Sport 19-05-2005 Fergie: Concentrate On The Cup who: Manchester United what: Play Arsenal in FA Cup final following hostil takeover by US billionaire where: Millennium Stadium, CARDIFF when: Saturday snippet: "The supporters and players should be together in their attempts to win this match on Saturday," said Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson on Wednesday, quoted by the BBC from his first public statement since American billionaire businessman Malcolm Glazer gained full control of the club against the wishes of thousands of fans. "Our focus has to be 100% on the final. Nothing else matters and I am sure they will not let us down." With Arsenal`s Thierry Henry apparently injured, United may have an improved chance of carrying off the silverware at the FA Cup final in Cardiff, but fans are more concerned about the club`s long-term future. Glazer`s £790million purchase "came less than a fortnight after the United board said it would not recommend the takeover because Mr Glazer`s business plan appeared `aggressive`," says The Telegraph. "It resisted primarily on the grounds that it would leave the club with too much debt." "The Independent Manchester United Supporters Association has vowed not to renew season tickets or buy club merchandise and to boycott the club`s sponsors including Nike, Pepsi, Vodafone and Budweiser," says The Mirror. "Hundreds of MUTV viewers have cancelled their subscriptions and more than 100,000 `Not for Sale` wristbands will be go on sale in an Asda store in Trafford Park, Manchester, to raise funds for the anti-Glazer campaign." "Some fans are already talking about starting again, like AFC Wimbledon, who took 3,500 supporters with them," says David Boyle, the deputy manager of Supporters Direct, quoted in The Guardian following the takeover, which was completed on Monday morning when Glazer secured 75.7% of United`s shares. "There will be a lot of people who will boycott United and it`s not just over Glazer. He might just be the last straw. It is now so expensive to follow a club as big as United that many people simply can`t afford it any more. They now have what might seem to be a convenient excuse to go." Sir Alex`s future, too, is under question. He is known to have sympathised with the fans, but Matt Dickinson of The Times reckons "the Scot looks certain to stay on". "Ferguson, of course, has been trawling the football world`s most fertile waters long enough to know that when the media hawks circle United`s Carrington training ground, it is because they think carrion will be thrown into the nearby Mersey," says Roy Collins in The Telegraph, paraphrasing the notoriously baffling United legend Eric Cantona, "so sensibly declined to be questioned about the prospect of him being fed to the fishes." But that`s not the end of the controversy at Old Trafford this week. Ferguson and rival Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger have been fighting a war of words in the papers. On Monday, it was announced that Henry would be unfit for duty on Saturday due to an Achilles injury, but Ferguson was not convinced. "We are preparing for Thierry Henry to play," Ferguson responded, quoted in The Guardian. "If he doesn`t I`ll hold up my hands and tell myself: `You shouldn`t be so distrustful, Alex.` But we will have the attitude until the very last minute that he is playing. Call it Scottish caution, if you like, but our preparations are based around him being in the team." "We are not liars," Wenger replied, quoted by The Mirror on Thursday. "He can prepare his team to face us with Henry but I can assure everyone he is not going to play. I am sure Ferguson will try and pick the strongest team he can, just as I will try to pick the strongest team I can. But I can say for sure Henry will not play." [... more]

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