Premier League
FLASHBACK: ‘You are f****** idiots!’ – why Sir Alex Ferguson stormed out of press conference in defence of ‘f****** great’ Manchester United signing
“Be quick, I’ve only got a few minutes,” Sir Alex Ferguson harked to a tight and tense press room at Carrington back in May 2002.
The Manchester United manager’s relationship with the media was rarely affable, particularly at a time when press conferences were spiky and tense, confined to a claustrophobic media room and not streamed online to the masses. Journalists were often scolded or banned from future attendance if they rubbed the Scot up the wrong way.
Said journalists were on tenterhooks when coming together at United’s training ground for the penultimate game of the 2001/02 campaign. Arsenal were the visitors to Old Trafford that weekend, with Arsene Wenger’s side knowing victory against their fiercest rivals would secure the title.
It had been a disastrous six weeks for Ferguson and United, with defeat at home to Middlesbrough at the end of March seeing them lose their place at the table’s summit for the first time since January.
A month on from that, the Reds were dumped out of the Champions League at the semi-final stage by Bayer Leverkusen, having drawn both legs and losing on away goals.
Juan Sebastian Veron had been excellent for United during their European campaign, with the slower pace and more technical focus suiting his strengths. Ferguson brought the Argentinian across from Lazio the previous summer, sanctioning a then-British record £28.1million move and agreeing a lucrative five-year contract.
It was hoped Veron would lead the way in Ferguson’s latest squad evolution, and the United boss was at pains to accommodate his flashy new signing, often breaking up the tried and trusted midfield duo of Roy Keane and Paul Scholes.
Four goals in his first eight games was about as close to a dream start as one could wish for and enough for Veron to claim the Premier League’s Player of the Month award for September. But as those goals dried up and the silky midfielder struggled with English physicality, so the media criticism inevitably followed.
The Argentinian was at the centre of media reports, with one in particular irking Ferguson. In the fallout from United’s Champions League exit, the Mirror ran a story alleging a row between Veron and some of his teammates which ended when the midfielder supposedly stormed out.
And so Ferguson entered his pre-game press conference – this time on a Monday, with the Arsenal game on Wednesday – with scores to settle and little tolerance of those reporters he was hosting. In a full transcript of the meeting with journalists, captured by the tape recorder of Telegraph reporter Sam Wallace, the fiery Scot took issue with the line of questioning.
The conversation initially drifted towards Ferguson suggesting Wenger had been arrogant in the build-up, but quickly spread to a more general back-and-forth in which the United boss brought up the Veron story.
With one reporter having already been labelled a ‘joke’ and a ‘disgrace to journalism’, they decided to press on and ask directly about the alleged row – and that was enough.
“That was answered with Paddy Harverson [United’s ex-director of communications],” Ferguson fumed before storming out of the packed media room.
“It’s absolute nonsense! Absolute nonsense! You know it’s nonsense! Absolute lies! I don’t believe that you write these things.
“Anyway, that’s a finish, on you go. Get going. On you go! We’re no f****** talking! [Veron] is a f******* great player! You are f****** idiots!”
Veron started against Arsenal but lasted only 58 minutes, coming off shortly after Sylvain Wiltord scored what would be the title-clinching goal for Arsenal. It was fitting that in the first game after Ferguson’s impassioned defence, the midfielder’s weaknesses came to the fore against a physical and dynamic Gunners side.
The Argentinian’s status as a club-record signing ended in the summer of 2002, with Rio Ferdinand joining from Leeds United in a deal worth around £30million.
And after a dismal World Cup campaign with La Albiceleste – they left at the group stage despite entering the competition as joint favourites – Veron endured another underwhelming season at United. The Reds retained their place at the top of the Premier League that season but lost to Liverpool in the League Cup final and were knocked out of the FA Cup by Arsenal in February 2003.
The former Lazio man bagged six goals and nine assists from 40 appearances, a tally that was far from terrible but continued to warrant questions with the caveat of his price tag. Just over 14 months after exploding at the press for their criticism, Ferguson cut his losses on Veron and sold him to Chelsea for £15million.
The midfielder would later suggest his struggles in England were due in part to a less intense pre-season compared to Italy, while Ferguson would admit his record signing was not cut out for the Premier League: “Juan Veron was capable of exceptional football and was talented. But at times, he found the Premiership a bit difficult. He was a European player and that was where we got our best form from him.”
Veron would spend four years at Chelsea, although three of those were on loan to Inter Milan and then Estudiantes in his home country – a side he would eventually join permanently in 2006 to wind down his career. He would never mirror his form for Parma and Lazio during his spell in England, but remained grateful to Ferguson for defending him.
“I was just very grateful for that, I always respected his defence of me,” Veron told Gambling Zone of Ferguson’s fiery press conference. “I know my English past isn’t so great – lots of ups and downs – I never had regularity in my football career over there.
“I don’t like this because in my seven years in Italy, I played a consistent level of football. In England there were so many ups and downs, so I am forever grateful to Sir Alex for defending me from the media. But my football, at that moment, was not that good.”
-MEN
Liverpool beat Crystal Palace 1-0 to remain top of the Premier League as Arsenal and Manchester City came from behind to win on Saturday.
City were 3-2 victors over Fulham to stay one point behind Liverpool, alongside Arsenal who saw off Southampton 3-1.
Arne Slot has now won nine of his first 10 games since succeeding Jurgen Klopp as Liverpool manager, but was frustrated that the visitors invited a late onslaught from the winless Eagles.
Jota prodded the Reds into the lead from Cody Gakpo’s cross on nine minutes.
The Portuguese international was then guilty of missing two big chances to extend Liverpool’s advantage.
Palace failed to make them pay, but victory came at a cost for Slot as goalkeeper Alisson Becker limped off with a hamstring injury.
“If you score the second you break them mentally,” said Slot. “All the fans kept believing in a result because it was only 1-0, even though in my opinion we were the dominant team.”
Fresh from a dominant win over Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, Arsenal were expected to sweep aside winless Southampton.
But the Saints shocked the Emirates 10 minutes into the second half when Cameron Archer fired in his first Premier League goal since a summer move from Aston Villa.
The lead only lasted three minutes before Kai Havertz scored for the seventh consecutive home game.
Gabriel Martinelli was introduced after an hour and took just eight minutes to make his mark with a finish on the volley from Bukayo Saka’s cross.
Having set up Arsenal’s first two goals, Saka pounced on a loose ball to score the third himself.
Fulham’s outrageous opener
Rodri’s season-long absence due to a serious knee injury is expected to be a major blow to City’s chances of retaining the title for a fifth consecutive season.
But it was the Spaniard’s deputy Mateo Kovacic who scored twice to turn the game around for the champions at the Etihad.
The visitors had not lost since the opening night of the season at Manchester United and led thanks to Andreas Pereira’s finish from an outrageous backheel assist by Raul Jimenez.
Kovacic’s deflected effort quickly brought City level before a cleaner strike less than two minutes into the second half made it 2-1.
Jeremy Doku then smashed into the top corner from outside the box to give City a two-goal cushion, which they needed.
Rodrigo Muniz gave Fulham hope on 88 minutes, but City held out for a 17th consecutive win against the Cottagers.
West Ham eased the pressure on new boss Julen Lopetegui by ending a run of three home defeats to start the new season.
Michail Antonio, Mohammed Kudus, Jarrod Bowen and Lucas Paqueta struck for the Hammers in a 4-1 win over Ipswich, who are still waiting for their first Premier League win 22 years.
There were six goals before half-time as Brentford beat Wolves 5-3 to leave the visitors still rooted to the foot of the table.
Leicester secured their first league win of the season as Facundo Buonanotte’s strike beat Bournemouth 1-0.
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag faces a huge match if he is to remain in charge when the Red Devils visit Aston Villa in the pick of Sunday’s action.
-AFP
Premier League
Premier League rejects City request to delay next season’s games after Club World Cup
The Premier League has rejected Manchester City’s request to postpone the first two games of the 2025-26 season to help the players recover after their FIFA Club World Cup campaign in the U.S., the club’s manager Pep Guardiola said on Friday.
City and Chelsea are the two English clubs who have qualified for the expanded month-long Club World Cup set to start on June 15. The Premier League’s season will begin in August.
An increasingly packed soccer calendar has been a concern among a growing number of players and managers. A report by global players’ union FIFPRO said some players get only 12% of the year to rest.
The Premier League did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours.
City midfielder Rodri said in September that players could be close to strike action over the time they are required to play. A knee ligament injury has since put him out for the season.
“I don’t know if we will play more games than the treble year (2022-23)… maybe we’ll play less games,” Guardiola told reporters.
“The Premier League has not allowed us to postpone the first two games for our recovery. Thank you so much. They don’t postpone these games so that will be the moment of, oh, what do we have to do?”
He said the Club World Cup will make it even more difficult for clubs to manage player workload.
-Reuters
Manchester United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe said a decision about under-fire manager Erik ten Hag is not his call, and was reticent about whether he still has faith in the team’s boss amid their worst start to the Premier League season since 1986-87.
“I don’t want to answer that question,” Ratcliffe told the BBC. “I like Erik. I think he’s a very good coach but at the end of the day it’s not my call, it’s the management team that’s running Manchester United that have to decide how we best run the team in many different respects.
“That team that’s running Manchester United has only been together since June or July. They weren’t there in January, February, March or April — Omar (Berrada, CEO), (Sporting Director) Dan Ashworth — they only arrived in July.
“They’ve only been there . . . you can count it in weeks almost — they’ve not been there a long time so they need to take stock and make some sensible decisions.”
Ten Hag’s job was the subject of speculation for much of last season en route to the team’s lowest Premier League finish of eighth. After an FA Cup final victory over Manchester City and an end-of-season review, however, Ten Hag signed a new contract to extend his stay at Old Trafford until 2026.
“Our objective is very clear, we want to take Manchester United back to where it should be, and it’s not there yet, obviously, that’s very clear,” Ratcliffe said.
Ten Hag continues to plead for patience from fans with the team languishing 13th in the Premier League table, having lost three of their six opening games. They were headed towards defeat by Porto in the Europa League on Thursday before Harry Maguire scored a last-gasp goal to salvage a 3-3 draw.
-Reuters
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