You have to wonder what Fergie was trying to accomplish with his little outburst, trotting out the old favourites. Just as laughable as the Franco claim was his assertion that Real only bought Heinze to get at Ronaldo. Is he on valium?

http://allinwhite.blogspot.com

Nobody will get the better of Fergie, and although his comments maybe were a little harsh on Heinze.

A. Madrid could have chose many laft backs better than Heinze, FACT

B. He has made 20 odd starts out of a possible 78 a newspaper said this morning. FACT

And while were on the laughable comments subject, i think you should have a look at the crap that comes out of Real Madrid on a daily basis Gonzalo.

The Gaffer has always been an accomplished, aggressive sh*t-stirrer. No one at O.T. is neutral over Calderon's shenanigans this Summer. As he stares at retirement, I reckon Ferguson's going to become more and more curmudgeonly. He's not totally wrong, either. More than a few of my Spanish mates are certain that the reason the national team managed a modicum of unity and selflessness is that the black Phalangist cloud carried by Raul was not brought into the dressing room. Of course, if United end up playing at the Bernabeu in the ECC, there'll be some serious hard feelings on display from the crowd, Heinze and RVN. Should be interesting!

Fletcher_Defender,

A. There certainly were better left backs on the market, but that late in the transfer window, and at that price?

B. Heinze had 26 appearances last season out of 50 fixtures and 8 so far this season out of 11. I make it about 55% of the games, which is not a bad set of stats. Not sure where that 78 fixtures comes from.

And finally, on the subject of laughable comments, you're absolutely right that the stuff that comes out of Real Madrid provides plenty of material for Tim and Simon's column.

I do have a look at it on a daily basis, and pull them up on it as well. That doesn't mean I can't have a go at Fergie for "pissing outside the flower pot" as they say in Spain. Buying Heinze to get Ronaldo is crediting Heinze with far more influence than he can possibly have, but more importantly, crediting Mijatovic with any kind of brains, an even more implausible proposition.

http://allinwhite.blogspot.com

I missed the two Supercopa games at the start of this season in the stats in my earlier comment. Heinze played in both of them, so that brings his total for this season to 10/13 and over the two seasons to 36/63 (57%).

I still would like to know where those other 15 games came from - perhaps they're adding in the preseason friendlies? What paper was it in?

http://allinwhite.blogspot.com

a) are Barcelona even dreamier than the Dream Team?

b) is there a global refereeing conspiracy against Real Madrid?

c) have Bernd Schuster and Sergio Ramos kissed and made up?

d) isn’t the Copa del Rey exciting?

No, no, no and no. I wish people would shut up about the frigging dream team, until a side wins the European Cup and at least three consecutive leagues then people can start talking about a dream team. We had all this two years ago when FCB conquered Europe and it was hopelessly premature. This time we haven't even conquered Spain and people are trying to think up silly names. As Pep says, this team hasn't earnt a name yet.

As for the madrid question, well plainly they aren't Franco's club anymore because thankfully the b*st*rd is long since dead.

Both Barca and Madrid have an air of the establishment about them; Barca being the Catalan establishment (CiU, rich Catalans etc) and Madrid the Spanish establishment (PP, rich Spaniards etc) but that's beause they're both big clubs and hugely dominant in their local communities and beyond.

Fergie made a saliant point about the past but in trying to link it to the present I think he erred in his judgement because Manchester United have an equal sense of entitlement when it comes to players, trophies etc. Yes Madrid plainly profited from the regime and it's a small part of the reason that I so utterly detest them but Fergie can't keep bringing up this point whenever he has a run in with madrid.

Gonzalo, apologies for barking up the wrong tree. I wrongly presumed you was been slightly biased. I think his comments were out of order in the sense that Heinze give his all for United and in no way deserves such critcism and disrespect. Despite asking for a Liverpool transfer, Heinze was never found wanting on the pitch for United.

It was on skysports news when they look at the papers, that appearences stat but wikipedia also mentions that he has STARTED 22 i think.

I think that we have a situation now where each side just keeps talking more and more nonsense on the subject, in reply to each other. You cant honestly tell me Calderon honestly believes what he said in the press last week, about not been interested anymore. As soon as it goes a bit quiet on the Ronaldo front, he just utters anything about him and all the papers start off again. Which in turn, unsettles him.

I'm not sure what it has to do with Franco but its evident that Real Madrid generally think that they can do what they want, including signing other peoples players.

Its pretty much the basis of the last 3 or 4 campaigns. Elect Me and I will sign Zidane, Elect me and I will sign Kaka, elect me and I will sign Jesus Christ to play on the right and ensure that Raul is anointed Pope within 5 years of retiring and move the Vatican to a small suburb of Madrid.

Etc.

The difference with Man Utd (Fergie is still a hypocrit for doing the same thing of course) is that Man Utd tend to do it with younger less well known players or less high profile players. Madrid do it to the biggest teams and for their biggest players, and more aggresively and publicly.

I think it shows the differences between the 2 sides. Others try to make a team, Real (recently) try to buy a team. Madrid's youth system just doesn't work like they want it to (compared to Barca's, Arsenals and Man Utd in the 90's), they simpy don't produce truly world class players at the moment.

Phil, unfortunately the "I will sign..." is a staple of every club's election campaign because it seems to be what mobilises most voters. In 2010 both Barca and Madrid have elections and who claims to be signing whom will be a key element of it. The difference with Barca's elections will be that for the first time ever the incumbent will be precluded from standing for re-election and it will be two or more new faces slugging it out...or two or more familiar faces from boards past and present.

Yeah Adam I understand that, I was merely differentiating between Man Utd and Madrid specifically. Its the vociferous nature of Madrid's pursuits which gives off the air of entitlement, whereas Barca's transfer dealings are somewhat more subdued.

I don't understand why Marca is called a pro-Madrid paper. From my observation most of the users in their are anti-Madrid and save for a few, most of their articles are bullshit made up stories about the club.

Anybody care to explain?

Willpostforfood:

it's the same reason some people claim Franco still runs Madrid. people just can't get out of the past.

you're spot on with your observations, and Tim has talked about this topic on a fair few occasions. the last few seasons Marca have 'attacked' Calderon and in the process Calderon has shut them out of any exclusives or interviews. During the perez era they could probably pick the starting lineup if they wanted to.

it's just ignorant people who are stuck with the same old ideas, like Ferguson for example. some maybe excused for old age, others for stupidity, but most for a bit of both.

the comments of "marca are pro-madrid" and "franco runs real madrid" ive heard one too many times from the EPL-centric crowd who just dont know what's happening outside their little island.

I don't understand what Ferguson's moaning about, he should be laughing up his sleeve for letting Ronaldo keep Madrid hanging on a string for the whole summer before he went out to Portugal to conclude the whole thing, allowing Madrid's farcical management to c**k up in convincing Robinho to stay, and not having enough time to sign any class replacements, leaving the squad totally unbalanced and without a hope in hell of doing anything in the CL. Ramos realises this and is now doing a Robinho. A total Ferguson coup I would say. I guess he can't resist staying silent in victory, and doesn't realise he is also starting to 'chochear' along the lines of Blatter

This is what I was talking about:

marcawas5.recoletos.es/.../Controlador  

Yes, this is straight from the so called "mouth piece" of Madrid.