Fergie and Wenger set for summer cheque-book battle royal?

It isn't often that Arsene Wenger gives any hint about potential new signings, but prior to Euro 2008 kicking-off the Arsenal manager reeled off a host of names who he expects to do well in the tournament. Perhaps most notable of all was the mention of Lyon's brilliant young striker Karim Benzema who is said to be very much on Fergie's transfer radar.

There are few players who escape the attentions of the continent's leading clubs and there's no doubt that Karim Benzema's name figures highly on the most-wanted lists of a whole host of Europe's top teams, United and Arsenal among them.

However, the very fact that Wenger mentioned Karim Benzema will surely be enough to raise the prospect of a transfer battle between Fergie and Wenger.

Lyon are not considered a big club, they have proven that they are a selling club and for this reason any of their star names will always be considered fair game where speculation is concerned and it is why Wegner's admiring comments about Benzema will ignite talk of a summer move to Arsenal this summer.

Whether or not we can read any more into Wenger's talking so openly about a Karim Benzema is a mute point - does this apparent public declaration of admiration mark a change of policy at the North London club?

Is Wenger ready to trade cheque-book blows with Fergie this summer? The latter seems unlikely given Wenger's prudence in the past. Perhaps Wenger is starting to feel the pressure after three successive fruitless campaigns, added to which he could potentially lose more star names following on from Flamini's Arsenal exit.

Alexander Hleb's agent has spoken to Barcelona among others and Adebayor's name is being linked to Milan - though the latter is likely to stay put in North London for now.

If Wenger did go on to battle with Fergie over the signature of Karim Benzema, it would be a marked changed from the norm. The big problem for both Arsenal and United is that the player may not fancy joining either club.

All in all it looks set to be an interesting summer of transfer speculation for followers of the Champions and Arsenal.

United Go Top as Derby Restore Some Pride

It was a good day for United in the Premiership on Saturday as Fergie's men ground out an important 1-0 victory over bottom of the table Derby which springboarded the Reds to the summit of the league table. Even better news was to occur later in the day as Arsenal's league form continued to capitulate with a 1-1 home drawn against Middlesboro - leaving the Red Devils at the top of the shop on goal difference, but with a crucial game in hand.

The win over Paul Jewell's Rams should have been business as usual for Fergie's boys, however this win was far from routine. Derby were coming into this one after a 6-1 spanking at Stamford Bridge in midweek and for the first twenty minutes it seemed inevitable that they would have their collective asses handed to them once again as United, and Ronaldo in particular, carved open some excellent chances.

However United spurned chances and as Derby weathered the storm it was they who nearly took the lead before the break, with United debutant Ben Foster twice denying Scotsman Kenny Miller.

Indeed it was fairly lively debut for Foster, who had a good game despite leaving some question marks over his kicking. Interestingly, his opposite number was former United goalie Roy Carroll, who probably had a better game in this one than many he had when representing the Red Devils.

Thankfully for United, the Irishman's goal was eventually breached with Wayne Rooney crossing in for the unstoppable Ronaldo to put away his 31st goal of the season in the 74th minute. After the Portuguese had broken the deadlock the result was never in doubt, with Carroll again having to deny his former team mates on more than one occasion.

The importance of this result was compounded by the news that Arsenal were later held to their fourth league draw on the trot with Middlesboro grabbing a share of the spoils at the Emirates. Ironically for the Gunners it was Arsenal old boy Jerome Aliadiere who did for them with a goal for the Smoggies on his return to North London. Kolo Toure bagged a late leveler for the Gunners but it wasn't enough to return Wenger's team to pole position.

This could be a crucial weekend in the title race with Arsenal gearing up to face Chelsea, Liverpool and United in three out of their next four league fixtures. Not to mention the added distraction of what could be two energy sapping games against Liverpool in the Champions League during this spell.

Only a fool would count Chelsea out of the race and despite some poor cup results, Avram Grant's flat track bullies are stalking the top two with brutal efficiency. Another league game and another win saw Chelsea's impressive league form continue at Sunderland as John Terry popped up with a crucial goal to put Roy Keane's Blackcats to the sword. This leaves Grant's men within just 3 points of both United and Arsenal, and like United, they have a game in hand on the Gunners.

Those games in hand will happen this Wednesday night as United entertain local rivals Bolton Wanderers and Chelsea travel to their Carling Cup conquerors Tottenham Hotspur. United have eminently the more winnable fixture and while Bolton will be looking to inflict an unlikely double over the Champions, Ferguson has enough aces in his pack to get a measure of revenge over Megson's men. Make no mistake, if United fail to put a bit of daylight between themselves and Arsenal on Wednesday night, then it can be considered an outright disaster by anyone's standards.

Chelsea will also have revenge on their minds as they go into the first of two consecutive clashes against North London opposition. Spurs made Chelsea look ordinary in the Carling Cup Final and the Ramos Revolutionaries will be more than confident of taking some points off their bitter local rivals on Wednesday night. The match may also be a true litmus test of Chelsea's title aspirations, the team from the Kings Road have bulldozed inferior opponents all season (Barnsley aside), but have come up short in the big league matches and in two recent cup ties. If they are going to keep pace with the leaders then the Stamford Bridge outfit really need to take something at White Hart Lane and while their outstanding record on this ground shouldn't be ignored, Ramos's team may have a psychological advantage following their Wembley victory.

In the cold light of day, even a Chelsea loss won't knock them out of the race this Wednesday, chiefly because both United and Arsenal need to visit the Blues before the end of the season and Chelsea's home record is second to none. However, failure to take the points against Spurs will leave Grant with a bloody nose, and the media, possibly along with Chelsea honcho Roman Abramovich, will start to sharpen those knives once again.

When the sun goes down on our Empire...

Sir Alex Ferguson arguably the greatest football manager in the history of the game. He has brought consistently good football to the club, he has made legends and ultimately brought lots of silverware.

If you think about how short careers are in football and compared them to dog years, his time at Old Trafford has probably been around 80 years, a long time in the beautiful game. However, we all know that nothing lasts forever not even Sir Alex’s glorious reign and at some point it will end. I suspect that another Champions league trophy will bring a rather more abrupt end to his time as manager. This leads me to hope that someone with a shrewd eye is giving careful thought to his, hopefully, successful successor.

There have been calls for Fergie to go in the past, admittedly quiet calls from isolated corners. I for one have not been one of them. My opinion is based on loyalty and appreciation. For he has earned my respect, I will wait until he decides to go. It is not for me to turn against someone who has done so much to make me happy and frustrated.

Never the less plans must be made in preparation for that sad day. Who will be the successor to the throne? Well off the top of my head I can think of four possible runners.

I think the fans choice would have to be Roy Keane. However, Keano is a relative baby in the managerial world and although he has had a fantastic start to his career still needs to prove himself in the top flight.

I would like to see him stay in the premiership for a couple of seasons with Sunderland avoiding any relegation battles and preferably end up in the top half of the table. There is no doubt that he has some talent, how many could have took over the mantle at a struggling Sunderland with a points handicap and still gone on to get promotion in their first season as manager? He is definitely a vote from the heart.

Next on my list is probably the favourite and sensible choice, Mark Hughes. Another former legend at United but with a more experienced managerial pedigree than Keano. He has had a glittering and experienced football career to date both at home and abroad. He has experience at managing his country Wales and whilst doing so brought them right up through the football rankings.

The most important point to note is that he is doing a good job at Rovers and appears prepared to stay with the club and work at it. I want success at United to come from the foundations, from team building, over a period of time, so that it will last. I do not wish to see a quick fix solution like at Chelsea which is just a house of cards. So with this in mind Hughes has to be the thinking fans choice and is surely ahead in the polls.

My next choice and indeed my personal preference is probably a little controversial for some die-hard Reds however if Ferguson was to go unexpectedly tomorrow I think that there is one man who could fill the void immediately and with great success. The problem lies in the fact that he would probably never come. Nonetheless I think he deserves a mention.

Arsene Wenger. A man with a proven track record and with many of the desired characteristics mentioned so far. Loyal to his club, successful, his teams play great football, which is something that we at United expect and most importantly he has a fantastic eye for talent. Talent spotting is an area where I think he tops Fergy. Wenger in my opinion could walk into the Old Trafford job tomorrow and our success would continue unbroken.

The fourth candidate is a bit of a wild card and is only mentioned really due to the current state of play in club football. Jose Mourinho. Currently available and if I am honest I would enjoy the “up yours” to Chelsea his arrival would bring. But that is just the child in me and if I’m honest I have reservations about his longevity. As discussed we need someone who we can rely on through thick and thin. Someone who can guide us through bad times as well as good. I have no doubt that “the special one” has special talent but is he too temperamental for United? His style of football would be another concern, the fans at United expect football with flare. Would Jose just turn United into a Chelsea in Red? I also never quite forgave him for the way he talked about taking the Chelsea job just after the champions league final with Porto. Still in place at Chelsea was the manager at the time Ranieri, a good manager and a gentleman who deserved to be treated with more respect by both Chelsea and Mourinho.

One things for sure whoever the “heir apparent” is will depend as much on timing as anything. I would expect whoever lands the job to be around for a few years so not leaving opportunity for a queue to form. So will Keanos career just be ripening nicely say in two years if Sir Alex decides to go or will Hughes be having a bit of a relegation nightmare at Rovers?

Whoever it may be I hope that we the fans will be able to look forward to many more sunrises at the Theatre of Dreams. Long live the King!

Wenger vision and the quota system...

The Times is engaging its readers on Arsene Wenger's appalling record when it comes to the low numbers of English players in the Arsenal squad.

This current debate comes on the back of Sepp Blatter's recent threat to take on the EU over the possible re-introduction of quotas regarding the numbers of foreign players who are allowed to play in national associations across Europe both in domestic and in UEFA competitions.

For the record, UEFA introduced their original 3+2 ruling in 1991, a system which allowed clubs to field three foreign stars, plus two 'assimilated' players. On top of which National associations throughout Europe had their own individual rulings in place pertaining to the numbers of foreign stars.

All of which was despite the fact that in 1973 the European Court of Justice had ruled against such impositions on the grounds that it was a restriction of freedom of movement against EU citizens. However, in 1995 the Bosman ruling changed everything and with that out went the illegal quota system. Roll the clock forward to 2007 and back to the debate about Blatter threatening to take on the EU in a bid to bring back player quotas.

The media have really laid into Blatter over this issue stating that it will not work. The much respected football pundit Gabriele Marcotti has presented some very interesting arguments against the quota system, he says that any re-introduction would affect Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The Times columnist says that as things stand a young player might opt to play for Wales because he has a Welsh grandparent, but the same player might think twice if it limited his chances of playing in the Premier League, I personally doubt that.

Here's why, take the example of Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool. At this moment in time there's only one well known Welshman at any of those clubs, Ryan Giggs. However, look beyond the 'top four' clubs and you will find that most clubs still retain a reasonable core of British players. The point being that situation is hardly likely to be affected by any reintroduction of quotas. Quotas or not, Ian Rush and Mark Hughes would still have risen to the top. Quality will always shine through.

Arsenal though under Wenger are a big concern when it comes to the lack of English players in their squad. Granted they lost Ashley Cole and currently they have Walcott, but this isn't largely tokenism when compared to the squads of Chelsea, United, West Ham, Aston Villa, Manchester City and perhaps to lesser extent Liverpool.

One thing is certain if Manchester United did what Wenger has done at Arsenal there would be a national outcry. Every phone-in would be jammed with ABUs complaining at every juncture, every time England lost or dropped points, United would eventually be blamed. How come Wenger gets away with it, is it because Arsenal are not such a big club?

However, to blame Arsenal alone would be wrong, because other leading across Europe are also guilty of following Wenger's open door policy to foreign players at the expense of home grown talent.

Wenger says quality is the key when it comes to selection issues - few would argue here. However, the quality of young British players seems to be dropping and this is the real problem. All clubs need to do more to create the next David Beckham's and Steven Gerrard's and not less, which rightly or wrong is how Arsenal are perceived as a club right now.

Wenger is a great coach, but his record of producing and retaining home grown English players isn't something that he can be particularly proud of. The Frenchman has produced some decent young players like Blackburn's David Bentley and Chelsea's Steve Sidwell, but they've been edged out by Arsenal foreign imports.

If every other club in the Premier League followed Wenger's policy quite simply there wouldn't be an England team in five years time. This is why I personally believe that we do need quotas to maintain the long term integrity of the national associations across Europe, but rather than have the old 3+2 system there should be a minimum of three or four Englishmen in every Premier team including Arsenal.

Eureka! Has Blatter finally come up with a good idea?

The man who brought us the dreadful silver and golden goals and decided that players who take off their shirt after scoring a goal should be booked, to list just a few of his previous bad ideas has finally potentially come up with a good one. Though it isn't a new one or come to that original. The man from the land of cuckoo-clocks himself Sepp Blatter, the FIFA supremo, has decided that it's about time someone challenged European Union rules in a bid to impose a quota on foreign players within European teams.

Blatter says that too many foreigners is bad thing "When you have 11 foreigners in a team, this is not good for the development of football, for the education of young players, and there is a financial aspect, too."

No doubting Arsene Wenger had got wind of Blatter's forthcoming interview with the BBC earlier this week when he stated that quota's would be bad for the standard of the Premier League. He would say that wouldn't he?

Blatter clearly had the Gunners in mind when launching his verbal broadside, but Arsenal are by no means the only club in the UK who have fielded entire teams of foreigner players. It wasn't that long ago that the 'Old Firm' derby in Glasgow had no Scottish players' taking part. At that time the Scottish national team was very, very poor. The warning bells were ringing for the future of the Scottish game and big time.

Move forward to 2007 and things are very different with both Rangers and Celtic fielding British and Scottish players, their results have improved dramatically as have the fortune's of the Scottish national team.

There could be a big downside to the quota system though, if indeed it ever gets introduced. While it would be good for the long-term future of England, players playing in England from Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales will no doubt be treated as foreigners, which was the case back in the early 90s.

Back in 94/95 when playing in Europe there was quota system in place and against Barcelona it deprived the Reds of Peter Schmeichel and Eric Cantona for a game in the Nou Camp in which we were thumped 4-0. Many Reds blamed that defeat squarely on the three foreigner rule.

Now if Blatter intends to bring in this ruling for our domestic league's as well as European competitions, then players from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland could lose out as they may well have a less of chance of breaking into say the first team of United.

The devil will as ever be in the detail concerning the numbers, but no doubting that the FA and Premier League will argue that British players should be treated as a special case.

Why one-eyed Wenger is bad for English football...

Apparently, Arsene Wenger, the manager who sees everything when it suits his agenda concerning challenges or decisions which go against Arsenal, but then sees nothing at all when his own players transgress the laws of the game has given what Mihir Bose (BBC Sports Editor) has described as a 'brilliant speech' to 500 guests at the Emirates stadium.

Wenger told the assembled guests that he believes that having a quota system for home-grown players would be a recipe for promoting mediocrity in the Premiership. On the contrary, the whole point of bringing in a quota system is to protect the long-term interests of the National Association concerned, in this case we are talking about England's long-term future.

There's no doubting that Wenger is one of the best, if not the best at spotting talent from DVDs, and Sven Goran Eriksson isn't doing a bad job of that either at present.

However, the fact is Wenger is French, he has no long-term interests in the English game as a whole. Yes, he is 100% committed to the Arsenal and they are an English club, but it does not follow what is good for Arsenal is also good for the long-term future of the England national team.

West Ham United have done a fantastic job over the last decade when it comes to nurturing young British players, and much as it pains me to admit this Man City appear to be doing a much better job than United on this front at present. Both West Ham and Man Ciy are proving that it can be done if the clubs work hard enough instead of managers like one-eyed Wenger spewing out ill-thought out judgements about young English players.

No doubting I'll get a few Gooners telling me to mind own business, but if every club adopted Wenger's attitude towards home-grown players quite simply there would be no England team in a few years time.


Spot the Englishman.

For the record here is the Arsenal team that won at West Ham on Saturday:

Arsenal: Almunia, Sagna, Toure, Senderos, Clichy, Hleb (Eboue 31), Fabregas, Flamini, Diaby, Adebayor (Silva 79), Van Persie (Bendtner 88).
Subs Not Used: Fabianski, Denilson.

And here's the team that faced Newcastle in midweek:

Arsenal: Fabianski, Justin Hoyte, Eboue (Diaby 64), Senderos, Traore, Diarra, Denilson, Song Billong, Walcott, Bendtner, Eduardo (Perez 90).
Subs Not Used: Mannone, Lansbury, Gavin Hoyte.