Saturday, January 14, 2012

Bad boy bid blocked

News emerged yesterday that the Silver Fox has been trying to add a third ex-Man Utd player to our wage bill alongside Danny Simpson and Gabriel Obertan. (Oh, OK, do we have to include Alan Smith? Fourth, then...) The Red Devils have rebuffed our advances for Ravel Morrison but Taggart's comments suggest he'd be happy to see the back of the teenage midfielder/forward: "We have offered him terms, which he has refused. His demands are unrealistic. His agent has been working hard to get him another club."

Man Utd's refusal to accede to his demands may in part be due to the fact that he's earned himself a reputation as a real loose cannon, the 18-year-old having already wound up in trouble for assaulting his mother and chucking his girlfriend's phone through a window. Presumably the Silver Fox feels he can tame him and keep him under control, and is keen to profit if Man Utd do finally run out of patience.

It's a dangerous game, of course. That strategy and faith in the power of rehabilitation and second chances has hardly paid off with Nile Ranger yet, the striker's behaviour having been a constant headache for the staff. But the view among those in the know in Manchester is that the hot-head is also a tremendous talent - if he wasn't, he'd probably have been bundled out of the Old Trafford exit door sooner. Man Utd fans seem torn between wanting to keep him or wash their hands, with the whole issue of tribal loyalties cropping up - some argue that his off-field misdemeanours are unimportant and irrelevant, and that he should be cheered on just because he's wearing the club shirt.

If the Silver Fox persists, and if he's successful, then it looks as though we may have ourselves a new ASBO.

(Thanks to Simon for the Sport Witness link.)

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