Post by missunited on Oct 25, 2006 0:21:48 GMT
Smith relishing cup return
ALAN Smith has warned Crewe there will be no holding back as he spearheads the start of Manchester United's Carling Cup defence at Gresty Road.
After a couple of Champions League substitute appearances, Smith will make his long-awaited return to the United line-up, just over nine months since fracturing his leg and breaking an ankle in a freakish accident at Liverpool.
Given the severity of his injuries and the length of time it has taken him to recover, Smith could be forgiven if he approached his comeback with a degree of trepidation.
But standing back is not in the Yorkshireman's style. So, when he occupies the striking berth Sir Alex Ferguson originally paid Leeds £6million for him to fill, Dario Gradi's League One outfit can expect to face Smith at full throttle.
"There is no mental problem for me to overcome because the way I suffered the injury was so innocuous," he told www.manutd.com
"It was not in a tackle so when I go in for a challenge I am not thinking about my leg.
"It will be the first time I have played up there for two years and I can't wait."
Smith was in the United line-up which defeated Crewe at the same stage of the competition two seasons ago.
Trophy
Beaten in the semi-finals by Chelsea that year, the Red Devils made amends last term by romping to victory over Wigan at the Millennium Stadium to collect the trophy for only the second time in their history.
The win came just eight days after Smith suffered his injury and his team-mates paid their own tribute by wearing 'We love you Smudge' T-shirts for the presentation ceremony.
Not normally prone to outbursts of emotion, Smith admitted it brought a tear to his eye as he watched on TV.
However, his sole focus now is on helping the Red Devils take the first small step towards retaining the trophy.
"The more silverware this club wins, the better it is for everyone," said the Rothwell-born player, who celebrates his 26th birthday on Saturday.
"We won the Carling Cup last season and we want to make sure we do it again, so we will definitely be taking the game seriously.
"There are players who are fighting for first-team places and those, like myself, who are coming back from injury, so it is a vital game for us and one we are looking forward to."
Having sent most of his fringe players out on loan, Ferguson's side will have a strange look about it.
Tomasz Kuszczak, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Kieran Richardson are all certain to be involved, as are Mikael Silvestre and Gabriel Heinze, who, like Smith, are trying to get themselves back to full fitness again.
Midfielder David Jones, the one senior reserve team player not allowed to leave Old Trafford this season, is set to start for only the second time, while namesake Ritchie will also be involved after making three Carling Cup appearances last term.
Ferguson has also promised teenage quartet Ryan Shawcross, Kieran Lee, Aaron Burns and David Gray some involvement, although the Scot will be eager to ensure there is enough experience on show to cement a place in the last 16.
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featureWhy all roads lead to Crewe
UNITED fans slumming it at Crewe Alexandra on Wednesday should take a long hard look at the club they are playing - the differences are not as great as they seem.
In terms of wealth and resources, the two teams are from different planets. United pile 75,000 fans a game into Old Trafford, while the Railwaymen would be delighted to get that many over the course of six months.
Rich man, poor man it certainly is. And even the bonanza of a game against the Reds will not elevate Crewe from their humdrum existence - the ground capacity of 10,100 speaks of a club that revels in its humility, and which is comfortable with its lot.
But the similarities between the big city slickers and their Cheshire cousins become more obvious when you look at a startling managerial statistic.
Only three men in English football history have been in charge of the same club for more than 1,000 matches. Those three are United's footballing knights Sir Matt Busby and Sir Alex Ferguson, and Crewe's great survivor Dario Gradi, MBE.
And if Gradi can safely negotiate his way through this season, he will match Busby's post-war record of 24 years in charge of the same club.
But what make Gradi's achievement even more remarkable is a comparison of honours lists.
Silverware
It is no surprise that Busby was kept on for so long and that United's board are still intent on extending Ferguson's reign for as long as possible. Busby won five league titles, two FA Cups and a European Cup, as well as transforming United from run-of-the-mill first division club to a world-famous, innovative institution. Ferguson invoked that Busby spirit and took the club to its most fruitful spell, with eight Premiership titles, five FA Cups, a European Cup, a European Cup Winners' Cup and two League Cups.
And Gradi's silverware at Crewe? Nothing.
A couple of promotions here and there, but not even a divisional title.
Of course, it is all about different expectations, and Gradi has exceeded the wildest dreams of Alex fans.
When he took over in 1983, the appointment was regarded with a mix of wary scepticism and a weary acceptance that things could not get much worse, even if the new gaffer had been a journeyman player and had not ripped up any trees as a coach or manager.
But Gradi was a sort of poor man's Jose Mourinho, a man who had combined an intense football knowledge with the motivational skills and organisation of an academic. He had even ducked out of football for a while to teach physical education at Loughborough University.
There was no need to fear. Gradi has been blessed to work with a board that knows the club's limitations, realises that real success take time and patience, and was prepared to make small, sensible investments in order to reap the rewards which have given Crewe a unique place in English football.
He invested in youth. Busby did it at United in the 50s and Ferguson revived that tradition in the late 80s - but to do it at United took a degree of forward-sightedness, an unshakeable belief in your methods and plenty of hard graft.
Planet
To do the same at a fourth division club borders on madness. United had the pull to bring in the best young players, initially from the north of England, and latterly from across the world.
Crewe was, and is, a small town slapped in between the football metropolises of Manchester and Liverpool. Very few kids dreamed of playing for them, so Gradi's work was cut out from day one.
The measure of his success is such that these days the parents of any promising young footballer is more than happy for them to link up with Crewe. Gradi figured that if he could turn Crewe into a football academy, long before the FA caught on to the idea, he could ensure a lively supply of youngsters into his first team, and a source of income as the more precious of his diamonds moved on to bigger and better things.
The list of players to have gone through the Crewe academy, or who have seen their careers revived under Gradi, is phenomenal.
England internationals Seth Johnson, David Platt, Robbie Savage, Geoff Thomas and Rob Jones can all thank Crewe for their careers, while Welsh international Robbie Savage and David Vaughan, and Northern Ireland's Neil Lennon learned a lot at Gresty Road.
Savage is a great example of the success of Crewe's philosophy. A member of United's class of '92, he was deemed to be not good enough for the Reds but when he was released in 1994, Gradi snapped him up.
After three years at Gresty Road, he helped the club to promotion to the old first division in 1997, the first time they had ever been higher than the bottom two divisions, and was sold the same summer, to Leicester for £400,000.
It is a policy that United now share. They throw money at their own academy, not just because it will bring through a David Beckham, Paul Scholes or Ryan Giggs from time to time, but because it will also provide a reasonable source of income through the sale of players like Ronnie Wallwork, David Healy and Jonathan Greening.
To United, such money is merely a supplement. To Crewe it is life blood, and Gradi's 23-year tenure as manager can be put down to his success in implementing that policy.
A glance through recent football history books shows the extent of Gradi's shrewdness. Johnson, Murphy and Dean Ashton all sold for £3m, Lennon for £750,000, Craig Hignett for £500,000, Savage for £400,000, Jones for £300,000 and Platt for £200,000. All players who cost Gradi nothing, but earned him a place in English football's Hall of Fame alongside the Knights of Busby and Ferguson.
ALAN Smith has warned Crewe there will be no holding back as he spearheads the start of Manchester United's Carling Cup defence at Gresty Road.
After a couple of Champions League substitute appearances, Smith will make his long-awaited return to the United line-up, just over nine months since fracturing his leg and breaking an ankle in a freakish accident at Liverpool.
Given the severity of his injuries and the length of time it has taken him to recover, Smith could be forgiven if he approached his comeback with a degree of trepidation.
But standing back is not in the Yorkshireman's style. So, when he occupies the striking berth Sir Alex Ferguson originally paid Leeds £6million for him to fill, Dario Gradi's League One outfit can expect to face Smith at full throttle.
"There is no mental problem for me to overcome because the way I suffered the injury was so innocuous," he told www.manutd.com
"It was not in a tackle so when I go in for a challenge I am not thinking about my leg.
"It will be the first time I have played up there for two years and I can't wait."
Smith was in the United line-up which defeated Crewe at the same stage of the competition two seasons ago.
Trophy
Beaten in the semi-finals by Chelsea that year, the Red Devils made amends last term by romping to victory over Wigan at the Millennium Stadium to collect the trophy for only the second time in their history.
The win came just eight days after Smith suffered his injury and his team-mates paid their own tribute by wearing 'We love you Smudge' T-shirts for the presentation ceremony.
Not normally prone to outbursts of emotion, Smith admitted it brought a tear to his eye as he watched on TV.
However, his sole focus now is on helping the Red Devils take the first small step towards retaining the trophy.
"The more silverware this club wins, the better it is for everyone," said the Rothwell-born player, who celebrates his 26th birthday on Saturday.
"We won the Carling Cup last season and we want to make sure we do it again, so we will definitely be taking the game seriously.
"There are players who are fighting for first-team places and those, like myself, who are coming back from injury, so it is a vital game for us and one we are looking forward to."
Having sent most of his fringe players out on loan, Ferguson's side will have a strange look about it.
Tomasz Kuszczak, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Kieran Richardson are all certain to be involved, as are Mikael Silvestre and Gabriel Heinze, who, like Smith, are trying to get themselves back to full fitness again.
Midfielder David Jones, the one senior reserve team player not allowed to leave Old Trafford this season, is set to start for only the second time, while namesake Ritchie will also be involved after making three Carling Cup appearances last term.
Ferguson has also promised teenage quartet Ryan Shawcross, Kieran Lee, Aaron Burns and David Gray some involvement, although the Scot will be eager to ensure there is enough experience on show to cement a place in the last 16.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
featureWhy all roads lead to Crewe
UNITED fans slumming it at Crewe Alexandra on Wednesday should take a long hard look at the club they are playing - the differences are not as great as they seem.
In terms of wealth and resources, the two teams are from different planets. United pile 75,000 fans a game into Old Trafford, while the Railwaymen would be delighted to get that many over the course of six months.
Rich man, poor man it certainly is. And even the bonanza of a game against the Reds will not elevate Crewe from their humdrum existence - the ground capacity of 10,100 speaks of a club that revels in its humility, and which is comfortable with its lot.
But the similarities between the big city slickers and their Cheshire cousins become more obvious when you look at a startling managerial statistic.
Only three men in English football history have been in charge of the same club for more than 1,000 matches. Those three are United's footballing knights Sir Matt Busby and Sir Alex Ferguson, and Crewe's great survivor Dario Gradi, MBE.
And if Gradi can safely negotiate his way through this season, he will match Busby's post-war record of 24 years in charge of the same club.
But what make Gradi's achievement even more remarkable is a comparison of honours lists.
Silverware
It is no surprise that Busby was kept on for so long and that United's board are still intent on extending Ferguson's reign for as long as possible. Busby won five league titles, two FA Cups and a European Cup, as well as transforming United from run-of-the-mill first division club to a world-famous, innovative institution. Ferguson invoked that Busby spirit and took the club to its most fruitful spell, with eight Premiership titles, five FA Cups, a European Cup, a European Cup Winners' Cup and two League Cups.
And Gradi's silverware at Crewe? Nothing.
A couple of promotions here and there, but not even a divisional title.
Of course, it is all about different expectations, and Gradi has exceeded the wildest dreams of Alex fans.
When he took over in 1983, the appointment was regarded with a mix of wary scepticism and a weary acceptance that things could not get much worse, even if the new gaffer had been a journeyman player and had not ripped up any trees as a coach or manager.
But Gradi was a sort of poor man's Jose Mourinho, a man who had combined an intense football knowledge with the motivational skills and organisation of an academic. He had even ducked out of football for a while to teach physical education at Loughborough University.
There was no need to fear. Gradi has been blessed to work with a board that knows the club's limitations, realises that real success take time and patience, and was prepared to make small, sensible investments in order to reap the rewards which have given Crewe a unique place in English football.
He invested in youth. Busby did it at United in the 50s and Ferguson revived that tradition in the late 80s - but to do it at United took a degree of forward-sightedness, an unshakeable belief in your methods and plenty of hard graft.
Planet
To do the same at a fourth division club borders on madness. United had the pull to bring in the best young players, initially from the north of England, and latterly from across the world.
Crewe was, and is, a small town slapped in between the football metropolises of Manchester and Liverpool. Very few kids dreamed of playing for them, so Gradi's work was cut out from day one.
The measure of his success is such that these days the parents of any promising young footballer is more than happy for them to link up with Crewe. Gradi figured that if he could turn Crewe into a football academy, long before the FA caught on to the idea, he could ensure a lively supply of youngsters into his first team, and a source of income as the more precious of his diamonds moved on to bigger and better things.
The list of players to have gone through the Crewe academy, or who have seen their careers revived under Gradi, is phenomenal.
England internationals Seth Johnson, David Platt, Robbie Savage, Geoff Thomas and Rob Jones can all thank Crewe for their careers, while Welsh international Robbie Savage and David Vaughan, and Northern Ireland's Neil Lennon learned a lot at Gresty Road.
Savage is a great example of the success of Crewe's philosophy. A member of United's class of '92, he was deemed to be not good enough for the Reds but when he was released in 1994, Gradi snapped him up.
After three years at Gresty Road, he helped the club to promotion to the old first division in 1997, the first time they had ever been higher than the bottom two divisions, and was sold the same summer, to Leicester for £400,000.
It is a policy that United now share. They throw money at their own academy, not just because it will bring through a David Beckham, Paul Scholes or Ryan Giggs from time to time, but because it will also provide a reasonable source of income through the sale of players like Ronnie Wallwork, David Healy and Jonathan Greening.
To United, such money is merely a supplement. To Crewe it is life blood, and Gradi's 23-year tenure as manager can be put down to his success in implementing that policy.
A glance through recent football history books shows the extent of Gradi's shrewdness. Johnson, Murphy and Dean Ashton all sold for £3m, Lennon for £750,000, Craig Hignett for £500,000, Savage for £400,000, Jones for £300,000 and Platt for £200,000. All players who cost Gradi nothing, but earned him a place in English football's Hall of Fame alongside the Knights of Busby and Ferguson.
Everything is crap and i have to watch it in the pub!!! Brrr! 
