Ex Manchester United And Celtic Striker Could Be Everton Bound

Everton to sign Henrik Larsson? Sounds ridiculous I know. I thought Henrik had his swansong with Manchester United back in 2006-07 but apparently he is now seeking a position in a professional capacity with a club and has welcomed enquiries.

Larsson is still registered with Helsingborg and at the age of 36 everyone thought that would be his final club.

With this news that Larsson is seeking another club, David Moyes of Everton has been quick to check out the possibility of signing him, after he lost Yakubu for the rest of the season.

Manchester United shocked the football world when they announced that Larsson would be on loan from 1 January until 12 March 2007, coinciding with the Swedish league's off season.

His debut was against Aston Villa in the FA Cup Third Round on 7 January 2007 at Old Trafford, a game in which he scored. Larsson scored his first ever Premier League goal on January 31 in a 4-0 win over Watford, he then scored on his last appearance at Old Trafford in a Manchester United shirt in a 1-0 UEFA Champions League win over Lille on 7 March 2007 to give United a 2-0 win on aggregate.

Whilst Sir Alex Ferguson tried his best to extend the loan period, Larsson stated that he had made a promise to his family and his club to return on 12 March. This was confirmed on 20 February, when Larsson announced that he would not be extending his loan period. Despite this, Sir Alex Ferguson was full of praise for the striker, who scored 3 goals in 13 matches in all competitions during his 3 month stay, saying, "He's been fantastic for us, we tried everything we could to get him to stay longer, but he made a promise and you have to respect that."

Larsson made his final appearance for United on Saturday 10 March in a 6th Round FA Cup tie away to Middlesboro, ending in a 2-2 draw.

Manchester United won the Premier League two months after Larsson had left the club, and although he had not played the required quota of 10 league games to qualify for a Premier League winners medal, he, alongside Alan Smith, was granted special dispensation by the Premier League after the club requested for extra medals for the two.....Back To Home Page...

Manchester United Keeper Prepared To Wait

Ben Foster has not had the best of luck regarding his first team chances at Manchester United. He was out on loan at Watford for a full season and upon his return missed virtually all of last season with a cruciate ligament injury. Despite this, he is still willing to wait his turn and take his chance when it comes. He is often mentioned as a potential player to be included in each and every England squad.

Edwin Van der Sar has started to show his age with a few uncharacteristic mistakes and there is a possibility that either Tomasz Kuszcak or Ben Foster could force their way into contention, with the latter prepared to play a patient waiting game.

Talking to Setanta Sports Foster said: "I have got to take any chance that I am given, United are in a lot of competitions, like the Carling Cup, which gives the manager a chance to make changes. There are also other Premier League games where he might rotate a little bit and give either myself or Tomasz a chance. I just have to get my head down and keep doing the same things in training. Then if my chance comes along, hopefully I will be ready to take it."

"Yes, it probably is harder when you only come in for one game every few weeks. When you are the established number one keeper, you know you are going to be playing, you know what to expect and you can tailor your week to prepare. When you don't know whether you are going to be playing, or even involved, it is hard to prepare, you have to be professional, do the right things in training and be ready when the call comes."

Foster's attitude is rare to see these days. Put someone on the bench for too long and it doesn't take them long to begin the 'crying game' and demanding first team chances. I rate Foster higher than Kuszczak who has the ability to make me nervous every time a cross or corner is aimed any where near him.

Is Foster a future England goalkeeper?

I think so, yes.....Back To Home Page...

Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo Wins The Ballon D'Or

Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo won the European Footballer of the Year Award in France on Tuesday.

The 23-year-old Portuguese star is the first from his country to win the coveted 'Ballon D'Or' award which is given by 'France Football' since Luis Figo in 2000.

CR7 has spoken often about his chances of winning this despite protestations from opposing fans. At one point he actually declared himself not only the best footballer in the world but second and third too.

He scored a remarkable 42 times in 49 matches as United secured a memorable league and European Cup double.

Lionel Messi finished in second place with Fernando Torres in third.

This award has been Presented since 1956 by the French football magazine France Football, it is awarded to the player considered to have performed best over the previous year;. The first to lift this honour was Blackpool player Stanley Matthews.

Prior to 2007, the player had to be a member of a club based within UEFA's jurisdiction in order to qualify for selection; and until 1995 a player also had to be of European nationality to be eligible. The 2007 change in rules saw players from Qatar, the United States, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina named on the shortlist alongside those from European clubs.

Since October 2007, 96 football journalists from around the world have decided the winner from a shortlist of 50 compiled by France Football.

Add this title to the fact Manchester United are current Premier League Champions and Champions of Europe things look rosy right now. Ronaldo is also favourite for the World Player of the Year too.....and I don't think many will argue with that!

Can Manchester United also go on to win the World Club Cup in Tokyo too ? The mind boggles.....Back To Home Page...

Back patting

Since I saw Thaicrisis give himself a pat on the back for some accurate forecasts this week, I though it might the time to do the same for myself. Hey, nobody else is going to do it!

1) The class war, it’s escalation and the fallout of the Thaksin feud was predicted by yours truly back on my old blog, which is now deleted.

2) The fallout of the constitutional referendum and predictions for the previous election were called by myself.

3) As you know, the end result of Thaksin’s Man City bid were called by me.

4) And I saw the judicial coup coming early on.

Admittedly, none of these evnts required a huge amount of astuteness.

It just goes to show: even a broken clock can be right twice a day :-)

Did Manchester United Make The £17m Bid ?

As I previously reported, Manchester United have been taking a long hard look at Axel Witsel, the young Standard Liege midfielder. However, it now appears insist that they have no plans to sell Witsel in January. In fact, they are claiming they have actually turned down a bid of £17m.

There are a number of clubs checking on the progress of Witsel but they have not revealed who the bid came from. Despite interest from Italy, France and Spain, it is the host of Premier League clubs who look keenest.

Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Bolton and Middlesbrough have all been linked to him or they have been seen watching him but Standard's vice-president Luciano D'Onofrio has sent out a clear message that Witsel is not for sale and they have turned down a huge offer for him.

"I had a bid of €20million for Witsel and it was refused, it is not even a question."

I very much doubt it is Manchester United who launched the bid. OK, if we could get Witsel for a cut down price of around £10m then fine, he is a great prospect but I doubt United will be involved in a bidding war for him come January......Back To Home Page...

A few interesting comments from Thaksin's Dubai (ArabianBusiness.com) interview:

"Do you know how many countries there are in the world? There are 197. And only 17 have an extradition treaty with Thailand," he notes with a thin smile. "Better still, only 10 of those treaties are active. So, don't you worry about me, I still have many places to stay."

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"With me at the helm I can bring confidence quickly back to Thailand, and that is why we have to find a mechanism under which I can go back into politics."

What does his wife think about this? "She has divorced me," he responds, bluntly - end of subject."

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"He admits that going back now would be too risky, but insists that "time is on my side"."

"But could he really be PM again? Shinawatra is adamant that it could happen.

"The coup is still there - it has been transformed from a military coup to a judicial coup," he explains."

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"I don't care, though - I thank them [The UK] because I went there, I bought a football club then sold it and made some money in the process," he says. "They gave me a place to stay, even though it was short-term. My children went to school there.

One day, they will understand better, and they will feel sorrow for what they have done because they have not respected their own democratic values."

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"I cannot live in my own country. There were many assassination attempts, and my family has been broken up because we all have to live in different countries. I regret the result, but not what I have done. You see, I love the Thai people."

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In fairness, his swipe at the UK was not reported with 100% accuracy by The Nation.

Also, it may not be wise for me to make a link but New Mandala has a very interesting article right now.

This is the news you will read in the next few days:


1) The Constitution Court will dissolve the PPP party, meaning a new election must be held. The PPP and UDAD will be furious but will not demonstrate because they do not wish to do so during the celebration of His Majesty's birthday.

2) The PAD will hail it as a victory and disperse from eh airport, citing that they wish to respect His Majesty's birthday.

There is one other prediction I would like to make but I cannot.

In future, more Thaksin proxies will be elected and the struggle will continue.