A round-up of stories relating to Manchester United over the past 24 hours.
The Premier League will not act over anti-Liverpool chants that occurred at Old Trafford in the 4-0 win over Wigan on Saturday believing the matter should be managed by the two clubs. The two teams face each other next Sunday and the taunting came over last week’s revelations regarding Hillsborough.
And Manchester United chief executive David Gill will meet Liverpool managing director Ian Ayre this week to talk over ways to defuse the highly charged tension between the two sets of fans before their upcoming match. Calls from Sir Alex Ferguson last week to end the insensitive chanting bore no fruition as a section of the United support sang chants implicating the Hillsborough disaster. It is believed the two clubs in question will issue a joint plea to fans to stop the chanting.
Former United player Joe Jordan believes fans that are found guilty of tasteless chanting should be banned for life. Jordan added that fans who participate in the tasteless chants are not interacting with the football on show or the players but rather ‘getting at families’.
Sir Alex Ferguson told how he has high hopes for 18-year-old Nick Powell and envisages the former Crewe Alexander player to eventually replace Paul Scholes. Powell scored a debut goal with a 25-yard strike and Ferguson deems Powell to have the same attributes as Scholes ‘in terms of terrific vision, a good temperament, great feet’.
Following last year’s group stage exit from the Champions League, Sir Alex Ferguson has promised to send out strong teams to ensure qualification. Ferguson concedes that complacency last year in a seemingly easy group cost his team further progression in the competition but has vowed to send out the best team possible starting with the home match against Galatasaray on Wednesday.
Manchester United are tracking Italian defender Angelo Ogbonna whilst they consider a possible January bid for the 24-year-old. The Torino central defender helped his side win promotion back into Serie A and was called up into the Italian international squad whilst still a Serie B player.
Sir Bobby Charlton is backing Robin Van Persie to score goals and proclaimed that there was no possibility in the striking not scoring regularly for United. ‘He’ll do his chasing, he’s good in the air and he doesn’t think about it. When the goal is there, he doesn’t look up – take his goal against Fulham for example. The chance came to him and he just helped it on its way. Robin is a great goalscorer; that’s why Sir Alex likes him’.
And finally, at HITC Sport we take a look at five notable points from United’s win over Wigan, a Premier League team of the weekend featuring two United players, and some of the reaction to Alexander Buttner’s debut goal.
image: © Paolo Camera
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
