Fergie’s hand was forced but he still holds the aces

SO, how was it against Roma last night?

A riot on the pitch, like last time? Or a riot off it, like the time before that? Or, most likely given recent weeks, another 1-0 snore or close variant thereof?

Writing on a Monday, and surveying a league table that thankfully shows us ahead of City and Chelsea’s grief-junkies languishing in 7th, I’m feeling grudgingly satisfied if not overwhelmed, which I daresay goes for most Reds.

We can be more patient than you’d think here in the OT stands and I remember the autumn of 1998, as we sat biding our time waiting for the Real Thing to kick in, which didn’t happen until November.

And you all know how THAT season ended up.

Fergie said last week that he didn’t know what his best combo was yet, which drew flak in some quarters. But I appreciated it for the unusual honesty. We all imagine bosses to go out and buy with a specific plan in mind but sometimes you just grab the quality offerings while you can and work out what to do with the goodies later. So obviously Rooney and Tevez are not quite the dream team yet but who knows what might develop?

In ‘98, Fergie was ready to sell Cole and had planned to pair Ole with new buy Yorke; historical accident forced his hand otherwise and the deadly duo took off. Serendipity could be Fergie’s middle name, after all.

‘Grabbing while you can’ happens more often in the market than people realise. For example it is widely thought Anderson was not supposed to be bought for at least another season — as not all at United were 100% convinced — but interest from elsewhere forced our hand. Rumour now has it he may be loaned back to Portugal in January to complete his stage one development. Similarly Steven Taylor up at Newcastle is someone Red Issue’s website has revealed — from a boardroom source — that United have been looking at and we would ordinarily prefer to wait until at least next summer.

Yet behind-the-scenes upsets at St James’ may force us to show our hand as early as January.

Then again, judging by his woeful display at Wastelands on Saturday, Taylor might be one we can live with letting slip.

United were certainly not woeful on Saturday, just uninspired yet grimly determined. Vidic ruled all he surveyed, as ever. So the cliche has it: such afternoons win you titles. Ronaldo shone but I could have done without Steve Bruce’s typically fatuous comment afterwards: “you’d pay 70 quid to watch Ronaldo.”

No you wouldn’t, Steve: you would get a freebie like the rest of your pampered class. We Red mugs who had to pay that extortionate charge on Saturday to the Brum robbers would beg to differ. Good though he was, and splendid his finish, no-one in their right minds would think that alone is worth that. Brum are one of several clubs who outrageously overcharge us on our travels and a couple of years ago prompted my longstanding musical and journalistic colleague Peter Boyle to get a boycott of St Andrews goods organised in protest. He ended up getting nicked for his troubles and also kicked off a bit of a civil war amongst fans on the issue; overall the brouhaha provided further evidence that the modern fan is quite useless at preventing himself being had over by rapacious capitalist owners.

So whilst I wish Arsenal fans all the luck in the world as they begin to mobilise against the latest eastern invader, who I doubt has charity towards north London’s indigents in mind, I fear the worst. The success we had here in 99 against Rupert Murdoch is increasingly looking like the rule-proving exception. The ‘Self-Interested Red’ in me would, of course, like to see Wenger’s new wonderland disrupted — I noted Fergie finally echoing my comments last week that Arsenal, not Chelsea, clearly represent the challenge this season — but not the ‘Fan Of The Game’ part of me. We are all schizophrenic to some degree in this respect, aren’t we? But as the Red beast within growlingly reminds me: we can all agree that Arsenal are the best added guarantee of stopping the very worst happening. Which is, of course, a Liverpool title. Thus my ego and id are properly United for once.

Wigan next, with an appearance from Maradona and his extravagant entourage promised: for once this season, City won’t be the only slightly nauseating media circus in town. Tevez to score in a 1-0? Odds-on, isn’t it?

Richard Kurt whose ‘Red Army Years’ is only available via [e-mail].