A curse from Old Trafford?

[versa]

A brilliant read and a feel-good thread for fans alike.

Call it a curse or not, I don't think any United player had scaled greater heights upon leaving Old Trafford. Or is there?!

Great read for any United player, current or future, who may be secretly contemplating to leave for 'greener pastures" too

Nemanja Vidic needs to wake up to a glaring reality | FootballFanCast.com

When David Beckham stepped onto the Old Trafford pitch on Wednesday night, he seemed to have a little tear forming in his eye as the crowds chants of ‘there’s only one David Beckham’ rang in his ears. The former England skipper could have been forgiven for shedding a tear or two as it is one of the worst kept secrets in football that ‘one of Manchester United’s biggest fans’ wanted to leave the club about as much as Ronaldinho wanted to join it.

While Beckham may have been pushed rather than jumping from Old Trafford, there can be little doubt that when he left he may have expected to win at least one Champion’s League winner’s medal to add to the one he won at United. In the seven years since he left Beckham has had limited success, at least trophy wise, winning one La Liga and-the one trophy every player dreams of- the Western Conference with LA Galaxy. Hardly a rewarding return for a player deemed one of the best in the World, particularly when joining a team full of other so-called superstars, sorry ‘Galacticos.’

The successor to his United number seven shirt a certain Cristiano Ronaldo or CR9 as he’s known to his mates, was learning that life at the Bernabeu is not all sunshine and rainbows-as Rocky Balboa said to Rocky junior. Real Madrid’s exit from the Champion’s League had a double meaning for many Ronaldo fans. On the one hand it highlighted that despite what some people may have believed Ronaldo cannot do it all on his own, last season some commentators -particularly after his goals against Porto and Arsenal-seemed to think that the man currently featured on the side of buses wearing nothing but underwear was the sole reason United got to the final. I’m not saying that United would have gotten there without him, but as the victory this season at the Emirates proved, along with the demolition of Milan, a Ronaldo-less United is still a force to be reckoned with.

Although Ronaldo shouldn’t be too worried, after all it is only his first season and you’d be a foolish man to bet against him eventually helping Real Madrid to some form of glory, he will obviously have been given pause for thought.

When it comes to leaving United for the continent very few players actually go on to achieve very much. Paul Ince was one of the first United players, at least in the Premier League era, to decide that the grass was greener once you went from the ‘banks of the River Irwell to the shores of Sicily.’ His time at Internazionale was far from a failure, as he was widely admired by the fans during his two-year stint at the San Siro. However a UEFA cup final appearance-where Inter lost on penalties- was scant reward for a player who’d won six trophies in as many years at Old Trafford. By the time Ince’s replacements were lifting the treble, the self-styled Guv’nor was enjoying a trophy-less time at Anfield, the highlight of which seemed to be scoring an equaliser against United in front of the Kop which culminated in him celebrating as though he’d won the World cup.

Peter Schmeichel decided there were too many games in the Premier League so went to Portugal to spend the twighlight of his career at Sporting. However despite winning a league title in his first season he was soon back in blighty tarnishing his standing with United fans by being part of a successful derby-day City side, before redeeming it again by helping to prevent Liverpool qualifying for the Champion’s League. He may well have been much better served by simply staying at Old Trafford and saving himself all the air miles- plus sparing United fans the trauma of watching Massimo Taibi keeping goal.

Ruud Van Nistelrooy was a player who decided he preferred paella to pasties and went to Madrid with a reputation as one of Europe’s most lethal strikers. Van Nistelrooy’s was something of a success story as he twice won La Liga- compared to the solitary title he won at United. It must be noted though that in the three full seasons since he left, United have won three titles, a Champions League and been runners-up. Whether Ruud regrets leaving is anyone’s guess but he may just have cast a slightly jealous look over some of his former team-mates at one time or another as any form of European success has eluded him despite being the Champions League second-highest top scorer off all time.

Gabriel Heinze’s transfer out of Old Trafford was probably the most acrimonious in recent history as the little Argentine angered United fans –sounds familiar-by trying to engineer a move to Liverpool. Instead he was shipped off to Real Madrid- hardly a bad alternative-where he won La Liga in his first season. He did get a trip to Anfield though, but unfortunately for him it was as part of the Madrid side that were demolished 4-0 in the Champion’s League.

When considering his options this summer Nemanja Vidic may do himself a favour by looking at some of the recent players to leave sunny Manchester for a place with actual sun. Although according to reports it is Mrs Vidic who is unhappy with her lot in the North-West, the Serbian could point out that with Blackpool a mere 30 minutes away ,The Trafford Centre on your doorstep along with the Lowry Centre, Manchester has got everything you could want from a city and more. He could also remind her that she won’t get curries like they serve in Rusholme in Barcelona that’s for sure. If that doesn’t work though and to be fair it isn’t likely to, Vidic could argue the fact that for many leaving Old Trafford regardless of where you go to, it is invariably a step down. You may get more money at some other clubs but the chances of you winning more trophies are slim to say the least. As players such as Giggs, Scholes and Neville have proven over the years, the longer you stay at United the more success you achieve. Whether that’s good enough for Mrs Vidic though, remains to be seen.

[LEGEND7]

The last couple of lines were a perfect conclusion to a good read

[littlepat]

The one club where there really is a curse when they leave is AC Milan. Just look at Kaka and Shevchenko.

Whether we like it or not, RVN went on to great things at Real Madrid. OK, he never won the CL with them (which was quite funny considering he put in three transfer requests, presumably because we weren't good enough in Europe). But he did go on to win a few La Liga titles and have a brilliant scoring record there.

Ronaldo will probably achieve similiar things over his contract. And then there are players like Forlan, Rossi and Pique

[dualtamac]

Pique is probably the only exception in that he's won the CL, La liga and the Club World Cup. Rossi and Forlan have played excellently but they haven't won anything.

[The Red Thinker]

Good read.

Funilly enough..i did write start writing on a similar piece..about how leaving United is never a good idea..unless youre that damn good..lol i just saved in my notepad for another time..and lo! the media got me..

[Mad Gus]

I'm sorry to come on so strong at this first posting here.
I just want to question why so many of the United fans here (read some before replying) and around believe all what a certain player said about his dream and not believing what one faithful player say about his dream?
To avoid misunderstandings, most fans accept Ronaldos move to Madrid as fulfilling his dream and the team he always loved. Still we got Kleberson arriving the same summer at OT saying at that time Barcelona was his team. Two young guys sharing the native tongue...still everyone assuming Real was the only club for him.
Same crowd of people fear/stick Nemanja Vidics constant denying in press, interviews and so on that he's gonna move.

Now to the reason I bothered to registre to comment this.

After the great Milan game in a TV-studio here in Sweden a former United youth player sat talking about the game. One of his buds is just our great Serbian defender Nemanja Vidic. During a loan spell for Bojan Djordjic he went back to his birth country's capital playing for Red Star, Belgrade. He shared room with Vidic during the season and they are still great buds talking frequently. So, the TV channel who broadcasted the game in Scandinavia requested an interview with Vidic and the gentleman Serb accepted it because he knew Bojan were in the TVstudio. During the inteview the reporter asked Nemanja all sorts of questions and one of them were just these rumours about him leaving our great club. He said as in so many interviews that he's happy here and have no desire to leave Manchester United. Nemanja finalized the interview by saying he had nothing more to say to Bojan since they spoke just two days earlier but still had the wish for him to come over to Manchester and visit him and his family. Last thing was an invitation to Mr Djordjic to come to Madrid to see watch the United play the final at the Bernabeu. So no doubt they are buds right?

In the studio Bojan Djordjic commented about the moving away rumors surrounding our great defender. He said Nemanja isnt a daft person. He knows who made him the great player he is. The two of them have been talking about this because Bojan asked Nemanja about the rumors and he had said exactly the same thing as he said in the tv interview and in all so many newspapers he will not leave Manchester United. Also Nemanja had Sir Alex Ferguson to thank for everything. He had been the one backing him during the first months when he was out of shape and struggle to learn the game in England. Sir Alex Ferguson took him from a promising good player to world class player.

Still loads of fans cant believe Nemanja when he say he's going nowhere and at the same time believe Ronaldo when he's bitching about the white spanish donkey dream.

Sorry if I offended anyone with my posting but it had to be said to give you guys a new angle to the issue. I've seen other threads where all that was said and done about the moving player like he went on a picnic and still you doubt a genuine great guy like Nemanja. This makes the blood boil inside of me.

/ Mad Gus

A brilliant read and a feel-good thread for fans alike.


When considering his options this summer Nemanja Vidic may do himself a favour by looking at some of the recent players to leave sunny Manchester for a place with actual sun. Although according to reports it is Mrs Vidic who is unhappy with her lot in the North-West, the Serbian could point out that with Blackpool a mere 30 minutes away ,The Trafford Centre on your doorstep along with the Lowry Centre, Manchester has got everything you could want from a city and more. He could also remind her that she won’t get curries like they serve in Rusholme in Barcelona that’s for sure. If that doesn’t work though and to be fair it isn’t likely to, Vidic could argue the fact that for many leaving Old Trafford regardless of where you go to, it is invariably a step down. You may get more money at some other clubs but the chances of you winning more trophies are slim to say the least. As players such as Giggs, Scholes and Neville have proven over the years, the longer you stay at United the more success you achieve. Whether that’s good enough for Mrs Vidic though, remains to be seen.

[dualtamac]

Thanks Gus, great post and hope to see you stick around.

[TheManc]

Thanks Gus

Very interesting.

[Mad Gus]

There's some more from the same program I'm talking about. Amongst the most interesting was the way Ferguson and Manchester United scouts players but I just wanted to mention the most important to the topic.

A quick one about the scouting. Ferguson had been talking to Djordic about players and of course Nemanja were one of them because United had kept the eye on him for a while. What Ferguson and the other scouts were interested in was about the personality. So they kept asking how he works in the group(team), how he reacts when winning/losing and a lot more about who the player really are. So that maybe tells us why managers like Benitez find one in ten or twenty that is actually any good and flush millions down the drain and how United found our players.

[abojodeh]

Vidic is Serb, Serbs are Eastern Europeans and Eastern Europeans do what they say and if Vida says that he will stay that means he will.

[Mad Gus]

Abojodeh: I can't say I know about the Eastern Europeans enough to say you're right. You know better then me I guess so I believe you.

We all know football is big business today and Vidic's partner i crime had some rough period when he couldn't agree with the club about his new contract. If I'm not wrong the fans started to boo him during the pre season friendlies after he served the ban for failing to show up at the drug test. But I'm confident Ferguson will stay for a few more seasons (maybe I'm just telling myself that I don't know) and so will Vidic.

[versa]

The article does have Vidic clearly in mind but that is not the focus of this thread.

Nonetheless it is nice and assuring to hear all about that of Vidic. Hopefully it is inside information enough to see him stay beyond the current contract.

Coming back, have to concur that the curse of AC Milan seems pretty powerful (too) albeit they have been better known as experienced but an ageing outfit for some years now.

[TheFutureIsAnderson]

Beckham yes, his career went badly downhill when he left Madrid and by the time his form really picked up he was on his way to Los Angeles. He should have stayed with United obviously.

As for Ronaldo, it's ridiculous to pass judgement now. He's already their best player, he's not the reason they crashed out of Europe. Two of their huge signings (Kaka and Benzema) have been incredibly underwhelming and last I checked they are top of La Liga, bit of a change from Barca's dominance last season.

It may not have been the greatest of starts for Ronaldo, but it would be foolish not to think he will still do great things for that club.

[djpailo]

So true, but don't forget Ryan Shawcross winning his first call-up.