On Thursday, a friend offered me two unwanted corporate tickets for the FA Cup Final at Wembley. I gleefully accepted and offloaded the second ticket within minutes. Saturday dawned cloudy and overcast. I realised I’d planned the journey for a traditional 3pm kick-off. I had the tickets in my hand although it was a bit weird for something so valuable and sought after to be printed out on my mate’s cheap inkjet printer....
Saturday 7 September was non-league day. There were no Premiership fixtures and Kingstonian FC had a number of offers to attract football supporters down to Kingsmeadow (half price admission for any season ticket holder). I had attended Kingstonian’s opening home league fixture and been pretty impressed by the new players recruited by Alan Dowse and the quality of the play in a 3-0 victory over Enfield Town so, on a sunny afternoon, I paid my second visit of the season to watch the K’s....
‘Is that Evra at left back ?’ ‘Yes. Ferguson said he would play his strongest side in Europe after last season. Why are you so surprised ?’ ‘Oh nothing. I just can’t believe it’s not Buttner’.
One of my favourite United players - for his sublime skills on the pitch and the modest, understated way he conducted himself off it. Thanks for all the memories, Paul.
When I heard that Arsenal were busy making plans for their injured and oh so inspirational captain, Cesc Fabregas, to hoist the trophy aloft and end 6 barren years without a sniff of a trophy, I had a horrible feeling it might end that way. Can you imagine the suspended United captain, a grey suited Roy Keane, doing that back in 1999 ? Can you even imagine Ferguson even contemplating that option for just a second ?...
Manchester, near England - Wednesday 5 January 2011 The footballing world was left reeling yesterday at shock news emanating from Manchester City’s training facility at Carrington. A local man, Frank Booth explains: ‘I always pass the City training ground on my way to work so I always check out the players going through their drills. Yesterday I was quite shocked to see all the players smiling and laughing. I couldn’t believe my eyes so I stopped for a closer look....
Frankly I think the pair deserve each other but some excellent quotes from Tevez’s agent, Kia Joorabchian, on Garry Cock. ‘Garry Cock thinks he’s bigger than Carlos Tevez.' ‘Garry Cock has an inflated opinion of himself. I brought him in from Nike after he begged me to get him a job in football.' ‘I got him a job which paid him more than four times what he was earning at Nike and he didn’t complain about me then but it’s all gone to his head....
United players line up for the identity parade. Paul Scholes has been excused to ‘quickly go to the toilet’.
I admire Wayne Rooney’s skills as a footballer and I honestly don’t give a flying fig about his sordid, personal life. Unfortunately, I don’t think Wayne Rooney is blessed with that much intelligence. This isn’t a criticism, merely a statement of fact. If Alex Ferguson says the sky is green, then the sky is green. If Alex Ferguson says you have an ankle injury, then you have an ankle injury....
With no Premiership or Championship fixtures at the weekend, I went along to watch my local non league club, Kingstonian FC, play on Saturday afternoon. Kingstonian play in the Isthmian League which is a regional league below the Conference (sponsored by Ryman so also known as the Ryman League) and were hosting Margate. It was great to be able to saunter round to the half way line and watch the match from behind the dugouts....