Carrick can F Off

[Bizarro Spur]

Anyone seen this article? I'm sure the press is just trying to stir up speculation, but if Carrick is really urging Berbs to join ManU then he can stuff it! It's bad enough that he turned his back on us, we don't need him trying to lure away our best players.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_2881288,00.html

[chanman83]

HAHAH the exact words I said the moment I read it.

[cdmphy]

The exact words I thought of when I read your post title was

"he did and that's why we are in this situation" :p

[Hauler]

He didn't seem to be directly saying that berbs should quit Spurs but indirectly I think we can all see what he is implying. What a bitch.

[DigitalTron]

OK, I don't get it, where has Carrick said anything wrong? Clealy he's been asked if United would like to have Berbs, and he answered the only honorable way he could, by complementing the player, saying that any player of that caliber is what you'd look for at the club building to win everything, and I wouldn't expect him to say anything else.

What I read in there was

"He's a very good player. I've watched him quite a bit because he's playing for my old club and I try and watch them whenever I can."

That doesn't sound too bad to me in all honesty.

-Digital

[Phillyspur]

Aren't we all used to this by now? Every time Berbatov has a good game, or a bad game, or he scowls, or he smiles, it is news.

Carrick should stick to practicing his shooting.

[mattie g]

What I like is what the BBC says this morning:

"Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick wants to see former Tottenham team-mate Dimitar Berbatov move to Old Trafford. (Various)"

Since when were Carrick and Berbs ever teammates?

[Hauler]

That is a good one.

[dashiel]

as i recall carrick didn't turn his back on spurs so much as levy, convinced by commoli that zokora was the better player, forced carrick out.

and yes, for the next – oh i don't know half-decade, i will be blaming levy, commoli and the board for whatever ails us.

[DigitalTron]

Pretty much dashiel is right. Carrick went in for a routine contract re-negotiation and didn't demand anything special, but Levy laughed at him and tried to nickel and dime him, so the negotiations stalled a bit.

Sir Alex found out about this, and made his desire for Carrick known, then the negotiations changed considerably. Once SAF was willing to pay big bucks for a transfer and give Carrick a salary way in excess of anything he had been requested (and denied) at Spurs, all of a sudden Carrick was interested.

Carrick wasn't too happy about the way his modest contract negotiation had been handled by Levy and Comoli, so by then, he was ready to leave. Comoli had always wanted to bring in Zokora--whom he had brought to St. Etienne while Comoli was there--so Comoli saw it as an upgrade, and sold it to Levy and Jol as just that. Jol was livid, Levy didn't like the idea of losing an Englishman that Sir Alex thought was good enough to start for Manchester United, so after causing this fiasco, Levy finally did the right thing and tried throwing money at Carrick. But, by then the damage had been done. Carrick had been treated poorly, SAF had been alerted and registered his interest, and all Levy was doing was trying to put a band-aid on a severed arm. So, at that point, Levy gave up and tried to maximize the transfer fee--and Levy did get a good price for Carrick. Although, as I said at the time, the lost revenues from CL games would probably ultimately cost us more than the fee we recouped by selling Carrick, and I believe I was right. :(

Comoli honestly believed Zokora was better than Carrick ... and that's another bit of judgement that really scares me about Comoli. Jol and anyone with a football brain could see it clearly, the team had been built around Carrick, and selling him was a mistake. Some players just need to be tied down, and hard bargaining isn't necessarily the way to go. I think Levy learned this and changed his tactics with Berbs.

-Digital

[mattie g]

True, Dig, but I can't help but think Sir Alex has Carrick doing a little dirty work for him. It may or may not be the case, but Ferguson is one dirty bastard who knows all too well how to play the (management) game.