May 12
No Smoke Without Fire at Old Trafford?
As Manchester United’s hopes for a record beating 19th league title fizzled out at Old Trafford on Sunday, smoke from the dying embers of the season could be seen around the ground by many fans. At least that is how the romanticised version of events may be interpreted.
Instead what we saw was the smoke from a smoke-bomb, dropped outside the megastore, the latest in a long line of protests by Manchester United fans over the Glazer ownership of the club.
Old Trafford on Sunday was more the theatre of broken dreams. The fans and management of the club had already, in their hearts, accepted that Chelsea would beat Wigan Pathetic to claim the title. That they did so in such emphatic fashion was less a statement of Chelsea’s right to be champions, and more a statement on the rather timid showing of Wigan, who once again travelled to London only to surrender in the meekest of fashions. If Liverpool’s capitulation at Anfield was expected, then Wigan’s shambolic efforts were equally about as unexpected as Didier Drogba sulking like a baby for the rest of the first half when he wasn’t allowed to take the first penalty. Chelsea were 1-10 with Betfair at the start of the game, United were 7-1.
You can bet very few punters hoped that they’d have a nice little betting bonus by backing United. They were ultimately proven right. It does United’s fans great credit to say that they reacted to the not-unexpected events at Stamford Bridge with a shrug of the shoulders and a ‘That’s Life’ attitude that would have done Esther Rantzen proud.
The home support was magnificent throughout the game, reflecting perhaps on a season that just wasn’t meant to be, and the appreciative applause given to the players on their lap of honour was a credit to the club and in sharp contrast to the moronic hoards at Luton and Grimsby, who reacted to their respective defeats by somewhat predictably resorting to abuse, anger and violence.
United fans ire was instead directed at the boardroom, though no representative of the Glazer fraternity was in place to hear it due to the cloud of ash disrupting transatlantic aviation routes. Whether the ash was from Iceland, or the smouldering ire of Manchester United fans remains unclear.
The fall-out from the Glazer ownership continues to cast its own toxic cloud of debt over Old Trafford. The scale of the debt, how it has been passed onto the club and the unwillingness of the owners to even acknowledge the fears of the MUST, let alone deal with them is the root cause of many fans grief.
Green and Gold scarves were the collective uniform at Old Trafford, scarves which spoke of their unquestioned support of the team and the shared anger at the Glazer ownership. Cards with “Go Glazers Out” were more common than an inept Liverpool performance. The Red Knight, astride the gallant steed of a billion and a half pounds of investment, cannot come to the rescue soon enough.
So United didn’t lift the title this time around. Unlike some of their rivals down the M62 however, the Red Devil’s fans will know that they will, once again, be there challenging for the top honours once again next season, regardless of the level of debt and the blinkered attitude of the board. The fans will still support their team in vast numbers and the Champions League and Premier League will be realistic targets. From the dying embers of one season, rises the prospect of another. Life at Old Trafford goes on…
Every cloud has a silver lining, even a smoke-filled, debt-ridden toxic one.
Photo: Reuters
Related items from Red Rants:
- It’s Still All About Ronaldo, Love
- Poyet Rubbishes Move – Giggsy’s College Degree – No Berbatov Yet – South Africa
- Manchester United Travel To Wigan Amidst Latest Takeover Rumors
- All Smoke, Little Fire on the Transfer Front
- Liverpool’s ‘Match-Fixing’, and the FA Cup Cockup
Tags: Manchester United News
Opti (541)
Stephen (479)
RedDevilEddy (459)
Craig Mc (345)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
@ROOOOONEY: Those are three players, and two of them arent even strikers, the main issue is with dutch free scoring striker, can you believe kuyt scored something like 33 goals in 32 games or something?and alves the same….
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Blanc has resigned as Bordeux coach…
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@CraigMc: Thank God it’s during the summer holidays, so I won’t tell them to cut out nudity.
However, we won’t run it too far. I hope… 
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@Grognard: England will win!!!
….
….
…hopefully…
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@Owen: Brown > JT
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@EduardoDaVinci4: Top lad!!
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@EduardoDaVinci4: And my Eddy >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Anderson…
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@Stephen: Then why you dont support Berbatov
…After RedNev,there is no other player in the world who wants so much to play for Utd.
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@Owen: Unfortunately, I find that true…
Owen >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Berbatov
<3
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@[OPTI]Madschester United: Mate if I tell my missus to think of the World Cup as a 4 yearly ‘Hayley Bob Comet’, I’m afraid she will Hayley Bob me with a swift scratching pair of finely varnished finger nails. She’s conceded but she’s still mad as hell cat fire
. I know how to make it all up to her though, in buying her something she has longed for in years!
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@Owen: I do support him, I have never digged him out the only thing I have said a move for him is the best all round, I have never insulted him.
And Giggs, Scholes, Rooney, Brown, Rio, Evra, Nani ect all want to play for United as much as he does pal.
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@Owen: Also mate I go week in week out and sing his name, what more can I do?
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@CraigMc: are you buying her an cambodian baby? or a mega diamond ring?
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@EduardoDaVinci4: Bordeaux resigned to take up France national team job after world cup.
That narrows down the list of Fergie successors to:
Mourinho (at least 2 years from now if he goes to Madrid)
Fabio Capello (good friends with Fergie supposedly)
— there is no way Moyes and O’Neill willl get the job without Fergie already in place. They have not managed a team that needs to win all matches and have failed when pressure piled up.
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@EduardoDaVinci4: Boo! Scandinavian holder sammen!!! Denmark to win it!!!
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@[OPTI]Madschester United: Your close mate – for what do all girls want – except very expensive clothes and jewellery
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United should sign Arteta and Ronaldinho and a smaller signing.
If these two came to United I’d be very confident at the start of next season, Ronaldinho is unlikely I think though, due to the fact he’s snubbed us before, but you never know, he’s getting older. We need some back up for when Valencia and Nani are tired/ being rotated.
Arteta in place for Carrick would ideal, but I’m really not sure if we would could nick him from Everton. Any thoughts? Another striker or what?
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@[OPTI]Madschester United: Bror, hadde heiet på Danmark hadde det ikke vært for veddemålet. Sorry, men noen ganger må man bare følge hodet og ikke hjartet.
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@CraigMc: I’ll tell you one thing. Don’t tell your girlfriend she is the sexiest thing you’ve seen since Giggsys bare chest at Villa Park in 99, they seem to misinterpret it to be a bad thing.
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@Harry Carrick: Why not get Roman Pavlychenko as well?
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@Stephen: Luv you too mate! <3
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@Taehr: Thats why I included Joe Cole. He can play both wings and because he is unable to stay healthy playing full time, playing him as a spot starter and sub would be fine without wasting a good talent full time on the bench. Similar to the way we should have used Michael Owen.
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@Taehr: As far as Hernandez is concerned, if you knew my reasons for despising Mexican footballers and just how close the situation is to my personal life, you would not question it. You don’t have to like it, just know that it exists. I make no apologies because when it comes to Mexicans and especially their footballers, I make no claims to fairness or political correctness. In fact I claim the exact opposite.
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@Stephen: England has zero chance of winning mate. Seriously, no second striker worth spitting at, your main star admits to feeling completely exhausted, a midfield saturated with selfish players who are not overly flexible, a back four that is injury prone and old and a major question mark in goal. Seriously, how anyone can expect them to get past the round of 16 is beyond me. Collectively they aren’t that good. And any team that carries a cancer like John Terry around like an albatross cannot be in good health. Rooney will be a magnificent no show at the WC because he is just burnt out and he lost his sharpness when he got injured. Just how I feel about it. Obviously, I would like to see the m do well but i am just being realistic.
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@Grognard: If I told you I was part Mexican, would you hate me?
Just wondering, actually we two should be arch enemies/ best friends! You are part greek and I’m part Albanian, doesn’t know what that makes us but I sure know we are both hot as hell!!!
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@EduardoDaVinci4: No I wouldn’t hate you but I might be forced to kill you.
Thankfully the other half of you would be there to help neutralize that deficiency. 
Seriously though, I have a problem with Mexican footballers because of something very serious that happened to me personally many years ago. I will keep it to myself but lets just say that it was bad enough to force me to lump all of them into one stereotype and for me to dislike them all. And no I do not live in Arizona.
To my knowledge Greeks have no problem with Albanians. It’s Turks that we have a problem with. I don’t but I know all my relatives do.
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@EduardoDaVinci4: Aaaaah Eddi – we are well passed the complimentary stage in our relationship, the missus and I are just very comfortable with each other. Well when we are not verbally rankling with each other over too much football watching on TV during tournaments like world cup. She probably has quite a bit to be miffed about though, I have never been interested in Cricket at all, but looked into the 20/20 world tournament, and just got hooked on that too – and England won the bloody thing, beating the Aussies in the final. Ordinary cricket is boring, but the one day stuff of 20 overs for each team is exciting stuff
.
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Happy 17th May!
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@Grognard: I wouldn’t say England have zero chance mate, we have Rooney, Lampard, Gerrard, Ashley/Joe Cole, Rio, and er Terry who are all meant to be world class.
We are certainly not favourites, but decent outsiders and Rooney could have had a month off it we wanted, so he could be chomping at the bit!
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Ballack out of the World Cup
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@EduardoDaVinci4: Great News.Brilliant…I cant even think to get a better news than this…
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@Grognard: the 3 players u have mentione in that long post are actually more real than it can be and they will def improve our set up. Am sure joe cole wouldnt mind coming in as a sub or act as a replacement for valencia and nani when they need to rest.
I just love the media circus linking us with every player in this world, somebody please wake me up when all this rumor mongering is over.
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@Stephen: Well your chances just went up a bit as Germany is now officially an non entity. Ballack is out and I seriously doubt they will go far now. Still a good team but Ballack was more than just a good player for them. He was their skipper and inspirational leader and there number one taker of free kicks and penalties which is always a vital function in a short tournament. One less obstacle to worry about for Capello’s boys I guess.
Lampard and Gerrard still have to prove to the world they can play well together on the same pitch. Joe Cole is not in great form having just returned from a long layoff and the same can be said for Ass Cole too. I seriously doubt Rio will be available for all games due to his bad back and Terry is not a great as he used to be. Goalkeeping is a big question mark and I am not won on England’s wide men nor the backups up front. Defoe, Bent, Crouch, Heskey?????? Is this the best England can do? Heskey for crying out loud? And most importantly, every team will put there best defender and best DMF on Rooney and try to neutralize him. He is already admitting exhaustion. Does this leave any of us with great optimism? England’s chances fully depend on Rooney playing out of his skin and staying healthy as well, Gerrard and Lampard will have to have the form of their lives and frankly, I have never seen it out of either when it comes to playing for England. I’m pessimistic but I would love to see them do well now that Germany’s chances have been so damaged. Ozil will have to replace Ballack and show experience and form beyond his years. I somehow rather doubt he will deliver.
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@man utd jaluo: I would be elated if we got all three players but then again, the way Fergie thinks, I doubt we will get Rodwell as he will waste money on a striker that isn’t worth it. Silva and Rodwell would be an instant upgrade to our weakest team area. Cole would be the winger backup we need without breaking the bank and without having to worry about a player with delusions of grandeur who will be whining about playing time. Nani and Valencia have earned their positions and the thought of Krasic and Di Maria coming just disturbs the whole apple cart and causes us to ask the question why? Fergie needs to spend on players who fill weaknesses, not players who create competition at secure positions.
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I’m worried about Wayne Rooney next season because he is getting overworked. He already said he’s exhausted, throw in the world cup this summer and you’ll see that Rooney never got a chance to rest and recover this summer.
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@Grognard: also milner can improve our mid, hes still 24 and normally plays behind the strikers in villa and he can score goals, thats what we need. all this if we miss on silva. also as you say, rodwell is a must, we can buy him and loan him back to everton for say a season and give hargo a chancce, as a fit hargo will always be picked ahead of rodwell.
the rest of the players krasnic/d maria, borrieolo i think its there agents who are auctioning them to raise there profiles and get teams bidding hire thinking man utd is after them, eg robinho to city case. or the way glazers are spreading rumours that they rejected a 1.5b offer from mid east to dupe the red knights into coming up with a bigger offer.
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When do we offload Carrick, Anderson, Park, Tosic, and Foster?
I am surprised we have yet to hear rumors of impending transfers?
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@Owen: I can mate – Nani getting a knock in training or only playing as sub – then he will be fresh as a daisy for us next season – yeah I am being selfish Owen
.
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Also, when do the Red Knights make their offer public?
Red Ranter is definitely NOT on vacation anymore (unless he is unemployed
). I am 99% sure that he is part of the Red Knights, who are currently hiding in their Red cave finalising their offer to the Glazers.
When the Red Knights come out with their offer, Red Ranter will re-appear.
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@[OPTI]Madschester United: It is really not pleasing to say that Red Ranter is not doing any good to this great blog…Never there should be a problem which can bar anyone to visit his own site for 5 minutes in 3 months.This is just neglegence of highest order and no excuse can protect him for getting attacked verbally.
No new ones are coming here to become a part .Some comes for 1-2 days ,abuse some regulars and then go back to some other places.Most worrying part is that some regulars in the past like Jay Wire,Jay Jay,Dan,Diablo have left it now.
So it is our duty now to contribute more and be able to run it as long as possible and hope Red Ranter will appear in the near future and will do something…
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@Grognard: I would fancy our chanes against the Germans with or without Ballack I must say.
We do lack fire power up front and a keeper, but James was superb against Chelsea on Sat.
Adam Johnson could have a break out tournamont, and Defoe has ability to score goals, so you never know.
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@Owen: For us to be able to do anything on here, we need some of us to become “editors” on here to be able to post non-gambling posts.
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@Stephen: You do not actually expect to see a lot Adam Johnson in the tournament do you? If you do, you will be greatly disappointed. Also, I’m pretty sure Green will be the #1 keeper over James. And for me Defoe is far from world class and this is after all, the World Cup.
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@Owen: Mate what do you know about Red Ranters circumstances eh? How do you know he or maybe someone in his family isnt sick, or he may have problems untold in his personal life nobody knows about, so be careful my friend. Also if it wasn’t for Red Ranter this blog wouldn’t exist – do you pay for it or contribute to the finance for running it? Just asking?
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@[OPTI]Madschester United: And you know this for a fact HOW?
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@[OPTI]Madschester United: The answer to that Opti is that Man United are famous for dilly dallying so much on transfers, apart from the Anderson/Nani ones, that we fail to get most of the players we want in the end
.
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@CraigMc: Didnt red ranter say he was taking a few months off? I don’t see why he is being attacked, the man was burnt out let him relax and recharge.
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@Grognard: How many players in Germany are world class?Only their keeper and Lahm?Germany have half world class players than England.More so England have a brilliant Manager where as German one like some others also has some personal problems with some players and left my favourite German player Frings.So Germany will have a great world cup if they go to quarters but who knows as everytime they proove others wrong and with the same squad reached the finals of Euro…
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@Johnsom33: That’s my exact point, and I can’t understand all this Red Ranter commenting at all mate!
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@[OPTI]Madschester United: I am at a loss to figure out what has become of Red Ranter. I’ve heard of vacations but this feels more like a walkabout which has no end date. This is his blog but he really should have tried to get to an Internet cafe or some place to contact all of us and just let us know what his status was and how he’s doing. And if he doesn’t feel it’s our business, then he’s wrong because we are all clinging on to his blog for dear life hoping that it isn’t coming to a painfully slow death because it’s creator and owner cannot be bothered to care anymore. It’s 2010 and so I find it almost impossible unless you are in some lost region of Antarctica that he cannot find a computer to connect to the blog and let us know he’s alive and well. I know he was burnt out and fed up with the blog before he left and this may have had more to do with his job or personal life but still, he owes it to all of us his loyal members, to stay in touch and to quash all fears and anxiety regarding the blog. If anything Ahmed who is a co founder of this blog should at least make some kind of statement regarding the present situation so that at least we all know where we are treading.
For quite a while I was considering starting my own blog but I haven’t because despite what RR said to me, I did not want to show disloyalty or to step on his toes. But right now I am wondering whether I was wrong to scuttle my plans. And now I am going to be busy in a business venture with a friend and probably will have no time for a blog. What I do have time for is to offer a couple of opening threads and articles for this blog but I haven’t been approached or offered this due to RR’s absence and also because of his nervousness about giving me that kind of power and exposure as he thinks my volatile personality won’t be able to handle any kind of criticism. Otherwise I would be happy to help him run the blog especially at times when he is away or too busy to care. But like I said, I have never been offered this and despite my large presence and considerable contributions to the blog in the past, I do not see this ever happening. So all I can do is hope RR returns soon and patches the holes in his once mighty ship before it sinks, never to be seen or heard from again.
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