Still Following the Trawler

Yet again, as if the 9 hour round trip isn’t enough of a struggle for us cockney red’s (according to latest stats 99.99999999% of United fans are from London ?), my fu*king team – YET again – made us suffer and live through every agonising minute. Evra and Nani were allowed to throw up on their boots when the pressure got to them…well how about us? Somehow I don’t think the old dear sitting in front of me would’ve been too keen if I expressed my nervous disposition in the same way. After a first-half where chances were created but not converted, and facing a Tottenham side who, surprisingly, failed to really threaten (you wouldn’t have thought that both teams had everything to play for), frustration turned into anxiety until finally the breakthrough came: in the form of a penalty (stonewall) and a certain Ryan Giggs (up and coming youngster). Yet at 1-0, things are never ever safe; especially against a team that has been so incredibly converted into the real deal by their under-respect...

Forbes  announced today that Manchester '£700 million in the red' United are the world's richest football club. Given the current state of our club, and the haemorrhaging of funds performed by our owners, this all made for rather strange and completely laughable reading. However, undeniably, our universal adoration and unrivalled popularity has seen our assets and revenue (including merchandise sales, gate receipts and television rights) amount to a monstrous £1.2billion. The next 'richest' team - Real Madrid - are valued at a meagre £859million. Yet rather surprisingly, it wasn't the team placed number 1 on this pointless and completely misleading list that was able to spend £140million on two players. Just imagine what position we would be in if had had all our 'riches' at our disposal...as opposed to being in the disgraceful position where 75p of every £1 that enters United is being used to service our debt.  COMPLETE L...

The Guru   1962 - 2010

As United fans, we have seemingly always had to endure that element of unpredictability and genuine anguish in our pursuit of glory. Yes, the glory has come in many, well, glorious forms, but it’s never been without a fight and a hearty dose of drama along the way. So on that note, if there was ever a quote to sum up the genius, wisdom and sheer footballing knowledge of Sir Alex - the instigator of squeeky bum football - it was surely his profound analysis of his greatest night at United. After beating Bayern ‘that’ night in the Nou Camp, no better words could have been chose to summarise the chaos than, ‘Football. Bloody hell’. That mantra has stuck with Ferguson ’s United in the proceeding years as we continue to succeed; time after time, era after new era and in the face of new, seemingly perilous hurdle after hurdle. And yesterday, after a tumultuous few weeks had seen us so typically ruled out of the race, the famous quote surely ran through every red-tinted devil across the globe...

Well my friends, it seems that that's that well and truly that. The pre-season struggle to adapt and develop without our best player, the lack of funds and the colourful off-field distractions have seeminly taken their toll; even if things were going so swimmingly up until the Bayern game in Germany 13 days ago (a game/result I - now correctly - described as the most pivitol of the season ). Yet you feel, with only 5 games to go (well, only 4 now), that something more obvious, direct and integral to the fibre of the squad is to blame for our apparent end of season meltdown. It’s a cliché of a statement at this time of the season, but the players are looking tired. What should never decrease with time however, regardless of the physical state of the players, is the passion and desire to battle all the way to the end. The team with the ability to compete at the top (in this league there are only 3…there used to be 4), who also possess the mental and physical capacity to ma...

Good. First-Half. At times in the opening 45 minutes, we played amongst our best, most creative football of the season. The speed at which we came firing, and the level of determination we showed so early on, was electric and highlighted by the fact we were 2-0 up after 7 minutes. Gibson’s goal showed after only 2 minutes that Ferguson ’s changes from the Chelsea defeat – including, of course, the surprising inclusion of Rooney – were nothing short of genius. Rooney’s delicate flick fell perfectly into the path of Gibson, another who’s inclusion in the starting XI was deemed potentially dubious, who simply picked his spot and rammed it home majestically. Nani as well, starting ahead of Park, was as instrumental as he has been in recent months and thoroughly deserved his goal. All 3 goals. All our goals were well worked and perfectly executed. Such a shame that our utter dominance in the first half was almost completely undone, and made to appear so much less significant, after t...

If there is one thing the great Sir Alex knows how to do, it is to rise to the occasion and win trophies when the pressure is mounting. He’s even coined a term for it (‘squeaky bum time’ anyone?). So with that, this is, we have all been made to believe, the time of year where United thrive. The early confusion and adaptation of tactics as we lost our best player to Madrid has been finely (and finally) tuned, our ridiculous defensive injury woes have slowly heeled and the goals are really pouring in. Our last two league games have seen as satisfactorally beaten our most hated rivals, and completely batter an often challenging Bolton side at the Reebok; the latter without our top scorer. Yet even so, you just felt that facing a side as fresh as Chelsea, especially after the mental and physical battering we had incurred mid-week, would be a tad too much to overcome. The counter argument of being the best and therefore competing in every major tournament, in this case   Europe ’s premi...