Twitter really is the deliverer of both good and bad news.
When the good is good it’s all very nice…but when its bad it’s utterly horrid
The news of Owen Hargreaves impending move to Manchester City was both a surprise and a cyber kick in the guts. The lad with no knees, who has battled valiantly to get fit for three years, and only last week was quoted as saying “I would’ve played for Manchester United for free” …has won the lottery and landed a role in City’s star-studded stable of players. The feeling for United fans is understandably mixed. Emotions range from outright hatred for Hargreaves to general malaise about the whole debacle. But you don’t have to pick the bones out of this carcass too much to get the gist of the truth.
There’s no doubt that Hargreaves is a magnificent footballer…that is…without the injuries. I remember watching United get taken apart in a Champions League semi final against Kaka and AC Milan and thinking ‘If we had Owen Hargreaves in our team we may have won this one’…Twelve months later Hargreaves was in Moscow lifting that big old trophy above his head…dressed in United Red. Unfortunately since then, Hargreaves has played no discernible role in United’s continued success. His career has been one of not when will he come back, but when will United let him go. Well as we know, that inevitable end came this last season, when it was announced Hargreaves and United would part company. Lots of United fans said good riddance, but many of us were genuinely sad to see what we considered a world-class talent leave our ranks. There was always that hope he would get fit, in the way that Solksjaer and Nev both battled with serious injuries, and play for us once again.
The news of City signing Hargreaves is sickening. But I totally understand his motivations for the move. When you have the choice of a relegation battle with West Brom, a drop into the Championship with Leicester, a move to club like Spurs who look Modric-diseased and will be reminiscing about last years jolly in Europe when ‘they were a big club’ …you can understand why Hargreaves has chosen City over the rest.
So this is like Tevez right? Wrong. Tevez bailed for the cash and the cash alone. The polar opposite of this situation, where United (understandably) released a player..who effectively was jobless, and got a phone call from a rival company giving him a possible route back into the big time…and Champions League football. It undermines the ambition of a top class player to say ‘why didnt he just join Tottenham where he would play every week, rather than joining City to sit on their bench?’…thats like saying why did Michael Owen join us when he could have gone to Everton.
On the surface this may all pan out to be nothing more than a difficult day to swallow for us Reds. But if Hargreaves turns out to be a success and free of injury..then someone at United must be accountable. Ultimately we know Fergie calls the shots at United…we know we have the future talents of Cleverley and Pogba about to grace the Old Trafford pitch for years to come…and we know that Hargreaves had plenty of time to make his protracted comeback for us. But if we’ve just spent tons of £s on getting Hargreaves fit, to then not offer him a contract…and allow him to join the enemy..well….it truly is pathetic.
I don’t blame the lad. City pay the best. United showed him the door. He wants to compete for a place in a team fighting for the biggest trophies…and City fit that criteria. Why undersell yourself and go to a club that can’t offer you the biggest matches? Yes he will probably sit on the bench quite a bit, but that will probably suit his fitness. He probably couldn’t get through 60 games at West Brom, where he would start every game. 20 starts and sub appearances will probably be enough for him, and he may well win some trophies (gulp!)
This decision comes down to Sir Alex. If Hargo is a success we will just have to swallow it. If you were a betting man the odds would still be in our favour that Hargreaves has little chance of being a success at City in terms of playing impact….but if they win a trophy…and he’s got their Blue on his back…dancing around….well…that will be hard to take.
Maybe it is time to fast track Paul Pogba into the first team set up and settle our desires for a midfield action hero!
Quite clearly United have screwed up here, but that was evident at the end of last season when he was over the knee problems but randomly injured his shoulder, but still United binned him. 2 years of getting him fit, and then when he is fit, let him go. Great thinking United. Clowns.
i personally think saf has dropped a bollock on this one but then hargreaves should remember how he was treated like a hero at the theatre of dreams and playing for shitty is a big fuck up the arse to uniteds followers
mufc paid his wages, mufc patched up his knees, and now the noisy neighbors may get all the benefits!
I am a City fan and I must say that this is an excellent analysis of the proposed transfer. The transfer seems to have stirred a hornets nest with blues and reds being for once united in not wanting the transfer to go through if one judges from what both sets of fans have posted on the net. I think that we fans sometimes forget that football clubs are businesses and that players are not fans following a team but professionals pursuing their trade. At any rate this is not a transfer from United to City nor is it any kind of rejection by OH of United. Quite the opposite, ultimately, rightly or wrongly United rejected OH when they chose not to offer him a contract extension. Whether he joins City or not I wish OH the best, he deserves that after the hardship he had to go through in the last three years.
Well… we can’t blame Owen. It’s an amazing feat that he was offered a contract by City, and no doubt he will get payed really well just to sit on the bench; ask James Milner and Shawn Wright-Philips. I don’t think he’ll play more then 10 games for City before ending up at a club like West Brom after all.
Great work by his manager on getting the big money contract for a player who hasn’t shown anything for 3 years.
Good post. Of course it hurts when a player we revered joins our bitter rivals, but nobody can begrudge him one last chance to prove he can still play at the highest level.
It’s not like he jumped ship while still on contract at United, and Sir Alex let him go anyway, so he had to secure his future elsewhere. Unfortunately for us, he picked City. I doubt he’d have had anyhting sinister on his mind rather than just giving his career one last shot.
I do believe City will have jumped at the chance to get one over United (though he wasn’t even a United player anymore), but they’ll also feel like they’ve got a ready made top class player when fit. His wages are peanuts for them, after all they pay Tevez £200,000 just to sit on the bench.
Obviously, I’d hope that even if he does well, he doesn’t win anything while there, or it would really grate with a lot of us.
Meanwhile, I’ll use my energies on supporting the ones wearing the red of United, rather than having a go at the ones who don’t.
Well done on a very good post, and COME ON UNITED!!!
Brilliant comment Mr Gatt. My thoughts entirely. Thanks for reading.
The thing is bertie, he still isnt fit though is he!
We just gave up because he became not worth the hassle. Anything small time is worth the hassle for the bitters though of course.