Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Khaldoon Al Mubarak

With Roberto Mancini now history in a ”typical City” manner – with the press saying it was a done deal, the bookmakers not taking bets on Roberto Mancini getting the sack and with Manchester United parading through the street with the cup they have just won – it is worth taking stock of what it is like to be so stupid with so much money?

When Roman Abramovich became the first really popular playboy owner of a football club i.e outside football he was well known by the general public, it was assumed that he would mess about in the management of the football club (in this case Chelsea) and then blame the manager when it all goes wrong and guess what? The international playboys and girls have done just that and they are clearly not bothered about the silliness of it all.

Sometimes you do get owners who do not mess about in the club, but it is very rare and after all what is the point of buying a football club if you cannot have the players that you like in it? This brings us to the ”typical City” story in which a bloke who needs a reason to escape his two wives buys a club and uses it to play ‘fantasy football’ with real people.

Last year it was really funny as his team won the Premier League in dramatic fashion, but, this year it was not so funny as Manchester United won it back and worst of all Wigan Athletic owned by a lowly bred shopkeeper beat his team in the F.A. Cup!

Football has always attracted the dodgy, the silly, the ego maniac, the hustler. It is the easiest way of saying that you are a man of distinction, man of the people, a world player in finance. The only problem with this scenario is that every game you let 11 men decide your fate in public. That is what football does it is politics and war with a bag of air. Why would you do this to yourself? Very rarely has any owner make any money from football. In fact if you want to be really successful you have to ramp up your non-footballing commercial activities. The only problem with this is that you need success on the field to make the cash.

As the fans continually get ripped of in the pursuit of the owners ego massaging lets all say thank you to these sugar daddies writ large and let them understand that they better open the wallets or they will end up like George Gillett and Tom Hicks of Liverpool FC – totally shamed and reviled.

Sir Alex Ferguson

For the greater good of football Ferguson must retire. Yes he is brilliant and yes he is very successful, but it must be disheartening when two of the richest football teams in the World – Chelsea and Manchester City, chuck amazing amount of money at their clubs and they still cannot beat Manchester United!

No need to go through Fergies record as it will be boring. All that can be said is that the Glazer family must be kissing Sir Alex Ferguson’s feet every night as they owe their very existence to this titan of a manager.

Apparently, there is big talk that Sir Alex Ferguson is going to retire this year. If he does then the New York Stock Exchange will have to down grade Manchester United’s share as it will be a big ask to get a man to fill his position as manager. 

My own take on it is that Sir Alex Ferguson will retire but will be a major figure in the background and any manager who takes over will have to accept this. Therefore this rules out Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola as they would hate it. So this leaves David William Moyes and Ole Gunnar Solskjær as the type of character that could manage a superstar team and placate a gigantic ever present ex-manager.

The other amazing thing about Sir Alex Ferguson is that he is a staunch socialist like a lot of strong successful managers of his era (Brian Clough, Bill Shankly to name two really big ones). There is something about the way he has instilled into his management culture that a team as rich as Manchester United can get into a mindset of the ‘under dog’ fighting to ‘right the wrong carried out by ‘unfair referees’. it is brilliant to see this kind of mindset as it gets players fighting for each other. 

Being a ‘champaign socialist’ (ie a rich person who is a socialist) he is constantly under attack from political and football opponents, and, clearly there is a almost a tribal allegiance to his support of the poor and disadvantaged getting together to demand better life and conditions. And as a belief it has a lot going for it, especially psychologically. Manchester United and Sir Alex Ferguson, have built a fortress element and culture which make them hard to beat and exasperate opposing team with an air of self belief which sometimes belie a not so strong team.

Sir Alex Ferguson is famous for his ‘mind games’ in which he intimidates opponents and officials before a game with a statement which sounds like a statement from a person with a persecution complex. This has led to the overwhelming belief of ‘Fergie Time’, in which opposing supporters get obsessive about the way Manchester United manage to get a result during extra time! The opposing fans believe that the referee’s are so scared that they put an extra minute or two for extra time just to make sure they do not get a tongue lashing from Sir Alex Ferguson. Sir Alex Ferguson is brilliant at getting a goal or two within these ‘extra’ minutes. In opposing teams they will exhibit a fear of being ‘done over’ before a game has started.

The argument that Fergie must go for the good of football is that it would end an era in which few managed to touch his genius and also give someone new the chance to be a giant within the beautiful game.

 ***FERGUSON RETIRES ***

 UPDATE

26 Years, 13 Premier League Titles, 10 Community Shields, 5 FA Cups, 4 League Cups, 2 European Cups.

The Poker Knave brings an extended Daily Digest with an analysis of football, popular culture and UK politics all in 9 minutes and a few seconds. Almost as quick as his poker playing style…

Jack Reynard present a football special without Jack Reynard commentating. He has a bad throat, however, because the news is so miserable he has compiled the famous Kevin Keegan rant, Delia Smith drunken hooligan routine and Hull City trying their best to make their team the laughing stock of football.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8sxzoToday’s is dominated by the Jade Goody saga – boring! Also, the goal that ended Manchester United long run of not conceeding a goal. Apart from that nothing interesting in today’s press.