… yes, dear readers, indulge me this day. Today I will talk about myself.

It was one year to this day that this site was launched.

So here is wishing this site a very happy anniversary (bloggiversary?)

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This is to enlighten readers of this site that Soccerlens has launched it’s first Blogging Awards.

I would also like to mention that this site was not nominated for any of the categories. But then, as you may have seen, I don’t write for awards. They are incidental, you know — actually pointless. And of course, I certainly have more class than these lowly awards. I mean, who cares?

Oh, and a fox cried “Sour Grapes!”.

Anyway, honestly though, I would recommend you all to head over to Soccerlens and vote for the various categories — and trust me, there are quite a few excellent blogs out there; some of which you may have never heard of before. Personally, I was pleased to see top notch ones like 200Percent and Pitch Invasion get nominated, among others.

More than the voting, such awards serve to bring into focus a lot of quality content on the web that one may not have stumbled upon earlier, and this is a good chance for readers to find more such blogs to waste time.

Happy voting.

One cold and bitter Thursday in Munich, Germany,
Seven great football stalwarts conceded victory,
Seven men will never play again who met destruction there,
The flowers of English football, the flowers of Manchester

Matt Busby’s boys were flying, returning from Belgrade,
This great United family, all masters of their trade,
The pilot of the aircraft and the skipper Captain Thain,
Three times they tried to take her up and twice turned back again.

The third time down the runaway disaster followed close,
There was ice upon the wings and the aircraft never rose,
It ran upon the marshy ground, it broke, it overturned.
And seven of the team were killed when the battered aircraft burned.

Roger Byrne and Tommy Taylor who were capped for England’s side.
And Ireland’s Billy Whelan and England’s Geoff Bent died,
Mark Jones and Eddie Colman, and David Pegg also,
Before the blazing wreckage went ploughing through the snow.

The trainer, coach and secretary, and a member of the crew,
Also eight sporting journalists who with United flew,
and one of them was Big Swifty, we never will forget,
the greatest English ‘keeper who ever graced a net.

They said that Duncan Edwards had an injury to his brain,
They said that Jackie Blanchflower would never play again,
Matt Busby he was lying there, the father of the team
Six months or more did pass before he saw another game

Oh, England’s finest football team its record truly great,
its proud successes mocked by a cruel turn of fate.
Seven men will never play again, who met destruction there,
the flowers of English football, the flowers of Manchester

- The Flowers of Manchester

The official Manchester United site has an outstanding tribute lined up for everyone throughout the day. I think they have done a great job at the end of it all — AIG or no AIG — and everyone involved must be lauded for the efforts. I am sure I cannot write a post to do justice to the tragedy as it is not easy for me to write about something that happened many years before I was even born and expect to appropriately give it’s due. It’s not just United’s loss but that of English football as a whole and it is a shame that not many so-called English fans get that. Anyway, today is not a day to complain, therefore I would advise everyone to head over to Manutd.com and read the huge material on offer as well as documentaries available online for the whole day.

Here’s hoping that some idiots don’t spoil the one minute silence that is to be observed when England take on Switzerland today.

Amen.

This site is not down. It is very much alive. I am finally home and free from jet lag. And I certainly promise to bring RR back to it’s glory days.

About the Newcastle game report, I will write one. I missed the game but I still did watch the entire recorded match. So I will get a small report. Surely, our biggest win of this season deserves a match report?

Also I will get back to discussing United rumours and news.

And I will get to this soon. Before signing off, here’s the video of the Newcastle game again [Motd].

Redrants are proud to run a competition in conjunction with our pals at Savile Rogue, purveyors of the world’s finest football scarves. Woven in the pure cashmere wool in a traditional Scottish cashmere mill, their scarves are made in the classic, red, black and white bar design.
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This was in the works for a while now and we had to do it now to regulate things here. Don’t get scared by the size of it, but our comments policy is pretty reasonable. We don’t limit your opinions on United or football for that matter. You just have to be nice. Well not nice in the sugary sweet way but in a more I’ll play fair kind of way.

Anyway, here’s the Red Rants Comments Policy. Kindly take the time to read this through.

That. Is. All.

Morning all. Another day goes as we build up towards the clash against Arsenal. Today we thought we could let in an Arsenal fan’s view about his team and thoughts ahead of the match. So I happened to catch up with Arseblogger of Arseblog, who is among the who’s who as far as Arsenal blogs go.

He was gracious enough to set apart some time for agreeing to an interview and answered my questions. Thanks Arseblogger.

So read on to see views from the other side.

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A lot of you United fans might have certainly heard of United Rant a well written Man United fanzine that a lot of us read often. However, it’s mysteriously never been updated; not for the past six months leaving many people wondering what on earth ever happened to the site.

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Yes, you read it right. Ahmed of Soccerlens has asked me to let you people know that he is having a writing contest.

Now it’s not just any writing contest that will fetch you the customary t-shirt or some mere cash that will wither away with time. Well you do get the t-shirt and cash, but this could also get you something that’s more worthwhile — it could get you a job!

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Antonio Puerta of Sevilla passed away last Sunday. It is an extremely sad day for the club, his family and for the rest of the footballing brethren.

Tim Stannard, the Football 365 La Liga columnist, who writes on his own blog Laligaloca has a tribute post for him. He mentions that he was more or less a Dani Alves equivalent on the left side of Sevilla. Another important cog in the smooth machine that was Sevilla over the past seasons, he was particularly known for his wonder goal that took Sevilla to the UEFA cup final.

May his soul rest in peace.

Tim Stannard’s article

Similarly, our condolences to the family of the young Rhys Jones. We also feel sad for the family of QPR striker Ray Jones who was killed in a car crash.

May your souls RIP. The footballing community is united in your grief.