Charity the winner (FA Charity Shield)

Member Name: barabz

Product:	FA Charity Shield
Date:	06/08/01 (39 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: money goes to charity, good matches

Disadvantages: maybe too close to the start of the season?

OK I've rewrote this op after Liverpool have just won their 4th trophy in 7 months...anyway...there were a few comments about who gets the money, and we all seemed unsure, but as you may have heard on the news, the FA is under investigation about what it does with the money. It claims that after the costs of staging the match, about £500,000 I think, the rest of the money is given to charity. So, that the questions answered.

Any one who dismisses the charity shield as just a meaningless freindly is wrong. Just look at last Sunday, and tell me that the players and fans weren't bothered. The charity shield gives us fans some decent action after a few months without football, and it also gives the players a run-out against another decent team. It was also held away from Wembley this year, at the superb Millenium Stadium, and was the first British Football match to be held "inside". The Cardiff venue is truly an amazing place, with 80,000 inside and the roof closed, it brought out the best from the Liverpool fans, in behaviour and atmosphere.

It may not be a true piece of silverware, but it's still great to win it. The charity shield has given us a number of good matches over the years too, and charity is the winner at the end of the day. Also, the match was between the country's biggest teams, and any match between Liverpool and Utd is bound to be good.

Man Utd fans, although their side lost, still got a chance to see Van Nistelrooy play in his first "proper" match, and us Liverpool fans saw glimpses of Riise's potential, as well as Owen proving how sharp he still is. The only downside for me was the absence of Fowler from the squad. Let's hope that he and Houllier soon make-up. Fowler is our best striker, and any manager would be mad to sell him, regardless of the quality of attackers in the squad.

So anyway, that's our first trophy for this season. How many mor
e are there to come? One? two? three? four? Well, I'll settle for the Premiership, but at least we've started our trophy collection again.

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