Every Friday, sportsnet.ca will chat with Sportsnet 590 The FAN commentator Greg Brady about the big stories and issues in the Premiership, and preview the weekend’s games.
Saturday programming alert: Watch Manchester City v Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup final live on Sportsnet ONE and Sportsnet World. Coverage begins at 11:30am ET/8:30am PT.
Sunday programming alert: Watch Stoke City v Tottenham (live on all four Sportsnet channels at 8am ET), Fulham v Liverpool (live on Sportsnet World at 9:30am ET) and Manchester United v Swansea City (live on all four Sportsnet channels at 10:30am ET). NOTE: This will be Alex Ferguson’s last home game in charge of Manchester United at Old Trafford. The team will also be officially presented the trophy for winning this season’s Premiership crown.
Was this the right time for Alex Ferguson to step down as Manchester United manager?
Greg Brady: With each passing day, Alex Ferguson’s departure seems more logical, although many of his players were convinced beyond a doubt he’d be back for another couple of seasons. I agree with most in that he made Manchester United a consistent winner, and that legacy simply didn’t exist before his arrival. He also did it by uniquely combining the two ways you can win titles in the modern era: by smartly buying the big-name players, but also letting players go when their value didn’t match their salary (David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo being the obvious examples, although it’s certainly up for debate that Ronaldo’s departure was more a function of the culture at Man United and certainly wasn’t about a player passing his peak performance level).
Ferguson also played the loyalty card as well as any manager in any sport without it costing him. Making sure the likes of Gary Neville, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, and (likely) Rio Ferdinand were at the club as long as they were, Ferguson demonstrated his belief in loyalty – that it’s something you give to players and they give it back without chasing dollars.
It showed patience too from Manchester United’s owners in the early 1990s given the club had some wildly inconsistent moments in the first several years with Ferguson before becoming the global power and brand they’ll undoubtedly remain after Fergie’s final match. Manchester United finished 13th in the spring of 1990 in Division One, but also happened to squeeze past Crystal Palace in an FA Cup Final replay, and it may have saved Ferguson’s job. The Red Devils suffered losses (unthinkable now, really) to Derby County, Norwich City, and Charlton, all before December! It’s understandable he was under infinite pressure. United rose to sixth in 1991, second in 1992 and the trophies and dominance started to follow from there.
I agree with all who’ve said it, we’ll never see a run like this, although David Moyes has the mentality and respect and is youthful enough at 50 to command Manchester United for over a decade. I’m betting on him lasting at least that long, even if there’s a modicum of rough sailing early on.
There are two games left in the season. Who do you think will be the third team to be relegated?
Brady: I’ve been pretty consistent on this since January: it’s going to be Wigan, although, if this were a 44 game season instead of 38, I’m convinced Norwich City wouldn’t stay up, but it’s not. Stoke got themselves out of possible relegation with some recent results, and Villa didn’t swoon as badly as some thought they would based on their ineptness in January and February.
I don’t buy the notion the FA Cup run has been a “distraction” for Wigan to getting the needed results in the Premier League, because it’s not a new pattern of inconsistency — they’ve been that way since October. They will need at least a point at the Emirates against an Arsenal team still scrapping for the final Champions League spot, and then have to beat Aston Villa, and then their best bet is Norwich losing at home to West Brom, and subsequently at Manchester City. It’s probably too much to ask.
Swansea has really dropped off ever since winning the League Cup back in February. Is this who this team really is? Were we fooled by their impressive run leading up to the Cup final?
Brady: Finishing 9th, if they hang onto it, would be a respectable result for Swansea, and their consistency is a big reason why more established clubs such as Aston Villa and Newcastle are floundering in the bottom half of the table. They have a bright manager in Michael Laudrup, an emerging star who can finish in Michu, and it’s been great to see Canadian Jonathan De Guzman emerge as the consistent Premier League player many thought he could be. De Guzman’s tied for second on the squad in scoring with five goals and looks the part of the most prominent Canadian in the Premiership since Paul Stalteri’s solid years at Tottenham. Swansea are trouble to play against and might be really up on Sunday to ruin the “going away party” for Sir Alex on Sunday.
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Manchester City plays Wigan Athletic in Saturday’s FA Cup final from Wembley. How do you see this one playing out?
Brady: The end result certainly screams Manchester City, but it’s how they get there that will be very intriguing. I don’t think we’ve had a “shocking” winner in the FA Cup Final since Wimbledon way back in 1988, although it was quite the shock that we had a Portsmouth-Cardiff City final in 2008. But lately, outside of last year’s Chelsea-Liverpool clash, it’s been a “big guy” vs. “little guy” scrap and though Wigan isn’t as far-fetched a finalist as Millwall back in 2004, or even Southampton the spring before that, Wigan did get here rather shockingly, and let’s be objective, they had tremendous luck in their draws.
Yaya Toure is healthy and ready to play for the Blues and though the trophy always merits playing the best squad by the time the Final comes around, as I’ve written for months, manager Roberto Mancini can rest easy this summer with a second place finish and a second FA Cup in three seasons. Now, next fall he needs a better Champions League campaign or the screws will tighten once again.
QPR hosts Newcastle United on Sunday. This is a game that the Magpies really need to win in order to ensure safety. How have things unravelled for Newcastle this season? Why has it gone so wrong for them?
Brady: The Magpies truly are saving their most dreadful football to wrap up the season, and though they’re near-certain survivors for another year of Premier League football, it’s certainly not by much. The easy argument is they had “no business” losing to Reading back in January, and it may seem that way on paper, but they deserved to lose by sitting back and playing comfortably as a sure-to-be-relegated team took the play to them. Since that match, it’s been nothing but abysmal football from Newcastle, and last week’s limp draw against West Ham was no exception, especially when many of the same home supporters witnessed the 6-0 loss to Liverpool. Manager Alan Pardew has noted he feels they must beat QPR this weekend to stay up, let alone render their final match home versus Arsenal meaningless.
Many times, star players are transferred and there are at least quick fixes if not “band-aid” solutions for their absences. Not the case here at Newcastle, when Demba Ba was sold to Chelsea. Papiss Cisse and Yohan Cabaye have not been consistent enough in replacing Ba’s goals, nor should they be asked to be. It’s a squad that looks worn down, and though I hate doing so where Europe’s concerned, a lengthy run to the quarter-finals of the Europa League did have a not-very-deep squad playing too many matches too often and now it looks like a unit gasping for air. They’ll stay up, but the promise of last season’s fifth place finish must seem forever and a day away. It’ll be a long time before this group, barring massive changes, sniffs playing in Europe again.
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