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www.red11.org DAILY NEWS
Date: Fri Feb 05 09:07:30 GMT+00:00 1999
Mail: barry@www.red11.org

This Issue:
1. We only win when we're singing by Our Salford Lass
2. Alex and the England job: Personal Article by Pete Hargreaves
3. In Fergie we trust

++++++=========+++++++========+++++++++========++++++++

Daily RED Trivia  Friday 5th February 1999:

5/2/1946: David Sadler born in Yalding, Kent. Was an FA Youth Cup winner in 1964, and
 the versatile professional also won a League Championship medal in 1967 and a European
 Cup Winners medal in 1968. 333 appearances and 27 goals between 1963-74, and
 4 England caps. He moved to Preston North End for £10,000 in November 1973. 

1966: A Hat-trick by Bobby Charlton and further goals from Denis Law 2, and John
 Connelly see United thrash Northampton Town 6-2 in a Division 1 game at Old
 Trafford watched by 34,986. Team was; Gregg, Dunne, Cantwell, Crerand, Foulkes,
 Stiles, Best, Law, Charlton, Herd, Connelly.
 
      
***************

Barry Daily Comment:
We had a 'keeper on trial last week. He is Finnish keeper Kim Ekroos.
Born 1981 currently plays for Strasbourg. He has now returned to
Strasbourg after spending week in Manchester.
Subject:      Sir Bobby
Comments: To: imusa@egroups.com, Red-Devils@pipeline.com, manutd@isfa.com
To:           MUFC@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU

The Independent is asking for people to send questions in to Sir Bob, to be
published in 2 weeks time. Perhaps this is our chance to put him on the
spot re Murdoch and the takeover. Send your questions to:
You Ask the Questions 
The Independent, 1 Canada Square, London E14 5DL
Or e-mail: yourquestions@independent.co.uk


Previous News:
 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 games: 
ALL Result/Fixture Index:
http://www.red11.org/mufc/fix9899z.htm

6  Nottm Forest   (A)  15.00 
"Live Comms": http://www.soccerone.com/sections/listenlive_schedule.html 

14 Fulham         (H)  14.00  FAC 5th round 
17 Arsenal        (H)  20.00 
20 Coventry       (A)  15.00
27 Southampton    (H)  15.00

UNITED Stats v All teams:
http://www.red11.org/mufc/stats/

*** LEAGUE TABLE AS AT 03/02/99 ***

Pos Team                  P   W   D   L   F   A   GD  Pts
---------------------------------------------------------
 1  Manchester United    24  13   8   3  51  26   25   47
 2  Chelsea              23  11  10   2  34  19   15   43
 3  Aston Villa          23  12   7   4  35  22   13   43
 4  Arsenal              23  11   9   3  24  11   13   42
 5  Leeds United         23   9   9   5  36  23   13   36
 6  Liverpool            23  10   5   8  44  28   16   35
 7  Wimbledon            23   9   8   6  29  33   -4   35
 8  Derby County         24   8  10   6  23  21    2   34
 9  West Ham United      23   9   6   8  25  31   -6   33
10  Middlesbrough        23   7  11   5  32  28    4   32
11  Leicester City       23   7   9   7  25  27   -2   30
12  Tottenham Hotspur    23   7   9   7  29  31   -2   30
13  Newcastle United     23   7   7   9  28  32   -4   28
14  Sheffield Wednesday  23   7   5  11  25  23    2   26
15  Everton              23   5   9   9  13  25  -12   24
16  Coventry City        23   6   5  12  23  32   -9   23
17  Blackburn Rovers     23   5   7  11  22  30   -8   22
18  Southampton          23   5   5  13  23  46  -23   20
19  Charlton Athletic    23   3   8  12  26  37  -11   17
20  Nottingham Forest    23   3   7  13  19  41  -22   16

*** FIXTURES ON 06/02/99 ***
         Aston Villa  v  Blackburn Rovers
             Chelsea  v  Southampton
        Leeds United  v  Newcastle United
      Leicester City  v  Sheffield Wednesday
           Liverpool  v  Middlesbrough
   Nottingham Forest  v  Manchester United
   Tottenham Hotspur  v  Coventry City
     West Ham United  v  Arsenal

*** FIXTURES ON 07/02/99 ***
        Derby County  v  Everton

*** TEAM RESULTS - MANCHESTER UNITED - AS AT 03/02/99 ***

Date        Opposition      Score   Pos.   Attend.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
15/08/98    Leicester City           Home     D  2-2    11    55,052
22/08/98    West Ham United          Away     D  0-0    11    26,039
09/09/98    Charlton Athletic        Home     W  4-1     9    55,147
12/09/98    Coventry City            Home     W  2-0     5    55,193
20/09/98    ArsenalAway     L  0-3    10    38,142
24/09/98    Liverpool                Home     W  2-0     3    55,181
03/10/98    Southampton              Away     W  3-0     2    15,251
17/10/98    Wimbledon                Home     W  5-1     2    55,265
24/10/98    Derby County             Away     D  1-1     2    30,867
31/10/98    EvertonAway     W  4-1     2    40,079
08/11/98    Newcastle United         Home     D  0-0     3    55,174
14/11/98    Blackburn Rovers         Home     W  3-2     2    55,198
21/11/98    Sheffield Wednesday      Away     L  1-3     2    39,475
29/11/98    Leeds United             Home     W  3-2     2    55,172
05/12/98    Aston Villa              Away     D  1-1     2    39,241
12/12/98    Tottenham Hotspur        Away     D  2-2     1    36,079
16/12/98    ChelseaHome     D  1-1     2    55,159
19/12/98    Middlesbrough            Home     L  2-3     3    55,152
26/12/98    Nottingham Forest        Home     W  3-0     3    55,216
29/12/98    ChelseaAway     D  0-0     3    34,741
10/01/99    West Ham United          Home     W  4-1     3    55,180
16/01/99    Leicester City           Away     W  6-2     2    22,091
31/01/99    Charlton Athletic        Away     W  1-0     1    20,043
03/02/99    Derby County             Home     W  1-0     1    55,174

******
  
Champions League:
Group D         P  W  D  L  F  A   Pts
Bayern Munich   6  3  2  1  9  6  11   
Man United      6  2  4  0 20 11  10
Barcelona       6  2  2  2 11  9   8    
Brondby         6  1  0  5  4 18   3   

Dec  9 Brøndby         0-2  Barcelona
Dec  9 Man Utd         1-1  Bayern Munich

	******

CHAMPIONS' LEAGUE QUARTER-FINAL DRAW
 Manchester Utd    v   Inter Milan
 Real Madrid       v   Dynamo Kiev
 Juventus          v   Olympiakos
 Bayern Munich     v   Kaiserslautern

 Ties to be played on March 3 and 17

++++++=========+++++++========+++++++++========++++++++


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Subject:  We only win when we're singing by Our Salford Lass

It wasn't a classic, far from it, but the overwhelming impression I've been
left with after last night (and indeed, after the Charlton game as well) is
that at last, United have re-discovered the art of grinding out a result
when necessary.  This is very good news, since all we have to do is keep
grinding out these results for the next couple of months and the
Premiership trophy will be back where it belongs.

I won't go into details about my personal pre-match build-up, since the bug
that has been ravishing my system since before Christmas finally decided to
opt for escape and my streaming nose and eyes, along with aching limbs and
gums (!) led to me falling asleep in my armchair, at three in the
afternoon, and not waking up until it was too late to go to the Throstle's
Nest.  When I awoke, feeling like I had two hangovers in one, it was all I
could do to head for the station and stay awake long enough to find a nice,
warm corner of the train to fall back to sleep again.  Luckily the train
terminates at Piccadilly and some kind person shook me awake, so I avoided
spending the evening going backwards and forwards between Manchester and
Sheffield!  I staggered down to the football special buses.  Now this mode
of transport is perfect for getting from the City centre to the game - it
costs 70 pence (half the price of the tram or train), takes 10 minutes, and
drops you off at the top of Sir Matt Busby Way.  Unfortunately, they park
at the bottom of Chorlton St, about a 10 minute walk from Piccadilly.  Most
fans either can't find them, or can't be arsed walking to them (what with
the tram sitting there invitingly).  I offered this opinion to the guy in
charge, after coughing and sneezing all over him, but he wasn't impressed -
having heard it all before.  So I grumpily headed for the back seat (where
it's nice and warm) and arrived at OT 10 minutes later in style - just 5 of
us on a double decker bus!

You may be thinking that the above tale is boring in the extreme, and I
wouldn't blame you, but believe me, this was about as exciting as the
evening got!  Walking down Sir Matt Busby Way there was the usual crowd,
but the crowd was subdued - there was little noise as we mingled with the
Derby fans and chatted quietly.  As I approached East Lower there was a bit
of a rumpus.  A number of fans had either bought or borrowed the game's
voucher from someone else's season ticket book.  What they hadn't realised
was that this was game number 13 and United never use that voucher - its
considered unlucky.  So a growing group of fans were muttering darkly
outside the turnstyles when they realised they needed voucher 14 and
actually had voucher 13!  I'm not sure who had the better evening - those
of us who got in, or those who didn't and who ended up spending the evening
in the pub!

Entering the stadium, I bought a cup of coffee and spent half-an-hour
watching the warm-up and huddling over my warm drink.  Gradually, I started
to feel better and get in the mood, although my recovery wasn't helped by
the son-and-heir who took one look at me and spent the rest of the game
with a surgical mask on!  Talking of the son-and-heir, he wishes to refute
Mick's contention that he arrived at Charlton with butties made by his
mummy and wishes to have it be known that he is an independent and mature
young man who will tell me straight away if anyone upsets him again!

So what can I say about the game?  Not a lot!  They had one shot at goal
all game, we had numerous shots but only one went in and there was only one
move in the whole game that made any sort of impression (a lovely move
downfield towards the end of the second half, in which Blomqvist did a
one-two with Ole, and then Yorke had a headers blocked by the Derby
keeper).  Defensively, Derby were excellent and gave our forward line very
little space to move.  This led to a rather dire game, only livened up by
Keane hitting a superb shot just wide (or just over the bar) at regular
intervals. During one particularly "exciting" bit, the son-and-heir and I
were even discussing whether or not he could afford to get a video recorder!

Like the game, the atmosphere was pretty dire.  East Stand stood throughout
the game (we were asked to sit down once, and then left alone) and we did
our best to get it going, but the rest of the stadium have to at least make
an effort.  There was a fair bit of chanting going on at our end but apart
from a short spell, it seemed like we were the only United fans in the
stadium.  To be honest, I'm finding it increasingly difficult to get worked
up about it these days - I'm fed-up with coming away from games feeling
angry and upset, so now I expect little from the crowd at OT and usually
I'm not disappointed.  Most people come to sit and watch, not to support.
I find myself looking forward to away games the way I used to look forward
to games at home.

At the beginning of the first half, the only sounds in the ground were the
Derby fans singing their one song - "Derby, super Derby" and the occasional
chant of "United".  It got a bit livelier mid-way through the first half
with choruses of "Who put the ball in the scouser's net", "You are my
Solskjaer" and "You've only come to see United" (to which the Derby fans
replied with "You've only come to see Wanchope"), but most of the first
half was spent in a stupor, with the major excitement being spying David
May warming up on the touchline.  The Derby fans did manage one bout of
booing for Becks, but their heart wasn't in it and our cheers in response
were pretty feeble.   The only bright spot of the first half was seeing
Stam weaving his way through panicking Derby players and then cracking in a
thunderous shot that just skimmed the post.  This drew a gasp of admiration
from the whole of East Stand and a short chorus of "Jaap Stam".

At the start of the second half, Peter came down to our end exhorting us to
sing up.  We responded and for the first time in the game, the rest of the
stadium decided to join in as well.  For 10 minutes or so, there was a
half-decent atmosphere as we chanted "Ferguson's red and white army".  Sure
enough, the players responded and non-stop pressure was applied to the goal
at the other end.  Working together, the crowd and the players eventually
got what they were working for, Yorke turned and fired the ball into the
back of the net to cue celebrations and Peter beaming up at us whilst
pointing to his ear!  This development sent Cole and Becks back to the
bench (they had been getting ready to come on) and the crowd back into
their stupor.  Despite a chorus of "We only win when we're singing" from
our bit of East Lower, the rest of the crowd seemed to have decided that a
1-0 win would be enough.

We carried on singing though.  "United, United, top of the League" and
"Keano's f...ing magic".  By now, the Derby fans were getting a little
pissed off and attempted to insult us with "You're just a bunch of
Cockneys" and "Do you come from Manchester?"  As we have been insulted by
those far more expert in the art, we just laughed at them and sang
"Manchester, Manchester, Manchester."  In the long silences in between
chants, we were entertained with "You're supposed to be at home" - spot on
chaps!!

Man of the Match?  There's only one candidate - Stam.   He is awesome.
Whether its having a crack at goal, commanding the defence or match-saving
tackles, he is the best.  I really don't believe there is a better central
defender in the Premiership at the moment.  Moment of the match was a few
minutes from the end.  A Derby forward had broken through to our right.  He
was in the box and round Gary Neville.  One-on-one with Peter, he looked
virtually certain to score.  We all watched in horror.  Then, seemingly
from nowhere, we see this Exocet missile coming in at speed from our left.
On one knee, with his right foot out in front, he slides across the box,
takes the ball, sends the Derby player onto his arse, and then cool as
anything, brushes himself down and gets on with marshalling the defence for
the corner.  The residents of East Lower and K Stand have seen it all at
OT, but the resulting gasp and applause showed that we all know we are
watching something special here.   Pillock of the match was the referee.
Obviously terrified of booking anyone in case they breathed on him and
knocked him over, he spent the whole game letting the Derby players get
away with murder.

Eventually, after suffering that last-minute scare, the final whistle blew
and we were 4 points clear at the top of the league.  As I said to the
son-and-heir, all we have to do now is win all our games and it's ours!
Leaving the ground, the Derby fans were pouring out of their section.  One
lad shouted "You're just a bunch of Cockney wankers" but no-one could be
bothered getting upset - it was that sort of evening.

Hopefully on Saturday, which of course is the anniversary of Munich, we can
honour the Babes with a much better performance, both on and off the pitch.


Copyright © 1999 by Our Salford Lass. All rights reserved.  
Not to be reproduced without permission of the author

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Subject: Alex and the England job: Personal Article by Pete Hargreaves

Whilst I have been known to criticise Alex (heresy!!) in the past for what,
I believe, is his occasional tactical naivety, I am absolutely sure that he
now ranks alongside Sir Matt as one of the greatest football managers of
all time. 

I am greatly concerned that the F.A. are going to try and take him away
from us.

Now my dad is positive that Alex would NEVER leave Old Trafford, but then I
WAS positive that wild horses would never drag Kiddo away, and look how
wrong I was with that one.

If you don't want to be bored to death with my paranoia please 'trash' this
mailing NOW. I'm going to try and explain why I feel that the F.A. will
move heaven and earth to steal Alex away from us.

At Christmas in the season after we won the first Premiership we were doing
so well that the newspapers and the bookies had stated, categorically, that
the title race was over and that Manchester United would win it. All of a
sudden footballing interest in the premiership ceased and all the fuss was
about the First division. I can't remember who the sponsors of the League
were that year (could have been Nationwide - doesn't matter) but it most
certainly wasn't the same lot who had poured millions into the F.A. for
sponsorship of the Premiership. I said to dad at the time that the sponsors
of the Premiership were not going to be pleased with the lack of publicity
for 'their' League. 

Co-incidentally (co-incidentally my arse!) we started to fall foul of
referee's decisions (ie do they send people off for diving? YES - Keane
(Blackburn) etc) and F.A. treatment (ie Eric has a go at a racist thug - 8
months, Di Italian HITS referee - six matches or (say) two months). In
spite of it all we still prevailed! Referee/FA persecution has remained
ever since. I'm NOT wrong. Even my dad now agrees with me!!!!!

If you think about it it becomes quite obvious why, in these
money-is-everything days, the F.A. just can't afford for another
Liverpool-type domination to exist, where attention is diverted away from
the Premiership to the other divisions. As it happens the Football League's
play-off system was introduced purely to bring publicity to, and for, the
Football League's sponsors.

And so I get around to why the F.A. will want Alex. Whether they are
correct or not (and, of course, they are) they will attribute our success
in, and total domination of, the 90's to one man - Alex Ferguson. If they
can entice him away then they win on two counts. 

Firstly they have, arguably, the best football manager in the world in
charge of the England team, and secondly they leave Manchester United
without their 'wizard' and thus will think that they will break our
stranglehold on the Premiership. Yes, I know Wanker's boy-scouts won it
last year, but that was just as much a flash in the pan as the
Land-that-time-forgot Rovers win. We are still the dominant factor in
English football.

Incidentally my dad is absolutely convinced that Walker took Kiddo purely
to spite Manchester United. I happen to think he is correct as I know
Walker to be a spoilt brat. What that means, of course, is that if Kiddo is
not an instant success (he's done well so far in fairness) then he will be
down the road quicker than one of Stam's shots (did you see that shot? What
a belter. And this from a centre-half. I mean, a centre-bloody-half!!!).

So there you have it. I'm daft - we all know that - but sometimes I do get
it right. Do everything you can to stop Alex going. Write to him and tell
him you love him - anything, just keep the man at Old Trafford.

Keep the Faith,         Pete
Peter Hargreaves   (United Kingdom)
http://www.cheswem.u-net.com/

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From:  Tim Olson 
Subject: In Fergie we trust

When you hear that a top club is going to make a major signing for
over 10 million quid, usually the likes of Batistuta, Del Piero, Vieri,
Maldini, Roberto Carlos, etc. come to mind, although with the great
inflation of transfer fees, close to 20 million quid would be a more
accurate price for these players today.

When I heard that Ferguson wanted to sign Jaap Stam and Dwight
Yorke for over 10 and 12 million quid, I wondered what he was
thinking. I had never payed much attention to Dwight when he was
at Villa. The only time I had seen Stam was in a friendly match
between the US and Holland. He played well and seemed like the
sort of player you don't mess with (I think he went so far as to grab
one US player by the neck). But a total of over 20 million pounds for
these two? "Don't, Alex," I thought at the time, "get someone better
for that price." Then, Kluivert and Ortega seemed like a better choice.

The fact that neither of them asked for outrageous wages, and that
both of them wanted to play for United was certainly a plus, but I
still was not very enthusiastic about the idea of these two playing
for us. For that sort of money...?

Then it was reported that Dwight likes to run around in dresses and
other sort of women's clothing. Jaap never looked all that comfortable
in his position in United's defence.

A few weeks later, everything changed. Although Dwight's fondness of
women's clothes never really bothered me, once the ball hit the back
of the net on a regular basis, as far as I was concerned, Dwight could
do whatever he wants to in his spare time, as long it does not interfere
with his performance on the pitch. If the dress wearing actually helps,
I'd even be happy to buy him a couple of dresses for his birthday.

Andy was certainly happy that Fergie bought Dwight. Good mates on
the field, good mates off the field, and over 34 goals between them.

..and Jaap? He usually has a cool head on him, but still seems to be
ready to grab any scouser or other opposition player by the neck if he
has to. I think he and Keano could become good mates. These days,
Stam seems very comfortable in the back, and it is pretty difficult to get
anything by him.

I was wrong to think that these two would not be good for the club. They
have certainly added a lot to the squad.

Meanwhile, all Kluivert could think about was "mo' money, mo' money,
mo' money." At first he said that he would refuse to ever go back to AC
Milan again, but that went out the window right fast when they waved a
bigger cheque in front of his nose. Then Barcelona waved an even bigger
cheque in front of his nose and he was off to Spain. He wanted to join
United but was not allowed to? Right. I am sure his agent put a gun to
his head and forced Kluivert to join Barcelona.

Ortega is whinging on that he does not like it at Sampdoria and in Italy
any more, and he'd rather go play for River Plate back in Argentina.

Now I am very happy that Ferguson did not sign these two clowns.

Goes to show you that Ferguson knows what he is doing. Next season,
whether we have Buffon, Van Der Sar, or Roa standing between the posts,
or some bloke nobody has ever heard of, I trust that he will be the right

keeper for us. Dwight makes you wonder if he is Eric in disguise. I hope
that our new keeper will make us wonder if he is Schmikes in disguise.

Cheers,

Tim
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          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