Don't be an ignorant MAN UNITED fan

Manchester United Football Club is the most popular football club in the world, with over 330 million supporters worldwide- almost 5% of the world’s population. The club has a long and colourful history. MAN U for Manchester United. This “short form” may be expedient for use by casual fans not knowing that it is a derogatory term for the club which leaves the more devoted and knowledgeable fan enraged. The term is only used by other supporters as utter insult to the club. The “U” is meant to be “You” by the rival fans. Manchester United are nicknamed UNITED, MAN UNITED, MAN UTD and RED DEVILS. There are no official songs with a ‘Man U’ word nor will one lay his hands upon official merchandise using that term.

The origin of ‘Man U’ lies in the song intended to insult the late great Duncan Edwards. West Brom fans started this: "Duncan Edwards is manure, rotting in his grave, man you are manure- rotting in your grave". There was brawl up on the old Scoreboard End at Old Trafford in 1964-65 season when the West Bromwich Albion fans sang. A big battle took place with the home fans that outnumbered the visiting ones and hammered them. This Dudley born Busby Babe was a highly touted schoolboy in the midlands and had attracted a lot of clubs in early 50s. His signing for United left him with hatred from midland’s clubs. Liverpool and Leeds fans copied this with their own man you versions to insult the lads who died in the Munich Tragedy.

"ManU ManU went on a plane,
ManU ManU never came back again"
And
"Man U Never Intended Coming Home" (M.U.N.I.C.H.)

Most clubs did try to ban the chant in the 60s.However after United won the European Cup, it again sprang up but this time there was also ‘Who's that lying in the aircraft’, the West Brom fans parodied the United song ‘Who's that team we call United’. But by the end of the decade its use became widespread and the term "Man U" was used by almost all rival fans to tantalise United. Everyone knew what it meant. It was laughter at the death of Duncan and the Busby Babes.

A lot of the violence that happened with the United fans around that time was usually sparked by the words ‘Man U’.A place where the word ‘Man U’ could spell doom was Millwall. United played them when they were in the second division and the Policemen were asked to work despite having a leave. The League officials had even tried to stop allocating United fans a ticket to Millwall.The kick off was put forward to 11a.m. to try and stop the United fans from going down there. It was billed as the ‘fight of the century’. Although no violence took place inside the stadium, after the game more than 20,000 fans of United and Millwall combined mobbed down the Kings Road and knocked the place up. Amusingly when Teddy Sheringham signed for United he referred the club as ‘Man U’ and received hair-dryer treatment from Sir Alex Ferguson.

I hope after reading this all ardent United fans erase the word ‘Man U’ from their vernacular. Don’t be ignorant use the proper lingo. Glory Glory MAN UNITED!!!!
Cheerio!!!

-Pedantic Parit

The man himself

you may call jose mourinho an outspoken guy,you may call him arrogant but the success he acheived in such a small period of time is unparalleled.His brand of football may not be swashbuckling but nevertheless very effective.How can anyone forget FC PORTO's road to glory in 2004?A little known football club from portugal without great names like figo,christiano ronaldo,rui costa,pauleta conquered europe beating the likes of Manchester United,Lyon and FC Monaco in the finals.Much of the praise for this unbelievable achievement should go to one man calling his shots from the sidelines the master strategist Jose Mourinho.For every manager at the highest level,european glory is the biggest thing to achieve.But this very little known manager achieved the pinnacle of european success in his first stint as manager.But he didn't stop there,more success was waiting for mourinho in the british capital london,the home town of premiership big guns arsenal,chelsea,tottenham.Before Mourninho's advent at chelsea,chelsea was a team with great potential but not managing to finish in top four.But flamboyant Mourinho ensured chelsea's top flight in the league with premiership win in 2004-2005.Big stars were born in the names of Didier Drogba,Frank Lampard,Joe cole,John terry and the name which shone through out the custodian in chelsea jersey,petr cech.During 2004-05 season chelsea conceded less no of goals than other teams and Petr Cech broke the record of peter schmeichel's record of maximum minutes without conceding any goal.This was a remarkable turnaround by a team with great ability but little to show .Jose mourinho and his boys were the new team to beat.Manchester united had miserable outings with chelsea during mourinho's stay at chelsea.
Alex Ferguson has a 6 to 1 record mourinho which might change during this year's mouthwatering clash between ManU and Internazionale(or better known as Inter Milan).For those who thought 2004-05 was a mere fluke, Mourinho and chelsea retained the title in 2005-06 by winning 3-0 at stanford bridge against a resurgent ManU on the very last day of the season leaving behind wayne rooney with a broken foot.A much bigger statement was made to those critics who never believed Jose's credentials and even it was a bigger surprise for Jose himself who was becoming a man born with a golden spoon in his mouth.chelsea established an envious home record under Mourinho and they were unbeatable at home during his stay at stanford bridge.He won FA cup,carling cup with chelsea.But the only thing which could have added a feather to cap is the champions league which he could not do at chelsea.In 2004-05 chelsea lost to eventual champions liverpool under controversial circumstances.But a spat with the club owners led to his unceremonious exit from the club.The fairy tale came to an end in 2007.He may not be very popular with the media and opposition managers,but he always spoke out his mind and all the trophies he had won with chelsea and porto is the telling testimony of the man's greatness.He is now the manager of Inter Milan and many more trophies still await him.He is in the same league as sir Alex Ferguson,Mat Busby,Bobby Robson.

-Pruthwik Mishra

"The Special One"??

The Euro championships in 2008 came as a breath of fresh air to all the football lovers who'd gotten tired of watching the ultra-defensive tactics at play for far too long in international (mainly European) football. The focus this time around was on Spain and the way they approached the game, the way they played free-flowing, attacking and eye-pleasing football. This was in stark contrast to the holders coming into the tournament, Greece, who had won the tournament four years earlier playing an ultra defensive game which, all credit to them, they did pull off pretty well, but which nevertheless left a bitter taste in the mouth. They won all their matches by scoring a solitary goal of one of a handful of counter-attacks, after which they comfortably parked a bus in front of goal and played out the game. Hardly championship winning stuff!

A very clear analogy can be drawn in club football too. The UEFA Champions league in 2003-04, just before the Euro tournament which saw Greece emerge champions, had a very similar tale. Porto were crowned champions, beating the likes of Manchester United and Lyon along the way. However, their brand of football was hardly entertaining. The focus was quite firmly on a tight backline, with the philosophy that in a game of 90 minutes, surely a couple counter-attacks would come about one of which would hopefully result in a goal. This resulted in one of the most boring CL tournaments in recent memory, barring a couple of the quarter-finals which did not involve Porto. An argument could ensue that they were the underdogs fighting against the big boys and that it would be folly to not guard against their weaknesses. However, as Russia proved this time in the Euro championships and as Hull City are magnificently proving in the ongoing Premier League season, there is another way, and one which will ensure that your fans or anyone who pays to watch your football never goes home disppointed. What Russia did quite magnificently was they took the attack to the opposition inspite of being underdogs in most games they played. This had the effect of unnerving the big boys and putting them right on the backfoot, after which the "underdogs" could have a very sustained spell of pressure instead of the scanty counter-attacks they would have otherwise had. Porto were, without a doubt one of the most undeserving Champions League winners and Uefa cup winners in recent years. And at their helm was a certain Portuguese called Jose Mourinho.

Its very hard to understand what makes the man as arrogant as he is. While at Porto, he orchestrated a very bland style of football. Make no mistake about it, they had some of the most talented players in Europe at the time, what with Deco, Maniche, Benni McCarthy, Derlei, Carlos Alberto, and others in the squad. However, the style of football drew a lot of criticism due to the supression of natural talent and more emphasis on rigid formations and tactics. He can still be forgiven considering he was the manager of a small club and trophies surely were higher on their priority list than beautiful football. But next comes the story of Chelsea, bankrolled by one Roman Abramovich, a Russian oil baron, and one of the richest men in the world. The club now had enough money to buy half of London, so its quite safe to assume trophies weren't galaxies away. However, even with the kind of squad he assembled at Chelsea, containing some of the who's who of international football, the beautiful game was still just a dream for the Chelsea supporters. The football was still as institutionalised as it had been with Porto. True, they did become a tough nut to crack, and won the odd game quite convincingly on the score sheet, but even at their prime, they never looked like the Manchester United of 99 or the Arsenal of 2004. Far from it! And that is the reason why players like Andriy Shevchenko, who's got immense natural talent, could never find their feet in the rigid system of Chelsea. The free-flowing football was still missing in the Chelsea game and Jose just wasn't the man to deliver it.

Let's for a second even pardon this obvious blotch in his claim to be "The Special One". Let's accept that this is Jose's style of football and this has given him success in the past and he'll stick to it. Fair enough. Now when Chelsea won the league in his first two seasons in England, it was like a honeymoon. They were unbeatable in the Premier League, and made quite a name for themselves on the European stage too. But when United rose to the challenge, reached the mark set by Chelsea and pushed it further ahead, you could see signs of discomfort in the Chelsea ranks, for even with their new purchases like Andriy Shevchenko and Michael Ballack, arguably two of the best European players at the time, the team was in a disarray. Jose's pride was hurt, and where he should have been the man to have guided the team safely through this phase, he was more pre-occupied with himself, and was hardly a calming figure in the dressing room. He started squabbling with the owner about purchases and his influence on the team. In a nutshell, he partially lost it! Here i'd like to point out that a manager is not only assessed by the trophies he's won but also by how he stands by his team through bad patches, how he protects them and how he eventually pulls them out of it. Jose was a terrible failure at this in Chelsea. When faced with a situation, he simply walked out on his team citing issues with the owner as the reason. A load of rubbish! At the time when his players needed him most, he abandoned them mid-season. And he's still got the nerve to call himself the "special one". It appalls me how little respect he's got for some of the stalwarts of the job he's still a relative newbie at. True, he's a exceptionally talented guy, but unless he learns how to deal with the bad times, he's always only gonna be a one-off.

-Abhilash Sarangi