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sky at night UNITED delight!"
www.red11.org DAILY NEWS
Date: Fri Jul 02 GMT+00:00 1999
Mail: barry@www.red11.org
This Issue:
1. WE DIDN'T WANT BLAME - FERGUSON
2. FA backed United into corner', say fans
3. South Melbourne hopes for a game worth giving up the Cup
4. FA CUP TAINTED - TAYLOR
5. FA cup thingy
6. The FA Cup/World Club dilemma
7. SPECIAL ON THE GREAT FA CUP OPT-OUT
++++++=========+++++++========+++++++++========++++++++
Daily RED NEWS Fri 2nd July 1999:
Barry Daily Comment:
INFO: Anyone who has or knows a pub/friend with MUTV
the final is broadcasted tomorrow & Saturday
Friday, July 02, 1999 - 23:30
MASTERFAN - FINAL
Quiz Show
It doesn't get any tougher. Stephen Airley, Jerry
McDonagh and Paul Hinson battle it out for the ultimate
accolade MUTV MasterFan. Quizmaster Antony Wilson
makes sure it's hard but fair. Specialist rounds include
United in the FA Cup 50's; Sir Matt Busby; United's 93-94
season.
REPEAT BROADCAST
Saturday, July 03, 1999 - 18:30
Hope some of you in UK can see it!
http://www.red11.org/mufc/masterfan.htm
Beckham is to be married in Ireland on Sunday.
There is a Daily News Survey running for those with www:
Fill in the form at
Its the presentation of the European Cup at Nou Camp
Video including sound 57secs 1.5 meg Real Video Use Real Player Plus G2
Free at www.real.com
http://www.real.com/R/HPplay-1R/www.real.com/products/playerplus/index.html?src=990611home_5
Latest MUFC Squad song is now available in stereo at www.red11.org
Stereo Sound: REAL AUDIO: 607k 4mins "stereo"
http://www.red11.org/mufc/sound/99/lift_it_high.rm
MP3 4.6meg 4mins "stereo"
http://www.red11.org/mufc/sound/mp3/lift_it_high.mp3
RED sky at night BARCE' delight
More fun here: http://www.red11.org/mufc/barcedance.htm
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
MANCHESTER UNITED STATS v ALL teams on the Web
http://www.red11.org/mufc/stats.htm
Previous News:
BSKYB Takeover news/pics at http://www.red11.org/mufc/bskyb.htm
Brian Kidd Press conference, pic, real audio
http://www.iol.ie/~redcafe/kidd.htm
Peter Schmeichel's last Season at United!
http://www.red11.org/mufc/news/schmeichel.htm
---------------------------------------------------------------
NEXT MATCHES
---------------------------------------------------------------
01-AUG-1999 [15:00] Manchester Utd. vs Arsenal (FA Charity Shield, AWAY)
08-AUG-1999 [16:00] Manchester Utd. vs Everton (FA Premier League, AWAY)
11-AUG-1999 [20:00] Manchester Utd. vs Sheffield W (FA Premier League, HOME)
14-AUG-1999 [15:00] Manchester Utd. vs Leeds U (FA Premier League, HOME)
22-AUG-1999 [16:00] Manchester Utd. vs Arsenal (FA Premier League, AWAY)
Friendlies:
August 3rd Omagh Town, St Julian's Road ground
August 4th Wigan Athletic
****Pre season tour details JULY 1999 ***
Melbourne Sydney
Thu 15/7 MAN. UNITED V SOCCEROOS evening in Melbourne
at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground- capacity 90,000.) kick off 20.00hrs.
- Melbourne Cricket Ground 5 minutes from the city. Good transport available
Tickets available - starts from $60.00 - behind the goal -next up is $90.00,
$130.00 and $150.00
Sun 18/7 MAN. UNITED V SOCCEROOS STADIUM AUSTRALIA, Olympic Boulevard,
Homebush Bay, Sydney NEW SOUTH WALES 15.00 local time
Tickets for Sydney game try here:
http://www.ticketek.com.au/frame.asp?url=search/search.asp
then type MANCHESTER in the search field.
+ Far East
Wed 21/7 Shangai first time ever!!!
This match will be watched by 80,000 fans
The game has sold out with the Shanghai Star reporting the home side's
chairman Yu Zhifei as saying: ''It is unprecedented that the tickets
should sell out for a match five weeks in advance."
Sat 24/7 Hong Kong Repeat of the 1997 game
"ALL matches will be shown "the same day" om MUTV.
UNITED Stats v All teams:
http://www.red11.org/mufc/stats/
*** FINAL PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE AS AT 16/05/99 ***
Pos Team P W D L F A W D L F A GD Pts
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Manchester United 38 14 4 1 45 18 8 9 2 35 19 43 79
2 Arsenal 38 14 5 0 34 5 8 7 4 25 12 42 78
3 Chelsea 38 12 6 1 29 13 8 9 2 28 17 27 75
4 Leeds United 38 12 5 2 32 9 6 8 5 30 25 28 67
Here are the first matches in the coming season 1999/2000 fixture list:
ALL FIXTURES at: http://www.red11.org/mufc/fix9899.htm
15 July Melbourne pre season Australia
18 July Sydney pre season Australia
21 July Shanghai pre season Shenhua
24 July Hong Kong pre season South China
1 Aug Wembley Ch Sh Arsenal
4 Aug Friendly Wigan Athletic
8 Aug away PL Everton
11 Aug home PL Sheffield Wednesday
14 Aug home PL Leeds United
21 Aug away PL Arsenal
25 Aug away PL Coventry City
27 Aug Monaco ESC Lazio UEFA Super Cup in Monaco
at Stade Louis II, kick off 8.45pm.
THE FANTASTIC TRIPLE WAS WON!!
Personal stories here: http://www.red11.org/mufc/barcelona.htm
++++++=========+++++++========+++++++++========++++++++
Cklick On Nick Oldham to see his work!"
Subject: WE DIDN'T WANT BLAME - FERGUSON
Sir Alex Ferguson claims Manchester United have ditched the FA Cup because
they do not want to be blamed if England's 2006 World Cup bid fails.
The Old Trafford boss realises that United's participation in the inaugural
FIFA World Team Championship is vital to England's hopes of staging the
tournament and that is why they have taken up the Football Association's
offer to opt out of the competition.
The United boss feels this is clearly the lesser of two evils and he does
not want the club to bear the wrath of the nation if they refused to go to
Brazil and England's bid failed. United announced their withdrawal from the
FA Cup after much soul searching and Sir Alex said: "We had to think about
the situation regarding England hosting the World Cup, that was paramount."
He added: "No-one wants to see them not getting it and the criticism we
would have received if they had not got it and we had refused to go to
Brazil would have been unthinkable - and that's a Scotsman talking!
"From our point of view we couldn't win and we're getting criticised anyway
because all of a sudden everyone is putting the FA Cup above everything else.
"We know that and we understand that, but we've been brave enough to make
this decision."
Sir Alex claimed he was disappointed to be robbed of the chance of
defending the Treble before the season has even started. He sympathised
with the fans, who are naturally upset by their decision, but he claimed
the club had no option because they cannot compete in the eight-team
tournament in Brazil in January on top of their existing heavy commitments.
The silver lining to this grey cloud, though, for Sir Alex was the chance
to be crowned the first club champions of the world.
"I'm disappointed and the FA Cup is very special to me because it's the
first trophy I ever won, but we have no option," he said.
"We can't go for them all and we can't play in Brazil and go for the FA
Cup. But now we have the opportunity to be, without question, the world
champion club team."
Cklick On Nick Oldham to see his work!"
Subject: 'FA backed United into corner', say fans
By Ken Lawrence
Thursday, July 1, 1999
Manchester United faced a backlash from furious fans after pulling out of
the FA Cup to play in January's World Club Championship in Brazil.
United insisted the decision was forced on them to help England's bid for
the 2006 World Cup Finals but their announcement, after 72 hours of
heart-searching, created a huge wave of disappointment among the supporters
who believe the FA Cup should be the club's priority.
Leading the protest was John Lee, a representative of the Independent
Manchester United Supporters Association, who said: 'I am disgusted. This
is the most disgraceful stunt the FA have ever pulled, backing United into
a corner as they have done.
'They have devalued the oldest cup competition in the world, we are denied
the chance to retain the trophy and the team everyone wants to knock out
won't be entering.'
The announcement that United would take up the FA's offer of a one-year
exemption from the FA Cup was made at an Old Trafford news conference by
manager Sir Alex Ferguson, club chairman Martin Edwards and FA executive
director David Davies.
Fans gathering outside reacted in horror. One of them, Steve Walsh of
Stretford, said: 'The World Club Championship is just a stunt.
'The supporters wanted United to defend the FA Cup which is, after all,
part of their unprecedented Treble. We all feel very let down by this.'
Ferguson insisted there was no way out for his club, saying: 'I hate to
think what the reaction would have been had we not taken this decision.'
Sir Bobby Charlton, a United director and president of the World Cup bid,
said: 'I will be as sad as any fan that our name won't be going into the
hat but we need to make progress and it would have been an insult to turn
down FIFA's invitation.'
Cklick On Nick Oldham to see his work!"
Subject: South Melbourne hopes for a game worth giving up the Cup
Patrick Mangan Wednesday June 30, 1999
Instead of competing in the FA Cup next January, Manchester United could be
playing a team containing a furniture upholsterer, a laboratory technician
and an accountant once rejected by Manchester City.
South Melbourne may be a powerhouse of the Oceania region, but they can
hardly hold a candle to the game's biggest and brightest. Yet, despite an
annual turnover just a tickle above Mark Bosnich's monthly pay packet, they
will enter the much-maligned world club championship on an equal footing
with United, Real Madrid and others among the world's richest clubs.
Traditionalists in England may be up in arms about the impact United's
involvement in the tournament may have on the game - in particular the
credibility of the FA Cup - but at the other end of the planet, the mood is
decidedly more upbeat.
South players celebrating their second successive Australian championship
victory last month in a nightclub deep within Melbourne's garish casino
struggled to come to terms with their achievement. The prospect of facing
Ryan Giggs or David Beckham in competition was considered with disbelieving
smiles.
Speak to a South player after the game and the Aussie accent is as broad as
Bass Strait. Cock an ear to the spectators, however, and you discover the
heart of the club.
Greek immigrants established the club 40 years ago as South Melbourne
Hellas and the chant on the lips of the side's 8,000-strong faithful at the
Bob Jane Stadium is still "Hellas, Hellas". With the club acting as a
magnet for successive generations of Greek/Australians, it is little wonder
the song is passionate. It is also, unfortunately, no surprise that South
attracts little interest from fans of other ethnic extraction.
But support is sufficient to maintain South Melbourne - who must complete
the formality of a Pacific qualification tournament in Fiji in October to
confirm their place at the world party - as one of the best supported and
most stable clubs in Australia's National Soccer League. And there are some
handy players within their semi-professional ranks.
Young Michael Petkovic has been tipped as the next Aussie goalkeeper to
follow in the footsteps of Bosnich, Middlesbrough's Mark Schwarzer and
Blackburn's John Filan. White-booted wing-back Goran Lozanovski has been
trailed by the German club Arminia Bielefeld. And leading the line will be
Paul Trimboli - an accountant in his spare time - who was lauded by Alan
Ball in 1996 for his subtle skills, before the then-Manchester City manager
rejected him for a lack of Lancashire grit.
South officials, who have trodden the fine line over the years of
attempting to attract more "mainstream" (ie non-Greek) Australians to the
club while not alienating the traditional supporters, see the world club
championship as a means of tempting fans away from Australian Rules
football. The home-grown code, which enjoys blanket media coverage on the
back of the 70,000-odd fans who regularly flock to matches at the MCG and
elsewhere, has long had a stranglehold on the sporting affections of the
local public.
Australian soccer supporters are optimistic that, as well as enabling the
game to snatch a few more column inches, the world club championship may
help staunch the flow of Australian footballers towards Europe, especially
Britain.
Fifteen years ago, Liverpool's Craig Johnston was a lone crusader.
Nowadays, Australia is behind only the Scandinavian nations as an exporter
of players to the English league. And the quality of the NSL has suffered
accordingly.
The world club championship could go some way to improving the sport's
credibility. And nobody - not even in England, surely - could begrudge it that.
Cklick On Nick Oldham to see his work!"
Subject: FA CUP TAINTED - TAYLOR
Players Union boss Gordon Taylor has hit out at Manchester United's decision to quit next
season's FA Cup.
Negative reaction continued in the aftermath the Football Association-inspired move which
sees United exempt from the competition in order to play in the World Team Championship
next year. But now FIFA have derided the move anyway, saying that Englands bid has 'as much
chance as Luxembourgs."
And Professional Footballers Association chief executive Taylor said: "This might be dressed
up as a one-off but it is the first crack in the dam. One of the great domestic trophies has
been diminished. It is tainted. I hate it, it is horrid, ugh, smash it up, I hate it."
Taylor is being given stress-related treatment at a private clinic after his favourites have
opted not to take part in the oldest competition in the world.
UNITED CALL FOR FIXTURE REDUCTION
Manchester United chairman Martin Edwards has called for a smaller Premier League to
prevent "killing" players by asking them to play too many games.
United have reluctantly accepted the Football Association's offer to withdraw from next
season's FA Cup to enable them to compete in FIFA's inaugural World Team Championship
in Brazil in January.
They claimed they had no alternative to the controversial one-off move because they
needed to reduce their fixtures, while they also did not want to jeopardise England's 6006
World Cup bid. But Edwards underlined his concern for the players' wellbeing by claiming
that in the long term, the only solution was a reduction in the Premier League from 20
teams to 18. "I think fixtures should reduced to help players perform better through the
season - about 30 minutes each way is my suggestion" he opined as Liverpool and
Arsenal supporters carried him joyously around Old Trafford.
Cklick On Nick Oldham to see his work!"
Subject: FA cup thingy
We should stay in the FA cup and sod the World Club Cup as when was
the last time the FA helped us? Man Utd come first, second and third
in my book.
Two years ago when we wanted an extension to the season, the FA told
us to piss off, we should do the same to them this time round. The
World Cup bid is going to Africa anyway and us appearing in the World
Club Cup won't swing it one way or another. The bastards just want
to knacker our players so that some other team can win the
Premiership.
What will we achieve by going to Brazil? To win a trophy which is
relatively meaningless, in my opinion. We gain nothing by going to
Brazil - possibly jet-lag, tiredness and some rotten disease no
doubt!!
Heard on the radio that we are expected to withdraw from the
competition and that would be a great shame. If we go to Brazil,
what will the FA do for us? Let us forfeit the FA cup, some favour
that is!! The FA cup has given us loads of pleasure in the past,
none more so than this season and it makes me angry that we haven't
the balls to say "See my middle finger? Stick it where the sun don't
shine!"
Thats my 2 pence worth of opinion.
Berni
Cklick On Nick Oldham to see his work!"
Subject: The FA Cup/World Club dilemma
To the board at Manchester United PLC:
The basic problem, as we all know is too many fixtures in the
season. As I see it, United have all the aces. If the Government
and the FA want the club to take part in the World Team Championship
then concessions must be made. Nobody actually believes that
either of those parties care about Uniteds interests, their involvement
in this debate is purely to help Englands bid for the 2006 World Cup.
This bid could be dead in the water already for all we know.
If United were aloowed to play 2 Premiership fixtures on dates
allocated to International fixtures, with no call-ups to affect either
side, there would be minimal fixture congestion. FIFA have the
power to sanction this, after all, it is their competition that is causing
the dilemma. If England et al cannot select a team without utilising
the squad at Old Trafford the game is in serious trouble.
What of the clubs interests? Taking part in such a massive competition
may mean large sums of revenue, and world prestige. However,
what are the possible drawbacks. The travelling across the globe,
the internal flights from game to game, the playing of matches in
intense heat, these could all affect domestic ambitions. We have all
heard about Holland's illness-stricken visit recently, when a half-time
break had be extended whilst players with the runs queued for the
toilet. Another factor is injuries. If Jaap Stam or Dwight Yorke
breaks his leg, or is crudely injured by say, South American-style
defending. Will a trophy held high in Rio be consolation for
subsequent failure in Europe?
We can earn big money by beating South Melbourne, Real Madrid,
Vasco de Gama etc. But isn't there a real danger that our prospects
in the Premiership and the Champions League may be jeopardised
in so doing? The 1999-2000 season may leave us empty handed,
is flying the flag for England more important than defending our
hard-won treble?
As the poll on your website shows, 72% of the voters DO NOT
want Manchester United to withdraw from the FA Cup. Does the
opinions of the fans matter in all this? If we start badly in the
League, and have already agreed to forfeit our place in the FA
Cup, will anyone have egg on their faces? Success in the
Champions League cannot be guaranteed once again.
There is a school of thought that a 'Super League' involving the
best of Europe, and even the world, may be the future. But in the
here and now, with a 20-club Premier League, plus the oldest
competition in the world, the FA Cup, plus the newly enlarged
demands of the Champions League, is it right to have to make
sacrifices like our FA have suggested?
The reality is this, for the sake of the 'global' expansion of our game,
the Premier League MUST be reduced to 16 or 18. As far as the big
clubs are concerned the Worthington Cup has to be confined to history.
If that happens we can easily take part in World Team Championships
in the future. A spin-off would also be less games for players in the
England squad.
In the meantime, if FIFA and the FA cannot help United
fulfil their primary obligations, which must be domestically and in Europe,
then perhaps the one-off game against Palmeiras in Tokyo for the World
Club Championship should be the limit of our ambition for now.
Paul Hinson
Cklick On Nick Oldham to see his work!"
Subject: SPECIAL ON THE GREAT FA CUP OPT-OUT
All The Reaction, News & Views On Manchester United's
Historic Decision
FERGIE DIDN'T WANT TO BE THE SCAPEGOAT
Alex Ferguson claims Manchester United have ditched the FA Cup
because they do not want to be blamed if England's 2006 World Cup
bid fails. The Old Trafford boss realises that United's participation in
the inaugural FIFA World Club Championship is vital to England's
hopes of staging the tournament and that is why they have taken
up the Football Association's offer to opt out of the competition.
The United boss feels this is clearly the lesser of two evils and he
does not want the club to bear the wrath of the nation if they
refused to go to Brazil and England's bid failed. United announced
their withdrawal from the FA Cup yesterday after much soul
searching and Sir Fergie said: ''We had to think about the situation
regarding England hosting the World Cup, that was paramount.
''No-one wants to see them not getting it and the criticism we
would have received if they had not got it and we had refused to
go to Brazil would have been unthinkable - and that's a Scotsman
talking! From our point of view we couldn't win and we're getting
criticised anyway because all of a sudden everyone is putting the
FA Cup above everything else. We know that and we understand
that, but we've been brave enough to make this decision.''
Ferguson claimed he was disappointed to be robbed of the chance
of defending the Treble before the season has even started. He
sympathised with the fans, who are naturally upset by their
decision, but he claimed the club had no option because they
cannot compete in the eight-team tournament in Brazil in January
on top of their existing heavy commitments. The silver lining to this
grey cloud, though, for the United boss was the chance to be
crowned the first club champions of the world.
"I'm disappointed and the FA Cup is very special to me because it's
the first trophy I ever won, but we have no option,'' he said. ''We
can't go for them all and we can't play in Brazil and go for the FA
Cup. But now we have the opportunity to be, without question, the
world champion club team.''
United chairman and chief executive Martin Edwards echoed
Ferguson's arguments. ''The last thing we want to do is disappoint
our fans and we hope they understand this decision,'' he said. ''We
had to consider England's 2006 World Cup bid and that may have
been at stake. But we also have the opportunity to be the
champions of world club football in the inaugural competition. The
winners of this competition will be the first club champions of the
world and that makes it very prestigious.''
The FA will hold talks with sponsors AXA Assurance, who have
voiced their concerns about the implications of United's withdrawal.
However, FA executive director David Davies insisted the
competition had lost none of its magic.
''The FA Cup will still be a tremendous competition next year and
don't think there won't be giant-killers next year,'' he said. ''We at
the FA care desperately about the FA Cup, its history, its tradition
and its excitement. That's our heritage and we won't sell it short.
We've had to think the unthinkable, but we still cherish the FA Cup
and we're going to keep on cherishing it.''
Davies' message to United's despondent fans was that their club
now had the chance to make football history.
''Your club can make history in the same way another great United
team made history,'' he said. ''We have to look outwards and we
have to play our part on the world football stage. Whether people
like it or not, there's going to be a World Team Championship and
now England has the choice, does it want to be part of that or
not?''
FIFA have yet to announce the prize money for the inaugural
tournament and United and the FA have not discussed
compensation for missing out on a potential lucrative cup run.
United will have earned around £6m from last season's FA Cup win,
however Edwards insisted: ''This is not about money''.
Instead, he is satisfied that United's gruelling fixture schedule has
been lightened. Including the Charity Shield, United can now play a
maximum of 68 games in seven different competitions. But one feat
they cannot repeat next season despite all this possible silverware
is the Treble.
Alec McGivan, the director of England's campaign to host the 2006
World Cup, welcomed United's decision to compete in the
FIFA-championed event. He said: ''This is a huge boost for our
campaign. An English club will be present at the first ever club world
championship and this demonstrates England's commitment to the
world game. For Manchester United to represent Europe on the
world stage is a great honour for everyone involved in English
football.''
UNITED FANS SEE RED OVER PULL-OUT
News of Manchester United's withdrawl might have had them
grinning at Lancaster Gate and Downing Street, but it was not
greeted with enthusiam from the club's fans. Lee Hodgkiss,
spokesman for the Independent Manchester United Supporters
Association, said: ''My reaction is one of total disappointment and I
think it's an absolute tragedy. I put the blame firmly with the
Government and the FA. I think it is tragic that they are about to
sell the jewels of English football down the pan in the slim hope, and
it is a slim hope, of us getting the World Cup. They were damned if
they did and damned if they didn't. If they stayed at home then it
would have been our fault if England didn't get the World Cup.
''Going means that fans are deprived of their team taking part in the
oldest, most traditional domestic trophy in the world. We may never
get the chance to defend the Treble again. There is a lot of anger
among supporters most of whom aren't going to be able to go to
Brazil. Fans enjoy watching the FA Cup because it is a relief from
the league. It is a competition that last season gave us a lot of
happy memories. I feel sorry for the team that wins the FA Cup next
season. What a hollow victory it will be knowing the greatest team
in Europe weren't taking part.
''For me,'' Hodgkiss continued, ''the solution is quite simple - United
don't go to Brazil. The announcement is incredibly disappointing. I
think the people's government, the custodians of the people's game,
have sold the people's game down the river. But I must make it
clear that I don't think United are in any way to blame.''
His sentiments were echoed by the National Federation of Football
Supporters Clubs, who said in a statement: ''The NFFSC is bitterly
disappointed by Manchester United's decision to withdraw from next
season's FA Cup. It is simply not true that (as chairman Martin
Edwards stated) there is no alternative.''
Monica Hartland, deputy chairman of the NFFSC argued that United
were capable of fielding two very strong teams, one for Brazil and
one for the FA Cup. She also asked: ''Why does the FA emphasise
that it is for this season only that this will happen? How is next year
going to be any different?
''No, there is, of course, another agenda here. As one of several
leading clubs which has failed to have the Premiership 'streamlined'
in order to play fewer matches, this could force that particular
issue, especially as they now have the backing of the game's
governing body. And for what? To play fewer league games in order
to play minimally double that amount to comply with Champions Cup
directives and now the world club championship!''
Hartland claimed that football clubs - meaning boards and not
necessarily managers and players - were proving that they could
find the time to play for whatever provided their financial interests,
citing United's forthcoming trips to Australia and Hong Kong.
She added: ''It is another nail in the coffin of those clubs outside
the privileged few and certainly not 'for the good of the English
game', as United suggest.''
The decision was also met with disappointment by many of the
supporters visiting Old Trafford on Wednesday.
''I think it's the wrong decision. They were blackmailed into it by the
FA,'' said Karen Lee, 18, of Hertford. ''It's a political move and
nothing to do with football.''
John Wilkins, 46, from Taunton, Somerset, said: ''We didn't have a
choice. No matter what we would have done it would have been
wrong. We could have stayed in the FA Cup and not gone to Brazil
but if we had lost the chance to host the World Cup, then it would
have been our fault. The Government put us in a Catch-22
situation. I think it was unfair of them to put us in such an
impossible situation, but other teams should be happy as they might
now have a chance of winning.''
But Anthony Riley, 42, a shopowner from Middleton, Manchester,
said: ''I think they should pull out because they can't commit
themselves to everything. Somebody said it was a 'Mickey Mouse'
tournament, but I think it is worth going into it, as Matt Busby did
with the European Cup.''
Why Do We Need The World Cup In England?
There is currently all this fuss about Manchester United going to
Brazil because the FA and the government want the World Cup, but
why? What is THE most important thing to you lot about football?
For me, it's my club.
Paul Kopite
...We must do what is right for the interest of the country. The
World Cup in 2006 will be great if we can get it. A solution to it is to
allow United a bye to the fifth round and to skip the "worthless"
cup.
Father Jack
...If we can't get the World Cup ahead of Germany with its crappy
grounds and South Africa with its crappy everything then FIFA are
just a corrupt institution that we should avoid anyway.
Paul Kopite
...Sorry to say, Paul, I'd take loyalty to the national side over the
club. My rationale for this is that any fecker can join or leave your
club at will - the national side is the only one that is truly "ours".
For richer, for poorer, etc. Agree with you though about the current
fiasco - the FA have behaved disgracefully since the 2006 bid was
announced. Selling even their own tradition now, in the faint hope
of getting a few FIFA votes.
Supersub
---------------------------------------------
365 DAVID DAVIES AND TONY BANKS HAVE LET US ALL DOWN
By Iain Spragg & Sarah Winterburn
MANCHESTER UNITED, their own fans,
supporters from every other club across
the country and the FA Cup have all been
betrayed by the Football Association.
United's reluctant withdrawal from the
oldest club knock-out competition in the
world at the behest of Lancaster Gate is
a complete disgrace and for once all
fans, whether they love or hate the men
from Old Trafford, should be united in
outrage.
Ultimately, the FA's obsession with United
competing in the inaugural World Club
Championship left them with no choice. The
wishes of the club and the fans as well as
the interests of the game in general were
unashamedly trampled into the ground as
the FA clamoured to placate FIFA and its
president.
Alex Ferguson's disappointment was clear for
all to see when news of his team's enforced
opt-out was announced yesterday. The
competition which gave him his first piece of
English silverware has now been declared off
limits - for a season at least - and with it
the chance to defend the club's historic
Treble.
A dejected Sir Fergie said: "We can't go for
them all. We can't play in the FA Cup and
the World Club Championship. That would be
impossible. We're in a no-win situation here.
The criticism we would have received if we
hadn't gone would have been unthinkable."
Even the Red Devils' usually diplomatic
chairman Martin Edwards admitted they had
been "persuaded" to compete.
United were simply left with no alternative.
The FA's reluctance to give them a bye into
the fifth round of the cup forced the
Mancunians into a corner with only one way
out. It is no coincidence that the words
'no-win situation' have been repeated like a
mantra within Old Trafford over the last few
days.
David Davies, the FA's interim chief executive, and Tony Banks, the
Minister for Sport, pushed and cajoled United until they got exactly
what they wanted - an English representative in Brazil. Their
obsessive desire for United to represent UEFA and allegedly boost
England's chances of hosting the 2006 World Cup has changed the
face of domestic football, perhaps forever.
Not once, however, have either Banks or Davies produced one iota of
real evidence that Manchester United's participation will help the
2006 bid. The most likely result of all this pressure will be Fergie's
boys enjoying a two-week break in sunny Brazil and South Africa still
getting the nod to host the finals.
What is certain is that there will be a long list of losers, including the
small clubs who can no longer hope for a lucrative FA Cup clash with
the biggest club in the country. The competition itself has been
devalued, perhaps terminally, and fans of all persuasions have been
deprived of what is rightfully theirs - a full-strength and meaningful
competition. And last, but not least, the eventual winners of the
next season's final will forever be plagued by the question... what if?
Cklick On Nick Oldham to see his work!"
Pic Link today is http://www.red11.org/mufc/images/nick_oldham/
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Singalong
Calypso available here: mp3
If ever they are playing in your town
You must get to that football ground
Take a lesson come to see
Football taught by Matt Busby
Manchester, Manchester United
A bunch of bouncing Busby Babes
They deserve to be knighted
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