As Hnaef may have mentioned, I do, really, really, loathe Manchester United. I'm a life-long supporter of that other team in the North West that play in red (and have more European Cups - including one we can keep, but sadly will not have the same number of League titles much longer).
The sight of that smug crest can get me really angry. A camera shot of the soi-disant "Sir" Alex Ferguson (whom we all know can't really be a knight as he is a habitual Scotsman and a socialist), really gets my goat. He looks like a beetroot with a toupee most of the time, and an aggrieved syrup-wearing pomegranate when things go badly. Which is the only time I really cheer up, except on the exceptional occasions when, due to some bizarre stroke of luck or Fergie's forgetfully turning up with the reserves, Liverpool manage to beat them.
But.
Manchester United have been phenomenally successful this last two decades, and it is in very large part due to the toupee-wearing beetroot's brilliance as a manager. They've not always been the richest team in the world - or even the country - or even Manchester. But they've kept it going now for more than twenty years. Unlike many other teams, they've not put their faith in expensive foreign starlets - or not exclusively. When the big-shots have been rubbish they've been shipped out. When Brand Beckham got bigger than the club he went. But Ferguson has balanced the foreign stars (and compare Hernandez - £8 million, I believe - to Ferndando Torres - for you, Mr Abramovic, £50 million) with kids brought through and more to come. Some of those kids, such as Ryan Giggs and his generation, being the emblem of what Manchester United have done right throughout. When you add that to his tactical awareness - and his ability to terrify Howard Webb into doing the right thing - what chance did we all have?
Well, we did have a chance. Back in the early days. Ferguson went 7 years without winning the League after he'd joined the Red Devils. A club that wasn't exactly renowned for patience with managers who didn't do well. It's a reminder. If Roman Abramovic, or a bunch of rich Arabs or Thais or Americans, had been in charge - or Ken Bates, or Doug Ellis, Fergie would have been gone after 2 or 3. And Liverpool, or Arsenal, or Chelsea or even Aston Villa or someone, might now be the ruling force in English football. "Sack the manager" always feels good, I suspect. It always makes the board look dynamic - faced with a problem, they're doing something about it. How often just doing something, because "something must be done", achieves nothing. And what damage the Man Utd board did to my happiness, because when all precedent and logic called for them to do something, they let Alex be and gave the bewigged tomato the time he needed.
Enough. I've said it. And I'm not happy. Believe me, I'm really, really not happy. But I've said it. And now tomorrow I've got to get on and go out. And buy that Barcelona shirt.
Reading Eileen has never seemed so sweet.
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