Premier League Betting: A brief history of Fergie time

Premier League / Frank Gregan / 30 September 2009 / Leave a Comment

"Immediately, grieving City supporters latched onto the injustice of it all. My wife wouldn't shut up about it!"

As an ex-member of City's staff, Frank Gregan is no fan of Manchester United. However, conspiracy theories about injury-time at Old Trafford are more down to fans allowing their hearts to rule their heads than any corruption...

Fergie time is becoming something of an urban myth. Michael Owen's winner in the Manchester derby 10 days ago has commanded more column inches than any other goal this season.

The talk was not of a sensational return for a player who has endured the worst spell of his career in the last couple of years and was the subject of one of the biggest transfer gambles of the summer. No, there was no time to reflect on the positives, the focus was on the amount of injury time played at Old Trafford.

For everyone except supporters of Manchester United, Owen's goal was an absolute sickner. I watched the game with my wife and about 40 others, the majority of whom were in City's corner. The anxiety and tension during injury time was incredible, it was what sport is all about. As ever, sport doesn't always go your way and when the goal went in the groans and moans far outweighed the cheers of the celebrating Manchester United fans.

Immediately, grieving City supporters latched onto the injustice of it all. My wife wouldn't shut up about it! United had once again got out of jail because a referee had bottled it and had allowed play to continue until Fergie's men scored. The vitriol directed at the referee was unending. Football gets to you like that sometimes, you lose sight of the real issues and let your heart rule your head.

I'd like to point out at this juncture that having endured the gloating of United fans and, as a former employer of Manchester City, it is fair to say that I'm not a huge fan of the team from Old Trafford. However, I still don't consider my thoughts on the issue of Fergie time to be playing devil's advocate, I'm merely presenting a common sense case for the defence.

The first thing to remember is that City scored in injury time through Craig Bellamy. As the teams were walking back to the half way line to kick off only one team's spirits had been lifted. The momentum was very much with City and if any team was going to find an unlikely winner at that stage they had to be favourites.

City conceded a couple of unnecessary free-kicks during injury time. Contentious they may well have been but they were still silly challenges that fell into the "seen them given" category. That allowed United to put the ball into their box and given the level of anxiety amongst the City defence there was always a chance might come United's way.

Anxiety levels are not helped by antics on the touchline. I've seen and heard it all before when opposition managers are hanging onto a result and get on the case of the officials. "Come on ref, the X Factor is just about to start. The coach driver's gonna be over his hours in a minute!" There are a hundred one-liners but they do nothing to relieve tension; in fact they have the opposite effect. Franklin Roosevelt was right, sometimes all we have to fear is fear itself!

City should not have been worried about United snatching a winner at the death. If they had have played with the same mindset that they had when they were trying to grab an equaliser they would have come away with a point. Instead, they stopped doing their jobs and showed an abysmal lack of concentration for the winning goal. The free kick was dollied towards the edge of the box, City won the header and the sigh of relief was audible. Everyone expected the whistle to be blown, everyone except the United players who time and time again keep going until the final whistle and nick games at the death.

The difference in class between the two Manchester teams has definitely been bridged, at least on paper. Looking at the two team sheets most critics would probably have agreed that City had the stronger line-up, yet they were missing Roque Santa Cruz, Robinho and Adebayor. United continue to confound everyone and pick up results despite seeming to grow weaker in terms of the quality moving in and out of Old Trafford.

The adrenalin and the belief will keep United going for a while but if they have a poor transfer window in January then this might just be the season that sees their fall from grace. With that in mind there are a number of season match bets where it is worth considering laying Sir Alex's men.

They can be layed at [1.24] against Arsenal, [1.54] against Liverpool and [1.13] against Manchester City. The recommendation is to lay them against Arsenal and Manchester City.

You don't play games on paper but an awful lot of the game is played in the head. It's time for the sports psychologists to earn their retainers. They need to sit down with the players of the likes of Manchester City and compare team sheets and quote FDR - the fear of United at the moment is probably not warranted.