Some Fergie Worship, Some Rooney Bashing and a Little Preview

Sir Alex Ferguson returns to his hometown for the Champions League encounter against Rangers, the club he grew up supporting. The turning point of Sir Alex’s playing career is said to be his hat trick against Rangers while he was a part time footballer with minnows St. Johnstone. The result came at a time when he was complaining about lack of playing time and was contemplating emigration to Canada to take up a position he had been offered in toolmaking, which was then a great trade. Had he taken up the job, no professional football à no managerial career à no Manchester United! And no That Night In Moscow. So, thank god for that hat trick! He became a professional footballer the following season and later realized his dream of playing for Rangers. In the two seasons with his boyhood club, he had an incredible return of 25 goals from 41 appearances.

Having had such strong connections with the club, one would have expected him to grab the opportunity of managing Rangers with both hands and legs. But, according to Alex McLeish,

"Alex declined the chance to manage Rangers – but that was only for one reason. Even then he had this big vision of going to England and managing Manchester United. Rangers weren't the only club he declined at that time. There was Arsenal and Tottenham too. In my opinion, the boss was waiting for one club and one club only – United. The rest is history."

If only every player valued the club as much as him.

“Sir Alex still has a soft spot for Rangers after all these years. He loves walking into Ibrox and being inside.”

So, Sir Alex still has a soft spot for the club. Maybe he will want them to win tonight? He has confirmed that Rooney will start today.

That brings us to Rooney’s farcical, clearly scripted interview with MUTV. He claims that, “I’ve always made people aware that I want to be at this club”. Does he honestly believe that we’ll still buy this shit? And he also declares that his “long-term future is at Manchester United”. It’s not in his control anymore, is it? And despite audible jeers from the crowd on his return against Wigan, he says, “Overall I thought the reception was brilliant”. Bizarre! By the way, where is the fucking apology?

Walter Smith, in his second spell now with Rangers, was assistant to Sir Alex twice; with Scotland during the 1986 World Cup and a short spell with United towards the end of the 2003-04 season. Sir Alex commented on Smith, saying, “There are few people in the game with his experience, knowledge and technical ability.” Smith will take on his former boss’s side with one eye on the Valencia-Bursaspor game. Rangers have to beat United to stay in the competition if Valencia beat Bursaspor at home. United, though, need only a point to qualify to the knock out stages. Rangers will be looking up to their star striker Kenny Miller to do the job for them. Miller is in sensational form with 18 goals from 14 games in the SPL this season. He scored his second hat trick of the season on Saturday and should be quite a handful to United’s young defenders.

United are without first team regulars Rio, Vida and Fletch. Smalling and Evans will play in the centre of defence alongside Rafael and Evra. I would have gone with a three man midfield had Fletch been in the squad. Since Gibson is unavailable and Anderson is coming back after a month, Fergie may be forced to play a 4-4-2 with Chicharito partnering Rooney up front; Giggs and Nani in the wings. But, Fergie hardly leaves Park out of European games, so it could be a 4-3-3 with Park featuring in the narrow midfield and Chicharito playing wide. I wish Fergie starts Giggsy though. Can’t wait to see him in action again!

Expected Lineups

Rangers(4-5-1): McGregor; Weir, Broadfoot, Foster, Whittaker; McCulloch, Davis, Fleck, Lafferty, Naismith; Miller

United (4-4-2): Vandy; Rafael, Smalling, Evans, Evra; Nani, Scholes, Carrick, Giggs; Chicharito, Rooney

Form

Rangers: DLWLWW

United: WWWDDW

Prediction

Rooney not to score in United’s 2-1 win