ALEX FERGUSON is to play a severely weakened team in Manchester United’s final league game at Hull City on Sunday in a move that could have damaging repercussions for Newcastle United’s hopes of avoiding relegation.
Alan Shearer’s team must get a better result at Aston Villa than Hull manage against the champions but Ferguson is considering leaving out Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney for Federico Macheda and Daniel Welbeck.
Ferguson is also planning a variety of other changes with Rafael da Silva, Darron Gibson and Tomasz Kuszczak possible starters, despite the controversy when he did the same on the final weekend of the 2006-’07 season and his team lost 1-0 at home to West Ham United, a result that relegated Sheffield United and left the Yorkshire club’s manager Neil Warnock condemning what had happened at Old Trafford as leaving a “bitter taste” and making him feel “sick in the stomach”.
Warnock revealed in his autobiography Ferguson had rung him to say sorry, explaining he had felt compelled to rest players for the FA Cup final the following week.
Shearer insisted after Newcastle’s 1-0 defeat to Fulham on Saturday he believed United would be “fair to the league” and “do football justice” but Ferguson has already decided his priority is to rest players for the European Cup final against Barcelona in Rome three days later.
Newcastle are one point and one place below Hull. Sunderland are in 18th position, two points above Newcastle, but with two games to play, the first of which is at Portsmouth tonight. In a further twist, Sunderland’s opponents at the Stadium of Light on Sunday are Chelsea, who could rest the likes of Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard and Nicolas Anelka ahead of the FA Cup final.
“I’d rather United didn’t have the Champions League final three days after playing at Hull,” said Shearer. “I’d also rather Chelsea didn’t have the FA Cup final six days after playing at Sunderland. But I’m not going to tell Sir Alex what to do. I think when this particular situation has happened in the past he’s always been genuine and looked around the league and done what was right for everyone else and for his club.”
Shearer, who once rejected Ferguson, was asked whether he knew his old adversary was close to the Hull manager, Phil Brown, and had even been credited for getting him the Derby County manager’s job in 2005. Shearer smiled and nodded. Brown, however, insists he expects “no favours”.
Nemanja Vidic was named as United’s player of the year last night. He has played in 54 of United’s 64 games and been instrumental in the team conceding only 24 goals in the Premier League. He won both the fans’ award and the players’ award.
Guardian Service
