Through successive managerial eras at Manchester United the big Belgian has fronted up gamely but remained the embodiment of the post-Fergie wilderness yearsCarry on then, Marouane. After some suggestions this week that Marouane Fellaini might be on his way out of Old Trafford, Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s Friday press conference went the other way. Instead Solskjær offered what newspapers like to call “a vote of confidence” in the gangling Belgian utility-menace, talking up Fellaini’s continued presence through this, his sixth year as a Manchester United player.It isn’t hard to see why some said his time was up. Under Solskjær Fellaini has played three minutes in the Premier League. His basic footballing presence has seemed at odds with a more mobile, fluid...
The only two players signed by the Scot during his disastrous tenure at Old Trafford have defied all expectations to remain among the star-studded cast assembled by José MourinhoIn the years after the fall of the Berlin Wall a phenomenon bubbled up in Eastern Europe called “ostalgie”, or nostalgia for the old east. Seized with ostalgie, citizens of the new world found themselves tiring of the glories of capitalism, with its treacly soft drinks, unfettered access to soft-rock music and a natureless ecstasy of identical consumer products; and yearning instead for the old certainties of communism, the gulag and mass-produced cardboard trousers. As recently as last year a majority of Romanians said they missed the murderous despot Nicolae Ceausescu. Presumably,...
Introduction of the Belgian almost rescued the Super Cup for Manchester United and showed why José Mourinho rates him so highlyFor a footballer who suffers a near-constant dose of over-the-top criticism, look no further than Marouane Fellaini. For a man who handles this with dignity and a disarming sense of self-deprecation, again take note of the Belgium midfielder.Yet he is also, despite the naysayers, a very effective player. When José Mourinho wanted to wrest control of the Uefa Super Cup final away from Real Madrid at Skopje’s Philip II Stadium on Tuesday night, it was to Fellaini whom the manager turned. Related: Zlatan Ibrahimovic working hard to secure Manchester United return Thank you to everyone who posted & sent me...