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GOODBYE: Inter Milan's Luis Figo holds up the league trophy as his teammates carry him in Milan on Sunday
<div id="u40" class="printhide" style="position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px;">
he has also won the european championship twice as a player with milan....Originally Posted by Alex Ferguson
he is class...veendum oru boring chelsea thanne kanendi varum ennu matram .... with the players chelsea have, he is the one for CL...pakshe EPL veendum paadupedum
i think leanardo is the new milan coach...
Uske Kathl par mein bhi chup tha meri baari ab aayi
Mere Kathl par aap bhi chup ho Agla number AApka hein....
GOODBYE: Inter Milan's Luis Figo holds up the league trophy as his teammates carry him in Milan on Sunday
<div id="u40" class="printhide" style="position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px;">
Uske Kathl par mein bhi chup tha meri baari ab aayi
Mere Kathl par aap bhi chup ho Agla number AApka hein....
united fans...united in foolishness...
mone fergusaa..etho manu fan vellappurath ezhuthiya kanakkukal vishavasikkan njanentha alex fergusono???...nee ath kondu vann olathiyath kondonnumalla njan reply idathirunnath...i didnt have net connection in my home then..so didnt have the luxury to sit and search for the facts..got a connection now(though slow)..my job got a lot easier because of the rafa-fergie spending 'duel'..then almost all newspapers reported the spending figures..although the figures differed,all of them said fergie had the bigger net spend even after 2004..i.e.after rafa arrived..ethenkilum british news paper site-il search cheyth nokiyal kittum..please note that fergie already had a very established and 'expensive' side when benitez arrived..rafa rebuilt the complete squad with less money than ferguson used to simply reinforce an established squad..
From The Times
March 21, 2009
Alex Ferguson and Rafael Benitez at loggerheads over spending
div#related-article-links p a, div#related-article-links p a:visited {color:#06c;} Rafael Bentez has hit back at Sir Alex Ferguson and told him to check his figures after the Manchester United manager dismissed his Liverpool counterparts claims that the Merseyside club have spent less money than the Barclays Premier League champions over the past five years.
Ferguson claimed yesterday that Liverpool were well ahead of us in spending in the last five years, but the statistics appear to support Bentez. Uniteds gross spending since June 2004, when the Spaniard arrived at Anfield, totals 221.95 million compared with 212.6 million by Liverpool. Fergusons net spending over that period is 147.90 million compared with Bentezs 111.39 million.
The row marks the latest chapter in the escalating tension between the pair, whose rivalry is fast becoming the fiercest in English football. Ferguson branded Bentez disturbed after the Liverpool manager accused him in January of wielding an unfair influence over referees during a calculated attack, and on the eve of Uniteds 4-1 defeat by Liverpool at Old Trafford a week ago Ferguson resumed the spat by claiming that he would need to read up on Freud to make sense of the Spaniards remarks.
Check the figures, Bentez said. It doesnt matter what Ferguson says about money. They [Manchester United] have more money and can spend more than us, so we have to manage and do our best in every single deal.
Ferguson had sparked the debate when he claimed that he had instructed Uniteds staff to survey the statistics after growing tired of listening to Bentez reiterating that Liverpool had spent less. I was amazed when I saw that [], Ferguson said. I talked to some of the people in the sports technology department and said, Check that out.
I am sure I have not spent that much money. I worked out in the last five years that Liverpool have spent 24 million more than Manchester United. The most amazing fact about them is that they have used 60 players in the reserves this season.
Ferguson is under no illusions, though, that Bentez will spend big in the summer after signing a new five-year contract. As revealed by The Times yesterday, he is expected to have at least 30 million plus whatever he can recoup in sales to spend.
You will see Rafa produce an incredible spending spree that is an absolute certainty now he has signed a new contract, the United manager said. They talk of a recession, but there will not be one at Liverpool.
Ferguson is more concerned about returning to winning ways away to Fulham in the league this afternoon, however, and believes that the embarrassing defeat by Liverpool last weekend could serve as a wake-up call to his players, whom he fears were becoming distracted by all the talk of an unprecedented quintuple.
Jonny Evans, the defender, will replace Nemanja Vidic, who is suspended after being sent off against Liverpool, and Gary Neville, the captain, is available after injury.
The club has to recover from a defeat and travelling away to Fulham represents a good challenge, Ferguson said. It is hard to defend a 4-1 defeat. We suffered from self-inflicted wounds and mistakes you dont expect. For weeks we had to listen to eulogies and compliments about how good this side of ours was. I kept deflecting that and saying how tough this league was and this \ was just a reminder to us. In a way, it will help us because we realise there is a lot of work to be done. You have to answer tough questions every time Manchester United lose a game. There were no lives lost last week.
Facts in figures
221.95m: Manchester Uniteds gross spend on transfers (147.90 million net) since June 2004, when Rafael Bentez was appointed Liverpool manager, up to and including January 2009 transfer window
212.60m: Liverpools spending (111.39 million net) during same period
from telegraph
Sir Alex Ferguson sums up rivalry between Liverpool and Manchester United
Sir Alex Ferguson has already suggested he may need to brush up on his reading of psychology to better understand his current bete noire, Rafael Benitez.
By Rory Smith
Last Updated: 9:57PM GMT 22 Mar 2009
Money matters: Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson took exception to Rafael Benitez jibe over spending Photo: PA
The Spaniard would no doubt rather the Manchester United manager spent his free time bringing his maths up to scratch.
Ferguson yesterday insisted he was "amazed" by Benitez's claim after Liverpool's 4-1 win at Old Trafford last week that the difference between the two clubs was "about 100 million" spent in transfer fees over the last five years.
"I worked out in the last five years Liverpool have spent 24 million more than Manchester United," Ferguson said. "I talked to some people in the sports technology department and told them to check it out. He is well ahead of us in spending in the last five years.
"In that time, we've signed 18 players, eight of them young ones. We like to develop our players but other clubs are maybe different. Rafa has a different philosophy from me about producing players, but that is the great thing about football. Everyone has a different way of doing things."
Benitez may wish to ask Ferguson to show his working. The figures suggest that it is, as the Spaniard posited, United who have spent substantially more since he swapped the Mestalla for Merseyside.
In terms of gross spend, the difference is not vast. Ferguson's purchases have set United back some 185 million, while Benitez has parted with just a little shy of 180 million. It is in the net spend, though, that shows the true extent of United's vastly superior financial power.
Benitez has financed much of his spending through player sales, systematically upgrading and replacing his squad as he was able. His wheeling and dealing have raised some 108 million for Liverpool, giving a net spend in his time at the club of 72.22 million.
Ferguson, unencumbered by the need for capital to bolster his resources, has managed to raise a mere 70 million from sales, resulting in a net spend of 112.2 million.
It may not be the 100 million Benitez sardonically suggested in the aftermath of his triumph at Old Trafford, but his point was sound. It is unreasonable to expect Liverpool to catch up on the field as they lag so far behind off it.
With Benitez's new contract now signed and his tenure at Anfield secure until 2014, though, Ferguson expects the Spaniard to get to work without delay on closing the spending gap between the two clubs.
Ferguson said: "You will see Rafa produce an incredible spree. That is an absolute certainty now he has signed a new contract. They talk of a recession but there will not be one at Liverpool.
"There is no doubt they will have a big spending purge. That is Rafa's way. But we will address their challenge, just as we did with Chelsea. It doesn't matter where the challenge comes from, whether it be Liverpool, Chelsea or Arsenal. You try to be No 1."
Even Ferguson at his most obtuse would not suggest for a moment he has been suddenly cast in the role of Premier League pauper. While he is adamant summer transfer policy has not yet been discussed at the European champions, he has received loyal backing in the transfer market in his 23 years at Old Trafford.
He said: "We never discuss targets at this time. But it has always been the same here, even under (former chairman) Martin Edwards. If I wanted a player, the club would try to find the money. That will still be the case. The Glazer family have always delivered."
even the pro manu biased soccernet.com had a similar article...
get ur facts right boys..
Last edited by Sanchaari; 06-02-2009 at 08:51 PM.
read this if u dare...
March 21, 2009
Ferguson is wrong
Thankfully, most media outlets seem to have seen the massive inaccuracy in Alex Ferguson’s figures relating to Liverpool’s spending.
That he should even choose to come out with such figures in the first place is interesting, given his rather undignified reaction to Rafa’s ‘fact’ press conference a couple of months back.
I’m also still smiling over his ‘we were the better side’ comments following their total humiliation last week, which every neutral I’ve spoken to found hilarious. That United played so well was obviously the reason Old Trafford was so empty in the last 10 minutes. He’s also had a pop by excluding Rafa’s name from the best managers in the league, which seems a bit childish for a pensioner.
You can’t argue with Ferguson’s success as a manager, but you can with some of the things he says.
This season may be a learning curve for Liverpool, with the league United’s to lose even before their two main rivals were drawn against each other in the Champions League (which yet means the teams aspiring to catch United play each other in titanic, exhausting battles, as seen with Chelsea and Arsenal facing Liverpool last season while United get the easy draw.)
But the United manager is clearly worried, particularly as stability has been put in place at Anfield regarding the manager’s future.
That the United manager should already be talking about Liverpool’s future spending is fascinating. Why do so, unless he’s worried?
Ferguson talks about the young players United have signed, and bizarrely says that Rafa, a man who started out in youth development, does things differently.
Perhaps Torres, Reina, Alonso, Mascherano, Agger, Lucas, Babel and Skrtel weren’t all young players – aged 20-23 – when Rafa signed them after all, and all the teenage talent brought to the club, including Insua, Nemeth, Pacheco, Plessis and Ngog, is just a mirage?
How many players in their 30s has Rafa brought to the club? I can’t think of one before or after Pellegrino, at 33, in 2005. Nor one as old as Henrik Larsson or Edwin van der Sar.
Robbie Keane was the oldest major signing Bentez has made, and perhaps the fact that he turns 29 this summer was why he was shipped out so quickly; at that age, if it doesn’t look like it’s working, you can’t bide your time, particularly if a good offer comes in before the age-related depreciation takes place. Berbatov is roughly the same age as Keane.
But the major flaw in Ferguson’s argument is the fact that he already had half of his squad in place in 2004 when Rafa arrived.
He hasn’t needed to rebuild an entire squad from scratch, merely add the 15m-30m adornments. Rafa has clearly had to deal in quantity to cover all positions, but Ferguson has had the luxury of looking solely at quality.
After all, in 2003 United were champions, and Liverpool 5th! When Rafa arrived, United had dropped to 3rd, but still a whopping 15 points ahead of a very average Liverpool side.
So the two situations are poles apart. Ferguson had already spent big on players like Rio Ferdinand before Rafa pitched up.
He already had the players who emerged because of his youth system, which took almost seven years to bear fruit beyond one player (Giggs emerged in year five). Bentez would only be at that stage in 2011.
Indeed, if you add together every single player Rafa has bought (and there have been around 60, many of whom were mere kids), it still does not reach the total cost of United’s current squad.
Even if you also add the cost of those players Rafa inherited who are still at the club (and there are just three), it still does not reach the total cost of United’s current squad.
Including players out on loan (but not the full Tevez fee due this summer), United’s squad costs over 215m, compared with Liverpool’s 134m.
Let me remind you of what I said a few weeks back:
“Unless Ferguson is banned from fielding players like Ferdinand and Ronaldo (which would be illogical), or forced to start from scratch in 2004 (again illogical), it is not a fair comparison, is it? – I mean, come on, use your brain for a second here.”
Bentez is trying to overturn an established superpower, one that still has a dozen-or-so players who predate his arrival in England. Rafa has just three who were good enough and young enough to endure (not that Hyypia was young, but like Giggs he is evergreen).
As well as buy players, Rafa has had to change the culture of the club to fit in with his ideas, as all managers do; Ferguson did that 20 years ago. It’s why it took him so long to win the title, as you cannot change things overnight.
Unless Bentez was going to try and compete for honours with the likes of Diao, Cheyrou, and Diouf, or players like Smicer, Dudek, Hamann and Henchoz, who are now all in their mid-30s (and therefore had a very short shelf-life), or injury-prone stars like Harry Kewell, Liverpool needed a fairly complete overhaul.
Particularly as Owen and Heskey had left, and Djibril Ciss was about to arrive, all of which had been pretty much decided before Rafa took the job. (Also, including Ciss as a Bentez signing only further skews the figures.)
So the inaccuracies are clear for all to see. But let’s switch things a little.
How did Ferguson overtake Liverpool? The situation was very similar to that now, even if it was a long time ago now.
Remember, both Ferguson and Bentez arrived aged 44, and inherited squads that had averaged 4th over the previous four seasons, and finished 4th the season before they arrived. All the fours, then!
Each had a massive burden of expectation, brought about by a desperately long wait for the title.
Alex Ferguson’s average league position in his first five seasons at United was 8.6 (11th, 2nd, 11th, 13th, and 6th). Bentez’s, if Liverpool finish only 3rd this season, will be 3.6.
But Ferguson faced in Liverpool in the ‘80s an established team with a top-class manager. He couldn’t get close to Dalglish during their time in the respective dugouts.
Ferguson spent more money between 1986 and February 1991 (12.8m gross, 9.87m net) than Dalglish managed in his six seasons (12.5m gross, but only 5.77m net), but got nowhere near to toppling the Reds in that time.
So United’s net spend was virtually twice that of Liverpool, and yet Ferguson still didn’t trouble Dalglish. The money Ferguson spent wisely in the late ‘80s on players like Ince, Pallister, Hughes and Bruce took four years to have any effect on the league title. This is only Torres and Mascherano’s second season.
So why did Ferguson spend so much more than Dalglish?
Well, Dalglish (like Ferguson in 2004) had a lot of his squad already in place.
Grobbelaar, Hansen, McMahon, Whelan and Nicol all spanned the entire period when Dalglish and Ferguson managed the two English superpowers.
(Liverpool raised 3.2m from selling Ian Rush in 1987, but the Reds also spend almost as much to bring him back a year later.)
Those men formed the heart of Dalglish’s Liverpool.
They were five players who didn’t need to be signed between 1986 and 1991; the kind of quality that could cost a king’s ransom if they hadn’t already been snapped up before at the top of their powers.
Ian Rush, the sixth name, also had a Liverpool connection which meant that although he needed to be re-signed, it was a relatively easy deal because of his time at Anfield.
Of course, Rush’s initial departure led to the greatest influx of talent seen under Dalglish: the wonderful quartet of Aldridge, Beardsley, Barnes and Houghton. So Dalglish was partly ‘blessed’ in that Rush, whom he inherited, at least raised enough money to rebuild the attack upon his transfer.
Ferguson has enjoyed similar bonuses more recently: selling his best players for big fees as they approached their 30s (such as Stam, Beckham and Van Nistelrooy). Such sales now help keep Ferguson’s net spend down, but in his first five years he couldn’t get such impressive sums for Ron Atkinson’s flops. So his net spend was very high for the times.
Again, make the comparison with Bentez and the likes of Diao and Cheyrou, who raised nothing.
Bentez never had such a luxury. Owen’s value wasn’t great due to his contract situation, leaving 10m less coming in. The only seriously saleable asset was Steven Gerrard, but thankfully a move to Chelsea never came to pass.
The biggest profits Rafa has made have been on players he himself bought: Crouch, Bellamy, Sissoko. Of course, he hasn’t been in the job long enough to sell his real gems, in the way Ferguson and Wenger (with Henry and Vieira) have picked the perfect time to cash in on world-class players aged 29/30/31.
If Rafa wanted to sell Torres he could make a massive profit, but thankfully the striker still has five years before he even reaches 30. So it’s not relevant. Ideally, Torres would score loads of goals, win Liverpool titles, and return to his beloved Atletico no earlier than 2014 for a big fee.
Therefore you cannot ignore the way Ferguson overcame Liverpool – not by spending more, but by spending twice the amount. And even then, it took the aftermath of Hillsborough, and the effect on Kenny Dalglish’s health, to open the door.
(Of course, when Liverpool spent big under Graeme Souness, to try and get Liverpool back to the summit, it went pear-shaped. But that’s because Souness, aside from Rob Jones, didn’t buy players of the quality Ferguson took to Old Trafford, or of the quality of players like Reina, Torres, Mascherano, Alonso, Skrtel, Agger, et al.)
So there you have it. It took the resignation of Dalglish to open the way for Ferguson, who had spent twice as much money but only averaged 9th place between 1986 and 1991. No wonder United fans wanted him out in 1990. But it just goes to show how difficult it is to overtake a side that already has the momentum, but that the best managers get there in the end.
If Ferguson is thinking back to how he did so, then no wonder he’s feeling worried.
Last edited by Sanchaari; 06-02-2009 at 08:45 PM.
urapayituum pokum...karnaam avide etrem nalla league ullappo oraaalum England il jeevikilla...epsecially when spain is far better than england in case of life style... pinne chadan ready ennuj parayenda thamasam barca 10 kayum neeti sweekarikkum ...... ronaldo pokunathinekkal chance torres um fabregas pokan aaanu ...ronaldo will stay till fergie for sure ....athu eni 10 kollam aanenkil atrem ..pakshe etra thanne silverware eduthaaalum torres is barca bound...future captian aakanulla option veruthe kalayumennu thonunila ..ithokke vivarakedi nte paryayam aaya looserfoools fansinodu paranjitenthina
torres pokukayirikkum..illayirikkum...may be if liverpool remain trophiless for 2 or 3 seasons more(which is IMPOSSIBLE)..
pakshe inganeyoru pokkinekkurich lokath aadhyamaayi parayunna aalukalil oralaanu nee...
ronaldo pokummennathinu avan thanne ethrayo thavana soochanakal thannittund..
most recently after the cl final..he doesnt have any special commitment towards anyone..it is very clear from his comments..angineyulla ronaldo pokunnathinekkalum chance liverpoolil retire cheyyanam enn parayukayum last week contract neetukayum cheytha torres pokunnathinaanu enn parayan nee kaanicha manu fansinte swathasidhamaaya
ahankaaratheyum bodhamillaymayeyum njan prashamsikkunnu..
the biggest blunder abramovich did was sacking mourinho..i dont think he can make up for it easily....only time can tell whether ancelotti will be successfull...it is unpredictable...but dont forget ac milan didnt have a good season..and pl is much tougher than serie a..still he will be more successfull than scolari for sure...chelsiyude 'sacking' mentality marathe rakshayilla...also their buying players is too much...Ancelotti named Chelsea boss
Blues confirm appointment of Italian coach
Ancelotti: Three-year deal
English football experience illa ennathu matrame oru vinayayi kaanunnullooo......but UCL okke 2 pravashyam nediyathokke vachu nokkumbol athoru kuravaayi kaanunnillaa........
chelsea need to give little bit more time to prove his class......
ithippo fis=rt seasonil prakadanam moshamanenkil scolariyude gathi varaanulla sadyaha kaanunnu.........
net kedaaaakum ..athum krithyamayi united 18 title jayikumbol ....athu veendum sheri aaaakum united finals il tholkumbol..athum ariyam..ithokke nammal etra kandiirikkunnu mahanubavulu.....
fergie already had ennu paryanda,..ithum nammal paranjathaanu...we were in relegation zone when he took over . avide ninnau ee squad undakki eduthathu....liverppol were already enjoyin CL when rafa took over...difference manasilayallo ?
chumma tharkikkateh FACHTS undel para
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