A 'City' thats 'United' for once. (Manchester United F.C.)

Member Name: thedevilinme

Product:	Manchester United F.C.
Date:	09/02/08 (131 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Sell shirts in Bahrain

Disadvantages: Too big for their own boots

90% of people who call themselves Manchester United 'fans' have never been to a United game, 75% of those living abroad. United claim to have over 400 million fans world-wide, a global brand that's even outgrowing the extremely lucrative Premieleague. So when the likes of Manchester United and Arsenal hinted at a Christmas break recently because their players were facing burn-out like the domestic fans wallets were, this weeks hypocritical announcement that the Premiere League want to franchise games around the world and play even more competitive games in the year came as no surprise to hardcore fans. The average age of the pay on the gate Premier League fan goes up one year, every year, now 39. Dads can't afford to take the kids anymore and that is the death nell for English soccer in the long run. Football at the top level is eating itself and the current recession may break the game in half.

I think everyone new that if there was a Christmas break the big brand obsessed clubs would immediately plan lucrative friendlies to fill those holes. The news this week that all 20 clubs have agreed to this 39th game deal in principal is no real surprise to anyone who follows the game closely, the continuous fire sale to foreign owners killing the games sole. These guys are beginning to call the shots now and Manchester United are the ones pulling the trigger. There's nothing wrong with each team playing a premier match abroad to promote the game in principal but the idea of a lottery pick to see which international metropolis gets Wigan versus Reading is just not going to happen, and it's the big four that will be required to represent premierleague.com around the world. Manchester United have already slipped off to Saudi for a big money match last month when they should really have been in the Carling Cup semi-final and who's to say these proposed extra Premier League games will be the likes of Uniteds ticket out of that competition completely, denying fans yet another chance of seeing their team on home soil, although the cynics would say most United fans live anywhere but Manchester, anyway, so who cares where their matches are. At least David Beckham will get to see United play again in his home town if this ridiculous plan goes ahead. So much for the premierleagues carbon footprint reduction plan! More like another jackboot in the crown jewels for the fans.

As we saw with the Miami Dolphins game at Wembley last November this franchising does work financially and stadiums like Wembley will pay for the honor. The Dolphins fans were up in arms about playing the game there but as we know the fans opinions counts for nothing these days when big bucks are involved. This is about hard cash and that's when fans just don't exist. The problem will come here when one game becomes two and then soon you're playing five or six games around the world. They do it in domestic cricket when they hawk home games around the non-playing counties for a bigger gate, again without any consideration for the fans, my county, Northamptonshire, playing a couple of Twenty20 games in Milton Keynes.

If there's more money to be made from the Manchester Devils versus the Liverpool Giants in Hong Kong then that's what's going to happen. But when you have presold Old Trafford season tickets you have to be careful here. I suppose by adding just one game on rather than the current 38 suggest then that won't be an issue-yet. Make no mistake guys, this is not publicity a stunt and they are testing the water for the next stage of the extremely lucrative Premier League. The World League! I say if it aint broke then why fix it. Its noticeable that since the leagues conception in 1990 and all the money being sucked out of the game at the top of the pile on high wages and agents fees a record number of lower league clubs have gone bust in the last 17 years, Bournemouth AFC the latest to face being would up. The clubs really are being pulled further and further apart in so many ways. The final word on 'PLAN 39 should go to Michelle Platinni, the head of U.E.F.A., who roughly quoted said: look You have no English manager for the national team; you have no English players in your league and soon you will have no English games".

Munich...

The Manchester Devils versus the Liverpool Giants aside, this week at Old Trafford the Munich disaster was commemorated. Just like the Munich Olympics disaster shaped the new Israeli state it was the crash at that small Munich airfield in 1958 that's shaped Manchester United Football Club as they are today. A memorial clock outside of Old Trafford has the hands permanently stuck on 3:07; the moment the plane skidded of a slushy runway and into two houses killing 23 on board, including seven players, all the encouragement the players will ever need to play for the shirt. That legend is why Manchester United are the world's biggest club today because 50 years ago the world took them to their hearts in sympathy. Like the Jewish nation have quite rightfully defined themslves by the Holocaust to remind people of their struggle, United have always defined themselves from that crash in Germany and their resilience to rise again, be it Sir Alex in the dressing room ranting them out to that surprise premiership title last year or the fan loyalty that has earned United full stadiums over the years. It's no surprise that since that crash Manchester United have had the best average crowds of all when they have been in the top league, briefly dropping out in the early seventies for one season, probably the second most traumatic experience to Munich, but still bigger crowds than any 1st Division side. Those who know say that 1950s team would have dominated the decade and United may well have won the two of three European Cups. The fact they took thirty years to retain their status as the supreme club by wining the premiership and then Champions league again it shows how rare the sides are that United had in the 50s.

I'm disappointed that some fan organizations at Man City requested the minutes silence tomorrow to be one of those ghastly minutes applause, fearing a few fans would shout out and boo in the silence. If I was a City fan I would be fuming at that suggestion as I don't think any City fan will disrupt the minutes silence as it was Manchester people who died that days as much as it was United players. I think two people out of 74,897 did at Wembley in the week for the England game made silly comments during the Munich minutes silence there (all 26 seconds of it) but a hand on the collar dealt with those.
As expected the City fans were respectful and went on to earn their first double over United in 37 years with an excellent and well deserved 2-1 win. The last time City scored two to win at Old Trafford was the Denis Law game when the ex-United striker sent them down playing for city.

-The Current Team-

We all saw that free-kick Ronaldo scored last month and I can't recall one better in the Premiership, although for all-time kicks, Roberto Carlos's special is still the best for me. Ronaldo running in to strike a dead-ball is like a fast bowler approaching the crease, Christianos' foot wrapping around the ball like a seam bowlers fingers grip the seam, able to swing it either way with the right amount of 'cut' to hit the stumps, here Ronaldo treating the post like the batsmen bat, trying to beat the edge. It was just a beautiful thing to see as the ball popped up and over the wall, moving left then right, before finding the mathematically perfect axis of the top corner. Jimmy White would be proud of that amount of backspin and masse` swerve! But, I suppose, without fleecing the fans for all they are worth you can't afford to have talent like this in the English league.

Ronaldo may be the best player in the Premiership right now but the guy needs to pass the ball, registering just three assist this season to his 27 goals. His selfish style is the main reason why Rooney has only scored three goals since his return from injury in 14 games. Rooney seems to be bombing around like a blue ass fly trying to get the ball before the flying Portuguese winger can run of with it to glory. I really do think Rooney should play deeper when they both play and maybe even play Ronaldo as a forward's I think they will against Man City this weekend.

Another star performer has been Tévez , of course, his industrious style similarly to Rooney, making quite a few keepers pick one out of the onion bag when they weren't expecting it, such are the angles the Argentina can strike a ball from.. Tévez is a real 'sniffer' of the ball like Beardsley was and is United`s best signing since Ronaldo. Having a face like a bulldog chewing on wasp helps, too, as he really can concentrate on his game and not the cameras. There's no better forward in the premiership today that can get so tight on a defender in and around the 18 yard box and yet still give and take rapid passes to feet, his one-twos a devastating weapon in the premiership.

The midfield isn't settled yet with Carrick unfairly sidelined to accommodate Hargreaves in that contested holding role and with Scholes back and Anderson playing some great stuff it could cause ructions next season. It has to be adieus for the likes of Park Je-sung and the useless Darren Fletcher now. I always felt Park had a lot of energy but no real end product and was only ever a stock gap to shift shirts in South East Asia to make his transfer money back and change. That's certainly the case with Uniteds Chinese striker Dong Fangzhuo and it may be the case with Manucho, Sir Alex Ferguson's latest African signing, previous ones in Quentin Fortune and the hopeless Djemab-Djemba, not exactly encouraging. Some of the older fans are saying Djemba was a worse signing for United than Ralph Milne! Now that is saying something. Reports are good from the timely Africa Nations Cup on the striker, including a typical African style top corner lash, Uniteds shirt sales in the African zone maybe not the driver here. To pay whatever million they did for him, sending him off to play Greek football because he hasn't got a work permit isn't very encouraging. I think Wes Brown proved he is a squad player at best after the Switzerland performance; United will need to buy at least two solid defenders. If Alex has his eye on another Vidic then United could well go unbeaten in the premiership before 2010 like Arsenal did in 2003.

Gigg's seems to go on forever and surely hold the record for domestic medals for many years to come. Ryan needs 13 more appearances to break Sir Bobby Charlton's club record
of 759 games (Bobby also the top scorer with 249 goals), and with 'Scholesy' in forth, perhaps testament to the loyalty Sir Alex Ferguson demands from his players. It's also nice to see Gary Neville almost back to fitness, he sitting in fifth in the all-time appearance list. Bobby looked frail in the week and early onset Parkinson's a possibility, the way he shakes and slurs in public now.

I still think Rio Ferdinand is over-rated internationally and Woodgate would make a much better England centre back. Rio, like many players Alex bought in seemed to be suspiciously over valued at the time and I think one day soon Alex is going to be bought down by a whistleblower for some of Uniteds 'iffy' practices over transfers. Alex's stubborn streak-succinctly demonstrated over the refusal to talk to the BBC after the Panorama exposure of his agent sons 'alleged' dodgytransfer dealings, will be his comeuppance. Fergusson's strength is his longevity, like Sir Matt Busby 24 year long spell as boss, that long run meaning continuity and trophies at United. Incredibly, United have had only seven managers since the war. Most clubs have that many a decade in the modern game.

-Current Squad-

1 GK Edwin van der Sar
2 DF Gary Neville (captain)
3 DF Patrice Evra
4 MF Owen Hargreaves
5 DF Rio Ferdinand
6 DF Wes Brown
7 MF Cristiano Ronaldo
8 MF Anderson
9 FW Louis Saha
10 FW Wayne Rooney
11 MF Ryan Giggs (vice-captain)
12 GK Ben Foster
13 MF Park Ji-Sung
15 DF Nemanja Vidic
16 MF Michael Carrick
17 MF Nani
18 MF Paul Scholes
19 DF Gerard Piqué
21 FW Dong Fangzhuo
22 DF John O'Shea
24 MF Darren Fletcher
25 DF Danny Simpson
27 DF Mikaël Silvestre
29 GK Tomasz Kuszczak
32 FW Carlos Tévez
33 MF Chris Eagles
38 GK Tom Heaton
47 FW Danny Welbeck

On loan

23 DF Jonny Evans (at Sunderland until 30 June 2008)
-- FW Manucho (at Panathinaikos until 30 June 2008)

= = = = = =

-Honors-

-League-

Premier League (including (Old) First Division) titles: 16

1907-08, 1910-11, 1951-52, 1955-56, 1956-57, 1964-65, 1966-67, 1992-93, 1993-94, 1995-96, 1996-97, 1998-99, 1999-2000, 2000-01, 2002-03, 2006-07

(Old) Second Division

1935-36, 1974-75

-Cups-

FA Cup: 11 (a record)

1909, 1948, 1963, 1977, 1983, 1985, 1990, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2004

League Cup: 2

1992, 2006

FA Charity/Community Shield: 16 (12 outright, 4 shared)

1908, 1911, 1952, 1956, 1957, 1965*, 1967*, 1977*, 1983, 1990*, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2003, 2007 (* joint holders)

-Europe-

European Cup / UEFA Champions League: 2

1968, 1999

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1
1991

European Super Cup: 1
1991

-Prospects-

I think United will win the Champions League if Ronaldo stays fit and Rooney energetic.Uniteds three defeats this year in the premiership have been when those two have been absent. It is noticeable that Alex is playing them in more games this year. Ronaldo hasn't really exploded in Europe yet but he goes into next week's quarter-finals in the right world beating frame of mind and it could be spectacular stuff. Lyon are very beatable, a Roma style performance enough to devastate any team in Europe on their day, and it may be them who get it.
The treble is still very much on and United must be favorite for the title for the above reasons. I think its Chelsea, and not Arsenal, who will pose the biggest threat on the rail as Lampard and Drogba return in what looks like is going to be a very very tight finish, maybe a blue shirt dipping to break the tape. Having to beat Arsenal in the F.A Cup is probably Uniteds toughest task this month.

-Links-

Supporters' organizations

Red Issue
United We Stand (fanzine)
Red News

Summary: Football is eating itself..