Olympic Spirit: the amateurs who played for Manchester United
These days it would normally be a term of abuse to call a Manchester United footballer ‘an amateur’, but it wasn’t always so. Sometimes it’s simply been a statement of fact, albeit applying to less than a dozen players in United’s history from the 1880s to the 1960s. Thoughts about this select band who pulled...
Wall hits Fan: Manchester United Star Does A ‘Cantona’… 100 Years Ago
When Eric Cantona of Manchester United did his amazing Kung-fu kick on an obnoxious Crystal Palace supporter seventeen years ago this month, I was there. By chance I was also an eye-witness thirty-five years earlier when United’s goalkeeper Harry Gregg spectacularly whacked a spectator at Luton Town in April, 1960, knocking him to the ground. That coincidence meant...
When Arsenal beat Manchester United 5-2 in 1960, was the match ‘fixed’?
I was lucky when I first used to go to Manchester United matches, over fifty years ago. Although the team was in the painful early stages of recovery from the Munich Air Crash they still often managed to play wonderfully expressive football in keeping with the finest traditions of the club.Take this description of United’s quicksilver style, written by ex-1930s Arsenal star Bernard Joy...
Man U, Munich and Duncan Edwards… Part II
We have seen in Part I how the term ‘Man U’, considered objectionable by many supporters today, was created entirely uncontroversially by newspapers at least sixty years ago, as an easy printed abbreviation for Manchester United. Used initially almost exclusively for fixtures, results and league tables, it only later became part of grassroots speech a...
Why Saying ‘Man U’ Isn’t So Bad… Part I
It has been estimated that Manchester United have 333 million supporters in over 200 countries, providing an astonishing cumulative audience of 4.2 billion television viewers watching the team in 2010-11. It would be lovely to think we’re all one big happy family but it’s probably no exaggeration to say that millions of those very fans...
Sir Jimmy Savile: The Manchester United connection
Amidst the eulogies for the veteran disc-jockey, showbiz star and champion charity fund-raiser, Sir Jimmy Savile, who died at the end of October at the age of 84, there was little mention of one small, largely forgotten but rather touching charitable stunt that he performed which is worth remembering if you are a Manchester United...
WBA v Manchester United in 1961, when ‘kicking-off’ meant something different
‘There are so many very unhappy people around..’ my wife said , her voice tailing off despondently as we watched the TV coverage this week of rioting, looting and arson wrecking lives and destroying communities. As Hilary and I tried to make sense of it all, our mood swung wildly from anger at the wanton...
The Redemption of Eric Cantona: The Double Double of 1995-96 Part III
The day after Manchester United clinched the Premier League title at Middlesbrough’s Riverside stadium it was a Bank Holiday. I spent it strolling nonchalantly in the sun down by the Riverside at Richmond, with my wife and daughter, wearing my old ’92-93 Champions T-shirt. It was a satisfying feeling knowing all that effort and commitment...
The Redemption of Eric Cantona: The Double Double of 1995-96 Part II
Cheer Up , Kevin Keegan On course, for United to now go on to win the Double, having secured their place at Wembley, much depended on how Newcastle handled the pressures of the league run-in.And we got a very significant clue only a few days after the semi-finals, in one of the all-time great Premiership...
The Redemption of Eric Cantona: The Double Double of 1995-96 Part I
I love it when Manchester United players show an interest in the club’s history. I want my idols to understand what it means and why it’s important, just like a supporter. That’s why Patrice Evra long ago endeared himself, with his immediate immersion in United’s past when he arrived in 2006, getting out books and...
Actually, Manchester United have been playing ‘socker’ since at least 1902
It’s sometimes easy to laugh at Yanks. I remember watching a pulsating FA Cup tie at Stamford Bridge in 1995 when Manchester United roared into a miraculous 5-0 lead against Chelsea only to concede three goals in the last twenty minutes, leaving them desperate to hang on for the 5-3 win. As the huge crowd...
Remembering George Best
There was a tiny, insignificant incident in one of the first matches I saw George Best play for Manchester United that has always haunted me, in some ways more than than the many moments of genius I witnessed in his brilliant subsequent career.It occured in March 1964 against Fulham as United were desperately trying to...
