The Glazers have responded to reports that the ‘Red Knights’ are trying to oust them by saying they have no intention of selling Manchester United.

With debts mounting and alarm bells ringing following details contained within the prospectus for the recent £500million bond sale, a group of mega-rich United fans are said to be planning to make a push to buy the Old Trafford outfit themselves.

Well-known football deal maker Keith Harris – a lifelong United fan – is at the centre of the group, along with Jim O’Neill, chief economist at Goldman Sachs.

Their hope is to try to starve the Glazers of cash and persuade them to accept a deal that would net the Americans around £1billion.

That move would certainly be popular with the growing number of fans who have joined the ‘Green and Gold’ campaign.

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Manchester City took on Manchester United in the League Cup derby and are one step closer to the final as they came from behind to beat the Red Devils 2 – 1.

Ryan Giggs opened the scoring in the first half before Carlos Tevez struck twice, once from the spot, to swing the tie in the Citizens’ favour.

The game took 15 minutes to warm up, but United scored with the first genuine goal scoring opportunity of the game. Playing out from the back, Patrice Evra lofted a pass to Antonio Valencia, who beat his marker, attacked the byline and hit a low cross to the front post. Wayne Rooney hit a side-footed shot from close range, Shay Given saved but the rebound spilled out to his right andGiggs was on hand to tap the ball into the open net: 1-0 to Manchester United.

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Bafana Bafana have ended 2009 with a goal-scoring crisis. Bafana were held to another 0-0 draw, this time by a second string Jamaica in their final friendly of the year at a cold Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein on Tuesday night.

The biggest losers were the 20 000 odd supporters who braved the cold wintery conditions to support their team who turned in a below average display.

It is now over six hours since Bafana last scored a goal and that was against minnows Madagascar in a friendly played in Kimberley in September.

New Bafana head coach Carlos Alberto Parreira goes into the Festive Season international recess with a major headache — how to score goals. And how to instil a sense of urgency into his players. Urgency was one of the main ingredients Bafana lacked in front of their enthusiastic Bloemfontein fans.

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Bafana Bafana lost 3 – 0 to Iceland on Tuesday night, bringing the South African team’s tally to eight games lost out of nine.

This game had a great deal riding on it from Bafana coach Joel Santana’s perspective, with his side being closely watched and his job on the line if results did not turn around drastically.

In the early stages of the match Macbeth Sibaya had a good shot on goal from distance, but despite an awkward bounce the goalkeeper collected the ball.

The stadium was virtually empty, with the players on the pitch more audible than the few supporters in the crowd on a very cold night in Iceland. The South Africans had a desperate look about them, with every counter attack and scoring opportunity having extra pressure attached to it after so many bad results in the last few months.

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Bafana Bafana face Iceland in a friendly international in Reykjavik at 8:10pm tonight and many feel it’s Bafana coach Joel Santana‘s last chance to keep his job.

Bafana slumped to their seventh defeat in eight matches since the Confederations Cup in June when Norway beat an unimaginative Bafana 1-0 in Oslo on Saturday.

It was bad enough losing but the way Bafana went down was reason for concern. Coach Joel Santana’s tactics were again negative.

There was no passion or fighting spirit until the end of the match when the coach eventually brought on more attacking players, but as so often in his 16-month reign it was too little too late.

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The new Safa president Kirsten Nematandani have appointed a panel comprising of SuperSport United coach Gavin Hunt and two former Bafana coaches Clive Barker and Jomo Sono to assess Bafana’s performances under Joel Santana.

Santana and his beleaguered Bafana squad leave on Tuesday night for two friendly matches against Norway in Oslo on Saturday and Iceland in Reykjavik next Tuesday knowing that his new bosses are going to be much tougher to please than the old regime and mediocrity will not be tolerated.

Nematandani and his new committee have made no bones about the fact they are fed up with the poor results that Bafana and Santana have delivered since the Confederations Cup in June.

Nematandani warned after the Safa annual general meeting last Saturday that getting Bafana back on track for next June’s World Cup finals was one of his major priorities.

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Under-fire Bafana Bafana head coach Joel Santana looked resigned to his fate on Thursday after local media called for his head when he named a 23-man squad to play Norway and Iceland in friendly internationals in Oslo on October 10 and Reykjavik on October 13.

At a packed media briefing, Brazilian born Santana was told by new South African Football Association president Kirstin Nematandani that he had given the unpopular coach a stay of execution.

“We met with Santana and his technical team on Wednesday,” said the new Safa boss.

“We are aware of the outcry about Bafana’s lack of success in recent matches. We told the coach that we expect him to start bringing back results.

“But we need to give Santana and his team our full support before we take the step of firing or not firing him.”

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