SHAREHOLDERS United believe they will know “within three weeks” whether their £100 million plan to stop Malcolm Glazer’s Manchester United takeover has been successful.

TO DESCRIBE Ireland’s strapping master of versatility as a jolly green giant might be pushing it a bit but John O’Shea is one of those players for whom a broad grin is never too far away.

IKER CASILLAS has signed a new Real Madrid contract which ties him to the Bernabeu until 2011.

REPUBLIC of Ireland international Robbie Keane is to undergo a scan on a serious ankle injury sustained in last night’s 1-0 loss to Newcastle.

DARREN FLETCHER will not allow the disappointment at missing out on Manchester United's Carling Cup triumph to wreck the remainder of his season.

FRENCH defender Mikael Silvestre is quietly confident that Manchester United can mop up at home and abroad this season.

IRATE Manchester United fans have called on chief executive David Gill to run a poll on the club’s official website to prove his claim that only a “small minority” of fans are against Malcolm Glazer’s takeover.

CHELSEA suffered a major blow to their chances of resurrecting their Champions League dream yesterday when Damien Duff was potentially ruled out for the rest of the season.

CHELSEA captain John Terry believes any disgruntled player at Stamford Bridge should follow the example of Joe Cole if they want to make a success of their career under Jose Mourinho.

ALAN SMITH has warned Arsenal that Manchester United will be ready and waiting when the Gunners juggernaut rumbles into Old Trafford on October 24.

MANCHESTER UNITED manager Alex Ferguson believes he is being kept in the dark by the FA over Rio Ferdinand’s appeal against an eight-month ban for missing a drugs test.

MIKAEL SILVESTRE faces a race against time to get fit for next week’s Worthington Cup final as Manchester United start to feel the strain of their hectic fixture programme.

CELTIC manager Martin O’Neill is considering throwing Henrik Larsson into the first skirmish of the ‘Battle of Britain’.

CHELSEA defender John Terry has insisted that Charlton’s players were actually looking forward to playing on the Stamford Bridge “beach” — as they believed the appalling surface could suit them better.

FORMER Chelsea captain Paul Elliott admits Jose Mourinho is right to be concerned by Manchester United’s late surge as Alex Ferguson has the personality to inspire the greatest comeback in Barclays Premiership history.

ARSENE WENGER and Alex Ferguson have bowed to overwhelming pressure to call a truce in their public war of words ahead of their February 1 Premiership clash at Highbury.

FEARS were growing last night that two ten-year-old British girls missing since Sunday have been abducted.

FROM champs to chumps and back again. Alex Ferguson has spoken often of the intensive spotlight his team must continually perform under but rarely can such polarised opinions have been produced in such a short space of time.