Looking for a light

Dear Sir Alex Ferguson,

My name is Azrulnizam Shah and I have been a fan of Manchester United Football Club for the past 13 years. I must admit that I do not know much about the game and its technicalities at the top level but I would like to offer my two cents' worth of opinions. I hope you will consider them in due time. Ultimately of course, I still have the utmost trust in you and I hope that under you, this year, the team will do better.

Firstly, some cost cutting measures need to be in place, some players need to go, while other should be kept. This is my personal opinion on who should be in the list this year, and who should not.

Edwin Van Der Sar

Rio Ferdinand

Wes Brown

Paul Scholes

Alan Smith

Ryan Giggs

Park Ji Sung

Guiseppe Rossi

Gabriel Heinze

Louis Saha

Nemanja Vidic

Wayne Rooney

Tim Howard

Ben Foster

Patrice Evra

Liam Miller

John O'Shea

Kieran Richardson

David Jones

Gerard Pique

Philip Bardsley

Cristiano Ronaldo

Ruud Van Nistelrooy

Mikel Silvestre

Darren Fletcher

Ole Gunnar Solksjaer

As you recently mentioned yourself, you should not keep a player if he does not have the heart to stay. hence, Ruud and Ronaldo should go. Ruud, because his heart is not there and two of you do not seem to get along. Look at your tapes, Sir Alex, and think to yourself how many times Ruud cost the team with his poor finishing. Even if you are offered 12 million pounds, it would be better for him to be released now because you stand to lose a lot more as time progresses. Ronaldo because he is not a team player at all. As a fan, I will never forget how his performance last season against Benfica led to our elimination. He is indeed a brilliant player, but as I always tell my team, you do not need the best players, you need the right ones. Silvestre has lost it, and Ole is too old for the team, and we would be taking a step back if he were to stay. I know you have a lot of hope in Darren, and he has shown it at times, but after two seasons, suffice to say, he has not earned his stripes in the midfield battlefield of the EPL.

Also, for this season these are the recommendations I have:

1) Play Vidic and Ferdinand as the new centre partnership. Rio is calm and fast, while Nemanja is slower, but he is a hard hatchet man, somebody like Stam, who is no-nonsense and can play hard.

2) Start playing Park more, he is a small man, but his industry is something the game and the team needs.

3) Do not play Rooney on his own ever, because he is not the sort of player, he is indeed at his best when he is coming from deep.

4) Do not tinker around too much, I know that injuries really took its toll on us last season, but hopefully, if nothing goes wrong, this season will be a better one.

If you were to follow my advice in selling the players, the club would be close to 30 million pounds richer. This, added to the transfer kitty the Glazers have given you, which amounted to 25 million pounds, would give you a total of 55 million pounds to spend.

I believe it should be spent in the following departments:

1) A right-back in Gary Neville's mould, only much younger

2) A Defensive Midfielder

3) An Attacking Midfielder

4) A Top Class Striker

5) An extremely fast, skilful winger like Ronaldo, only thrice the team player he is

I feel that you should have tried to prise Damien Duff away, because he got away cheap, having been sold for 9 million pounds when he was bought for 20 plus million.

People you could target might include:

1) David Trezequet

2) Tim Cahill

3) Patrick Vieira

4) David Villa (in a swop for Ronaldo)

5) Jermain Defoe

6) Mahamadou Diarra

7) Camorenese

Also, why bother with Kuszczak? Howard is still a good goalkeeper and back up to Van Der Sar. When was the last time a reserve keeper worked through the ranks to eventually take over a first choice who is old and retired?

I hope I have not offended you in anyway. Once again, forgive my ignorance in my suggestions as I am speaking from a fan's point of view, and I do not have the complete picture that you have in your position.

I wish you luck in the coming season, it has been a long time since United lifted the Premiership, but as Scholesy said, a good solid start will be a good way to keep the battle going. Win or lose, my heart will be to the team and to you, for inspiring me in my own coaching career.

Thank you once again for your time and consideration in the matter.

Regards,

Azrulnizam Shah