Archive for July, 2011

Beating the Yanks!

Thursday, July 28th, 2011

United made it 4 out of 4 wins this summer after beating an MLS All Star team 4-0 last night! I must say, we’ve looked really sharp this pre-season, and I think we’ll hit the ground running once it all kicks off again next month.

But first there’s the matter of the “noisy neighbours” (as Fergie calls them!) to be addressed. And they’ve just added this fella to their ranks…

He certainly looks like a good player. But £38 million? Seems a bit steep for someone who might not do so well in the Premier League. After all, he’s not a big lad, so teams like Fulham and Stoke will be barging him all over the place! And how will the Argentine playing in Spain deal with wet Wednesday nights in Cardiff? They’ve already got one grumpy South American on their books and look what happened there…

The Community Shield has no bearing on anything really, but this time it will be markedly different because it’s a Manchester derby played at Wembley. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t wish City any success whatsoever, but to be treated to two derbies at Wembley in a year? That’s not bad at all…

Don’t know if I can stomach watching, if I’m honest. I find derbies so nerve-wracking! So much on the like, not just in football terms, but when it comes to things like bragging rights between mates. The whole city becomes divided in Manchester. Let’s just hope this time it becomes a little more ‘united’!

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David De Gea

Monday, July 25th, 2011

There’s a new number 1 in town…

David De Gea

He might look young, but this lad is United’s new goalkeeper. He made his debut last night in a friendly and he apparently did very well and looked really assured. It’s mad to think that a 20-year-old lad will have to be confident effectively bossing around the likes of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic. When I was 20 I was stuck working in a record shop scared of my own shadow! Haha those were the days…

Anyway, it was a good 3-1 win even though we conceded early. I’m sure there will be fans saying that ‘a good debut’ means not conceeding but it’s natural that keepers will concede. You can be the best goalkeeper in the world but you can’t really do anything if you dive one way and a deflection sends the ball the other!

Wayne Rooney scored again, which is great news. He had a very slow start to the year last season if you remember, and then there was all that daftness with his contract and that, THEN he finally got going and scored arguably one of the best goals ever at Old Trafford in the derby. Here’s hoping we see more of the Rooney who appeared at the end of last season straight away this year. He could quite easily end up Player of the Year…

Ashley Young has also made a very fruitful start to his United career. He’s been in the press commenting on the challenge ahead of him, and how much he needs to improve and up his training regime if he is to be the very best. He’s a young lad (no pun intended) so it’s good to see he’s got his head screwed on the right way.

All in all, I’d say that pre-season is conjuring up a vivd image of a great upcoming season for United!

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Manchester United 7 Seattle Sounders 0

Thursday, July 21st, 2011

A great night for United yesterday as they absolutely thrashed MLS team Seattle Sounders 7-0 on their US tour!

Here are the goals (well, six of them, damn Youtube!)

It was a nice performance, and we hardly broke a sweat in beating the unfancied Yanks. First scoring was Michael Owen. His second goal in two games, could Owen be ready to have his best season yet for United? Next was Mame Diouf, back from his loan at Blackburn, with a neat finish. Rooney, on for Owen, blasted in an emphatic hat-trick. Also making the scoresheet was Ji-Sung Park and Gabriel Obertan (remember him?)

So far then that’s 11 goals in two games and everything is looking great for United. I know a lot of people will scoff at the notion of training games against US teams, but we’ve proved that we are in great form and are ready to march towards championship number 20. Here’s hoping for a brilliant start to the season…

Still no big news on the transfer front. No news on the Sneijder front either, so that probably means the deal is being thrashed out as we speak. Man that guy must have greater lawyers than all the classes of employment law Oxford University has to offer!

The weekend was lovely, THANKS FOR ASKING. Nah, we didn’t do too much, truth be told, just watched a bit of telly and headed into town for a bit. Job’s a goodun! Kids are back home now. Well, Eric 7 is at least. Sally’s probably round at her boyfriend’s house watching him play the bass badly with his daft mates. Oh well, girls will be girls and boys will be boys!

I’m goign to try and keep this blog updated much more over the summer, so keep coming back to check out what I’m up to. Especially you!

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To Schneider or not to Schneider?

Friday, July 15th, 2011

The big news – sort of – is the will he or won’t he story in the football world revolving around Wesley Schneider. Now Fergie’s said that he’s not interested in signing the Dutch wonder but I can’t see that. He is, in my opinion, the closest player to someone like Scholes out there. And £35 million is about right for a top star in the post-City moneybags era. So get in there for him Fergie!

We are off to a great start in our US tour…

What to do with Kiko Macheda though? I personally wouldn’t put him ahead of Berba and Owen, so that puts him 5th in the pecking order. Then you’ve got Wellbeck back and Mama Diouf – both good players who have proved themselves out on loan. Is there much of a future for him at United? Either way, we’ll always have this wonder debut goal to look back on…

It’s Friday and the weekend is young! I’ve got the kids though, so my weekend’s just grown a few more grey hairs! Don’t know what’s going on in Chorlton over the next few days, but I reckon I could take them into the Horse and Jockey for one or something. Failing that, anywhere with food where dad can have a beer sounds good to me!

My friend Derek is going through a rough time at the moment. Bloody redundancies – when will they end? Still at least he’s not Rebekah Wade, eh! Good Riddance!

Only a short post from me today as I’ve got to get the kids from their mother’s now. I wonder if Sally will bring a load of rubbish CDs to stink the house out with? I say wonder, I think it’s a given!

All the best for the weekend guys, and I’ll catch up with you soon!

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NOTW phone hacking

Friday, July 8th, 2011

While I’m sure there are many media types high up discussing the future of the industry in various conference facilities rooms all over the UK right now, surely the people who hold it in their hands are us – the people.

Frankly, we’ve all had enough of this News of the World style phone hacking. It was one thing going after celebrities. I’m not condoning it, but it was slightly different to going after normal people. People in grief. The families of fallen war heroes. That is disgusting and those responsible should be taken to task for it.

It’s the higher-ups who are responsible, as per bloody usual, and, as per bloody usual, the little guys at the bottom of the ladder are going to suffer because of their nasty misdeeds. The News of the World has now closed. Dead. With the News of the World could go the careers of 200 innocent journalists. Dead. Will these people recover? Will their reputations as workers and employees be forever tarnished by their association with a newspaper that has dropped dead so quickly. Nobody really expected it to go, you know, but do these people have a chance now?

These higher-ups won’t be punished, of course, because they never do get punished do they. Hell, they’ll probably even receive a greater public profile and ultiamtely more money because of it. It’s horrible really, how it all works out. But, as the News of the World taught us when it was in print – people pay for scandal, people are attracted to it, and it will continue to sell in one way of another – tabloid rag or not.

So that’s it, the end of an era. No more News of the World. I didn’t read it, of course, but I can appreciate that this is a pretty pivotal moment in our recent history. Oh well, just one less bad outlet in which it can be documented!

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Chorlton in the summer

Tuesday, July 5th, 2011

One of the perks of living in CHorlton is that during the summer months there really is loads to do. Take this weekend, for instance, when we had the Beech Road Festival. It’s always good to pop out to see live bands in nice weather, but it’s even better when you can do it almost literally on your own doorstep!

Me and a few friends went down this weekend. I was going to take the kids but I fancied some downtime. Of course, the place was littered with younger, urban trendy-types but, if I’m honest, they added to the experience in a way. It felt like a proper festival, and like there was something going on in Chorlton.

This weekend upcoming sees an event I definitely can’t bring the kids to: the Chorlton Beer Festival. If you’ve been reading this blog over the years, you’ll know all about my love of real ales, so needless to say this is right up my street! In fact, I’ve been getting in a few bottles of Old Speckled Hen and the like in order to train myself for it!

I’ve moaned about living in Chorlton in the past, but I just think that’s my cynical side coming though. Overall, I like where I live. I like the closeness to local amenities, I like the shops and I like the overall ‘vibe’. Even the Wetherspoons round the corner has a beer festival on and, at those prices, how can anybody really complain?

This week’s lesson will definitely be my realisation that it’s good to look at the glass as half-full every once in a while, rather than always considering it to be half-empty. And, hey, with the amount going on in Chorlton over the next few weeks, I think it’s pretty obvious my glass will be a little more than half full!

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