Oh great, it’s international week. Wake me up when it’s over. Sir Alex Ferguson reckons he likes to see our players representing their country though and reckons England will be going out for the win so that they can secure their qualification in to the World Cup, after missing out on last summer’s European Championships.


“It’s important that the players represent their countries and we want them to do well,” said Ferguson. “When they are competitive matches we don’t have any complaints because every player at our club is conscious of the fact that they have important games coming up.”

Ferguson is clued up on who is playing where and how many points they need, but believes England have nothing to worry about.

“England are in a safe situation but still need those three points just to get over the line,” he added. “Therefore, they will want to win. Most of the other sides need to win their games. Patrice Evra is with France, and Nani is with Portugal and they both need to win their games.”

Carrington will be pretty much empty, given the number of internationals we have in the squad, but Ferguson joked that Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville “will hold the fort while everyone else is away.”

Patrice Evra is enjoying a good start to the season so far and was one of the few players who put in a good 90 minutes against Arsenal last weekend.

He says he isn’t thinking about being the best left-back in the world, rather what he can do to improve on his performances and form.


“I always think more can be done because I always want to develop,” said Evra. “I’m happy when people praise me but I love to work hard and I want to get even better. I always say the most difficult part of being a footballer isn’t making it to the top, it’s about staying at the top and making those tiny improvements that help you stand out from the rest. I’m happy with my current form but I know I can do better. I don’t think about trying to be the best left back in the world – I just think about improving all the parts of my own game and being better than Patrice Evra was a year ago.”

TalkSport ran a poll to see who the Premiership’s all-time biggest diver was. Cristiano Ronaldo, who is talked of a lot more fondly in the media now that he has left us, finished an impressive fourth, way behind Steven Gerrard!


Jürgen Klinsmann - 35%
Steven Gerrard - 29%
Didier Drogba - 18%
Cristiano Ronaldo -12%
David Ginola - 6%

The Sun today has an ‘exclusive’ which claims Rio Ferdinand is thinking about a move to Barcelona or Real Madrid.

“Rio can see the sense of it,” said ‘a source’. “Not only would it be a fresh challenge as he nears the end of his career, it would also fit all his projects off the pitch. Rio has big business plans, which are already taking shape, and would really take off if he moved to one of the big Spanish clubs.”

Dwight Yorke had a great time at Manchester United, scoring an incredible 30 goals in his first season with the club. 1998-1999 was a magic season for us and Yorke played a massive part in it.

The goal that probably stands out in most memories is the equaliser he scored against Juve in the European Cup semi-finals, after we had gone 2-0 in ten minutes in Turin. That goal meant we were through to the European Cup final but to add insult to injury he could have made it three when he was brought down in the box with five minutes to go, but the ball fell nicely to Andy Cole who scored anyway, but it was all in Yorke’s making.

Other memorable goals are the two he scored against Barcelona in our 3-3 draw, the hat-trick he got at Leicester, our first goal against Liverpool in the FA Cup in the 88th minute before Ole scored the winner in injury time, scoring both goals in our 2-0 win over Inter in the quarter-finals, the opening goal in our 2-2 draw against Liverpool in the league before Ince went to score and kiss their badge, but probably most importantly, the last goal he scored that season. We were neck and neck with Arsenal for the league and with three games to go, he scored our only goal in a 1-0 win at the Riverside, giving us a vital three points.

All in all, he scored 47 goals in 95 league appearances for United, which works out at a goal every other game. Incredible.


Like too many footballers, Yorke got involved in the partying lifestyle and shacked up temporarily with Jordan, getting under the manager’s skin. We brought in Ruud van Nistelrooy and Yorke was shipped off to Blackburn for a meagre £2m. He then played for Birmingham, then Sydney FC, before Roy Keane revitalised his career by bringing him to Sunderland, where he played in the centre of midfield. He played just 3 games last season though and this week decided to call it quits.

Yorke spoke to the press yesterday about his decision, mentioning no other club but United when reflecting on his career.

“I’ve had the time of my life,” he said. “I hope people will say that I played the game in the right way with a smile on my face. I’ve been blessed really. I’ve played alongside some of the greatest players the Premier League has ever seen in Roy Keane, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Peter Schmeichel, and played for the greatest manager in Sir Alex Ferguson.”

His time with United didn’t end well but he provided us with some bloody brilliant moments. Enjoy this video and remember just how handy he was with his head!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYLEAt27n...r_embedded