FERGIE FANTASY
Old boss says United can be champs
ALEX FERGUSON last night claimed Manchester United can still win this season’s Barclays Premier League.
At the end of a week in which the champions were smashed 3-1 by Chelsea, then knocked out of the Capital One Cup by Sunderland, their legendary former boss gave his backing to beleaguered successor David Moyes.
United are seventh in the table and 14 points behind leaders Arsenal but 72-year-old Ferguson insisted: ‘I am not writing anyone off. United are in behind them chasing.
‘United can do anything. They have got that great philosophy and history, they will always do well.’
Ferguson’s rallying cry came as Moyes completed the £37million signing of Juan Mata from Chelsea, then set off to Germany to watch more potential recruits. And in another boost to Old Trafford morale, United officials believe there is hope that they may yet persuade Wayne Rooney to sign a new contract.
The Scot gave his backing to Moyes after it was announced that he had been appointed as UEFA’s coaching ambassador.
He insisted United would ‘absolutely’ give their new boss time to turn round United’s fortunes and said: ‘ Of course t hey will [ sti ck to t heir philosophy], they’ve always been that way.
‘There’s no need to go down that road [discussing Moyes’s future]. Everybody knows what Manchester United i s, 100 per cent. I can never understand why clubs don’t give managers time.
‘They must discuss the qualities of the manager they are going to offer the j ob to, they must look at his C.V, his character, the philosophy he has.
‘Now, if that is the way they have gone about giving the man the job, why don’t they persevere with it? Maybe it goes for a year, then they change and go through the same procedure again. It seems to me so stupid.’
Moyes went t o Bayern Munich’s game at Borussia Monchengladbach last night
in the hope of monitoring striker Mario Mandzukic and midfielder Javi Martinez but neither player made the Bayern squad. Monchengladbach’s Germany winger Patrick Herrmann and striker Max Kruse — also on Moyes’s list of potential transfer targets — played from the start.
Mandzukic, 27, is expected to be pushed out by the arrival of Robert Lewandowski and Bayern president Franz Beckenbauer admitted last night that the Croatia forward could ‘pack his bags’ in the summer.
Progress on talks with Rooney would give Moyes a major boost, and United officials think they are inching closer to what had appeared an unlikely agreement with their star player.
Rooney is well aware of interest from Real Madrid and Chelsea. But when informed last weekend that Chelsea’s Jose Mourinho had predicted Rooney would be sold abroad this summer, Moyes said: ‘I disagree.’
And it is understood that despite recent poor results under Moyes, the England forward has given signals that he has not ruled out staying beyond the terms of his deal, which expires at the end of next season.
Sources at Old Trafford stressed last night that, though preliminary talks between the club and the 28-year-old had gone reasonably well, no announcement was imminent. ‘At the moment it is very finely balanced,’ said an insider. ‘It could still go either way.’
However, there is cautious optimism that Rooney — who seemed determined to leave last summer after a difficult season under Ferguson — could finally sign an extension that would commit his final years at the top to the club he joined in 2004. If Rooney does decide to stay it would represent a huge triumph for Moyes, the first of his time at United.
The former Everton boss arrived last summer to find Rooney determined to join Chelsea after a breakdown in his relationship with Ferguson. But Moyes — who gave Rooney his debut at Everton more than a decade ago — has rebuilt the player’s belief and all-round fitness and has managed to keep him motivated so far this season.