United Road Take Me Home

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).

posted by Royton Red @ 2:30 PM