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Lure of India excites United

AFP - 25 July 2008 02:12

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson applauds supporters in May 2008. Manchester United are considering offers to play a friendly game in India, with the English Premier League and European champions keen to tap into the growing demand for football on the sub-continent.

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - Manchester United are considering offers to play a friendly game in India, with the English Premier League and European champions keen to tap into the growing demand for football on the sub-continent.

Sir Alex Ferguson and his United squad are currently preparing for the upcoming English season with a four-game tour of South Africa and Nigeria.

But with plans to return to Asia in July 2009, after a hugely successful four-stop tour of Tokyo, Seoul, Macau and Guangzhou 12 months ago, United chief executive David Gill has admitted that India could be the next destination for the club's globetrotting stars.

Gill said: "India is interesting. We have been approached to go there and we are looking at some soccer school opportunities there.

"I know Chelsea have done something and I think Barcelona have. We would not rule out going there."

Although India has no great history as an international football nation, the size of its population and the associated commercial potential has long seen it regarded as one of the great untapped markets for the sport.

In cricket, India has, for several years now, been the global financial powerhouse of the game - a position strengthened by the recent advent of the Indian Premier League (IPL), whose impact has also been noticed well beyond the sport's traditional confines.

"They (India) do have ambitions and they have a key goal to make it to the World Cup," said Gill. "Whether they can make it or not, I do not know, but it's a huge, huge country.

"Just look at the IPL. That has shown that it is a very wealthy country and it is definitely worth looking at. Other clubs will look at it and so will we."

Some commentators have suggested that interest in football in its established nations, such as England may have reached saturation point, and that the room left for further global expansion is limited.

United may be one of world football's best-known 'brands', with a huge worldwide following, but Gill was adamant there were still fresh markets waiting to be conquered by the Old Trafford club.

"The interest in football around the world is increasing," he said. "It is not saturated.

"We have worked on our global position for many years, but it would be wrong to think that we are impregnable. If we did that, then we would get knocked off our perch."

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Comments (29)

BesTalentScout

25 July 2008 06:30

can the players survive the smell of tens of thousands of sweating Indians in the stadium ?

they better get several oxygen tanks ready for the players...............LOL

Old Fart Fergie may pass out from the stench too..........LOL

siddharth

25 July 2008 07:11

Bet u sweat more than any indian...crap people like u no nothing about football...NOTHING

BesTalentScout

25 July 2008 09:18

brudder, i know what i'm writing about..........

i was in the police for 6 years and frequently had to take charge of over 200 Indian illegal immigrants............so i know how heavenly they can smell.........

i'm not being racist here just stating a fact becoz of the food like curry they eat every day of their lives so the smell of the spices radiates from their bodies.......

newtonheath1878

25 July 2008 10:07

Besttalentscout, your right up there with the Sepp Blater comments of the world what a Neanderthal conceived perception of the human race you have!

phughes699

25 July 2008 11:00

India seems an interesting place to fly the flag for the best team in Europe. They are the most famous club team in the world and going to India can only make the Manchester United brand even more popular.

Giorgio

25 July 2008 12:02

Newtonheath,

You never cease to amaze me !! It turns out that you are quite the intellectual !!

And just for a moment I had this strange suspicion that you might be another soccer hooligan from Manchester. Shows how wrong one can be !!

newtonheath1878

25 July 2008 12:21

As-salaamu Alaikum, peace and love Soccerettes. The pen is far mightier than the sword!

BesTalentScout

25 July 2008 15:05

newtonheath

obviously you've never been in close contact with 200 or so sweating Indians...........

but like i said, i don't mean it in a bad way................anyone knows that i don't mean any harm..........

after all, i always end my comments with..........LOL...........LOL

kiljadn

25 July 2008 15:12

Just because YOU laugh about it doesn't mean it's funny, and it doesn't dilute the racist overtone.

People like you are absolutely intolerable.

newtonheath1878

25 July 2008 15:16

BesTalent,

I suppose I'll have to take your word on you not meaning anything by it. I have noticed that you end things in LOL, but strangely enough I don't seem to notice any after your "sweaty Indians" comment, but I'm sure you were laughing out loud when adding the comment.

P.S. By the way, I am Muslim and spend a lot of time with Indians, Pakistani and Bengali friends at my local mosque, most of the time there are in excess of 200 people there and on a hot day there is obvious perspiration, can't say I have passed out from the stench though. Maybe it's just me; I might be immune to that torrid curry smell eh!

Giorgio

25 July 2008 15:22

Kiljadn,

I would strongly recommend that you insert your name, age and country of origin/residence against your profile.

On this blog, individuals who hide behind a pseudonym are not appreciated, nor welcome !!

phughes699

25 July 2008 15:23

BesTalent Scout, just reading the things you say about proves to me that you are nothing more than an arsehole with a very bad manner...LOL

phughes699

25 July 2008 15:25

Sorry I missed out the word "people".

ajax72

25 July 2008 16:20

As I've said many times: Let's make this blog intolerable to the pseudointellectuals and the hypocrite antiracists . In Singapore one didn't have to ask for direction for the indian quarter- one had to just follow the stench. Same thing in Dubai, etc. Where I live there are gypsies who are even worse. These are facts and they don't change just because you like or dislike them. And don't give me the usual 'antiracist' crap.

newtonheath1878

25 July 2008 16:32

Ajax, I think you will find that you will be a little small on the numbers if think you will gain support for your last comments. Your views, like your team are stuck in the 70's and the main reason why you can smell the stench is due to the amount of shit that comes out of your mouth. SCUM

phughes699

25 July 2008 16:35

They say a dog smells his own shit first. I rest my case.

siddharth

25 July 2008 17:14

bestalentscout ur pathetic...wonder how they accepted guys like u in d police...hmmm.wonder how bad ur police force is...ur a rascist .PERIOD.this is a football forum dont talk bout people and their smells...for that im sure u can find sum rascist forum sumwer on d net

siddharth

25 July 2008 17:54

newtonheath im with u on that...ajax seems 2 be talkin outa his backside:-)

ajax72

25 July 2008 18:00

If words had the magic power of eliminating foul odours perfume industry wouldn't have existed. Nothing can change the FACTS.

siddharth

25 July 2008 18:02

ajax ive never met u but i can tell u stink...guess u got used to thestink urself...y dont u use some of the perfume uve been talkin bout??

indsc4

25 July 2008 18:04

I hope United can make this a reality...it would be great both for United and India.

BesTalentScout....I can smell your stench here in the States, and I'm surprised I haven't passed out yet.

newtonheath1878

25 July 2008 18:18

Ajax, you always seem to miss the point don't you? Nobody disputes the fact that certain people may have odours that may be unpleasant to others nasal but to generalise a nation as Bestalent has is backward and there is no place for it in the modern age. Now I'm certain that you have the stench of a week old dead fish mixed with ammonia but that doesn’t mean that all Bulgarians smell bad does it? I'm sure a majority of the populace of your fine nation smell perfectly reasonable to most noses; perfume or no perfume.

ajax72

25 July 2008 18:41

Could be that to the indians all bulgarians smell bad. Ask an indian who knows a bulgarian. For the japanese all white ppl smell worse than a polecat but I'm not outraged by this or offended because they are right from THEIR point of view. This is what you and your likes fail to realize - every human being has the right to express his/hers own point of view. Which sometimes might not coincide with yours but this doesn't justify your calling him/her names. Personal offences to your opponents don't strenghten your point. On the opposite

newtonheath1878

25 July 2008 20:36

Ajax, your last comments are nearly at an acceptable level in terms of debate but you really do keep falling down on some major points. My comments were not aimed at you personally as I don’t know you from Adam but they were stated to try and explain the differences between acceptable personal opinion and comments with a racial undertone. You have already agreed in part to my comments with your last post in that every person has an entitlement to an opinion but people who have an opinion have to readily accept that from some quarters there will agreement and from other quarters there will be total dissatisfaction. Now seen as we are posting these comments on a “Blog” website Bestalent and yourself have a commitment to yourselves to be able to support your comments rationally, factually and intellectually!

Take for instance Bestalent’s comments on Indians, you are seriously insulting your own intelligence if you honestly believe that every Indian has an off putting smell to your nose, so the comment itself is a stereotypical generalisation of a nation/race of people, therefore, it would be deemed a racist comment by most and not welcome by the majority of people who enjoy this site.

Now even if you do believe that all Indians smell (and Gypsies, of which I take offence as I have Romany ancestors) to your nose, does that give you or Bestalent the right to be derogative, if the answer to this is yes Ajax you are guilty of being a hypocrite to your defence because you have also stated that my name calling (which I hope I have explained) is unacceptable in debate and gives my argument a lesser degree of substance, surely the original comments that have started this debate are of this nature.

Tontodonati

25 July 2008 20:37

Guys, let us keep it clean! I am everyone's friend here, There's no need to get personal. I've not been in this business very long but I can tell that nobody here is superior to anyone. Let us exchange ideas, not punches!

ajax72

25 July 2008 20:52

For the sake of the true football fans let's call it a day. From now on I'll stick strictly to purely football items on this blog. Maybe we'll have the chance to meet on other sites and discuss matter, different from football.

newtonheath1878

25 July 2008 21:03

Fred, Ajax, it has admittedly got a little out of hand and has gone way off the subject of football. I draw a line. A fresh start from here.

BesTalentScout

26 July 2008 06:03

LOL..................LOL...........

let's not pretend we're not racist, shall we..............

those guys who crucify me for being racist are so hypocritical................no one on earth is not racist to a certain extent.............

Siddharth..............for your info, the entire police here is very racist with the officers sticking to their own 'people'........

in my other job, i come into contact with foreign tourists very often and they have the same view as me...........in fact, one Caucasian guy shocked me when he told me he knows about this very old saying................

'even the deities can't make a penny from (you-know-who..........'

Tontodonati

26 July 2008 10:48

Best TalentScout, racism afflicts everyone. Nevertheless, some are sicker than others.There's a marked difference between tendency to discriminate and acting on it. Racism is much like evil. It's normal to harbor feelings of, but abnormal to carry it out!

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2 13 +14 28
3 12 +21 25
4 13 +14 25
5 13 +8 22
6 12 +7 21
7 13 +9 20
8 13 +2 20
9 13 -2 19
10 13 -10 17
11 12 -9 16
12 12 -1 15
13 13 -3 15
14 12 -5 15
15 13 -17 14
16 13 -15 12
17 13 -4 11
18 12 -11 11
19 13 -14 10
20 13 -9 7

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