 TEDDY’S CORNER

have your say on info@manutd-malta.com

Dear All,

By the time you will be reading this, I presume that the World Cup is over, and we will all be itching to get back to our beloved Premier League competition. As things stand on the day of writing, England has a good chance to qualify from the group after winning the first game against Iran in an emphatic fashion and then playing an anti-climax draw against USA, but have not impressed enough to make anyone think they can go one step better than 4 years ago. Who knows…Brazil and France seem to be the favorites so far and in my pools at work, I wrote Brazil to win! This is a Man Utd focused magazine, hence I won’t take too much of my space to scribble about the adjudication of a World Cup to a country with no football culture, all sorts of smell of corruption and human abuse, first ever month‑long interruption of all major football leagues all around the globe because of a football competition, etc. One cannot deny that whatever the background, this competition brings excitement but this time I am afraid it will also bring subsequent negative repercussions on players and respective football clubs due to its blasphemous timing.

Since my last article in the July edition, Man Utd football team has evolved and there are very positive, encouraging signs of improvement. Erik Ten Hag has put his money where his mouth is since he took over and in the words so we still have a trophy in sight. The most important factor in all this is that the new manager has brought back discipline and confidence in players, instilled an identity back in our team, is not afraid in taking decisions and introduced an effective playing system on the pitch. We still get off-days (which I think is normal), but we grind results which is all that matters. There is no doubt the manager is still at the outset of his learning curve in the most competitive club level football league in the world, but he recreated a platform onto which this football team can grow. His attention to detail will help our younger players such as the talented Garnacho to develop and will be the key for Man Utd to start taking control of games once again.

of someone very close to him, he is ‘a nice bloke but also has the side of don’t mess with me...I’m the boss’. That is the exact description of what I was hoping for when the media were drawing the initial profile of him. He has made some great signings in the likes of Casemiro, Eriksen, Martinez, Malacia and Antony. This surely must be the best summer transfer market we have had since Sir Alex and David Gill left. He has also cleared some of the deadwood and brought back to life the likes of Dalot, Shaw and Rashford. Even Martial seemed to get back in form during pre-season but has not been lucky with injuries, again. The first 2 games left everyone shell-shocked but since then we won 8 games (including Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham), drew 2 (including the only game where we failed to score since the resurrection) and lost 2 (including a thrashing against the noisy neighbours), cementing 5th place in the Premier League table.

We have also comfortably qualified for the Europa League knock-out stage with 5 wins and 1 loss, now with a mouthwatering clash against Barcelona in the next stage. That will be a test! We have also qualified to the next round of the League Cup, Just imagine…you have a wife and you both have been loyal to each other for a very long time. You got to know her since she was young, love at first sight scenario and she grew up with you, being the best wife ever, in good and bad times. Suddenly, one fine day you return home and out of the blues find her in bed with another man! That feeling is exactly the same

feeling I had when I got to know about the details of that damned, orchestrated, interview Cristiano Ronaldo gave to Piers Morgan. Never in my wildest dream did I ever think that the football player I adored so much, to the extent that he nearly convinced me to introduce the first tattoo on my body in drawing his initials on my shoulder, would get to this low of the lowest level just to be able to negotiate this mutual consent agreement for his departure from the Club he has failed to carry during the turbulent months that followed his return. The truth can never be denied. He has been the best football player I have seen in a Man Utd shirt in my lifetime, and he gave me and the 1.1 billion supporters all over the world some great unforgettable moments.

However, if he stated that he felt betrayed, we, the fans, are the ones who felt betrayed by the player we loved so much, to go on such a dirty stage like the one manned by a rat like Morgan and spit out all those vile statements against colleagues and ex-colleagues and the football club which were paying him half a million pounds a week and gave him the platform he required to grow and shine. If he criticized the infrastructure, that is not new for us. The fans have been beckoning on this topic with owners for years and this should not be on the agenda of a player being paid by the Club. His job is to play football. There is not one single positive thing that came out from that interview. The only thing that is now sure is that the name of Cristiano Ronaldo will never get legendary status at Old Trafford like Charlton, Best, Law, Robson and Cantona. The name of Cristiano Ronaldo will last a few more years and will start to disappear because a new star will emerge, but the name of Man Utd will live forever. Wherever he goes, I wish him no luck because whatever the narcissist achieves from now on will be used to try and prove any of the nonsense he uttered in that evil dialogue which exposed who the real Cristiano Ronaldo is.

The mutual agreement coincided with the news that the Glazer family will listen to options about selling the Club. In true and actual fact, the Glazers have been in this process for quite a while but for some reason they decided to make this public coincidentally on the same date Cristiano left the Club. There is a lot of speculation in the air: Sir Jim Ratcliffe, investors from Arab world and the

USA and the tech giants Apple. Surely if an investor was thinking about bidding for taking over the FA Cup and League Cup double winners of last season will now have a rethink. The proposition of Man Utd, no matter how hated we are, remains the greatest football proposition in terms of a business opportunity. And that is what worries the fans who are devoted to the badge, like me. I have never been in favour of the way the Glazers manage this Club, but I just hope that we do not fall from the frying pan into the fire if a takeover eventually takes place. This is a very delicate moment, and it is the time for all the different Man Utd fan groups to come together and set up one united front to ensure that this takeover is the right one. We can’t fail again with a takeover given the projects the club has in the pipeline and the situation on the pitch which is finally showing glimpses of resurgence. We hope for the best!

I take the opportunity to wish you and all your loved ones a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!