Ferguson misses the point

Sir Alex Ferguson doesn't misread situations very often. 25 years of perpetual success in Manchester and 12 titles indicate this. But his handling of Rio Ferdinand's Kick It Out boycott perhaps reveal a fallibility of the 70 year old.

This weekend player ratings in the Premier League were pushed to one side as interest focused on whether players would pull on a particular top in warm ups. Ferdinand was the lone United player to go incognito, but he was joined by Jason Roberts and two other Reading players, two from West Ham, and the entire contingent from the Liberty stadium.

Michael Vorm was one of the Swansea players who collectively shunned the t-shirt and he calmly and fairly explained why Swansea chose not to wear them. "Everyone expects the governing bodies to do more... They really have to do something and not just say something on a T-shirt."

Whether Ferguson objected to Ferdinand not backing the campaign or rather took affront to his disregard of his instructions is unclear. Ferguson was highly critical when informed about Robert's planned abstention on Friday and it would follow that the same stretch of thought applied to his own players.

Ferguson seemed to have missed the point on Friday, describing Robert's as "a stray sheep" and insisting that everyone should back the campaign. His comments suggested that dissent was a mistake, but without individuals who are prepared to challenge the existing hegemony progress will slow in all aspects of society, of which racial prejudices are one facet.

Alex Ferguson is clearly his own man and rules United with an iron fist. His comments over the weekend bely his trade union and socialist background and instead seem like totalitarian rhetoric. Why should any player be forced to wear a largely irreverent T-shirt bearing a slogan which they feel doesn't fairly represent them?

The FA, who are happy to spend £20 million soliciting favour from FIFA in the failed World Cup bid, and de facto UEFA, contribute just £300,000 to the organisation tasked with eradicating all discrimination in the game. It's a paltry sum and the shirts that hogged headlines are not subsidised by the clubs; KIO pay for the shirts to be printed and even pay for them to be sent out around the country.

The plight of the organisation is one of key aspects to come from this ill timed Kick It Out week and in fairness the player boycotts have attracted publicity that the own organisation could only dream off.

For refusing to wear a T-shirt which is symbolic of a culture that has failed to adequately defend his brother, Ferdinand is reportedly looking at a two week fine. Coupled with his £40,000 fine from the FA for a retweet, the United defender could end up paying more in fines than John Terry.

Chelsea have kept their own punishment in house and given that any fine greater than two weeks wages needs to be declared to the PFA (it hasn't) the two time former England skipper has got away extremely lightly.

The boycotts of Kick It Out are not necessarily aimed at that specific organisation. The recent scandal in Serbia, the cop out by Chelsea and the lenient punishments for Terry and Suarez have all contributed to a feeling of discontent amongst black players and managers. Who are we, Sir Alex included, to tell them how to protest?

Two hands on the title?

Sir Alex Ferguson conceded that Manchester City had two hands on their first Premier League title yesterday after the Citizens overcame a battling Newcastle side 2-0 on Sunday.

Barring a slip-up against lowly QPR, or a ridiculous goal-swing, Roberto Mancini looks to be on his way to his fourth league title, and his first in England. City deserved the win over Newcastle, but it was their manager who deserves most of the credit for his game-changing substitution in the 61st minute.

Replacing the, again ineffective Samir Nasri, for the on-paper more defensive midfield bruiser, Nigel de Jong, Mancini relieved some of the defensive duties on Yaya Toure and within 10 minutes the Ivorian went on to score the all important first goal.

At the time of Mancini's substitution I imagine City fans up and down the country were cursing their Italian and obviously defensive manager in a game that they needed to win, but the tactical switch proved to be telling and looks to have wrapped up the title for City.

Mancini was heavily criticised in his first year and a half in Manchester for being too cautious and was superbly vindicated by his substitutions and tactics today. A dangerous Newcastle side were well contained and Manchester City's cosmopolitan squad showed no sign of choking in this match.

With a five point lead over Mancini and his team, Ferguson had United in prime position a month ago. The defensive mistakes that have blighted the last few United performances can be accused, but the anaemic side that Ferguson put out in last weeks derby was a real turning point and a huge tactical error from the Scot.

Ferguson has had success hitting teams on the counter in the past, notably against Arsenal with Ronaldo running riot, however in the 'unmissable' game last week the United midfield were almost embarrassed by Man City's midfield engine.

A midfield of Scholes, Giggs, Carrick, Park and to a lesser extent Nani, has no dynamism to it and Manchester City were able to press incredibly high-up the pitch, much like Barcelona. Sir Alex got his tactics spectacularly wrong that night, in trying to match City up on the pitch and in effect try to take the draw, he played straight onto the hands of Mancini.

Player-to-player you would argue that City are by far stronger than the individuals in the United team. Aguero and Tevez are much better than Rooney and Welbeck, Hart beats De Gea, Kompany and Lescott are the best defensive pairing in the league, whilst Silva and Toure have carried City through several games this year. What has cost City at stages this season is their inability to always perform to their maximum potential, whereas United tend to over perform in more matches.

Rather than stick to their attacking flair, provided by the outstanding Valencia and Young, Ferguson tried to shut up shop and contain the most potent attacking side in the league. It went badly wrong and the tactical gamble looks like costing United the league.

Meanwhile, in the Budweiser Cup there was a rather predictable result as Chelsea just about did enough to beat a poor Liverpool side. Chelsea bossed the game for 60 minutes and it took the introduction of Andy Carroll to stir Liverpool into some response.

Carroll looked as if he had entered a time-warp and was reminiscent of the player that terrorised defences during his time at Newcastle. He gave John Terry a torrid time and somehow managed to dance round the former Engalnd skipper to score for Liverpool.

He was unlucky not to equalise, after Petr Cech pulled off a superb save to deny him his second, though you could argue the striker ought to have scored, heading it into the ground would have given Cech no chance. I would take Carroll to the Euro's and his third goal in four Wembley appearances may just have done enough for the Geordie.

Peter Crouch was propelled to the top of the England strikers queue after scoring a worldie and then doing little else, but for me Carroll can alter a game more dramatically and is most definitely one for the future.

Deplorable as he is, Ashley Cole was magnificent on Saturday and the left-back now has seven FA Cup winners medals. His form this season has been patchy, but since seeing Leighton Baines take his traditional place in the PFA team of the year, Cole has turned in superb performances both domestically and in Europe.

As for King Kenny, he is in for an arduous summer. Liverpool needed the FA Cup to avoid their season being branded a failure and are still £100 million worth of investment away from challenging the top four.

The Liverpool midfield is woefully ill equipped and Steven Gerrard was culpable on Saturday evening. Spearing and Henderson were the sitting midfielders, but after proving inefficient, Gerrard kept dropping back to just in front of his defence to pick up the ball and as a result the Liverpool midfield has well out of shape.

Liverpool have not replaced Mascherano and Alonso and with Gerrard on the wane for the last two seasons, they may be looking at three new midfielders before they can start competing again.

Moyes delivers perfect job application

After guiding Everton to a thrilling 4-4 draw at Old Trafford, David Moyes must be edging to the forefront of what will be a fiercely competitive shortlist for when Sir Alex Ferguson finally steps down from his red altar. Sir Alex has hinted at a possible three more years at the helm of the United dynasty before the difficult search for his successor gets underway. Ferguson will surely remain involved with the club, much like club ambassador Bobby Charlton, and will have a huge say in his eventual replacement.

Ferguson has made no secret of his admiration for Jose Mourinho, though you suspect the Real manager is likely to be warming a new managerial seat this summer, several summers too early for the United job. A controversial figure at Chelsea, the 49-year-old has further coloured his reputation while in Spain as he continues his near eight year feud with Barcelona. The grotesque eye gouge on Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova may prove a step too far for a club of United’s pedigree and history and hinder his chances of landing the job.

Other front-runners will include Pep Guardiola who looks set to leave Barcelona, if not this summer, then in the near future. Whether Guardiola could, and would, try to bring the la Masia philosophy to Manchester would be a fascinating proposal and a real test of the Spaniards ability. Other European heavyweights like Guus Hiddink, Louis van Gaal and current flavour of the month Jurgen Klopp, will be in the mix but you sense that they would struggle to make an impression on United fans.

Looking closer to home Ferguson’s former players are likely to number on the likely shortlist. Mark Hughes continues to add to his CV, Roy Keane would be a fan favourite, Steve Bruce will be looking to rebuild his reputation and Giggs and Scholes may be close to a full managerial role in two or three years.

However one young Scottish manager continues to impress in the Premier League and Everton’s David Moyes must be edging to the front of an experienced shortlist. Moyes is the third longest serving Premier League manager, after celebrating ten years at Everton in 2012, and has done superbly to have Everton competing for the last decade. Despite their limited budget, Everton continue to over perform and were a game away for qualifying for the Champions League group stages (losing out to Villerreal in a qualifier).

Much like Ferguson, Moyes has had to assemble several  squads of players, including Duncan Ferguson, David Weir and a young Wayne Rooney in his debut year before moving them on and gradually building the foundations of the current 2012 team. Consistently challenging in the Premier League is a huge challenge and the consistency shown by Everton under Moyes, who operates frugally, are tantamount to his ability to put together a determined squad.

Moyes has a proven record in the transfer market. Phil Neville, Tim Howard, Leighton Baines, Joleon Lescott, Mikel Arteta and Tim Cahill are just some of the recent Everton success stories. After a disappointing start to this season, Moyes made some inspired signings this January that have seen Everton bounce back up the table. Darren Gibson for £250,000, Steven Piennar on loan and Nika Jelavic for £5 million revitalised the side and much like a Sir Alex Ferguson team their form seems to become more relentless after Christmas.

Moyes is one of the few managers to be publicly praised by Ferguson and the 48-year-old seems to be a favourite of Ferguson’s. Everton’s comeback this weekend had all the hallmarks of the now infamous fight backs that we associate with United over the last decade. We take it for granted that any United side is going to mount a comeback and inevitably they end with an injury-time winner or equaliser. That it happens so often for United is no coincidence and Everton under Moyes are exhibiting the same hunger and desire. Sunday’s game encapsulated this hunger and David Moyes is building a side that get stronger and stronger as the season draws on. Sir Alex Ferguson is without doubt the greatest manager of the Premier League era, and in David Moyes they might be looking at his heir apparent.