Date: Sat, 29 May 1999 00:00:49 -0500 Reply-To: "Manchester United Football Club (soccer)" Sender: "Manchester United Football Club (soccer)" From: Automatic digest processor Subject: MUFC Digest - 27 May 1999 to 28 May 1999 (#1999-39) To: Recipients of MUFC digests There are 50 messages totalling 3868 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. 23 words that changed the course of football history 2. We can rule for ten years 3. Drama at the death ... 4. United toast Fergie's party piece 5. Gazza Neville's verdict on the game 6. What the papers said 7. (BBC) Manchester salutes heroes 8. goalkeeper news (3) 9. A view from the hinterlands 10. European Super Cup; Intercontinental Cup; FIFA Club World Championship 11. Enjoyable article from a London Red 12. Query about European Rankings & Parade stuff 13. Attention: Oz Reds + Medals + ABUs 14. True sectret behind united's success (2) 15. Glory Glory Manchester United 16. FW: Always look on the bright side... 17. Various Reuters reports 18. Half-million fans welcome United home 19. Next Seasons fixtures 20. UEFA's Player Performnace Review 21. Reflections on an astonishing evening 22. Oh lucky man 23. Internet scrap book 24. Photo request 25. Euro Final 26. Bosnich (2) 27. Photos of the parade... 28. A Day to Remember 29. The ABUs are out in force (2) 30. Goalie 31. United players in England squad/fans who missed the goals 32. Obvious joke - Quadruple? 33. Californian treble watching 34. Beckham 35. CL final replay for Canadian reds 36. LIST: A Day in the Life - a life in a day part 1 37. LIST: A Day in the Life - a life in a day part 2 38. Uefa Club Rankings...This is rediculous (2) 39. England Squad 40. There was one terrifying moment.... 41. List: Great Goals (2) 42. Medals + article from soccernet 43. Proud ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 09:29:06 +0300 From: Terry Dale Subject: 23 words that changed the course of football history 23 WORDS THAT CHANGED THE COURSE OF FOOTBALL HISTORY (Mirror) The cup is only six feet away from you at the end of this day. If you lose you can't even touch it ALEX FERGUSON'S HALF-TIME TEAM TALK ALEX FERGUSON stood in the middle of the Manchester United dressing room and turned slowly to look each of his players in the eye. It was half-time in the Champions League final, 9.35pm Spanish time and his side were struggling at 1-0 down to Bayern Munich. Thirty seconds later Ferguson had spoken 23 short words. And they changed the course of football history. The United boss said simply: "The cup is only six feet away from you at the end of this day. If you lose you can't even touch it." He spoke quietly and from the heart, raising every hair on the back of every head. Mine rose yesterday when he revealed what he had told his Nou Camp heroes to drive them towards possibly the greatest ever United comeback. Ferguson looked fresh and alive after having his nerves shredded on a night of unbelievable tension. He undoubtedly thrives on drama and was in the perfect mood to utter those prophetic words to rouse his troops. He added: "That was all I said. You have to find a way to affect people's lives. One of these ways is through motivation. But there are different ways. "It is not an easy thing to do because you can sometimes ruin the whole effect. "I prepare the best I can. I have always been good tactically over the years but motivation is an absolutely massive influence in whatever you do. But you have to be careful. If you just look at some players they can melt. You have to make sure you don't over do it. "It is a dangerous game, motivation. It comes back to personalities again. Sometimes I have gone over the top. At half-time or the end of the game. But then they know very well how much it means to me. "Eventually it seeps into their pores and you hope that in the end they are like that themselves. Maybe one or two of them will later become managers. I am sure of it. And they will have to have that part in them to get through to everyone. "Twenty years from now this team that will always be remembered for their last minute goals and for never giving up." Ferguson cannot speak too highly of his English and European kings. He always said that he would wait and reserve the right to compare them to his outstanding Double-winning side of 1994. But now he does not hold back from delivering the highest of praise. There are no more doubts. Ferguson added: "The '94 team had mental toughness. So many of them. Real tough b******s. Mentally tough that is. I said this present bunch could only be judged on what they have achieved. Now they have achieved and now they are the best. There is no question about that. They are the legends now." No one would deny him that tribute. Not even the greatest of 1968 who brought the first European Cup to Old Trafford. Ferguson's mind flashed back to those latter day legends as he sat with one of them, Sir Bobby Charlton, long into the Nou Camp night pondering about heavenly intervention. He says: "We were chatting about just how great was this European achievement. Well, it was just a fairytale. "Bobby said about it being Sir Matt Busby's 90th birthday and that he was probably looking down on us. "There had to be some meaning to it all. Matt's birthday. Playing a team from Munich and all that. The number of times we have won games like that and of course Peter Schmeichel's last match. "I didn't really take it all in. I didn't really feel a lot to be honest but when I got back to the hotel and I was with my family I really enjoyed it. "I stayed up until 5am and they were still at it. All my family were here except my grandson who is only five. "During the game I was gearing up to the final and inevitable question: 'Do you think you will ever win it?' "You have to address that. But I was refusing to interrupt my life in a sense. I wasn't going to let it test or upset me. "I hadn't thought the treble was possible. I just felt the FA Cup was one step too many. To get to the semi-final, then a replay and then extra-time. "That was the killer for us. I had to juggle the balls. Tried to relieve the pressure. "But deep down I didn't feel the treble was really on. These players, though, have established themselves on a new higher level. In the pantheon of George Best, Denis Law and Bobby Charlton. They can't be ignored now in that respect. I don't think the '68 side will deny them either. Some were at the party. They are proud of them. The old team did their bit all those year's ago. They were the men of other times. "Now these lads have established something by themselves." The show still goes on, though. Ferguson will have a summer break, splash some more transfer cash and then get the pre-season ball rolling again in the middle of July. So will he be tempted to take it a little easier after winning the lot? The question deserved the answer of dismissal. What is required now is to say that we can get better," the United boss said. "I have my last three years and I want to go out as successful as I can be. I don't want to leave without having won anything more since Barcelona. That would be a waste of talent for both the players and myself. "We can drive ourselves to more challenges. There will be the world club champion-ship in Tokyo. But this European Cup is always something you strive for. I was never obsessed by it though. On Wednesday I just accepted that we were going to lose. "I had to do that because I wasn't going to let myself get all twisted up inside. I have a life to live. "Now, I have won it I do feel a sense of fulfilment. There is no question about that. "You look at the names of the teams who are on that new European Cup. Ajax. Bayern Munich. Juventus. Real Madrid. And now Manchester United. "You see those names and you think that's what this is all about. That was a fantastic result for English football. The Germans showed us respect and by doing that they showed that they were respecting English football. "Maybe we were meant to win it. Maybe it was destiny. You just live with a certain determination that you don't want to fail. "Once you sample success then you say right, the main drive now is going to be more success. This survival mechanism inside me gives me a lot of parts that are reflected in this team. "Not giving in is one of them. You hope that the team mirrors yourself. That it eventually thinks like you and reflects yourself." United 98 certainly does. They are stubborn, relentless and born winners. Just like the boss. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 09:30:50 +0300 From: Terry Dale Subject: We can rule for ten years FOOTBALL1: WE CAN RULE FOR TEN YEARS (Mirror) United stars pledge to build on their Euro night of triumph IT WAS an incredible, unforgettable scene. Peter Schmeichel in centre stage lifting the European Cup as 40,000 cameras flashed to bathe Manchester United in a stunning light. Schmeichel had tried to convince Alex Ferguson to collect the trophy, but the United boss insisted that it was the Dane's destiny to pick up Europe's most treasured piece of European silverware on his farewell appearance against Bayern Munich. You can rest assured, though, that Schmeichel's will be the only departure this summer. After claiming their place in Manchester United history, wild horses could not drag any of the rest away. An already-great team firmly believe they are on a path to even greater glories. Schmeichel, whose night to remember was slightly tinged with sadness at his exit from Old Trafford, said: "This United side is a very, young team, and there's no doubt in my mind that there are more European Cups for them." One of those young players, Nicky Butt, is in agreement and believes United can rule for the next decade, such is their skill and belief that they truly are the greatest. Butt said: "We have a great team spirit. We're young, so hopefully we can dominate soccer for the next 10 years. We've got to try and make that happen. We must not be one-year wonders." David Beckham, whose majestic performances have won over an often hostile public this season, added: "It's been an amazing 11 days for the team, for the manager and for everyone. Alex Ferguson deserves everything he gets. We owe him everything. I certainly do because he brought me into football and made my career. But this victory wasn't just for the players on the pitch but for everyone involved in this great club. "You could tell that at the end when the boss wanted Roy Keane out there holding the trophy. "He might not have played but, believe me, he was there in spirit. "It's the same spirit between the players that's made us complete this wonderful Treble." His sentiments were echoed by Dwight Yorke, whose marksmanship has made United not just successful but exciting as well. Yorke said: "There's a closeness in this team, a bond in the dressing-room, and we have proved that over the season when people have written us off. Every time we have bounced back. "To be part of Manchester United is the best feeling that any footballer can have." And Gary Neville firmly believes they can maintain their heady standards and has another name for the team Ferguson calls his soccer gods. Neville said: "I can't explain how we won the game. It just happened. In a way it was supernatural. "It was like nothing I have ever experienced before in my life. I'm not going to say that now we've reached the peak. We have just won the Treble but we've got to come back next season and do it all over again. "The manager sets the work ethic here, and if you let that slip you will be out of the club. Now we are up there we have got to try and stay at the top. "I remember hearing the 1968 side in recent interviews saying that when they won the European Cup they felt as though they had done it. "But we have to go out and win it again and again. It won't be easy but we can't sit back and think we have made it. "We deserved to win the Treble. This team never gives up. It fights to the end and that reflects the manager's spirit." So while they will be searching for a replacement for Schmeichel, it is unlikely that there will be other holes to be filled in this squad. Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer have always been singled out - hastily it must be said - as likely casualties in another end-of-season shake-up. But it would be a waste if their unquestioned talent was disposed of after the season they have experienced. Scoring the goals that brought down Bayern underlined their undoubted value to Ferguson and United. Sheringham, teased about his absence of trophies, now has three of the best. And for the third time in 11 days he emerged from the darkness of the tunnel with a gleaming gong decorating his chest. In fact, the repeated departure of the United medallion men gave another huge clue to their phenomenal success story. It was not just the same grey blazers bearing the United emblem or the medals dangling from their necks that told you about their uniformity. These boys are in it together. They won together. Danced in wild celebration together. And there is no doubt that whenever that famous night in Barcelona is recalled they will stay together...United for ever. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 09:39:39 +0300 From: Terry Dale Subject: Drama at the death ... Drama at the death as United makehistory Jim White (Guardian) How do you begin to describe this football match? How, in the crazy last few seconds, can it be comprehended? How, when every certainty is overturned, every paragraph about German superiority made suddenly redundant, can you quantify the incredible drama that sport alone canthrow up? The bald facts are these: Last night Manchester United last night became the first English side in history to win the treble, beating Bayern Munich 2-1 in Barcelona to win the European Champions' League. But the manner of their victory was such that no one, not their manager Alex Ferguson, nor the thousands of delirious English supporters, not even the scriptwriters of Roy of the Rovers would dare to suggest. With thestadium clock showing 90 minutes,United scored not once but twice to wipe out an early goal scored by BayernMunich and take home the European Cup, the largest piece of silverware in world football. For most of the match they had been behind after Bayern scored from a free-kick and outclassed United, hitting the woodwork twice. It was not until injury time that substitute Teddy Sheringham scored the equaliser after a scramble following a corner. Another corner led to the winner from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, with virtually the last kick of the match. United manager Alex Ferguson said: "Wenever gave in. It's fantastic. I'm so proud of my players." It was an astonishing setting to host the astonishing climax to an astonishingseason. Barcelona's Nou Camp, its stand steepling up into the gloaming, oozed the kind of atmosphere that can reduce the most resolute of spines to jelly. And that was before the kick-off. History was in the air all right: Bayern Munich and Manchester United were both striving to become the first football club from their countries to win the treble of domestic league and cup and the senior European trophy. But to walk through Barcelona before the game was to assume only one team was in it. All day the city had been turned intoa suburb of Manchester. Tens of thousands of English fans had descended on the place, many without tickets, just wanting to be there, to marinade in the sun and beer, to be close to history. Everywhere in the Spanish city, Bayern Munich were outnumbered, out-sung, out-enthused by their English counterparts. Except, that is, on the pitch. There it was the German players who made the first claim for history, Mario Basler scoring with a free kick in the fifth minute. Despite the setback, United, being the team they are, never stopped trying: David Beckham's long legs galloped through the mid field, Ryan Giggs jinked and dashed, Andy Cole gave his all. But German football teams are made of sterner stuff than the sides United are used to playing in England. Bayern's steel grey shirts seemed to reflect their determination. Until that is Ferguson sent on Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to provide the climax no one could believe. So where does this leave United? Ferguson has always believed that a club's standing is measured solely by the accumulation of trophies. By that measure, his team found a unique place in Catalonia. But those who have been priveleged to see Ferguson's side this season, who witnessed their European triumphs in Italy, believe they have ben watching the greatest English team ever. Perhaps not the greatest individual players, but a group of men enthused with a spirit that lifts them beyond the ordinary, a team infected by their manager with a drive which will never say die. And there is something else about them too. Back in 1968, when United last won the European Cup, it was the culmination of their manager Matt Busby's dream, it was about exorcising the ghosts of a team that died in the pursuit of the trophy, about completing a task curtailed 10 years previously at Munich airport. They all went home after that triumph sensing it was over, the job done. But for their successors this victory is just the start. Ferguson has not strived for over a decade to stop here. So for poor Colin Shindler, who had a bestseller telling the world that Manchester United ruined his life, there is more misery to come. For the thousands who loathe United, the future will consist of nothing but standing up and hating Man U. While he will have loved riding round the Nou Camp on the shoulders of his players, next season it will be back to the old routine for Ferguson. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 09:45:49 +0300 From: Terry Dale Subject: United toast Fergie's party piece United toast Ferguson's party piece (Telegraph) Ferguson's trophy cabinet DAWN had crept over Barcelona and turned into morning yesterday when the staff at the hotel where Manchester United were celebrating began to beg the players to wind up a party that still seemed to be in full swing. They wanted to set the tables for breakfast. Some of the players, still wearing their European Cup winner's medals, succumbed finally to the exhaustion that adrenalin had been keeping at bay and returned to their rooms. Others wandered out into the deserted streets and towards the port. They came across some Bayern Munich supporters there, as crumpled and as broken as the team that they had vanquished the night before in the Nou Camp here. They commiserated with them for a while and mulled over the incredible events of the night before. Then they made their way back to the hotel and readied themselves for the journey home, still scarcely able to take in the fact that they had just completed the most dramatic comeback in the history of the world's leading club competition. Like all of us, they were full of wonder at how close they had come to losing, about how exhilarating victory felt. "I knew our time was almost up," David Beckham said. "I looked around and I saw the cup being carried down to the pitch with Bayern Munich colours on it. Two minutes later, I had it in my own hands and it was ours." By then, Alex Ferguson, the manager, had appeared, beaming broadly. He sat outside on a first-floor terrace, the noise of water from a roaring fountain below calming his racing thoughts. His voice was hoarse with elation and fatigue. His words, though, were clear and emphatic. Perhaps it was a trick of the mind, but they seemed to carry even more authority than usual. It was as if he had taken the final leap into greatness with his team the night before. He spoke of the drive that he still had, of his determination not to go quietly or without further success in what he has said will be the last three years of his career. Yet there was a sense of peacefulness about him, too, a sense of completion and fulfilment. And for us, there was an inkling of what it might have been like to have sat and listened to the wisdom of Sir Matt Busby the day after George Best and Bobby Charlton had helped him to the European Cup 31 years ago. Ferguson will not dwell in anyone's shadow any more. His domestic achievements had already brought him most of the way into the sunlight. The fact that United had just completed an unprecedented treble, and that they had done it by performing a miracle of footballing resurrection, completed the transformation. It made it more special that it had happened on the day that would have been Busby's 90th birthday, that United will now be able to associate the name of Munich with something that is a symbol of the club's rejuvenation and rebirth, not just a lasting reminder of the tragedy and misery of an air disaster. For most of the match, though, that kind of jubilation and catharsis had seemed a world away. Bayern had taken the lead through Mario Basler in the sixth minute and, as United toiled, had hit the woodwork twice in the second half. Ferguson had reconciled himself to defeat, to trying again next year, before two corners from Beckham had yielded an injury-time equaliser from Teddy Sheringham and a winner 92 seconds later from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, his fellow substitute, that sent the United section of the crowd into delirium. "We would have had no reason to be disappointed after the season we had had, but I was gearing up to facing the question about: 'Do you think you will ever win it?' " Ferguson said. "I would have refused to have interrupted my way of life for it. I was not going to let it obsess me. The European Cup was always going to be the thing you strive for, but even last night I was relaxed about it. I was accepting that we were going to lose. I was not going to get myself twisted inside about it because I have got a life to live. Now, though, I do feel a sense of fulfilment that I did not feel before. "I think you go into your life with a determination that you especially don't want to fail. I think that's the first thing. When you sample success, that makes your main drive from then on repeating that success. "That survival mechanism inside you gives you a lot to impart to the team and not giving in is part of it. You hope that eventually, your team mirrors yourself and your personality. "I hope that part of the result of that is that 20 years from now, when they talk about the chief characteristic of this particular team, they will always be remembered for their last-minute goals, for never giving in. The 1968 side were men of their time and now my team cannot be ignored. They are men of their time now. "I mean, two goals in injury time, who would have thought it? Maybe we were meant to win it. Maybe there was an element of destiny. With Matt's birthday and Bayern Munich all in there, I kept hoping there was a meaning to it. You could tell Matt was looking down on me." In the Nou Camp tunnel on Wednesday night, the players had spoken of the debt that they owed to their manager. Peter Schmeichel had acknowledged it by asking him to help him to lift the trophy, Sheringham had said that the turning point in the match was Ferguson's half-time team-talk. Ferguson smiled when he was asked yesterday what he had said. For a few seconds, there was just the sound of the fountains. "I told them that the cup is only six feet away from you at the end of the game," he said, "and if you lose, you cannot touch it." No doubt, Beckham had those words ringing in his mind when he saw the European Cup being carried down, ready to be presented to Bayern. He took the ball, placed it by the corner flag and the rest is history. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 09:49:25 +0300 From: Terry Dale Subject: Gazza Neville's verdict on the game Gary Neville on why the attacking policy of his team deserved to succeed (Telegraph) Entertaining to the final encore I KEPT looking up at the clock. It was ticking down towards the end of the second half. I saw it go through 40 minutes, 42 minutes, 43 minutes and I just thought that the Germans had gone and done us again. By that stage, we had thrown all caution to the wind. We had got a throw on the left-hand side and Ryan Giggs was going to take it, but I rushed over to stop him because I thought we could do with a long throw into their box at that stage. When that came back out, I think either I or David Beckham managed to force a corner on that side. Becks took it and Teddy scored the equaliser. When that goal went in, I just got a sense that something was going to happen. Even so, when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer got the second one, I could hardly believe it. I don't think any of us could. Even when we got back in the dressing-room and we were almost out of control with delight, I don't think any of us could really take it in that we had won the European Cup. Everybody was just so happy. People were hugging each other everywhere. What I remember most about those moments was the feeling that what we had done actually meant something, it had affected people's lives. I suppose winning the trophy was the last piece in the jigsaw for this United team. It was the one thing that had got away from us, until Wednesday night, the one thing we had left to achieve. I had never really felt any burden weighing down on me because of what the 1968 team had done. Trying to win the league championship after such a long time a few years ago was more difficult than any pressure to win the European Cup. Now that we have done it, it doesn't mean that we can stop and sit back. There are teams that have won the European Cup four times. Just look at the haul that clubs such as Real Madrid and Liverpool have got. They are the targets. They represent what we have got to try to get to. Even before the game, the manager said it would just be a stepping-stone for us, that the greatest things were to come. There is always somebody who has done more than you in this game. The moment you rest on your laurels, you are beaten. Partly because of that, I didn't think Bayern deserved to win. In a way, you have to admire the way they nearly killed the game off, but you have to ask if that is football and if a team that does that deserves to succeed. Maybe I am being naive, but should using all your experience just to stifle a game be enough to win you a European Cup final? I don't think it should. Think of all the great teams, Brazil in 1970, teams such as that: they would not have done that and nor would we. I think the way we won on Wednesday was a victory for football. I don't think a team has ever entertained as much as we have done in one season. I don't want to get carried away, but think of the second leg against Juventus, the FA Cup semi-final replay with Arsenal and the Cup-tie with Liverpool. Normally, you would only get one or two games like that in your life. I am lucky that I have experienced so many of them at such a young age. People are always coming up to me and talking about how many medals I have got, but I honestly don't care about the medals. From Wednesday night, if I had to pick out a couple of things, it would be the memory of lifting the manager up on our shoulders and of Roy Keane coming through at the end to take his place with us. That was important. The fans love Keano and the players know how much he has contributed to our success this season. It was a night when everything was perfect. I had been looking up at our fans, 45,000 of them or however many there were, and just thinking how amazing it would be if I could just see them celebrating a goal. I know some of them had spent an awful lot of money getting to Barcelona and paying for their tickets, but the feelings that those people had on Wednesday night - money can't buy them. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 09:56:44 +0300 From: Terry Dale Subject: What the papers said What the papers said THE incredulity surrounding the nature of United's victory was perhaps best-reflected by L'Equipe, the French daily sports newspaper, which declared in a headline "God Is English". In its three pages of coverage, L'Equipe praised the "energy, passing and free kicks of Beckham" and concluded: "As a legend, 'Becks' has just joined Best. Sport, the Barcelona daily newspaper, devoted its first 23 pages to the match and spoke of the last final of the millennium deserving an historic final. "And how we got it," the paper said. El Pais recalled the late Sir Matt Busby, who was the Manchester United manager when they last won the trophy in 1968. Sir Matt, who died five years ago, would have been 90 on the day of the final and El Pais stated: "Happy Birthday, Sir Matt." Marca, the Madrid daily sports paper: God saved Manchester United. Sport: The Red Devils - from the inferno to glory. The Nou Camp, for all its majesty and the fact that this was the last European Cup final of the millennium, deserved a historic final. And how we got it. The denouement of Manchester United-Barcelona has no comparison. Never was a loser more of a loser; never was a winner so fortunate. From glory to misery in a minute. El Mundo, another Spanish newspaper: Manchester touched glory in one minute. A magical final in a magical setting. El Pais: The match was possibly the most dramatic ever seen in the history of the European Cup. IF NEWSPAPERS in neutral countries were spellbound by the spectacle, it was a different matter in Germany. On its front page, Bild carried a front-page black and white photo of Stefan Effenberg, the Bayern captain, sitting dejectedly on the ground, his head bowed. The paper had just two words in its headline: "Oh, no!" Bild: That was bitter. Just unbelievable. TZ, the Munich daily tabloid: Ninety minutes party and then the tears poured. One Munich supporter, Peter Bond, an actor, demanded: How can a top team let in two goals at the end? A total of 13.59 million people in Germany watched the entire game on RTL television, 1.7 million fewer than when Borussia Dortmund won the European Cup final in 1997. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 09:59:01 +0300 From: Terry Dale Subject: (BBC) Manchester salutes heroes Manchester salutes heroes Ambition realised: Alex Ferguson with the silverware Manchester United received a noisy and ecstatic welcome at the city's MEN Arena when they showed off the European Cup. Manager Alex Ferguson praised the club's "magnificent" fans and said the players had been "fantastic" in Wednesday night's thrilling final in Barcelona. Asked how he had felt with Bayern Munich leading 1-0 with only seconds of ordinary time to go, Ferguson said: "We needed a miracle and we got it." He joked: "I was quite relaxed until I saw Peter (Schmeichel) go up for the corner kick." Teddy Sheringham equalised and Ferguson said: "Once we scored that was it." 'Best night of my life' Norwegian substitute Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scored the winner deep into injury time to cap what Ferguson described as "without question the best night of my life". The victory secured an historic treble of the European Cup, Premiership trophy and FA Cup. The team arrived to a cacophonous welcome in the MEN Arena after a seven-mile journey through the streets of Manchester. A total of 17,500 tickets for the Arena event went on sale at 3 each, and the proceeds will be donated to Ferguson's charity testimonial. Ferguson said: "People said this morning there was going to be a quarter of million. But there must have been a million. It was magnificent." Route lined with people The squad flew into Manchester Airport at teatime and as they paraded on an open-top bus they were greeted by jubilant fans all along the route. Police estimated around 400,000 people were on the streets. Sheringham was joined at the front of the double-decker by United legend Sir Bobby Charlton. In the MEN Arena United captain Roy Keane - who was suspended for Wednesday's game - and Peter Schmeichel spoke to the crowd. The giant Danish goalkeeper, who played his last game for United in the Nou Camp, said: "When I said at the beginning of the season that this was going to be my last for United I thought we might be standing here with a trophy. But to win all three is fantastic." 'More trophies to come' He said: "This team is the best I have ever played, will ever play in, and it is going to win these trophies for many years to come." The Mayors of Salford and Trafford boroughs spoke briefly to applaud the team's achievements and the leader of Manchester City Council, Richard Lees, said: "Manchester United proved last night that they are the best club team in the world." Earlier another Manchester city councillor, Pat Karney, said Thursday seemed to be an "unofficial day off" in Manchester, with many people taking the day off work. Calls for knighthood On Thursday Sports Minister Tony Banks joined calls for Ferguson to be knighted. Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, he said: "You can't negotiate the honours list over radio or television. "But let me tell you this, if anyone asked my opinion it would be 'Yes, he certainly should.'" UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said the whole country was proud of Manchester United's achievement in winning the European Cup. 'They've earned immortality' Fans who had gathered to watch the victory parade were thrilled with the occasion. Student Chris Davis, 15, from Davyhulme, said: "This is really exciting. I watched the match yesterday and I came along to see the cup. This is an historic moment." His mother Linda, 45, said: "Last night was just awesome, I could hardly watch, but this has topped it all off." Bryan Jay, 64, from Stretford, said: "They've made history. I've been a supporter since I was 14 and it's been great to see them parade through the city. "They've earned themselves immortality and I would have come to see them even if they hadn't won last night's game." ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 08:30:23 +0100 From: David garland Subject: Re: goalkeeper news Shay Given is a top class keeper and Newcastle don't want him anymore, so why don't we take him off their hands. Cheers Dave ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 03:05:55 -0500 From: Paul Rodes Subject: A view from the hinterlands I've been enjoying reading reports of those who watched the game from various bars and pubs, spilling beer and singing songs into the wee hours. And I can't wait to read the reports that come in from those who were at the event itself. But I thought I'd add in a slightly different view--what it's like to watch such a game in the provincial realms of the only country on earth where nobody much cares about the biggest football game of the year. These last three games I've thought about DA--a true mancunian forced to take this in from the strange vantage of this side of the the Atlantic. If anyone belonged in the Nou Camp Wednesday, it was him. Me, I've grown used to my lot. Growing up in middle America (Hoosier=Indiana native), I never had much chance to follow the team at all--I only had my memories of Bestie & co. from a childhood sojorn in England. So I'm enormously thankful for the changes brought about by the internet and cable tv. But the experience can still be limited at times. Wednesday afternoon I sat in front of my television, stereo sound set to "live" for a full effect. Unfortunately, the dominant sound was ESPN's "Onion Bag" Tommy Smyth, full of his usual insane observations and mistaken characterizations. My one comfort was that he wouldn't be able to mispronounce "Sholes" today. The game starts, and United looks shaky as usual. I hope we can get through it without conceding a goal, but of course we let one in at six minutes. Onion Bag keeps berating the United wall during the replays, saying they weren't out wide enough. Apparently he didn't notice the Bayern players creating those spaces and ducking out to let the ball through. As I cursed and stomped, my wife offered a word of sympathy in the same indulgent tone she uses when I can't find my keys or have some other little frustration. She was watching a home decorating show in the other room and trying to take a nap during her lunch break from work. I'd better keep my curses low, I thought. I logged on to the IRC for some company in my misery. I used to need the IRC for the commentary, when the games were never on tv. Now I need them for the companionship, so I can share the experience with others who care about the reds. Unfortunately, most of the regulars were at the game or watching it somewhere. Amir and Rol were there (bless them) and a few others, but where were Mimsie, Nick C., and the others who make up the usual saurday cheering section? In their place were a motley collection of foul-mothed yobs and johnny-come-latelies. "Hi, I'm from Israel and I'm 16" one of them kept repeating midway through the second half. "Frankly, at this moment," Amir finally told him, "WE DON'T CARE." An interesting change was the presence of several non-united fans--even one scouser--pulling for the reds. I had thought we were more hated among opposing fans than Hitler himself, but I guess there's some lingering anti-German sentiment left in England after all. Still. these folks were outsiders, and in the circumstances I wanted my old familiar compatriot reds around. As the first half progressed, Bayern looked to have an answer to every attack. I didn't really think Fergie's experiment was so radical--after all, he's played Giggs and Bloomers right/left that way a couple times already in Beckham's absence, and it worked surprisingly well before. To my admittedly untrained eyes it looked like we were penetrating well down the wings, but Bayern were defending the passing lanes into the box with annoying efficiency. Every cross was deflected, cleared, or smothered as it came across. Every time Yorke or Cole got the ball, the defense was already collapsing in on them. By the second half, things were beginning to look bleak. United didn't seem to be getting forward as well as before, and our attack was really sputtering. At about 57 minutes, the dog threw up on our brand new carpeting. I sympathized with her at the time, but the cleanup was an unneeded distraction. Ten minutes later as Teddy came on my wife headed off to work. The dog thought she should get to go out too, and she spent the rest of the game sitting by the door looking at me plaintively. I tried to ignore her. On the IRC I was opining hopefully that Teddy might do well if we continue to win all these corners. As Ole came on I felt we had a chance: Bayern had been great shutting down the space that Cole and Yorke usually make to operate in, but Teddy and Ole are great at quick strikes in crowded boxes. Even so, it looked bad as time wound down. The crowd on the IRC was getting pretty surly. One person (Alicia, I think) said something hopeful about the Liverpool game, but how could lightning strike twice? Then teddy hit the equalizer, and I jumped up yelling and dancing around the living room. It was so sudden, so beyond hope, I could literally not be sure I had just witnessed it. But sure enough, there was Tommy Smyth on ESPN saying Teddy had just "put the ball in the old onon bag." I never thought I'd be happy to hear those words. I could barely control my fingers to type my gleeful response into the IRC channel. Just as I was gearing up for a tense extra time, a delivery woman arrived at the door. It was a package I was expecting, and I knew I'd have to sign for it. Damn. I try to do it quickly, explaining there's a big soccer game on. Oh, yeah, soccer, she says. That's getting popular now, isn't it. A lot of kids playing. It sure is, I agree, and run back inside. What's this? The score in the corner says 2-0! The highlight they're showing is a second goal?!?! I couldn't believe it. I screamed, yelled, jumped around, voiced my disbelief to noone in particular. The dog looked back at me in vague alarm. In truth, though, her reaction was pretty much the same as I could expect from any of my friends here in town. I had to scream at myself, because nobody else I know could understand that this was an absolute freaking miracle. On the tv, the players were doing the same thing I was--walking aimlessly around, looking stunned. I've never before seen a team so shocked at conceding a goal that they couldn't even regroup to kick off. In another moment the game was over, and we had won the cup. Pandemonium on the IRC. As the team lined up for medals, poor Rol was trying to describe the scene for those without tv, but he was interrupted constantly by exclamations of wonder and joy. As I watched the cup raised, saw young Wes and Rai carrying fergie around on their shoulders, my smile grew wider and wider. The music was blasting various players' songs (is this the dreaded Keith Fane opus? How did he make the travelling squad? Was Fred the Red there too?) and then the entire stadium launched into the Calypso. I had to go in to work at that point. The rest of the day passed like a dream. Inside I was bursting with exhileration, but all around me, everything went on like nothing had happened. No one had seen the game, or even known there was a game on. No one was waving flags, singing, drinking. I might just as well have been on a desert island. Ah, but that night, when I got home, as I read the e-mails and visited web sites and watched the video of the injury time again and again, I knew I was not alone. I awoke the next day with the Calypso running through my head, and I knew that I was walking on the same cloud as thousands of others around the world. To paraphrase Ole's comment in the press, people often wonder why I support this club. Well, this is why. Paul Hoosier Red ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 11:18:55 +0300 From: Terry Dale Subject: European Super Cup; Intercontinental Cup; FIFA Club World Championship Football - Big demand for the European champions By Glenn Moore Manchester United may regard themselves as the world's biggest club, but they are likely to accept reluctantly that they are not quite big enough to take on the world at the same time as conducting campaigns in England and Europe. Alex Ferguson will meet with the club's board of directors in the next few days to consider a trio of invitations that would take the club across the globe following their European Cup triumph on Wednesday night. Two of the invitations, to contest the European Super Cup in Monte Carlo in August, and the Intercontinental Cup in Tokyo in December, are likely to be accepted. The third, the inaugural Fifa Club World Championship, which will probably be played in South America next January, is expected to be refused. Maurice Watkin, the influential club lawyer and board member, said yesterday: "We haven't received the invitation yet but we have discussed it and the feeling is that it would be very difficult to fit in when you consider the amount of games we hope to be involved in, in Europe and at home, next year. We may reconsider that view but it would be difficult, especially if it is in South America." The tournament, the brainchild of Sepp Blatter and Joao Havelange, the current and past presidents of world football's governing body, is scheduled to last a fortnight and involve eight teams including the champions of Asia, Africa, Europe, South and north America, Oceania (Australasia), a host nation club and the holders of the Intercontinental Cup. Brazil, Uruguay, Mexico and Saudi Arabia are contending hosts. Uefa, the European governing body, agreed under intense pressure from Fifa, earlier this month to send a team and confirmed yesterday they would be inviting United. However, they also said they would understand if United said no. Bayern Munich, the European Cup runners-up, who may be able to arrange the tournament around the German winter break, or Dynamo Kiev, who reached the semi-finals and will be between Ukrainian seasons, are likely deputies. Watkins added that United expected to take up the invitation to play the European Super Cup against Lazio, the European Cup-Winners' Cup holders, and hoped to make the Intercontinental Cup against the winners of South America's club championship, the Libertadores Cup, which has reached the semi-final stage. This match, which is widely regarded as producing the world's top club, is especially evocative for United who lost a notoriously violent contest against Estudiantes of Argentina in the 1968 equivalent. The first game, in Argentina, was a battle in which Nobby Stiles was dismissed, but the second leg was even worse, with George Best sent off for punching his tormentor, having been continually kicked. All these events will further gild the club's international reputation - and, of course, its stock market value. Earlier in the tournament Martin Edwards noted wryly that the best result was to reach the final and lose as the bonuses due on winning outweighed the prize-money. But, he added, the impact of winning brought immeasurable benefits both financially, in terms of commercial spin-offs, and in attracting and retaining players. One of those, the match-winner Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, was yesterday again linked with Tottenham who tried to sign him last autumn. However, Watkins said: "He was very keen not to leave Old Trafford earlier in the season. I can't imagine he'll be rushing to leave after last night. I've not heard anything about a transfer. The great thing about the team this season is the way we've had a squad, how players have fought for their places and pleased to be part of the team. "You can imagine how everyone is feeling today. It's such a great thing for the club and for English football. It's been a long haul back from Heysel and now we have several powerful teams in the Premiership we could do something next year. I doubt if we'll ever see something as exciting as last night again though." ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 11:37:10 +0300 From: Terry Dale Subject: Enjoyable article from a London Red Who cares where we come from? Now we're all winners By Martin Chilton (Soccernet) Stand up if you've won the lot. You can mock forever more about where United fans come from but anyone in Barcelona to watch that stunning European Cup win will be inoculated for life against any derision. United have triumphed in a fashion so wonderful and dramatic that it's hard to see how it could ever be topped. Even the most vehement anti-United fan must have taken some pride in an English side beating the Germans like that. As the banners at the Nou Camp showed last night - 'Benidorm Reds' screamed one - there are thousands of people like me who support United yet live outside the grim north. We are ridiculed day in and day out and it must be the only circumstance imaginable where anyone believes they can bait you for NOT living in Manchester (and I should know, because I fled back to London after three wet years in the land of Coronation Street and meat and potato pies). Some southern United fans feel awkward about their allegiance. They shouldn't feel embarrassed - leave that to Norwich supporters. Perhaps there is an opportunity for a kind of help group (Southern Reds Anonymous) where suffering fans can stand up and be applauded as they say: 'Hello, my name is Matthew and I am a United fan from Bournemouth.' The further south, the louder the clapping. Imagine the clamour to be a Red on the Isle of Wight. I could have followed my dad's path and been a Gooner but there was something about the all-pervading smell of horse crap and the negative football of Bertie Mee that put me off. All this 'Do you come from Manchester?' lark is, of course, something that has only really sprouted since 1990 and the run of success that has brought the club 12 major trophies under Alex Ferguson. When I was growing up, supporting United as a Londoner through the Frank O'Farrell years, relegation to the old Second Division and the exciting Tommy Docherty era, there was no such abuse. At my north London secondary school, I was the only United fan and mocked as such only because of the club's lack of success and terrible goalkeepers. Today's London-red baiting is a pin prick. The jibes that really drew blood were '26 years without the title' and 'you can't do it in Europe' and there's not much scope for that sort of abuse anymore. The jealousy factor comes because United are so successful (Liverpool were hated in the 1980s, remember). At away games (or conveniently near if they're in London), United fans chant: 'You've only come to see United.' Well, where do all the loyal fans go when their team is playing less attractive opponents? Incidentally, despite being terminally sad on all counts, is the person who displayed a "Norfolk Gunner" flag at the FA Cup Semi Final replay at Villa Park any less of an Arsenal fan that the Islington-based one he stood alongside to watch his side lose? After watching the almost dreamlike win over Bayern Munich, there will no doubt be fresh criticism aimed at United fans for being greedy and arrogant. Not true. I for one am quite happy for the Worthington Cup to be shared around among Spurs, Chelsea, Leeds and the like for as long as they want it. What really counts is whether a football fan is genuine. If they are not, then it doesn't matter whether they pretend to support Man U or Hartlepool, in the end they are only kidding themselves. I can't say I feel a sense of pride seeing the ever-growing parade of kitwearing United fans in Surrey shopping centres, although Martin Edwards must think differently whenever he sees his bank balance. One thing is for sure, after winning the European Cup for the first time since 1968, the Manchester United circus will only grow. Never mind London, if there is life outside the universe then there's undoubtedly a little creature in a galaxy far, far away wearing a No7 Beckham shirt. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 11:00:35 +0100 From: Mike Connolly Subject: Re: Query about European Rankings & Parade stuff P.L.Hinson@AIS.SALFORD.AC.UK wrote: > > Can anyone post a recent European Club Rankings list, > or reveal where is the best site where it is regularly updated? > There was a top 50 of all time in The Times yesterday in the Utd TrebleSpecial bit, and we were well down in about 15th place, but it made interesting reading. Real Madrid were top 'cos of last year and the fact they won the first 5 European Cups. Oh, and cheers for your help yesterday. I made it up there for 5.30 and then just headed with the crowd towards Deansgate. Ended up at the crossroads on Deansgate in the Havana bar. The place was heaving, everyone going apeshit, and when the bus went thru', god I was so damn proud and just screamed my head off while taking pics. Yorkie and Cole were doing Samba with the trophies at the front by this stage with Wes in attendance, Dinnis and kids were sitting calmly next to Schmikes and his daughter(?), Beckham was standing with arms wide just soaking up the atmosphere with a massive smile on his face, and my mate saw a totally trashed Keane and Scholes propped up and occasionally prodded to wake up at the back of the bus. Unbelievable. We just stood there after with the crowd surging after the bus around us, and I made my goodbyes to take the 8.37 back... which then stood in the station for half an hour screwing up all the connections at Stoke and Birmingham, so a sharp phonecall to the Central train contact number, and strong chat with the supervisor got a Special laid on for us at Wolverhampton to Birmingham. There we met up with a Virgin train with the first bogs we'd seen in about 2 hours. Lovely chaps. I was demanding taxis for all on the train, so I guess they thought this was the cheaper option. Got back to London at about 1.40 in the morning, pissed and totally elated... treble-double-treble-eurochamps! MC -- "Let Chaos storm, let clouds shapes swarm, I wait for form..." UNKNOWN mcon@millfilm.co.uk ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 10:49:25 +0000 From: P.L.Hinson@AIS.SALFORD.AC.UK Subject: Re: Attention: Oz Reds + Medals + ABUs > one more thing: Do only the players + subs on the day get medals? > if so i think Greening and Brown or Van Der Gouw should offer their > medals to Keane and Scholes, i know it sounds selfish but i think they > deserve it more All 25 in the European squad forwarded to UEFA will get medals. This includes the likes of John Curtis who was not even on the bench. Paul Hinson (email p.l.hinson@ais.salford.ac.uk) MUTV Masterfan Quiz Champion 1999 http://mufc.simplenet.com The best STATS on the 1999 English and European Champions on the Web http://mufc.simplenet.com/mufc/stats.htm STATISTICS http://mufc.simplenet.com/mufc/pontin.htm RESERVES And JUNIORS Try the MUFC Quiz http://mufc.simplenet.com/miva/quiz/quiz.mv ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 13:24:07 +0300 From: Terry Dale Subject: True sectret behind united's success At last, I can reveal the REAL reason why United have remained unbeaten this year and have won the lot. Sure, the team and Fergie played their part, as did the fans, the spirit of Sir Matt, Lady Luck, and all the fantastic motivational stuff from Big Time Charlie and the rest of the ABUs. But, essentially, total victory is due to one thing and one thing only: my commemorative Manchester United drinking mug. Are you still there? Good, then I'll explain. Back at the start of the New Year I was given a United mug by a member of this list after his visit to the plc Megastore. Since the beginning of the year, I have drunk only from this mug. Nobody else has been allowed to drink from it or, if I was around, touch it. It has caused me some embarrassing moments ... like using it at an official departmental gathering when everyone else had glasses ... but I couldn't allow anything to break its magical spell. It went missing for half a day at one point and I almost had a nervous breakdown. I have kissed and carressed it. I have talked to it. I have cleaned it lovingly after every use and polished it up as if it were the European Cup itself. Yes, I was drinking from it on Wednesday evening as the goals went in. This holy relic sits at my right hand as I type this. I would offer it to the United Museum but it's too valuable. No, of course I'm not superstitious. ______________ Terry Saudi ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 18:39:06 +0800 From: Boon Wee Subject: Glory Glory Manchester United A Valuable Lesson Time and time again this season, I thought I have saw the most dramatic game as a Manchester United fan. First was after the Liverpool FA Cup clash. Solskjaer knocked Liverpool out in the dying seconds. Next came the epic FA Cup semifinal replay with Arsenal. A last minute penalty save by Schmeichel followed by a stunner from Giggs. If that's not enough, there's the EC semifinal (2nd leg) against Juventus. 2 goals down by the 11th minute, but United scored 3 of their own in the end. Any of those three games would have put any faint hearted fans out for a while. As a tradition of this season, United makes us sit up right till the end of the game. As it is, the win over Bayern Munich is officially the most dramatic game I have seen in my life. And it fittingly serves as a grand finale for Manchester United, for the fans, for Alex Ferguson and for Peter Schmeichel. It is a pity that Keane and Scholes had to miss out such an amazing game. I am very fortunate that I have now witnessed something which may never happen again. It is something for all fans, young and old to cherish. Hey, next time I could tell my own children (and even show them) the events that took place on the 26th May 1999. Who would have thought that United would make such a comeback. When Basler gave Bayern the lead, I did not fear the worse. After all the "training" I have been receiving since February. I knew United will make a comeback of some sort. However as the game dragged on, it became apparent that United were struggling. Giggs was uncomfortable on the right side, Blomqvist was too light weighted for this game, Yorke and Cole where well marked out of the game, Schmeichel was not his usual composed self, Johnsen and Stam were not their usual commanding self and Beckham could not make his passes count. Everything about United was wrong somehow. Though United had a lot of possession to show for, they were hardly in the last third of the field. Bayern proved to be too resilient for United, their defense impenetrable and they looked superior throughout. By the end of half time, I was hoping that Alex would put Giggs back to the left, take off Blomqvist, put in solskjaer or Sheringham and put Beckham back to the right. There were simply no supplies from the wings for our strikers. Second half started and still no changes. The pattern was very much the same as the first. United still could not produce any dangerous attacks. The German team looked like a well oiled machine, even the old man Matteaus was running about the midfield creating problems for United and Beckham. If the opponent were Juventus, we would have been roasted by now. I wondered why Bayern took their pedal off after scoring, surely a second goal would serve as a comfort zone. Bayern had the ability to pull themselves further away. A second goal would have killed United right away, end of contest. Thank goodness that they relaxed in the first half. As if Bayern heard my thoughts, they began to push United further behind. Schmeichel had to make saves to keep United in the game. Luck must be on United's side when Scholl hit the upright after Schmeichel was beaten. Later on, Jancker's overhead kick was denied by the pole. It was getting very uncomfortable for me, I could hardly sit still. United must score before Bayern could get a second. Towards the end, Alex did the changes, bringing in Sheringham and Solakjaer for Blomqvist and Cole respectively. Solakjaer made an immediate impact with a header. Kahn had little difficulty dealing with that. All of a sudden, United stepped up their gear and Bayern started to reel back. It's a classic English side, fight till the end. As the match passed the 90th minute, my heart began to sink. The Germans could defend all night long and still won't concede a goal. It was Dortmund all over again. Just then, United forced a corner from Effenberg's clearance. Beckham places the ball, sends it in. Schmeichel was there but missed the ball. It reached an opposition. I thought they will now break away and put the ball into an empty net. BUT NO, the defense could not clear it and the ball reached Giggs 25 yard out. Think Giggs tried to shoot but it was off target, nevermind that, it landed nicely for Sheringham for slice it in. Like Giggs and others, I waited for the linesman to flag offside, IT NEVER CAME. Sheringham again! I was breathing hard by then, it can't be true. Just as I was thinking about the sudden death situation. Solskjaer, alone forced another corner. The fans urged the team on, I clenched my heart. Beckham takes up his position, sends the ball in. Sheringham rose up to head the ball towards goal but it was going wide. Suddenly Solskjaer stretched his leg and diverted the ball into the roof of the net. No question of offside this time. OLE GUNNAR SOLAKJAER. He saved United against Liverpool and he has done it again! I can't believe it, not a single bit. The final whistle went as I was still in a daze. United somehow or rather has done it again! Manchester United has finally won the European Champions' Cup and best of all, they have done the treble. I watched on the screen as United players celebrated on the field. It is so ironic that our reserve strikers should be the ones who saved United instead of the soul brothers. Life can be funny. My heart went for the Bayern Munich players, especially Kuffour. It was cruel for them. Very. I can't imagine if United were in their shoes. Football can be funny and cruel at times. I just can't believe what I have seen. I felt the same way after watching the replay of the match. I still hold my breathe as Solskjaer stuck out his leg for the nth time. It has yet to sit in for me. How can anyone? Without a doubt, this game will be in my mind for a long long time. Manchester United is again the champions of Europe and they thoroughly deserved it. Take a bow Alex Ferguson. Schmeichel, thanks for all the memories, we will miss you badly. Sheringham, what can I say. You have single handedly won United the FA Cup and the European Cup. A legend you are. Solskjaer, you stayed because you love United. You deserve to get all the glories. Keane, your presence must have pushed your team mates right till the end. And finally, Alex Ferguson, you are beyond anything. What you have done for Manchester United is sensational. I hope there will be many more cheers for you before you retire. A quite look at next season. It is definitely going to be jam packed with games, there is Toyota Cup, Super Cup, new European League, 38 games league season, and the league and FA cups. Can United cope with it's present squad? We need a backup for Beckham. Van Der Saar has gone to Juventus, so who is capable of replacing Schmeichel, quite frankly, no one. I just hoped that it is not Mark Bosnich. United has taught everyone a very good lesson this season. Never give up and always believe in yourself. A good call I might say. Euro Cup Final Special (Reports and Pictures) - http://members.xoom.com/heathens/archive/ecfinal/index.html Special pictures (home-made) Team photo - http://members.xoom.com/heathens/archive/ecfinal/pics/winner.jpg Alex Ferguson - http://members.xoom.com/heathens/archive/ecfinal/pics/alexf.jpg Survey Page - http://members.xoom.com/heathens/form.htm Manchester United Page - http://members.xoom.com/heathens/mufc.html Cheers Boon Wee Copyright 1999. All Rights Reserved. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 15:47:25 +-400 From: "Rubina R. Bunwaree" Subject: FW: Always look on the bright side... To all reds out there... THanx wendy, I had lost the message, but it's really cool that you kept it! It doesn't matter that you didn't dare believe it, it was indeed almost an impossible dream, yet we're both - and all the rest out there- very happy it came out not so impossible afterall... SO I guess IMPOSSIBLE is not in MAnU dictionary, Luv to all.... AND HERE'S TO MANY MORE TROPHIES, Rubina... ---------- From: wendy lyon[SMTP:ruadh@pacbell.net] Sent: 27 May 1999 17:52 To: varusha@bow.intnet.mu Subject: Re: Always look on the bright side... Rubina I saved this message which you posted to the MUFC list last year. I hope you will consider reposting it. How right you were - I never dared hope you would be ;) GLORY F**ING GLORY MAN UNITED!!!!!!!!! wendy > > So what???? > > We lost the league....then what? > > Ok those Gunners are going to take the piss out of us for some time, > > but that's it...remember we're still the best, the best English team > > of the nineties...not to say of all times > > And don't let Arsenal Fans or anyone else tell you the opposite,that > > they'll soon catch up with us...cos' they won't! > > Today, after seeing those stoopid s*** pick us OUR trophy, (did you > > notice how ill at ease they looked with it...it just doesn't suit 'em > > !) I feel more DEVILISH RED than ever...and I know that all of you out > > there feel the same... > > As the frenchies say " RECULER POUR MIEUX SAUTER" which means to draw > > back in order to make a spring....watch my words people , next year > > we'll not only be lifting thedomestic league cup, but also the FA > > one....and most importantly the EUROPEAN CUP....Arsenal, Liverpool, > > Juve , Barca... watch out here we come, stronger than ever! > > After all our players will be involved in the world cup which > > basically means that they'll gain even more 'european' > > experience...so, things can only get much much better! > > ALWAYS LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE....cos' LIFE IS....as long as you > > support UNITED! > > CHEERS FROM MAURITIUS, > > Rubina... ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 12:20:01 +0000 From: P.L.Hinson@AIS.SALFORD.AC.UK Subject: Various Reuters reports MANCHESTER, England, May 26 (Reuters) - Grandmothers punched the air in triumph and joined hundreds of Manchester United fans celebrating in the streets after their team's European Cup final victory in Barcelona on Wednesday. Thousands packed into pubs across the northwestern English city roared in delight when their team pulled off an incredible 2-1 win over Bayern Munich. "This is the night of nights to be in Manchester. It's one big party," said one man. Motorists cruised through the streets blaring horns and passengers hung out of windows waving flags. Street parties sprang up to the music of live bands. Australian fans go wild for Man United SYDNEY, May 27 (Reuters) - Ticket sales for Manchester United's tour of Australia in July surged through the roof on Wednesday after the Red Devils won the European Cup. Promoters of the two-match tour said there was a rush on tickets almost as soon as United scored their dramatic 2-1 win over Bayern Munich to complete the unique treble of the English Premier league, the F.A. Cup and the European Cup. "Sales jumped by more than 300 per cent after the win," a spokesman for the promoters said on Thursday. "They were already very high before then but winning the treble has really sent them soaring." The spokesman said more than 70,000 tickets had already been sold for Manchester United's two matches against the Australian national team in July. The first match will take place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on July 15 followed by the second game at Sydney's Olympic Stadium three days later. There are more than 1,200 registered Manchester United fans in Australia and all were on song after watching their beloved team into the early hours of Thursday morning. Hundreds crammed their way into Sydney's all-night pubs and clubs for an emotional rollercoaster ride that ended in wild celebrations. "The atmosphere was unbelievable," said Fred Politt, a former Mancunian who founded the NSW supporters branch and drives a red Mini with the number plate MAN UTD. "I thought I was back at Old Trafford. I'm in wonderland." Germany in shock after Bayern Munich's Cup defeat BONN, May 27 (Reuters) - The shocked and disbelieving headlines in the German newspapers said it all on Thursday after Manchester United came back deep into injury time to beat Bayern Munich 2-1 in Wednesday's European Cup Final. A simple "Oh No!" -- in English -- from Germany's most popular daily, Bild Zeitung characterised the German reaction after late goals from Manchester United substitutes Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. "We were only 13 seconds away. Isn't that bitter. Simply inconceivable. Football can be so cruel," Bild continued, with a picture of dejected Bayern Munich midfielder Stefan Effenberg. The German side, leaders from the sixth minute through a direct free-kick from Mario Basler, were on the verge of winning the cup for the fourth time. "Bayern thought all their dreams had come true," the Bonn local newspaper General Anzeiger said. Its rival, the Bonn Express, said the result was "terrible. Absolutely terrible." "Bavaria is in mourning and so are we," the Bonn Express said. In a ironic twist, with Bayern 1-0 up and the match on the verge of time added on, a German TV commentator had just cited ex-England international Gary Lineker's famous quote -- "Football is a game played by two teams of 11 men where the Germans win." Then Sheringham and Solskjaer struck. Ferguson carries the torch of dynasty By Timothy Collings BARCELONA, May 27 (Reuters) -- Their triumphs may be separated by three decades and a professional revolution in the sport but Matt Busby and Alex Ferguson are now entwined by far more than the thread of European Cup successes which they brought to Manchester United. Both were born in Scotland, moved to England to gain worldwide international recognition, spoke with honesty and freedom when they wanted, set ferocious levels of commitment and desire and never wavered from a shared dream of bringing the most treasured trophy in European club soccer back to Old Trafford. And both, according to a man who was part of the two tumultuous and victorious occasions in 1968 and 1999, understood the sense of style and destiny which drove their teams to hard-earned and dramatic successes. In short, according to Jim Ryan, both Busby and Ferguson have embodied the values of a dynasty started in the 1950s when Busby embarked with the first United team into Europe, always placing the onus on attacking play, flair and heart. Ryan was George Best's deputy, played in the quarter-finals of United's run to the 1968 final, was a member of their Wembley final squad against Benfica and is now a senior coach on the United staff. He said Wednesday's 2-1 win over Bayern Munich was the culmination, for Ferguson, of years of Busby-like toil and dedication. Ryan, 54, a Scot like the two managers, has shared dressing-rooms with both men -- as a player under Busby and as a coach under Ferguson. He was also the only man in Barcelona on the United staff, apart from director and 1968 hero Bobby Charlton, to have won a European Cup medal with the club 31 years before. "I think the one thing that you could really say that they have in common is that they could both see a big picture, a big goal, and that they were single-minded in aiming for it. "Busby took the European Cup without the English FA's blessing in the first place and eventually, having come through the Munich air tragedy in 1958, came out and won it. "I think there is a real parallel with our manager now, in as much as he looked at that prize when he came here and he has worked to get it. He has had his own setbacks and problems along the way too but he has done it. "He never wavered. In the end he did the same thing. He refused to give up. And they have played the same kind of way, the same kind of football. The only thing, perhaps, that you could say is that the game now is far more tactical than it was then -- in my day or Matt Busby's day... "Matt was very quiet, spoke quietly and softly, but underneath he had the same drive. They both had it. They had the same vision too... "Alex is not quiet like Matt was but they had the same objective and the same sense of style in mind. Both wanted to see the team playing really nice football but also working very hard. "You could tell, we on the staff here could tell, that Fergie wanted to win it. He wanted to win the first thing, then the next. He was on the road. He wanted to go up the ladder and do it all. The world club championship will be next. "It took him a long time to win the title, you remember, and it was not easy in those early years for Alex at Old Trafford. But he has worked through it all, just like Matt Busby did. They both had the same ideals and the same ambitions for the club." Villa goalkeeper Bosnich linked to Manchester United MANCHESTER, England, May 28 (Reuters) - Aston Villa's Australian goalkeeper Mark Bosnich was tipped on Friday to move to Manchester United as Peter Schmeichel's replacement. The Sun newspaper said Bosnich was ready to sign on a free transfer on Tuesday when his contract with English premier league Villa expires. It said the 27-year-old Bosnich had told friends that he was desperate to return to the club where he started his career 10 years ago on a free transfer from Sydney Croatia and had rejected other top offers. United chief executive Martin Edwards was quoted as saying that the European champions "expect developments on Peter Schmeichel's successor within the next few days". Dane Schmeichel has confirmed he is leaving after helping United to an unprecedented league, F.A. and European Cup treble this season but has yet to say where he is moving to. Ajax's Dutch international goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, previously seen by many as a frontrunner for the job, signed for Italian Serie A side Juventus on Thursday. Paul Hinson (email p.l.hinson@ais.salford.ac.uk) MUTV Masterfan Quiz Champion 1999 http://mufc.simplenet.com The best STATS on the 1999 English and European Champions on the Web http://mufc.simplenet.com/mufc/stats.htm STATISTICS http://mufc.simplenet.com/mufc/pontin.htm RESERVES And JUNIORS Try the MUFC Quiz http://mufc.simplenet.com/miva/quiz/quiz.mv ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 12:26:58 +0000 From: P.L.Hinson@AIS.SALFORD.AC.UK Subject: Half-million fans welcome United home Half-million fans welcome United home (updates with United's arrival) By Will Hardie MANCHESTER, England, May 27 (Reuters) - Half a million ecstatic fans packed the streets of Manchester on Thursday to welcome back Manchester United from their spectacular Europoean Cup victory in Barcelona. Jubilant supporters converged on the city centre to reinforce the faithful handful who had been there since Wednesday night's epic injury time victory over Bayern Munich. Along the team's seven miles (11.27 km) parade route on an open-topped bus, thousands upon thousands of red-shirted fans sang terrace anthems above an orchestra of whistles and klaxons. A handful of amused businessmen and women struggled through the throng -- others better prepared swigged bottles of beer from office windows or waved scarves from high-rise balconies. Rows of baton-wielding police seemed unsure whether to hold the crowd back or join in the party. Several lost their uniform caps and a couple briefly sported felt top hats in red and white team colours. A little blonde girl in a red dress, face crumpled with the effort, blew a whistle with all her might, perched of the shoulders of her shirtless father as he chanted United...United...pint in hand. Across the street six schoolboys soaked up the atmosphere on top of a bus shelter waving three silver trophy-shaped balloons. Further down the road another bus shelter collapsed under the weight of three fully-grown supporters trying to dance ont its roof arm in arm. The bus carrying the United squad was preceded by 10 minutes of stupendous roaring from the crowd. The European Cup was perched on the front above the route number plate of the vehicle which showed 2-1, the result of the final. The squad, wearing dark blazers, held their fists in the air as armfuls of office paper fluttered down from windows high above. Players and manager Alex Ferguson took turns holding the cup -- departing goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel seemed reluctant to release it. The team went on to join 17,500 fans at a ticket-only party in an indoor arena in central Manchester. The vast crowd left outside looked set to see in the dawn in recognition of United's first European Cup victory for 31 years. Paul Hinson (email p.l.hinson@ais.salford.ac.uk) MUTV Masterfan Quiz Champion 1999 http://mufc.simplenet.com The best STATS on the 1999 English and European Champions on the Web http://mufc.simplenet.com/mufc/stats.htm STATISTICS http://mufc.simplenet.com/mufc/pontin.htm RESERVES And JUNIORS Try the MUFC Quiz http://mufc.simplenet.com/miva/quiz/quiz.mv ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 12:48:07 +0100 From: Lee Martin Subject: Next Seasons fixtures Forwarded message: >From lm@iucr.org Fri May 28 12:43 BST 1999 From: lm@iucr.org (Lee Martin) Message-Id: <199905281142.MAA19440@mica.iucr.ac.uk> Subject: Next Seasons fixtures To: leem@ri.ac.uk Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 12:42:55 +0100 (BST) X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL22] Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Length: 326 The papers today have dates of next seasons big games, of interest are: 1st August Charity Shield, v Arsenal Wembley 7th August Premiership opening fixtures 27th August European Super Cup Monaco 30th November Toyota Cup v ?????? Tokyo January 5th -14th 2000 World Club Championships - (Venue not given) -- ___________________________________ Lee Martin Royal Institution of Great Britain 21 Albemarle Street London W1X 4BS Tel:0171-4092992 email:leem@ri.ac.uk leemhome@aol.com *********************************** ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 12:56:07 +0000 From: P.L.Hinson@AIS.SALFORD.AC.UK Subject: UEFA's Player Performnace Review Manchester United FC: Player Analysis UEFA Champions League Final FC Bayern M=FCnchen v Manchester United FC Camp Nou Stadium, Barcelona Player Performances Peter SCHMEICHEL Began nervously. Unsighted by the wall and unable to react as Basler's free-kick flew past him. Helpless when Scholl and Jancker hit the woodwork in the second half. However, as he prepares to leave United for pastures new, he will remember his crucial second-half contribution, when he kept his side in the match with splendid saves from Scholl and Effenberg. Gary NEVILLE Dependable on the whole at right-back, always ready to push forward on the overlap as United sought to peg back Bayern's early lead. Nevertheless, several misplaced passes halted United's forward progress, especially in the second half, and in occasional difficulties when Bayern broke on the counter. Denis IRWIN The Irishman produced a solid performance and joined the attack whenever he could, but had to pull out all the stops to keep an inspired Basler quiet when Bayern counter-attacked. Dependable as ever when called upon to show his mettle in United's area. Jaap STAM Endured an uncomfortable start against the bustling, powerful Jancker, but hung on in a bruising battle with the Bayern spearhead. The Dutchman has blossomed through the season to become an imposing presence in United's treble-winning rearguard. Ronny JOHNSEN Together with Stam, took time to settle, and his foul on Jancker led to Basler's gem of a free-kick. Grew more comfortable as the evening wore on, showing glimpses of his all-round prowess, and made several crucial tackles to halt Bayern's second-half breakouts. David BECKHAM The game ultimately turned into a triumph for United's gifted young midfielder, who provided the fulcrum for the Englishmen's attacks as playmaker in central midfield. Industrious, skilful and probing, his two curling last-gasp corners caused havoc in the Bayern area for Sheringham and Solskjaer to pull the final out of the fire for the Red Devils. Nicky BUTT The holding man in midfield, hard-tackling, hard-working and willing to sweat blood in the service of his team. Occasionally in no-man's land when Bayern launched dangerous counter-attacks, but his undoubted fighting spirit saw him through on a night when Roy Keane's absence in midfield for United might have proved costly. Ryan GIGGS Asked by Alex Ferguson to play in an attacking right-wing role, the Welshman saw plenty of the ball. However, his efforts to run at the uncompromising Bayern rearguard were often in vain, and he was unable to reach the goal-line to get in his trademark telling crosses. His evening turned to gold when his drive back into the area was pounced upon by Sheringham for the equaliser. Andy COLE Worked tirelessy, but despite an early chance when he poked the ball inches wide, he was well marshalled by Kuffour and the rest of the Bayern rearguard. His feared striking partnership with Yorke looked increasingly blunt as the second half wore on, and coach Alex Ferguson brought him off for goal hero Sheringham soon after the hour. Dwight YORKE Failed to reach his normal form on the night, despite plenty of hard-running in an effort to elude his uncompromising marker Kuffour. He saw a first-half effort fisted to safety by Bayern keeper Kahn - but tonight was an evening for other heroes. Nevertheless, Yorke - who moved to United from Aston Villa FC during the season - can certainly lay claim to being Ferguson's "Buy of the Campaign". Jesper BLOMQVIST Operated in his customary "unspectacular" role as a wing-back along the left-hand side. Worked industriously, tackled tenaciously, and came close to pulling United level with his one moment of menace soon after the interval. Pulled off for match-winner Solskjaer as Ferguson threw on extra attacking power for the final stages. Substitutes Teddy SHERINGHAM Will go down in United folklore. Following his FA Cup final goal as substitute against Newcastle United FC on Saturday, Sheringham again proved to be Ferguson's master-stroke when sent on for the final 25 minutes against Bayern. Until his goal, he was frustratingly ineffective, but he then came alive, showing superb composure to turn and fire home United's unexpected equaliser, before producing the telling headed flick from a Beckham corner for Solskjaer's improbable winner. Ole Gunnar SOLKSJ=C6R United's history-maker. Thrown into the battle by Ferguson for the nerve-wracking closing ten minutes, the Norwegian front-runner first saw a snap header saved by Bayern keeper Kahn, and was then "Johnny-on-the-Spot" to prod Sheringham's flick-on into the net and send the United hordes into raptures at the death. Paul Hinson (email p.l.hinson@ais.salford.ac.uk) MUTV Masterfan Quiz Champion 1999 http://mufc.simplenet.com The best STATS on the 1999 English and European Champions on the Web http://mufc.simplenet.com/mufc/stats.htm STATISTICS http://mufc.simplenet.com/mufc/pontin.htm RESERVES And JUNIORS Try the MUFC Quiz http://mufc.simplenet.com/miva/quiz/quiz.mv ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 13:47:03 GMT From: "Joseph M. Boden" Subject: Reflections on an astonishing evening Hi all I just thought I would write and tell you all about my own experience on Wednesday - no I wasn't there, but I was here in England, and maybe by writing it will become a little more real. One of the presenters on Sky last night referred to the match, specifically the end of the match, as being 'surreal', and I couldn't agree more. We got up very early on the Wednesday to pick up my fiance's brother at Heathrow. We were going to spend the day and evening visiting his friend and his friend's family in Wokingham, before heading back to the South West on Thursday. Luckily, the friend and his aunt are both Reds, so I had plenty of company for the match. We of course spent much of the day chatting about the match. I was being my usual pessimistic self - doom and gloom for me, while Darren (my fiance's brother's friend) was more of an optimist. I found myself making a few statements that were dangerously close to optimism, such as 'Fergie always does well in European finals' and 'the Germans are missing two important players as well'. But I must admit that on the inside I had very little faith at that point. We had a lovely dinner and conversation up to the point when I heard the Champions League theme being played over the television - at that point conversation became impossible and I headed directly into the other room. The first sight I saw was the team sheet - apparently attack was going to be the theme of the evening. Well, one might as well go with one's strengths. I might have had little faith but I trusted the Wizard. You all saw the match so I won't describe it to you, apart from my commenting that our boys did not look so good, whereas the Bayern boys looked confident and composed. United looked as though they were trying to force the play, making passes that weren't on etc instead of playing simply and using the opportunities they did have. Also, I thought they slowed the play rather too much - instead of flying down the pitch at full cry (the main difference between this year's side and last, IMHO is their ability to get forward quickly, very much like some of our previous sides). I spent much of the time shouting and instructing from my perch on the settee. I (unfortunately) predicted the Bayern goal and I despaired at our getting anything at all. I even considered leaving the room, or going for a walk. All season long I have been having trouble watching matches - I literally can't watch us play Arsenal, it's too stressful for me - and I have had trouble watching others because of how nervous and agitated I feel. I'm not sure why, but it's gotten so much worse in the two years that I've lived over here. In any case, I did give some thought to not watching the rest, but I thought of the trophies already won, and the fact that the team hadn't given up yet, and of DA with his heart condition watching the match anyway, and I thought no that's not on I'm going to sit here and watch the rest of it come what may. This team had given a lot to us supporters to be happy about and I felt that I owed them for it. Darren was pretty calm most of the match, and managed to retain his optimism, but as time ticked away he became more agitated, yelling at Teddy at one point 'that was WEAK!' when he failed to get sufficient weight on a shot. Things were looking grim, and when the board went up to signal 3 minutes added on I thought 'well this is it'. Then we got a corner, and big Pete was in the box for it. A bit earlier in the match I had thought about the possibility of an equaliser, and what I would do if it happened. I thought I would do as I normally do - not very much, as it's just the equaliser, not the winning goal, so don't get too carried away, you might still lose it. What really happened? When Teddy's shot rolled into the corner of the net we literally exploded. This was the first time I was ever in these people's house and I started jumping up and down with Darren screaming 'HE SCORED HE SCORED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!' over and over again. We finally composed ourselves when the match had resumed and I said something about '30 minutes to win it' and our hostess Jeanette said 'no lets win it now'. Up for a corner again, and cue the same scenes. Hysteria, a literal out of body experience. And then the whistle blew and it was all over, the boys had done it in the most improbable and stunning manner. I sat there for the next 20 or so minutes saying over and over 'I can't believe I just saw that'. I still can't believe I saw that. I know our boys are the 'comeback kings' but this story would seem too fantastic even for the movies. I wanted to pinch myself but I was too busy watching the boys going up and getting the cup, and there was Clyde Tyldesley saying 'Manchester United are the Champions of Europe' and we kind of went all funny again. I spent much of yesterday reading the 10 or so newspapers I bought and watching the parade on television. I really have enjoyed the triumphs of this season a little more than the others. Not just because we won the European Cup or did the treble, but because I was here for it. All the other times I was back in the States and I had an experience a lot like Paul Rodes - United would win the league and I would be happy, but then I would leave the office and the world outside was indifferent, it was almost like my little secret. I was happy about it but I wanted to be inundated with it. And over here inundated we are. It's all over the television and newspapers and everyone talks about it, and when something like this happens you feel like the king of the universe. Resolutions: I will never ever say anything bad about Teddy Sheringham again. He came to United to win things, and he did, but he certainly was no passenger. When the time came to stand up and be counted, Teddy was there. Quibbles: ITV decided that just as soon as the trophy was handed over it was time for adverts, five minutes of them in fact. Disgraceful. Sky showed live coverage of the parade and rally last night but had the ABUs represented by sport reporter Chris Skudder who repeated the mantras '95% of United fans have never been to Old Trafford' etc etc. Thanks Chris, you reminded me of another thing that was so great about Wednesday night. I bet all those ABUs were all happy and excited about how they were going to 'do' every United supporter they knew, taunting them mercilessly about the German victory. I bet those two goals were like daggers in the heart to them, and it couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of people. You know I *still* can't believe it! joe ------------------------ Dr. Joe Boden Department of Psychology University of Plymouth Plymouth, Devon PL4 8AA England email: jboden@plymouth.ac.uk phone 01752233150 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 14:23:48 +0100 From: Paul OHare Subject: Oh lucky man For those of you who think you couldn't be any happier just now: Read in today's papers that while one Irish supporter was at the match on Wednesday, back home his lottery numbers were coming up and he's now half a million punts richer. I think I'll buy an extra ticket tomorrow, just in case. Paul O'H ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 06:47:38 -0700 From: Andrew Falconer Subject: Internet scrap book Reds, Adobe Acrobat has a nice little feature that lets you grab web pages and store them as PDF files (For more info. on PDF, check out The software (Adobe Acrobat Reader) to open and read PDFs is free, and available at the above URL. I'm currently compiling online articles about the Final in PDF format, like newspaper clippings. I'm scanning all the typical sites, like Manutd.com, Soccernet, FootballUnlimited, Football365, UEFA, ESPN, Sporting Life, etc. I'm sure there are some sites I'm not aware of, so if there are any good articles that AREN'T on one of these sites, please send a URL to andrew_falconer@bigfoot.com, and I'll add it. Then, when the files get too big or I get sick of PDF'ing sites, I'll post a location so everyone can get them. -- Andrew, who can't wipe this silly grin off his face, and is still humming the Calypso... _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 16:07:07 +0200 From: "Whelan, Stephen" Subject: Photo request Back from Barcelona bruised and proud. Greatest night of my life in THE best city I have ever had the joy to visit. Cant really explain how I feel so I won't. But I have a request, has anyone on the list got a jpg, bmp or whatever of the 45,00 odd reds at the north end of the Nou Camp in full celebration mode?? I haven't got www access and I'm sure there are pictures floating around somewhere. Pleas email me privately if you have a pic. Much appreciated. Steve ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 15:47:32 +0000 From: "" Subject: Euro Final Wow, what a day!!!!!!! I'll send the report either later or tomorrow - it'll be a long one:) Cheers Paul ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 16:14:07 +0100 From: James Draycott Subject: Bosnich MR Edwards has told the Sun newspaper that they are expecting to be singing a new keeper who they hope will be as good a Peter in the next few days, Mark Bosnich, is that good or bad, I say bad this is because I don't rate him and I think that we should approach to buy a young good keeper i.e Richard Wright from Ipswich who has now got the Keepers spot in the England team. (Completely concidencious that he is in the England team) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 16:19:12 +0100 From: Mike Connolly Subject: Photos of the parade... I've managed some really nice B/W pics of the bus going past, I was only about 10m away, on the Deansgate crossroads with the road to the Arndale centre, so things are clear and composed. They're more portraits than pics, of Yorke and Cole and Wes with the trophys, Phil, Gazza, Beckham x3 + Fergie, Dinnis with kid and lastly Schmeikes with kid, arm raised as a salute. There's also a few (in other not so good '99 player pics) of some older guys decked in regalia and really happy, and the main subject in the pic. I was wondering if any of the '68 players were on that bus too, or were they only family and club officials? I intend to post them to Barry as jpg's in good time (early next week after I get them scanned), if if anyone wants them they should just be able to download them. I'm proud of the lads, and I'm proud to have been there last night, and I think these pics reflect that, and I want to share them with anybody who wants them for free. Still in shock, MC -- "Let Chaos storm, let clouds shapes swarm, I wait for form..." UNKNOWN mcon@millfilm.co.uk ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 08:42:10 -0700 From: Andrew Falconer Subject: Re: A Day to Remember I said: "Munich sat back and waited to be handed the Cup. The only guy I might feel remotely sorry for is Kuffour, who played his heart out, and showed it at the end." Ken said: "I might have felt a bit sorry for Kuffour as well, until Martin Tyler informed us he was a Manchester City fan!" Well then I REALLY feel sorry for him!! :-))) -- Laaaaa, la la la la laaaa, Manchester United! _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 16:35:35 +0000 From: steve.hogg@NEWCASTLE.AC.UK Subject: The ABUs are out in force The BBC are asking for votes on if the Reds are the best team ever. Currently the voting is Yes 40% and No 60%. A "Vote No" campaign is been orchestrated by supporters from the unfashionable end of the East Lancs Road. Get your vote in now, don't let them get away with it. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/talking_point/newsid_353000/353585.a sp Steve ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 18:50:01 +0300 From: Terry Dale Subject: Re: Bosnich James Draycott wrote: > MR Edwards has told the Sun newspaper that they are expecting to be singing > a new keeper who they hope will be as good a Peter in the next few days, > Mark Bosnich ... Having been banned by 'Er Indoors from watching the video of the goals yet again (a bit unreasonable as I've been occupying the video and Tv for scarcely 48 hours), I turned to Bloomberg TV just in time to see the announcement that Bosnich is likely to be the Chosen One. He's a bit controversial, on and off the field, but I suppose United is a team of personalities so he'll fit in effortlessly in that respect. He's also a big pal of Dwight's and shares Yorkie's penchant for a little toe-sucking. He'll have the biggest job in football trying to fill the Great Dane's size 99 boots. However, having taunted Robbie Fouler at a recent league game and then turned down a move to Grannstabbers FC, he will probably be welcomed with open arms by all Reds despite everything. In the same TV report, it was mentioned that Fergie also had his eye on both Juninho and Rivaldo. I like the sound of that. But who's going to tell Martin? Ah, I think it's safe to go back and replay the goals again. It certainly is helpful of United concentrating their two goals into such a short period of time (like the scouse win) as you can put the goals on an eternal loop and sit there for hours just watching them over and over again. The goals occur so unexpectedly it's almost like watching a smash and grab raid on a jewellery shop. _______________ Terry Saudi ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 17:01:50 +0100 From: Paul Bragg Subject: Goalie I've just heard on my Genie Manchester United messaging service that we're gonna sign Bosnich for free under the Bosman ruling. This has apparently been confirmed by Edwards and he is expected to sign next week. I know this comes as no surprise considering a Edwards relectance to spend money this Summer. At least this will leave the transfer pot intact to strengthen an already mighty squad. A quality goalkeeper for free. Too much for Edwards to resist!!!! ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 19:01:29 +0300 From: Terry Dale Subject: United players in England squad/fans who missed the goals The usual piss-take from the Guardian Fiver: COOL AS A KOOG INCUMBENT They said his international career was over. They said he couldn't=20 cut it at the highest level, that he was yesterday's man. But today,=20 Emile Heskey has risen triumphantly above his critics and won a=20 place in Kelvin Koogan's squad for the crucial Euro 2000 qualifying=20 fixtures against Sweden and Bulgaria. Teddy Sheringham, 33, made his return too. However hardly anybody=20 commented that in the last 10 days the former Tottenham star has=20 turned his career around by winning everything the club game has=20 to offer and shoving the jeers of the boo-boys back down their throats. Speaking of shoving, Paul Ince is a notable absentee from today's squad.=20 Koogan appears to have dropped the opinionated Liverpool captain and=20 while he suggested that "the door is still open" for the 31-year-old=20 Koogan quickly added, "People laugh when you say that." BIG GLOAT Yesterday we asked you to have a good old gloat at those unfortunate=20 Manchester United fans who missed the ending to Big Cup. And what do=20 we have here? An in-tray brimming with bitter bile? My, my, what a surprise= ! First up is Robert Skae, who tells of a Barcelona braggart who continually= =20 banged on about his dedication to United. "He'd spent =A3900 on his ticket and =A3500 on his plane fare. The 'fan' left the Nou Camp in disgust with five minutes to go saying he'd wasted his money." That's a real shame. Colm Larkin's friend celebrated Sheringham's equaliser so much that=20 "he completely missed the winner and was only told about it when he had=20 calmed down enough to prepare for extra-time." Never mind, eh? Simon James, working in Nairobi, settled himself in front of a big screen= =20 with tinnies at the ready, waiting for the match to begin. But kick-off=20 time came and went and the screen remained matchless. After making a call= =20 to the TV station, Simon ascertained that the Kenyan Broadcasting Company= =20 hadn't paid for the game and "were trying to pull a fast one". Having been= =20 rumbled at the last minute, the plug was pulled on the KBC and poor Simon= =20 missed the lot. Aaawww. The Fiver can't mock everyone, though. It does have feelings, its=20 heartstrings can be plucked, and the following story from Sam Smith has=20 struck a maudlin chord (minor, diminished 13th). Grasping at a last-minute straw, Sam's friend Nik Hibberd stood up and=20 announced, "I'm going for a lucky piss. I might be some time." Predictably,= =20 the period of his ablutions ran concurrently with the Teddy and Ole show,= =20 and "the sporting moment he had been waiting 27 years of his sad life for"= =20 was gone forever. "I have a niggling feeling that it was the lucky piss and not the skill of= =20 the United players that won them the trophy," muses Sam. So, for services= =20 to English football, the Fiver offers Nik a dribble of heartfelt sympathy. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 09:48:42 PDT From: Boston Red Subject: Obvious joke - Quadruple? Surprised this hasn't been posted yet, or maybe I missed it in the past two-day drunken haze... Q) Why do women love German footballers? A) Because they stay on top for 90 minutes and still come second. I know it's old, but it gives me so much satisfaction. And what's all this about our season being over? Aren't we all forgetting the quadruple. A certain game involving all of our second (temporary) favourite team? Gillingham! Actually, I'm so at peace with the world, I couldn't care less if City win. But, wouldn't it be sweet if the game unfolds exactly like our Euro triumph. Two last minute winners against the Bitters. No, I'm getting greedy! Paul _______________________________________________________________ Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 10:42:08 PDT From: Mike McDonagh Subject: Californian treble watching Paul wrote: >But I thought I'd add in a slightly different view--what >it's like to watch such a game in the provincial realms of the only country >on earth where nobody much cares about the biggest football game of the >year. Spot on, it certainly is a weird feeling - almost like you're living in two parallel universes, one where everyone's celebrating the treble and another where the only sports making the news is what the latest tally of home-runs is for some testerone pumped guy aiming to win the 'world' series. And you're not sure which one is reality, though in truth both are. In California United's European games are at a much more convenient time for us as they mean we can watch them at lunchtime and have a bit of a bevvy, something not always on at 7am. We esconced ourselves at the Duke of Edinburgh at 11:15, just before it really started filling up and got prime seats at the bar where the Guinness flowed to help calm the nerves. My two brothers have come down to Cupertino from San Francisco and we're joined by some 'neutral' friends of ours who are supporting United for the game. The pub is mostly full of Utd fans but there is a smattering of Bayern fans and ABUs. Everyone is as nervous as hell, mostly due to the absence of Keane I think. The game starts and we keep drinking though I'm too edgey to eat much of the food I've ordered, then our worst fears are realised as Bayern score from a free-kick that never looked like it should've been given. Two more list members, Prashant and CP, arrive in a rush a little late for the game to be greeted with the bad news. The first half passes by quickly, but the mood is still vaguely optimisitic. United look like they can score and we've got a whole half to do it in. As the second half ticks by though our hopes fade as the lads seem to be running out of ideas - though after all that's happened this season we never totally give up (but when the ball is given away at 88:29 in midfield I must admit I though we'd truly lost it). Then the goal - the place goes mental, pints flying everywhere, barstools fall over, people fall over, the landlord ringing the 'time' bell like a maniac. The second goal - more falling over, no pints left to spill, the bell nearly comes off it's mounting. The place is so crowded it feels just like celebrating a goal in the Stretford End in the old days - you know when you'd be swept of your feet and end up several terrace steps away from where you started. When the final whistle blows we're almost speechless, everyones just repeating the mantra "I can't believe it. We've done the treble. Unbelievable.". We all watch the presentaion and celebrations then pile into our cars, horns beeping just like when driving down Chester Rd after a big win. Then the surreal bit as we go into a Safeways to stock up on Boddies and champagne, grinning like maniacs while everyone else in the store is wondering what we're on - we're in the Californian muzak-version of the universe briefly. Then back to my house where my wife with our week-old son has been fielding non-stop calls from Manchester from family and friends, and we're suddenly back in the red universe spraying champagne and toasting Fergie's boys. I've banged my head and CP's bust his designer shades in the goal celebrations but these facts barely register as we re-live those last 3 minutes (no tape of the game unfortunatley as ESPN2 not available to home subscribers around here - much to my house-bound wife's dismay). Everyone gradually drifts off and our cordless phone batteries are on their last legs as we get a phone call from Dave Menashe in Barcelona who's voice is just barely audible as he's shouted it hoarse and we speak of how fantastic it would be to be back in Manchester for the homecoming. What a day, what a season, what a team! Viva Manchester - Mike. _______________________________________________________________ Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 14:29:25 -0400 From: Ethan Fry Subject: Re: True sectret behind united's success > Are you still there? Good, then I'll explain. Back at the start of the New > Year I was given a United mug by a member of this list after his visit to > the plc Megastore. Since the beginning of the year, I have drunk only from > this mug. Nobody else has been allowed to drink from it or, if I was > around, touch it. It has caused me some embarrassing moments ... like > using it at an official departmental gathering when everyone else had > glasses ... but I couldn't allow anything to break its magical spell. It > went missing for half a day at one point and I almost had a nervous > breakdown. I have kissed and carressed it. I have talked to it. I > have cleaned it lovingly after every use and polished it up as if it were > the European Cup itself. Yes, I was drinking from it on Wednesday evening > as the goals went in. This holy relic sits at my right hand as I type > this. I would offer it to the United Museum but it's too valuable. > > No, of course I'm not superstitious. I'm glad I'm not the only one with this type of behavior due to United! Whenever I watch United games, there are so many things that I must do to ensure that they win. That is, sit in a specific spot on the couch, place my drink exactly on the same spot on the table, and my dog must be lying on the couch too! I can't get up during the 90 mins, no matter what, nor can my dog, and this also leads to some weird situations. Whenever someone comes home, my dog wants to jump and lick all over them, and I end up using all my strength wrestling her back onto the couch and then holding her there, all the while keeping an eye on the match. But hey, it works! Anyone else have these kinds of superstitions? ethan ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 19:52:45 GMT0BST From: Smiles Subject: Beckham 0100,0100,0100Hi all, just read this article and thought it might be of some interest, I haven't seen it on the list yet. --------------------------------------- arialBeckham runs for gloryTimes New Roman 0100,0100,0100 arialLap of honour for the long-distance sprinterTimes New Roman Arial By Michael Walker Thursday May 27, 1999 At the end he ran and he ran and he ran. If, as Manchester United's assistant manager Steve McClaren calculated, David Beckham covered nine miles of the Stadio Delle Alpi in the semi-final against Juventus in Turin, then how much ground did he cover last night in the vastness of Nou Camp? Only this week Beckham revealed that he was the Essex 1500m champion four years running at school, but football, especially at this level, requires sprint after sprint after sprint. And yet no matter what part of the pitch Beckham filled - the centre circle, his area, the Bayern penalty box, the right-wing and all four corners - no United player seemed to be on his wavelength. Then Teddy Sheringham appeared. The mood shifted, Beckham shifted. In injury-time he turned up on the left wing, rounded a silver grey shirt and flicked the ball to Denis Irwin, whose cross was booted out for a corner, probably a last corner. All those years of practice, all those extra hours in training when Alex Ferguson had to drag Beckham away from The Cliff, were boiling down to this. A poor corner and the trophy was Bayern's. But it was not poor, it was typically fast and accurate, Peter Schmeichel's not so jolly green giant presence told and suddenly, a couple of half-hit shots from Ryan Giggs and Sheringham later, the ball was in the Munich net. That was one thing, but then to have a near repeat with injury-time transforming into extra-time was astonishing. Then again, though, Beckham was demonstrating the archer's art of the corner kick and under the most intense scrutiny. Now Sheringham met this one almost as thrillingly as Roy Keane met another Beckham corner in the semi-finals. Sheringham's header did not billow the net as Keane's did but Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's volley did. The Germans had said that they feared Beckham's crossing. How realistic those fears proved as Sammy Kuffour, the only non-German in the team, was left showing Teutonic angst as he pummelled the Nou Camp turf. Kuffour, in particular, was deserving of his distress because he, along with Bayern's caveman of a midfielder, Jens Jeremies, did most to nullify the Beckham threat. Jeremies was his shadow for long spells but then for 67 minutes, until the introduction of Sheringham, so were a few of Beckham's team-mates. Beckham may have displayed the emotional maturity and natural ability to dictate a European Cup final, but that does not mean he is a replica Roy Keane. Far from it, in fact. But he does complement Keane in a way that Nicky Butt did not complement Beckham last night. That was a symptom of United's problems: a domino effect caused by Keane's suspension. Beckham may be the genuine article as a top-class playmaker but Giggs is no replacement for him on the right. On the opposite flank Jesper Blomqvist is no Giggs and in the 67 minutes United maintained this formation there was little of the fluid attacking that has characterised their season. Instead there was frustration typified on the half-hour when a swerving Beckham corner from the right evaded four static red shirts when surely Keane would have met the ball on the run. Beckham was left cursing the Barcelona night air just as earlier he had cursed Ronny Johnsen for not anticipating aninswinging free-kick. When Kuffour and Jeremies headed away second-half corners Beckham must have sworn again. But at last Sheringham came on to give Beck ham's passes a point and to change the night. If only the footballers and journalists of England could make a similar change. Both put pen to ballot paper for the respective player of the year awards when the season's silverware issues are yet to be settled and the denouement is often far from clear. A sudden glorious run from Christmas to Easter can clinch them for one player over another who has shown regular excellence since August. Hence David Ginola. But, put all the players and writers in a room last night at the end of the 44-week marathon and a show of hands would have revealed a sizeable majority for David Robert Beckham. It is 331 days since his red card in St Etienne and he has played in all United's 29 away games. He has taken the abuse; now he should be given the glory. ------------------------------------------- Does anyone else continuely re-watch the last 2 minutes of the final? Every time I see it it seems more and more unbelievable and not possible!!! Smiles, still in utter amazement!!!Times New Roman ************************************************** * Simon J Miles * * University Address: eayqsjm@nottingham.ac.uk * * Home Address: s_miles@btinternet.com * * ICQ #: 23218134 (Nick: smiles) * * Manchester United - CHAMPIONS 1998/1999!! * ************************************************** ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 May 1999 14:55:21 -0300 From: Edouard Cruz Subject: CL final replay for Canadian reds Tonight at 12.00 am ET on TSN. Don't miss it! Edouard Cruz Quebec, Canada luced@sprint.ca ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 19:34:18 +0400 From: "Pavel V. Zakharov" Subject: Re: goalkeeper news Hello! At first: Congratulations on winnig of Euro final!!!! And we are TRIOCAMPEONS now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Champions!!! Cup!!! And League of Champions! > >Date: Wed, 26 May 1999 11:58:13 -0300 >From: Edouard Cruz >Subject: Re: goalkeeper news > >Peruzzi has already signed for Inter. I would go for Chilavert. > I think it good decision. Chilavert is great goalkeeper and I heard he is now illegal for Velez (strange story about scuffle which took place about five years ago). So I think it's right choose. But what's about Bosnich? Or may be Buffon? ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 14:55:43 -0500 From: Dan Dewberry Subject: Re: The ABUs are out in force > From: steve.hogg@NEWCASTLE.AC.UK > To: MUFC@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU > Subject: The ABUs are out in force > Date: Friday, May 28, 1999 11:35 AM > > The BBC are asking for votes on if the Reds are the best team ever. > Currently the voting is Yes 40% and No 60%. A "Vote No" campaign is > been orchestrated by supporters from the unfashionable end of > the East Lancs Road. > > Get your vote in now, don't let them get away with it. > > http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/talking_point/newsid_353000/353585.a I couldn't get that to work & if others have problems I had to use: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/talking_point and select the ManUtd story. Dan ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 21:00:40 +0000 From: "" Subject: LIST: A Day in the Life - a life in a day part 1 A Day in the Life - a life in a day Barcelona - 26th May 1999 will go down as the most stunning football experience of my entire life. It couldn't ever happen again and if you could bottle it you would have to put a health warning on the label. On Tuesday I got up around 7.30, went downstairs and switched on the radio to 5 Live and who should I hear at that precise moment - Barry bloody Leeming - he gets everywhere that man!! He was obviously in Barcelona already and I was still at home, a fact which he reminded me of later when he phoned and implored me to get out there as quickly as I could. As if it was only down the bloody road! I was due to fly out very early the following morning. At just after 8pm I was hopping around so much I just had to get out of the house. I said my goodbyes to Karen and the kids and set off to pick up Nigel. Twenty minutes later I pulled up outside his house and he was looking out of the front window waiting for me to arrive. A few seconds later and he was saying goodbye to Sheryl and we were off up to Manchester. The journey up the M6 and on to the airport was easy and as we arrived at Terminal 1 there were the others waiting for us outside. We were early and the first in the queue at the check-in desk. When the two girls finally arrived we still had an hour and a half to wait before take-off so it was down to the bar for some alcoholic preparation. It was a strange feeling sitting in the airport amongst a few hundred Reds at midnight with a pint of Boddies waiting to fly out to Barcelona for the European Cup Final. The European Cup Final - say it again - the European Cup Final. After 31 years we were standing on the threshold again and Reds from all round the globe had pawned their lives to get there. By now we were passed the point of no return and the sign said "no trolleys past this point" what, no trolleys at all, but I put a clean pair on this evening especially for the trip! It was essentially still Tuesday night, but at 1.20 Wednesday morning we took off for Barcelona. There were five of us who travelled together, my daughter Eliza and her husband Steve, Steve's dad, John and Nigel. No-one can ever know what to expect from a situation like the one we were about to experience and no-one would have scripted it the way it happened, but happen it did, however far fetched it may seem. We were sat on the third row of the plane so saw everyone of the 170 strong party get on and when an extremely overweight man brushed past John, he remarked that he should sit in the middle or the plane would be sure to tip up if he were too near the back or the front. The engines growled into life and Spanair flight JKK 3376 taxied out onto the runway. At just past 1.30 the plane roared down the runway, the boys at the back sang, "here we go, here we go, here we go" and we lifted off into the night sky and we were on our way to destiny. The flight went well apart from the arrangements for a breakfast meal. I know airline meals are notoriously poor, but who decided we should have cheese, leathery turkey and coleslaw and who decided to repeat the meal on the return journey when it had been repeating on us all the previous day anyway. I paid special attention to the in-flight magazine dedicated to Spanair which was called Spanorama. You think I'm joking don't you, well I'm not. An hour and fifty minutes later we landed in Barcelona, it was just after 4.20am local time. From there we were taken in coaches to the Placa de Catalunya where we were dumped and left to our own devices. We were informed this would be where we would be picked up in 22 hours time, wished good luck, which coming from a bitter Blue was to be taken with a pinch of salt and we were off. Some headed straight for the park benches and got their heads down, but we made it our priority to find the Nou Camp and check out the possibilities of tickets. I already had one and so did Steve and John, but Eliza and Nigel didn't and Barry had told me the day before of a rumour that tickets may go on open sale that very morning at 9am. At first we set off walking in what we thought was the right direction, but we must have had the Red Issue map the wrong way up and got hopelessly lost and in the end had to succumb to asking the way from a passer by. The only person for miles apart from the vagrant who had just appeared from his cardboard box home in a doorway opposite, and it had to be a Yank who was as new to Barcelona as we were! We had ended up in what was obviously the red light district with doors parting furtively and women's voices asking us if we needed business. One diminutive old pro stood on the street corner and was wailing on about her wares. Surely anyone contemplating taking advantage of her offer would have to be the worst for ware of drink that anyone ever has been, she was absolutely revolting in every sense of the word. We decided to take the Metro instead, found our way to the nearest one and bought some tickets which at 145pts for a single journey were cheap enough. Having had no sleep at all we were glad of seats on the train which was empty apart from one man reading his morning paper. As he got up to get off the train he stuck two fingers up to signify victory and pointed to a picture of Fergie in his paper and to make sure I didn't get the wrong impression about his v sign he gave me the thumbs up. By the time we arrived at the stadium it was around 7.30 and some of the stalls were already being set up and the touts were out in force. The price of tickets varied between =A3250 - =A3750. It just depended how much they thought they could sting you for. You could easily spot them wherever you went. They were more or less the same as those who ply their trade at Old Trafford only of more tanned appearance. Tout after tout we tried and none of them came down below =A3250. Nigel and = I generally tackled them and at times became very angry at their attitude. I suppose we should have directed our anger towards UEFA and the stadium authorities, but they weren't around - the touts were. We wanted to make it clear we were onto their case and at times pursued them as they tried to escape our aggressive questioning - they didn't like that, not that they seemed willing or able to do anything about it. I didn't like them much and was at least going to make sure they knew it. I don't suppose it helped our quest for tickets though and after a fruitless hour we adjourned to a nearby coffee shop and drank a couple to wake ourselves up. We decided we would return nearer to kick-off and see if the price had tumbled to a reasonable level we could afford. We chatted with some lads from Manchester who had been out for a couple of days and were still searching for tickets they could afford. They were determined to get in at any cost and were prepared to rush the gates at match time and bust their way through - hope you made it lads. We then heard from a member of the stadium staff that the ticket office was going to be opening at 10 am to sell tickets. Some said they had opened the previous day but had only sold to Spaniards. My contention was that if there were no Spaniards in the queue, they would have to sell to us instead. When the word spread the queue got longer and longer and became a source of concern for the Guardia who then came and told us the Ticket Office would not open at all. =46or a while there was a peaceable stand-off where we argued our case for spare tickets, but it was no go especially when the head of the bunch began stroking his gun in a provocative manner. Now, I don't want you to get the wrong idea about this provocative manner business - it was coupled with a stare of some severity so we got the message alright. We decided to call the protest off and wandered away feeling miserable. We then decided to get away from the Nou Camp and go and explore some of Barcelona - forget about the ticket situation for a while and enjoy being there. We took the Metro back to the Placa de Catalunya and started with a wander down La Rambla. It seemed that everyone we ever knew who is connected with United was there. A couple of minutes after the first encounter we had another and another and another. We weren't getting anywhere, but it was a great atmosphere of camaraderie and as the song goes, "Reds are here, Reds are there, Reds are every f**king where." When we met up with Mick he took us to a market to meet with Walshy and the family and a few IMUSA members. They were off to Segrada for some culture and we said we'd see them later, but got distracted and by the time we got there, they had gone. In fact we seemed to be about half an hour behind them all day! =46rom there we went to the proposed meeting place in the Hard Rock Cafe. We were held up outside for a while but when we told the doorman all we wanted was a drink he let us through. The place was heaving with Reds from all over the world. Names and e-mail addresses were there in person - a real multi national gathering. It was superb to meet up with you guys. I then spotted some mates from IMUSA on the other side of the bar and went over to them, but where were "joined at the hip"? Such a great atmosphere - sure some were nervous, but that was understandable wasn't it! Everywhere we went we asked for tickets. We were even told of a possibility of a couple of tickets via SPS the Old Trafford security force, but they never materialised either. We seemed to be getting closer and closer to tickets but then always had our hopes dashed at the last moment, but at least there were possibilities and definitely plenty of spare tickets around, just the price was too high. =46rom the Hard Rock we went to the Segrada Familia which is a monument to the genius of Gaudi. We had heard that the Segrada was right by the tube station, but when we broke out into the sunshine once again it was nowhere to be seen until we turned around. The sight of the Segrada Familia makes you gasp at it's imposing size and structure. It is simply stunning. We let out a gasp of amazement at the epic gothic quality of this most famous Barcelona landmark. It has been another of my favourite buildings and this year I've been chalking off visits to quite a few of them. We were due to return to the Hard Rock as I wanted to see a few more list members I hadn't ye