Football

Who will be next to bolster United’s strikeforce - Pele ? I really hope Ferguson recalls Rossi from his productive loan period spent sitting on the Newcastle bench.

4 November 1986. League Cup 3rd round replay. Attendance 17,914. Southampton 4 Manchester United 1 (Davenport). Ron Atkinson’s last game in charge and I was there. The United team that night was: Chris Turner Mike Duxbury Arthur Albiston Paul McGrath Graeme Hogg Remi Moses Jesper Olsen Norman Whiteside Frank Stapleton Peter Davenport Colin Gibson Subs: Kevin Moran, Nicky Wood I was partly responsible for Ron Atkinson’s departure. The seeds were sown the previous season when United won the opening 10 games of the 1985-1986 season, fueling expectation that United might actually win the title....

Arsene Wenger is bleating about a referee who ‘doesn’t see things that exist’. This is the ultimate irony from a man who, after 10 years, still constantly fails to see things that do exist on a football pitch. Thierry Henry is a superb footballer but should similarly be discouraged from giving post-match interviews after a defeat. His moaning, whinging performance almost rivalled his self-pitying rant following his dismal showing in the European Cup Final....

I support England but I simply can not help laughing uncontrollably at this goal. I wonder what Steve Maclaren was jotting down: ‘Give David James a call when I get home’ ‘More backpassing practice tomorrow’ ‘Get lawn cut at weekend’ ‘Wonder if Gareth will have me back as assistant ?’ Almost as amusing is the media backlash against Maclaren. Inevitably, the honeymoon is over before it even started. Pity there is no-one better to replace him....

The Council House will host the Uefa Cup Final in 2008. Unfortunately, City won’t be appearing but at least the revenue might relieve some of the MASSIVE (£60m) debt.

Manchester City - Theatre of Comedy Pearce uses a cuddly horse Barton bares his mouth to Everton fans. A marriage made in heaven.

I honestly didn’t think I would see this Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wear a Red shirt again, let alone score in the Premier League. Three long, hard years fighting a recurrent knee injury. Well done Ole.

‘He (Ruud van Nistelrooy) is a striker who can score upwards of 20 goals a season and there are not many of those going around.’ So why are we selling him them ? Let’s wait and see if Saha, Rossi, Ronaldo and Ole manage more than 20 goals (between them).

Doug’s post about early memories of attending football matches got me thinking. Years ago, I was a LMTB (League Match Ticket Book) holder at Manchester United and went to every home game at Old Trafford. An LMTB was similar to a season ticket but only entitled the holder to attend League Matches with no priority for FA Cup tickets. Consequently, whenever United got to the latter stages of the FA Cup, there was a black market in the Manchester Evening News for the little numbered tokens that were printed in the matchday program....

HDTV. Robert Scoble is an intelligent chap but has some truly bizarre thoughts. This theory is perhaps the most bizarre of all. Playing is better than watching. Watching in the ground is better than HDTV. HDTV is better than TV. Watching on TV is (sometimes) better than listening on the radio. To achieve success at ‘soccer’, you actually need to run around on a field not slump in front of TV with four gallons of soda and a mountain of cheesy nachos....