Yesterday it didn't take long for the Wolves fans to start the chant of 'Thursday night, channel 5'. Something usually sung by a gleeful Stretford end and reserved for the Liverpool contingent. That has certainly come back to bite them (myself included) in their extremely large posterior. What is interesting though is that Channel 5 have already chosen the games they want to show in the Europa League and that will be the matches involving Tottenham. ITV4 and ESPN have second and third choice so the 2 Manchester clubs will be relegated even further down the bill and could be forced to play earlier e.g. 3.26am to suit the Hawaiian audience or something equally ridiculous. With Tottenham's status in the competition looking precarious this could all change.
The Champions' League debacle has thrown up an interesting conundrum for the Glazers (Man Utd's putrid owners). Usually European competition is classified as part of the much maligned ACS (automatic cup scheme) where season ticket holders are forced to buy tickets for all home matches that Utd are involved in. Well it has been announced that Europa League matches will not be part of the ACS. That tells it's own story.
The sad news of Nemanja Vidic's cruciate ligament injury will have a huge effect on United's season as his return to the team after 10 games out contributed to 4 clean sheets in 5 games. The 1 game they did concede was against Newcastle and we all know what controversial decision led to Newcastle's equaliser. Then yesterday we received even worse news, Darren Fletcher is to take an indefinite break from football. This is a devastating blow to an already depleted central midfield with Tom Cleverley and Anderson sidelined until January and February respectively. However, football takes a back seat as far as Fletcher is concerned. Our thoughts are with him and his family and for a speedy recovery. It is a disease that can lead to cancer so hopefully he can now manage it and will go into remission.
On the subject of sad news and football taking a back seat, Gary Speed. I cannot blog without paying a huge tribute to the former, Leeds, Everton, Newcastle, Bolton and Sheffield United winger, striker and central midfielder. He was one of football's good guys, rarely in trouble on or off the field and was unlucky to end his career without the medals his talent, determination and rectitude deserved. It came as quite a shock to everyone what happened and of course our hearts go out to his family.
Back to the football, Abu Dhabi Oil's defeat to Russian Oil means United are within 2 points of the leaders, considering how 'poor' United have been this is quite remarkable. What is also quite astounding is that Carlos Tevez is STILL AWOL. City must be resigned to losing their cult hero and former talisman with AC Milan showing the most interest. Of course this is a fantastic move for Tevez, he will be 19 miles closer to his family in Buenos Aries and maybe there are 3 restaurants in Milan compared to the paltry 2 in Manchester. He is not the only City player to be grabbing the headlines off the field, Mario Balotelli is in a league of his own when it comes to embarrassing his club and manager. His latest misdemeanor, breaking curfew to grab a midnight curry less than 48 hours before an important match at Stamford Bridge is stunning. If you were to break curfew, you would imagine one would try to keep a low profile. Not Mario. After dining at Zouk, the media were alerted to Balotelli's presence as he was having a mock sword fight with rolling pins he had taken from the kitchen. You could not make this up. Mario obviously wasn't happy with the diminutive coverage last week's calamity received. This time he was stopped by police for driving with boxing gloves on?! You have to admit, he's value for money.
I now have a number of other topics to cover, the imminent arrival of the Suarez-Evra racism verdict is one. I will not go into detail until we receive details on Tuesday but the impression I get is that if the verdict is delayed, this is because they are deciding on the length of punishment to issue to Suarez. As always we will see! This is a nice segue to the John Terry case, all the furore has died down now but the story rumbles on. Personally I cannot stand the guy but I don't think he's a racist, a quick resolution is needed but I don't think the FA are in any way capable of doing something in the right way. Speculation ensues.....
Barcelona, the greatest team ever? United's spending? The Europa League? Rooney's International ban reduced? These are all topics I wish to cover but I will save that for next time my self-indulgent, egotistical sports fans.
The sad news of Nemanja Vidic's cruciate ligament injury will have a huge effect on United's season as his return to the team after 10 games out contributed to 4 clean sheets in 5 games. The 1 game they did concede was against Newcastle and we all know what controversial decision led to Newcastle's equaliser. Then yesterday we received even worse news, Darren Fletcher is to take an indefinite break from football. This is a devastating blow to an already depleted central midfield with Tom Cleverley and Anderson sidelined until January and February respectively. However, football takes a back seat as far as Fletcher is concerned. Our thoughts are with him and his family and for a speedy recovery. It is a disease that can lead to cancer so hopefully he can now manage it and will go into remission.
On the subject of sad news and football taking a back seat, Gary Speed. I cannot blog without paying a huge tribute to the former, Leeds, Everton, Newcastle, Bolton and Sheffield United winger, striker and central midfielder. He was one of football's good guys, rarely in trouble on or off the field and was unlucky to end his career without the medals his talent, determination and rectitude deserved. It came as quite a shock to everyone what happened and of course our hearts go out to his family.
Back to the football, Abu Dhabi Oil's defeat to Russian Oil means United are within 2 points of the leaders, considering how 'poor' United have been this is quite remarkable. What is also quite astounding is that Carlos Tevez is STILL AWOL. City must be resigned to losing their cult hero and former talisman with AC Milan showing the most interest. Of course this is a fantastic move for Tevez, he will be 19 miles closer to his family in Buenos Aries and maybe there are 3 restaurants in Milan compared to the paltry 2 in Manchester. He is not the only City player to be grabbing the headlines off the field, Mario Balotelli is in a league of his own when it comes to embarrassing his club and manager. His latest misdemeanor, breaking curfew to grab a midnight curry less than 48 hours before an important match at Stamford Bridge is stunning. If you were to break curfew, you would imagine one would try to keep a low profile. Not Mario. After dining at Zouk, the media were alerted to Balotelli's presence as he was having a mock sword fight with rolling pins he had taken from the kitchen. You could not make this up. Mario obviously wasn't happy with the diminutive coverage last week's calamity received. This time he was stopped by police for driving with boxing gloves on?! You have to admit, he's value for money.
I now have a number of other topics to cover, the imminent arrival of the Suarez-Evra racism verdict is one. I will not go into detail until we receive details on Tuesday but the impression I get is that if the verdict is delayed, this is because they are deciding on the length of punishment to issue to Suarez. As always we will see! This is a nice segue to the John Terry case, all the furore has died down now but the story rumbles on. Personally I cannot stand the guy but I don't think he's a racist, a quick resolution is needed but I don't think the FA are in any way capable of doing something in the right way. Speculation ensues.....
Barcelona, the greatest team ever? United's spending? The Europa League? Rooney's International ban reduced? These are all topics I wish to cover but I will save that for next time my self-indulgent, egotistical sports fans.
