Neues » Wednesday and could rejoin the team in a week

The carefully orchestrated build-up to Thursdays official unveiling of Louis van Gaal kicked off in earnest on Monday with the news that Manchester United had signed a 10-year apparel deal with Adidas worth a guaranteed minimum of 750 million pounds (roughly about $1.35 billion.) Mind-boggling. More than a mere jersey deal, “a global technical sponsorship and dual-branded licensing deal” was how it was described in a brief statement that was published on the clubs website at 1pm Monday afternoon. Lunch time in Manchester, but make that 8am in New York City. Since the club began trading on the NYSE in August 2012, it is mandatory practice that, for any announcement which could affect the share price, it is made outside of trading hours. Only 10 per cent of the share capital is listed on the NYSE. The Glazer family privately holds the remaining 90 per cent. Barcelona likes to claim it is more than a club and the same holds true for Manchester United PLC (Public Limited Company.) As van Gaal set about steering the Netherlands to a third-place finish in Brazil, his new club were announcing they had completely sold out their season ticket allocation for next season- all 55,000 of them. This was the earliest in the summer that Manchester United has sold out of season tickets since Old Trafford was expanded to its current capacity of 76,000 ahead of the 2005-2006 season. In recent seasons, the club has had difficulty selling the entire allocation. Van Gaals appointment would certainly have been an influencing factor and it makes you wonder how many Old Trafford season tickets were purchased in the immediate aftermath of the Netherlands destroying Spain 5-1 back on June 13.. The 62-year old Dutchman began his coaching career back in 1991 with legendary Dutch club Ajax, where he won his only Champions League trophy during the 1994-1995 season, when he also steered Ajax to a domestic league glory during an unbeaten season. Going on to win domestic titles with both Barcelona and Bayern Munich, the closest he came to winning a second European crown was with Bayern ,when they lost in the 2010 final to Jose Mourinhos Inter Milan. Van Gaal immediately restores a winners mentality and image to a club that was without peer through the Ferguson years - when the Knight of the Realm amassed 38 trophies, including 13 BPL titles, in his quarter of a century at the helm. No one will need reminding of how painful Manchester Uniteds season was under David Moyes last term. In Moyess defence, it was not ever going to be easy for whomever followed Ferguson. Still, call it the most expensive "gap year" in Uniteds illustrious history. Bereft this season of Champions League football, all the associated pressures and inherent demands that it brings with it will work in Van Gaals favour. If for nothing else, it allows him to focus primarily on returning Manchester United to the BPL summit. Then, you can look to the examples set by two of the Dutchmans previous clubs, Bayern and Barcelona, both of whom sat on the Champions League sidelines for a season. Shortly after their respective returns, both have gone on to dominate the European stage. Where Moyes talked of trying to win the League Cup ahead of a semi-final showdown with Sunderland and where some clubs target Champions League football, at his unveiling, van Gaal was unequivocal in his response to whether he could immediately restore the club to its former glories. "The challenge is always to come first. Not fourth." The "Iron Tulip," as van Gaal is nicknamed for the so-termed autocratic way he manages, was astute enough yesterday to recognize the commercial demands and the business of Manchester United. As the red and blue halves of Manchester look to continue their three-year duopoly of the BPL title, they are also fierce competitors in the global commercial market. Its not a coincidence that, on the day van Gaal was appointed, Manchester City announced they had signed the Japanese car giant Nissan as their first global partner of the City Football Group. CFG is the holding company which oversees the commercial affairs of the football clubs now under the control of Sheikh Mansour. Since purchasing City in 2008, Mansour has added New York City FC, Melbourne City and a 20 per cent holding in Japanese club YF Marinos to his expanding portfolio of football clubs. Intriguingly, with Manchester Cit up before the UEFA Financial Fair Play panel where they were fined $90 million and had their Champions League squad for the upcoming season trimmed to 21 players down from 23, Nissan is the new car partner of the UEFA Champions League. In the continual search for overseas revenue, barely 24-hours into the job Van Gaal announced his squad for Uniteds highly lucrative pre-season tour of the US. Having jetted out to Los Angeles earlier on Friday, they will play their first game against the Galaxy at the Rose Bowl next Wednesday, before taking part in the International Champions Cup. Paired in a group with Real Madrid, Inter and Roma, the final takes place in Miami August 4th. Manchester Uniteds potential opponents that day could be their noisy neighbour. Whether or not the club goes on to lift their first trophy under van Gaal in the home state of the Glazer family, the Dutchman is already a winner in their eyes. Since Manchester United announced van Gaals appointment on May 19, the share price for MANU is up over 15 per cent, and now sits within a nickel of a 52-week high. David who? Fake Soccer Jerseys . His absence against the Celtics comes a day after he scored 43 points in the Heats 100-96 win at Cleveland. Soccer Jerseys China . Dr. James Andrews is to operate next week on the 24-year-old pitcher, who made the AL All-Star team last year. Moore will be the first Rays pitcher to undergo Tommy John surgery since Jason Isringhausen in June 2009. https://www.soccerjerseyschina.us/. The Hockey Canada Foundation is donating $50,000, with Hockey Quebec contributing $15,000. Hockey Canada also announced it will hold a skills camp for all levels of minor hockey in Lac-Mégantic during the 2013-14 season. Representatives from Hockey Canada, the Hockey Canada Foundation and Hockey Quebec were on hand Tuesday night at a meeting of the AHM de Lac-Mégantic to make the announcement and presentation. Clearance Soccer Jerseys . His Brazilian opponents said he produced miracles. There is no doubt that Mexico goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa was the one responsible for spoiling Brazils hopes of another World Cup victory at its home tournament. Cheap Soccer Jerseys Authentic . Toronto ended an 0-4-0 skid with Sundays shootout win over visiting New Jersey, but the club could have a difficult time making it two victories in a row tonight. The Maple Leafs have dropped three straight and 11 of the last 12 regular- season meetings against Boston overall and the Bruins have claimed six straight in Beantown.ST. LOUIS -- Derek Roy needed less than 2 minutes to redeem himself Thursday night. After taking what he called a "stupid" penalty, the St. Louis centre scored a power-play goal to start a four-goal blitz that led the Blues to a 5-1 win over the struggling New York Islanders. St. Louis won for the sixth time in eight games. The Islanders have lost eight straight overall (0-6-2) and eight in a row on the road. David Backes, Jay Bouwmeester, Magnus Paajarvi and Brenden Morrow also scored for the Blues, who improved to 12-1-2 at home and tied Boston (12-3-2) for the most home wins in the NHL. Jaroslav Halak made 22 saves and upped his record to 15-4-2. Andrew MacDonald scored for the Islanders, who are 2-11-2 in their last 15 games. Roy took a tripping penalty that led to MacDonalds tying power-play goal at 5:19 of the second period. "I was pretty mad about the penalty," Roy said. "And they ended up scoring on it. When I got out of the box, I wanted to redeem myself -- and luckily I got the chance to." Roy pounced on the rebound of a shot from Kevin Shattenkirk to give the Blues a 2-1 lead at 7:02. "I think he felt better about himself," St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock said of Roy. "His goal seemed to energize us." Just more than 2 minutes later, Backes scored a power-play goal on a wrist shot from the top of the circle. Paajarvi increased the advantage to 4-1 with his second of the season, capping a three-goal burst in 7:57. "It was a huge period for us," Paajarvi said. "The whole team really came back to its game." St. Louis was 3 for 6 on the power play after managing one goal in its previous 10 chancees.dddddddddddd "The power-play goals really put us in a hole," New York centre John Tavares said. "Its the same thing again. (Were) just not good enough." St. Louis power play struggled in back-to-back losses to San Jose and Los Angeles, the teams first two-game regulation losing skid of the season. Shattenkirk, who assisted on two man-advantage goals Thursday, said the club made it a point to shore up the unit. "We just got back to simple things, getting pucks to the net and working on winning the battles," he said. "We got back to what we do best: shooting pucks and getting bodies out in front." New York goalie Anders Nilsson lost for the first time in regulation in his third start of the season. He made 21 saves. "We all know in the locker room that we have to step it up," Nilsson said. "Everybody has got to look in the mirror and see what you can do better." The Islanders, who are 3-10-0 on the road, have given up a league-high 27 power-play goals. "Its tough what were going through," Tavares said. "The only thing that is going to get us out of it is better execution." NOTES: The Blues are 11-0-1 when leading after the first period. ... Islanders G Evgeni Nabokov, who is out with a groin injury, practiced Wednesday and could rejoin the team in a week. ... New York started a five-game road swing that will end Dec. 12 in Phoenix. ... Paajarvi was back in the lineup after missing the previous game with the flu. ... St. Louis won the previous meeting between the teams 5-1 on Feb. 16, 2012. ... The Blues killed off 15 successive penalties at home before MacDonalds power-play goal in the second period. ' ' '