King Eric, Twelve Years On

He swaggered into Old Trafford like someone who thought he had a God given right to be loved and hero worshipped, and he was right. He was an artist, a poet, an enigma, a philosopher, a genius. He could play football on the right, on the left, down the centre. Stick him in goal and he would probably save four penalties in a shoot out.

I used to watch him as a kid with my mouth wide open, I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing from this guy. Even now, twelve years after he retired, a clip will come on TV, an advertisement might appear with him in it or I see a clip from his movie “Looking For Eric” and I can still feel the excitement in my stomach, the butterflies that used to fill me with anticipation, it’s all brought back by just hearing Cantona’s voice, just seeing him is enough for me to have a head full of memories of him playing for United. He had such a presence on the field and in so many of our hearts.

After a nomadic career in France involving six clubs in eight years,Eric Cantona made a shock move to England, ‘L’Enfant Terrible’ signed for Leeds United in 1992 – and helped the Yorkshire club to the title Fergie then announced he had signed Cantona for £1.2 million and I was dumbstruck, what a bargain, maybe the best bargain in the history of football.

In five seasons at Old Trafford, Cantona won four Premiership winners’ medals and the FA Cup twice, scoring the winner in the 1996 final against Liverpool. His only season with no medals was in 1994-95, during much of which he was suspended after his most infamous act – a karate kick at a Crystal Palace supporter who taunted him as he left the field after being sent off.

True to form, the eccentric Cantona told a press conference afterwards: ‘When the seagulls follow the trawler, it’s because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea’ After being persuaded to carry on playing by Fergie who flew over to Paris to see Cantona, he led United to yet another title in 1996-97 before retiring abruptly aged just 30. His final match for United was against West Ham on May 11, 1997.

He lived football as it is supposed to be lived. Like a game you have to play honestly. The first thing is to work hard, without losing the notion of pleasure. That is what he did. More players need to do the same. There is the ‘football’ Manchester United and the ‘merchandising’ Manchester United, these two worlds coexist, but for Cantona Manchester United is the club, it is football. A culture of the “beau jeu”, a philosophy that has been existing for years.

Manchester United always show us how to win with class, with fire in their bellies, with attacking, fast football that sweeps sides aside with ease. Eric Cantona revived all of these things in Manchester United, and then some. He was so convinced of his own abilities and talents that he would score an outrageously difficult goal, then just stand there hands on hips and wait for the crowd to explode in ecstasy at his brilliance.

Even the other players would run up to him and stop, waiting for him to allow them to mob him, but only after he had milked the applause from the supporters.Twelve years on they still sing his name loud and clear from the terraces! He was the catalyst that finally dragged United over the finishing line in first place after a long 26 year wait for the title. Down the years there have been some truly great United players…

…I could list 50 of them right here, right now. But for me the best of the best is Eric Cantona, ‘L’Enfant Terrible, Le Roi du Monde’.

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Manchester United Willing To Trade Gibson And Possebon For Fabian Delph

Manchester United have made an offer in the region of £10m for Leeds United’s 17-year-old midfielder Fabian Delph according to reports. The deal could also involve Darren Gibson and Rodrigo Possebon going in the opposite direction on a loan deal until the end of the season.

Delph, who has been a regular in the Leeds team this season, has been attracting attention from a number of Premier League clubs and Newcastle United wasted no time tabling a bid, but their £1m offer was rejected rather firmly by Leeds chairman Ken Bates, who is determined to keep hold of such a huge prospect. Bates said in November: “Fabian Delph will be moving to the Barclays Premier League - but we hope he’ll be moving with us via the Championship.”

Arsenal, Portsmouth, Bolton Wanderers and Sunderland have been linked with the England Under-19 star, while while it was reported earlier this week that Fulham had made an official £6m offer for the Bradford-born player.

Yet, United’s bid, which is based on performances and appearances would trump the offer made by Fulham if you take into account the two players going on loan.

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The Best Manchester United Ever ?

Speaking at a recent press conference Gordon Strachan agrees with what I have been saying for a year now, this is possibly the greatest Manchester United team to grace the field at Old Trafford !!

"We are playing the best team in Europe and some of the best players in the world. Is it a better team than Busby's ? Did they win 10 championships ? It is not for me to decide if this is the best Manchester United side of all time. That is for those who watch them more often. But Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic could look great no matter who we had up front. Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo are terrific - I have no new words to describe them. Their performances speak for themselves. But, believe me, it could be a lot worse. We are here now to face United and we are in the Champions League. We could have finished second in the title race and missed out on all this. Let's have a go at it. We will try to win this game - that is for sure. Whether we have the full set of weapons we had for Villarreal is another matter, with some big players injured." .....Back To Home Page

Manchester United Sponsors AIG Party With Tax Payers Money

The world's largest insurance company and sponsors of Manchester United, AIG, spent $440,000 on a lavish corporate retreat at one of California's top beachside resorts a few days after accepting an $85bn emergency loan from the US government to stave off bankruptcy.

Am I over reacting here or is that a bit rude and inconsiderate ? I can tell you that if I was a tax payer in the USA I would be a little bit upset to say the least ! At the end of the day, it is the fault of these wannabe playboy wankers oooops bankers with their high living partying lifestyle earned by gambling with the money of others, that this whole world wide credit crunch is wreaking havoc world wide. So what do they do ? They hold a party !

Details of the week-long getaway enraged legislators at a congressional hearing yesterday where AIG's former bosses were accused of spending taxpayers' money on pedicures, golf games and cocktails. Crippled by losses on financial insurance companies, AIG was bailed out by US taxpayers on September 17th to avert a collapse which risked causing further failures.

The House oversight committee, which is investigating the company's problems, confronted AIG executives with an invoice from the St Regis resort in Monarch Beach, south of Los Angeles, detailing an eight-day company event which began five days after the rescue.

"Average Americans are suffering economically," said Henry Waxman, chairman of the committee. "They are losing their jobs, their homes and their health insurance. Yet less than one week after the taxpayers rescued AIG, company executives could be found wining and dining at one of the most exclusive resorts in the nation."

The bill shows that AIG spent $139,375 on rooms, $147,301 on "banquets", $23,380 on spa treatments and $6,939 on golf at an eight-day company event which began on September 22.

"US taxpayers will be, in effect, paying for this," said Elijah Cummings, another Democrat, who demanded to know who was responsible for the outlay. "I think that person ought to be fired."

Rooms at the resort start from $500 a night and the travel guide Fodor's gives the place a rave review, saying: "Exclusivity and indulgence carry the day here; you can even have someone unpack for you."

Apparently though, according to AIG it is OK, it was to entertain freelance insurance salesmen who sold life, health and accident policies for the group's US subsidiary. Incredible !

AIG's former CEO who got the boot after AIG got into trouble amused me too saying it "seems very inappropriate. If I had been aware of it, I would have prevented it from happening," he added. How very gallant of you Mr Willumstad. It's just a shame you feel able to react in a timely manner to stop a party but you were unable to spot a world financial crisis which crept up on you and kicked your ass out the door Mr !!

Oh, and should anyone from AIG get to read this, you still owe Manchester United £28m so cough up before you party that away too.....Back To Home Page

England Tried To Steal Sir Alex Not Once Or Twice But Three Times !!

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was approached on at least three occasions for the England manager's job, claims Former FA executive director David Davies.

The first approach to the Red Devils boss came after Terry Venables' resignation in 1996. Ferguson is said to have been targeted again after the subsequent departures of Glenn Hoddle and Kevin Keegan but rejected all three attempts by the FA.

Speaking to The Herald, Davies said: "After Terry Venables, I wanted Fergie. I was absolutely clear he was the best person for the job. I was a personal friend of Sir Roland Smith, then chairman of Manchester United, and he didn't totally kick the idea into touch. I was vaguely encouraged.

Davies went on to admit he didn't expect Ferguson to take the post, adding: "I don't think he ever came near becoming the England manager. The idea of Alex leading England out at Hampden is somewhat far-fetched. He is a very, very proud Scot. He was, I think, tickled by the idea, though. When I recruited Keegan, I would have loved Ferguson to become manager. But the conversations were very brief."

Can anybody seriously imagine the England Prima Donnas being capable of listening to someone who does actually know more than them and is held in much, much higher regard than every single one of them ? I don't. They would all have spat the dummy out, hopped out the pram and gone home to sulk. Good decision Fergie.........Back To Home Page

The Bindippers Second To Manchester United AGAIN !!

So who did actually sing "You'll Never Walk Alone" first. Would that be Liverpool, Celtic or Manchester United ?

The Bindippers

There is overwhelming evidence that Liverpool Football Club supporters were the first to sing this song en masse. The song was famously covered by Liverpool group 'Gerry and the Pacemakers' in 1963. At this time, supporters standing on the Spion Kop terrace at Anfield began singing popular chart songs of the day. Their "inventive ferocity" was captured on camera by BBC Panorama in 1964. One year later, when Liverpool met Leeds United in the F.A. Cup Final, the travelling Kop sang the same song and match commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme commended the "Liverpool signature tune." The Dippers have been singing 'You'll Never Walk Alone' since 1963. Fully 45 years.

Celtic

Celtic sang it on two or three occasions during the 1970s, along with Aberdeen and Hibernian, though it was only popularised and formally adopted by the Parkhead faithful in the mid- to late-1980s. Liverpool were invited to play a charity game at Celtic Park following the Hillsborough disaster in 1989. Both sets of fans sang it together as a symbol of unity and support. Only in the years to follow - as both clubs repeatedly came together in a series of friendly matches - did Celtic begin to sing it on a regular basis, otherwise they have no legitimate claim to the song, nor is there any earlier evidence seriously linking them to it. Liverpool can produce an abundance of written material and video evidence. Celtic not so much.

Manchester United

Manchester United supporter Jane Hardwick asserted in 2004 that she, together with friends from the New Mills Operatic Society, decided to sing the song at "one of the games" following the Munich Air Disaster as her own personal tribute, before spontaneously being joined "by thousands of fans" around her. This would predate Gerry Marsden's faster-paced cover version by five years. However, as one local supporter scoffed:

"Anyone who has watched [or] listened to Carousel will tell you, the composition and performance of the musical version with the popular Gerry Marsden version sounds completely different."

So, to round off, it appears that Liverpool began to sing it in 1963, Celtic began to sing it in the 1970's but..........Manchester United were the first, in 1958. So Scousers, every time you sing this little melody just remember, you came second AGAIN !! We all know that second place is the first LOSER !!

Here are some other versions of it by Elvis Presley, The Three Tenors (30 quid) and by the Celtic and Dipper fans......Back To Home Page