king of clubs

A few of the decisions made during the game may have been questionable, United may have got lucky with the help of a bit of Russian woodwork here and there, while the rain that swept in off the Steppes to loosen John Terry’s foothold was definitely timely… Now the dust has settled on United’s third European crown there is one statistic that is unquestionable – Manchester United are now England’s most successful club.

Oh I can here the shrieks of horror from Merseyside already. There was even some balloon on the radio this morning try to piss on United’s parade by rambling on about Bob Paisley. Scouse revisionists can think what they like but as far as the three major trophies available to English football clubs are concerned, United have now overtaken Liverpool as this country’s pre-eminent club.

11 FA cups, 17 league titles and 3 ‘Big Ears’ – I make that a total of 31 major trophies. This compared to 7 + 18 + 5 = 30 for the club at the wrong end of the East Lancs. Now some scouse tyke will probably claim that the Charity Shield is a major trophy (as the delusional scouser started to this morning) but they’re glorified testimonials in my book while the League Cup has become so devalued it’s barely a consolation prize for the Big Four, United’s last victory in it was regarded as laughable by the football world in general at the time, so I’m going to leave that competition aside.

So there can be little dispute that by this measure Sir Alex Ferguson’s mission to knock Liverpool ‘off their fucking perch’ is complete with power to add more in the coming seasons. Incredibly, when he took over at Old Trafford the score read 6+7+1 (14) to LFC’s 3+16+4 (23), United fans still yearned for the days of Busby, Best, Law and Charlton as we got by watching Ralph Milne adjust to English football. Yes, we’ve come a long way baby…

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It was nice to see Bobby Charlton go up as a representative of the Babes last night – there have even been a few who have put John Terry’s slip down to a Duncan Edward’s intervention from beyond the grave. Yet the thought occurs that when we do finally get in these finals fate has a way of shining on United. In 1968 it was Eusebio choosing to blast the ball rather than place it past Alex Stepney, in 1999 it was two goals from out of nowhere in injury-time and last night Chelsea being denied three times by the woodwork at vital stages of the game, oh and the Terry howler.

The reds have never done things in a straightforward manner, if they did I don’t think they’d enjoy the same level of support – the most popular, exciting and successful team in England – Manchester United are the undisputed Kings of England.

the old firm

No this isn’t about Glaswegians trashing God’s own city last night, or the fact that the ungrateful bastards have clearly never heard of a bin…

United’s Old Firm have got them out of jail twice recently putting to shame those who questioned their legitimate right to a place on the bench never mind the first team. First Paul Scholes emerged from a season of frustration with many claiming he was past it, to paste one past Victor Valdes in the CL semi-final. I’ve gone on about the goal a lot here but it’s looking more and more likely that that swing of the right foot saved United’s season from total calamity.

Then, last Sunday, elderly Ryan Giggs got up off his easy chair, swapped his slippers for boots and delivered the valedictory goal that confirmed United’s 17th league title and took them within one of Liverpool, quite some acheivement when you consider that back in 1990 the score stood at LFC 18, United 7. The Scousers have been knocked well and truly off their ‘fucking perch’.

United’s acquisition of Tevez, Nani and Anderson was designed to add fresh legs to a squad that looked weary by April last year. As ever, experience counts at this time of the season and while both Paul and Ryan have looked their age this season, but the opportunity to rest afforded by a larger squad has allowed them to make timely contributions at the sharp end. I wonder which United veteran will score the winner in Moscow?

 

team of the decade

So two games will decide the destination of the top two prizes available to English clubs and, uniquely, the same clubs are competing for both honours and could end up with either a share of the spoils or absolutely nothing to show for 8 months worth of football…

Overriding all this, however, the forthcoming battles will most likely decide the destination of the unofficial Team of the Decade title. Ordinarily this is a one-sided contest – think Liverpool in the 70s and 80s, United in the 90s. But the first decade of the 21st century has seen the tightest tussle since the mad cap sixties when it seemed every major club in England won something of note.

Thus far United have 3 titles and the London clubs two apiece. Arsenal lead the way with three FA Cups (that should probably have been four but for errant finishing and two Michael Owen strikes back in 2001), Chelsea won the old trophy last year continuing United’s sudden inability to win Cup finals – they have now lost three domestic finals in the noughties with only the walkover against Millwall a success.

Should Chelsea do the double, they could confidently wrap up TOTD honours with a major success next year - if United do it, they would manage it in less than a fortnight. Arsenal seem stuck on 5 trophies, the last in 2005, although I expect Arsene and his friends at the FA will be working on an ‘artistic impression’ cup based not so much on goals but triangular passing patterns. By contrast Chelsea’s success has come in the last four years while United’s straddles two eras – from Beckham to Ronaldo via Liam Miller if you will.

One would have thought that in the absence of a dominant force the battle for the two biggest prizes would have enthused all and sundry – far from it judging from the comments of Kevin Keegan who pronounced the league ‘boring’ last week to a chorus of approval from supporters up and down the country who choose to forget the domination of previous eras by teams such as Liverpool, Leeds and Arsenal. At least United and Chelsea provide value for money one way or another - rather than the route one football of George Graham or a tutorial in the art of back passes to Bruce Grobelaar.

And anyway, those with an eye for the bigger picture should be excited at the prospect of this unification fight with the lightweight yet fleet of foot United meeting a powerful if ponderous Chelsea in two weeks’ time. As a partial observer I can’t say I’m bored.