicester on a trial period, but Leicester had five, six or seven strikers to choose from. Obviously there was no room for him there.

"I need to speak to his agent and we will see where that takes us."

Brandy kan ex-united ya? dimasukkan ke thread ex-united aja. tapi, thanks infonya Gung...

[Redsbusby]

Originally Posted by fredrian.seven

Brandy kan ex-united ya? dimasukkan ke thread ex-united aja. tapi, thanks infonya Gung...

Iya mas, sudah jd ex.. Free agent
Td cari di ex united gk ada, kan nanggung jg cuma 1 gini..hehe.. barusan ketemu lg trit ex united various.. jd ya hanya kesediaan momod untuk me mERGE jika dirasa perlu

[hendiplast]

Paul Ince: I'd rather be in the dugout than have to sit on the pundits' sofa



Bleary-eyed and bedraggled, Paul Ince had no chance of savouring the previous night’s hard-fought victory for his club Notts County against Colchester United with a well deserved lie-in.

The former England captain had arrived back at the family home in Heswall, on Merseyside, at 1.30 on Wednesday morning, triumphant at his team’s vital win if still a little damp after getting soaked in near-monsoon conditions.

Now the clock was showing 7.30am, barely time to have got comfortable. But within the hour, he would be off on the familiar 120-mile route to Meadow Lane, Nottingham.

This time, it was not the first team to see but a County reserve game, kicking off at the unlikely time of 11am. At bigger clubs Ince might have been able to delegate but not at County, where his back-up team consists of assistant Alex Rae and coach Dave Farrell.

It is fair to say Ince’s lifestyle has changed dramatically since he was labelled a ‘big-time Charlie’ by one of his former managers, Sir Alex Ferguson.

Ince is no longer the ‘Guv’nor’ of old, playing for Manchester United, Liverpool and Inter Milan. He spends Saturday nights poring over Notts County DVDs rather than clubbing.

Forthright and opinionated, Ince would have made an ideal television pundit if he had wanted to join his peers Alan Shearer, Jamie Redknapp and Steve McManaman on the studio sofas. Instead, he is happy to work at the coalface.

Life in League One is a daily slog for survival with the odd beautiful moment of respite. Today’s FA Cup fourth-round replay at Manchester City is such an occasion. He is unique among England’s Euro 96 generation in trying anything to become a top manager.

Gareth Southgate, sacked from his first managerial job at Middlesbrough, has opted to become the FA’s head of elite development rather than put himself through the rigmarole again. Teddy Sheringham makes no secret that he regards playing the poker circuit as a better bet than being a manager.

Not so Ince. Having taken his first job at Macclesfield Town when they were bottom of the Football League, he has no regrets about returning to the lower echelons after his first Premier League job at Blackburn Rovers in 2008 ended in the sack after less than six months.

‘I played with some great England players and it’s disappointing for me that there aren’t more of them having a go as managers,’ explains Ince.

‘People like Ian Wright have walked out of the game. I’ve bumped into others like Wisey (Dennis Wise) who have been managers but now tell me they aren’t in any rush to get back in. I find the whole thing sad.

‘How can it be right that an England captain like Tony Adams is working in Azerbaijan?’

Nobody would have blamed Ince if he had also walked away when he was sacked by Blackburn after having to sell his best players, Brad Friedel and David Bentley.

But he stresses: ‘It didn’t sour my confidence, it made me more determined to prove I’m a winner. For me, being a manager is the next best thing to playing.

‘I’ve never said it had to be in the Premier League or working with players like Ryan Giggs. I’m happy to get my hands dirty and learn my trade properly. I’m in a fortunate position financially. I could sit home and watch TV. But I love being a manager.’

Ince, 43, is almost as lean as he was when he won the Double with United and secured a big-money move to Inter.

Those he rubbed up the wrong way, normally opposition fans, might be surprised at the unsung job he is doing at County, still in recovery after over-ambitious owners Munto Finance nearly bankrupted the world’s oldest club.

He works with a small staff, little investment and a bogheap of a pitch the club share with Nottingham rugby union team.

‘It’s worth it for games like the third round against Steve Bruce’s Sunderland,’

he says. ‘We had a team that cost nothing and beat them. I was able to sit down at home with a glass of wine and a smile on my face because we’d got it right tactically, and against my old team-mate Brucey as well.’

Ince has had time to reflect on his time at Ewood Park. He acknowledges he made a mistake by trying to become too close to the players. ‘I think I tried to become a bit too friendly,’ he admitted.

‘I thought that’s what you had to do in the Premier League. Next time, I wouldn’t change for the sake of others.

My style isn’t to hit players with a stick but, at the same time, I learned if you give the players an inch at that level they will take a mile.

‘Maybe I wasn’t ready for it. I had players throwing their toys out of the pram and ringing their agents if they weren’t in the team. It was a madhouse, like looking after 24 kids.’

Ince is convinced a Premier League club will come knocking again. Certainly he has built a good reputation in the lower leagues, saving Macclesfield from relegation, winning the League Two title with MK Dons and now earning County two famous FA Cup results — beating Sunderland and then holding City to a 1-1 draw.

‘I am looking forward to locking horns with Roberto Mancini again,’ he said. ‘I admire him. He knows what he wants. He’s helped by being able to get players out the door, knowing he can afford world-class replacements.

‘If Adebayor upsets him, he can sign Dzeko. But he is getting his rewards now for staying strong. The egos are under control after the in-fighting.

'It reminds me of Fergie. He had big characters like Roy Keane, Peter Schmeichel, Bruce and myself in the dressing room but kept it under control.’

Ince has an affection for football’s traditions. ‘I don’t want to be called old fashioned but there are some traditional parts of the game worth keeping,’ he says. ‘Snoods, pink boots, headphones? I think clubs should get together and draw up a code of conduct for players,’ he argued.

‘I saw Ashley Young wearing headphones while he was being interviewed on television. What’s that about? I don’t think it’s respectful.

‘Adebayor turned up to a game in jeans and a hat that was clearly some kind of fashion statement. I know he wasn’t playing but, yes, I am old school in that respect. If a player at County comes to a game, he’s got to wear a suit, whether he’s in the squad or not.’

Ince, whose son Thomas is on Liverpool’s books, almost regards his spell in the lower leagues as a breath of fresh air.

He said: ‘I’m ambitious but there are a lot of things I enjoy about the game in League One; the honesty, the commitment, the fans turning up to help the team rather than moaning.

‘I’ve been allowed to get on and do my job at County. Premier League managers have a campaign to sack them after two games. It’s hard work but I am so glad I will be in the dug-out this weekend, not the TV studio.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/