The club’s financial growth spurt in the last year has been attributed in large part to the club’s shares being offered on the New York Stock exchange back in August 2012.
United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has insisted he stands by his decision to remove Wayne Rooney from penalty-taking duties in favour of Ryan Giggs, who opened the scoring against Fulham on Saturday with a strike from the spot.
“I think Ryan's probably one of our best penalty takers, to be honest,” he explained.
“I think it's fair that with Wayne missing the penalties he has.”
The manager responded to speculation the form of Javier Hernandez is giving him something of a ‘selection headache’. Ferguson admitted,
“It's a terrible dilemma when I've got that lad there. Sometimes I leave him out to bring in Robin van Persie, but as I explain to him, we regard him so highly.”
The United boss also put his faith in young defender Phil Jones, who he believes will one day be better than Chelsea’s John Terry.
“He’s got more in his locker than Terry had to be honest with you but Terry gathered experience and became a fantastic central figure for Chelsea," he claimed.
Chicharito asserted his desire to win all three competitions United are chasing – the Premier League, Champion’s League and FA Cup after their 4-1 demolition of Fulham last Saturday at Old Trafford.
“I want to win all three. I want to win the Treble. That's on our minds,” said the Mexican.
Meanwhile veteran Ryan Giggs has FA Cup glory on his mind – the 39 year old midfielder told ESPN,
“The FA Cup means a lot. We've not done as well as we should have done really in the last eight or nine years.”
In transfer news, Stoke City goalkeeper and rumoured United target Asmir Begovic has expressed his interest in signing for the current league leaders, should they sell David De Gea. According to both The Sun and the Daily Mail, the Bosnian has his ‘heart set on Old Trafford’.
According to international reports, United are interested in joining the race to sign St Etienne striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The Gambon starlet is also subject to interest from Manchester City and Newcastle United.
In other news, Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew has expressed his opinion that Wilfried Zaha, who he claims Newcastle had also been ‘tracking’, may regret joining the league leaders if he doesn’t get enough game-time.
“It's a shame, really. Coming to us he would play more games, but I'm sure Alex would have a different view," he said.
New Southampton manager Mauricio Pochettino hopes his team can ‘shock’ United on Wednesday evening when United host the Saints at Old Trafford.
“We're going to Manchester to win and that has to be our mentality and I'm going to chose the players that will do that for us and for the team,” he insisted.
Finally, United’s all-time top goal scorer Denis Law believes that current number 10 Wayne Rooney will eventually break the record he set at the club back in 1973.
image: © eschipul
Jenny Leigh
@backpagenewsmore stories from Jenny Leigh
Jennifer is a freelance writer and filmmaker from London with a great passion for football - the game, the business, and the culture. Jennifer hopes to provide readership with a high standard of news, analysis, and opinion over a range of football events, stories, and issues.
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