In the finest tradition of clubs who don’t want to sell their players, Bayern Munich general manager Uli Hoeness had this to say:
Hoeness Quotes
“Hargreaves is well advised to keep quiet.
Otherwise I will be very angry and that will not be good for him. I can’t understand that after two discussions between us he is still forcing the issue. He won’t be released under any circumstances. He needs to accept the decisions of those above him and to show some respect.”
And also…
“We want to build a new, young team and we are not going to sell people like Hargreaves.
Bayern Munich will never be taken for a ride by big clubs and become weak at the knees as soon as a certain level of money is mentioned.
If you gain that sort of reputation, then it is all over for you.
I can’t understand all the excitement because this story was over two weeks ago.
We have made it clear that Owen Hargreaves is not for sale.
David Gill can phone me up at 8.30 every morning to talk about the English weather or tea but not about Owen Hargreaves.”
Will Owen Hargreaves come to Manchester United?
The similarities between Lyon’s stance with Madrid over Diarra, Milan’s stance with Chelsea over Sheva and the current standoff beween Bayern Munich and Manchester United is quite similar – the player’s club is loathe to sell, and they are in a very difficult position because the player himself desperately wants to go.
Hoeness may be ‘very angry’, but does he really want to force players to stay with him? Bayern Munich don’t want to be a selling club, but the Hargreaves-Manchester United saga will now be known to the squad as well – are Hoeness and Magath prepared to (and I say this at the risk of being accused of libel and slander) go ‘gestapo’ on Hargreaves because he wants to leave for Manchester United?
Manchester United are prepared to pay a lot of money to secure Hargreaves from Bayern Munich – and in the next 10 days we should (fingers crossed) see Bayern soften their stance, because once players start demanding moves a la Diarra and Reyes in public the club has very little time to control the situation and their player. If they can convince him to change his mind and stay (as I’m assuming Manchester United did with Ronaldo this summer and with Ruud last year) that’s great, but humiliating the player by shunting him in the reserves or forcing him to stay and honour the contract is not practical.
Tevez Rumours
More Carlos Tevez rumours, this time courtesy of the Daily Mirror. Tevez is reported to have demanded a transfer and of having said that he has played is last game in Brazil, while his agent is quoted as saying that ‘Tevez wants to move to Europe’.
Wait for more on this, but don’t hold your breath. Signing Tevez would send the Manchester United fans into delirium, and rightly so – the Rooney / Tevez / Ronaldo axis (with Saha, Giggs and Scholes supporting) is absolutely scary to think of.
But the move is as unlikely as it is delicious. Hargreaves has a better chance of coming, and that’s still not certain. Plus do we really have the money?
The Sound of Silence?
UnitedRant writes about the lack of noise made by the fans at the Manchester United v Fulham game. One of the commenters on the match report said the same thing. I’m not too worried – but coupled with the next news item, this does make me wonder about the direction football fans are generally heading in. No more simple joys of football, it seems.
Fans Attack Glazers
The Guardian reports that after the Fulham game a group of fans attempted to ‘confront’ (the Guardian says ‘attack’) the Glazers at the hotel they were supposed to be staying.
You can read the full details in the article, but the question I want to ask is:
Why do Manchester United fans still hate the Glazers?
I’m sure you guys have some views on this, so let me hear them.
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