Ex - United player News (various)

[fajrinited]

Sir Bobby's mixed emotions

How did it feel to lift the European Cup a decade after surviving the Munich air disaster? In this extract from his autobiography, Sir Bobby Charlton describes his emotions after helping Manchester United to beat Benfica in the final on 29 May, 1968...

At full-time my strongest sensation was worry for the Old Man.

Sir Matt Busby really was, I felt, an old man. He had been through so much, and this was unquestionably the pinnacle of his football life. For days he had been reminded of the meaning of the game, the legacy of Munich and how his boys had died in pursuit of this trophy. So many people believed that this night was for him and about him, and it was natural, I suppose, that everyone wanted to touch him at the end of the game.

When I got through to the Old Man, a great crowd of people, including some supporters, were holding on to him. Even though I was so tired, I started to drag them off. "Get off, give him some room!" I yelled. Later I thought that was maybe a bit rude because the fans only wanted to express their happiness, but I was concerned at how he was being buffeted around. Eventually he got to his players and hugged them.

To be perfectly honest, I cannot tell you precisely my feelings at that moment. Fatigue, certainly. I do recall what it meant to embrace team-mates like Bill Foulkes, Nobby Stiles and Shay Brennan, who had been involved for so long – and maybe especially Bill because, like me, he had been on the snowy airfield and seen our team, our friends, destroyed. I know there was an understanding that something was over, something that dominated our lives for so long. I walked to the dressing room and downed two bottles of beer...

www.manutd.com/en/News-And-Features/Features/2013/May/sir-bobby-charlton-recalls-mixed-emotions-of-1968-european-cup-final.aspx

[ruffy3rd]

ada yang bisa buat trit tuk ex-pmain michael owen gk?? cari" threadnya tdk ada...

[troy andreas]

Originally Posted by ruffy3rd

ada yang bisa buat trit tuk ex-pmain michael owen gk?? cari" threadnya tdk ada...

Ada kok bro, coba cek
disini

tinggal diklik.

[troy andreas]

Remember, Eric Djemba-Djemba
Written on Monday, June 24, 2013 by Robert Moore

Brought in to replace Roy Keane? I’m beginning to think trying to replace Keano has become more of a curse to players than good. Eric Djemba-Djemba was brought to Manchester United in 2003 because he offered plenty of promise. A deep lying midfielder was admired by Sir Alex Ferguson because of his hard tackling, and relentless work ethic in the center of the park; however, once again Fergie was left disappointed by the lack of success by another one of his potential “replacements.”

Currently 32, Djemba-Djemba plays for Israeli side Bnei Sakhnin and has certainly seen a dip in competition from paying with United during his heyday to featuring for Aston Villa, and now what could be his last stop in Israel. The Cameroonian midfielder only featured in the United ranks from 2003-2005, and may have taken more footballing knowledge away from the experience rather than imprinting his mark at Old Trafford.

In his two prior season with Nantes, Sir Alex Ferguson seemed largely impressed with his tackling. As Keane was hitting the latter stages of his career, it was time to search for a shoe-in who could handle the pressures of the Premier League. Unfortunately for Fergie, the Cameroonian was not the answer to his prayers. During his initial arrival to United during the 2003/04 season, media and football fanatics like were quick to search around who exactly Djemba-Djemba was. However, those curious to his past and potential were quickly given a glimpse of his style of play. An aggressive tackle on Sol Campbell in the FA Community Shield against Arsenal allowed him to quickly make a name for himself in the Premier League, but other than that – not too many other previous moments can be easily recounted.

It would be unfair to say that Djemba-Djemba was a flop at United because in all fairness to him, he was given an almost impossible task of filling in for captain Keano. As he did not rise up to the occasion, the former Nantes man was signed during a time where Sir Alex was trying various different schemes which would best compliment the current players he had and to aid in replacing Keane as best as he could. Manchester United were in a transitioning period upon his arrival with the departures of David Beckham, Juan Sebastian Veron and Fabien Barthez.

The optimism quickly faded into the shadows concerning Djemba-Djemba’s future with the club with irregular performances and struggles with injury. In the grand scheme of the matter, Sir Alex brought the defensive midfielder for his potential rather than his performances which may have been the biggest downfall of the deal that was in place nearly 10 years ago. As the Stretford End once cheered how he was so good, they named him twice – came and went quickly.

Personally, I’ll never forget Djemba-Djemba’s brilliant volley against Leeds United off a corner, but that was probably the highlight of his short career with United. Coming to United for any player is a daunting task but the Cameroonian has taken it in stride. At 32, he’s had time to reflect upon his experiences at a variety of different clubs and his time with United playing alongside some of the biggest football stars in the world, is another story to tell his family one day.

http://www.footballcourier.com/news/story/2309751/remember-eric-djemba-djemba/full_story.html

[troy andreas]

Former Ireland star McGrath arrested for alleged public order offences

Former Republic of Ireland international Paul McGrath was arrested at the weekend over alleged public order offences, it has been revealed.

The 53-year-old was arrested by gardai near the Tullamore Court Hotel in Co Offaly on Saturday afternoon after complaints were made that a man was being loud and annoying others in the area, a senior officer confirmed.

McGrath was taken to a local garda station where he was charged under Sections 4 and 6 of the Public Order Act. He was bailed and will appear at Tullamore District Court on July 17.

The former Manchester United and Aston Villa defender has spoken openly about his problems with alcohol over the years.

He played for the Republic of Ireland 83 times and scored eight goals in a 12-year career, which included playing with the Irish squad at Euro 88 and the World Cups of 1990 and 1994.

 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2353421/Paul-McGrath-arrested-public-order-offences-Ireland.html#ixzz2Xsj7XxWf

[troy andreas]

Former Manchester United goalkeeper Jack Crompton dies



Former Manchester United goalkeeper and coach Jack Crompton has died at the age of 91, the club have confirmed.

He made 212 appearances for United and was part of the team that won the 1948 FA Cup - manager Sir Matt Busby's first trophy at Old Trafford.
Crompton was also part of the 1952 league-winning side before retiring in 1955 and taking up a coaching role.

In 1968, he was part of Busby's backroom team as United won their first European Cup at Wembley.

Ed Woodward, United's executive vice-chairman, said: "As part of Matt Busby's first trophy-winning team, Jack's place in United's history is guaranteed. "But he gave so much more than that to the club."

Following his 11-year playing spell at Old Trafford, Crompton helped Busby with the rebuilding of the United squad in the aftermath of the 1958 Munich Air Disaster.

With the exception of a seven-day spell as Luton Town manager in 1962, Crompton remained at United until 1971 when he left to manage Barrow.
That was followed by assistant roles at Bury and Preston before he returned to Old Trafford in 1974 as reserve team boss for a seven-year spell.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23179076?

[iamsetia]

JACK CROMPTON 1921-2013



Luton Town - Official Site 16:37 8-Jul-13

Tribute to former Town manager and coach Jack Crompton 18th December 1921- 4th July 2013

Everyone at Kenilworth Road has been saddened to learn of the death of former Hatters coach and manager Jack Crompton at the age of 91.

Jack was born in Hulme, Manchester and after being regarded as unfit for military service in the RAF during the war, following a footballing injury, he recovered and signed on for Manchester United making his League debut in goal for the Reds in August 1946.

After 10 years at Old Trafford, with the highlight an FA Cup winners’ medal in 1948, Jack decided to hang up his gloves, and in October 1956, armed with a superb testimonial from Matt Busby, applied for and was offered the position of first team coach at Kenilworth Road.

Jack soon became popular at Luton with his innovative ideas as the Town pulled above their weight in the top flight. In February 1958 the Munich disaster led to the decimation of the Manchester United team and, along with just about every club in the country, Hatters Chairman Percy Mitchell wrote to Manchester United offering any assistance possible in their hour of need.

Of course, Percy meant help with players, but when United asked for Jack Crompton, due to their coaching staff also suffering horrendous losses in the disaster, he would not go back on his word and so Jack returned to Old Trafford to help oversee the rebuilding process.

When Syd Owen was dismissed as manager at Kenilworth Road in 1960, Jack was asked if he would like the job but he decided to stay at Old Trafford and the position was given to Sam Bartram.

Two years later, with Bartram on his way, the Luton Board tried again to secure Jack. This time he said yes but after eight days in the role he resigned following specialist advice citing the flare-up of a stomach ulcer.

Returning once more to Old Trafford, Jack remained at United on and off until 1981 before taking up a coaching role with the Sports Council.

Our condolences go out to his family and friends.

[iamsetia]

Former Manchester United keeper speaks of pride in Football League career


Tony Coton

Tamworth Herald | By Chris Philpotts | Wednesday, July 31, 2013

TAMWORTH’S most famous footballing son believes it was a dream come true to play a part in the Football League – as the competition prepares to celebrate it’s 125 year existence.

The grand old master of European Football is celebrating the milestone with a series of special games this weekend, but for Tony Coton, it was just a dream come true to take part.

The former Gillway Boys and Manchester United goalkeeper said: “I can honestly say that making my debut for Birmingham City, to play a part in a competition like the Football League was everything to me.

“I came from a generation that had the Panini stickers on their wall.

“I had posters of every goalkeeper in the top flight on my wall at one stage, I just lived and breathed it.

“I used to do everything I could to make it as a pro.

“To get to training in the morning I would leave my house in Gillway at 6.40am and then I would thumb a lift if I had to, I just had to get to Damson Lane in Solihull for training.

“It meant everything to me and I am really happy that I can look back now and say I played my part.”

The Football League kicked off in 1888, but it was not until 1978 that Tamworth keeper Tony made his mark on the competition.

Within 54 seconds of his debut for Birmingham City the former Kingsbury United man had saved a penalty and the rest they say is history.

For Tony, from the very beginning, he felt the support of Tamworth as a town in his bid to make it in the Football League.

He said: “I remember making my debut for Birmingham, saving a penalty with my first touch and then seeing so many familiar faces from Tamworth in the crowd.

“I remember seeing people from Gillway, from Kingsbury, from the Mercian Pub team I played for.

“It seemed like half of Tamworth was there to cheer me on, that was so important for a young kid like me at the time.”

But, in an age of modern technology, Tony admitted he did not feel sure that many more stars from the town would grace the Football League anytime soon.

He said: “I speak to kids now and all they want is the fame and fortune, they don’t want to spend the time doing the small things that we had to do.

“You have to make sacrifices to make it in the Football League and players do not want to do that.

“In-fact when I was at Manchester United I remember talking to young English keepers and asking them to name me a member of the 1966 England World Cup win.

“Some of them did not even know we had won it, let alone name me a player.

“Things like that need to change if people want to make it.”

[iamsetia]

EXCLUSIVE: Mikael Silvestre Column #1



Talk of The Devils (Weblog)

TalkOfTheDevils.com is delighted and excited to introduce the first column from former Manchester United defender Mikael Silvestre for the website. Silvestre, who won a number of trophies including the Premier League on multiple occasions, will feature on TalkOfTheDevils.com on a fortnightly basis throughout the 2013/14 season giving his opinions on everything United as well as a diary of his life in the United States.

Mikael’s column is brought to you exclusively by TalkOfTheDevils in association with Rhum St. Barth.

You’ve made a couple of comments on Twitter about the possibility of Cesc Fabregas signing for Manchester United. You’ve been on both sides of the fence and seen him, do you think he’d want to move to the club and just how good is he?

I have no idea whether or not Cesc would like to join Manchester United and if I knew I wouldn’t tell you ha ha ha! What I do know like the rest of the world is that Cesc has been playing at the highest level for a long time. He started so early for Arsenal and became quickly one of the MVP’s of the team and later club captain. His main quality is his passing ability and that’s what most important in football at any level professional or amateur. He plays right and simply, which requires awareness and technique. That leads to accuracy and seems really natural for him. To increase your awareness you need a perfect technique where you can take your eyes of the ball and Cesc is capable of doing that quiet well! Therefore he’s been able to deliver many assist for club and country.

Would your advice be for him to sign for United?

I would advise him to choose the best for his career and his family and only he has the answer to that. When you are under contact at Barca and wanted by United what can go wrong? Nothing I guess …

David Moyes succeeded Sir Alex as United manager, do you think that was the right choice?

The future will tell us if the choice was the right one! If you look back at the previous managers they were English Scottish Welch or Irish therefore I wasn’t surprised by the appointment of David Moyes, a relatively successful manager considering the amount of season he kept Everton in the premiership with a “low cost” budget, no trophies but Goodison Park has seen a good attacking football match for a decade!

I was surprised by the sudden decision by Sir Alex to retire. Remember, I trained from September to January with the squad and I felt like guidance was in plenitude when others had sense that the managers had mellowed a bit but I didn’t see that coming. In fact I was measuring and contemplating his ability to bounce back from the 2011/12 campaign and drive the players like no one else does. Nothing had changed! Now it’s all out in the air I want to wish all the best to my friends out there to retain the title this season.

On to yourself now and sadly after a promising start to your time with Portland Timbers, you suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury in May while playing in an injury that looked really awkward… how is your recovery going? And are you confident that you’ll be able to play again?

I was settling nicely with my new teammates in a new environment but football can be painful sometimes. Luckily, I’ve been down this road before, I know the drill since I had the exact same injury in 2007 while at United. It’s a long road and I’m confident I’ll be back stronger in the fall to play if not in January.

There were some murmurs that the injury was down to the quality of the pitch, is that something you’d agree with?

It would be easy to blame the turf and you always look for the causes but who knows …maybe yes, maybe no. It’s more the fact that I did a kind of bicycle kick which I never do, so that annoys me when I think of it. One piece of advice for myself in the future : “When you getting old stick to what you know don’t try things you see other guys do!” Haha!!

You’ve posted some amazing pictures of Oregon on your Twitter page, how have you found living in the United States so far?

Portland and Oregon in general provides the best of both world for me as i enjoy the mountain especially in the winter and the coast. Some people think I work for the tourism department of Oregon Haha! I enjoy discovering where I live. I’m a traveler and nature as so much to offer in Oregon my list of sightseeing is enormous! I’d love to be on the field but the circumstances have given me the opportunity to make the most out of it.

How do you find the standard of the MLS to play and watch?

If you think you can come here and play like its a walk in the park stay at home! This is not a retirement league, it’s competitive league where you will be tested physically. In terms of football its getting better from what I’ve seen in previous years. This year the teams are really close to each other on the ladder. The last part of the season will be very exciting. It’s a good standard but what’s holding the MLS back it’s the academy system which copies the other sports. You can not expect college kids to play 4 months per season to learn as much as we do in Europe for example but this is another story…

A little piece of trivia that hasn’t gone unnoticed, you wear the number 27 shirt for Portland as you did at United… do you consider that to be “your” number?

Well spotted! 27 was my number in Rennes when I started, I got it at United as well. My second daughter Cleo is born on the 27th. And my Timbers number is again, number 27. After all I’m becoming superstitious… sacre bleu! Haha!

[troy andreas]

Frazier Campbell kini main untuk Cardiff. Ia main untuk United musim 2006–2009 namun hanya bermain di 2 pertandingan resmi.