Manchester United

"McDonalds" - fast food restaurant responsible for comfort food and contributing to high levels of obesity




Manchester United

Manchester United are the winners of 18 league titles, 11 of them since the inception of the Premier League in 1992. They have been champions of Europe on three occasions, the first coming in 1968 with a 4-1 victory over Benfica in the final. This came just 10 years after a dozen of the Manchester United players and staff died in a tragic plane accident in Munich.

Sir Matt Busby, then manager, rebuilt the squad including many youngsters who went on to greatness just a decade later, who became known as the "Busby Babes."

Through parts of the seventies and eighties, Manchester United went through a trophy drought, dicing with relegation from the first division of English football, while Liverpool won four European cups and reached 18 league titles, becoming by far the most successful English club.

Alex Ferguson, who was hired from Aberdeen where he enjoyed much success, endured a slow start to his tenure at Old Trafford, but the momentum began to pick up in 1993 with a first league title in over 20 years.

During the mid-90's Alex Ferguson called up several youngsters into the first team including the Neville brothers, David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Nicky Butt. They went on to win multiple trophies with Manchester United, the highlight being the dramatic season of 1998/99 when Sir Alex Ferguson led his team to an amazing treble of League, F.A. Cup and European Cup. It was an incredible time and tasted much better than my beloved McDonalds strawberry milkshake!

Sir Alex Ferguson has been Manchester United manager for an unbelievable 26 years and is still going strong. Manchester United recently equaled Liverpool's long-standing record of 18 league titles and is poised to capture an historic 19th next month.

Here are some videos of Manchester United's best moments. We apologise for keeping our neighbours in Kuantan awake during some of these passionate moments at all hours of the day and night!

If you're a Manchester United fan, this was the season that will never be forgotten. Some of these images and lines of commentary are immortal!

And here is the passion and success associated with Manchester United

Which is your favourite football team?

Federer wins, completes good weekend

Every weekend we look forward to our sport. Sometimes there are many different sporting competitions going on at the same time, for example, football, tennis, Formula One racing, rugby. We enjoy following each sport and our favourite sportsmen and women. Sometimes there are good weekends where all of our favourites win; and occasionally we endure the disappointment of a bad weekend, where the teams and individuals we yearn for, end up on the losing side.

The weekend just passed could be classified as a good weekend, though it wasn't a perfectly victorious one. Allow me to explain.

Firstly was the Barclays Premier League on Saturday night. Any team which is half-good and poses a threat to Manchester United, will be cheered on in all of their struggles. Tottenham, who are rapidly improving and just beat reigning European Champions Internazionale in midweek, suffered a terrible hangover as they went down 4-2 at Bolton Wanderers. That was a good start to our weekend, not to mention a very entertaining match for the neutrals.

By the way, Kevin Davies should definitely keep his place in the England squad

Things almost took a turn for the worse when later that night an absolutely wretched performance from Man.Utd almost resulted in more dropped points. It was only thanks to a stoppage time winner from South Korean winger Ji-sung Park, which gave us the 3 points in a 2-1 win over unlucky Wolves.

On Sunday, there was football, tennis and F1. Let's deal with the one disappointment first, shall we? Lewis Hamilton could only finish fourth in the Brazilian Grand Prix, behind title rivals Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso, who carries a slim lead into the final race of the year in Abu Dhabi. Hamilton needs a miracle comprising of him winning the race and his 3 main title rivals all not finishing in the points. Oh well. . . there's always next year.

Meanwhile, things were going great at the Emirates stadium where Newcastle put on a magnificently disciplined performance to beat Arsenal in their own backyard by a single Andy Carroll goal to nil. Arsenal to win the league? No chance! Not when you've lost games at home to newly promoted teams in West Brom and Newcastle.

Further joy came at Anfield where a resurgent Liverpool powered past Chelsea 2-0 thanks to a rejuvenated Fernando Torres. Chelsea's second BPL defeat of the season was sweet. ManU are just a couple of points behind the leaders now. Thanks Liverpool, for helping us out yet again.

Meanwhile, on the continent, in a small town named Basle in Switzerland, a home-grown star was lifting ATP title number 65 of his glittering career. Roger Federer, the G.O.A.T, beat Novak Djok-strap in 3 sets, sealing triumph with an amazing half-volley backhand winner on match point, taking the decider 6-1.

Enjoying a pizza party with his fellow ball-kids after the match

Please Wigan, Please!!!

When it falls out of your hands, we hope. When hope fades, we delve into the depths of the barrel of hope to scrape up the last particles still clinging to the base.

It is the final round of matches of the Barclays Premier League 2009/2010 season. Manchester United trail Chelsea by a solitary point with Chelsea to host Wigan while ManU host Stoke. A win for Chelsea would earn them the title. ManU need Chelsea to slip up with either a defeat or a draw.

At any other time of the season I would have Chelsea down to comfortably beat Wigan at Stamford Bridge - but this is the final game where pressure and nerves can do silly things to football results. For this night I become a devout Wigan fanatic...

We hope against hope. We will take it every second at a time. Agonisingly, I will cling to stretched and battered hope until either it finally snaps or it holds on for just another 90 minutes.

Please Wigan, you can do it! Just a draw, that's all we're asking!!!

There are now 4 more hours until the game starts, and I'm trying my best not to build my hope up, because Chelsea really should brush aside Wigan......but you never know......an injury to Lampard, Drogba, or Cech......a red card for Ballack......poor referring decisions in Wigan's favour......Terry given the run-around by Rodallega......Chelsea hit the post, hit the cross-bar, hit Titus Bramble in the face, anything but the back of the net......PLEASE!!!

Manchester United still have their job to do in beating Stoke at Old Trafford, but I'm sure that shouldn't be a problem as there is less pressure, and we hammered Stoke here 5-0 last season.

It's going to be an awful 90 minutes to go through, but it has to be done. 

Hope.

Hope.

Hope.

Wigan......come on......

I'm hoping so badly you can do it

Half-way stage assessment

With winter well and truly whistling in, we have time to take a look at Manchester United's season so far and evaluate the overall performance of the team.

Firstly, we have had to cope with the sale of Ronaldo which has left a gaping vacancy to be filled at Old Trafford. Although he had a quiet start on the right wing, Antonio Valencia has now warmed to the task by weighing in with seven goals and several assists. The Ecuadorian now looks like he can go from strength to strength as he understands his role in the team and learns how to play the United way.

The downside for United so far has obviously been the unlucky timing of injuries to the entire defence. We have struggled without the twin towers of Ferdinand and Vidic, including the loss of the back-up in Brown, O'Shea and Evans. Playing Carrick and Fletcher in central defence has come at a cost and we need to get Ferdinand and Vidic back to full fitness as soon as possible.

The midfield is perhaps our strongest area in terms of numbers yet it has been flimsy at times as Ferguson has rotated between Carrick, Fletcher, Anderson, Scholes and Gibson. He still hasn't found his best combination. None of the partnerships have really seemed to click. Anderson had a good season last time out with some impressive performances in big games, but this season he has really struggled with mediocre displays. He can't seem to make a forward pass to save his life. Nani is no better. For me he's the worst player on our squad list. He played some matches earlier in the season and was totally awful in each outing. I'm sick and tired of his pathetic performances. A complete waste of time and money. Anderson and Nani would be two good sales for me.

What Man. Utd are really missing in the middle is yet another player with a long-term injury - Owen Hargreaves. A player with aggression, bite, passing ability and somewhat of a free-kick specialist, he never stops running and fighting for the cause. The sooner we can get him back to match fitness the better. It will be like signing a new player.

Wayne Rooney has been the shining star for the Red Devils this term and finds himself at the top of the premier league scoring charts with 14 goals as the second half of the season begins. The sale of Ronaldo has certainly benefited Rooney, as he has now been pushed up into his best position - centre forward - and the goals are flowing nicely. He has struck up decent understandings with Giggs and Valencia. But as good as Rooney is, he can't do it all on his own.

I don't know what to say about Dimitar Berbatov. We know he has the talent, which we saw week in, week out at Spurs, but he just isn't clicking at Old Trafford, and his lazy attitude on the pitch is not helping matters either. To have paid 30 million pounds for a goalscorer, with a return of just five goals this season, is a deal which has backfired terribly. Rooney needs a partner who knows how to put the ball in the net, not try fancy flicks that don't come off. Berba would be the first name on my list of sales this summer.

Michael Owen has neither provided too much accuracy in front of goal, showing too many missed chances and fluffed mis-hits when in good positions. Manchester United need to find another front man to take some of the load off of Wayne Rooney's shoulders. David Villa would be a perfect acquisition. He's a goal machine.

While Scholes has been distinctly off the pace, fellow-veteran Ryan Giggs has been flying and playing some of his best football of his career. He has adapted to his loss of blistering pace by using his super-quick footballing brain to pick out passes, score the odd goal and rip the odd full-back (Micah Richards comes to mind!)

Gabriel Obertan and Darron Gibson have put in some impressive displays and look the best of the younger players to make it through to the first team. Rafael, when playing, looks a pretty excellent right-back too.

So while there has been disappointments and doubts in this strange season, Man.Utd still lie 2nd in the table, a point behind Chelsea, have a semi-final in the Carling Cup fast approaching (weather permitting) with enemies Man. City, and have a mouth-watering tie with AC Milan in the last 16 of the Champions League. Everything is still there to play for. If certain key players can return to the team and stay there (Van Der Sar, Ferdinand, Vidic, Hargreaves) then we may be able to bring some silverware back to Old Trafford this season.

ATTENTION MANCHESTER UNITED FANS

I have discovered a website which will make the avid Manchester United fan start dribbling from the mouth. It is an extension of www.manutd.com, their official website, but this one is devoted to statistics about the Red Devils - a lot of statistics. 

Here you can view all of Manchester United's (or Newton Heath's, as they were previously named) results, scorers and attendances season by season from the late 19th century when Newton Heath were formed, up until the present day. You can also peruse over all of Manchester United's opponents they have ever faced and check out their head-to-head records over the years. There is a host of other things to do there, and all this time I had never known of this website's existence!

It is the ultimate Manchester United stat centre.



Go and visit www.stretfordend.co.uk



I do not advocate sitting in front of a computer screen for too long, but this website is well worth it. Get the paracetamols ready!

21 DAYS TO GO

I watched a replay of the Wimbledon 2009 final last night between Roger Federer and Andy Roddick. I loved watching the nail-biting stalemate of the fifth set from 8-8 to the 16-14 winning margin for Federer. I even missed the first half hour of Man. Utd's match against Hull, just to have the pleasure of seeing the great Federer in action. A truly epic match, let's hope for more good stuff at the Australian Open starting on 18th January.

Sporting Augury for 2010

As we move into the second decade of the second millennium of the current era, the world of sport is very much centre-stage. And sporting prophecy seems to be all the trend for Arsene Wenger, foretelling the world that eight teams are in with a chance of winning the Premier League this season. Remarkably puzzling. Surely that number can't include Liverpool who are already thirteen points off the pace at the half-way stage. Looking down the current standings, Birmingham and Fulham lie sixth and ninth respectively. No-one in their wildest dreams would imagine these two moderate clubs piling the pressure on Man. Utd and Chelsea in a final push for the summit.

In a mood to portend the future, here is my vision of the near happenings of the Premier League.

Having already lost Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Adebayor to Man. City, Arsenal will lose a frustrated Fabregas to Barcelona and replace him with yet another unknown up-and-coming youngster, after yet another trophy-less season. Arsene 'whinger' Wenger will have voiced his final whine about fixture congestion or something as he finally cuts ties 'by mutual consent', or rather, by a boot up the backside.

But it's not any merrier for Liverpool either. After finishing a dismal sixth, Benitez immediately gets the sack, and the club fund in on their top stars. Gerrard is the first to leave in a big-money move to Madrid. Torres is next, moving to Champions League-bound Aston Villa. In an early-season clash at Old Trafford in September against their perennial rivals of Manchester, new boss Graeme Souness decides that the approaching midweek game against Burnley presents a more realistic opportunity of gaining three points. He rests ten first team players as Liverpool begin a relegation dogfight.

Again with just an F.A. Cup to show for a season's work, Carlo Ancelotti is hastily sacked by Abramovich, who then decides that he's fed up with his London toy and walks out.

Ryan Giggs scores the winning goal in the Champions League final against surprise package Bordeaux.

After a second disappointing season at Old Trafford, Berbatov is shown the door, joining Inter Milan. The useless Nani is also evicted as Yoanne Gourcuff and David Villa arrive as repalcements. Giggs and Scholes sign one-year contract extensions and Sir Alex Ferguson says he's good for another five years.

Mark Hughes meanwhile gets the sack from his Arab owners and Carlo Ancelotti is brought in. (Since penning this article, Mark Hughes has been swiftly sacked and replaced by Roberto Mancini. Ancelotti joining next summer still can't be ruled out however!)

Portsmouth, West Ham and Bolton, established Premier League names, make the dreaded drop to the Championship.

England win the World Cup in South Africa, prevailing 4-2 after extra time in the final against old foes Germany. Wayne Rooney becomes just the second player in history to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final.

No African nation advances beyond the quarter finals. A tearful Cristiano Ronaldo bows out at the group stage.

Meanwhile, in tennis, Rafael Nadal shocks the world as he announces his immediate retirement from the sport due to persistent problems with injuries all over his creaking body. (A week later Tiger Woods comes out of hiding and similarly brings to a premature end his golfing career due to long and financially painful divorce proceedings).

Once more, Andy 'never-win-a-major' Murray fails to make the breakthrough with a Grand Slam after hyping himself up all year about his chances. He does reach the Wimbledon final but is comprehensively beaten by Roger Federer, who after his seventh victory at SW19, is given a replica key to the All England Lawn and Tennis Association Club.

Federer himself completes the only thing left to do - winning a single year Slam - bagging all four majors of 2010, taking his Grand Slam tally to 19.

Joy in Germany!

Michael Owen scored the second hat-trick of his career in Germany as an injury-ravaged Manchester United were too good for their German hosts.

Owen nodded home Nani's cross from the left a minute before the interval to give United the lead, only for Dzeko to equalise 10 minutes into the second half in similar fashion. With Wolfsburg pushing for a winner, Obertan displayed some dazzling footwork in the penalty box before squaring for Owen to score into an empty net. But perhaps his best was saved for last, the ex-Liverpool striker running on to a through-ball from the half-way line from Anderson to out-pace the trailing defenders and slot over the goalkeeper to complete a hat-trick.

With Fletcher and Carrick forming the central defensive partnership and Ji-sung Park at right back, Evra was the only recognisable defender on the pitch for the Red Devils. The defensive unit struggled at times with crosses from the wings and should have been punished but for Wolfsburg's woeful finishing. However, it was a great team performance and Ferguson couldn't have asked for more. Obertan looks classier with each game, Carrick could easily have been mistaken for Ferdinand at the back, and Owen gave a loud reminder to Capello that he's still worth a World Cup place.

His last hat-trick on German soil came in an England shirt on that memorable night in Munich where England hammered Germany 5-1 in a World Cup qualifier.

Eight years on, Owen may not possess the lightning quick speed that terrorised the German defence on that night, but he does however, still have the deadly finishing. He scored his three goals from four shots during the 90 minutes, a deadly strike rate for any centre-forward.

Manchester United have now finished top of their Champions League group and await their Last 16 opponents which could turn out to be either the minnows of Unirea Urziceni or European heavyweights and seven-time winners, AC Milan.

Chelsea vs Man. Utd

It's the big one today - table-topping Chelsea versus 3-time champions Man. Utd. Chelsea are in mean form at home whilst the Red Devils have lost twice on their travels and are not at their best.

I worry for ManU in this one simply because of late they haven't performed well against the other members of the top four. However, against Chelsea they have done alright, beating them 3-0 at Old Trafford last season and getting a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge.

I don't think it's because of the loss of Ronaldo that ManU seem a little laboured at the moment. They're just having a slow start and can only get better as they click into gear. They will miss the calming presence of Rio Ferdinand at the back, but Jonny Evans has proved to be a more than suitable replacement. With Rooney and Berbatov restored to the starting line-up, they will give Chelsea a tough test.

Darren Fletcher will be a vital figure in midfield for Alex Ferguson's men. He will look to nullify the threat of Lampard and Ballack, thereby cutting off the supply to Drogba and Anelka. Likewise Ballack and Lampard will look to take advantage of a shaky midfield the same way Liverpool did a fortnight ago. The midfield battle will be the key area.

Dare I predict a result against Man. Utd? I'm afraid so. I don't want to be over-confident on this one, but if this fixture was a few months later I would go for a ManU win or at least a draw. However, it is more likely that Chelsea will take this match 2-1, but for once in my life I would love to be wrong!

Whatever happens tonight, it should be a fierce fight between England's best two teams. And the old dog Fergie may just have a trick or two up his sleeve for this one.

Manchester Derby Day

My throat is still a little heavy and sore this morning. I sound like when I was an adolescent going through puberty with that suddenly deep voice breaking through my voicebox. Thanks to Michael Owen's unbelievable stoppage time winner, this condition might last all day.

It was the return of Carlos Tevez which was one of the main talking points in the lead-up to the match.

He was roundly booed every time he touched the ball which I thought was just a little harsh given the work rate and effort he put into his two years with the red half of Manchester. The Old Trafford crowd were particularly happy when he was cautioned midway through the first half.

And it all started so brightly for Man. Utd with Wayne Rooney ghosting into the box, and in an act which I can only decribe as the parting of the blue sea, Man. City's defenders crumbled around him as he slotted the ball under Given for a rapid start.

Ben Foster made a blunder for Man. City's equaliser, allowing Tevez to chase down a lost cause, nab the ball from his grasp and square for Gareth barry to slot home from 12 yards. It was a day full of mistakes from both sides, but Foster's gaffe was an absolute gift.

United came out of the blocks quickly in the second half, the majestic Giggs crossing perfectly for Fletcher to head home four minutes after the interval. But within minutes, Man. City had levelled again when United's defence simply allowed Bellamy all the time in the world to cut inside and fire an unstoppable shot into the top corner.

Man Utd were dominating the second period though and if it wasn't for Shay Given they would have been out of sight. With ten minutes remaining Giggs sent over a wonderful ball which Fletcher met again for a carbon copy of his earlier goal, to surely give United the three points.

But awfully for Ferdinand, he gifted the ball to Bellamy in the 90th minute as he tried to scoop it over his head, failing miserably. Bellamy ran the length of the United half and calmly tucked it past Foster from an acute angle. How I laid in to Rio after that. I really thought his lazy error had cost us the game.

With four minutes added-on time, United pushed to find a winner. When Rooney stood over a free-kick near the half-way line, the clock had already spilled over to it's sixth minute. When that free-kick was headed away by the first defender, I expected to hear the referee's whistle and two points lost, but it didn't come. Amazingly, the game continued. Perhaps Richards and Wright-Philipps were expecting the same, because they completely switched off in what happened next. Rooney lofted the ball skywards and when Giggs collected the loose ball, he threaded a perfect pass through the gap to the on-rushing Owen. I don't remember him touching the ball once since he came on, but this first touch was elegant and his second touch was even better, slotting the ball over Given's despairing hand and into the bottom corner of the net.

Old Trafford erupted, my apartment erupted, it was the most complete and utter joyous disbelief!

Mark Hughes will be livid about the amount of stoppage time added on, but Alex Feguson was ecstatic at putting Man. City back in their place with a 4-3 win and all bragging rights safely with the red half of Manchester as it should be. Michael Owen proved what a world-class, quality finisher he is with this two-touch cameo to bring the points to Old Trafford. What a fantastic match and a most dramatic ending!

COME ON UNITED!

Manchester United versus Chelsea

The Community Shield Sunday sees two of the most successful managers in the game pit their wits for the first time as opposing managers of Premier League clubs. Carlo Ancelotti, having guided AC Milan to two European Cup triumphs, takes charge of his first competitive match as Chelsea boss and will experience his first taste of an English atmosphere. The latest managerial recruit at the merry-go-round at Chelsea will face the toughest start when his Blues come up against the current and three-time consecutive league winners Manchester United.

Sir Alex Ferguson has been around forever and has all the experience of these sort of 'curtain-raiser' matches. But both managers will be aware that there will be much more important pieces of silverware to play for later in the season. However, this is a last opportunity for both squads to be tuned up and ready for the opening round of Premier League fixtures next weekend. Do not expect this to be a friendly match.

Just over a year ago, tempers bolied over as Rio Ferdinand took on half the Chelsea team in a pushy face-off as United went down 2-1 at Stamford Bridge to a debatable penalty decision. It had no bearing on the title race in the end. United are unbeaten against Chelsea since that day, with a penalty shoot-out victory in the Champions League final 2008, a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge and a 3-0 thumping at Old Trafford. Two seasons ago United beat Chelsea in the Community Shield thanks to a 3-0 penalty shoot-out win after a 1-1 draw.

With Ronaldo and Tevez departed, Sir Alex will have to get the very best out of free transfer signing Michael Owen, and Wayne Rooney, who can expect to be playing in a much-higher-up-the-pitch central position. Together with Berbatov, whose first season at Old Trafford was less than average, these three strikers will have to bag the goals more regularly than they have been doing. Whether they can fill the boots of Ronaldo will remain to be seen.

For Chelsea, it's very much the same playing faces performing under yet another new manager. Expect Drogba and Anelka to give Man. Utd's defence a few shaky moments, especially in the absence of Vidic through injury. Frank Lampard continues to be the most consistent goalscoring midfielder in the world, and John Terry is sure to put in a brave, commanding performance as usual.

This one will be close, as it usually is between these two teams. Expect it to go the distance and Ben Foster to once again shine in a shoot-out.