Stuart Mathieson
February 04, 2009

NEMANJA Vidic can join an exclusive band of United defenders by picking up one of football's top personal awards this season.

Gary Pallister believes the big Serbian could become only the third member of a Reds rearguard in 50 years to lift an individual prize.

Vidic would join Pally himself and the late Johnny Carey on the honours board.

Pallister won the PFA Player of the Year award in the 1991-92 season.

Six other Old Trafford names are on that roll call, but it has been the A-listers and high- profile scorers who have dominated.

Mark Hughes, Eric Cantona, Roy Keane, Teddy Sheringham, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Cristiano Ronaldo have all claimed the trophy as United players.

The prestigious Football Writers' Footballer of the Year statuette, which has been presented for 51 years, has only ever been won by one United defender and that was Matt Busby's converted full-back Carey in 1949.

Since the 1948 FA Cup- winning captain Old Trafford's winners have all been the headline-hitters like Bobby Charlton, George Best and, like the PFA list, Cantona, Keane, Sheringham and Ronaldo.

But Pallister insists Vidic can buck the trend and join him and Carey in their elite club.

"Nemanja is in the form of his life and he should be a front runner for one of the player of the year awards," Pallister told M.E.N. Sport.

"There is a very good argument that, not only should he be among the candidates, but that he should actually win it.

"It isn't often defenders get the headlines and the glory and that seems to be an integral part of winning these individual prizes.

"But he certainly has a solid case and the one thing in his favour is that he's been doing the business in some of the highest-profile games.

"I think that is what swung it for me in 1992. Just before the voting for the PFA award United played Leeds in the league, the FA Cup and the League Cup.

Interest

"We were both battling it out on all fronts and we met each other three times in just over a fortnight.

"There was a lot of interest in those matches and I played well in them all. I think that stuck in players' minds when it came round to the vote.

"Vidic has scored a late match-winner against Sunderland, scored in the big match against Chelsea and also at West Bromwich Albion, as well as being the only ever-present outfield defender in United's record run of clean sheets.

"So he is there performing consistently well while breaking that remarkable record and scoring vital goals as well. He is bound to be in the limelight and in people's minds. He deserves to be."

Rio Ferdinand, Jonny Evans, Patrice Evra, John O'Shea, Rafael Da Silva and Gary Neville have all contributed to the Premier League and English League shut-out records.

But, while they've been dropping like nine pins around him, Vidic has been there every second of the 12 matches.

And Vidic's leadership and grim resolve during the spell has reminded Pallister of his old United defensive buddy Steve Bruce.

"You need fierce determination and aggression in a side and Nemanja provides it," said Pallister.

"Steve had that determination etched in his face whenever he played and you see it in Vidic now. While Rio Ferdinand cruises through matches and looks unflustered and calm, Nemanja stalks around looking as though he wants to rip somebody's head off! Brucie was exactly like that.

"We used to talk a lot in the 90s team about the fact we wouldn't be bullied in matches. It was always a case of winning the battle first and foremost. It was important to stand up and fight your corner.

"Vidic and Edwin Van der Sar have been the mainstays. Certainly, as far as the outfield defenders go, you wonder if this record would have been possible if Vidic had also been struck down by the injury curse.

Stuart Mathieson
February 04, 2009

GOLD Trafford continues to rake it in with United set to announce record-breaking profits for 2008.

The Reds' Premier League and Champions League success coupled with a massive increase in TV revenue, is expected to see the club shatter the 2007 pre-tax profit figure of £59.6m

The swelling of United's coffers is all pre-credit crunch and they are, of course, no longer the richest club in the world but they were the No 1 money-making machine in football last term.

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Sir Alex Ferguson's side's European triumph in Moscow over Chelsea brought in over £38m made up from five group match wins and a draw, plus appearance money in the last 16, semi-final and prize money for winning the trophy.

Television money was also included in that Euro bounty.

The jackpot for winning the Premier League was £14.5m but that was dwarfed by the income from TV and media rights, which doubled thanks to overseas rights.

Windfall

That cash windfall kicked in alongside the £1.7bn domestic deal with Sky and Setanta.

United's share of that pot amounted to around £35m.

The club's commercial revenue was £56m in 2007 and that is set to remain a similar figure.

The Reds increased season ticket prices this season by about six per cent which means that last financial year's match-day income of nearly £93m will be close to £100m for the year ending June `08.

It all adds up to a club turnover over of approximately £240m.

In 2007 the turnover was £210m which yielded a pre-tax profit of £59.6m. The Reds could be looking at profits this time of around £75m.