A Season to Remember a Council to Forget

You know, I’ve not as yet written about this year’s football season just past, and that is quite surprising considering I’m an avid Manchester United fan lol. So as such I’ve decided to dedicate this post to the world of football (or soccer for those who call it as such).

So regardless of whether England didn’t make it into the European championships, another nation close to my heart has, and that’s of course the current European champions… Greece. So I will dip into my thoughts on the championships as well.

So without further ado, here goes…

An amazing season, a let down by the Council

The Barclaycard Premiership 2007/08 season proved to be one of the most exciting yet, with close finishes both at the top of the table and the bottom, it kept many on their toes until the last day of the season. On top of that this years FA Cup proved to be one of many shocks, with it being the first time in a long time that one of the “top four” didn’t reach the final, and finally but not least it was the first ever all-English Champion’s League final.

Through the early stages of the Barclaycard Premiership season Arsenal FC were touted as favourites with their early good form, with Manchester United being in similar form but with some of the opinion they didn’t have the same sort of flow and consistency to their play, and with José Mourinho being sacked as manager of Chelsea FC early in the season people were of the belief Arsenal FC had it in the bag.

It seemed the thoughts of Manchester United‘s critics sounded justified when they suffered a humiliating defeat in the Carling Cup 3rd round against Coventry City FC. Even though the team that was put out that day were a young side not commonly seen together in United colours, Sir Alex Ferguson made his feelings known by the resulting exodus of players (sent out on loan / sold) who played in that game.

However, disaster struck Arsenal on the 23rd of Febuary, 2008, when Eduardo da Silva suffered a horrific leg break against Birmingham City FC, it was this day that a lot of analysts say “broke” Arsenal’s form. It seems the experience was too much for some of the Arsenal players, and it began to show in their form, most obviously against Manchester United in the FA Cup 5th Round when they lost 4-0. In the weeks following the injury Arsenal lost the grip on their top spot position in the league.

Manchester United gained top spot from Arsenal, but the team that was written off near the start of the season as possible champions (Chelsea FC), were proving critics wrong by making the most of the slips of the top two and becoming real contenders for Premiership champions.

By the time the last few weeks of the season arose Manchester United had been knocked out of the FA Cup by Portsmouth FC 0-1 (the eventual overall winners) in the 6th Round, and Chelsea got knocked out of the competition by Barnsley FC 0-1 at the same stage. Chelsea also suffered defeat in the Carling Cup Final to Tottenham Hotspur 1-2, but as with Manchester United remained in the running for the Champion’s League and Barclaycard Premiership titles. With Arsenal being too far behind to realistically win the Barclaycard Premiership it was down to Manchester United and Chelsea to fight it out for the honours.

The Champion’s League semi-finals came along soon enough, and the strength of English football was easy to be seen with three of the four teams being from the Barclaycard Premiership there was a very real chance of an all English final for the first time in the competition’s history. Chelsea FC faced Premiership rivals Liverpool FC, whilst Manchester United faced FC Barcelona, Chelsea overcame Liverpool over the two legs (1st Leg: 1-1, 2nd Leg: 3-2 [aet]) and Manchester United overcame Barcelona over the two legs (1st Leg: 0-0, 2nd Leg: 1-0). The stage for the first all English final was set, and it also meant the same teams that were fighting for the Barclaycard Premiership title would be the same teams fighting it out for the Champion’s League title.

It came down to the fact that one team could quite easily end the season empty handed with no silverware to show for their efforts over the whole season, a outcome that would be unthinkable to both teams. With a loss at Chelsea, Manchester United had a lot still to do, the destiny of the Barclaycard Premiership title was in their hands, as long as they kept their performances up and not concede any points to Chelsea the title would be theirs.

Along came the last day of the season, Manchester United on top due to a superior goal difference but on the same points, a close game at the JJB stadium against Wigan Athletic FC and a win for Manchester United meant they secured the title in one of the closest seasons in it’s history. A last minte goal for Bolton Wanderers against Chelsea meant that they held Chelsea to a 1-1 draw, ending the season for Chelsea two points behind Manchester United.

Chelsea were left in the position knowing that a loss in the Champion’s League final would mean an empty handed season, making them desperate for a win in the crucial match. On the 21st of May 2008 at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia the 2008 Champion’s League final was held in a make or break game for both Chelsea and Manchester United.

As expected it was a close knit game between the two teams, Cristiano Ronaldo gave Manchester United the lead on the 26th minute, only to have Frank Lampard equalise for Chelsea in the dying minutes of the first half… As if I hadn’t already had a near heart attack whilst watching most of Manchester United’s games this season, as expected they were giving my heart another roller coaster ride. It wasn’t eased by any standard as Manchester United and Chelsea played out the full 90 minutes as well as extra time to bring the game to penalties.

I have to say I really don’t like watching penalties, especially when it comes to one of the biggest games of the season for the team I’ve supported since I was a kid… When Cristiano Ronaldo stepped up to take his penalty, little did I know that the player who had many a time helped United pull back games from the brink would in fact be holding his head in his hands after having his penalty saved… At this point I had a sick feeling in my stomach knowing that odds were now heavily in Chelsea’s favour, but as each additional penalty was taken I held as much hope as I could muster… It came to the final penalty, John Terry stepped up, and all he had to do was score his penalty and Chelsea would have been Champions of Europe…

I could pretty much hardly look, but when John Terry’s penalty hit the post I just lost it with happiness and then eventually when  Edwin Van Der Sar saved Nicolas Anelka’s penalty to clinch it for Manchester United I just couldn’t believe it, it was fantastic… Even though I felt for Chelsea because they would be finishing the 2007/08 season with no silverware, I was just so ecstatic that United had successfully completed the double…

This is where my gripe lies… after a very memorable season Manchester United should have been given a memorable welcome home back to Manchester, but the Manchester City Council decided to cancel the parade due to the events of the previous week when Rangers’ fans clashed with Manchester police… What I don’t understand is that Manchester United have had a parade in the past, notably 1999 when they last won the European Champions League, at which no trouble occured…

Why should fans of a totally different club suffer because of the behaviour of those involved with the UEFA Cup final, I think it was a huge let down after a tremendous season for Manchester United. The fact that the team were hidden just to peer from a closed confines of a coach with their newly obtained silverware and not allowed to share the moment with their loyal fans disgusts me… Even Stockport County FC had a parade to celebrate their play-off final win, which just rubbed the salt into the wounds even more considering they are part of the Greater Manchester area.

The Manchester City Council and the Greater Manchester police in my opinion really let down Manchester with the decision to cancel the victory parade, and to be honest I don’t ever think I’ll be able to look past that decision…

A look to the European Championships 2008

So, onto other things before I lose my cool… It’s not a commonly forgotten fact that non of the home nations didn’t qualify for Euro 2008, so as the majority of the football loving fans of the home nations “adopt” a country for the championships, I turn to a country close to my heart… The current European champions, Greece, whilst I know many pundits and commentators have said Greece have no chance of winning it again this year, this isn’t going to make me abandon my roots…

Having just finished watching the first game of the Euro 2008 campaign for Greece I can’t help but still feel pride for what the country achieved four years ago in Portugal. Even if Greece didn’t perform particularly well tonight, they showed faint signs of what took them to the final four years ago and I’m still proud of them, will they get past the group stages? Who knows, but to me that doesn’t matter as long as they give all they have got then I’m happy

That aside, who do I think will win the championship this year? Well even though I have the naive hope that it will be Greece, realistically I believe it will most likely be Spain, on paper they have probably the better all round team and whilst I think it’ll be extremely close between the favourites my money is on Spain I would think, with a small bet of faith on Greece too of course

A Final Word on the Cristiano Ronaldo saga…

Already a firm favourite for the FIFA World Player of the Year this year, Cristiano Ronaldo’s role in club football next season has overcast Portugal’s lead up to Euro 2008, but what do I think? Well I personally believe that Ronaldo will remain a Manchester United player next season, however, after next season I can’t be sure.

Ronaldo seems to have the art of keeping press attention on him by being extremely cryptic with his answers. Is he doing it to deliberately mess around with them? Possibly, even though he has made clear his desire to one day play in Spain he has very recently iterated he is happy in Manchester.

So is he confusing the press as a way to say, “I’ve had enough of giving you serious answers so I’m just going to tell you whatever I feel like telling you to keep you busy”? Again, who knows. Ronaldo as a player still has room to grow and develop and I personally believe that under the guidance of the back room staff at Manchester United he will flourish to the best of his abilities…

Whether Manchester United have Cristiano Ronaldo on their books or not, I still believe United will be just as strong as a team, Ronaldo is a fantastic player, but he doesn’t make the team and that is that really. I’d love him to remain at United, but I am not going to lose sleep over it, loyalty is the key here and I think it’s time for Ronaldo to show he has the loyalty in him.

So that’s it for this entry, sorry I have babbled on, but hopefully for those into sport and football it has been a good read. So for now I bid you a fond farewell…

Post Tagged With: 2007/08, Arsenal FC, Barclaycard, Bolton Wanderers, Champions League, Chelsea FC, Coventry City FC, Cristiano Ronaldo, England, Euro 2008, Football, Frank Lampard, Greece, Premiership, Sir Alex Ferguson, Soccer, Wigan Athletic FC.