The Devil In Me

United wore black armbands on Saturday as a mark of respect to the recently deceased Macclesfield manager Keith Alexander. You only need to take a quick peek at JT’s absurd armband celebration to understand why he is the most dislikeable man in the universe. I am not going to argue that United’s players go home every night to polish their halos, but if Chelsea’s title campaign is distracted by the shenanigans of Cole and co. there will not be great mourning in the religious community methinks.

Instead, we can thank the heavens for the cool head of Paul Scholes. It was looking horribly like ‘one of those days’ for the majority of the match until Gibson’s superb (and unsung) through ball picked out the Ginger prince for our fairly fortunate winner.

Scholes prepares to battle the Na’vi. Berbatov seems to underestimate the peril.

It would be remiss if I did not say that Wolves were worth a point. Mick McCarthy put out a team to get a result and they were unlucky not to get it. He is unlikely to win a polarity contest in the company of people who venerate Roy Keane, but I have always admired his ability to look like a ferret and maintain a straight face. He also benefits greatly from not being John Terry, we all do.

For the most part I spent the early evening being cruelly reminded how ‘less good’ we are without our number 10. We are still an incisive team without Rooney but for most of the game it looked like we were trying to stab Wolves to death with a damp sponge.

That said, I thought Berbatov played exceptionally well, particularly with holding the ball up and finding passes to colleagues. Lamentably though, he cannot set himself up. Tremendous credit must go to both the players and Fergie for remaining focused on the games with the off pitch battle that is developing. If we are going to be handed slices of luck to go top of the league with nine games to go I’ll take them.

If the result against Wolves was a shot in the arm for our title ambitions then the San Siro game was about as sedate as a drug-induced rampage with a violently mood-swinging Iggy Pop.

I am hoping for a more relaxing evening at OT but being a United fan I know better. David’s return will, quite rightly, heighten the sense of delirium in the stands and Ronaldinho’s form at the moment will raise my blood pressure in all the wrong ways.

Rooney now wears a shirt with his average performance rating.

Milan are a proud club with a lot of seriously good players. We might well be playing Gary Neville against them. G. Nev is one of the great men yet, alas, no longer a great right back.

This is definitely my favourite time of the season, when things start to rock and roll a bit and the big matches stack up against each other. Let’s hope we can stay the course.

Join MUST here and support the green and gold campaign for a change of club ownership.

Follow markjpayne@twitter.com and www.thedevilinme.co.uk

A “source” claims the report, says that two “mystery bidders” have offered £1bn+ for United this week but were turned down by the Glazer family. What a convincing story! How brimming with factual evidence it is. Perhaps the more cynical among us would say this is misinformation, a lame attempt at discouraging the Red Knight campaign. Surely our impeachable owners would not stoop to such a tactic. This can be nothing more than quality news reporting at its best.

There is a disclaimer on this page that states “While these reports are filled with correspondent’s insight and expertise, they are based on the correspondent’s point of view and may contain speculation as well as fact.” In light of that, here is my speculative opinion: Today’s report that the Glazer’s have recently turned down two £1bn+ bids for United from mystery people is more dubious than a £12.50 coin.

Balls(c)Andresmarx @FlickrCcoms
Why do I draw this conclusion? For the following reasons: Firstly, all we have heard this week is that the Glazers will not sell, they are in it for the long haul, etc. etc. Secondly, while this is a vague reiteration of what has been said before it is really being hammered home. Thirdly, as of this morning, MUST’s membership figures are tickling 110,000 – not bad considering the target was 100,000 by the end of the season. In conclusion, we, the fans, are getting organized and they know it.

In 1984 George Orwell wrote, “If there is hope, it lies with the proles”. As the masses, we are the ‘proles’ and this latest campaign of misinformation on their part is highly reminiscent of that novel.

This is not the time for us to either give in or become distracted by the press releases from Old Trafford. This is our club and we will get it back as long as we remain steadfast in our ambitions.

I reiterate the importance of all fans taking up the opportunity of free MUST membership, so that we can all be communicated to with one voice. I would also implore people to not renew their season tickets or purchase tickets for match days from on in. Most blokes will tell you that a kick on the pocket makes you think twice, that is where we need to aim our shoes.

If I was in a scuba suit surrounded by great white sharks , giant squid and other beasties from the deep then I might forget the ocean is rather a magnificent sight when viewed from the surface. Pitchside this week ‘maginificent’ is the only word left to describe Wayne Rooney.

Vidic and Agbonlahor practice their ice-skating routine in honour of the Winter Olympics(c)Getty
Having watched his header to win the League Cup Final a dozen or more times I am still aghast at how much skill it takes to do that. Equally stunning is how little time it has taken for the team to forge a successful new style of play after the departure of Ronaldo.

By turning the tactics book back a few pages United have struck up on a simple winner. Good, pacy wingers running at defenders and putting in good crosses. This has been ‘the United way’ since time immemorial and it is great to see it back. Whether we prove strong enough to pick up more trophies this season is open to debate. It was interesting that none of the players, not even the Manc raised personnel, felt the need to pick up a green and gold scarf on their way up the steps. I’ll bet they were under instruction and this is exactly the point.

The one hope I have for the future is that one day, I will be watching the team again and only be concerned about what happens on the pitch. Right now, I am all too aware of what lies beneath.

Patrics Evra lifts the Carling Cup. The young Michael Jackson stands next to him looking miffed(c)Getty

Photography from Getty Images and Andresmarx @FlickrCcoms.

Follow Markjpayne@twitter.com and www.thedevilinme.co.uk

Aston Villa pitch themselves as the Ghandi of the Premier League. Randy Lerner is said to be a ‘good, considerate’ owner (although I know nothing about him) and Martin O’Neill is the media darling’s media darling. “He has a law degree don’t you know, how very nouveau football.” And of course they nurture young English players like saplings in a storm – good-hearted folk that they are. This overlooks the fact that we still, and will always, owe them one in a cup final.

Martin O’Neill

FA Cup Final 1957

The 1956-57 season was, in Manchester United terms, rather significant. This was the year we became the first English club to compete in the European Cup. It also saw the Busby babes record a glorious championship victory, finishing ahead of Tottenham Hotspur. It should also have been the year we won the double. That it was not, we can solely blame on Peter McParland.

Odds on favourites for the final, United met Villa and for six minutes things were going according to plan. Then McParland poleaxed our goalie, Ray Wood, breaking his cheekbone. In the age before substitutes our young team had to trudge on for the rest of the match with ten men, other than when a dreaming Wood was let back onto the field to wander around.

To literally add insult to injury McParland scored both Villa goals and they ran out 2-1 winners. At the opening of the new Wembley the FA paraded a gallery of FA Cup legends before kick-off as United prepared to play Chelsea. McParland, first out, was roundly booed by the red end. No, we don’t forgive you.

League Cup Semi-Final 1970-71

The game that got Wilf McGuinness the chop. United warmed up for the match by losing a league match 4-1 to City the previous week. Villa were enjoying the hospitality of Division 3 at the time and a team containing Nobby, Georgie, Bobby Charlton and Kiddo managed to draw 1-1 at OT.

A week later we lost 2-1 at Villa Park. The team was Rimmer, Fitzpatrick, Dunne, Crerand, Ure, Sadler, Morgan, Best, Charlton, Law, Kidd. Average age 77. It was about then Wilf McGuinness got the chop and Sir Matt came back for half a season.

No wonder Wilf’s hair fell out.

1993 League Cup Final

My first visit to Wembley and the reason why my dad won’t let me go back. Until this point no Payne had seen United lose a cup final at Wembley and, after a careful elimination of factors, it was decided I was the unlucky charm. Lovely.

On for the first domestic treble in history United were caught cold by the performance of Dean Saunders career and Big Ron’s desire to remind everybody who he was. The game was pretty even until Kanchelskis handled on the line and gifted Villa a penalty. I went home and wept onto my Bryan Robson duvet cover. The therapy cost a fortune.

FA Cup 3rd Round 2002

Ruud Van Nistlerooy
This game is memorable for witnessing Ruud Van Nistlerooy at the absolute peak of his powers. United were on the brink of going out in the third round for the first time since stegosaurus roamed the earth. Up steps the long faced Dutchman with two deadly strikes in the second half to send United through and leave Villa Park in the doldrums.

Ruud would finish the season with a whopping 44 goals and a reputation as the most feared striker in the world. We were saved the ignominy of going out in the 3rd round until, well, last month.

Moving on.

United’s last 3rd round exit before this season

Prediction for today’s game:

I suspect there may be goals in them there hills. Both teams have suspect defences and pacy players up front. I could see it going 3-2 either way.

Follow markjpayne@twitter.com and www.thedevilinme.co.uk

Photography from lcrf@flckrCcoms