Manchester United Fans Club

Paul Scholes suffered medial ligament damage in Tuesday’s Champions League victory at Aalborg and will be out for 10 weeks, Man Utd’s club official have confirmed.

Scholes went down with the injury in the first half and was stretchered from the field and immediately substituted.

Scholes is unlikely to be available again until the visit to Tottenham on December 13, which comes immediately before United head to Japan for the World Club Championship.

It means Scholes will miss the rest of his side’s Champions League group campaign, plus key Premier League away games at Everton, Arsenal and Manchester City.

In total the 33-year-old could miss 16 matches from United’s season and Michael Carrick and Owen Hargreaves are currently on the sidelines too.

Red Devils duo Owen Hargreaves and Gary Neville have not travelled to Denmark for Tuesday’s Champions League clash against AaB Aalborg.Hargreaves is struggling again with a knee injury that has bothered him since his arrival from Bayern Munich last season and has been left at home for more treatment.

However, Neville’s absence for the Group E clash at the 10,800-capacity Energi Nord Arena was not immediately explained by United officials.

The Red Devils captain seemed to come through Saturday’s 2-0 Premier League home win over Bolton unscathed after almost 18 months on the sidelines following major ankle surgery, plus hamstring and calf trouble. (more…)

Match official Rob Styles has retained his status as a Premier League referee despite admitting he mistakenly awarded a penalty to Manchester United on Saturday.Styles made private contact with Bolton on Monday to apologise for giving a spot-kick to United when defender Jlloyd Samuel fairly tackled Cristiano Ronaldo at Old Trafford. On Saturday Bolton boss Gary Megson, angry after his team’s 2-0 defeat, in which Ronaldo’s was the first goal, said on Saturday he would not welcome any call from Styles.

Officials who make mistakes often miss out on refereeing a Premier League match the following weekend. But referees’ chief Keith Hackett has decided to back Styles, and he will be in charge for Tottenham v Hull on Sunday.

Last season Styles made a public apology for a mistake on the field publicly to Liverpool for a penalty error when Steve Finnan challenged Florent Malouda. He was excluded from the next Premier League programme on that occasion.

In making the call to Bolton, Sir Alex Ferguson feels the referee has done exactly the right thing.

“Rob takes a lot of credit,” said the United boss ahead of Tuesday night’s Champions League clash with Aalborg.

“It helps in terms of him showing some humility towards the game. That is the most important thing.

“It is good he has done it. It presents him in a different light.

“It shows he has character and is big enough to do it.”

Dimitar Berbatov was happy with his display on his home debut for Manchester United in the win over Bolton and says the goals will soon come.The Bulgarian is still searching for his first goal for United since his £30million move from Tottenham on transfer deadline day.

The 27-year-old was disappointed not to break his duck against Bolton, but believes his performance was his best so far for the club.

“I really wanted to score a goal,” Berbabtov told MUTV. “But the three points are the most important thing and we were the better team today. We scored two goals but missed four or five chances. (more…)

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has officially declared Ryan Giggs’ days as a left-wing raider over.
Giggs will celebrate his 35th birthday in November, now accepting he can no longer be regarded as a first-choice United player.

However, that does not mean Ferguson is ready to throw the Welshman on the scrapheap.

On the contrary, the Scot now views Giggs as more important than he has ever been. (more…)

Rodrigo Possebon, 19-year-old Brazilian midfielder escape Emanuel Pogatetz’s tackle without a broken leg or even ligament damage to his knee.

It is quite astonishing that Possebon does not suffer broken leg or ligament injury, really. At the time of the tackle, there was a fear of horror that Possebon would suffer Eduardo’s fate. “It was the same reaction when Eduardo got injured, or even David Busst for Coventry.”

“You saw the reaction from Nani when it happened, he turned away in horror,” said Sir Alex Ferguson.

Possebon stay overnight in hospital under Ferguson instruction because of the risk of infection in the wound. It cut him to the bone. He’ll have to go back in to get it closed up.

Meanwhile, Michael Carrick is nowhere near football training yet. I think by the end of the international break he should be back training with the rest of the first team squad again.

Veteran goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar will be available to face Bolton Wanderers this weekend, according to Sir Alex Ferguson, who will use young shot-stopper Ben Amos as cover.The Dutchman injured his knee against Chelsea last weekend, and deputies Ben Foster and Tomasz Kuszczak are both currently injured, prompting suggestions that Reserves goalkeeper Ben Amos would make his Premier League debut on Saturday.

However, Sir Alex confirmed Edwin’s recovery at his pre-match press conference. “Everyone is OK from last Sunday’s games against Chelsea and Tuesday’s match against Middlesbrough,” the Reds boss said at his pre-match press conference. “Apart from Rodrigo Possebon, of course.” (more…)