Ferguson gets a lot of stick for selling on some of our best players. Despite the fact he always ends up proving people wrong (e.g. winning the league with an average of more than two goals a game the season following selling Ruud or buying Cristiano Ronaldo as the replacement for Beckham or winning the Double the season following selling Hughes, Kanchelskis and Ince etc.) I wrote about this issue last May in my article When In Doubt, Blame Fergie.
Now that Heinze has finally left the club, after stating publicly his desire to join the dippers, somehow, Sir Alex has managed to get some negative press. He is currently pressing to bring the dippers to justice for the underhand methods of trying to sign our second choice left back. It was revealed at the hearing for Heinze that a deal had been proposed for Crystal Palace to sign the defender, only for Liverpool to buy him from them before the transfer window closed, as a way to get around Ferguson’s refusal to sell him to Liverpool.
Heinze is a quality defender, and despite making a profit on the player (sold on for a sum surpassing £8 million, substantially higher than the £6.8 million we paid for him, and the same £6.8 million Liverpool bid for him), who is soon to turn thirty, Ferguson has been given some stick for his stubbornness in this deal, particularly from the Liverpool boss and the Argie. It appears as though Heinze can’t keep his gob shut when it comes to talking about us, just like the last player we sold to the Spanish champions, Real Madrid.
“I had to leave United because I am convinced Ferguson would not give me a minute all season,” he said. “Now I would love to play United in the Champions League. I thank the United fans, but they are very different to the directors. My relations with him were normal until my bad knee injury in September 2005 and my efforts to play in the World Cup at the end of that season. I went to Spain for recovery but Ferguson thought it would be impossible for me to play in Germany in the proper condition. You could say I won the bet but I upset him and from that moment on, things were different between us.”
Ferguson has put Heinze in his place, as he did with Ruud, putting a stop to the sob story account which has come from our once loved former players. “He started playing for us in 2004 and his first season was fantastic,” Ferguson responded. “Then, the following season, the day before we played Villarreal in Spain and he got his bad knee injury, his agent came to our hotel and asked if we could sell Gaby. After one year I thought it was an absolutely distressing signal to put out. It was in 2005 that he came and asked away. Or his agents did. Whether Gaby knew about that, I am not sure. He got his injury the next day, a bad one. We allowed him to train in Spain and really he prepared to have himself fit for the World Cup, which we couldn’t do anything about. We were not happy with that. He came back unfit from the World Cup. We had to rehabilitate him again and meanwhile, all through that time, they kept having meetings with David Gill asking to leave. Or double his money. So the last few months was only a culmination of the drip-drip-drip effect you get when you deal with agents. Absolutely one thing in mind, to make money themselves, as far as I’m concerned. They wanted him to be the top-paid player in Manchester United, which is absolutely ridiculous given the quality of players as forwards.”
Heinze was asking for over £100k a week for us to keep him, a sum which just was not going to be met for a player warming our bench. This was a man the fans adored, and all along, he was just after more money from us. I’m rather sad now, upon learning what a complete wanker he is, that Liverpool didn’t sign him. I would have thoroughly enjoyed booing him when showing up at our ground in their shirt, and I would have revelled in knowing Liverpool had a player who couldn’t give a shit less about them, but loved the money more than any club. As it turns out, he has gone where most money hungry players go, Real Madrid, and I agree with him, hoping we do meet his side in the Champions League.
Ferguson showed who was boss, yet again, and was shown to be entirely correct, yet again. I’m sure this isn’t the last we have heard from Heinze though, and I’m sure he’ll have a few more bad words to say against Sir Alex. I’m sure he won’t be able to forget us as easily as we’ll forget him. Why? Because he knows he had something good at United, and he’ll soon learn the Real Madrid fans will never love him like we did.
I’m glad this has finally all come to an end, and that we’ve actually done rather well from it all. I’m not filled with confidence that Silvestre and O’Shea are the best cover we now have for Evra, but I’d rather those players, who have battled for a place in our team ever since getting a game, than a money hungry waster like Heinze. No one player is bigger than this club, and that rule certainly applies to Heinze, who would be warming our bench this season if he had stayed.
The thought of Ruud and Gabby sat in the dressing room bitterly bitching about Ferguson and Mancunian weather is enough to keep me smiling for a while. This situation is disappointing, but not devastating like we first thought. He pulled the wool over our eyes, and now it’s over with. So ta ra, and fuck off.
We’ll Never Die.
