Patrice Evra has had enough of other Manchester United old boys being a bit on the critical side of the club and not being supportive of Michael Carrick’s hopes of getting the manager’s job on a permanent basis.
Paul Scholes has been especially rude about the quality of most of the current squad, and clearly is no fan of his former midfield buddy’s managerial skills either. “Michael has definitely got something special about him, [because] United have been crap last four games,” he said on Instagram, just a touch snarkily, after they lost to Newcastle.
“He was the quietest player I’ve ever played with in my entire career,” said Evra. “Now, in the media, he drops bombshells. I really don’t understand the lack of support behind Michael, he’s one of us and he’s doing very well.”
He’s equally peeved with Gary Neville and Roy Keane. “This is what you do when you work in TV. You can’t be positive, you have to be negative. People can’t forget what they have done as a manager. As players, they’re legends, but as managers, they haven’t done a great job.”
On that note, he shared a chat he had with Neville about the latter’s ill-fated spell as Valencia coach. “I said to Gary: ‘It’s easy to talk on TV. When you were at Valencia, they asked you for paella, and you gave them fish and chips.’ After three months, they said goodbye.” Ouch.
Quote
“It’s not going to happen. I’ll be at Cheltenham on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.” Harry Redknapp ruling out becoming Spurs’ emergency gaffer this week because he’ll be otherwise engaged.
By the Numbers: 11
Spurs’ winless run in the league. The only time in their history they had a worse run was ... 1935.
Word of Mouth
“There’ll be an asterisk next to their name because you’ve only got to look at them ... they’re just functional. They’re strong, they’re powerful, but there is nothing beautiful about them.” Contrary to Alan Pardew’s wish, eh, no, there won’t be an asterisk beside Arsenal’s name if they win the league.
“I don’t think they should give the [Premier League] trophy out this year. No one deserves it. Honestly, it’s not been great to watch.” Paul Scholes, the Victor Meldrew of punditry.
“You can only go to the coffee shop so many times, you can only feed the chickens and the ducks so many times.” Neil Warnock explaining why he came out of retirement, at the age of 77, to take over as Torquay’s caretaker manager. Hopefully his chickens and ducks aren’t starving.
XXX
We have been made aware of a distressing image doing the rounds today, suggesting Tottenham have beaten us 3-1.
This has clearly been photoshopped, and we will be taking this up with the relevant authorities.
Even we'd beat Spurs... pic.twitter.com/oLxHZhtrF2
— Walthamstow Football Club (@walthamstowfc) March 6, 2026
These are not happy days for the Spurs faithful. Things went from bad to worse when they lost 3-1 at home to Crystal Palace last week. Igor Tudor, to be honest, sounded a bit Comical Ali-ish after.
“Maybe it will sound strange, but I believe more after this game than I believed before. I saw something. The boat is going in the direction that I want to go, and who is in the boat can stay. Otherwise they can leave the boat.”
If all that didn’t leave Spurs fans demented enough, they were alerted to a T-shirt on sale – for £30! – on the club’s online shop that reads “SPURSY”. As the BBC defined it, Spursy is “shorthand to describe Tottenham’s wildly inconsistent form, an ability to snatch draws or defeats from the jaws of victory, and put their supporters through the wringer”.
“That T-shirt’s self-sabotage,” angry fan Dave told The Sun. “I’m fuming. It’s the kind of thing you’d see in Arsenal’s shop.” On clicking the link to said item, this was the message that greeted us: “404 Page Not Found.” Yes, Spurs have removed Spursy from the Spurs shop. They’ll be removed from the Premier League too if that boat sinks.
More Word of Mouth
“In Italy, we say that in every wonderful marriage, there is a crisis after seven years. So it might be possible that people fall in love with the VAR, and then after some years, as with your wife, you have a small crisis.” Former referee Pierluigi Collina reckoning that football and VAR need some marriage counselling.
Former referee Pierluigi Collina during the International Football Association Board agm in Cardiff on February 28th. Photograph: David Davies/PA Wire
Former referee Pierluigi Collina during the International Football Association Board agm in Cardiff on February 28th. Photograph: David Davies/PA Wire
“VAR was introduced because of Real Madrid. Before that, there were simply too many cheats. That’s why they invented VAR, so they wouldn’t rob any more.” Former Barcelona midfielder Arturo Vidal on the entire purpose of VAR.
“This club is a joke, the owners are a joke, the players are a joke, the recruitment’s a joke, the staff are a joke, the manager’s a joke. Everything about the football club is an absolute disgrace.” Apart from that, former Spurs player Jamie O’Hara is happy with his old club.