Roy Keane to go but Champions of the World need to stay United

Simply put, United’s problems are the problems of plenty. Yes, they are the richest club in the world. Yes, they are a global brand name — football’s equivalent of Sony or Ford and yes, they are the one team every starry-eyed schoolboy dreams of playing for. But United is also a plc, a corporate entity run by a Board of Directors for whom the team is no more than a commodity though blue-chip to increase profit margins. Even as the board has acquired notoriety for its tightfisted nature, team manager Alex Ferguson’s stock has increased, if possible, in the public’s mind for the way he has managed to create such a team under these conditions.

Within the next few days, Keane will decide whether to stay on at Old Trafford or to move abroad. Under the Bosman ruling, Keane is a free agent come June 2000, and can start talks with clubs from January 1. His stand is typically straightforward: United must offer him his worth. Abroad — whether in Italy, as is likely, or in Spain, he can earn anything up to — 80,000 a week. At United, the club’s wages are capped at — 25,000 a week. Case closed, you might say. After much hemming and hawing, and a great deal of public criticism, the directors upped it to — 40,000, but Keane still wasn’t happy. Public outcry grew; how could United treat their most important player this way? Last reports had it that United were prepared to offer £ 55,000, and Keane had reportedly agreed.

United’s problems begin if, and it’s not a very big `if’, Keane goes. That could open the floodgates for arguably the most talented collection of footballers: David Beckham and Ryan Giggs can command as much as Keane, if not more. Wide players are in short supply in the Serie A, and Giggs has a host of admirers down the Appian Way.

Also, the loss of his captain and lynchpin could be the final straw for Ferguson in his dealings with a not always sympathetic board. In addition to the Keane issue, Fergie has had to put up with the club pulling out of the FA Cup, against the wishes of players and manager. And too often, when he’s seen the right player, he’s been told the coffers are empty. It’s hurt him especially this season, when he was forced to sign Mark Bosnich to replace Peter Schmeichel simply because the Australian was coming for free.

There is yet another, perhaps apocalyptic, scenario looming: Ferguson and a favoured few Beckham, Giggs, Scholes go off in a package deal. It would cost in the region of Å“80 million, almost small change for the likes of AC Milan, Juventus or Real Madrid.

The ball is in United’s court; Keane has already said his family is happy in Manchester and would settle for a fair deal. Any deal would involve breaking the wage structure, but it’s a small price to pay, no puns intended, for the Champions of the World to keep it that way.

SPORT AND SONG
He’s done the Bible, religion, politics, fantasy, tragedy…Now, Andrew Lloyd-Webber is turning his hand to football. No, he won’t be the centre-half Kevin Keegan’s looking for; the millionaire maestro is writing a musical based on football. The story is of Star of the Sea, a football team in Northern Ireland before sectarian violence flared up there in the late 1960s. The team, strictly non-denominational, tasted a fair bit of success in the youth league and even had a few representatives in the Northern Ireland youth squad. Left-back was Bobby Sands, better remembered as the IRA leader who went on a hunger strike to death in the Maze prison 20-odd years ago. Another boy joined the Protestant UVF and served nine years in jail.

Star of the Sea also came to an end, like all good things, when it could not manage any more the pulls and pressures of rapidly increasing sectarianism. All that’s left today are photographs and memories. A bit like Liverpool, you could say…

(GOAL)KEEPING SCORE
In days gone by, they would have been hung for treachery. In the Bundesliga, Hamburg keeper Hans-Jorg Butt scored from the spot against Werder Bremen. In Argentina, his Paraguayan counterpart Jose Luis Chilavert went two better, notching up a hattrick of penalties for Velez Sarsfeld, the first of its kind in professional football. These were not the charismatic Chilavert’s first goals; he has 46 count ’em to his credit in first-class football, including one from a 60-metre free-kick! Goalkeepers have, of course, scored goals before. There was one scored by Spurs keeper Pat Jennings against Man United in the 1967 Charity Shield, a monster kick that got buffeted by the Wembley wind. Peter Schmeichel scored for Man United against Rotor Volgograd a few seasons ago, and few will forget his charge upfield in the dying seconds of last season’s Champions Cup Final, when he unsettled the Bayern defence enough for Beckham’s corner to be knocked in by Sheringham…

Jayaditya Gupta can be contacted on e-mail at: joygupta@express2.indexp.co.in