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When Manchester United played Manchester City at Old Trafford a few weeks ago, seven of the starting XI were players who were at the club under Alex Ferguson, including all of the back four and goalkeeper.

This week, it has emerged that Manchester United could be one of the teams interested in taking Jonny Evans back to the club from West Brom, after speculation in the summer that he could join Manchester City.

United clearly do need new options this season, having seen their form slump dramatically because of injury – something that shouldn’t happen to such an extent. But going in for Evans again does seem to throw open one pertinent question: do United owe Alex Ferguson one big apology?

When the former United boss retired in 2013, he was clearly given the send-off of a legend and his unparallelled achievements were properly lauded and respected. But there was one criticism that’s been levelled at him ever since he retired: did he leave United in the lurch with a team which wasn’t fit for purpose, at least in the long term?

The argument has been advanced for the last four and a half years: Ferguson, in buying the likes of Robin van Persie, was looking for a short-term hit in order to allow his team to return to the top when he retired. In doing so, they say, he left his side woefully short of players who would be at the top of their game in the long term. But if it’s true that United are considering returning for Jonny Evans, it would appear as though Ferguson wasn’t to blame after all.

Or is it that United’s recruitment is simply continuing to fall short of the standards expected of such a big club?

It wasn’t just a widely-held belief that United’s squad was filled with deadwood when Ferguson left, it was the truth. It wasn’t an easy squad to sort out, but since getting rid of David Moyes, United have spent hundreds of millions of pounds to make it right.

Some signings have worked – Paul Pogba is now clearly of vital importance to his side, whilst Romelu Lukaku and Eric Bailly may well turn out to be top players for the club in the long term. But the majority of the signings since the departures of both Scots over the last few years have been wide of the mark.

And whilst it’s probably true that Ferguson left the club in a mess, it wasn’t unfixable. And it also wasn’t Ferguson’s fault that it wasn’t fixed: clearly United’s recruitment has been an even bigger mess for the last few years, and bringing in Jonny Evans would seem to be more than just a canny January signing – it would be yet another admission that United’s transfer policy has been wrong for four years.

So where does that leave the failings of Moyes and Louis van Gaal? Where does it leave the perception that Ferguson was partly to blame for the club’s decline? And where does it leave Ed Woodward and the United board who are the constants at the club’s executive level in the period between Ferguson’s departure and now?

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United’s position in the league table probably isn’t as bad as it could be. They have clearly made progress from where they have been over the last few seasons, and in other Premier League seasons they may well have been in the title hunt.

It was already clear that United’s recruitment since the end of the Ferguson era hasn’t been good enough. And in bringing up the possibility of going back for Evans, United probably owe Ferguson a big apology for the perception that it was partly his fault at all.

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As the nation continues to be gripped by relentless speculation linking Gareth Bale to Madrid, the future of a certain Liverpool favourite has remained largely in the background. With continued reports suggesting that Luis Suarez wants to leave Liverpool, is the £40m fee being mooted short of his value?

Sky Sports have already reported that an offer is on the table for around the £85m should Spurs wish to accept it. Contrast this to the £40,000,001 offer made for Suarez from Premier League rivals Arsenal. Is Suarez really worth less than half that of Gareth Bale?

It has subsequently emerged that the bid for Suarez was swiftly rejected after a misunderstanding over a potential release clause. An internal contract dispute between Suarez and club has ended with Liverpool standing firm over the non-existence of a release clause. The figure to capture the Uruguayan is now believed to be nearer the £55m mark, the value Liverpool has placed on the striker.

Still a £30m difference in value seems a huge gulf for two players who are arguably similar in terms of quality. I actually believe were it not for his on pitch behaviour, Luis Suarez would quite likely have claimed both the PFA and Football Writers gongs last term and as such eclipsed the achievements of Gareth Bale. Suarez is probably more integral to Liverpool’s hopes and ambitions than Gareth Bale is to Spurs’. As such the club should look to extract maximum value from any prospective sale.

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So why does the gulf in value exist?

Both players are reportedly intent on a move away if you are to believe Sky Sports understanding of the respective situations. Similarly both plays have a substantial amount of time to run on their current contracts. So would accepting a £50m bid be financially naïve from Liverpool?

Sadly I don’t think this is the case at all. The difference between Suarez and Bale is what they bring off the pitch rather than their contributions on it. Bale is a shy unassuming Welsh lad who appears to be incredibly marketable having developed something of a brand for himself already. Contrast this to a racist come cannibal who constantly brings shame upon the club that has placed so much faith in him.

When Real bid £85m for Bale they know that in footballing terms he is work a fraction of that sum. Big money deals in modern football are as much about the publicity and media attention as it is about the quality of the footballer. The same was true of the deal to take Ronaldo to the Bernabeu: an undoubted star of the game, but £80m for him? Really? The transfer was prudent from a Madrid perspective because of the furore that came with it. Shirt sales and media deals are now genuine considerations for a purchasing club.

Ramon Calderon, the ex Madrid President, spoke to TalkSport last night and was actually quite telling in this respect. Asked whether the deal to bring Neymar to the Camp Nou would have any impact on a potential deal for Bale and he definitively answered that it would. Real Madrid need to make a big name deal to assert their national authority, and purchasing Bale for an overinflated price will do exactly that. The extra baggage that comes with a deal for Suarez in the eyes of a prospective buyer makes a deal less palatable.

It would be short-sighted to believe his Premier League ban would enable clubs to knock £20m off his price tag, because it shouldn’t. However, the character of the Uruguayan and fears that reoccurrences of the past could occur make a big money bid for the striker unlikely.

For Liverpool going forward this means that they will always end up getting less than the players true footballing worth. I severely doubt Arsenal will stump up £55m for Suarez, I think an improvement on their current bid is pretty unlikely as well. Liverpool fans may see this as a positive, with FSG unlikely to entertain bids below the £40m mark, they could therefore hold onto their star man for another year yet. However, in a financial sense it is a great shame for Liverpool that purchasing clubs will always undervalue Suarez, even as a player of such exceptional talent. The question for Liverpool is whether to hold on to Suarez against his apparent will and prepare for more of his non-footballing antics, or to sell him below his actual value.

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For Liverpool this is the kind of decision that could well determine the way their near future plays out. Whilst £40m is a lot of money for any club, there will always be the nagging thought that he should be worth more.

Should Liverpool sell themselves short for £40m?

Join the debate below! 

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West Brom defender Liam Ridgewell wants to keep Dimitar Berbatov quiet tomorrow after watching the Bulgarian run riot the last time he lined up against him.

Berbatov scored a hat-trick for Manchester United when Ridgewell was forced to fill in at centre-back for Birmingham City just before they won the Carling Cup in 2011. Tomorrow he will have to be on top form if he is to thwart the 31-year-old striker, who looks certain to make his home debut for new club Fulham. The 28-year-old told the Birmingham Mail:

“He’s a new face but everyone knows about him and how good a player he is. It is sometimes worrying because you can get a bit laid-back, then suddenly he spurts into scoring a hat-trick. So you’ve got to keep your wits about you. They have got a lot of good players, though, and we will have to be on our game to make sure we stop them. We will definitely be up for the game, that’s for sure.”

Berbatov made his Cottagers debut from the bench in the 3-0 defeat to West Ham last time out but couldn’t affect the result. Albion will be hoping he fails to kick-start his career for a second game running but Ridgewell knows Fulham have plenty of other players who can cause damage if he does have a quiet day. He continued:

“Over the years they have always been good at home and they are a good side, whoever they’ve got in their team. “Fulham away is a tough game but we will be going down there with a lot of confidence and hopefully we will be able to come away with a positive result.”

West Brom face Fulham at Craven Cottage on Saturday.

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Liverpool fans were left stunned last week when Jurgen Klopp’s right-hand man Zeljko Buvac suddenly left the club.

The 56-year-old has worked alongside Klopp as his assistant manager since the pair were at Mainz.

The duo have known each other for around 20 years, but prior to Liverpool’s Champions League semi-final second leg against Roma, Buvac was given a leave of absence.

The official line from the club is that his position in Klopp’s backroom team has not been affected, but the Bosnian will not return for the remainder of the season.

Speculation has been rife regarding the possible reason behind Buvac’s exit, with The Mirror recently claiming that Buvac left following a huge bust-up with Klopp.

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The publication claims that the assistant manager was approached by Arsenal regarding a potential coaching role, but decided to keep it a secret from the Liverpool boss.

Twitter account Anfield Express has since claimed that Buvac is back in Merseyside, and the fans have made it clear what they want to happen.

Football and social media are quickly intertwining. It’s hard to find a club or player without a Twitter account nowadays, while sides over in America’s MLS even actively get stars involved in the day-to-day running of accounts to help break down the boundaries between the fans and the action.

For most supporters the first port of call for trusted news online is their team’s own Twitter account. Breaking team developments, starting XIs and transfer stories become official when the club put their name to it, and such tweets generate massive amounts of attention. So, with teams like Manchester United widely followed you’d expect them to get the most responses, right? Well, it’s actually Leeds United’s supporters who get most involved with their side, interacting with the official feed on average more than any other group of supporters.

Leeds Middlesbrough Everton Preston North End Arsenal

Official research from CrowdScores – who analysed interaction with each of the 92 Football League Clubs’ official Twitter feeds over the last six months, looking at the amount of followers each club has compared to the number of tweets which included the Twitter handle – reveals that the Whites top this particular league table from the last six months with 7.7-posts-per-fan, while another Championship side in the shape of Middlesbrough come in second. Everton are the most ‘popular’ of the Premier League sides with 6.3-per-fan, while Crystal Palace and AFC Bournemouth make up the ‘Champions League places’ behind Arsenal.

While all tweets are by no means positive, Sheffield United supporters are the friendliest, with nearly nine times more positive interactions than negative.

Here’s how the 2015/16 season could end if judged on the results:

Premier League

Champions – Everton

Champions League – Arsenal, AFC Bournemouth, Crystal Palace

Relegated – Sunderland, Swansea City, Norwich City

Championship

Champions – Leeds United

Promoted – Middlesbrough

Relegated – Nottingham Forest, Cardiff City, Fulham

League One

Champions – Bradford City

Promoted – Southend United

Relegated – Chesterfield, Coventry City, Wigan Athletic, Peterborough United

League Two

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Champions – Northampton Town

Promoted – Yeovil Town, Wycombe Wanderers

Relegated – Dagenham & Redbridge, York City

*Not including play-off contenders

PUMA® introduces the new evoSPEED 1.2 FG, the latest performance boot that helps players maximise their speed on the pitch. For the first time ever, the boot features the PUMA brand name on the inner side of the boot instead of the formstripe – the brand’s iconic trademark. This weekend, the new black and fluorescent yellow boot makes its on pitch debut with Sergio Agüero, Radamel Falcao, Olivier Giroud and many more PUMA players.The new evoSPEED 1.2 FG is designed to enable players reach top speed quickly without sacrificing stability or comfort. This is made possible through the use of light materials in combination with an internal midfoot support cage (EverFit cage) that maintains a good fit during all points of sprinting. The outsole is reconfigured with smaller conical studs that give the player a better grip on the ground and enhances manoeuvrability on the pitch. For optimal comfort, a minimised tongue and heel have been added, reducing pressure on the Achilles tendon whilst the sock liner distributes the foot’s pressure evenly.Inspired by the shape of muscles, tendons and the smooth curves of a race car, the new boot features subtle black glossy graphics that round off the look of the more visible yellow prints. Finishing touches are the transparent dotted print on the vamp for better grip in wet conditions, and small details in fluorescent blue that complement the striking look.Sergio Agüero commented after testing the finished boot, “I am always excited to wear a new boot. After the v1.11 and the first evoSPEED, this is the third SPEED boot that I have worn and it is definitely the best. PUMA’s boots are constantly improving and the innovations they create help me to perform better when I play. I appreciate the fact that they incorporate my feedback when they develop new boots and I am delighted with this latest result.â€The new PUMA evoSPEED 1.2 FG football boots will be on pitch from today and available in-store globally from the 1st of June 2013.For more information, please visit www.puma.com/football

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An intriguing sub-plot to Robin van Persie’s surprising move to Manchester United from Arsenal this summer is the potential impact that it could have on the positional future of last season’s top goalscorer at the club, Wayne Rooney – is his time as a striker coming to an end at Old Trafford, in the short-term at least?

Last term, Rooney was widely criticised for the nature of his overall performances, even if he managed to bag 27 goals in the Premier League, second only to the Dutchman on 30. It’s a theory that certainly carries some weight and Rooney appears to have forsaken a measure of his unpredictable, creative nature in favour of a more ruthless cutting edge in front of goal, which is no bad thing in itself, he’s just evolved as a player into a slightly different beast to the one we’ve become accustomed to seeing.

The trouble is now, though, having forked out £24m on a 29 year-old striker with a rotten record of injuries in the past is that Van Persie is likely to be given the mantle of leading the line, but whether that means in place of Rooney or beside him remains to be seen. The inevitable comparisons to the club’s treble-winning strike-force of 1999 – Dwight Yorke, Andy Cole, Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer – have been made by plenty of people, even Ferguson himself, but will Van Persie’s arrival change the shape of the side?

Ferguson said after the former Arsenal man signed: “In 1999 I had Dwight Yorke, Andy Cole, Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the four best strikers in Europe. We are going towards that now. They (Rooney and Van Persie) are two fantastic players and it will be great to have both of them. It gives us more strength and more combinations up front. It is a fantastic collection of players and hopefully I pick the right combinations. It is great to have a player of Robin van Persie’s qualities to come into the squad. I am very pleased.”

When he talks about ‘combinations’, that intimates a partnership between Rooney and Van Persie which would effectively mean a 4-4-2 system or something very similar to it, which will only put even more strain on an increasingly weak and fragile centre-midfield area which has been overrun repeatedly in the past year by more energetic and combative opponents.

There’s also the fact that because the move came relatively out of the blue, with Ferguson admitting that he hadn’t planned for such a deal until the Dutch international stated he wasn’t going to sign another contract at the Emirates, is would they even have bought Shinji Kagawa this summer otherwise had they known?

The Japanese creative midfielder is capable of playing out wide on the wing but arrived from Borussia Dortmund for an absolute bargain £12m fee with the idea of playing in the hole behind the striker, with Rooney likely to be that man. Would you really play Kagawa in a two-man central midfield?

Probably not is the answer to that one, which leaves them then with four wingers into two spaces and while that’s some admirable strength in depth from the club’s and fan’s perspective, you suspect that keeping Ashley Young, Antonio Valencia, Nani and Kagawa all happy and with enough playing time will be a difficult task, which partly explains the speculation linking the Portuguese wide-man with an exit this summer, even if that would be an ill-advised move considering the sheer weight of his end product in terms of goals and assists.

There’s also the consideration that Rooney could be pushed out wide onto the left, a role he often occupied in Europe to great effect with Cristiano Ronaldo taking the lone central role a few years back. Van Persie has often played out wide for Holland in the past, but the physical demands of the Premier League and international football are two different kettles of fish entirely and Rooney’s energy and versatile nature make him more of an ideal candidate for the switch.

It’s certainly a bold move recruiting Van Persie and Ferguson appears to have allowed himself this one indulgence as he seeks to overhaul Manchester City this season, who also possess a frightening forward line in terms of both depth and quality.

United failed to score in just three separate games last season, less than City with five and they scored an impressive 89 goals, only marginally less than City’s 93, so recruiting a goalscorer, on the face of it at least, would not appear to be a pressing concern. However, Ferguson has clearly decided to try and fight fire with fire and this may allow Rooney to return to a deeper role than he’s played in previous seasons gone by and return to his creative best.

Danny Welbeck and Javier Hernandez are exceptionally strong third and fourth-choice strikers to have in your squad and they both bring different skills to the table, but the temptation with playing Rooney and Van Persie up front together has to be tempered with the sneaking suspicion that they may be a bit too similar to hit it off right away.

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Of course, Sergio Aguero and Carlos Tevez are broadly similar players and they have a fabulous partnership together, so good players can often co-exist alongside one another in the same side as long as the support structure behind them is right. It is an interesting concept to see if Rooney will be pushed back, perhaps not as far as he was at times last season, but deeper than we have become accustomed to seeing him of late.

Shifting a man who has scored 64 league goals in his last three seasons and 85 across all competitions is an extremely risky strategy, but the rewards if it does come off are huge and it may just be a gamble worth taking that has the potential to benefit both players in the long-term and help the club impose themselves more on the top table of European competition this term.

You can follow me on Twitter @JamesMcManus1

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West Ham United would have known the tough task they faced to get any kind of positive result when they welcomed rampant Premier League champions Manchester City to the London Stadium on Sunday, but they also knew that they needed points themselves.

The Irons came into the clash against Pep Guardiola’s men just three points above the relegation zone following Southampton’s 2-1 win against Bournemouth at St Mary’s on Saturday, and it had certainly put a bit more pressure on them to produce what should haveat least been a committed and top-drawer performance against a classy Citizens side.

The Irons needed to match or even try and beat their opponents in terms of effort and work rate, even if they knew they didn’t have as much quality.

That is what they did earlier in the campaign where they were seven minutes away from grabbing an unlikely point against City at the Etihad Stadium, and David Moyes and his players had a blueprint to work from following that impressive display.

They also knew following their 4-1 collapse against Arsenal previously, and with a trip to Leicester City before they host Manchester United and Everton in their final two matches, that they could still need another win to secure survival.

Moyes’ line-up against the Citizens never suggested to the team or the supporters that they were going to get anything from the game however, and the decision to bring in Patrice Evra for Arthur Masuaku was strange given as though the former is nowhere near as fast as he once was.

Even so, when you know you aren’t as good as your opposition, you need to have a plan, be organised and work hard, and it was just never the case during the whole 90 minutes with the players on the pitch perhaps beginning to feel that the London Stadium faithful are turning against Moyes.

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As was pointed out on Match of the Day 2 by Alan Shearer, too many of West Ham’s players were simply jogging about and happy to let their opposition not only have possession, but also break forward with the ball relatively unchallenged.

It wasn’t good enough when you are getting to the crunch stage of the campaign, and matters were hardly helped by the fact that Andy Carroll walked straight down the tunnel when he wasn’t part of Moyes’ triple substitution when the score was 4-1, coupled by the fact that Javier Hernandez came on and putting in a rather half-hearted 24 minutes.

Moyes and Carroll had a heated exchange on the training pitch the following day, while according to club insider @ExWHUemployee on Twitter, the Mexico international also raised concerns about his situation to his manager.

While the Scot must take some of the blame for such a lacklustre display, the majority of the players that were out on the pitch need to take a long, hard look at themselves, too.

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And that includes captain Mark Noble, whose comments post-match were rightly slammed by his own fans on Twitter.

It seemed clear that some of those individuals weren’t playing for Moyes – as they weren’t for Slaven Bilic at the beginning of the campaign – and if that is the case then that is dangerous for the Irons in what is going to be a hugely important end to the season.

The former Manchester United manager needs to lay down the law and prove that he is an authority figure in training this week, and he has already done that by fining Carroll following the duo’s altercation on Monday – forcing an apology from the centre-forward.

The 55-year-old needs to reunite his squad and have them all working from the same page away against a Leicester side that already look to be on their holidays, and three points at the King Power Stadium could give them what they need to preserve their Premier League status for at least another year.

Tony Parr is a lifelong Blackpool fan who has been on the mic at Bloomfield Road for over nine years.

He has been through the highs or lows of the club during that time, and he tells Football FanCast about his role at the club…

FFC: How long have you worked for the club?

TP: I worked at the club between 1990 and 1996 and then left to go to St Helens, but I have been on the mic for nine years. I started in 2006.

How did it start?

It’s a funny story really. Chris Hull who was on the mic before me had been doing the job for 28 years before he decided to retire.

He’s a good friend but after the Blackpool Gazette did a piece on him leaving I went to see him. He tried to convince me to do it during a Saturday match and I was adamant that I was not going to take over but by the Tuesday night I had been convinced.

The club agreed and the rest is history.

What is the favourite game you were on the mic for?

The three Wembley appearances [Yeovil, Cardiff and West Ham] were incredible. On all three occasions I was given the chance to be on the pitch.

Obviously, the Cardiff one was a dream come true. Just to play a small part in that day is something I will treasure for the rest of my life. Wembley, apart from my daughters being born, was the best day of my life.

Who is your favourite Blackpool player?

John Burridge. He was a boyhood hero of mine and I was lucky enough to meet him a few times.

What is your match day routine?

It’s not the most exciting role in the beginning. I arrive about an hour before kick-off and get the team sheet. My first job is to go through the names and check if there are any that are hard to pronounce. It’s usually the away team but the occasional loan player can get me stuck too.

I then hang around until we start making announcements on the pitch about 2.30pm on a Saturday match. I chat to the crowd, announce any upcoming events the club have given me, get the mascots on the pitch. I love the role; it’s great to be so close to the action!

Do you think Ollie [Ian Holloway] will be coming back?

I am 99.9% sure he will not be making a return to Bloomfield Road. I think he is creating a media hype around himself to keep other clubs interested in him.

I will never take away what he did for the club but people are always shocked when they hear that I think Ollie’s run was down to luck not judgement. If you think about the players that were so influential were already at the club when he came.

When he left we had 47 players on the books and then most of them were out of contract on the same day. It was bad management! I love him but he won’t be coming back.

Will you be back next season on the mic?

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As usual with Blackpool they have a unique way of doing things. Every season I get to the end and that is it. I never get asked if I am coming back so I just turn up on the first day and presume I am.

People were telling me to go out on a bang last season and say something controversial on the mic but I would never do that. My loyalty is to the club not to the people in it. It doesn’t matter if the team were playing on Stanley Park I would still be there.

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Arsenal midfielder Emmanuel Frimpong will be out of action for two months after receiving surgery for a knee injury.

Frimpong picked up his injury during a loan spell with Fulham, being forced off during the 3-0 victory over Swansea City on the final day of the season.

The Ghanaian has struggled with a number of injuries in his career and he made only five appearances for Wolves in 2012 before he suffered a previous knee injury which also required surgery.

The 21-year-old was scheduled to represent his country during the summer as they aim to secure qualification for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Frimpong tweeted: “I had surgery yesterday night and am expected to be out for 8 weeks. It saddens me that I couldn’t go play for Ghana in the World Cup qualifiers next month but i wish the coach and the players good luck for the matches.

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“I Hope we get maximum points from the games. I wanna thank everyone at Fulham for their support but it is a great feeling to be back at Arsenal.”