July 7th 2009
Ben Foster given new four year deal at Manchester United.
October 12th 2009
Ferguson: “I still feel he is the best English goalkeeper around. He has been outstanding in a lot of things. The save he made on Wednesday was typical of his performance level with us too. They are a demonstration of the guy’s ability. But he still has not had a lot of game time and experience. His injuries have curtailed the progress he was making. He is only going to get better, though, and there is no question he will be a fantastic goalkeeper.”
November 21st 2009
Ferguson: “He is definitely staying here. He has had a couple of bad mistakes in games but his performance level has been very good. He will be a terrific goalkeeper. So will Tomasz Kuszczak. They are good goalkeepers they just have the problem that they have Edwin van der Sar in front of them. Ben is a strong lad. Without doubt he is England’s best goalkeeper. Without question he has the best presence and he is the quickest. He is also very brave. But for a lad of 26 he has not had much game experience. That is the negative part for him and that is where maybe it will cost him his England position at the moment. However, I am not protecting the lad because he is my goalkeeper but when I look at the abilities of the goalkeepers in the league who are English, I don’t think they are as good as Ben Foster. It is as simple as that.”
November 24th 2009
Ferguson: “Edwin’s not said anything yet about what he intends to do. It will be Christmas time or sometime in December when he will outline his plans and how long he will go on. We will await that. Ben has terrific ability and needs game experience. Tomasz is also another good keeper. At the end of the day the two of them will fight it out, I’m sure of that.”
April 23rd 2010
Ferguson: “Ben has fantastic talent and I am sure he will be tremendous next year. The boy has just signed a new contract and has never said anything to me, so as far as I am concerned, he will be here.”
May 14th 2010
Foster’s agent: “We are close to agreeing a deal. The two clubs have agreed a fee and given us permission to talk to Birmingham. We fully expect the deal to be completed either this weekend or the start of next week.”
The agreed fee is believed to be £5 million.
Man Utd News 24/7
Foster must have done a Robinho, if you know what I mean..
Good luck to him but, Foster wasn’t going to get games next season with VDS extending his contract another year and TK being in better form for when VDS was going to to be rested or out.
Personally am glad because I never saw him as becoming our future #1.
the best thing for him is to go out
we all saw how bad Gomes in his first season , foster needs pressure-less environment to make mistakes and learn and with us that’s not available .
I hope he’ll go out on loan but Birmingham don’t want to loose another good goalie like hart
Good keeper overall, maybe loan would have been the best option…. Anyway goodluck Ben… We still have VDS and PIG
He made too many terrible mistakes.
Not a keeper we need at ManUtd.
That’s why i dont believe everything Sir Alex says.
He blew his big chance!
I Thought becks Was Staying
Kuz and Foster both got their chances. One impressed the other failed. Fergie’s hands are tied in this case. Foster dug his own grave.
Having said that, best of luck to Ben at Birmingham, and may he have a good career with England!
He fucked up big time when he was given the chance. We simply cant afford a goal keeper to make those silly mistakes that COULD cost us games/points. Selling him is the best thing to do now, for the club and for Ben, I wish him all the best.
I never rated him even when he came to United, but I do hope he is able to have a great career at Birmingham and do greater things elsewhere.
Poor chap had wanted to get into England squad. Tough luck in United cost him his place..
Rollins your not surely accusing a Knight of the realm of mendacity are you.
he made a couple of mistakes
he fukd up big time? what the fuck are you talkin about
get a grip lads.. if it wasnt for his supersave against arsenal that van persie shot.. we would have drew that game more dropped points.. also the birmingham at o.t supersave still all you remember is the mistakes.. first big chance for united.. world cup year.. if he wasnt nervous as fuck he wouldnt be human
foster is a good keeper.. should be sent out on loan but it looks like he will be sold
sucks
Even though Ben Foster has made mistakes he will definitely go on to become a top, top goalkeeper. I just think there is too much pressure on him at United as he is under the spotlight all the time. Get him at a team such as Brum, where the pressure is nowhere near at the same level and he will shine….I am absolutely positive of that, as i am certain that he will become Englands undisputed number one in the not too distant future.
Good Luck Ben. You deserve it mate.
@ obertanthenewstar
Im talking about those couple of mistakes that could of lost us points. Can we afford to drop any points, the answer is no. He didnt just make it worse for us by committing too many mistakes but he did them against our fucking rivals.These are games where we need ALL our players to perform well in. These are the games where we usually struggle in. We dont need a liability at the back do we?
You talk about his save against Van Persie but seem to forget the fact that we conceded BECAUSE he couldnt save from Arshavins. Then his and Rios major fuck ups against Shitty. Thats all after his vital two mistakes against Chelsea in the 2009 FA Community Shield, leading to two of their goals. He might have been nervous, but fucking hell. Making that many mistakes at this stage of his career is not acceptable. He is not a kid anymore. Regardless of all that. I DO wish him all the best. He was just not good enough for United.
It’s sad, but Ben is 27 I think and has to start playing regular football. He couldn’t settle at a high pressure club like United, so hopefully he can do that elsewhere. Lets see if Ben Amos can start coming into the fold.
i was hoping he would go out on loan for playing time & experience because he still pulled of magnificent saves in games as ppl before me point out
definitely got the talent….a shot stopper he was top class cos his reflexes are secound to none
problem was when he had to think about actually catchin the ball when comin for a cross and his general decision makin let him down sometimes but apart from Watford for 2 yrs how many top flight games has he played…..he’s 27 with the experience of a 20 yr old…..& Old Trafford can be a daunting place for a keeper
wish him all the best
i bet ya’s he’s England number 1 in next euro 2012
Regardin SAF sayin he’s stayin……Fosters had a chat with him & been told he isnt goin to get games unless through injuries so it was inevitable he had to move on……id of prefered a loan deal to give him playing time cos when this euro ruling comes out regardin a quota of foreign players its handy having an English keeper
Biringham would be a great club for Foster, he will be number 1 and look like the top ‘keeper he is. He’s just not United quality.
Oh fuck you all
Against birmingham A Wonderful save (Opening day) to deny Chuchu a Certain goal
Against arsenal A wonderful reflex save sticking out a leg that would have put the gooners 2 up
I was one of you lot but you never watch the reserves He’s brilliant…Send out on LOAN to birmingham maybe he can be the next hart But you must keep faith he is very young.
Mecheda is god……….”Fuck you all” what you on about mate……….i remember seeing Tiabi makin a couple of good saves against the dippers on his debut………….we all know he’s a top keeper but for all the world class saves he made he made infantile errors what cost us points………they were down to him not having proper playin time at that level cos im sure they can be ironed out……..& i watch some reserve games but come on theres a slight difference in pressure. im a big fan & always supported him cos i wanted him to succeed at UTD but with every mistake you could see his confidence drop like he wanted a big hole to appear in the six yard box so he could jump into it.
i still think a 2 yr loan to Birmingham would of been better.
Macheda is god
Oh how could I forget about his two brilliant saves… Sorry man, he has had a splendid season..
you just show people how old you are, and how serious you want people
to take you
& 27 isnt “very young” if he was 21-22 id understand your point
Macheda…. just because he’s english… doesn’t mean he’s good.
Good luck Ben, you deserve first team football.
I say good luck to him.
He is a good keeper but perhaps he does need to go to fulfill his “promise”.
Unfortunately, at Utd there are times when a keeper wont be called upon constantly and then has to pull of a crucial save and so maybe his concentration levels are not quite what is required at Utd.
But now that it seems as though he is going Fergie really does need to get a keeper in the form of what has been bandied about in the news lately.
After which the other concerning departments need to be addressed!
I think MIG means, 27 is young for a goalkeeper, they tend to peak as they get older.
Wonder if we should trust the Berba is going nowhere schpeel too!!!
yeh they tend to peak alot older than other players but you need to be playin week in week out at 27 to do just that & he just he wasnt gonna get it here unfortunately. the mistakes he made this season probably had summat to do with it bein world cup yr & therfor more pressure
i dont understand why Fergie didnt send him out on loan in January to see how he got on. wether he had other injuries to keepers….fuck knows.
i echo your point……good luck Ben
Wen he had time to think it was worrying, ie, crosses back passes. But fuck all that now, he’s going n so all the best to yer lad
3rd choice goalkeeper for 5 million. This sounds good.
MIG – Great in the reserves? He has been average if played at all. His flap at the cross against Villa last week almost cost us the cup.
In terms of his age 27 IS young for a keeper and to be fair to the lad he didn’t exactly have a settled back 4 infront of him. A real shame he hasn’t cut the mustard but good luck Ben lad.
I miss Fred’s take on it. “Bumbling Ben” was his name for him. Quality.
Simply put Ben is a quility keeper
he’s just not Manchester United quility.
Crap article. It was obviously Ben’s decision and to be honest it’s a good thing because I don’t think Van der Sar will play nearly as many games next season so we now have room for a top quality keeper to take over.
Buffon for League games.
Kuszczak in Cup games.
Van der Sar in Europe.
That would be ideal.
As for Berbatov… good to see he wants to stay and Sir Alex wants him to stay whether we buy a new striker or not. He has a great attitude and just like Giggs and Scholes, if he can make a contribution then let him stay. Just his wages that are a bit of an issue but he’s one of those players we have that looks shit at Old Trafford and amazing on Match of the Day.
To me this is quite simple regards Sir Alex and his praise for Ben Foster, its two fold really, he was always a understudy, yet when given his opportunities he did not play a blinder to ask the question of Sir Alex, by his performances both in the 1st team and what I have seen in the reserves not inspiring.
Also point 2, if you are planning, to use a laymans example say sell a car you openly describe it as substandard and occasionaly dodgy and will when you really need it let you down.
Of course you talk it up dress it up to sell it.Maybe should have put an advert in Auto Trader for a 26 year old good but not quite Rolls royce model.
Good luck Ben and thanks.
why does everyone refer to Kuz as PIG?
Pole in goal.
I think its called net short hand mate they cant be bothered to type his name, PIG…. Pole In Goal.
I suppose its funny, but to me sound bites dont work, its a bit racist also and lazy, but he is a great keeper imo.Just needs to control the ball more carefully with distribution and when it is passed back to him. Worth at least 10 million pounds if Ben is valued at 5.
You lot are aware that there is a Schmeical out there : )
All be it a Mark two – not a Mark one : )
Voting closes tomorrow, so if you haven’t done already, please vote to boost us up a bit: http://www.epltalk.com/2010-best-epl-club-blog
FFs I vote every day, Rah Rah Rah, On On On.
They only log yer IP for one day, Scott has been cheated in my opinion if you look at how the percentages changed in a short time, mind you expect that of Arse, always cheating. I say conspiracy.Its the FA again.
Brilliant blog and great comments and humour and knowledge.
Up United. get in there
Fantastic shot stopper with cat like reflexes, can get himself out of possition but more than makes up with it with his spring. Good powerful clearances and decent accuracy. BUT as timid as a first time queer in a wank booth with a gloryhole. For a man that is 6ft4 hes as load as many other, in the end, no hopers at United – Barthez, Bosnich, Van der Gouw, Tiabi, Howard, Kuzchak ………
A real measure of a keeper is a voice, agility and strength are all very well and of course vital, but if you can let your defenders know exactly what is going on 9 times out of 10 they will clear the ball before you need to save. And that has been the difference with Van Dar Sar and Schmeichel. Both Howard, Bosnich and Foster have proved to be as good at stopping shots as the two greats but unfortunately commanding of a penalty area they are not.
lmao and what do you know about a first time Queer in a glory hole? slurp slurp eh Goat.I think you watch too much shameless or porn channels! lol
All the rest of your post sanity and informative.
We are gonna go along way to repeat the large Dane
Foster got cut a lot of slack by the press and the fans because he’s English. Truth be told much as I wanted him to work out, because shit, why would any fan not want a player to work out, he was never great for us.
To be honest I think to really get the best from a young keeper you need to send him somewhere crap, somewhere he can get a workout. A United keeper sees very little action. Very rarely do they have to deal with sustained pressure. Teams seldom commit heavily to attacking us. For VDS this is no problem, the man is a veteran campaigner and knows it all, but for a younger keeper this is not the best place to learn the game. I think it’s no coincidence that Shay Given became such a good keeper at Newcastle, because he had fuck all in front of him. He learned not to take his defence for granted, he learned that marked players might still get a shot off, he learned that back passes can run short. Protected by and training with the worlds best back four of course Foster made mistakes, he was too well protected to learn to fend for himself.
Not good enough for united,he is better off at brum where he wont be under much pressure. although to be fais to him he is better than that arsenal clown,whats his name?
Lucas flappyhandski
The highlight of my season….
he’ll do well! just look at TIMMYYYYYY at everton!
@ Doghouse
Totally agree with you mate. People harp on and on and on, on how Foster cost us the season blah blah blah. Listen, we can all identify isolated incidents which cost/saved us the season. Foster should not be solely put to blame for it.
I think Fergie really wants him to stay. A loan would have been absolutely ideal tbh. But i think Foster himself wanted the move, so what can Fergie say? Fergie didnt want Ronaldo to leave, told us all as it is that he wouldnt sell him to ‘a virus’. The outcome was still the same. ROnaldo left cos he wanted to.
Cut Fergie some slack pls.
I sure as well hope to God Foster does AMAZINGLY well the next 2 years, becomes a top keeper, to prove all you doubters wrong =)
@willierednut and rescot – thanks for the definition of PIG.
@Scott
no off topic comments please
Good business by United. Best of luck to Foster in the future though.
Foster is brilliant,yeah he’s made mistakes,but if you’re gonna start blaming how we fell short season,we can practically start pointing fingers everywhere,not only at Foster.Sir Alex still rates him,but he knows he isn’t going to get regular football at United,with VDS going on.And Foster’s young,he wants games so i’d think its fair if he leaves.no hard feelings.i think he’ll be a terrific goalkeeper when he starts getting regular football.
It’s fosters fault Chelsea won the league.
Uhh Just so you guys know, Kasper Schmeichel’s a free agent at the moment.
someone said because hes english hes not good…lol i dont like england mate.
this was before he went really shit and tom played amazing and 2nd quote says he has said nothing about wanting to leave, so clearly he has now and im sure he said it to the press so stop the fergie bashing. plus he’s not gonna say he has no future
The decision by Foster to want to leave has been made in haste. I’m confident that a month a go he had no reason to want to leave and was still gunning for a place in the team. Had United of played better and were more in a possition to play the fringe players and youngsters (like Fergie likes to do on the final days) then he would have been given a few chances more. The reason Foster has accepted this move is a knee jerk reaction because he wasn’t in Fabio Capellos 30. Personally I think Capellos wrong on that one but he is consistant with not bringing players who don’t play regularly. Shame the silly Italian doesn’t take reserve fixtures (league winners) into account.
We could of handed him out on loan for a season, something I think even Birmingham would have jumped at the chance at but no doubt Foster was upset and bitter and said the wrong things to Fergie and his transfer request (letter of resignation) was accepted. One thing about Fergie he doesn’t suffer fools gladly and if you come with ultimatums he’ll hold you to them. Foster will be kicking himself in years to come, why didn’t he just take a few days out to gather his thoughts and assess the situation calmly. He’ll no doubt play well, he may even then move on when a slightly bigger club come calling, a Tottenham, a City, a Villa but its not really United is it, and that will always go through his mind.
as far as i can tell, his reputation has been mainly built on rumour and heresay (quotes from Fergie or Tony Coton about him being the best english keeper they’ve seen etc) rather than any solid evidence.. he’s made the odd great save amongst the epic clangers, but i personally have never been convinced he could handle it mentally at United. he’s probably going to become another Tim Howard – good solid Premier League keeper just short of the top top level.
i think a season or two out on loan would have been interesting to see how he develops, but i’m not losing too much sleep over him going
It is not the end for him. If he improves a lot at Birmingham, he may have another chance to come here..
I’m sorry but i wont be sad at all if he leaves, for one, he is a very good keeper but to ” shaky” in goal for UNITED. but i’ll think he’ll be great in Birmingham and maybe even become englands no1 in England.
2. I think it’s time to give Tomasz an honest chance, he is truly a fantastic reserve keeper and has the potential to be more than that some day and maybe become united no1.
@GHTT
It’s not Foster’s fault Chelsea won the league. If he had been wilfully unprofessional or disruptive or caused problems in the squad then maybe, sure, he might be considered a target for blame. But he did his best, he worked hard. It’s incredibly harsh to blame the guy just because when VDS was injured he wasn’t ready to fill his boots. It’s not Fosters fault for not being ready any more than it’s Edwin’s fault for being injured. In an ideal season Foster wouldn’t have been thrown in under such circumstances.
Doghouse – I think ghtt was being sarcastic mate.
Mmm.. Looking at Howard’s career at Everton Ben might have successful time somewhere else. And i believe it is going to be the case. Unfortunately some players just can’t cut it at big clubs.
@stretfordend ryda – LOL. Didn’t read comments before answering.
Doghouse
sorry next time I’ll write ha ha ha after my next comment that is full of shear stupidity my man
this is why i’m still holding my breath and hoping that after saha and foster who were both given the voice of confidence ( to up their market value) that it will be the same with berbaflop !
that’s why i never trust ferige when he’s praising a player and when it’s clearly obvious by fergie’s actions that the very same player doesn’t enjoy his confidence…
It’s “berbaflops” fault Chelsea won the league
@ GHTT, it was your daughter that did not shout enough, lets face the facts!
Redscot
she has not stopped singing a brand new anti city chant since Monday, and it’s kinda funny because the familys in complete mourning
Heh, sorry GHTT, ever since the end of the season my sense of humour has been in a coma.
Gotta hate tiny tears
yup, that’s right…if we had someone capable of scoring (i.e. owen ), who would actually score those 2 sitters against chelsea, we would have won it but hey, life’s a bitch
Good goalkeeper but not good enough for United…best of luck Ben!
First and foremost, many thanks for the contribution Ben has made. We must always thank those who wear the United shirt. He has been fantastic during his Watford days. It is not that he is not good enough for United, as few people suggest. A goalkeeper is good or is not good enough for any club. It is not like any other team position. Ben is a very good goalkeeper and I am sure that he will be so even after he moves. He may be better to go however, because being in Van der Saar’s shadow for a further year, I can not see him recovering from the psychological blow he must have suffered after few bad performances last season. It is a real pity because he is technically such a good goalkeeper !