Manchester United - Fans Corner

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Breaking: @manutdWFC have been awarded a license to join next season?s Women?s Championship. #mufc [BBC]

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Manchester United have no intention of selling Anthony Martial this summer.
The MEN understands Martial remains in manager Jose Mourinho's plans next season and the 22-year-old has not requested to leave the club. United would only consider jettisoning Martial if he demands a transfer.


United have three left wingers to choose from in Martial, Marcus Rashford and Alexis Sanchez and have turned their attention to the right-hand side. Chelsea winger Willian and Real Madrid's Gareth Bale are long-term targets the club have attempted to sign in recent years under Mourinho.
Willian's representatives held informal talks with United earlier this month but Bale's suggestion he could leave Real in the summer has alerted United, who have made at least three attempts to sign the Welshman over the last 11 years.

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Martial
@Giggs

[BangaloreaN]

When you love United so much you name your child Manchester United

Bill and Hilary should by Chelsea fans

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Of Manchester United?s 68 Premier League goals, an academy graduate has been directly involved in 41.

Homegrown talent. #MUFC https://t.co/12M4sjEhz2

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Gareth Bale is interested in a move to Bayern Munich but the Bundesliga champions will have to break their transfer structure to fund a move for the Wales winger Sport Bild reports.
Bayern and Manchester United are the leading candidates to sign the unsettled attacker from Real Madrid but he's expected to cost around €100m (?87m).
Bayern president Uli Hoeness ruled out making large investments on transfers this summer with CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge placing a €100m (?87m) limit on spending.

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50 years ago today

THE GREATEST COMEBACK!!!

10 years after the Munich Disaster with a team of young academy players !!

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KEY QUOTES ON THE 1968 EUROPEAN CUP FINAL

Fifty years ago today, and ten years after the Munich Air Disaster, Sir Matt Busby's Manchester United team beat Portuguese champions Benfica 4-1 after extra-time at Wembley to win the European Cup. Here's what some of the men who were there have said about it since...

UNITED PLAYERS

Brian Kidd: Everyone was just convinced we had to win it. I honestly felt it was something that was meant to be. We knew we had to do it for Sir Matt.

Sir Bobby Charlton: Without being disrespectful to the team, a lot of us were beginning to be past our peak and I knew a lot of us weren’t going to get another chance at this cup. But on the morning of the game I can remember thinking we had come too far and had been through too much to fail now. And we had everything going for us, playing at home and with a good record against Portuguese sides – and besides, after coming back in the Madrid semi-final the way we did, I thought it would be impossible for us to get beaten.

Nobby Stiles: There was ballyhoo about before about how I would mark Eusebio: people were suggesting I was a clogger. One paper said he had asked the ref for protection. But I respected Eusebio and never went out to kick him – and I always found him to be all right with me.

George Best: I was so looking forward to what I imagined would be 90 minutes of pure magic, us hammering them. But I only played well in snatches and it was tough going – we weren’t playing that well to start with, the tackles were coming in hard and it was still 0-0 at half-time.

Sir Bobby Charlton (on his first goal): I was only on a decoy run but David knocked it nicely and I was just trying to flick it on - it flew into the bottom corner! Lovely!

David Sadler: It was such an emotional night and we were feeling the pressure, but that goal set us on the way. Bobby could actually be quite a good header of the ball you know!

Pat Crerand (on Benfica almost making it 2-1): I was thinking ‘this isn’t the type of chance Eusebio misses’. My heart sank. He blasted a thunderbolt... and straight at Alex who made quite a brilliant save.

Sir Bobby Charlton: I knew we’d find something extra – British teams had that resilience, especially in extra-time. Of course there was a moment of despair when they equalised, but I knew our stamina training would stand us in good stead and that they’d be tiring too.

Brian Kidd (on his goal): The cheers for Besty’s goal had barely died when my moment of glory came; what a 19th birthday present. Bobby’s corner was only half cleared and I got a header in which Henrique scooped out from under the bar – but in doing so, he’d come out just enough for me to be able to lob him with a second header. 3-1: the clincher!

Bill Foulkes: I had come the whole way with the boss trying to make us Champions of Europe. I’m proud to have been a part of it, of course – and our victory seemed the right tribute to the memory of all those we lost on the way.

Sir Bobby Charlton: At the whistle Matt and I hugged and I didn’t need to say anything to the old man because I didn’t need to. I knew exactly what he was thinking. I remember thinking that it was the ultimate achievement. And it had been our duty; it had become a family thing.

THE MANAGERS

Otto Gloria, Benfica: The player I especially admired was George Best – muito bon! As we say! But as a team they could all go forward – and then all go back just as well – and I thought their speed could upset my team.

Sir Matt Busby: In my team talk before extra-time, I told the players they were in danger of throwing the game away with careless passing instead of continuing with their previously confident football. I told them ‘start to hold the ball – and play again’. The moment Bobby lifted the cup, it cleansed me. It eased the pain of the guilt of going into Europe. It was my justification.

THE WRITERS

Eamon Dunphy: George Best all but won the cup with a classic street-game goal to make it 2-1 in extra-time. Fastening with razor reflexes onto the ball with 25 yards from goal, he beat one man, then another, then rounded the desperate goalkeeper before gliding the ball deftly across the turf into the net.

Eric Todd, The Manchester Guardian: The scenes after this match defied adequate description; even those beforehand challenged it seriously as United’s legions captured the heights around the stadium. The transcending emotion afterwards was that of unequivocal universal pleasure for Matt Busby. And did he look briefly up to the heavens for the approval of the spirits of Munich?

Geoffrey Green, The Times: Few Wembley occasions equalled that night. Out of nothing drew a dramatic climax. The first-half was episodic, as a spate of ruthless Portuguese tackling and a symphony of Italian referee whistling broke the match into a thousand pieces, both teams clearly out of humour with each other. Yet this merely proved to be crucible. Out of the fire and cruelty came something to treasure.

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KINGS OF EUROPE: STEPNEY RECALLS '68 SUCCESS

Legendary goalkeeper Alex Stepney, pictured here watching Sir Bobby Charlton lift the silverware, looks back on that famous night at Wembley 50 years ago today when Manchester United became the first English club to win the European Cup...

"To this day, I still think we never realised the scale of what we achieved when we won the European Cup for Manchester United in 1968.

"We were a team, but the great man – Matt Busby – had made us a family. For us to accomplish that for him, and for all the other people caught up in the Munich tragedy, was so, so important.

"When we started out in the autumn of 1967, nothing was said about doing it for the lads who had died, but we all knew, without words, that there was this extra dimension because the manager and two of his most trusted players – Bobby Charlton and Bill Foulkes – had survived the crash. There was also the notion that, given Matt’s age and all he had been through, possibly it might be this side’s last chance.

"You have to remember that in those days you had to win the league title to get into the European Cup – fourth place didn’t do it then! – and while Bobby and Bill were still going strong, there was always a thought about Matt’s health. Whenever possible, he tried to train with us, often joining in five-a-sides, but to see the scars on his chest brought home to us the enormous trauma he had experienced at Munich.

"We started the campaign with a comfortable win over Hibernians of Malta, then came through extremely stern tests against Sarajevo from Yugoslavia and Gornik Zabrze of Poland before our epic semi-final victory over Real Madrid, snatching a 4-3 aggregate victory from the jaws of defeat at a seething Bernabeu Stadium.

"That set up an emotional final against Benfica on a punishingly humid night at Wembley. After a pretty even first half, Bobby put us in front with a glancing header, only for Jaime Graca to equalise at 1-1.

"It might have been worse when Eusebio escaped his marker, Nobby Stiles, for the only time in the match with four minutes left and bore down on my goal. At first, I thought I could claim the ball, so I advanced, but it was held up on the lush Wembley grass and the great Portuguese was through. Now all I could do was step back slightly so it would be harder for him to chip, and stand up straight. Instead of slotting it, he elected to try and burst the net, which he loved to do. His ferocious shot cannoned into my chest – I tell everybody that the Mitre logo is still imprinted on my skin! – and I managed to hold on to it.

"Looking back, I suppose that was a crucial turning point because I doubt if we would have recovered from 2-1 down at that late stage. As it was, I launched a drop-kick early into extra-time, Brian Kidd nodded on and George Best, with typical brilliance, put us in front. After that, Benfica collapsed, with Kiddo and Bobby scoring to make it 4-1. At the final whistle we all ran to Matt, Bobby and Bill. We had all pulled together, but deep down we all felt this was their night."