If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
In the wake of Manchester United's most recent financial statements coupled with a disappointing season on the pitch it is fair to say that their position as the most elite club in the country may be under threat sooner rather than later.
Many fans claim to love Manchester United and a lot have followed the team as far back as they remember, myself included. I last travelled to Old Trafford to watch Benfica in November to my first Champions League game. It was a fantastic trip but my adventures look rather insignificant when taking in comparison to that of this globe-trotting man.
13 May 2012. A day when dreams turned into reality. A day when 44 years of heartbreak, hurt and living in the shadows ended. A day when typical City ceased to exist. A day which will be remembered forever. A day when Manchester City became Premier League Champions.
Arsenal talisman Robin Van Persie is set to begin talks over a new deal at the Emirates this week. Following high profile departures in January, Arsene Wenger has made it clear he wishes to extend the prolific Dutchman's tenure in North London beyond the end of his current contract.
In 1944, when he wasn't messing about with cats in boxes, the philosopher Erwin Schroedinger wrote a book asking the eternal question: What is Life? I find in my advancing years that life is far too short to read what he might have said, but I doubt it had anything to do with Association Football, which is where he went wrong.
It's all too easy for a football fan to be dismissive of their club's Reserves team - after all, the perception that fans have today about young players is something along the lines of 'if they're 18/19 and not in the first team then they can't be any good'.
They say that fashion tends to repeat itself, that it is cyclical in nature. adidas revealed their latest and greatest football boots last week and so...
It was only a few short weeks back, but the events in between have made it seem like it was an eternity ago. Eight points clear and facing into what should have been six easily attainable points against Wigan and Everton, my perpetual doomlordery came to the fore and my mind drifted - as it too often does - to the misery of United's ownership.
If you spend long enough, there are *some* positives amongst the rubble of Monday's mess. So here they are....
Derbies are emotive occasions at the best of times. Rational thought is obscured by a mélange of nerves, tension and anxiety. A concoction of fear and hope intertwine amongst bursts of dread. It's certainly not enjoyable but this one supersedes any other. It is the Manchester derby. And the Premier League title is on the line.
Football is more of a mental disorder than a sport. Its beauty is often too infrequent and the only real certainty it provides is that madness will inevitably prevail.
No transfer has ever had more of the Glazers about it than Owen to United (unless you know of and believe the intricacies and reasoning behind the Bebe deal). It seems absurd that I'm even contemplating this but signing Owen on for another year may well be important for the club's future strikers and seems likely to happen.
There are few things I dislike more than the 'man on the street' and his tendency to hyperbolise everything and anything when it comes to football. ...
Players are employed by their clubs to do a job. They're given outrageous salaries to churn out results, win trophies and gain their clubs further success and revenue. What they're not there to do is to uphold abstract Corinthian values of sportsmanship and fair play.
The assumption with Rooney is that he has to do something special to remind people of his talent - the overhead kick against City or a hat-trick at Bolton for example. Has he truly fulfilled the potential he once showed? Potentially, but not necessarily in the way people expected.
Football often delivers curious cases of Déjà vu and if you are Sir Alex Ferguson then 26 years in the job means avoiding them is impossible.
