Entries Tagged 'Sport' ↓

I am sure all Manchester United fans are well aware of the efforts of the so called Red Knights and MUST in wanting to buy out the Glazers and take control of the club.

For those that don’t know, 30-40 mostly anonymous business men, bankers and hedge fund managers claim to be life long fans who are attempting to save the club from financial ruin under the current owners. They have teamed up with MUST, a group of disgruntled fans also interested in gaining ownership of the club.

Currently, all they are asking is for supporters to give their backing by signing up as MUST members. The target was to double the membership to 100,000 as a signal that they have the backing of the supporters and to continue with their plans. It has grown by almost 30,000 new members in the last 24 hours alone and will surely reach their target. Then what? Well the Knights will try to raise the rumoured £1.5 billion pounds needed to clear the huge club debt, buy out the Glazers and put the club on the road to decades of success. Easy! They also claim they will give the fans a seat at the boardroom table. Win/win for fans, right?

However, there is a problem. The Glazers don’t want to sell. It is either going to take a huge offer to make them change their minds or they are going to have to be forced out. It is going to take a lot more than waving a Green and Gold Scarf at them. There are already suggestions that the Knights will ask fans to boycott season tickets. No doubt that will also extend to official club merchandise and match day hospitality. They hope that the lose of revenue will cripple the Glazers business plan and force them to put the club on the market.

So all we have to do is virtually bankrupt the club we have supported our entire lives and place its future in a group of largely unknown people without any idea of their individual motives or how they are going to run the club when they seize control. Will they use debt to take over the club? Who will run the club? Will they each own a share in the club? Will they get dividend payments? How can we be sure the club will never again be taken over by greedy owners in search of a profit? Surely, they will all want their money back at some stage, what is their exit strategy? Who will represent the fans? How much of a say will the fans actually have?

Portsmouth and Leeds are perfect examples of clubs that have almost been destroyed by poor financial management. We have all seen what has happened recently at Liverpool with their 2 American owners virtually crippling the club at a business and footballing level through infighting and lack of funding. How will 40 presumably large egos manage?

I am sure all fans would agree that if the Knights want our backing, they should come out with a detailed statement of their intentions and promise to give 100% ownership of club back to the fans and run it in a similar fashion to Barcelona FC. Until they do, I for one will not be supporting them.

With the season coming to a close, we are starting to hear a lot of excuses coming out of underachieving clubs and players. The biggest cop-out on the go starts with the phrase “If only” or “What if” . In the last week I have heard pundits, fans and footballers say:

• What if Gerrard and Torres had played more games together…
• If only Guus Hiddink had managed Chelsea from the start of the season…
• If only Man Utd hadn’t scored so early against Arsenal…

Every team loses players to injury, suffers loss of form, bad luck, dodgy refereeing decisions etc. What makes one team the Champions is that they dealt with the problems they faced better than every other team. Using squads to reduce impact of injury, bouncing back from bad results, good team spirit, not stopping until the final whistle etc.

This isn’t confined to football though. We are all guilty of wallowing in self-pity from time to time (myself included). Instead of looking for excuses, maybe we should spend the time looking at the underlying causes and trying to figure out a way of preventing them from happening in the future. Otherwise, we will be trotting out the same old What Ifs this time next year too.

If you want to know who the current best player in the world is, watch a replay of last night’s Barcelona vs Bayern Munich CL Quarter Final. Proof, if needed, that Lionel Messi is without question the best player on the planet. None of your hissy fits, gesticulating and theatrics to be seen. I had the privilege of watching Barca destroy Athletico Madrid earlier in the season and he was one of the most exciting players I’ve ever seen play live.

I suggest taking that trophy off your mantelpiece and wrapping it up nice and safe for Messi to take home in the new year.

Don’t get me wrong, you deserved it for your unbelievable season last year, and you have also done reasonably well this year, but football is a fickle game. I sincerely hope you improve your attitude and raise your game and push Utd towards an incredible season finale. Maybe then, you might be able to unwrap that award and put it back where it belongs.

OK I am a little late but it’s the thought that counts, right??

I am ashamed to admit that I have been neglecting the blog lately. I guess I haven’t really had very much to say of late. Nothing has changed there I hear you say! Even so,  I thought I’d give a quick round-up of the year to date…

Development

The new year has been a busy period. We have just finished the development phase of our next major release, my first since joining last year. Its been a step learning curve but we have managed OK. The next release will be a lot more involved so I am looking forward to getting going with that. It should see us through the rest of the year.

I have also lined up a few interesting side projects to keep myself off the streets at night. They are mix of web and iPhone apps using Ruby on Rails, the iPhone SDK and OpenGL ES. I am also hoping to take a look at Android development at some stage. It’s a very interesting time for independent developers. Every day seems to bring a new platform or app store announcement lately (Nokia’s Ovi Store, Palm’s App Catalog and as well as others by MS, O2 and Orange!). I guess with the amazing success of the iPhone’s App Store, it was inevitable that the other smart-phone makers would follow suit. It will be interesting to see how things shape up once the dust settles. I’m also hoping to climb out of my cave and go meet some other developers.

Gaming

It was a quiet Christmas in terms of gaming. I have been playing Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune on the PS3 when I find time. Its a 3rd person action-adventure game, similar to the Lara Croft series with a Gears of War style cover system. Its fun to play and the graphics are excellent, considering its over a year old. Overall, its fantastic value for money on the budget Platinum series.  I will definitely be picking up a copy of Uncharted 2 when it is released later this year. Also, the much anticipated Killzone 2 is due for release on the PS3 very soon. Unfortunately the Wii didn’t even get switched on over Christmas due to the dearth of quality titles. I am toying with the idea of trading it in for a DS or more PS3 games.

Football

Since I last posted, Stevie G was arrested, Rafa Benitez cracked, Arsenal have disappeared and Chelsea sacked their manager of 6 months. Meanwhile, Man Utd have went on a record breaking run of 14 clean sheets (and counting) and have stormed their way to a 5 point lead at the top of the English Premier League. They are currently English, European and World Champions, own the world’s best footballer (at least for now) and have an unprecedented quintuple in their sights. It’s a pretty good time to be a Red! I could be smug about it but I really don’t expect them to do a clean sweep. Barcelona are looking really strong at the moment and must be favourites alongside Utd for the Champions League. Also, it only takes one bit of bad luck (As Utd saw against Portsmouth in the FA Cup last year) and you can be knocked out. Everyone thinks the Carling Cup is a foregone conclusion, but I expect Spurs to be really up for it against some of the younger members of Utd’s squad. It should make for an exciting run in.

It has been a long and painful summer for many Man Utd fans. After the giddy highs of Moscow, we have had to endure a never-ending stream of rumours and hearsay. For three long months nothing really happened. Ronaldo succumbed to Fergie’s iron will. Spurs complained bitterly about Utd’s pursuit of Dimitar Berbatov, with some justification. That was it!

Finally at midnight last night, it all came to an end. The final hours of the final day were the complete antithesis of the rest of the Transfer window. Man City threw the cat amongst the pidgens yesterday morning. Their new billionaire Oil Sheiks, who make Roman Obramovic look like a second hand car dealer, wanted to announce their presence with £300m worth of bids, including an accepted £35m offer for Berbatov.

City had permission to speak to him, Utd didn’t! Were Utd’s biggest rivals going to gazump them at the last minute? Then it emerged that Berbatov was picked up by Fergie from the airport and had a medical, even though Utd still didn’t have permission to talk to him. The minutes ticked by and still no announcement. Then the news broke of City’s £32m purchase of Robinho from Real Madrid. What was going on?! He had spent the last fortnight begging to be sold to Chelsea. It had become a complete farce! City fans were dancing in the street, claiming they were going to win everything. The deadline passed with nothing more of a dodgy sighting of Berbatov walking alongside Fergie in Old Trafford. Finally, at 20 minutes past midnight, Utd announced that the £30.75m deal was complete. 

City had done to Chelsea what Chelsea had done to so many other teams over the last 4 years. Utd had finally got Berbatov, 2 years later and for £20m more than they initially wanted to. Ronaldo was still a Utd player. Utd had finally gotten rid of the man with the glass knees, Louis Saha. Real Madrid, after all their attempts to steal Ronaldo from Utd, ended up being bullied into selling Robinho. Let’s just hope the rest of the season can be as exciting as transfer deadline day.

As for Berbatov, he will be a fantastic buy for Utd. A tall, skillfull, classy forward was just what we were looking for to try and retain the Premiership and Champions League. He reminds me of the great Eric Cantona in the way he struts around. He turned down higher bids to play for the Reds, which is a great sign. His signing has more than made up for our summer of discontent. Come on the Reds!

Last night I went to see my first baseball game, the Texas Rangers at the 2007 World champions, Boston Red Sox. I wasn’t really sure what to expect. U.S. sports are known for being a bit stop and start, tactical, long and boring and with Texas not being one of the better teams, I wasn’t expecting this to be anything special.

I was as much interested in the experience and atmosphere as in the game itself. Boston’s Fenway Park is probably the oldest (built in 1912) and most historic of baseball stadiums and still has most of its original features. It was the home of famous Babe Ruth, before he got traded to the New York Yankees in 1920, causing the Curse of the Bambino where it was 84 years until they won another World Series. Its a bit decrepit now, the seats have hardly any paint left and there are lots of pillars blocking the view but it is a fantastic arena. I felt really close to the action and there was a great carnival atmosphere.

As for the game itself, it was fantastic! It was as much a show as a game, rock music would blast out each time a new batter stepped up to the plate, dozens of people were selling Fenway Franks, drinks and pretzels and most of the spectators had a beer in each hand. People were very friendly and only too happy to explain  what was happening and why.  I had a fair idea of the rules of the game but it was hard to keep up!

I actually missed the first 5 minutes of the game and the first home run. I just made it to my seat for the next one. Boston raced to a 10 run lead in the first of 9 Innings with their star player, David Ortiz, getting 2 3-run homers (home runs to you and me). It looked like it was going to be a cricket score. It was much faster than I expected. The next few Innings flew by. Then Texas started their come back from 10 runs down to take a 15-14 lead in the 6th Innings. The atmosphere became a lot more hostile and people were booing the players and getting more and more drunk. It was fascinating. The Innings started to take a lot longer and the game was becoming more tense and tactical.

Then came the 7th Inning Stretch. 40,000 people stood up and started stretching all at once. It was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. This was followed by chorus’s of Sweet Caroline with thousands of people singing and dancing in the stands. It is something I’ll never forget and that would only happen in the U.S.

After drawing level, Boston’s Kevin Youkilis hit a 3-run homer in the 8th Inning to take a 3 run lead, much to the delight of the nervous fans. Texas got one back but the Red Sox held on to win 19-17.

All sorts of records were set:

• The total 36 runs equaled the highest ever total set back in 1950.
• Texas’ 10 run come back matched their biggest ever comeback against the Sox in 1989.
• Ortiz’s 2 home runs in an innings was only the 54th time in MLB history.
• It was also only the 30th time the Red Sox scored more than 10 runs in an Innings and the first time since 2003.

The game lasted more than 4 hours and was described by nearby Red Sox fans as one of the best games they have ever seen. Click here for more details. I absolutely loved it and will definitely be keeping an eye on the Red Sox results from now on.

Congratulations to Padraig Harrington for being the first European to defend his Open Title in 102 years. I really thought the wobble on the front nine was going to end his challenge, especially with Ian Poulter on a charge. I was too nervous to watch so I went for a bike ride. I got back in time to see his eagle on the 17th (what about that approach shot!!). To win one Open is a fantastic achievement but to win 2 in a row surely will put him up with the greats of European and World golf (apart from Tiger and Jack of course). Hopefully the majority of Sports Journalists will avoid mentioning the “luck of the Irish” tomorrow and give him the accolades he quite rightfully deserves.

So Ronaldo has finally admited he wants to go to Real Madrid. Shocker!! I am sick and tired of Ronaldo’s antics. Yes, yes, I know. All southern Europeans want to play for Real (zzzz!). I don’t care. Let them have him. They are made for each other. I for one would be relieved to see the end of the story.

As a Man Utd fan, I want to see guys out on the pitch that want to play for the club, giving their all for the shirt and the fans. Now I know that most footballers are only loyal to themselves and the almighty dollar. However, players like Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville give hope that there are still some players in the game that have some class. As much as I have enjoyed watching Ronaldo this last few years, I always knew it would end in bitter divorce and acrimony, sooner rather than later. Let’s take the money and invest it in some new talent, rather than a long, drawn out feud that will do more harm than good. So I say thanks to Ronaldo for the entertainment, goals and most of all the Champions League trophy (although I should really thank John Terry!).

Good luck with Real, Ron. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

It has been a long, long season for Man Utd supporters with its fair share of ups and downs. However, this has undoubtably been one of the greatest seasons I have experienced. The quality of the football this year has been fantastic and its been a priviledge to watch the best player in the world score an unbelievable 42 goals. The defense has been immense too and really provided the perfect foundation for the success. To win the Premier League for the second year running and to top it off with the Champions League is a great achievement. It is the perfect tribute to the Busby Babes, 50 years on from that tragic night in Munich and 40 years on from the first European win. This team will surely now go down in history as one of Man Utds best ever. Hopefully they will stay together and go on to have more successes over the next few years.

Congratulations to Fergie and the boys and thanks for the wonderful memories of 2008.

So the first all-English European Champion’s League final will see Man Utd face Chelsea in Moscow on the 21st May.  Both clubs are sitting on equal points in the English Premier League with 2 games to play.  Its going to be a fantastic climax to a great season. 

PS. If you don’t speak Russian, the title says: Come on the Reds!