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The fans never stopped supporting the team. That’s what they’ll say when looking back at David Moyes’ first season in charge of Manchester United. Whether Moyes only makes it to the end of the year or goes on to create a second 20-year dynasty, it’s unlikely that there’ll be many darker days than the 3-0 home defeat to Liverpool. And still the fans kept singing.

While the support for the team was certainly admirable, it was equally as tragic. They didn’t cheer the team on because they expected a comeback. That was impossible: there was no coming back from this.

They sang to prove a point. We’re still singing because we’re not like you. We’re still singing because we support our managers. We’re still singing because we’re Manchester United Football Club. We’re singing because we’re still better than you.

The fans in Old Trafford have taken the fall from grace with dignity. While they may mutter Moyes’ name with discontent in private, in public they have put on a united front. This was Ferguson’s last beckoning call after all. A public damning of Moyes would be to betray their last manager and that’s the last thing you’d get from  a club built on loyalty.

However, it’s hard not to draw parallels between the Man United fans’ behaviour of late and that of Liverpool fans for the last 20 years. It may seem odd that a comparison with Liverpool fans would have negative connotations given that the Scouse support are famed for their backing of the club. But then that’s just it, they’re famed for their support because they sing when they’re losing. This is not something that a club as successful as Manchester United want to be associated with. It’s demeaning.

But they may just have to settle for having the best fans, if not the best team in the world. That’s how the future looks. It’s one where Gary Neville and Rio Ferdinand beam out from Sky Sports studios eulogising on the size, tradition and character of the football club as they cling onto past glories. It’s what we’ve had from Jamie Redknapp, Jamie Carragher and Graeme Souness for years.

And Souness knows how easily things can change at the top. Like Moyes, Souness had the unenviable task of following an incredibly successful manager of the biggest club in the country. And like Moyes, Souness found his best efforts met with failure.

However, unlike Moyes, Souness went out in a ball of flames. He took on the playing squad from day one, with little respect for reputation or skill. He broke the dynasty by breaking the team. If anything, Moyes has been too respectful to the players he was given. But then, the man who chose these players was the same one that chose him.

The Manchester United fans may accept their temporary fall from grace but only because they believe it won’t be as long as Liverpool’s time in purgatory. And they may be right. The reason that United were able to reign supreme over their Merseyside rivals for the last 20 years was due to the Manchester club’s relative success in harnessing the greater revenue streams offered by the Premier League.

And this strategy has only been on the increase. The club now boast 35 commercial sponsors according to their website, including Mister Potato, the Official Savory Snack Partner of Manchester United. However, how long Brand United can last if team United suffer an extended exile from the Champions League remains to be seen.

One gets the feeling that there is little danger of the Red Devils support having to update ’20 times’ anytime soon. 21 will come.  But it may be that they have to live on past glories for longer than they think. They may just have to survive for as long as Liverpool have.

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It has been ten years since Wayne Rooney scored his unforgettable goal against Arsenal for Everton at aged just 16. The sensational strike revealed that the youngster was a future star in the making. However, the England international is still as hungry as ever to impress and has announced that he wants to play in England’s friendly next month against Sweden.

Rooney’s international performances have been criticised, and the 26-year-old failed to make an impact against Poland on Wednesday, despite getting on the scoresheet with a fortunate goal from a Steven Gerrard corner kick. The Manchester United forward has often been injured in the build-up to international tournaments which hasn’t helped his cause.

Roy Hodgson will undoubtedly be under pressure to rest his first team and give less experienced Premier League players a run-out. However, Rooney has insisted, “of course I want to play.

“I want to play all the games, if that’s possible. Hopefully I can stay in good form and the manager will pick me.”

Hodgson is expected to field younger players, such as Arsenal’s Carl Jenkinson and Liverpool’s Jonjo Shelvey, however the England manager has stated he will keep some key players.

“We have to be careful. I don’t intend to go to Stockholm with a weak team. It is a massive occasion for Sweden — and they like me over there, or they used to!

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“I’m also conscious that a lot of players will be in the middle of European football as well, and I don’t know how much I can bash them,” added Hodgson.

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Everton fans are absolutely loving the form of Cenk Tosun, after their new star striker grabbed a brace in Turkey’s 2-1 win over Iran.

Everton fans haven’t had much to cheer about this season, but the arrival and form of Cenk Tosun was certainly a silver lining.

The Turkish striker did struggle for form towards the end of the season, but through no fault of his own, as he barely got a sniff due to the negative brand of football instilled by Sam Allardyce.

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The 26 year-old still managed five Premier League goals with the Toffees though, after finding the net 14 times in the first half of the season with Besiktas.

The big striker scored a wonderful brace as his side warmed up for the World Cup with a 2-1 friendly win over Iran on Monday, and fans are heaping praise on their new front man.

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If the Toffees are to satisfy their fans with attacking football next season, one would have to think Tosun will flourish in a team creating more chances, and he showed exactly why on Monday night.

You can find some of the best Twitter reactions to Tosun’s brace below…

For months it was widely thought that Arsenal star Alexis Sanchez would join Pep Guardiola’s high-flying Manchester City team.

In the last few weeks, though, the tables turned and City’s arch rivals Manchester United emerged as the Chile international’s preferred destination.

The 29-year-old secured a straight swap with Henrikh Mkhitaryan as his contract at the Emirates was due to expire at the end of the season.

United have now been significantly strengthened, but City remain in the driving seat as far as the Premier League title race is concerned.

The blue half of Manchester have a 12-point lead after 24 games, but they recently suffered a slight wobble when their unbeaten run was ended by Liverpool in a 4-3 loss at Anfield.

Kevin De Bruyne has arguably been City’s player of the season so far as he has been instrumental in guiding the team to the top of the table.

There is no doubt that the North-West outfit would have been boosted by Sanchez’s arrival, but De Bruyne has insisted that City have not been affected by his snub.

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According to the Metro, the Belgian said:

“If it doesn’t go, it doesn’t matter, we will still do what we need to do, with or without him. And he chose United. There are a lot of good players. If they want to come, they want to come, and otherwise we will do it with our team.”

You can be forgiven for thinking all is rosy on the blue side of Manchester. At the top end of the Premier League table, through to the Champions League knockouts for the first time and a place booked in the League cup final to boot, all is well at Manchester City surely?

The club  have today though been rocked by the news that their star midfielder Yaya Toure has openly admitted considering a move across the pond to PSG. Asked about a move to Paris by French radio station RMC, he said:

“Why not? Everything’s going well with City at the moment, but you never know. When you have big teams like that, who already have big players, it’s obviously attractive. Being part of an adventure like that, a squad like that is exceptional.” 

“My objective is always to work with big players. It helps you to get better and to learn many things. You never stop learning in football. For me PSG are a big club. They’re a big team, full of history, with all the great players they have at the moment.”

The question for City fans is whether this is simply a statement of his admiration for a club like PSG, or a genuine flirtation with a potential move? It does seem a little bizarre that a man playing for one of the best footballing sides in the world at the moment would even for a moment consider a move elsewhere.

City do though have a reason to be concerned, Toure is possibly the best midfielder in the league and a player central to their attacking menace. Whilst the club has the financial power to replace anyone, there just aren’t that many players comparable to the Ivorian in world football. Toure’s importance this term is underlined by his return of 14 goals so far, and he looks still to have been a relative bargain. A midfielder who is rare in his all round completeness, he has the physical presence to break up play and the swiftness of mind to engineer incisive attacks for his club.

The sense from Toure’s comments are that he really buys into the project at PSG and that isn’t at all surprising given the ambition being shown, but in my opinion he has unfinished business. Manchester City may be playing the best football in the league, but they are yet to dominate the country domestically on a regular basis, add to that failure in Europe and you can see a way to go before Toure’s work in England is done.

I personally don’t see a move away as being at all imminent, he has just signed a lucrative new £11m a year deal until 2017 and the club don’t appear to have any urge to sell. At the age of 30 Toure has one big move left in him, and it isn’t surprising that he has eyes to the future. However, given what he has left to achieve and contribute to his current employers I’d suggest his overtures are a little bit premature.

If this was any other club the Parisians would blow them out of the water, but City’s backers are unlikely to flinch regardless of how high PSG want to bid.

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PSG may be a pre-retirement dream for Toure, but don’t expect it to be realised any time soon.

Click below to see Arsenal, Fulham and Everton in action this weekend!

Getafe midfielder Abdelaziz Barrada has admitted to seeing clubs linked with him in the papers but he is just trying to keep head in the game after an impressive start to the season according to talkSPORT.

Barrada has been linked with Manchester City along with Barcelona, Real Madrid and his former club PSG, but despite already scoring three goals this season and featuring for Morocco at the Olympics, Barrada wants to focus on Getafe.

“I know the news from the newspaper, but now I prefer to just focus on my work on the pitch,” he is quoted as saying in French magazine France Football.

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“It would be tempting (to rejoin PSG) because I’ve worked there for a small period of time and I have kept good contact with the people of the reserves I met in my time there. PSG’s project is fine but I have not spoken to anyone about my possible return.”

Rangers supporters would love to see John Terry at Ibrox next season after he parted company with Aston Villa on Wednesday afternoon.

The player spent a season at Villa Park and was an integral part of their promotion bid, which ultimately ended at Wembley with defeat to Fulham in the play-off final.

Now 37 years of age, he doesn’t exactly have a long-term upside for the Light Blues, but could be the short-term problem solver they are after as Steven Gerrard looks to rebuild what was a terrible defence in 2017/18.

Rangers conceded more goals than any other team in the Scottish Premiership top six, which is something that needs fixed if they are to compete for silverware next season.

Do they have a chance of signing Terry? Perhaps, if they can work out the financial details of his wages, which will likely be expensive by Rangers’ standards.

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After he announced his Villa departure, Rangers fans took to Twitter to share their thoughts on a potential move to Scotland…

Ramiro Funes Mori has become somewhat of a forgotten man at Everton due to his injury troubles.

The defender has not played for the club since March last year because of a serious knee problem.

The Argentine is edging closer to fitness, but he will have the big task of trying to break into Sam Allardyce’s team.

Phil Jagielka, Ashley Williams, Mason Holgate and Michael Keane are among the centre-backs vying for places.

Funes Mori, who can also operate at left-back, has outlined his plan for a comeback and has admitted that he has one eye on the World Cup.

In order to be selected by Argentina for the trip to Russia, the defender will need to be fit and on top form.

With less than five months until the season comes to an end, the 26-year-old will need to ramp up his recovery.

After hearing from the defender for the first time in a while, Everton fans tweeted their thoughts on his comments.

As an Ipswich fan there have been many results that have been hard to take and Ipswich’s 4-4 draw against Derby will be put right up there with the worst of them.

Seeing the Tractor Boys go 4-1 up was a great feeling, two goals for Daryl Murphy to boost his confidence, three assists and a goal for the club’s biggest asset Aaron Cresswell too.

Then out of nowhere Derby come out in and play like a completely different team, with Ipswich suffering from overconfidence at the same time. All of the positives that should have been taken from the game were then replaced with disbelief and despair as Derby clawed their way back to 4-4 with just two minutes to go.

However, to properly analyse the match and its consequences we need to take emotion out of the equation, although I do appreciate this is hard for anyone to do especially right after the game.

The first positive thing that can be taken from the match and most others this season is that the Mick McCarthy and Terry Connor combination has got the team scoring enough goals for a promotion push. Connor’s influence cannot be underestimated as McCarthy has never taken credit for the teams offensive prowess and always tells reporters that his right hand man is working wonders with the teams forwards.

This isn’t just wild claim I am plucking out of the air after watching the team either, the statistics show an incredible improvement in goal scoring. Ipswich were the lowest scoring team last season but the Suffolk side have been up there with the high scorers throughout the early stages of this season and there are only three teams that have scored more than them right now.

It defies belief that people still complain about how McCarthy plays ‘boring football’ or is ‘too defensive’. If anything the Blues boss has proven the opposite and the team now need to work on finding the right balance between attack and defence.

Another surprise is that large groups of supporters still believe Ipswich need to be scoring more goals and are expecting to see attacking players joining the club soon. If the club were to spend any money I would much rather see them sign a solid defender like Richard Stearman rather than a forward. The statistics certainly don’t lie, but some people choose to ignore them.

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Going back to the Derby game in particular, we all need to remember  that the team is a work in progress and is currently not up there with the best sides in the division. Don’t get me wrong, I believe by the end of the season Ipswich could be one of the better sides, but they haven’t yet perfected their style and that is why we will get a lot of ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ performances like on Tuesday night.

For now fans need to focus on the positives; taking a point away from home is a good result even though the way it happened was disappointing and additionally the team are playing entertaining football. McCarthy and Connor are taking the team in the right direction so just sit back, remain patient and eventually they will make Ipswich the finished product.

Reading captain Jobi McAnuff has stressed his opinion about players wages and that the money that is involved in football is getting out of hand, as reported by the Daily Mirror.

The former West Ham and Crystal Palace midfielder is enjoying Premier League life but is genuinely disheartened by the situation football has now found itself in.

“I can see why a Wayne Rooney should get a big bonus because of the amount of shirts he sells,” said McAnuff.

“But if you’re talking about £200,000-a-week, that’s ­ridiculous. Who needs that amount of money? Surely, someone will say ‘that’s enough’.

“We’re on the verge of ­getting out of control and we’re ­starting to lose a bit of reality.

“The most popular question I get from kids is ‘what car do you drive?’ What happened to them wanting to know what it was like to make your debut?

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“Football is getting too ­expensive for fans and fans make football. Tickets for our game at Chelsea were £50 each. I know lots of people who couldn’t afford that.”