Victory is mine....

After several complaints to both United and eBay....success!

INTERNET auction site eBay last night banned Manchester United fans from selling commemorative Munich disaster scarves — and accused them of “profiting from human tragedy”.

Click on the link in the header for more info.

Manchester Derby - The aftermath

Well....
First of all, a big thank you to all the City fans for their impeccable behaviour during the minutes silence at yesterdays match.
As for the match....probably best forgotten. The best team won on the day, City's players were up for the game and ours were strangely subdued.

After an emotionally charged opening to the game and a heart wrenching minutes silence, the match was a massive let down, although not for our near neighbours whose team took control from minute one and never let go of it, scoring two desicive first half goals to end any hopes a lacklustre United had of gaining some derby day pride.

Before the match it was also disheartening to see the huge queues of people buying multiple copies of the matchday programme leaving many of us dissapointed and empty handed.
On a normal matchday I casually stroll to the my usual vendor and pick up my copy of the United Review quite easily but not yesterday, the world and his wife suddenly required several copies of the programme and were allowed to do so despite the protests of supporters not able to get one.

Now today to rub salt into the wounds, these "so called" United fans are selling the programme and the free commerorative scarves handed out by the club on auction site eBay.
Unfortunately this comes as no suprise really, it's just a shame that these "fans" are allowed to get away with such behaviour.

The Premiership abroad....

Surely I cannot be the only person who thinks that this idea is ludicrous to say the least?
I understand the need to keep the interest in the game going in other countries but to have competitive games in other countries seems a little far fetched to say the least.

The English Premiership is already the most watched football league in the world with tv rights deals in nearly every country known to man, the top four clubs already have decent fanbases in these countries, particularly in the Far East where most of the proposed games would take place.

Without being disrepectful to some of the clubs currently playing in the league, who is going to want to watch Aston Villa versus Derby County for instance, these countries already get more games than we do via their respective TV deals and given the pick of matches are the really going to choose one of the "lesser" teams?

We also have the problems of cost for a long haul trip to play a game, are the smaller teams going to get enough revenue from this one game to cover the extra expense of flying all their staff out?

How will this affect supporters of these clubs, as a season ticket holder at Old Trafford are the premiership going to fly me out so I can watch United or will this fixture be deemed a neutral venue? According to the rules, fixtures in the league have to be either "home" or "away", only cup games are played on neutral grounds and then only when they reach the semi-final stage.

Let's come to some arrangement whereby everyone benefits, some sort of mini tournament played abroad maybe?
I have always been a supporter of the idea of lowering the number of teams in the Premiership to 17 or 18 to reduce the fixture congestion we already suffer from, adding more games is not going to help this nor in the long run is it going to help out our already ailing National side.

Come on everyone, see sense.

Munich Air Disaster 50th Anniversary.

3:04 6th Feb 1958, a sad time for United fans.
This year sees the 50th anniversary of the Munich Air Disaster which claimed the lives of 23 people including 8 United players and 3 members of staff.

All United fans should take a moment today to reflect on an important part of our clubs history and celebrate the lives of those who died at Munich.

"Lest we forget"

What's eating Steve Bennett?

Can I start this by stating I am in now way a fan of either Manchester City or Tottenham Hotspur, anyone who has read my blog before will now I am a season ticket holder at Old Trafford, so this is said from a completely non biased point of view....

When will the FA look into the refereeing performances of this ego maniac, strutting around the pitch like the world revolves around him?

Anyone watching the highlights of the City v Spurs match last night will have witnessed Mr Bennett's Red card nightmare and wondered "just how does he have such a high profile job in football?"

Yet again Steve Bennett seems to be able to make terrible decisions but still keep getting high profile matches to "officiate".

The challenge from Didier Zokora on Elano was at the very worst a Yellow card, yet Steed Malbranque two footed lunge later on was deemed to be less severe.

I know referee's have a pretty difficult job but why when some are suspended for a week after making a bad call, does this self obsessed imbecile continue to go unpunished.

Grand Slam Sunday

Well after all of the hype on Sky Sports over the last week or so, "Grand Slam Sunday" has finally been and gone leaving no change at the summit of the Premiership.
Another great smash and grab at Anfield though maintains Uniteds position in second place and with us already visiting 2 of our main rivals and not losing, my confidence is higher than ever.

CHAMPIONS!!!!

Congratulations to Sir Alex and the team for finally wrestling back the Premiership from the Russian Mafia.
It's a great achievment and with the FA Cup Final still to come is a great credit to all the players and staff.

We got our trophy back....

Easy come, easy go....

After a disappointing night for United in the Champions League, we now have to pick ourselves up and look forward to the FA Cup final and the possibility of another Premiership title. A lacklustre performance cannot take anything away from Milan who were awesome from the beginning, with Kaka and Gattuso yet again influential.

So on to Saturday and the Manchester derby, always an entertaining game but this time with the added spice of a chance to all but clinch the league title with Chelski facing a difficult away trip to ARSEnal.

Season Ticket Prices

I had kinda hoped that with a lot of clubs announcing price freezes on their Season tickets for next year that United would follow suit, but while they have done so for junior and OAP prices the rest of us face another increase.
As of next season my ticket will rise by £57 to £627, surely we make enough money to at least freeze prices for next season....

The 2007 FA Cup Final

So the FA have announced the allocation of tickets for this years Cup Final at "New" Wembley.
With United and Chelsea getting only 25,000 each and the stadium having a capacity of 90,000, my question is this....

WHERE THE FUCK DO THE OTHER 40,000 GO?

United currently have 65,000 season ticket holders of which I am but 1, so no chance of getting a ticket!

Champions League Quarter Final Draw

With all three English clubs avoiding each other in today's draw the prospect of an all English Final is looking more and more likely.

Chelsea face Valencia, while Liverpool were paired with Arsenal's conquerors PSV Eindhoven and Manchester United meet AS Roma.

Milan face Bayern Munich in the remaining Quarter-Final, with the winner going on to meet either United or Roma while the Chelsea could meet Liverpool in the second Semi-Final.

****Draw in Full****

Quarter-final draw
AC Milan v Bayern Munich (First leg 3 April, second leg 11 April)
PSV Eindhoven v LIVERPOOL(First leg 3 April, second leg 11 April)
Roma v MANCHESTER UNITED(First leg 4 April, second leg 10 April)
CHELSEA v Valencia (First leg 4 April, second leg 10 April)


Semi-final draw
Roma or MANCHESTER UNITED v AC Milan or Bayern Munich(First leg 24 April, second leg 2 May)
CHELSEA or Valencia v PSV Eindhoven or LIVERPOOL(First leg 25 April, second leg 1 May)

Though many people will look at this prospect as a good thing for the English game, I would still rather have at least on European team in the Final to avoid it becoming a glorified Premiership match.

Uefa launches Man Utd crush probe

You would think football would have learned the lessons from the disasters at Hysel and Hillsborough but it would seem not....

Why is it that european police in particular like to hit first and ask questions later where english fans are concerned?



****Courtesy of BBC News****

Uefa is investigating the crush scare involving Manchester United fans at the Champions League tie against Lille.
United supporters appeared to be pushed against a 10-foot high metal fence and at least two people had to be lifted over the barriers to safety.
Riot police then fired tear gas and swung truncheons at those who were trying to climb over the fence.

The Old Trafford club are appealing for eye-witness reports to the incidents at Lens' Stade Felix-Bollaert.
"We have obviously received a lot of information from various sources but we would welcome any more detail from fans in the affected area," said United director of communications Phil Townsend.
Fans have already spoken out at what they believed to be an over-reaction by the police.

"I think people were worried it might be like Hillsborough and so they started climbing the fence and trying to get out the stand," said 27-year-old supporter Mark Harrison, from Lymm, Cheshire.
"The police reaction was well over the top, they started spraying us with pepper spray, my eyes were streaming and I couldn't catch my breath.

"The police reaction just made things worse."

United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar suffered double vision as a result of the tear gas fired into the stand.

Television reports suggested the gates at the back of the stand had been opened by police to allow United supporters with tickets for the home section of the stadium to sit with their own fans.

"It's our ball and no, you cannot play with it...."

In all my years of watching United and football in general, I thought I had seen everything but last night Champions League game with Lille proved me wrong.



Why is it that some teams think it is okay to sulk when they lose?

First of all we need to get some things straight about this match....

1. The goal was correctly disallowed, the forward clearly pushes Nemanja Vidic in the back to gain an advantage.

2. Ryan Giggs was perfectly entitled to use his head with the early taken free kick, if you watch the footage again the ref clearly turns and walks away which as we learned from Thierry Henry's goal against Chelsea means it is okay to proceed.

No amount of bleating is going to change these facts, nor will it change the fact that as a club, Lille have left themselves and European football looking rather silly this morning.

They did everything possible to try and throw United off their game, what with their laughable attempt at out muscling United early on with a selection of late tackles and a pitch which was left without water or any sort of upkeep to try and make the surface as hard and rutted as possible, they have shown themselves to be a second rate club with no real respect for fair play.

As for the fans, throwing stuff from your pram in the stands just because you do not like what has happened is just stupid and should have been left behind many, many years ago.

We can only hope that UEFA do something about these few clubs who don't know how to behave in the big competitions.

I knew he was fast but....

....this is a bit excessive.

****Courtesy of BBC News ****

Cristiano Ronaldo has been fined £1000 and got six points on his license for doing 60 mph in the 40 mph stretch of the Princess Parkway in Manchester last July.

Not sure it will put too much of a dent in his wallet, still a bit stupid though....

Gone but not forgotten

Today marks the 49th anniversary of the Munich air crash, in which so many talented people lost their lives.
Not really a lot I can say about it, suffice to say every Football fan not just United supporters should mourn the passing of possibly the greatest group of young players ever assembled.

Tree hugging WANKER!

United vs Chelsea

Manchester United 1 Chelsea 1

The biggest match of the premiership season to date ended in stalemate on Sunday with United and Chelsea sharing the spoils after a hard fought 1-1 draw at Old Trafford.

All in all , you would have to say this was the correct outcome after the Premiership's top two locked horns with United enjoying the better of the play first half, while Chelsea bossed the second.
Louis Saha gave United a well deserved lead just before the half hour back mark with a neat turn and finish on the edge of the penalty area, guiding the ball low past keeper Carlo Cudicini and off the post into the net.

Chelsea had offered little offensive threat in the first half but came out strongly for the second, pushing United back into their own half, they got a deserved equaliser when a misplaced pass from Giggs was intercepted and from the resultant corner Ricardo Carvalho powered home his header to earn Chelsea a point.

They may by slightly more pleased with the point than United but considering the current standing United will be happy to still be leading the race after this encounter.

Big week ahead....

This week sees two big matches for UNITED as they attempt to continue their good start to the season. First up tonight is the trip to Parkhead for the "Battle of Britain" match against Celtic and then on Sunday comes the crunch game with Chelsea.
After three wins from three previous meetings already this year, United will be looking to make it four in a row and remain at the top of their Champions League group. Celtic however will have other ideas as they look to get their Champions League aspirations back on track in the hope of qualifying for the next round of Europe's premier competition. After a close match at OLD TRAFFORD in September, United must be on form if they are to leave Glasgow with all three points.

Sunday brings an all together different prospect when Jose Mourinho's Chelsea visit Old Trafford in the top of the table clash which may go a long way towards deciding the eventual winners of the Premiership. Historically, Chelsea have an excellent record at Old Trafford and will be even more fired up for this weekends match, knowing that defeat would leave them trailing United by six points with Christmas looming.

This is a match I would hope United's players will need no motivation for but after witnessing the less than impressive home display against Arsenal I do wonder sometimes. Recent form and results have been great and we look like the United of old, scoring goals from all areas of the team and finally a defensive line up that seems to function well as a unit.

Special praise must be given to Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra who have been excellent of late, fitting in nicely along side the more experienced Gary Neville and Rio Ferdinand. This combined with the form of Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Wayne Rooney & Cristiano Ronaldo sees United in much better shape than this time twelve months ago.

Your skint, and you know you are....

ARSEnal's debt has increased by more than £100m following their move from Highbury to the Emirates Stadium.
Gunners chairman Peter Hill-Wood has announced that their overall debt has risen from £153.3m in 2005 to £262.1m.


The figures also showed that ARSEnal's operating profits before player trading and exceptional items was £11.3m, which was down from £32.6m the previous year.

Ha, Ha!

Transfers....

Well the transfer window has closed and finally the Ashley Cole transfer saga is over. No surprises there really, considering the whole tapping up / secret meeting shenanigans....
United have not really done much business, but surprisingly let Giuseppe Rossi go on loan to Newcastle leaving us woefully short of forward players.
After the great start we have made to the season, i at least expected two more players to be joining before the deadline but as usual where United are concerned, prices were inflated and opposing teams unwilling to sell to us.

Pre-season nonsense....

Well thanks to injuries and a stupid referee, United could potentially be starting the season minus 5 or 6 key players. The red card for Rooney was at best a joke, albeit not a funny one. Fair enough Paul Scholes cannot tackle, so I expect his dismissal to stand but Wayne Rooney's red card was unbelievable and once again highlighted the fact that some players reputations go b4 them and also that some referee's think they are the star of the game (failed players maybe).


Add to that the injuries to Ferdinand, Neville, O'Shea, Heinze and most noticeably Michael Carrick then we are looking a bit thin on the ground with the new season only two weeks away.
With Ruud going to Real Madrid as well our chances of catching Chelski are looking slimmer by the minute, I cannot blame Ruud for leaving, I just wish it hadn't come to this, but if a player no longer wants to play for a club for whatever reason then it is always best to let them go.
Further reinforcements look likely with Marcos Senna being touted as United's next signing, not knowing that much about the player I cannot really comment but £4 million for a 30 year old looks a bit steep....
Hopefully we canstrengthenn the forward position as well and not have to rely soley on Rooney to get the goals as there are doubts over the fitness of Saha and Solksjaer.

New UNITED kit....

Pre-ordered mine the other day, I quite like it....

World Cup 2006 Post Mortem

So now that the dust has settled on yet another England attempt at world domination, just how close did we get to becoming world champions?

Well not very, if the truth be told. YES we did get to the quarter final stage and we were some what unlucky against the Portuguese, but in the cold light of day I think we have to be realistic and admit that we were never really going to get through to the final and win it.
The performances never stood up to our previous ones and yet again Sven is tactically inept when it comes to major tournaments. His squad selection was woeful and well let's just say I for one will be pretty glad to see the back of him....

Forget all the Rooney/Ronaldo (I will come to that later) shenanigans in the press, they are not the reason we are out of the World Cup, basically we just were not good enough which is a shame because I honestly believed that this time we really had a great chance with our current crop of players.
What makes it worse is the failure of two of the tournament favorites to make it through as well, meaning we would have faced an ageing France team and then possibly the hosts Germany.
Anyway, enough moping time to get on with life, time for the part time football fans to take those stupid flags off their cars....
Next stop the new Premiership season....

COME ON UNITED!!

England 1 Ecuador 0

And so we march on to the Quarter finals of the World Cup and a meeting with Portugal, who as everyone remembers, knocked us out on route to the final of the 2004 European Championships. Thanks to some great decisions from the ref in their last 16 match (16 Yellow and 4 Red cards!!) Portugal will be deprived of at least two of their starting line up.
So how did we rate against Ecuador?
Well, slightly better than the previous matches but again not really up to the standards we can reach.
As I have said throughout this tournament however, it is better to start of slow and hit form in the latter stages. We can beat Portugal, of that I have no doubt, but we will definately have to play a lot better than we have so far....

MORE CORPORATE UNITED FELGERCARB!

Here is the e-mail i sent to MANCHESTER UNITED after being told that my application for a new season ticket (£450) had suddenly risen to (£650). because (get this), they could not get hold of me....

"Dear Mr Hall,

I feel obliged to complain to you about the way I feel I have been treated by your department and by the club which I have supported all my life.

I received an e-mail from yourself yesterday telling me that my application for a season ticket could not be processed as the areas I specified had already been filled, the e-mail also said that your department had tried to contact me on two separate occasions to discuss this.

When I finally got through to your department on the phone I was informed that the only choice left was a £ 650 plus seat in the new quadrant.

As I work for a major telecommunications company I can assure you that no attempts were made by your department to contact me on any of the channels I gave you until the e-mail yesterday. This is over one month since I handed in my application. I can appreciate that there is high demand but surely the people who actually apply and go to games should have preferential treatment over those who only joined the scheme in January? The reason I had asked for a seat in the EAST STAND is because I sit there regularly with friends and family and was informed that this would help me in my application.

I know that you probably do not care about the feelings of individual fans, but I would a least appreciate some sort of explanation as to why the club delights in pricing out its long term fans in favour of more profitable corporate customers and why your department has to lie about contacting people when they clearly haven’t. (Answer machine on all phone numbers)

Thank you for ruining my day and continuing to foster the clubs bad reputation with its own fans.

Regards,

David Hayes

Soon to be ex-member"

Still cannot beat the Swedes

Now my hangover has gone....
Well, England did it again, great first half performance but rubbish in the second.
Can't really blame the conditions this time as Germany has seen a bit of rain lately, so we should be right at home.
I cannot really understand why we consistently fail to beat the Swedish team, yes they are a good side, well organised but surely man for man they are not a match for our current crop of players. Anyway apart from the injury to Michael Owen, things didn't turn out too bad, top of the group and undefeated.

So on to Ecuador, one of the dark horses of the tournament and what might prove to be just as much of a challenge as the Germans would have provided.
England normally raise their game as theses things progress so hopefully we can look forward to staying in the tournament for a while longer....

England 2 - Trinidad & Tombola 0

Well....
After all the fuss, Wayne Rooney played as England struggled to a 2 - 0 win over Trinidad & Tombola. Late goals from Peter Crouch and Steven Gerrard put England into the last 16 of the World Cup. Sweden's late show against Paraguay means that the position of group winner is still up for grabs, and should make the game versus Sweden on Tuesday night more interesting and hopefully will encourage the players to perform at the level we expect.

Although we never really looked troubled in defence, a John Terry goal line clearance and a linseman's flag in the second half stopped England from conceding against a well organised Trinidad team, lead by former Manchester United forward Dwight Yorke.
With Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard still not really gelling together in midfield and David Beckhams dead ball play seemingly off, it took the introduction of Aaron Lennon and Wayne Rooney to shake England into life.
I cannot see Sven dropping Michael Owen for the Sweden game, so it looks like we will probably start with the same eleven that began the last game.

Will he, won't he?

So the great Rooney debate continues.
After the FA promised Manchester United that Wayne Rooney would not play until the knockout stage of the World Cup, speculation is rife that he may play a part in tomorrow's match against Trinidad & Tobago. With Michael Owen still struggling to find his match fitness and Theo Walcott untried at this level, Sven's decision to send Jermaine Defoe home is looking increasingly risky.
Many eyebrow's were raised originally with Sven's squad selection for this tournament with the likes of Sol Campbell and Theo Walcott being included.
Despite the fact that Wes Brown has had an injury free consistent season for United, the England manager chose to bring Sol Campbell who has had very public problems this season Nat has hardly featured for Arsenal.

As a United fan I worry that maybe Wayne Rooney's comeback has been rushed by a combination of the players desire to play (which is understandable) but also by the England staff themselves, who see Rooney as their star man.
However as an England supporter, I too would love to see the team go all the way and finally live up to their huge potential by bringing home the World Cup and a fit Wayne Rooney would increase our chances no end.

After the disappointment of the Paraguay game a lot of people have cast doubt over the teams ability to win this tournament but history shows us that we are notoriously slow starters in big tournaments and tend to get better as the competition progresses.
Yes the Trinidad team had a great result against Sweden, but it was a pretty unimpressive Swedish performance and surely we are a completely different prospect.

Wayne Rooney caption competition

To celebrate the start of the world cup, we have a special 'Wayne Rooney' caption competition.

Look at the picture below and use the comments to leave your entry.

World Cup 2006

And so it begins....
The 2006 FIFA World Cup begins today @ 5:00pm in Munich with the game between the hosts Germany and potential party poopers Costa Rica.
England begin their latest campaign for world supremacy tomorrow in Frankfurt against Paraguay.
Over the coming weeks I will attempt to keep some sort of diary of Englands progress, hopefully all the way to the final and victory.

More Crouch Robotics....

Doing 'THE ROBOT' once because you have just scored for your country is understandable but....
Click here for photo and video evidence that Peter Crouch is a repeat offender.

Things not to do when you already stand out like a sore thumb....

Watching the highlights of the England v Hungary match on Sky late last night, I found my self struggling to stay awake. With the score @ 2-1 and the match nearing the end, Peter Crouch made my night, not with his well taken goal but....

PETER CROUCH DID THE ROBOT!!

PETER CROUCH

A ROBOT

Yes unbelievably, Crouch (pictured above) celebrated his goal with his version of the 70's dance "the robot".

Now if you are Michael Jackson and the year is 1974, then the Robot is a perfectly acceptable dance move.
Unfortunately....Peter Crouch is 6' 6", gangly with a face like a smacked arse.
Still, nice goal!

So close but yet....

Well the Sunday football started okay didn't it....
Chelsea down to 10 men and a goal down to West Ham, things looked quite good for us.
Then a suspiciously jet lagged Hammers fell apart allowing the Russian Mafia the opportunity to roll over them and run out 4-1 winners. To be fair to Chelsea they looked more like champions than they have in recent weeks and played extremely well, for anyone coming in late it would have seemed that West Ham were lacking a player and not Chelsea, such was their domination.
So onto OLD TRAFFORD for the reds game with ARSEnal.
After a disappointing opening 20 minutes, where ARSEne Wengers team passed the ball around tidily and VAN PER-SIE (when a girl says no, molest her) had a couple of decent attempts on goal, UNITED suddenly decided to kick into gear and the match finally resembled an UNITED v ARSEnal match and not an end of season training game.
A couple of good solid tackles followed, which seemed to fire us into action, then came a moment which turned the game into our favor.
After a fantastic through ball from Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Wayne Rooney rounded Lehman and fired the ball towards toe open net, only to be denied by a diving two handed save from ARSEnal's Kolo Toure, who showed his keeper just how it should be done, pushing the ball onto the post.
Incredibly referee Graham Poll waved play on much to the amazement of Rooney and the majority of the record breaking 70,908 crowd.
After the break, UNITED continued to press for the opener, forcing ARSEnal to concede more desperate fouls. Gilberto body-checked Giggs in the 49th minute to earn the games first yellow card.

Wayne Rooney delivered the much deserved first goal in the 54th minute when he deftly controlled Silvestre's cross and smashed the ball past Lehman from 8 yards out.
After a couple of near misses from ARSEnal, Fergie replaced Ruud with Saha and Wenger responded with a double substitution, Diaby and Henry coming on for Van Persie and Fabregas in an attempt to turn the game around. Thierry Henry, rested from the starting 11 had an immediate chance to get in the game when Poll awarded ARSEnal a free kick for John O'Shea's challenge on Pires, but fired his shot harmlessly high and wide of the target.
A third change followed with Wenger bringing on Ljunberg for Hleb, who proceeded to cause the most comical moment of the match when he fell over whilst running down the wing, only for Graham Poll to book Silvestre for a foul on the Swede.


All smiles were restored though when a big, Rooney rode a challenge from Senderos close to the right-hand byline and slid a pass across Lehmann for Ji Sung Park to slot home the decisive second at the far post.
Our attention now turns to Fridays game against Sunderland, where a win will see the gap close to just 4 points with Chelsea facing a potentially tricky trip to Bolton on Saturday.
All in all a good weekend for the red;s, just a shame the West Ham couldn't make it a slightly better one.....

Big week in the Premiership

Well, with Chelsea's lead cut to 7 points, this week could prove to be a big one in this season's race for the Barclay's Premiership title race.
With UNITED playing tomorrow and on Good Friday, any slip by the champions against West Ham on Sunday could provide United with the chance to close the gap still further.
Although i do not ultimately believe that will we be able to overturn Chelsea's lead at the top, at least we have restored some much needed pride and made the title race slightly more interesting.
It makes you ponder what could have been had we played like this all season? Still with some bad injuries to key players, combined with some patchy performances earlier in the season, all the IF and BUT scenario's in the world will not make up poor challenge for the title.
With our new sponsor now in place and the team's confidence restored, things are looking brighter at Old Trafford and we can all hopefully look forward to a return to recent happier times.

New UNITED Sponsor?