Man Utd fans plot protest ahead of Liverpool clash on May 2, Pogba and Bruno contract extension latest, Leeds build-up

GIGGS CHARGED

Former Manchester United winger Ryan Giggs has been charged with coercive control and assaulting his ex-girlfriend Kate Greville after a row.

The Wales manager, 47, was held after cops were called to his £1.7million mansion in Worsley, Greater Manchester on November 3.

He was quizzed at a police station before being released on bail pending further enquiries.

But Giggs was charged today with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and one count of coercive and controlling behaviour against PR exec Kate.

The second count spans more than three years – between December 2017 and November 2020.

Giggs has also been charged with a second count of assault against another woman aged in her 20s following the alleged bust-up last year.

He will appear at Manchester and Salford Magistrates’ Court on April 28.

TO THE MAX

West Ham have joined the fight for Max Aarons this summer and Norwich are willing to let the defender leave, according to reports.

Aarons, 21, has been a long-term target of Manchester United and it now appears he is on the radar of Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Tottenham.

West Ham and United will have to pay £30million to land the England U21 international, claim The Independent.

The Canaries persuaded him to stay last summer but a promise the club made means Aarons has now been told he can leave.

But it is The Irons who could hold the advantage in the transfer battle, as Aarons is reportedly keen to stay in the south.

That could rule out a move abroad or to United, and West Ham may have the added appeal of European football to offer next year.

BACK TO BRUM

Manchester United legend Lee Sharpe was once told to move his girlfriend back to Birmingham by Sir Alex Ferguson.

Sharpe, now 49, had been desperate to move out of digs as a youngster, in order to live with his other half. But when his form subsequently suffered, he felt the famous wrath of his manager.

The ex-Old Trafford wing wizard said: “I had a few run-ins with him, to be fair!

“The biggest one was when we went to Anfield. Before that match, I had asked to move out of digs and move in with my girlfriend in my own house.

“He said I was a little bit too young, but he let me do so because I was in the first team. But he told me that if my work suffered then I’d have to move back into digs. I said that was no problem.

“I found a house in Whitefield and moved my girlfriend up from Birmingham and everything was great. But then I hit a little bit of form that wasn’t quite up to the manager’s standards.

“We were at Anfield getting beat at half-time, and he gave me the biggest rollicking of my life and told me to sell my house, move my girlfriend back home and told me to get out there and play!”

FORWARD THINKING

Manchester United need to sign Harry Kane or Erling Haaland to compete for the Premier League title, according to two-time winner Louis Saha.

The Red Devils look on course to finish second this term, well adrift of leaders Manchester City.

He told GentingBet: “I think when you look at Harry Kane and Haaland, it’s two different profiles but they score goals.

“Haaland has a great future, he is a top striker and you can see he already has that fire in him so he will really help any side in this world because of that.

“He’s got the size, he’s got the speed, he’s got all the qualities you need to be a top striker.

“Harry is more about consistency, you know what he’s going to give you. He’s like a super striker, but a super team player as well. A captain in so many ways.

“So yes these guys can give a lot to Manchester United but again it depends on the strategy of the management with the transfers.

“If they want to win a Premier League, these are the kind of players you have to get – a player who has 30 games and 30 goals.”

CAV A GO

Here’s how Manchester United could line-up against Leeds.

SOL-LESS

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has hit out at the botched plan for a European Super league being driven by his own boss Joel Glazer.

The Manchester United manager only became aware of it on the day it was announced last Sunday and has since had to confront an angry group of protestors at the club’s training ground.

Solskjaer said: “I didn’t like the concept, it has to be on sporting merit, I want to earn the right to play in Europe.

“We know we’ve been pioneers and we’ve been in Europe for many, many years, with the Busby Babes, we want to be part of a successful European campaign again. One of my best nights was something we worked really hard towards.

“You can’t be given it because your name is such and such, you have to earn the right to be there. And I’ve always felt and believed in stepping out of your comfort zone, being afraid of failure, that spurs you on, living on the edge a little bit, and that wasn’t part of this.

“My players last season were excellent, when I talk about this fear of failure, they were afraid of not making Champions League because we were so many points behind. They pulled themselves together as a team, achieved third, a very good achievement, this year striving towards trophies, and we’re second.

“I back my team to be in the top in Europe. But I still think that fear of failure is helping us do that and being a sporting competitor as I am and my nature is not being handed this, we can’t be handed a place, that’s my opinion.

“I’m very happy all of the clubs have admitted their mistake, this was a bad idea, and the way it came out as well.”

TON OF CHECKS

Manchester United have beefed up their security at Carrington after fans broke into the training complex yesterday – and even boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had to prove who he was.

As the players arrived for drills today, two security guards greeted them at the entrance.

Even United gaffer Solskjaer was stopped by two burly high-vis-wearing men.

He appeared to be asked to remove his sunglasses to prove he really was the Red Devils leader.

Around 20 supporters stormed Carrington on Thursday to voice their anger at the club’s owners and their attempt to join the breakaway European Super League.

The group made it on to the first-team pitch and refused to leave until manager Solskjaer came and spoke to them.

RUUD NOT TO

It’s 20 years to the day since Ruud Van Nistelrooy joined Manchester United.

And as they say, the rest is history.

BAR-D MOVE

Cash-strapped Barcelona have released a bizarre statement saying they joined the European Super for ‘financial sustainability’ – despite spending almost £1BILLION on transfers in the last five seasons.

PITCH PERFECT

Manchester United missed out on hosting Euro 2020 matches due to summer pitch work while Wembley only gets one of Dublin’s games – England’s potential Last 16 tie.

The FA had made it clear they were open to staging extra Euros matches on English soil, echoing the offer from PM Boris Johnson.

That appeared to open up the chance of all four Dublin games coming to the north west, with Manchester the initial favourite.

But both Manchester City’s Etihad and United’s Old Trafford were ruled out when the clubs informed Uefa two weeks ago that they had already decided to major pitch renovation projects that will take much of the summer.

And while London remained a possibility, Sweden’s game with Slovakia is scheduled for Dublin on June 18 – the same day as England play Scotland.

Uefa’s aversion to staging major matches in any competitions in the same city on the same day ruled out any London ground.

More crucially, with all the other groups split over two venues, Uefa felt it would be unfair to make Sweden and Slovakia alone play their group matches in three different stadiums and cities.

Instead, Group E will now be split between St Petersburg and Seville. Munich finally met the Uefa demands and will keep its planned matches, including a last eight clash.

SMASH ‘N G-RAB

Manchester United defender Alex Telles could reportedly be heading to Juventus with Adrien Rabiot coming in the opposite direction.

The Brazilian left-back has failed to make an impression at Old Trafford since joining from Porto in October having featured in just seven Premier League games.

Telles has had to settle for a place on the bench due to Luke Shaw’s stunning form, with his last top-flight appearance coming on January 27.

And according to Calciomercato, the 28-year-old is keen to depart Old Trafford having grown frustrated by his lack of game time.

They state that Juventus are admirers of the player, and could look to bring him to Turin to compete with Alex Sandro.

It has been suggested that the Old Lady would be willing to exchange midfielder Rabiot, 26, for Telles.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is known to be a fan of the Frenchman having failed to lure him to the Theatre of Dreams last season.

PM TO THE RESCUE

Uefa chief Aleksander Ceferin has hailed PM Boris Johnson for helping save European football by leading the national ‘revolution’.

Johnson’s dramatic intervention and promises to bring in laws to block the Super League breakaway cut off the legs of the ‘dirty dozen’ plotters.

Ceferin said: “Boris Johnson is aware that football fans are from the working class.

“They live hard, and they spend the last money to watch football matches, which is their passion, relaxation, which is part of European culture, part of history.

“It seemed to me the reaction was very logical – he cared what happened to football, because that would affect the people, of course.”

Ceferin added: “In England there are so many fans and they love their club immensely. If the fans get angry, it is a kind of revolution. And no country can afford that.

“I find it very responsible from the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to take a sharp stand on the side of the fans, not only because of the culture and love of football, but also because it ensures order in the country.

“We were in contact and I also spoke to his cabinet. They responded excellently.”

NO MOR SUPER LEAGUE

Super League bankrollers JP Morgan have pledged to learn from the breakaway debacle after revealing they misjudged the situation.

The investment bank were due to stump up a 3.5billion euros loan for the Dirty Dozen before the Big Six pulled out and the project crumbled.

A statement from a JP Morgan spokesperson read: “We clearly misjudged how this deal would be viewed by the wider football community and how it might impact them in the future.

“We will learn from this.”

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Manchester United fans are reportedly planning another Glazer Out protest after breaking into the training ground.

Around 20 supporters stormed Carrington on Thursday to voice their anger at the club’s owners and their attempt to join the breakaway European Super League.

The group made it on to the first-team pitch and refused to leave until manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer came and spoke to them.

And according to the Mirror, the anti-Glazer movement plot to make another stand a week on Sunday when United host fellow ESL rebels Liverpool at Old Trafford.

Thousands of fans will march from Manchester city centre to the stadium and make their voices heard beside the statues of Sir Matt Busby, Sir Bobby Charlton, Denis Law and George Best.

The report adds a joint-protest alongside Liverpool supporters – usually fierce rivals – has been canned now that both teams announced their withdrawal from the ESL.

The supporters who breached the security to get into the AON training complex on Thursday were part of the Manchester Education Committee – the same group that confronted Wayne Rooney in 2010 and targeted Ed Woodward’s home in January last year.

RON THE WAY HOME?

Cristiano Ronaldo is ‘tempted’ by a return to Manchester United, according to reports.

The Portuguese star became a legend at Old Trafford between 2003 and 2009, winning his first Ballon d’Or and Champions League gongs during his time in the North West.

According to Gazzetta dello Sport, CR7 is growing unhappy at Juve, with a return to Old Trafford starting to cross his mind.

Ronaldo has failed to go beyond the quarter-finals of the Champions League since swapping Real Madrid for Juve in 2018.

And this season, under Andrea Pirlo, the Old Lady appear unlikely to even win Serie A – currently sat in fourth, 11 points behind Inter Milan.

In fact, Juve are only two points above fifth-placed Napoli, opening them up to the unthinkable possibility of not even qualifying for the Champions League.

Struggling financially due to Ronaldo’s wages and the effect of the coronavirus pandemic, Juventus could benefit from offloading the five-time Ballon d’Or winner.

PROUD BRO

Phil Neville reckons brother Gary showed massive balls in becoming the first critic to slaughter the botched plans for the European Super League.

Proud Nev was digesting the fall-out from his debut as Inter Miami boss last Sunday when news of the chaos brewing filtered over to Florida.

He heard former Manchester United and England full-back Gary pull no punches by instantly blasting greedy Old Trafford chiefs and the rest of the snakes who wanted to rip football apart.

Neville, 44, told SunSport: “Watching my brother speak so passionately about the subject after the game when nobody really knew anything about it, the ins or outs or what the project was all about, he had the courage and bravery to stand up for what was right.

“He probably started the ball rolling and then in the next 24 to 48 hours later, common sense prevailed. The overriding feeling is that a group of people totally misread and had a lack of knowledge of what football means to people in England and Europe.

“Think about all the stances of the fans of the clubs who tried to break away, it made me really proud of where I have grown up.

“The entertainment levels aren’t the same and when you look back in history at the six clubs, their foundations come from working-class people and a group of people made the wrong decision.

“You have to accept their grave misunderstanding and make sure football is in a good place for the next 100 years.”

EDIN OFF

Boca Juniors are a step closer to snapping up Edinson Cavani with the striker reportedly maintaining his desire to leave Europe.

The 34-year-old has hit ten goals in his first and possibly only campaign at Old Trafford, ahead of his contract expiring in June.

Last month, SunSport revealed his desire to hold talks with the club and thrash out his future.

And rumblings of discontent have refused to go away with Cavani’s father asserting that he wants to depart Manchester.

According to Argentine outlet Depo, the player recently sat down with United and reiterated his plan to move on.

A return to South America is said to be Cavani’s wish, to bring him closer to his family.

Buenos Aires giants Boca Juniors have been linked with a deal and discussions with the club are described as positive.

OLE LOAD OF TROUBLE

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer enraged a group of Manchester United protestors by claiming hated owner Joel Glazer ‘loves this club’.

A group descended on the Red Devils’ Carrington training ground yesterday morning in protest at the Glazer family’s ownership and their attempts to break-away into a European Super League.

And they refused to leave the doors to the main reception until boss Solskjaer came out and engaged with them.

He did and they questioned him as to how he could ever trust the club’s co-chairman Joel Glazer ever again.

But Solskjaer jumped to his defence saying ‘Joel loves this club’. It was a statement met with derision with a number of protestors firing back saying ‘he doesn’t love this club he loves the money’.

Solskjaer, 48, was flanked by coach Michael Carrick and technical director Darren Fletcher as he spoke with the group. Midfielder Nemanja Matic was also close by.

During the exchanges, which lasted just over five minutes, it was pointed out to Solskjaer that back in 2005 he was a patron of protest group Shareholders United and voiced his opposition to the Glazers imminent takeover.

GOOD MORNING RED DEVILS FANS

Ed Woodward quit as executive vice-chairman after being kept in the dark about the final plans for the European Super League.

Bruno Fernandes is ready to sign a new contract at Manchester United as long as Paul Pogba commits his future.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer told anti-Glazer protesters to leave Carrington so they would not disrupt training.

Marcus Rashford is helping teach kids how to make proper food as he continues his fight against child food poverty.

United have been handed a boost in their bid to sign Real Madrid defender Raphael Varane with the French star facing the exit door.

Reaction continues to come in following the Glazers’ apology for the attempted breakaway.

The Red Devils’ hopes of signing Erling Haaland are fading after Borussia Dortmund insisted he will not leave this summer.

United will reportedly have to pay £10m if they are to sign West Brom goalkeeper Sam Johnstone.

MAJOR SHAKE-UP

Football bosses could be ORDERED to rip up their rulebook after the Government announced the launch of its “fan-led review” of the game.

In a huge move which comes off the back of PM Boris Johnson’s intervention into the Super League breakaway which featured Man United as one of the founding clubs, the entire structure of the English game is under scrutiny.

That could see:

• Ownership rules questioned and changed, even looking at the legitimacy of foreign billionaires taking over Prem clubs — and deciding if English football should seek to copy the German system.
•  New financial rules drafted to prevent the issues that led to the collapse of Bury.
•  Enforced alterations to the flow of money through the entire football pyramid, from the Prem to the grass-roots game.
•  Fans given a proper say in the way the game is run.
• A Government- appointed independent regulator, with power to bring the FA, Prem and EFL to account.

NO CAPITAL GAINS

Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has revealed he snubbed a move to Chelsea when he joined Leeds.

The ex-England star moved to Elland Road in 2000 but had the chance to seal a transfer to the Blues.

The BT Sport pundit told the Eddie Hearn: No Passion, No Point podcast: “I could’ve gone to Chelsea – I got a phone call just as I was going to Leeds.

“I just said to the geezers, ‘there’s no point even trying to pitch the idea to me. I need to leave London. I’ve got all my mates, I go out every weekend. I can go anywhere in town – I’m living a distraction.’”

Ferdinand added: “Going to Leeds was getting me away from my mates, who were good boys, but we were getting in trouble and going out too much.

“I didn’t have a hand break, everything was full throttle. The best decision was looking at myself and moving to Leeds when I did. Best thing I done.”

ED’S GONE

Ed Woodward quit as Manchester United’s executive vice-chairman because he was kept in the dark about the final plans for the European Super League.

Woodward is stepping down at the end of the year and SunSport understands he resigned because he could not support the Glazers’ plans for the breakaway league.

Woodward had made his mind up on Monday morning he could not be associated with the Super League and took swift action.

The Prem’s ‘Big Six’ were set to join the new league plot before it all unravelled in the space of 48 hours.

Woodward joined United following the Glazers’ takeover in 2005 and replaced chief executive David Gill in 2013.

TAKE ZLAT

Former Manchester United striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic is staying in Italy after signing a new contract with AC Milan.

The iconic star has reportedly agreed a new one-year extension with the Italian club.

Ibrahimovic announced his return from retirement for Sweden recently as the 39-year-old prepares to lead their attack at this summer’s rescheduled European Championship.

BIG SAM FEE

Manchester United will reportedly have to pay £10m if they want to bring Sam Johnstone back to the club.

The West Brom goalkeeper has impressed for the Baggies and United are interested in signing him.

Johnstone left United in 2018 but has been linked with a return after performing consistently for Sam Allardyce’s side.

Tottenham and West Ham are also keen on the shot stopper and a summer move looks likely if West Brom fail to avoid relegation.

GREAT SCOT

Sir Alex Ferguson was moved to tears when Scotland qualified for the Euros.

The legendary former Manchester United boss got emotional after watching Ryan Christie’s post-match interview after ending their long wait to reach a major tournament with victory over Serbia on penalties.

Ferguson said: “When Serbia scored in the last minute I thought ‘Oh Christ Almighty, extra-time, no chance’. But they saw it through and dug their heels in.

“But Davie Marshall’s save, and he didn’t even know whether they had qualified or not, and everyone is jumping on top of him.

“And then the Ryan Christie interview. Christ, I was crying when I saw him crying. It was fantastic. You talk about a boost to the country – it was fantastic.

“I’m sure half the country would have watched that night. We will always remember Davie Marshall’s reaction and Ryan Christie’s interview.”