Archangel

Fergusons only crime as far as I can see is for managing a succesful rival. The words are genuine and said from one man who lives for football, its a compliment and a mark of respect for our club and its traditions Sure he's been a b*****d and a pain in the a*** for years, even a figure to hate but it was our managments inability to meet the challenge that was the real problem Benitez has it and Ferguson knows that and acknowledges it. Ferguson has always admitted that games against Liverpool were special why? because this craggy faced curmudgeon from glasgow understands history and footballs core values, light years away from the frothy headed Beckham and the new galacticos with whom he obviously feels uncomfortable and the iconic rise of Chelseas special one Hate him if you like but deep down he's at lot closer to our traditions than some would like to admit. Ferguson was a winner and his record speaks for itself. I believe his era is drawing to a close but I respect what he's done at United that so many managers failed miserably to acheive before him Ironic that the decline of our era was marked by the rise of his only for the decline of his reign to be marked by the re-emergence of ours

Jan Molby it is for me purely based on the personal opinon that he was more able to influence the game through his range of passing and keener understanding of when to release a ball, something I'm not convinced Gerrard has mastered to the same degree. Souness was more a destructive force than a creative one though I might be doing him an injustice as time does blur perspective a bit

Two inteliigent strikers with good movement but both lack pace, its a combination I prefer, but you pay your money you takes your choice.

Stick Traore up front! Couldn't be any worse

I was against the japan trip, it was a distraction on our focus, it was not what we needed, but its not the reason for our recent drop in form, at least I dont think so

Lots of very good replies here for me personally Tommy Smith also deserves a mention - The rock on which we were built and a colossus of a time when footballers seemed to be part of their communities

and potentially lose a good chairman in the process I might add - you might argue that the presence of Chelsea represents a fundamental threat to the traditions of this club that United never could.

Chelsea have gone right to the top of my list. I've never shared the hatred of United, they acheived a decade of success partly through financial muscle but also because of the single minded focus of their manager. The heart of their team and their success came from their youth unlike Chelsea who simply buy finished players off the shelf Chelsea's financial clout has warped competition in the league and is anti football. Their greatest vulnerability will come in competitions where teams go head to head but over a 38 game season their ability to rotate and fill their squad with highest quality players will make it almost impossible for us to compete season after season

Depending on the valuations, Defoe and Pennant Both available for the Champions League both have been linked with us Defoe not exactly pulling up trees at WHL but I believe is capable of much more as is Pennant who can't exactly being enjoying life at St Andrews Neither are truly mouth watering but both would strengthen important areas of the squad hopefully without crucifying our summer transfer budget

No it isnt a joke. Maybre hating people because they support a different club is a joke Besides I know too many Evertonians to hold a grudge I'm just tired of hating.

Decent club, good manager, sound history, no problem with Evertonians on the whole

You can never have enough midfielders at spurs - (Martin Jol ''school of thought'')

You can tell why he's such a nightmare to defend against. His physical stature, his control and possesion of the ball and his awareness of the movement around him carry a constant threat. As long as you don't expect him to be prolific in front of goal and appreciate his value as a support striker he's well worth even the kings ransom we were forced to pay for him and quite obviously part of the Benitez masterplan. Its also the reason why some engerlund fans will never accept him as an integral part of the national side

He's a World Cup winner, he was a vital part of an Arsenal side which played easily the most breath taking Premiership football for a decade. Viera is a class act by any definition of the word you care to come up with This is a guy who's been there, seen it and done it all over the world. If he feels sufficiently motivated to recognize in his book our club, its history and that special atmosphere at Anfield then I'm impressed even if no-one else is

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Really, couldn't say I've noticed When the dust settles there are a few on here who will be regretting what they've said. Some fans have really let perspective get completely out of kilter and some have made claims which they can't PERSONALLY substantiate yet are perfectly prepared to air because it suits what they want to believe. What they have got to think about is whether they are not damaging the club by spreading this whispering campaign s*** only seems to fly when the fan blows in the wrong direction

If Shepherd sacks Souness he'd have to go himself particularly after the Robson debacle. It seems to me that the vacancy will come up only once Mr Shearer is ready for it

Another Spanish/Latin based player. Its a very brave decision by Rafa to recruit so heavily from this league. You've got to admire his belief that these players will be able to change the culture of football and then the axis of power in the Premiership. I'm unsuprised that Nunez and Garcia in particular have found it difficult so far and the hope is things will change, but it is a risk as we saw with players like Diomede and Cheyrou. Ideally I'll be happier if we were to spread the net wider, surely an experienced Manager like Benitez is aware of what the rest of Europe offers which makes me think that buying from La Liga is part of a deliberate policy. Still you got to hand it to the Boss, we needed a radical change because Gerard's solutions were not changing anything and this has the potential to be about as radical as it could get

Really nothing suprises me about the Spectator. Its a right wing public school orientated organ for pseudo intellectual inbreds who fail to connect with society. They do not understand scousers, they do not understand the working class, and they simply can not relate to virtues that encompass humanity and compassion presumably because their own parents dumped them into boarding schools when they were young and forgot about them Really they should be pitied, but that would be a waste of emotion. I'd recommend a countrywide boycott of the spectator but no one reads it anyhow