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  • Sarah 10:43 on June 2, 2012 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: David Beckham, , England fans, ,   

    United > England or United > Lack of Success? 

    ‘The Faithful’ would like to welcome one of our new writers @Caddies to our site. Here is his first article for us.

    Euro 2012 starts in a week and England’s first match is a week on Monday against France. I’m looking forward to the full tournament as a football fan but I’m also looking forward to England’s campaign as an England fan. They’ve been drawn in what looks like a very difficult group but other than Group A, I wouldn’t fancy any of the other groups either. It’s a tough tournament that should serve up some great football. (More …)

     

    • Pujan 18:23 on June 2, 2012 Permalink | Reply

    • Paul King 19:11 on June 2, 2012 Permalink | Reply

      Great Article

  • charlieklein 06:54 on November 18, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , David Beckham, , , , , , , , , , , , , , Rio Ferdi, , , Sir Alex, , , Zeki Fryers   

    Episode XI: Every Single One Of Us Loves Alex Ferguson 

    Chudi of thebusbyway.com and myself of thebusbyboys.com discuss the 25th anniversary of Sir Alex Ferguson taking over at Manchester United, as well as preview the trip to Swansea on Saturday and the Champions League fixture versus Benfica on Tuesday. The usual blend of banter and insight.

     

  • TomPattison 13:23 on July 28, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , David Beckham, , , , , ,   

    Challenging the Fergie myth. 

    Ferguson receives the hair-dryer treatment.

    Ferguson receives the hair-dryer treatment.

    As a teacher I see a large part of my job as dispelling the myths so easily taken on as fact by the naive. ‘Islam is for terrorists,’ ‘Germany started World War One’ and ‘Homosexuality is a disease’ are three examples. It seems though that unceasing belief in baseless myths extends readily to football – and many of us United fans are as guilty as any.

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  • @JasTheDevil @JasDunham 19:37 on May 17, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , David Beckham, , , , , ,   

    Our Wild Ride – United’s Quest for a 19th Title 

    Unlike Rob or Peter or many United fans, I cannot, and will not, claim to be a lifelong Manchester United supporter. I’ll be 30 this year and growing up in the United States didn’t make it easy to follow football overseas. It wasn’t until about 3 or 4 years ago, maybe later, that the PL was regularly broadcasted stateside. The proliferation of the Internet has made it increasingly accessible in the last few years, but getting behind a team in the early 1990’s was almost impossible, especially if no one in your family had ever played the sport. At the age of five, I started playing. I’ve played it and loved it ever since. We’ve become a football family. My Pops knows everything there is to know about the sport and is a huge PL fan. A Liverpool fan, but a supporter nonetheless. My brother grew up watching me play and he also started playing. It was the only sport that he ever really played and his high school team was one of the best in the state. Sadly he, too, is a Liverpool fan.

    So, people have asked where my love for United came from and as cliché as it may sound, it came from David Beckham. Even without regular access to the PL, everyone knew who he was in the 90’s. So, I chose to become a fan. It has grown exponentially each season, to the point where United trumps everything else. And I do mean everything. Fans can understand the feeling. All this being said, I might look at the seasons, and rivalries, just a little different than most, but I do truly understand the plight, and severity, of being a United fan through and through. With that history, here are my thoughts on our record-breaking season, one diehard Devil fan to another…

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    • Stretford Dave 20:25 on May 17, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      Good piece. Very good in a weird way because of my general feeling & attitude towards what I normally would consider as an annoying fact about the enigma that is Manchester United. That is that we are without doubt, the most loved yet the most hated football club on the planet. I was born and bred in Manchester. My first game was an FA Cup tie against Plymouth Arghyle in the winter of 1974. I suppose having a dad & two older brothers who were reds pointed me in one direction and one only! I never looked back. Having grown up on an estate 6 miles from Old Trafford I suppose made it easier for me to follow than someone in the USA! I’ve always felt a huge “local” pride in our fantastic club & have defended the crap that we constantly face from the City fans which has now transmitted to an almost global misguided opinion that being a Mancunian football fan is to be a blue. THE biggest load of horse shit ever. I’ve schooled, went to college, worked in numerous jobs & generally always been in and around Manchester all my life. I come from a very big extended family which is 90% Red. Every school, college, job has been heavily weighted in favour of Reds. For these reasons the bullshit that has become so widely believed has pissed me off so much that I have taken to cringeing when Sky Sports interview fans outside OT & they are Irish, cockney, Welsh & whatever else. I have built up this hatred of it myself.

      Having read your piece I would say it has made me realise that United is a global family & supporting them from afar with evidently as much passion as a local boy is in some ways more commendable. I now live in Stretford, about a mile & a half from the ground. On match days it still gives me a tingle down my spine seeing the hoards of reds outside the Gorse Hill & the Bishops Blaize on the pilgrimage to the ground. I suppose I’m lucky to be able to walk to a game and experience that so easily.

      After all The banner says it all if you read it the right way… ONE LOVE!

      God bless American Reds – spread the word!!

      • JasDunham 20:38 on May 17, 2011 Permalink | Reply

        Dave, thanks so much for reading it. I truly value the club and all the fans. Rob took me to my first game this season (FA Cup match vs Liverpool) when I was in England in January. I haven’t missed a match on television in going on 3 seasons. I tweet from my handle @JasTheDevil and get a lot of stick sometimes about being an American. Hell, I’ve gotten stick for being a football fan here in the States. It’s still totally misunderstood and people only recently got behind it cause of the World Cup. I can’t say that I’ve been a match-goer or card-carrying Red, but I can say that while you all watch it from the seats, I watch it from mine here at home.

        I will say, that the stigma that goes on here about Manchester United has changed in the last few years. When we were winning three in a row, I was called a bandwagon fan. People who didn’t know I’ve played football since I was 5 thought it was trendy to be a United fan. I can say, though, that here in the States Manchester is most certainly Red. I see some newer City fans coming out of the woodwork, and I assume I’ll see some more now that they’ve won the FA Cup and are CL bound. The “cool” thing here, at the moment, is to be an Arsenal fan. I truly don’t understand it. People continue to give me shit, but all I have to do is simply list all our first team and reserve players, then ask another team’s fan to name a starting eleven. 95% of them can’t. I just laugh at them.

        I appreciate the kind words in your reply and I’ll continue to spread the word. I’m seeing the Barcelona v United pre-season match here in the States. I’m stoked to be a Red. Cheers.

    • ABEY 20:56 on May 17, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      very good article, lovely to read and keep it up

    • TomPattison 09:32 on May 18, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      This is really interesting to see yet another perspective from across the pond about what it means to follow United (although apparently we are hostile to foreign fans on The Faithful but that’s an argument for another time!). I admit to being sceptical of the foreign reds, largely down to the perception of screaming hoardes clad in Beckham-ware, but I was forced to eat humble pie after an encounter when inter-railing around Europe. I met a guy from Singapore who claimed to be United fan – I took it with a pinch of salt – but duly invited him to come along with me to watch the Champions League game against Deportivo (2002) in a local bar in Prague. His knowledge of all things United was utterly astonishing – not only could he reel off the first xi and subs of the 1985 FA Cup final but he could explain how the requirements of a Manchester United defender had changed over the course of the previous decade. In truth, I ended up learning from him and it cured me of any scepticism I had about Reds from overseas.

  • The Northern Casual 12:09 on March 27, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: David Beckham, FC United of Manchester, Green & Gold, , LUHG, , ,   

    TF Chronicles: Divided we stand, United we fall 

    There can be no doubt that the Glazer family’s reign at Old Trafford has been one of the most controversial in football history. Never has the subject of club ownership come under such intense scrutiny and attention as the Glazer’s residency at the worlds biggest football club. I’m going to avoid quoting various financial facts and figures as you could find dozens of other websites that you can research the debt and financial misgivings for yourself. Instead I want to focus on the effect that the Glazer ownership and the actions of the club and those connected with it has had on United fans.
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    • Sarah 12:22 on March 27, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      For me as much as I loved seeing Becks adorn the G&G scarf I wish he hadn’t. Sure the picture was everywhere and it was seen to have a big message but did it?
      Nothing changed did it?
      I think the campaign died a bit when people realised even a G&G scarf worn by a former red didn’t even make the Glazers buckle…

      Also have you seen how much stuff in the Megastore now is in G&G colours, The Glazers are cashing in on their own campaign. Quite clever really…

      Still want them out though obviously. Or at least for them to talk to the fans. We deserve better, much better.

    • Paul 12:26 on March 27, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      I agree Sarah. The G&G campaign reached a crescendo with Becks but it seemingly didn’t cause a ripple. It remains to be seen where we go from here, but I agree that the fans need something back from United. We’re not treated as fans but as sources of income, I don’t think that this is just a problem at United but at least with other clubs they have some sort of way of giving back to their fans. Even City have loyalty programs in place.

    • Busby Boys DxB 19:54 on March 27, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      great post mate. just a small question, didnt we play AC Milan in the round of 16 last year? the germans came in the quarters

      I mentioned reiginiting the Green and Gold campaign in my post today. have a quick read.

      cheers and Come on United

    • Paul 20:11 on March 27, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      Yeah we did, I’ll hold my hands up with that one, should have known better I went to both games! Thanks for reading though. I read your blog, Dubai reds in effect eh?!?

    • cartelmike 11:43 on March 28, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      a good read.

      although i think the perceived lack of transfer investment isnt wholly accurate.

      my issue with the Glazers is that i’ll go nowhere near the ground/merchandise when i know its paying off their personal debts. I simply cant live with that thought, but that’s just me personally. I’m happy to take the potshots from people saying why lining Martin Edwards’ pockets was any different.
      I think year on year, Ronaldo money apart, theyve bankrolled us really well. Fergie has always had money, and even the Bebe/Hernandez/Smalling/Lindegaard money adds up from the last 12 months. To be honest (and again this is a personal thing) i’d rather we continue to pursue youth and build our own stars, rather than join in the ludicrous Citeh/Chelsea/Liverpool spending sprees. We do NOT want to be a club that does a £35m untried kid (Carroll) or a shot £50m striker.

    • Andreas 13:15 on March 28, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      i know its tiring to see people with megastore bag or wearing the new kit ( with green and gold scarf on! ). i saw many on the telly every home matches.

      we did many campaign about the LUHG here in Indonesia and the result weren’t that good. i tried so hard to tell them what we can do as worldwide fans are stop buying the new kit, stop buying any club’s merchandises, stop going to the Man Utd Bar and Restaurant. and i even quit on buying Inside United, the only magazine here that capable to give me the whole club news.
      We produced our own G&G scarves and sell it to our members.

      but what happened: people still buying the new kit, scarves are out of stock everytime i checked into the Nike stores, i found only me that quitting the Inside United.

      Many of our fans didnt get what the campaign is all about.

    • Rob B 14:21 on March 28, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      Firstly, ,The G&G campaign was never supposed to oust the Glazers. It was about showing our visual disdain of their ownership. MUST took the mantle on after the initial idea and the truth is they made a bit of a hash of it, which was/is disappointing. The Glazers were never going to shift because of fan reaction, but that doesnt mean we shouldnt have done it.
      Secondly, I agree with Mike..i think theyve bankrolled the manager in the correct fashion…but this is also out of necessity because of their investment and brand value. I too am not interested in United spending Torres like money on one individual player when you can get 5 Chicharitos in exchange.
      Personally, I dont think the Glazers are in it for the long haul now. Too much is going on behind the scenes. If the Qatar consortium come up with the right price then they will sell…because cash is now king, not long term investments and bonds..as has been previous financial prudence. We will all dance a jig the day it happens, but sometimes its better the devil you know than the devil you dont…..but one thing is for sure and that is that MUFC must get rid of this debt. As fans we will have to accept any owner that can relieve us of that. I will continue to go to matches…but i will not buy the kit, the programmes, the food, the megastore tat, etc. This is my own way of dealing with the fact that I cant fully give United and my ticket up. Ive always believed that every little counts towards the cause.

    • Paul 15:57 on March 28, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      Andreas, good to see that your keeping the fight going in Indonesia. Don’t lose hope.

      Rob, I agree with you there mate. I don’t want to give up my ticket as first and foremost I love going to see United. The investment is an issue though, for every Hernandez we’ve a Bebe, Obertan and Diouf. The team needs 5 or 6 players and although relying on youth would be great to conquer Europe again we need players of proven quality and high calibre.

  • sparklydevil1 20:15 on November 12, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , David Beckham, , , , ,   

    How the relationship between fans and players has changed over the years 

    There have been many changes in football since I first started becoming interested in it 20 years ago, and even more so since becoming a regular match-goer 14 years ago. The introduction of the Premier League in 1992 heralded the start of the glamorisation of the sport- a new generation of footballers were being looked upon as pin ups, rather than tough, beasts of men. Money started to become king at the expense of morals it could be argued, and matches were more widely accessible to the masses through Sky than ever before. But although more people had access to watching matches on tv, the relationship between matchgoing fan and player started to become more and more detached. (More …)

     

    • redgm99 18:40 on November 13, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      That’s so true – remember my little boy getting SAF’s autograph on his matchday programme cover in felt tip outside the South Stand…by the end of the game it’d been wiped off – doh! Also remember that Becks Silvester Ole and Teddy were good autograph givers to kids…Veron not so much :( Also remember having to dig a certain Janmetcalf out from a scrum of Asian supporters who were clamouring for Beckham’s autograph before an ECL tie once :S

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