Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Land ahoy

First there was denial (my instinctive response to the neighbour who first told me the radio was claiming United were in for Owen being a curt, ‘Fuck off!’). Then came anger (fuel for the rant below), closely followed by bargaining, (‘he’s so injury-riddled we’ll never see him play anyway. I can withdraw that threat to return the season-ticket’). Depression was next, a fug of dismay shrouding me as it became clear that many reds were actually willing to have faith in Fergie’s ultimate act of folly, not to mention perfidy. And at last, like the grief counsellors say, I have finally washed up on the serene shores of acceptance. I can even say, ‘Michael Owen is a red’ without the involuntary shudder and everything.
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And don’t think that I have been carried to this place of calm by the pre-season goal spree that Owen’s on either. It’s taken a great deal of sober reflection – and just as much drunken ranting – for me to arrive here, though it’s been helped by Fergie’s masterly interview in the Observer at the weekend. Though his refusal to revisit Rome and the capitulation against Barcelona is a tad worrying, the gusts of scorn blown in the direction of city were a joy. Could I ever really doubt him for long?
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Then there’s the realisation that if Owen was the mercenary little shit that I always had him pegged for, he could probably have helped himself to far bigger wages at somewhere like Hull or Stoke than he will at United. If the details of his deal made public are true – and let’s face it, they have the whiff of a PR smokescreen concocted to appease cynics just like me – Owen has put wanting to restore his reputation as a footballer at the head of the priorities in bringing him to OT.
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How very different to the priorities of a recently lionised former-red currently to be seen on a huge billboard opposite Harvey Nichols in the centre of town. Seems we were wrong about him then. Like the club he’s sold his soul to, he had no class after all. So, sorry Michael. Now score some goals you scouse c&*t. (It might take time for all the issues to be worked through completely).
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posted by Royton Red @ 2:30 PM 0 comments

Sunday, July 05, 2009

Say it ain't so...


Some thoughts occasioned by the 'transfer coup of the summer'/'nadir of Fergie's transfer market incompetence' as Michael fuckin' Owen signs on for United:
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1) No. No. No. No. No. And so on. Forever.
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2) Is it too late to get my season ticket money back?
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3) Isn't one Owen in permanent residence at the treatment room enough for any team?
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4) Whilst deploring every single one of the bovine, moronic goons who booed Berbatov last season...i will see it as a solemn duty of every red to boo Owen's every touch in a red shirt until the message sinks home that this little tosser has no right to inveigle his way into the rich tapestry of our club's history.
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5) £80 million banked for Ronaldo and get in a clapped out, injury-plagued, scouse-to-the-core, mercenary 29 year old on a free to replace him. And can you still say that the Glazer's finances don't have a bearing on transfer policy?
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6) No. No. No. No. No.
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7) Are our principles and values so amorphous and malleable that their is no indignity or disgrace that we can't square them with? Surely every goal (should their be any; his recent track-record doesn't suggest that an avalanche is imminent) or contribution is tainted and can no longer have any meaning or value. Isn't it?
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8) In Fergie we trust. See 7).
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9) Am I being ridiculous? Shouldn't we be able to transcend this childish tribalism that mars the game of football? Shouldn't we accept that ultimately even the Scholes's and Rooney's of this world are in it for the money? Or if we accept this, might we as well pack the whole thing in? What's football without that tribalism and that romantic belief that somethings transcend the financial incentive?
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10) No. No. No. No. No.

posted by Royton Red @ 9:28 AM 0 comments