I am sure all Manchester United fans are well aware of the efforts of the so called Red Knights and MUST in wanting to buy out the Glazers and take control of the club.

For those that don’t know, 30-40 mostly anonymous business men, bankers and hedge fund managers claim to be life long fans who are attempting to save the club from financial ruin under the current owners. They have teamed up with MUST, a group of disgruntled fans also interested in gaining ownership of the club.

Currently, all they are asking is for supporters to give their backing by signing up as MUST members. The target was to double the membership to 100,000 as a signal that they have the backing of the supporters and to continue with their plans. It has grown by almost 30,000 new members in the last 24 hours alone and will surely reach their target. Then what? Well the Knights will try to raise the rumoured £1.5 billion pounds needed to clear the huge club debt, buy out the Glazers and put the club on the road to decades of success. Easy! They also claim they will give the fans a seat at the boardroom table. Win/win for fans, right?

However, there is a problem. The Glazers don’t want to sell. It is either going to take a huge offer to make them change their minds or they are going to have to be forced out. It is going to take a lot more than waving a Green and Gold Scarf at them. There are already suggestions that the Knights will ask fans to boycott season tickets. No doubt that will also extend to official club merchandise and match day hospitality. They hope that the lose of revenue will cripple the Glazers business plan and force them to put the club on the market.

So all we have to do is virtually bankrupt the club we have supported our entire lives and place its future in a group of largely unknown people without any idea of their individual motives or how they are going to run the club when they seize control. Will they use debt to take over the club? Who will run the club? Will they each own a share in the club? Will they get dividend payments? How can we be sure the club will never again be taken over by greedy owners in search of a profit? Surely, they will all want their money back at some stage, what is their exit strategy? Who will represent the fans? How much of a say will the fans actually have?

Portsmouth and Leeds are perfect examples of clubs that have almost been destroyed by poor financial management. We have all seen what has happened recently at Liverpool with their 2 American owners virtually crippling the club at a business and footballing level through infighting and lack of funding. How will 40 presumably large egos manage?

I am sure all fans would agree that if the Knights want our backing, they should come out with a detailed statement of their intentions and promise to give 100% ownership of club back to the fans and run it in a similar fashion to Barcelona FC. Until they do, I for one will not be supporting them.

OK I am a little late but it’s the thought that counts, right??

I am ashamed to admit that I have been neglecting the blog lately. I guess I haven’t really had very much to say of late. Nothing has changed there I hear you say! Even so,  I thought I’d give a quick round-up of the year to date…

Development

The new year has been a busy period. We have just finished the development phase of our next major release, my first since joining last year. Its been a step learning curve but we have managed OK. The next release will be a lot more involved so I am looking forward to getting going with that. It should see us through the rest of the year.

I have also lined up a few interesting side projects to keep myself off the streets at night. They are mix of web and iPhone apps using Ruby on Rails, the iPhone SDK and OpenGL ES. I am also hoping to take a look at Android development at some stage. It’s a very interesting time for independent developers. Every day seems to bring a new platform or app store announcement lately (Nokia’s Ovi Store, Palm’s App Catalog and as well as others by MS, O2 and Orange!). I guess with the amazing success of the iPhone’s App Store, it was inevitable that the other smart-phone makers would follow suit. It will be interesting to see how things shape up once the dust settles. I’m also hoping to climb out of my cave and go meet some other developers.

Gaming

It was a quiet Christmas in terms of gaming. I have been playing Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune on the PS3 when I find time. Its a 3rd person action-adventure game, similar to the Lara Croft series with a Gears of War style cover system. Its fun to play and the graphics are excellent, considering its over a year old. Overall, its fantastic value for money on the budget Platinum series.  I will definitely be picking up a copy of Uncharted 2 when it is released later this year. Also, the much anticipated Killzone 2 is due for release on the PS3 very soon. Unfortunately the Wii didn’t even get switched on over Christmas due to the dearth of quality titles. I am toying with the idea of trading it in for a DS or more PS3 games.

Football

Since I last posted, Stevie G was arrested, Rafa Benitez cracked, Arsenal have disappeared and Chelsea sacked their manager of 6 months. Meanwhile, Man Utd have went on a record breaking run of 14 clean sheets (and counting) and have stormed their way to a 5 point lead at the top of the English Premier League. They are currently English, European and World Champions, own the world’s best footballer (at least for now) and have an unprecedented quintuple in their sights. It’s a pretty good time to be a Red! I could be smug about it but I really don’t expect them to do a clean sweep. Barcelona are looking really strong at the moment and must be favourites alongside Utd for the Champions League. Also, it only takes one bit of bad luck (As Utd saw against Portsmouth in the FA Cup last year) and you can be knocked out. Everyone thinks the Carling Cup is a foregone conclusion, but I expect Spurs to be really up for it against some of the younger members of Utd’s squad. It should make for an exciting run in.

It has been a long and painful summer for many Man Utd fans. After the giddy highs of Moscow, we have had to endure a never-ending stream of rumours and hearsay. For three long months nothing really happened. Ronaldo succumbed to Fergie’s iron will. Spurs complained bitterly about Utd’s pursuit of Dimitar Berbatov, with some justification. That was it!

Finally at midnight last night, it all came to an end. The final hours of the final day were the complete antithesis of the rest of the Transfer window. Man City threw the cat amongst the pidgens yesterday morning. Their new billionaire Oil Sheiks, who make Roman Obramovic look like a second hand car dealer, wanted to announce their presence with £300m worth of bids, including an accepted £35m offer for Berbatov.

City had permission to speak to him, Utd didn’t! Were Utd’s biggest rivals going to gazump them at the last minute? Then it emerged that Berbatov was picked up by Fergie from the airport and had a medical, even though Utd still didn’t have permission to talk to him. The minutes ticked by and still no announcement. Then the news broke of City’s £32m purchase of Robinho from Real Madrid. What was going on?! He had spent the last fortnight begging to be sold to Chelsea. It had become a complete farce! City fans were dancing in the street, claiming they were going to win everything. The deadline passed with nothing more of a dodgy sighting of Berbatov walking alongside Fergie in Old Trafford. Finally, at 20 minutes past midnight, Utd announced that the £30.75m deal was complete. 

City had done to Chelsea what Chelsea had done to so many other teams over the last 4 years. Utd had finally got Berbatov, 2 years later and for £20m more than they initially wanted to. Ronaldo was still a Utd player. Utd had finally gotten rid of the man with the glass knees, Louis Saha. Real Madrid, after all their attempts to steal Ronaldo from Utd, ended up being bullied into selling Robinho. Let’s just hope the rest of the season can be as exciting as transfer deadline day.

As for Berbatov, he will be a fantastic buy for Utd. A tall, skillfull, classy forward was just what we were looking for to try and retain the Premiership and Champions League. He reminds me of the great Eric Cantona in the way he struts around. He turned down higher bids to play for the Reds, which is a great sign. His signing has more than made up for our summer of discontent. Come on the Reds!

So Ronaldo has finally admited he wants to go to Real Madrid. Shocker!! I am sick and tired of Ronaldo’s antics. Yes, yes, I know. All southern Europeans want to play for Real (zzzz!). I don’t care. Let them have him. They are made for each other. I for one would be relieved to see the end of the story.

As a Man Utd fan, I want to see guys out on the pitch that want to play for the club, giving their all for the shirt and the fans. Now I know that most footballers are only loyal to themselves and the almighty dollar. However, players like Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville give hope that there are still some players in the game that have some class. As much as I have enjoyed watching Ronaldo this last few years, I always knew it would end in bitter divorce and acrimony, sooner rather than later. Let’s take the money and invest it in some new talent, rather than a long, drawn out feud that will do more harm than good. So I say thanks to Ronaldo for the entertainment, goals and most of all the Champions League trophy (although I should really thank John Terry!).

Good luck with Real, Ron. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

So the first all-English European Champion’s League final will see Man Utd face Chelsea in Moscow on the 21st May.  Both clubs are sitting on equal points in the English Premier League with 2 games to play.  Its going to be a fantastic climax to a great season. 

PS. If you don’t speak Russian, the title says: Come on the Reds!

Well I always thought it was going to be a tough game at home to Arsenal, especially after them being kicked out of Europe by Liverpool in midweek. When we went 1-0 down thanks to an obvious handball I thought it wasn’t going to be our day.
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Super Sunday has come and gone (almost) and it looks like Man Utd were the outright winners on the day. We gave our fiercest rivals a good drubbing (3-0) but it really should have been 5-0 with Rooney, Ronaldo and Tevez all wasting great chances. I have to admit I wasn’t expecting such an easy afternoon agains’t Gerrard and Torres. No doubt most Pool supporters will blame the ref and the sending off but I don’t think it really mattered – they just didn’t compete and never really look like they would threaten us.

We now have a 5 point gap at the top with 7 games to play. There are some tough games ahead with Arsenal at home and Chelsea away so its too early to break open the bubbly. Arsenal have really blown it lately and Chelsea have stolen 2nd spot from under their noses. They have been quietly plugging away since Mourinio was axed and are a real threat in the run in. The game at the Bridge is going to be crucial.

Tonight I had the pleasure of watching Cristiano Ronaldo overtaking the great George Best’s 32 goal haul in a single season with 8 league games still to go! Having missed the Best era, watching Ronny is probably the closest I will ever get to seeing that sort of genius in the flesh. His speed, skill, strength and determination combine to make the ultimate footballer. With the 50th anniversary of the Munich Disaster and the 40th anniversary of our first European victory, what better way of celebrating the history and tradition of the greatest club in world football (ok I may be slightly biased). As he marches towards the end of the season, personal accolades will surely come and I wouldn’t bet agains’t Portugal in the Euros this summer. Hopefully, he can emulate Best and give us the European trophy we have been waiting for and then being crowned World Footballer of the Year will surely be a formality. Come on the Reds!