Newcastle United and Manchester United were involved in a heated battle during the late 1990s. The Manchester club came out on the successful side on more than one occasion, which left Newcastle manager Kevin Keegan walking out of the club in 1997.

Now, former chairman of the club, Freddy Shepherd says that Newcastle tried to get Sir Alex Ferguson has the replacement, but the later understood that the Scot was just using them to get a much bigger deal at Old Trafford. Ferguson was one of the young and upcoming managers with a big reputation back then.

He had achieved a lot of success with United, which prompted speculation about a possible move to Newcastle. Shepherd has said that Ferguson’s advisers were very confident about sealing a move to Newcastle, but it was not until later that the north-east club found out that such interest was generated only to get much bigger contract at Old Trafford. Newcastle have since been on the decline and even relegated to the Championship for one season. They are now back in the top flight, but nowhere near enough the heydays achieved during the Shepherd era.

Newcastle then went and brought in former Liverpool striker Kenny Dalglish as their manager. He also managed to go close to winning the title, but was ultimately beaten by United.

“When Keegan left we tried to get Ferguson to Newcastle as his replacement. We had talks with his advisors at the time. We soon realised there was no way he was going to come to Newcastle. He was just trying to get an increase in salary. We knew we were just being used. We were ambitious, we tried to get him – at least we tried,” said Shepherd, who also lambasted the club for still retaining manager Alan Pardew after his lack of discipline.

David Moyes has finally accepted that he is finding the task of replacing Sir Alex Ferguson much harder than he initially thought. Moyes was appointed as the replacement for Ferguson, who stepped down from his role as the Manchester United manager after 26 years in charge.

During this period, he transformed United into one of the best clubs in the world. There are also top of the charts – after having overtaken Liverpool recently – in terms of the number of league titles won by English clubs.

However, Moyes has been struggling since taking over in the summer with his worst result coming this weekend against archrivals Liverpool. The former Everton manager has been struggling with the unwanted record of not having won many matches against the traditional top four. His United team were extremely poor against a resurgent Liverpool team, who were coming into the match with ambitions of the title. Steven Gerrard scored two goals – both from the penalty spot, while Luis Suarez added a third for Brendan Rodgers’ team, but the score could have been even worse for United.

After the match, Moyes said that he did not expect this kind of a poor performance from the team. He also admitted that the United job has been much tougher than he thought.

“We didn’t play well, Liverpool deserved their victory. Some decisions were correct, some were incorrect. but overall I’m disappointed. It is difficult to explain it. We have a lot to do to do both those things. I think the job was always going to be hard. Yes, it is harder (than I thought) I would say so. We have to play better and make ourselves harder to beat, harder to play against and we are also going to have to make sure we are creating and taking more opportunities,” said Moyes.

David Moyes has struggled trying to keep up with all the expectations and the legacy that has been left behind by his predecessor Sir. Alex Ferguson after a number of disappointing losses not only in the Premier League but also getting eliminated from the FA Cup on January 5.

Manchester United is located outside of the top 5 spots of the Premier League which is a huge change from the previous season when they were claimed as the champions of England.

Even though the team of Old Trafford have been going through so much modifications in the squad and in the staff, the former coach of the club Sir. Alex Ferguson has not given up hopes about Manchester United as according to him, anything can happen.

“I’m not writing anyone off, Tottenham have started coming forward a bit now, Liverpool are doing very well, Everton are doing very well, Manchester City are doing fantastic and Arsenal are top of the league’’.

“With José Mourinho you expect Chelsea to win games playing ugly but all these teams are in there. United are in behind chasing. United can do anything. They have got that great philosophy and history, they will always do well’’.

Sir. Alex Ferguson even stated that he enjoys watching Manchested United play and despite the final outcome of the match, he still enjoys it with the fans of the stadium.

“I can watch the team whenever I want and I’ve really enjoyed it. I’m going as a supporter now and instead of suffering with the team, I’m suffering or enjoying it with the fans. I’m really enjoying watching the team play.”

The former Scottish manager and player continued on saying that David Moyes has the support of the board of Manchester United and that new coaches need time to adapt into a new club just like new players try to adapt when they sign for a new football destination.

Manchester United have been left on the brink of exit from the League Cup this season after suffering a 2-1 defeat against Sunderland in the first leg of the semifinals. After this match, manager David Moyes laid the blame on referee Andre Marriner for awarding the penalty against United. Sunderland opened the scoring in the first half through an own goal from Ryan Giggs.

However, United were level very soon in the second half after a header from Nemanja Vidic. It looked like the goal would give United a significant lead going into the second leg, but Fabio Borini’s penalty in the 65th minute gave Sunderland an unlikely win.

Andrei Marriner awarded the penalty after Cleverley appeared to bring down Adam Johnson in the box, but Moyes said that this was never a penalty. The former Everton manager has been fuming at a number of decisions going against the way of United in recent matches. He has said that United are not only playing against the opposition, but also against the referees as well. The three consecutive defeats suffered by United marks the worst run since 2001. They have a game against Swansea during the weekend. This will be at Old Trafford, where they have suffered four defeats in the last six matches.

“We had a player booked for the same challenge the other day, for doing the same thing. It’s up to the referees, they’re making their minds up. It looks as if we’re having to play them as well as the opposition at the moment. It’s really terrible, it really is, we’re actually beginning to laugh at them. We just need to keep going, we didn’t do an awful lot wrong. We conceded a terrible first goal from the free-kick, but it was never a free-kick,” said Moyes.

Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who won 13 Premier league titles, has stated that he feels David Moyes will still keep the club in the title race and may even win the title at the end of the season.

United had made a very poor start to the season, which saw them lie eighth in the table after 10 matches. However, they have been making significant recovery in the last few weeks. The 1-0 win over Arsenal gave them a boost in the title race, while they have also been unbeaten for more than a month.

Questions were asked about Moyes being able to handle the pressure at United when he was suffering from poor results, but Ferguson continued to back him. Now that results have improved substantially, the former manager is of the opinion that Moyes main even guide United to the title this campaign itself. Man Utd news currently have United at 5-1 to win the league.

Expectations of United are low this season because it is a transitional period for the club, who are going through the first managerial change in 26 years. United have been displaying the swagger of old where they have been able to come back from situations that seem impossible to recover from.

“We can come from behind and win the league, there’s no doubt about that. When we’re on the charge we can be unstoppable. History shows us that. We’ve got an inner strength – we can come from behind. We’ve done it many times in the past. He’s [Moyes] doing great. It’s not easy – he’s building up a squad and he’s come to the right club at the right time. He’s got great backing,” said Ferguson.

Wayne Rooney has been the central figure for United this campaign. He has scored around 0.5 goals per game, but his overall contribution has been immense in the last few months.

The current manager of Manchester United, David Moyes, has praised his predecessor Sir Alex Ferguson for showing full faith in the Spanish goalie David de Gea at the start of his Premier League career.

Ferguson had bought de Gea from the Spanish club Atletico Madrid a couple of years back. He had paid a big amount to make that signing .Quite a lot of people had questioned that decision of the Scot manager.

De Gea didn’t find it easy at all in the Premier League. His performances for the Red Devils for the first couple of seasons were below par and he had to face a lot of criticism. But, Sir Alex never lost the faith in him. He kept backing the young shot stopper.

Now, in the ongoing season, de Gea is looking a much improved goalkeeper. He has been putting up quality performances for United on a regular basis.

Talking to the reporters about de Gea yesterday, Moyes said, “Sir Alex needs to be given a lot of credit for the development of David. He brought in a young goalie and showed a lot of faith in him.”
“David had quite a few bad days in the last couple of seasons, but, Sir Alex kept backing him and that was really brave of him.”

“David still has to make a lot of improvements and I am sure he will do that. He’s seen quite a lot in his short career and that’s only going to help him. I think we will see his best in the upcoming years.”

De Gea is just one short of completing his 100 matches for Manchester United. Out of the 99 matches that he has played so far for the Red Devils, 69 have been the league matches.

Tottenham, who have been one of the biggest spenders in the Premier league this summer, do not appear to have finished with their transfer business as of yet. They are targeting the signing of Manchester United striker Javier Hernandez, who is thought to be unsettled at Old Trafford due to lack of regular first-team football.

The striker was signed from Mexican club for £ 7 million a few years ago. He turned out to be a bargain in his first season at Old Trafford by scoring 20 goals, but he has found first team opportunities limited since then.

Hernandez has been linked with a move to the likes of Valencia in the last few weeks. He is keen on playing regularly ahead of the World Cup in 2014. Even though the chances of Mexico playing in this competition appear extremely low, Hernandez wants to be involved regularly. New United manager David Moyes has preferred to using Danny Welbeck up front along with Robin van Persie. Even the star striker Wayne Rooney has found himself on the bench at the start of the season. Despite his good performances last season, Tottenham are looking to sell Jermain Defoe before the close of the transfer window.

They have already brought in Roberto Soldado from Valencia for a club record transfer fee of £ 26 million. They are widely thought to have agreed a fee to sell Gareth Bale to Real Madrid, which will see the Premier league club getting around £ 86 million in return. They have already invested a sizeable portion of this money in buying players like Soldado and Paulinho. Manager Andre Villas-Boas recently said that he expected more transfer activity from the club.

Hernandez may have to put in a transfer request or Tottenham need to come up with around £ 15 million in order to make the transfer happen.

David Moyes attended his first press conference as Manchester United manager yesterday and he made it quite clear that Wayne Rooney is not going to leave this summer.

There had been a lot of speculations in the last couple of months that Rooney is unhappy with the way he was treated by Sir Alex Ferguson in the last season and he wants to make a move. But, those speculations have been denied by Moyes.

When asked if Wayne Rooney is going to be sold this summer, Moyes said, “No, we haven’t put him on sale. He is not going anywhere.”

“I am very impressed with the way Wayne has been training since the last few days. He is getting into great shape.”

“I have talked to him a couple of times recently and I have told him to forget whatever happened in the past and just focus on the upcoming season.”

“Wayne is one of the best in the business and if he hits top form, that will be good not only for Manchester United, but, for England as well.”

When asked when he came to know that he was going to be the next Red Devils manager, Moyes said, “Sir Alex rang me up one day and asked me to meet him at his place. I went there and he told me that he was quitting management. I couldn’t believe that and suddenly, he shocked me even more by saying that I was going to be his successor at Manchester United. That was an amazing moment for me. I didn’t know how to react.”

When asked if Sir Alex Ferguson’s presence during the matches will pressurize him, Moyes said, “No, not at all. I want him to be present during all our matches. That will make me happy. He is such a legend. I have already gone to him a couple of times for advice.”

‘Game On’ the online casino game may have captured football punters attentions in the football-less summer months, but the start of Serie A is on the horizon.

The biggest fight in Serie A looks likely to take place at the bottom of the table this season, with the newly promoted team Livorno (1/2), Sassuolo (11/10) and Verona (6/4) all amongst the favourites. To oppose any of the three to go straight back down, you need to find a team that might underperform this year.

Genoa have finished 17th of 20 for the last two seasons, missing relegation by a place both times, but have avoided the drop by a relatively comfortable six and eight points. Therefore, combining the three newly promoted teams in a treble to go straight back down looks a worthy bet at around 13/2.

Top-three betting revolves around last year’s top three Juventus, Napoli and Milan, but there may be a little bit of value in backing Fiorentina to usurp at least one of them. Last time Napoli played Champions League football they could only manage fifth place in Serie A, whilst Fiorentina made a giant step forward last year and 3/1 or better looks value to take another rung up the ladder.

If there’s an unusual bet to be had, then it concerns the best of Emilia Romana and Best of Lombardia group betting. Parma are 9/10 favourites to beat Bologna and Sassuolo in the former with Milan 1/3 to beat Inter and Atalanta in the latter. The double looks well worth an investment.

If you can’t quite draw yourself away there are plenty of great football themed games at online casinos. As well as ‘Game On’ a slot named ‘Shoot’ may also take your fancy for those breaks in play to keep your adrenaline surging.

At the top of the table, Juventus bid for their thirtieth Serie A title – and third in succession. Despite only scoring a similar amount of goals as Napoli, Roma and Fiorentina, Juventus finished nine points clear of their nearest rivals; testament to the tightness of their defence. A third title looks likely and the current 20/21 on offer is probably fair.

After losing the Manchester derby yet again, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has said that his team will not be complacent like they did last season. Manchester United managed to throw away an eight goal advantage in the finals few matches of the last campaign to lose the Premier league title on goal difference. Memories of the loss were once again brought about after United were defeated 2-1 by Manchester city on Monday night. As a result of this victory, city have managed to reduce the deficit to 12 points from 15 points.

Even though Mancini said after the match that the title race is definitely over despite this victory, there have been suggestions that United may crumble like last season due to the tough fixtures they have from now till the end of the campaign. Ferguson has said that the critics should only look at the history of the club to know that they will not become complacent. There are only seven matches remaining in the campaign. United managed to lose the title in similar circumstances last season.

Even though they took the lead in the Manchester Derby on Monday night through an own goal from defender Vincent Kompany, they conceded a late winner from Sergio Aguero to once again suffer defeat at the hands of Mancini.

“If you look at our history over the years we always make it difficult for ourselves. The supporters are hanging on the edge of their seats every year. It is a 12-point lead, we go to Stoke at the weekend and we will have a go. It wasn’t a bad performance by us, so I’m not disappointed in that respect. But I’m disappointed with the goals we gave away. For the first goal I thought their player [Carlos Tevez] was offside and interfering with play by standing in front of David de Gea,” said Ferguson.