ALL THE NEWS
Fixtures:
United's visit to Arsenal, scheduled for Easter Monday, April 21, has been brought forward to accommodate the likelihood that both teams will be involved in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, the second leg of which is on April 22 or 23.
The game at Highbury has been rearranged for Tuesday, April 15, but if one or both teams are involved in FA Cup semi-final action (due for April 13), it will be put back 24 hours to April 16.
United's visit to Arsenal, scheduled for Easter Monday, April 21, has been brought forward to accommodate the likelihood that both teams will be involved in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, the second leg of which is on April 22 or 23.
The game at Highbury has been rearranged for Tuesday, April 15, but if one or both teams are involved in FA Cup semi-final action (due for April 13), it will be put back 24 hours to April 16.
The proposed game at home to Leeds, originally planned for a lunch-time start on Saturday, March 1, has been put back to Wednesday, March 5, to accommodate the Worthington Cup final, against Liverpool, on March 2.
From the Times:
United appear resigned to failure in their pursuit of Claudio López, the Lazio and Argentina forward, whose representatives they met in Manchester last weekend.
Ferguson was alerted to the possibility that López would, under the rules of the Italian Football Federation, be available on a free transfer from Lazio if they failed to meet a deadline to pay his outstanding wages, but the sum has now been paid.
Cardiff Tickets:
Ticket prices for Cardiff will range from £30 up to £62. What a bargain.
Youth Team:
United's Fifth Round FA Youth Cup tie will be played at Altrincham's Moss Lane ground on Wednesday 5 February, kick off 19:00.
Having beaten Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday night, the Reds kids now face Sheffield United in the last sixteen.
Reserves:
Nicky Butt played 90 minutes for United's reserves last night as he continues his return to match fitness from an ankle injury.
Butt looked comfortable despite United crashing 4-1 at the hands of their Everton counterparts and could now come into contention for United's FA Cup fourth-round clash at home to West Ham on Sunday.
United: Ricardo (Jowsey, 75); Lynch, Pugh, Roche, Muirhead (Heath 76); Chadwick, Stewart (Lawrence 65), Butt, Chadwick; Nardiello, Davis.
Becks:
David Beckham hats are the latest Paris fashion. Supermodel Eva Herzigova took to the catwalk this week in a £1,000 titfer bearing a photo of the soccer idol.
The hat was one of a range of creations launched by top milliner Philip Treacy at a show in the French capital.
FA Cup:
The Football Association is troubled by the switch of Farnborough Town's FA Cup tie with Arsenal from Cherrywood Road to Highbury. They are well aware that the romance of the tournament is thereby diminished. The change of venue was agreed because of safety factors but that logic will be challenged in future.
"There must be ways of ensuring that these games get played at the grounds of the home club," said Nic Coward, who has been sharing the duties of chief executive with David Davies. Both men are conscious that there would be no objections if Cherrywood Road was filled to its 4,500 capacity for a Conference match.
"The police will say to you that they are concerned about a lot of extra people coming to town and milling around," said Davies of the strange assumption that hordes of ticketless Arsenal fans would come to Farnborough. A safety advisory council, with representatives of the police, the club and the local authorities, was opposed even to holding the tie at a nearby venue, such as the Madejski stadium in Reading. The FA wishes to find a means of countering such reservations in future.