Choccy’s Tales

 

A few weeks back I was down in Somerset with Clayton Blackmore for a Q&A, and after a great event Clayton wanted to come back to Manchester that same night. I decided to book the first train back up to Scotland and thought rather than stay in a hotel, I could kill some time in the early hours of the morning waiting until my train arrived.

However there was a really bad storm which put a holt to my plans, paired with chaos in the streets I had to seek refuge in an all-night burger bar watching inebriated people and arrests take place. I have now decided that my master plan of staying up for 26 hours for the sake of a train maybe wasn’t the best idea!

Last weekend I had the pleasure of travelling to Dublin to play in a legends game in Darndale. The event was fantastic, and even included an interesting pitch which featured the first ever 13-yard box I had played in! It was all for a good cause with lots of spectators and a big shout out has to go to Hightower.

The highlight for me had to be when the event organiser thought I had been kidnapped because I was not on the bus travelling to the game, however I had my own car as I had some work to do on my way to the game – safe to say the organiser was relieved when he found me!

The end is nigh

 

I think it has been disappointing to not finish in the top four this season. It has been a campaign full of under achievers and it will be a chaotic summer with the comings and goings of players. Good players need good players around them and we need footballers that want to come to United, however I think it would be silly to spend big before looking at our youth players.

I think the club should have a policy of promoting players who have done well in the academy, and before spending abroad I do believe that the club should look at more young British players who could be committed to the club and have long careers at United.

Now we head into the final game of the season and I think Ole really needs to play a team with players that he hopes or expects to be involved next year. I think we need a game that can give fans and players alike a lift, because at the moment it will be a long summer before we get to the new season and although it won’t mean anything regarding the top four, it will be nice to finish on a good note.

Who will stay and who will go?

 

There has been so much speculation, but for me I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few players depart from Old Trafford. I have said from the beginning that Anthony Martial doesn’t work hard enough, and I am perplexed as to why they gave him a new contract.

There was a suggestion that Mourinho wasn’t getting the best out of him, however with a change in manager we are still not getting the best out of him and that has to come down to the player himself. In my opinion he doesn’t even seem to like football at all!

Regarding players such as Paul Pogba, you only want players who want to stay and I think that if they can’t commit to the club then there is something going on that makes them uncommitted to United as a whole.

However, I do hope that the likes of Marcus Rashford do remain at the club. I think Marcus has a lot of potential and can continue to grow at Old Trafford so it would be nice to not hear his name in the transfer speculation.

Celtic

 

I was really happy for Celtic and Neil Lennon last weekend. I think Neil has come in and got the club steady and it is a great achievement and last weekend’s performance was a great one to win the league title with.

Now comes the speculation regarding the managerial position. As usual there is a lot of speculation particularly around Mourinho.

I personally don’t see that happening. I can’t see him fitting in not only regarding the style of football but the location. He didn’t appear to enjoy life in Manchester so I doubt being in a similar environment would work.