I re-designed the web site for Ning restaurant recently and they have been nominated for a couple awards! First award is Restaurant of the Year and the other is for head chef Norman Musa for Chef of the Year.

Good luck Ning!

In an interview in Zoo Magazine (online) became is asked “You’ve said you might come back to the Premier League. Would you go back to Manchester United if you had the chance?”

He said “I’d love to go back to United because they are the team I support. They’re the best club that I’ve played for, but I’m 34 years old now – I’m getting a little bit older. I was very successful there and made a lot of friends and for me they are the best fans in the world. As a supporter, I’m really happy they’re having a lot of success. Manchester United is always a team that any professional would want to play for.”

A United legend!

Read the full interview here – he talks about England, freekicks and his favourite game (which is the England v Greece game at Old Trafford in 2001 and scored the freekick to get us to World Cup – and the match I was at!)

Steven Gerrard has been cleared of affray after punching a man in a bar. The incident happened back in December after Liverpool had won 5-1 and Gerrard was out celebrating with friends.

Even though he admitted he threw the 1st punch (in self defence apparently) and CCTV proves it, he was cleared. He said he “firmly believed” he was about to be punched, and swung out in self-defence.

Dont get me wrong, I dont think he should be locked up for it. Even though hes a Liverpool player as a person he seems “OK”. Just seems odd that he throws the 1st punch (actually 3 punches but only 1 connected???? I think).

At the weekend David Beckham played for LA Galaxy for the first time in awhile (since being on loan with AC Milan). It was in a friendly which was actually against AC Milan.

The main headlines from the game was when Becks (properly un-wisely) confronted the crowd who had be taunting him all game. Several fans had big banners all about Becks being a “part time player” and not showing commitment etc.

In the actual game, Becks was involved in both goals with one long range pass and also a corner.

Maybe this is a turning point for Becks?? AC Milan have said they are eager for Becks to repeat his loan spell.

“The most likely hypothesis is that Beckham plays for us from January until the end of the season,” said Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani.

In a recent interview, Sir Alex Ferguson, commented on Ronaldo. He has said hes really proud when he see Ronaldo, he believes that when Ronaldo came to United as a young player it was at the right time of his career. He even says “he may come back, you never know“.

It certainly does seem that Ronaldo left on good terms with Fergie and United. I have said it before, ever since Ronaldo has left United he has said some very nice things about United.

Back to the subject of Ronaldo maybe one day returning to United, he said “I don’t see it happening if things go wrong at Real Madrid necessarily, but he loved Manchester United so it may happen. He loved the club. If you look at the six years he had with us, he never missed training and he was never injured. He always played. He was fantastic.” “It wasn’t easy to see him leave. I had a good chat with the boy about it but he had made up his mind. Last year he was begging me to let him go but this year it was a sensible discussion.”

Fergie also said that he believes Ronaldo is the best player in the world by miles. Streets ahead of Kaka and Messi. “There is no doubt it is a huge loss. It is a challenge for us because it won’t be the same without Ronaldo. He is the best player in this world of ours – by absolutely miles. He is streets ahead of Lionel Messi, streets ahead of Kaka. Look at his figures. They are unbelievable. The attempts he has had on goal, the attacks in the penalty box, his positions, his headers, his shots.”

Anyway, good luck to Ronaldo but if United play Real in the Champions League I hope he ends up on the losing side!! So far his Real Madrid career hasnt gone to well playing 45 minutes against Shamrock Rovers (who finished last season in 7th place in the LOI premier division) and didnt play that well – and Real Madrid only won 1-0 with a late goal by Benzema. On the other side, new United no.7 Michael Owen has played in 2 games and scored 2 goals.

Owen > Ronaldo > Tevez

I finally got round to doing the Old Trafford Museum and Stadium Tour the other week – after supporting United for pretty much all my life. Finally got around to organising it and finding a day when my mate could also make it.

The museum had all the usual things you expected with the various trophies and exhibitions. Surprisingly there was also a whole section on Ronaldo, who had only recently been sold to Real Madrid. United spent all the money with the exhibition and then he leaves!! They have apparently said its some a “farewell appreciation“.

As well as the museum there was also a “speed goal” thing to see how hard you could kick a football. £1 for 3 kicks. The fastests I kicked it was 53mph, my mate just beat me with 55mph with his last kick!! Compared to professionals and the fastest was I think Rooney and Ronaldo with speeds of about 74mph.

The main thing I was looking forward to was the stadium tour. Watched round the stadium, sat in the dug out, saw the changing room etc. The dug out had some really comfy Recaro seats! The players lounge was not as “posh” as expected. The changing room was as expected – seen pics and videos of it before after United have won league etc. There had the shirts up to show where each player sat. Ronaldo’s space was empty (of course). He used to sit next to Rooney. Tevez’s spot was also empty.

Took a few photos which you can see on Facebook. I have also uploaded some to Flickr.

According to Ronaldo he left on good terms with Fergie and Manchester United. He gave us 6 years and United made him into the player he is and I think he knows it. He has developed from a young player with lots of potential – remember the million stepovers to a World class player.

In a cermoney where he was unveiled he has said some nice things about United – its fans, Fergie, team-mates.

He said: “I have to say thank you to all supporters, my boss, my friends and my team-mates because I’d been there six years and I had a good relationship with all people there. But the people understand my decision and the people respect that. Of course it’s a great challenge now and the people know my dream is to play in Madridand of course it’s a great challenge now.

I am going to miss many things about Manchester. But this is life, this is my new home and my new club and I will give 100% here. My relationship with Alex Ferguson was always good and it will stay that way forever. It would be fantastic to play against United. Sir Alex joked with me about that, he told me he wanted to play against me in the final in Madrid. I’ll put Evra against you, to kick you. I hope so. This is now my club, but I have a good relationship with Manchester and I wish all the best for the team and for Alex Ferguson.”

(Love how Fergie said would get Evra against him to kick him!)

I have nothing against him leaving us and going to his boyhood team. I would do the same!

Earlier on in the day he did say part of the motivation for moving to Real was that he thought La Liga was better than the Premier League.

“I think La Liga is going to have more quality because of the players that are arriving,” he said. “All the players have a lot of quality and the referees protect the players.” He certainly will get more protection!! Maybe he will go back to his diving days. He also has a point now that La Liga will have arguably the top 3 players in the world. Ronaldo, Messi and Kaka. (Or two of the top 3, if your FIFA who have Torres as 3rd).

Anyway. I hope United meet Real in the Champions League!!

Woohoo!! Wanted to get an iphone for ages and finally got one (the new 3GS one). After getting it I spent ages downloading apps! So many apps there, some great (some not!). If anyone has any recommended apps then let me know. Some of my favs inc. TweetDeck, Movies app, Paper Toss, Brain Free, UrbanSpoon and Shazam. There are several apps which show the nearest shop/bar/pub/cinema to you and some with reviews – not sure which is my fav yet. Need to try out AroundMe, Yelp and Rummble.

So far I am loving the phone. Only downside is the battery life which doesnt seem to be great. Not used it tons for phone calls but mainly texts and playing on the apps. Not done tons of listening to music on it yet. However, the new 3GS was supposed to have a better battery life. From what I have read online I am not the only one complaining about it. Hopefully the v3.1 of the OS which will be out soon will improve it.

One other thing is that the reception is not that great in my apartment. It seems its sort out in the “blackspot”. Reception can be 3-4 bars but then when in bedroom just a few metres away its no bars – says “searching” or “no service”. It averages 1-2 bars when in my apartment. (When I am not in apartment reception is very good – maximum 5 bars).

So its now official. Yesterday, the odds on United signing Michael Owen dropped from 20/1 to 5/2. I dont know where the rumour started but there was talk that Owen was in Manchester and would be having a medical soon. Anyway, as I just said its now official and Michael Owen is a United player.

I wasnt sure what to think at first especially with him being a former Liverpool player. However,thinking about it more it could work out to be a good deal for everyone.The exact details of the deal have not been announced but its a 2 year pay-as-you-play deal with a signficant salary cut from the £110k a week he was getting at Newcastle. It will be based on bonuses for playing and scoring. One thing this shows is that it seems he has the desire to succeed – to perform for United, help us win trophies and it may also help him get his England place back.

No matter what you say his goal / game ratio is still very impressive. At Newcastle he only started 58 league games but scored 26 goals. Total appearences were 71. For Real Madrid, the 13 goals he scored were mostly from the subs bench so he could come on as a sub to “change the game”. A different option. He may be the goal poacher United need??

The most obvious worry when signing Owen is his injury record. He has had lots of injuries including his ankle, groin, knees and the dreaded metatarsal. However, he was given a rigorous medical examination so hope the United medical staff properly checked him out.

One thing though, with the signing of Owen it looks unlikely we will sign another striker (even though we have arguably lost 2 with Tevez (more or less gone) and Ronaldo (who was pretty much a striker). Will having Rooney, Berbatov, Owen and the 2 youngsters Macheda and Wellbeck be enough?? Personally I would have preferred David Villa or Benzema. Benzema is at Real and Villa will properly go to Barce. Are United going to make another signing?? Do we need a central midfielder?? How come getting Lampard???

Anyway, good luck to Owen and hope he gets his form back and plays like the days when he was at Liverpool. Since we have signed him quite early in the summer, he will get a proper pre-season with us. His debut is likely to be United’s first game in the tour of south-east Asia against malaysia XI on 18th July. His home debut will be on 5th August against Valencia on a pre-season friendly.

NB – By the “Law of Returning Players” he is almost certain to score against Liverpool next season!!