Watching the Manchester derby Wednesday night I was appalled to see Craig Bellamy get hit by an object and to see other objects thrown at him as he went to take a corner for Manchester City.

Bellamy was struck by a coin that knocked him to the ground and saw a beer bottle narrowly miss his head. Having attended Old Trafford before, my recollection is that the beer bottles are plastic. But still, it’s despicable to see any objects thrown at footballers no matter who they are and no matter whether people hate the player or not. Yes, Bellamy is a cheeky footballer and he was mouthing off to Rio Ferdinand all night, but no football player deserves to have objects thrown at him.

I realize this was a heated Manchester derby, but I also found the reaction of the Manchester United supporters near Bellamy despicable. Not the people who threw the objects, who should be banned from Old Trafford from life (and they were even more despicable), but several supporters in that corner were seen laughing at and taunting Bellamy even after he got hit and was visibly shaken.

It’s one thing to get involved in a bit of banter with a player from your hated rival. But when that footballer has been struck by an object, is in pain and has fallen to the ground, football supporters should acknowledge that a line has been crossed and it’s not funny anymore to laugh at Bellamy, make rude gestures at him or scream obscenities.

The other disturbing issue is this. Once order was restored, from the resulting corner, United cleared the ball and, thanks to a world-class pass from Wayne Rooney to Ryan Giggs, went straight down the other end of the pitch and scored through Paul Scholes. You have to consider how much concentration City lost after the despicable corner incident and how that may have led to United being able to open them up at the other end of the pitch.

Up until the corner incident, Manchester City was on par with United and looked to be in its ascendency. As soon as the Bellamy incident happened, City lost its focus and never looked like winning this game especially after United scored the goal that made the aggregate scoreline equal.

Overall, Manchester United were by far the stronger team Wednesday night and deserved the victory. But I believe that Bellamy being struck by a coin had an impact on Manchester United’s first goal. Without the coin incident happening, Manchester City would have been more focused for that corner and probably would have delivered a better ball into the box, and who knows where the game could have gone from there.

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Hi Guys, I’m here with my first post. I’m going to be doing a weekly post on the reasons why I love the beautiful game so much. This week I will be starting, ironically, with last gasp goals.

It doesn’t matter how they are scored, whether it’s a tap in like Aaron Lennon in last seasons dramatic 4-4 in the North London Derby and Ole Gunnar Solksjaer winning the treble at the Camp Nou, or beautifully crafted like Beckham lighting up Old Trafford once again to send England to the 2002 World Cup and Gerrard smashing home against Olympiakos in the 86th minute, giving them the 2-goal lead they needed to progress past the group stage of the 2004 Champion’s League, a competition they would go on to win.

A late goal is what’s beautiful about football, and highlights how quickly a game can change. You just drift away from the real world for that split second and find yourself in a state of ecstacy with no control over your actions. Andy Gray’s commentary during the Gerrard goal illustrates that so beautifully.

There aren’t many moments that give me goosebumps 8 years on after countless times of watching, but Beckham v Greece is one of them. It was almost poetic, and there was only ever one person who was going to carry us through to the World Cup Finals. It was the turning point in his career after the controversy of the 1998 World Cup, and had that goal not gone in, how different could David Beckham’s career have turned out.

So never give up hope, and never leave a game early. No amount of traffic can ruin that perfect moment.

Last gasp goals are why we all love football.

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Old Trafford 1993

It seems incredible now when we view some of the impressive grounds that make up the home stadia of the Premiership clubs that in just 17 years how many of them have changed beyond all recognition from those far away days of the Premierships beginning. Looking back, the speed that some of the grounds changed is now, with hindsight, quite amazing. Back in 1992, football was still reeling from the after effects of the Hillsborough disaster and the implementation of the Taylor report.

Contrary to what some people may tell you, the majority of grounds in Britain were dirty,decrepit bowls with dreadful facilities, hard to get to and you were made to feel as if you were an inconvenience to the local constabulary. With the announcement of the Premiership’s formation though, all that changed. Coupled with the Taylor Reports recommendations, all terracing was to be removed and stadia had to become all seater by 1995 in the the top two divisions. English football was about to witness the most dramatic rebuilding process it had seen for over 100 years.

Stretford End in 1992

For the first of my stadium tours, where else can we start than Old Trafford, the home of Manchester United. United were one the clubs hit hardest by the Taylor Report recommendations.  United were planning to rebuild the Stretford End with a new terracing section which had to be completely scrapped, so when the Premiership started, Old Trafford had the incredible capacity of just 44,000!  As you can see from the picture, it seems like a different ground to the one we see week in, week out these days.

What caused a massive boost to the ground though was the decision by UEFA to award England Euro 96. This allowed the participating grounds to begin to undertake major redevelopments to the stadiums to be ready for the Championships and in 1994, United unveiled ambitious plans to increase the capacity by a whopping 11,000. The club decided to completely rebuild the North Stand with an individual capacity of 26,000, with 3 tiers and what was at the time, the largest cantilever roof in Europe.

Old Trafford 1996

Work began in 1995 to be ready for Euro 1996 and I remember going to Old Trafford for the Euro’s. The stand was mesmerising and tickets for it had a vertigo warning printed on the back of them. It seemed gigantic at the time and with United’s continued success in the Premiership and the Champions League, the club soon decided that the capacity needed to be increased further. On every subsequent visit, Old Trafford has always impressed me, it seems something is always being added to the ground.

The next stand to get attention was the East Stand with an additional tier which brought the ground up to 61,000. The stand was opened in September 2000 and was then joined by the increase to the Stretford End in 2001 to make that a two tiered cantilevered stand pushing the capacity up to a whopping 68,217 and had the seal of approval from U.E.F.A when it was awarded the 2003 Champions League final.

The increase in Old Trafford’s capacity also came to the aid of the England national team. Wembley was demolished in 2001, not before time and during 2001 and 2007, England played 23 home games around various grounds but Old Trafford hosted the national side in 12 of those matches and England certainly benefited from the atmosphere and the attendances.

Old Trafford 2002

The next alteration has so far been the last, as the club decided to complete the corners that book ended the North Stand, between both the East and West Stands. These North East and North West Stands had another tier fitted to them, which saw the club open some sections of it to record a new Premiership record high attendance of 69,070 against West Ham United on March the 26th 2006.

Old Trafford 2006

The corners were finally fully completed and used for the first time in a Premiership match in 2007, as United entertained Blackburn Rovers on March 31st, winning 4-1 setting another attendance record of 76,090. That brought the capacity up to it’s current level of 76,212 fans making it easily the largest league ground in Britain but it’s only the 3rd largest stadium overall in the UK behind Twickenham (82,000) and Wembley (90,000).

Yet, it may not be third for much longer, the club have mooted further expansion by adding a further 19,000 seats on the South Stand, using the South West and South East corners and adding a second tier along all 3 sections. It seems that United will be continually improving what is one of the best stadiums and one of my favourite away grounds in world football even more in the next few years.

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What do Liverpool, Fulham, Aston Villa, FC Porto and Sunderland all have in common? They’ve all scored on Manchester United within the last month.

The champions boasted a staggering number of clean sheets this season, but in recent contests, as the aforementioned sides have proven: if you attack Man U you can break down their defenses and score.

While only Liverpool and Fulham have enjoyed wins, Villa and Sunderland looked perfectly capable of stripping points off United and Porto’s two away goals will give them the confidence to chase victory in the upcoming Champions League match.

The window for taking points from United in the EPL is ever closing with seven matches to play and perhaps the best chance already squandered (Villa’s visit to Old Trafford while Rooney, Scholes and Vidic were all suspended,) but United’s remaining adversaries can take a lesson from the goals conceded: attack, attack, attack.

United have enjoyed many close wins this season, and their 1-0 victories in particular often came from United repeatedly hammering away at a defense-minded side until the deciding goal went in, but since Liverpool scored four goals at Old Trafford on 14 March followed by Fulham’s 2-0 upset the following weekend, Sir Alex Ferguson’s giants have shown they have chinks in their armor.

When Liverpool and Fulham took the game to United and pressed into the attacking third, the champs made mistakes and lost the points. Villa looked the better team by far when they visited Old Trafford on 5 April, but Ronaldo’s second goal gave United a massive lift and they were able to recover and win the match with a stoppage time goal from 17-year old Federico Macheda on his debut. Sunderland also looked perfectly capable with a fantastic equalizer and many brave forays into the attacking third for the rest of the match, but a second United goal was enough to secure the points.

But the clean sheets are gone and opposing sides can see that damage can be done. The question is: is there enough time left to take the points needed for Liverpool or Chelsea to overtake the champs?

Vidic’s suspension and Ferdinand’s injury woes have certainly aided in United conceding goals, but I would argue that United have enjoyed a stigma of being unbeatable for much of the season, encouraging sides to sit back and hope for a point, too often resulting in disappointment. This stigma has since evaporated and Man U’s opponents see the value in chasing the win.

Sunderland looked capable of producing a draw and Villa looked more than capable of a win. While United only needed a small spark to dash the hopes of both clubs, they couldn’t produce this spark against Fulham or Liverpool or prevent Porto from securing two away goals.

While nobody, including myself, will be surprised if United clinch the title once again, I see plenty of room for upset in the remaining matches. Portsmouth, Hull and Boro all have something to fight for. Spurs, City, Arsenal and perhaps even Wigan have shown enough good form feel up to the task.

United are not invincible. Their weaknesses have begun to show. The upcoming fixtures will be telling, but if sides keep attacking, we may continue to enjoy a two- or three-way title race until the very end. We shall see.

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So, how many people thought Hull City would be Premiership cannon fodder, this seasons Derby County, bravely battling against the odds in a futile struggle that would ultimately lead to relegation. If so, how many had actually seen Hull City play before they came up? Not many I bet. Fair enough, I’d only seen them half a dozen times last season but there was enough there for me to feel that they’d certainly do a lot better than Derby did last season and I was not surprised when they won the play off final in May.

That’s one of the main problems football coverage has in the UK, it’s so biased toward the Premiership that sometimes the pundits have no idea about any of the sides coming up from the Championship at all unless they’re a former Premiership club or recently relegated and returning straight back. This in turn leads to the standard pre-season prediction of the 3 promoted clubs going straight back down, or depending how well the pundit knows the manager or either they used to play or manage them, the lucky promoted side may be tipped to finish 17th. It’s all rubbish really, a bit of an old boys club, blinkered people unable to objectively look at a side properly without bias coming into play. The plucky little promoted sides then have to run the gauntlet of cliches, ignorance and condescending comments as they battle bravely on until being relegated in April or May.
Yet Hull City, like Reading and Ipswich Town before them have caught a lot of people by surprise, Brown has them playing a fairly expansive 4-1-2-1-2 formation which seems to be working so far, with Geovanni in the hole behind Cousin and King and it allows them push up into a 4-3-3 when attacking with the ball, Boateng moving forward to form a midfield trio. It is so refreshing to see a side who come up, sign footballers and want to play the game the right way.

That’s why they’ve got 21 points after 13 games, because they’ve gone out to try and win games rather go into a match not wanting to lose it. Mentally, it’s a massive difference to your mindset and makes you feel more positive about the task facing you. West Brom are struggling to score goals because the players they have don’t have the top level experience and it shows, Stoke City are doing OK but as soon as people work out how to negate their long ball game, then they too will struggle. Hull on the other hand have more quality in the squad, players who have played in the Premiership, La Liga, Le Championnat and it gives them more weapons at their disposal.

Of course, at the moment everything’s going well but Brown will be the first to admit that he needs a bit more experience and depth adding to his squad in January. The loss of the highly rated Fagan thanks to Danny Guthries obscene challenge hit them hard, but they’ve recovered and carried on picking up points but I saw some comments about  the fact they’d lost 3 games on the spin. Articles entitled ”The Bubbles Burst”, “Toothless Tigers” and “Hull’s Premiership Dream Start Over”, along with some ridiculous comments about Hull having been found out really got my back up.

Anyone who saw their last defeat, against Bolton Wanderers, will know exactly why they lost that game, an absolutely world class performance from the Premierships most underrated goalkeeper, Jussi Jaaskelainen, kept at least 3 or 4 goals out to nick the points for the Trotters. The other two defeats, against Chelsea and Manchester United hardly need defending, but to slate them for losing to those two sides? Absolute nonsense, if you’re lucky enough to support one of the big four, fine but if you don’t, just count up your recent results against them and see how well your side has done. At Old Trafford, they made Sir Alex a very nervous man indeed, pulling it round from 4-1 down to 4-3 and left with their pride intact. I think they were the first side to score 3 in a league match at Old Trafford since Chelsea in Mourinho’s first season, yet still the pundits pointed out the result and not the performance or opposition.

Unfortunately, yesterday Sky Sports fell into this very trap, saying it was a must win game after 3 defeats in a row in the game against Manchester City but then again, I don’t expect anything else from them these days so you learn to tune out the hype and dreadful punditry and focus on the game itself. When the commentating combination isn’t Gray and Tyler, then the same cliched ridden bores continue to offend the ears of all football fans with half a brain. 

The staff and players at Hull deserve a big pat on the back for dealing with the cliches and negativity so well and rubbing a few peoples noses in it. They’ve been a breath of fresh air all season, from their fantastic ground, the way they play football to the eloquent way Phil Brown discusses his side and football in general. Brown has surprised me, with how positive he wants to play the game, it’s fantastic to see a side want to win football matches away from home and do it in the right way. I thought he was taking a massive gamble with the front 3 he signed, but so far all 3 have been on fire, especially Geovanni who needs special attention to get him to kind of form that prompted Barcelona to shell out £10 million for him 7 years ago but Brown has certainly got a knack with him. Whatever he’s doing to get him playing so consistently well is another feather in the cap of the impressive Brown. 

Daniel Cousin and Marlon King are also delivering goals and performances, King showing his Watford form, rather than the performances he put in at Nottingham Forest and Cousin is beginning to show just why Roy Hodgson was so desperate to sign him in January. Add to that, the wily old head of George Boateng and Bernard Mendy adding some further quality and it becomes obvious why they’re doing so well.

They will need to add to the squad in January, especially to give them a bit more depth up front but with only 6 weeks until the transfer window re-opens, no doubt Brown will have his targets already lined up.  Of course, they may get pulled down the table but they’ve still got at least 10 winnable games to come and if they can get those points who knows where they may end up. If they finish top ten, then Brown deserves to be named Manager of the Year. Thank you Hull City, keep rubbing the pundits noses in it and good luck for the rest of the season.

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A few seasons ago, it used to be that you’d only see the electronic advertising at Old Trafford. But nowadays most Premier League grounds feature them along the edge of the pitch. What’s your opinion about them?

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Cristiano Ronaldo is featured in the latest ad from Nike for its latest line of Nike Pro undershirts. As expected from Nike, the new video ad is extremely creative as it features Manchester United’s kit man Albert Morgan having a bit of fun with Cristiano Ronaldo.

Enjoy the video.

[display_podcast]

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Ever since The Observer newspaper reported that Chelsea were seriously contemplating a move from Stamford Bridge in west London to a new stadium site next to Battersea Power Station, executives at the Blues have been acting very fidgety.

First, some background. The distance between the two locations is exactly three miles, but psychologically the locations are worlds apart. Stamford Bridge is in the very affluent boroughs between Hammersmith and Fulham. Battersea is south of the Thames river in the borough of Wandsworth. Chelsea is synonymous with the fashionable shops of nearby King’s Road. Battersea is best known for the Battersea Power Station, made famous for being featured on the cover of Pink Floyd’s album, Animals (pictured above). While the power station is a London landmark, it is so for all of the wrong reasons — giant smokestacks that pierce the London skyline.

So how and why have Chelsea been acting weird about the whole situation? First, Chelsea were very quick to deny the story but they contradicted themselves in the first two sentences of the official statement. The first sentence read “This story is total nonsense.” The second sentence then read “Chelsea is not actively considering moving to this site in Battersea.” The emphasis on the words “not actively” were added by me, but the message is clear. Chelsea is not refuting that they’re examining Battersea as an option. They’re just using doublespeak to diffuse the situation before Chelsea supporters become enraged at the thought of leaving their sacred home where they’ve been since 1905.

Three miles may not seem like much, but it’s a one hour walk from Stamford Bridge to Battersea Power Station. But more importantly, it’s a big psychological difference. North of the River Thames is synonymous with riches. South of the river Thames signifies the working class. As you move further outside the city centre of London to the west and the east, the north south divide becomes less important. But near the heart of London, it’s a massive deal.

Don’t forget that Arsenal played their early part of their existence in Plumstead, nestled south of the River Thames before they moved to north London and Highbury in 1913. That was after property magnate and Fulham chairman Henry Norris tried to merge Fulham and Arsenal together, but failed. By moving Arsenal to north London, Norris rescued the club from certain bankruptcy and extinction.

Here’s a satellite image of London to show how close but far apart Stamford Bridge is to Battersea. Notice how the smokestacks from the power station cast a shadow over the Thames directly above and to the left of Battersea, identified by the letter B below.

Chelsea Chief Executive Peter Kenyon was interviewed yesterday on Sky Sports and was asked about the stadium move. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to find a video of the interview, but you can tell from the following interview about Chelsea’s financial situation that Kenyon appears uncomfortable answering the question and is quite fidgety.

The potential move from west London to Battersea must be of huge interest to Roman Abramovich especially considering that the Russian billionaire holding’s have lost as much as $20 billion in paper value according to one source. The opportunity for Abramovich to redevelop Stamford Bridge into luxury apartments is immense. According to The Observer, “While Highbury is one of the more expensive areas of the capital in which to buy property, it is dwarfed by the value of land at Stamford Bridge’s west London location. While Arsenal were restricted to 711 apartments at Highbury, as the old stadium was a listed building, Stamford Bridge has no such limitations. With its far greater area, including the club’s Chelsea Village complex and extensive parking, at least 1,000 properties could be built.”

Despite Chelsea’s denials, the potential move from Stamford Bridge to the site next to Battersea Power Station makes economic sense. It would provide the Blues with a  state-of-the-art stadium with a much larger capacity than the current Stamford Bridge (capacity 42,055), which doesn’t have much room – if any – for redevelopment. It would establish Chelsea as a much bigger Premier League heavyweight with a ground closer in size to the two biggest club stadiums, Manchester United’s Old Trafford (capacity 76,212) and Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium (capacity 60,000).

For Chelsea, it makes economic sense and is a move that the club and its fans seriously need to consider. Roman Abramovich won’t be around forever. Chelsea needs to start planning its financial future today to cope when Abramovich isn’t there to sustain the club. Battersea Power Station may be the answer.

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Going to see a football match at Old Trafford, Goodison Park, Stamford Bridge or any other ground in the Premier League is a far different experience than what happened 20 years ago. No more terracing. No violence between the opposing sets of fans, and no more cheap tickets that would allow a larger percentage of kids or mischiefs to attend.

Visiting a Premier League ground for a match these days is such a sterile experience. Assigned seating on a piece of plastic. And you’re very unlikely to become the victim of hatred from opposing fans. The worst you’ll probably hear is a chant of “Same old [insert team name], always cheating.”

The fact is that you’ll experience more vitriol and anger online via football websites, blogs and forums than you will in a Premiership ground. Football fans are more likely to say and write things online that they would never dare utter at a football stadium.

A lot of this is due to the anonymity that fans feel online while the real football ground experience is guarded by stewards, police and fellow fans who can report inappropriate behavior.

The other argument is that most football fans, especially if they’re younger, can’t afford to buy tickets to matches so they end up congregating online and venting their anger there.

So the next time you read some hatred against football teams or players online, you’re experiencing the 21st century version of football hooliganism in the Premier League – from the safety of your own living room.

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Manchester United sent out an e-mail campaign earlier this week to all MUTV Online subscribers to promote the new season. To catch the reader’s attention, they used this unique photograph showing three United fans wearing turbans looking thoroughly bored by the lack of football this summer.

No word on whether these three guys are the same turban-wearing United fans that are often seen at Old Trafford seated near the dugout area.

The part of the e-mail that’s not visible lists all of the preseason matches available via MUTV Online.

Thanks to Lonnie Smetana for the photograph.

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