Mancunian Blues
Created | Updated Feb 17, 2005
Kick Idiots out of Football
It's been a quiet week up here in the rainy city, so I thought I'd change the scene a bit and talk about the big sporting event of the weekend up here. 1pm this Sunday was the Manchester derby. Man Utd went to the City of Manchester Stadium to take on Man City, who have won the last two derbies at their home ground. For Utd it would mean more points in the title race, keeping the pressure on Chelsea, for City, well its
mainly bragging rights.
I set off to the pub where I normally watch football, however they were operating a policy of regulars only for the derby and I didn't get in so I headed down to my local and watched it there. The first half everything was fine and dandy, nice and quiet. It seemed like the pub was 60/40 in city's favour. As soon as Rooney scored the first goal, two
Utd fans moved from the corner they were lurking in, to stand right next to the big screen and hold court, mocking the city fans. Fair enough, bragging rights transferred themselves, but with all due respect, winning Utd fans are the reason everybody hates that club.
To set the record straight I'm not a city fan, I'm an Evertonian, and have some fairly strong scouse roots. Utd fans boasting at city fans is fair enough, but if one club can afford to spend £50m just on strikers in the last year and a bit, you'd expect them to do better. In the 80's Harry Enfield's loads-a-money sketches (yes, he was funny once) showed how irritating it is for people to wave cash in other people's faces.
But let's just leave this as local club verses club banter and, with respect, a win over City in the derby is about the biggest thing they'll win all season!
However what really annoyed me was the songs about burning all residents of Liverpool on a bonfire. Given that Rooney scored for them, Dunne (who spent a good few years on Merseyside) scored an own goal, and
McManaman and Fowler for City did their best to make sure City didn't score, I find this both hypocritical and offensive. Normally it's the southern man U fans that get the bad press, swanning around the Guildford wine bars waving their newly formed allegiances to their former friends. Filling up the trains between Euston and Manchester on match days, disparaging the North daily however claiming loyalty to it when Saturday comes. But it is chunk of the Northern fan base that are insufferable as well!
While the FA and FIFA are clamping down on racism, can't something be done about idiots who hate people for the town where they were born? It's bad enough that to watch the football, I have to inhale the smoke
of 50 people, some people just don't know how to win and, given the practise they have had in recent years, you'd have thought that even somebody with a limited intelligence would have learnt. At least this wasn't a Saturday match. Two years ago, I went out with a friend to the city centre, 5 hours after the lunch time derby match ended and only 2 bars in the city centre would let people in.
And while I'm on a sporting depression, let's talk rugby. Not only have England got a Hooker who can't throw a lineout ball, they have two kickers who can't kick, wasting 18 points, exactly the same points haul that France got to beat them in what was a wretched game of Rugby.
Anyway, till the next time
Love, peace and blues
tjm
