2005-06 record
League 2nd
FA Cup 5th round
Carling Cup Winners
Champions League Group stage
OLD TRAFFORD — RECENTLY expanded to 76,000 seats at a cost of £43 million — will be full to capacity when Fulham visit on Sunday, and should they maintain attendances around that figure over the course of the season, Manchester United will comfortably outstrip Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid as the best-supported club in Europe.
It is something Chelsea can only dream of emulating and flies in the face of claims that fans would turn their backs on the club after the Glazer family’s £790 million takeover. The key word, however, is “maintain” and, as if to throw down the gauntlet to his players, Sir Alex Ferguson has claimed that will only happen if United continue to be successful on the pitch.
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“We have a strong support base, but we must never take it for granted,” the United manager said. “There are grounds like the Bernabéu at Real Madrid and the Nou Camp at Barcelona who have even bigger capacities, but even they don’t fill their grounds for every match.
“I hope our players take note and realise that they have a duty and a part to play in making sure the huge investment involved in building the quadrants pays off commercially.”
Strong words, indeed, although Ferguson’s plans to topple Chelsea have — so far at least — been undermined by a hugely frustrating summer in the transfer market and it remains to be seen whether the players he has at present are good enough to mount a sustained challenge for the Barclays Premiership and Champions League.
Ferguson made a valid point when he described United as a “milch cow” at the weekend — “Every player who has been mentioned as a possible transfer target has seen the name of Manchester United thrown into the ring, often as a ploy to widen the bidding,” he said — but that does not escape from the fact that another midfield player and a striker to replace Ruud van Nistelrooy remain pressing concerns.
Ferguson can at least take heart from the two performances of Cristiano Ronaldo since his return to training after a summer that has seen him become Public Enemy No 1 in this country. The Portugal winger brushed aside Oxford United last Tuesday and scored a goal and set up another in a 3-0 win against Seville at Old Trafford on Saturday.
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Moreover, Ronaldo looked hungry, despite claiming on several occasions this summer that he wanted to join Real, and if Ferguson can get both him and Wayne Rooney — the man he was accused of helping to get sent off during England’s World Cup quarter-final defeat by Portugal — working in tandem, it would be foolhardly to discount United so readily.
Manager The Glazer family have interfered so little in the football side since buying the club it’s unclear who is scrutinising things. Ferguson knows he must start doing better
Player to watch Cristiano Ronaldo’s actions in Gelsenkirchen were unpleasant but it was not his fault Wayne Rooney was sent off against Portugal and England went out of the World Cup. That won’t stop the morons, and Ronaldo faces a tough test of character
In an ideal world Fergie’s chopping and changing of recent seasons would be revealed as another instance of his masterful team-building and a young United side would pip Chelsea to the title before beating Real Madrid 5-4 in the European Cup final, courtesy of a David Beckham own goal. Roy Keane would replace Carlos Queiroz as Fergie’s assistant
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INJURIES AND SUSPENSIONS
Michael Carrick (ankle, three weeks), Rio Ferdinand (ankle, days), Gary Neville (calf, one week), Nemanja Vidic (knee, one week)
PRE-SEASON
For all their supposed problems, United looked anything but a team in crisis, with victories over FC Porto and Ajax in the LG Amsterdam Tournament
TICKET SALES
United are well on course to sell out their newly expanded 76,000 Old Trafford ground. More than 64,000 season tickets, including executive seats, have been sold, while the rest are being snapped up by members, the 3,500 seats reserved for away fans excluded
If they were a historical figure they would be...Nero
Presiding over last days of a formerly great, seemingly unassailable but decaying empire