IT’S almost as if Manchester United didn’t see them coming.

ARSENE WENGER maintains he will “have nothing special to say” to Aaron Ramsey as the Arsenal midfielder prepares to return to Stoke for the first time since his injury nightmare at the Britannia Stadium.

Play-acting, ugly posturing and cynical tactics spell trouble ahead

ARMAGH captain Steven McDonnell said the GAA would do itself a disservice if it decided to change the start time of the county’s Ulster SFC quarter-final against Down on May 28 so as not to clash with the Champions League final.

MANCHESTER UNITED defender John O’Shea is determined to end Chelsea’s title hopes just like they did their Champions League dreams.

ROBERTO MANCINI and Carlos Tevez could be on an FA Cup collision course.

BAYERN MUNICH are not desperate to sign Manuel Neuer and will happily wait until he becomes a free agent in 2012 if Schalke do not drop their asking price, according to Bayern’s director of sport Christian Nerlinger.

A €3.5 MILLION settlement was approved without admission of liability by the High Court in the case of a teenage boy who was brain damaged at birth.

AS WELL as being fickle, football supporters tend to be fanatical.

ALEX FERGUSON appears to have nudged Dimitar Berbatov closer to the Manchester United exit door after handing Michael Owen a new one-year contract.

IN the end, it was typical Paul Scholes.

TOTTENHAM manager Harry Redknapp has reiterated his stance that none of the club’s top players will be sold this summer.

MANCHESTER CITY are likely to have a 20% chance of drawing Barcelona in next season’s Champions League.

AS the dust settled on his feat of qualifying Ireland for the first U19 European Championship finals in nine years, Ireland manager Paul Doolin will this week start mapping out preparations for the showpiece in Romania in July.

DARRON GIBSON has become the latest player to withdraw from an ever-diminishing Ireland squad for Saturday’s Euro 2012 qualifier in Skopje, having notified the management team that he will be unavailable with a groin problem.

MY phone bleeped in the press box in Wembley on Saturday just as the huge gleaming trophy was lifted to the night sky, silver and gold streamers rained down and fireworks fanned out from the stadium’s arch.

THE challenge has been laid down — and Alex Ferguson intends to spend his summer holidays working out what to do about it.