Manchester United have agreed a provisional date for a testimonial that will bring Roy Keane into contact with Alex Ferguson for the first time since their acrimonious fallout. The game is slotted for May 9th, though, as always with Keane, things are not entirely straightforward.
Keane is yet to tell United whether he will accept the club's invitation to bring a Celtic XI to Old Trafford for a match that would go a long way to determining whether the damage to his relationship with Ferguson is irreparable. The two men have not spoken since Ferguson orchestrated Keane's departure from Old Trafford in November, having fallen out over his infamous interview on MUTV.
United's chief executive David Gill yesterday said the player's solicitor Michael Kennedy had requested a date for the testimonial soon after Keane joined Celtic. The Old Trafford board took this to mean Keane wanted to accept the club's offer and, having consulted Ferguson, they suggested May 9th, two days after the final Premiership match of the season. Since then, however, there has been no contact from the Keane camp and no clues whether a man defiantly free of sentimentality still intends to return to the club he served for 12 years to say goodbye.
Meanwhile, documents obtained by the Guardian show Richard Caborn, the British sports minister, rejected claims the British government had given its blessing to the takeover of Manchester United by the Glazer family.
Supporter representatives met the minister to voice opposition to Malcolm Glazer's purchase of the club. Minutes show Nick Towle, the chair of Shareholders United, urged the government to "do more to stop asset stripping and encourage community ownership of clubs".
In response, Caborn said the takeover did not break company law and was outside the remit of his department. He disagreed with the fans' argument that lack of government intervention in the deal amounted to support for the Glazers.
Rangers have confirmed Uefa will investigate the smashed window on the Villarreal team bus ahead of the Champions League tie in Spain on Tuesday.
A spokesman for the Primera Liga club had claimed some Rangers supporters were responsible for the broken window before the game at the Madrigal Stadium.
Arsene Wenger believes better protection from referees has been the key factor in Arsenal's success in the Champions League in contrast with their indifferent domestic form.
"We haven't always been able to stand up to the physical approach that people have imposed on us," said Wenger. "In Europe there are things that referees will not allow that are let go in the Premiership."
The numbing aftermath of elimination from the Champions League finally prompted a public admission from Rafael Benitez last night that the feeble form of Liverpool's forwards is jeopardising the team's progress, with his concerns over their performances likely to provoke wholesale changes at the end of the season.
The 2-0 defeat by Benfica at Anfield was the defending champions' fourth consecutive European game without a goal, a club record, though more worrying is the tally of five goals in the team's last 10 competitive fixtures.
The quartet of front-line strikers - Peter Crouch, Djibril Cisse, Fernando Morientes and Robbie Fowler - have contributed a solitary goal since the turn of the year between them, with Benitez already contemplating how best to use what money is available to him in the summer to reinforce his striking options.
"The lack of goals is worrying," admitted Benitez yesterday. "I am always thinking about how to improve my team, and you can do that by either working hard or by signing new players. We are trying to do both."
Guardian Service
