Man Arrested Over The Darren Fletcher Burglary

After the break in and the assault on Darren Fletcher's girlfriend Hayley Grice which I posted HERE, a man has been arrested in conjunction with the crime as well as suspicion of burglary. I feel so sad for Hayley, being a girl myself I know that must have been the scariest thing to ever happen.

Hayley was forced to take off her engagement ring while Fletcher's mother was also forced to hand over watches and jewellery in a raid that happened just two hours after Fletcher set off for the match at Inter last week.

Even more alarming is the fact Fletcher's two young children, who are twins, were in the house too.

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Greater Manchester Police issued this statement: "A man has been arrested in connection with a robbery at a house in Bowdon, Trafford. Shortly before 9pm (2100GMT) on Monday, February 23 2009, police were called to a house following a report of an armed robbery. Officers attended and found that robbers had threatened two women. Two young children, twins aged two, were also in the house. An engagement ring, jewellery and watches were stolen. Today (Tuesday) a 28-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of aggravated burglary and has been bailed until May 14 2009 pending further inquiries."

At least seven Liverpool players, including club captain Steven Gerrard, have had their homes broken into while they have been away with the club in recent years with thieves making off with expensive jewellery and watches, soccer memorabilia and medals, and, in some cases, sports cars.

And Fletcher is not the only Bowdon-based footballer whose property has come under attack. Robbers armed with a knife carried out a raid on the home of Blackburn Rovers striker Roque Santa Cruz while he was away for a match at Portsmouth in November......Back To Home Page...

Manchester united Star Has His House Robbed While In Milan

Three masked burglars broke into the home of Manchester United midfielder Darren Fletcher last night and threatened his girlfriend with a knife. The gang raided Fletcher's family home, in an affluent borough of Manchester, around 9pm, just hours after he flew to Italy for his side's Champions League clash with Inter Milan.

Scotland international Fletcher, 25, lives at the house with girlfriend Hayley Grice and their twin sons.

The burglars threatened Grice and another woman before going through rooms and escaping with jewellery. It is not known whether their children were at the house.

A Greater Manchester Police spokesperson said they were alerted by a 999 call from one of the women. She added: 'The two women who were at the property were threatened by three burglars who were armed with a knife. The gang fled before officers arrived and several items of jewellery were stolen.'

Police raced to the scene but the gang had fled by the time officers arrived.

The spokesman for GMP said scenes of crime officers had been called to the house and inquiries are continuing. Police also appealed for anyone with information to contact them.

Bowdon, where Fletcher lives, on the border between Greater Manchester and Cheshire, is one of the area's most affluent villages and home to a number of multi-millionaire footballers. The £50,000-a-week Old Trafford star becomes the latest in a long line of Premier League players who have been burgled while away from home playing football.....Back To Home Page...

Sir Alex Stressed About His Injury List Ahead Of Spurs Game

Sir Fergie has announced he is not a happy chappy with regard to injuries etc etc in the days before Manchester United's trip to White Hart Lane. Their last Premier League game before jetting off to Tokyo for the World Club Championship.

He was seen to be shuffling his team around for the midweek draw with Aalborg on account of injuries and just to add insult to injury, Rio Ferdinand suffered a setback. Former Tottenham stars Michael Carrick and Dimitar Berbatov are doubts too for the game. However, Sir Alex is hopeful he has the squad to contend with the issues.

Speaking to Setanta Sports News Sir Alex said: "Berbatov is still a problem, Michael Carrick has a thigh injury and we are hoping he will be alright, that’s why I wasn’t prepared to risk Fletcher tonight. The plan was always to play Ryan for 45 minutes because I don’t know what my midfield options are going to be on Saturday. I brought Scholes on at half-time to give him 45, I don’t think he is ready to play 90 minutes at the moment. I had these issues about the midfield area as I don’t know if Carrick is going to be fit, I don’t know if Berbatov is going to be fit. Rio Ferdinand picked up a back spasm again, so that is a concern for us too. With the squad we’ve got I hope we can cope but I’d rather not have them.”.....Back To Home Page...

Manchester United Take The Honours As Rooney Notches Up His Ton

A couple of years ago Manchester City launched an advertising campaign that claimed: ‘This is Our City'. Well I got news for them, no it isn't.

Any Manchester City supporters who were thinking of their new found wealth and how they can compete on an even playing field with United can forget it. At least in the short term it wont be happening. This game just highlighted the gulf between the two teams.

Manchester United are the real thing, the finished article, Champions of England and Champions of Europe and City are "under construction" so to speak.

City were simply out played and players such as Rooney, Carrick, Da Silva and Fletcher stood out but my man of the match was Ji-Sung Park, or 'Three Lung Park' as he is affectionately known. How that guy can cover so much ground and just never give up is remarkable. It was the efforts of Ji-Sung Park that actually lead to the goal.

He was chasing around the 18 yard box for the ball, snapping at the ankles of the City players and eventually he got the ball and passed it wide to Carrick who shot across goal and Rooney fired in the rebound from Jo Hart's save. This was Rooney's 100th club goal and the game was the 150th Manchester derby.

Park never gets much praise but he is a great squad player and today his effort and work rate were second to none.

As for City's superstars Robinho and Micah Richards, did they actually play, I didn't notice.

The Ronaldo sending off will remain a mystery to me. He ran in to try and connect with Rooney's corner, he was at least 3 feet higher than any other player with a clear header on goal and he parried the ball away with his hands. Why would he do that ?

When the dust settled, though, United’s win was undeniably just.

For now, at least, United remain - in Rooney’s words - the "Kings of Manchester".

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Darren Fletcher Out Of The Game Against The "Fat Cheat's" Argentina !!

Manchester United midfielder Darren Fletcher has been withdrawn from Scotland's squad to face Argentina next week after sustaining a knee injury. Fletcher played 63 minutes of United's 5-0 victory over Stoke in the Barclays Premier League at Old Trafford this afternoon before he was replaced by Darron Gibson.

Wednesday's match against the Argentina at Hampden Park will be Diego Maradona's first as manager of the national team. We'll have to see how the fat, drug cheat gets on in his first game. I wish him the worst of luck in anything he ever does. As you can tell, I'm not a big fan. I don't like cheats and I'm not in favour of having characters like him, who in the past have shovelled kilos of white stuff up his nose, in a position where he can become hero worshipped by kids !! The sooner Argentina sack him the better !!! .....Back To Home Page

Manchester United Lead 1-0 At Half Time

Darren Fletcher fired Manchester United into a 1-0 half-time lead in their Premier League game at Everton.

The Scotland midfielder run on to a pass from Ryan Giggs to get away from Joleon Lescott and shoot through the legs of Tim Howard in the 24th minute. Everton had started well, but with Cristiano Ronaldo a constant threat, United gradually became a threat and took the lead which was no great surprise !

United could consider themselves unfortunate not to be further ahead by the break, with Giggs and Ronaldo looking particularly commanding. United had a seventh consecutive victory in their sights - and manager Sir Alex Ferguson made five changes to the team that outclassed Celtic in the Champions League. Rio and Evra were back from injury, while Giggs returned as captain.
Right-back Wes Brown and midfielder Ji-Sung Park were also recalled.

Everton had former United striker Louis Saha in attack alongside Ayegbeni Yakubu, while Joseph Yobo and Phil Neville returned from injury as boss David Moyes looked for his side to end their seven-game winless run.

Everton: Howard, Neville, Yobo, Jagielka, Lescott, Arteta, Fellaini, Osman, Pienaar, Saha, Yakubu.

Subs: Nash, Baines, Castillo, Vaughan, Nuno Valente, Rodwell, Anichebe.

Man Utd: Van der Sar, Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Ronaldo, Fletcher, Giggs, Park, Berbatov, Rooney.

Subs: Kuszczak, Neville, Anderson, Nani, O'Shea, Evans, Tevez.

......Back To Home Page

Darren Fletcher Captains Scotland Against Norway For World cup Qualifier

Manchester United fans will be keeping an eye out for Darren Fletcher and Scotland as the World Cup qualifiers are played today. This is the fourth time he has captained his country and remember, the other three were during that remarkable run of games when they all but qualified for Euro 2008 beating some big names on the way !!

Fletcher can draw on some of the experience he has gained playing with some big names at Manchester United. However, the 24-year-old is also determined to make his own mark as he attempts to take the Scots another step closer to South Africa.

Fletcher told Sky Sports: "There are a number of experienced players at our club and in the international team as well - but especially at the club because you are with them day in day out. We've got a lot of experienced players who have won a lot of things and you learn different things from different types of characters. But I'll be my own man and I'll enjoy it on Saturday. I'll go out there and give it my best and get the team up for the game and try to lead by example. If anything goes wrong on the pitch, sometimes you have to take responsibility and maybe change something. It's hard sometimes, the manager can obviously change things but, as a captain, if you see something going wrong then, on the pitch, you have to take that responsibility."

Being captain does bring some pressure with it but Fletcher is used to pressure having played at Manchester United for a number of years now.

"Maybe people do expect more but it's not a problem to me, it will give me a challenge to raise my game and answer those calls. It's something I look forward to. Playing for Manchester United, sometimes these expectations do come but you have to deal with that every week at Manchester United and it's no different with Scotland. The Scotland fans expect a lot from us and rightly so because we have been progressing over the last couple of years and we're looking to get to the next stage, which is qualifying for a major competition. The fans, the squad, the manager all want that to happen."

Scotland collected three points from their first two Group 9 games after following up a defeat to Macedonia with a victory over Iceland, and Fletcher is targeting three points against Norway.

"They are all massive games, they are all must-wins, if we don't win the game, the group is not over and there is still a lot to play for. But we want to win every game we play in and it's no different on Saturday against Norway. We will have a full Hampden and all the boys are thinking about one thing: winning the match.".....Back To Home Page

Rio On MUTV Being Asked Questions About Manchester United, Life, etc etc

Rio Ferdinand appeared on MUTV this week, chatting and answering questions from children and from viewers on the phone.

It was quite interesting really to hear his views but they limited it to 5 or 6 questions that's all, which was a bit annoying to say the least.

Here is what they showed but I'm sure there was more.

If you weren’t a footballer, what job would you be doing now? (Stephen, Sale)
I’d probably be working in the communities in Peckham, where I grew up. I’d be helping out in youth centres or football coaching for kids.

What do you say to your team-mates when they score? (Lee, Gateshead)
I can’t really say because there are normally swear words involved! Usually it’s along the lines of ‘well done’.

What’s it like to walk out at a packed Old Trafford before a big match? (Mark)
When you walk out and the crowd’s going crazy, it’s an amazing feeling - the best.

Did you ever imagine captaining United in a Champions League final?
(Steve, Manchester)
Never. I thought we’d have a chance of making the final but to lead the side out was like a dream. And to go on and win it and get our hands on the trophy was brilliant.

Which team-mates have you played against at international level?
(Paula, Runcorn)
I’ve played against Giggsy, Ronaldo and Nani. Ronny’s quite competitive and Portugal have been lucky to beat us on penalties twice. He’s always got that to throw at us when there are arguments about England and penalties. Next I’d like to play against Sheasy or Fletch.