tomclare
30th June 2005, 04:32
Tonight I feel so very sad, because the realization has finally hit me that something that I love so very dearly has had the very fabric ripped apart from it. Note, that I did say the fabric, because whatever happens in the coming years, one thing is for certain; the Glazer family will never own the heart and soul of Manchester United Football Club, nor will they ever understand what makes that heart beat, nor what conjours the soul that will one day enable the club to be given back to the family that really and truly own it - the legions of people, not only in Manchester, not only in Great Britain, but throughout the whole world, who make up the family that is the Manchester United fan! I've said it so often before, that once that love of Manchester United is there, once that first tingle courses through your veins, it's there for life. We can argue with each other, we can whinge with each other, we can fight with each other - and we have done - but one common love will always bond us all together - and that is our love for Manchester United Football Club.
Once again we enter into a period of trial and tribulation in United's great history. We've been there before on many occasions. The early part of United's history was one where hardship and the fight for survival walked hand in hand together, and there were times in those early years when United were almost on the verge of extinction. But the club survived mainly because of the love of the fans and the generosity and love of both the Davies, and Gibson families. They ensured that there was still a light burning that would one day grow into a bright flame that would warm the hearts of the fans that followed United.
That flame burst into a bright light when Lois Rocca and Walter Crikmer invited Sir Matt to become Manager, and he was the one who really laid the foundations and standards that have become synonymous with Manchester United. Standards that every other club in the Football League strove to follow. It was Sir Matt who in 1956, blazed the path into Europe for English teams after Chelsea had not got the spine to take on the F.A. and the Football League the previous year. Shortly after, we all know the tremendous tragedy that engulfed the club and the loss that we suffered. A loss, that for those of us who were around back then, still feel so very much today. The Chairman back in those dark days was the wonderful Harold Hardman, a man of such principle that he would never have even taken his bus fare out of Club money.
United were the first English club to lift the Holy Grail that was the European Cup, and of late were the first club ever to achieve what was supposedly the impossible, winning "the treble." There were periods of mediocrity in between these achievements, but the thing that was obvious to all during those dark periods, was that the support for Manchester United never dwindled. We whinged and moaned, but the fans were there for the team and the club, week in and week out. Through the years, through the families, from generation to generation, that love for the club was passed on and nurtured, and as the fan base expanded, the new generations were embraced into the family.
Football began to change in the early 80's with the arrival of the money men. These were the young, new kids on the block. They got rid of the old butchers, bakers, and candlestick makers - men who, although they owned their clubs, loved them and wouldn't do any harm to them. The new kids fell into bed with the television people and greed began to rear its ugly head. Eventually, because of that greed, the FA Premiership was formed, and 129 years of history was tossed out through the door in the name of what I am supposedly told is progress. Yes, there were things that did need changing, but not to the cost of the grass roots of the game. The predators came flocking and began the rape of the game as we knew it. The rich got richer and the rest could go to the wall as far as they were concerned.
BSkyB who were almost bust before the advent of the PL, found it to be manna from heaven. They pumped the money into it, the money men gladly took it, and all they could see from then on in, was soaring profits. To hell with the game, to hell with the fan - they were superfluous. No longer did they matter. Corporate sponsorships, pay-per-view, that was the way forward. What had been an institution, Saturday football, was changed forever, and the fan's voice began to be nothing more than an irritation as the predators counted their gains.
I can weep for the young kids of today who will never get the chance to enjoy what I enjoyed in my childhood. What happened to me all those years ago as that young 5 years old boy who entered Old Trafford for the first time, fostered the love and affection for Manchester United that I have to this day. I find it hard to comprehend that it is almost impossible for the majority of kids to attend matches these days. Television may bring it into their front rooms, but it is certainly no substitute for being there. When will these poor kids be ever able to say; "I know, I was there!"?
Unfortunately, football nowadays is all about money - that really hit home hard to me today. The talks that the 3 Stooges had with the Sports Minister, the FA and The Premiership, were not about the game or the fan, they were about money, especially the t.v. money. That cannot augur well, not only for Manchester United, but for the game in general. Whatever the Glazer's reassurances today, whatever they say in the next few days - none of it will mean anything at all - especially to me. Like all money people, their avarice and greed will eventually show (not that it hasn't already!) and the fans will pay for it. Football is definitely coming to a crossroads, and there is definitely a lot of disillusionment within the fanbase, a disillusionment that the powers that bewould do well to heed.
The Glazer's will never feel what you and I feel for the Club. They will never suffer the highs and the lows that you and I feel for the Club. They will never have the passion that you and I feel for the Club. They will never understand the Club's history, it's traditions, and most of all, they will never understand you and I, the fan. We are only a means to an end for them - we don't count.
Yes, tonight I am sadder than ever that something that I love so deeply, has as far as I am concerned, been wounded so deeply - maybe terminally. If that be the case, then I hope that I am not around to see it.
Once again we enter into a period of trial and tribulation in United's great history. We've been there before on many occasions. The early part of United's history was one where hardship and the fight for survival walked hand in hand together, and there were times in those early years when United were almost on the verge of extinction. But the club survived mainly because of the love of the fans and the generosity and love of both the Davies, and Gibson families. They ensured that there was still a light burning that would one day grow into a bright flame that would warm the hearts of the fans that followed United.
That flame burst into a bright light when Lois Rocca and Walter Crikmer invited Sir Matt to become Manager, and he was the one who really laid the foundations and standards that have become synonymous with Manchester United. Standards that every other club in the Football League strove to follow. It was Sir Matt who in 1956, blazed the path into Europe for English teams after Chelsea had not got the spine to take on the F.A. and the Football League the previous year. Shortly after, we all know the tremendous tragedy that engulfed the club and the loss that we suffered. A loss, that for those of us who were around back then, still feel so very much today. The Chairman back in those dark days was the wonderful Harold Hardman, a man of such principle that he would never have even taken his bus fare out of Club money.
United were the first English club to lift the Holy Grail that was the European Cup, and of late were the first club ever to achieve what was supposedly the impossible, winning "the treble." There were periods of mediocrity in between these achievements, but the thing that was obvious to all during those dark periods, was that the support for Manchester United never dwindled. We whinged and moaned, but the fans were there for the team and the club, week in and week out. Through the years, through the families, from generation to generation, that love for the club was passed on and nurtured, and as the fan base expanded, the new generations were embraced into the family.
Football began to change in the early 80's with the arrival of the money men. These were the young, new kids on the block. They got rid of the old butchers, bakers, and candlestick makers - men who, although they owned their clubs, loved them and wouldn't do any harm to them. The new kids fell into bed with the television people and greed began to rear its ugly head. Eventually, because of that greed, the FA Premiership was formed, and 129 years of history was tossed out through the door in the name of what I am supposedly told is progress. Yes, there were things that did need changing, but not to the cost of the grass roots of the game. The predators came flocking and began the rape of the game as we knew it. The rich got richer and the rest could go to the wall as far as they were concerned.
BSkyB who were almost bust before the advent of the PL, found it to be manna from heaven. They pumped the money into it, the money men gladly took it, and all they could see from then on in, was soaring profits. To hell with the game, to hell with the fan - they were superfluous. No longer did they matter. Corporate sponsorships, pay-per-view, that was the way forward. What had been an institution, Saturday football, was changed forever, and the fan's voice began to be nothing more than an irritation as the predators counted their gains.
I can weep for the young kids of today who will never get the chance to enjoy what I enjoyed in my childhood. What happened to me all those years ago as that young 5 years old boy who entered Old Trafford for the first time, fostered the love and affection for Manchester United that I have to this day. I find it hard to comprehend that it is almost impossible for the majority of kids to attend matches these days. Television may bring it into their front rooms, but it is certainly no substitute for being there. When will these poor kids be ever able to say; "I know, I was there!"?
Unfortunately, football nowadays is all about money - that really hit home hard to me today. The talks that the 3 Stooges had with the Sports Minister, the FA and The Premiership, were not about the game or the fan, they were about money, especially the t.v. money. That cannot augur well, not only for Manchester United, but for the game in general. Whatever the Glazer's reassurances today, whatever they say in the next few days - none of it will mean anything at all - especially to me. Like all money people, their avarice and greed will eventually show (not that it hasn't already!) and the fans will pay for it. Football is definitely coming to a crossroads, and there is definitely a lot of disillusionment within the fanbase, a disillusionment that the powers that bewould do well to heed.
The Glazer's will never feel what you and I feel for the Club. They will never suffer the highs and the lows that you and I feel for the Club. They will never have the passion that you and I feel for the Club. They will never understand the Club's history, it's traditions, and most of all, they will never understand you and I, the fan. We are only a means to an end for them - we don't count.
Yes, tonight I am sadder than ever that something that I love so deeply, has as far as I am concerned, been wounded so deeply - maybe terminally. If that be the case, then I hope that I am not around to see it.