7.7.07: 1030 Air was suddenly frozen around Old Trafford as news spread like wildfire that Sir Alex Ferguson has resigned from his post after winning the league. Fans of the Red Devils refused to comment on the departure citing it as “the worst day in English football”
7.7.07: 1630 The Manchester United board of directors have appointed a new manager to lead the club to success, to the surprise of fans and press alike, the new manager was none other than Eric Cantona, the former Manchester United striker returned to the club as a manager and hopes to bring the club to success
14.7.07: 1515 Eric Cantona made it known to the public that he wants to bring in American Landon Donovan from the Los Angeles Galaxy to his club and he admits that Donovan is one of the players he would love to add to his club
14.7.07: 1630 Los Angeles Galaxy released this statement:
It is well known that Manchester United and Wigan are interested in out player and we have confirmed that a bid has been accepted from both clubs, which fee is around 6.5million and he is discussing personal issues with the clubs.
15.7.07: 1845 Cantona also made Real Madrid left winger Marcelo as his top priority and is looking into invoking the player’s 5.5million release fee to sign the player
15.7.07: 2245 Real Madrid has revealed that Manchester United has offered 5.5million bid for Marcelo and as it is his release fee, they are unable to stop Manchester United from offering him the contract.
18.7.07: 1515 The transfer of Marcelo to Manchester United has finalized and the player is given the number 14 jersey that belonged previously to Alan Smith and he will provide cover for Ryan Giggs and Patrice Evra. Marcelo has declared himself pleased to have joined Manchester United and hoped that this stage of his career will be a fascinating one.
19.7.07: 1830 Landon Donovan has been granted a British work permit and has been transferred to Manchester United, the 24-year old American has declared himself pleased and cannot wait to join up with his new team-mates, citing that playing in Europe was a dream come true and has heard many wonderful stories of Manchester United from his former team-mate David Beckham, Donovan has been given the number 20 jersery.
5.8.07: 15.00 The Community shield is always billed as the curtain raiser of the season and this will be Eric Cantona’s first competitive match in charge of Manchester United. When asked about his opponent’s Chelsea, Cantona says that Chelsea are just like any other team, they pose a threat.
Manchester United Line-up:
Edwin van der Sar, Wes Brown, Patrice Evra, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Ryan Giggs, Cristiano Ronaldo, Michael Carrick, Anderson (Darren Fletcher, 45), Landon Donovan, Carlos Tevez (Wayne Rooney, 45)
Manchester United came in strong during the opening minutes and it only took 18 minutes before Anderson opened the scoring with a thunderous drive from 30 yards, marking his first goal for Manchester United. Soon after they found themselves with pressure as Didier Drogba smashed the crossbar following a save from van der Sar. That was the only chance Chelsea got as the teams went into the break with United leading 1-0.
Wayne Rooney and Darren Fletcher was brought on and soon after, in the 53rd minute, Rooney struck with absolute precision to make the score 2-0 as hopes for Chelsea faded away. Soon in the 64th minute, Shevchenko stuck the ball low and hard from 20 yards out to give Chelsea a small sign of hope but a Ricardo Carvalho own goal in the 70th minute seemed to snuff it out. Claudio Pizarro struck in the 80th minute with his head to give Chelsea a way back but in the 86th minute, a mistimed kick by Cech gave Landon Donovan the ball and rounding Petr Cech for the 4-2 win at Wembley with van der Sar picking up the man of the match award.
