A United fan's Age Concern

An outsider`s view of the club which seeks to provide constructive observation, such as the one below from a Vital ManU member tuscan3000, can be worth wider contemplation. ManU fans may feel they are still getting good service from players like Giggs (36) Scholes (35) and Neville (35) while we have allowed players like Pires (currently 36) and Gilberto (33) to depart. We have re-recruited 35 year old Campbell for a short spell so far to balance that though. Not sure how well the suggestion that we should be worried about the potential departures of Silvestre and Almunia in particular might be received by some here:

"I think all this Arsenal team needs now is to be bolstered by experienced, even-headed professionals. The facts are no team can have as many young players as you do and expect consistent performances over four competitions for the whole season. Young players will always have the odd off game. You look at Chelsea, United and Liverpool teams that have finished above you in the last few years and you'll see clubs that either don`t have any young players at all or are using them less and less often.

As a United fan I'm genuinely worried that some of the talented youngsters in our club will never see the light of day in a United shirt because we simply cannot afford to compete with Chelsea whilst suffering the inevitable mistakes young players make. Consistency is the key to the league and young players simply don`t have it. Luckily the 25 man squad should change this and even the playing field a little. Also, young players will always take defeat badly. Whether it`s being too down on themselves, blaming each other or refusing to accept any responsibility and blaming everyone else - young players just cannot handle losing properly as that comes with age.

Having older players around the camp helps turn these young boys into men by teaching them how to accept responsibility for their own failings and how to pick themselves up and keep fighting. There is also a lot of what I like to call 'old boy' tricks that your club is missing out on. Experienced old pros always have sneaky little techniques for wasting time, influencing a ref or putting the opposition off. These marginal actions can be the difference between winning and losing a lot of the time. The old boys will always keep the younger ones in line and generally stop them acting like over paid prima donnas both on and off the pitch.

I know its silly season in the press but the constant rumours surrounding Gallas, Campbell, Silvestre, Almunia and Arshavin moving on would be worrying to me. Whilst you obviously want to improve in some areas getting rid of that much experience in one season would surely only make the problems worse. I think if Wenger raises the average age of your squad you will definitely win silverware next season."

Want to comment on this article? It's easy to register , simply click the link and enjoy getting involved (you can even win prizes!)

Message Board To visit the message board, click here. Get involved

Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.