Six Players Given Marching Orders

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed his sheer distress in having to shake up the Reserve and Youth players as a price-cutting exercise, releasing 6 youngsters to decrease the wage bill.

United's Reserve and Youth teams have become congested as of late and signed up to two Reserve leagues, Reserve Premier League and Pontins Division, at the start of the season to involve as many players as possible. However, the idea doesn't seem to be working, prompting Sir Alex Ferguson to have a long and hard look at the second-string.

Consequently, Paul Tierney, Ben Collett, David Poole, Ramon Calliste, Steven Hogg and Lee Lawrence have all been given their marching orders.

Ferguson hasn't enjoyed making the decsion, stating: "We depended on our youth teams and when one went, we chose to go with two reserve sides but we don't have enough players at that level to do it"

"We also have a bunch of players around 19 and 20 years of age and I think by the time you are 20-odd then you have to be in the first team squad so we've had to release a few. Some have been tough decisions"

"Next season with only one reserve team we are going to farm more players out. I think loans will be good for them to get league experience"