Former Celtic and Manchester United Star Being Chased By Bolton And West Ham

Bolton Wanderers and West Ham United have both made enquiries as to the availability of former Feyenoord, Celtic and Manchester United star striker Henrik Larsson about a possible Premier League return.

Aged 37 now, Larsson is a free agent after being out of contract with his former side Helsingborgs where, in his first stint at the club, scored 50 goals in 56 appearances, leaving for Dutch side Feyenoord in 1993 for four years before moving to Scottish giants Celtic, where he spent seven hugely successful seasons.

The former Swedish International is now a free agent, although he has had provisional talks with his former club Helsingborg about a return in March, there has been interest from at least two Premier League sides, with Bolton Wanderers boss Gary Megson and West Ham Utd manager Gianfranco Zola reportedly having enquired about his availability.

Larsson, who has already made a short-term loan spell in the English top-tier with Manchester United in 2007, could make a return to the Premiership on a short-term deal. Larsson's agent, Rob Jansen, confirmed the interest, but expects the veteran striker to move back to his former club when the Swedish football season starts in March, saying: “Premier League clubs are interested in Henrik, but we’ll negotiate a contract with Helsingborg.”

I am absolutely amazed that at the age of 37 the guy is still going strong. When Sir Alex signed him for United in 2007 I thought he was mad. What on earth was he doing signing up a washed out former star. Then he truned up and although he didn't score a mountain of goals his work rate and the experience he passed onto the other players was invaluable. He actually finished up 2 games short of getting a winners medal for the Premier League but having been given the chance to stay for those games to earn his medal he chose to go, as he had always planned. That says a lot about the guy. He plays because he loves the game and if he wins a medal then so be it. If not, then it makes no difference to him.

He would be an invaluable asset to either of Bolton or West Ham and I for one would be very happy to see him playing in the Premier League again.....Back To Home Page...

Axel Witsel Bid May Be Imminent

Manchester United are being rushed into making a £10million bid for Standard Liege midfielder Axel Witsel before Arsenal and Inter move. Sir Alex Ferguson has had scouts in Belgium to watch Witsel in action for the last couple of matches and he turned in a great display against Sevilla in the Uefa Cup last week.

Fergie has been hit by a minor midfield injury crisis with recent news that Owen Hargreaves will be out for the season (is he the new Louis Sahahahahaha ?) and Paul Scholes not due back until the New Year. United could wait for a few months and bid for him in the summer but by doing this his price could have gone through the roof.

The 19-year-old impressed against Liverpool in the Champions League qualifiers last August and had a fine game when Standard knocked Everton out of the Uefa Cup earlier this season.

Arsenal, Inter, Bolton and Middlesbrough have also been following the pacy central midfielder who is under contract at the Stade du Sclessin until 2013. Bolton have already had a £5million bid rebuffed by the Belgian champions who are said to value Witsel at £18million......dream on !!! .....Back To Home Page

Jack Sampson Being Pursued By Both City And United

Manchester United and Manchester City are leading the chase for Bolton starlet Jack Sampson, according to a Sky Sports report. The 15-year-old striker - who stands over 6ft - is one of the brightest prospects in English football and a host of clubs are battling to land him.

Bolton are obviously keen to keep their home-grown star, but it now seems Sampson is set to depart The Reebok Stadium. Sampson is not due to leave school until next summer, but his future is set to be decided over the next few weeks. City have been leading the chase for Sampson and have been monitoring him for more than a year, although they are not the only top-flight club keen to secure his services.

Manchester United have also entered the chase and are ready to offer Sampson the chance of a move to Old Trafford and are hopeful of beating their city rivals to the England youth international. Tottenham and Newcastle are also attempting to land Sampson, who will soon decide on where he will begin his professional career....Back To Home Page

Bolton To Receive An Apology From Rob Styles

I bet this news has turned their match against Manchester United at the weekend round and really made it a joyous ocassion. Rob Styles is actually going to own up to making the biggest cock up anyone has ever seen. Who needs 3 points in The Premiership when you can have Styles shuffling about like the clown he is whilst mumbling some weak apology.

It means nothing anyway. He should have gone to the Bolton guys right after the game and said: "Hey guys, what can I say, I fucked up". The problem is half of these referees are on an egpo trip. They couldn't make it in the game themselves so they were clutching at straws by becoming refs, just to be a part of the glory.

I've got something now that will make Styles gesture completely worthless. He passed on the apology to the referees association and asked if they would mind dealing with it for him. Pathetic !!

From us the fans, to you the ref Mr Styles, we all say................... YOU TOSSER !!!!

After this, Bolton seemed to roll on their backs with their legs in the air, "a la" dead dog style. Unitedf scored again courtesy of Wayne Rooney. The back heel from The Slave was actually mesmerising but the little 'shimmy' Roon did to send the defender the wrong way was even better........and the finish was even better again, it was a beautiful goal. United didn't impress much in this game, it seems we are still dogged by this 'slow start' problem !!!

Or Maybe Ronnie Didn't Dive ?

Cristiano Ronaldo sprawled inelegantly in the Bolton penalty area as a furious Jussi Jaaskelainen and Gavin McCann leant down and bawled at Manchester United's world-class trickster. So every picture tells a story?

Not this time, it doesn't. 'Ronaldo was on the floor saying, "I didn't want a penalty!",' reported Bolton skipper Kevin Nolan, who saw his team's sterling efforts wiped out by referee Rob Styles' inexplicable decision to award a spot-kick after JLloyd Samuel's perfectly timed tackle on the Portuguese.

Nolan said: 'I don't think one of them put their hands up asking for a penalty. Fletcher's going, "It's not a penalty", Tevez is going, "It's not a penalty". Twenty players who were in the box at the time knew it wasn't a penalty.

Scroll down for more

Best foot forward: JLloyd Samuel makes the tackle on Ronaldo in the Bolton Box

'But the man who was in black had the final say. They couldn't believe their luck. But you're at United and unfortunately that happens. It does strike fear into you when you look at this magnificent stadium. Maybe that's what's happened to the referee. He said he thought JLloyd took Ronaldo before the ball. It didn't make sense to me at all. But I can't say too much or I'm going to get done by the FA.'

Ronaldo, who did not celebrate his penalty, also hit a post and set up the chance for Wayne Rooney to step around Nolan and dispatch United's second against a Bolton side too badly shaken to recover.

I do feel sorry for Bolton and I think it's about time these referees were made to pay for these errors. Styles was in the perfect position for this incident, and yet he saw something the whole world didn't see ..... I'm baffled !!

2-0 But Not Impressive

Defending champions Manchester United gained their first Premier League home win of the season - and left near neighbours Bolton nursing a huge sense of injustice as they made their way back up the M61 and despite loving United I can't blame them either !!.

United's margin of victory may have been deserved but the manner of Cristiano Ronaldo's opener left a sour taste for the Trotters as referee Rob Styles amazingly gave the hosts a penalty when Jlloyd Samuel clearly played the ball when he slid into Ronaldo just before the hour mark.

I've spent four years defending Ronaldo's reputation from the hordes of "He's a diving cheat" chanting fans and it doesn't get any easier. Which means either I'm getting bored of doing it or he just wont learn !! With todays technology everyone knows the TV cameras can slow everything down to 1 frame per second if need be and you can s-e-e e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g so slowly, it's easy to spot a misdemeanour. He went down a bit too easily for me yesterday. He struggled to leave his right food behind in order to get the penalty and his left foot was never touched. Anyway, he went, we got the penalty and the opposition fans now have further 'proof' of Ronnie's minor indiscretions.

Substitute Wayne Rooney also found the net for the first time this season, curling home superbly after exchanging passes with Ronaldo to give the margin of United's triumph a more comfortable look.

But Bolton boss Gary Megson will know his side were frustrating their hosts until Rob Styles intervened

Just 24 hours after he warned his fabulous array of attacking talent they could expect to be rotated on a regular basis, Ferguson left Rooney on the bench. In fairness to the England striker, whose form has been below par during the opening weeks of the campaign, his manager probably reasoned Dimitar Berbatov and Carlos Tevez could start to develop some sort of partnership against Megson's side.

Although Bolton did claim a couple of notable Old Trafford victories during Sam Allardyce's reign, if any side looked ripe for registering a first home win of the season against, Bolton was it.

Yet it did not quite work out as Ferguson planned. For a start, Bolton were not as unadventurous as many believed and when, after about 15 minutes, United did get into their stride, they found it difficult to break through a hard-working defence, aided superbly by the midfield industry of Gavin McCann.

Jussi Jaaskelainen was called upon on half a dozen occasions but most of his saves would be regarded as routine for the Finn, including the low Ronaldo free-kick he kept out at his near post.

On his first Premier League start since last May, Ronaldo took plenty of responsibility for United's goal search on his shoulders but while Tevez and Berbatov tried hard, there was no sense of a partnership between the pair.

The only time they were involved in anything meaningful was when they helped set up Rio Ferdinand. But the centre-half bounced his half-volley straight at Jaaskelainen.

Bolton could not claim to have posed even half the threat United had done. But they had established themselves as an attacking force long before Fabrice Muamba was presented with the best opportunity either side had to break the first-half deadlock.

As a former pupil of Arsene Wenger's at Arsenal, Muamba could at least have been expected to force Edwin van der Sar into a save when Gretar Rafn Steinsson's low cross rolled invitingly into his path after Ferdinand had slid in with Kevin Davies at the near post. Inexplicably, from barely 10 yards, the England Under-21 international was so badly off target his shot nearly rolled out for a throw-in.

Having got trips to Liverpool and Chelsea out of the way during an incredibly tough start to the season, now Ferguson was expecting his team to start winning. But as the hour mark approached the opener still proved elusive, despite the improved efforts of Ronaldo.

Yet even Ferguson must have felt a bit sheepish when Styles, perfectly placed, watched Samuel make what everyone in the stadium seemed to think was a perfectly timed tackle on Ronaldo, then point to the spot as the home player hit the deck. Bolton could not believe it. TV replays justified their incredulity. Ronaldo simply stepped up and sent Jaaskelainen the wrong way.

The introduction of Rooney and Paul Scholes came not long afterwards.

Given his desire to play every minute of every game, Rooney was presumably not happy at being left out, so there must have been an element of 'I'll show you' about his superb curling shot which found the bottom corner after a neat exchange of passes with Ronaldo 13 minutes from time.

Scholes went close to increasing United's lead at the end but by then, the damage had been done for Bolton.

We won 2-0 but I hope that's not the best we'll see all season or I'll be crying.

Jonny Evans - In Out In Out - Give Him A Run In The Team Or Let Him Go I Say

Sir Alex Ferguson insists Jonny Evans has a big future at Old Trafford despite preparing to drop him for Saturday's Manchester United 'v' Bolton game.

I agree Fergie was forced to play him against Villarreal in the Champions League and the Premier League showdown at Chelsea last Sunday. But, despite some assured performances from Evans, Fergie will again drop him in favour of the big man himself, Nemanja Vidic following his return from suspension - after the red card he picked up at Liverpool earlier this month - in the Carling Cup against Middlesbrough on Tuesday.

Evans accepts that he must bide his time for a regular place in the team, but Fergie has admitted the player will have a big part to play at Old Trafford in the future which is why he snubbed a big money offer from Sunderland for him.

"Jonny will be a future centre-half for Manchester United, there is no doubt about that," Ferguson told Inside United.

"That is a vindication of our belief in the boy. It should also prove he can believe what we're saying to him.

"We had a lot of offers from clubs who wanted to buy him in the summer - three or four clubs were interested - but we stuck to our guns because we believe in him. He will play a lot of football at this club."

One good sign I guess is the fact he was one of the few who weren't shunted out on loan. Maybe Fergie will fool us all again.