Life is full of little ironies and it seemed fitting that on the day that FC United of Manchester proved their point by celebrating promotion and winning the league, a salient point was also made at Old Trafford.
For while a staggering 6,023 fans packed in to Gigg Lane in Bury to watch FC Utd’s last home game of the season and its title winner’s presentation and parade, Old Trafford entertained Chelsea and Liverpool in the FA Cup semi final.
How Chelsea and Liverpool fans must have chuckled at visiting Old Trafford in the FA Cup semi and not see their team lining up against Manchester Utd. But that’s football and I don’t want this to sound like sour grapes.
No, the point I’m making is this – when the semi finals were arranged and the FA in their usual wis-dumb (sic) decided to play the Chelsea – Liverpool game at Old Trafford (and with an evening kick-off!), what did the suits at Old Trafford say?
Did they say, ‘do you want us to open our doors to the same Liverpool fans that in their previous FA Cup fixture, attempted to tip over an ambulance containing one of our injured players? Do you want us to open our doors to the same Liverpool fans that in their previous FA Cup fixture poured excrement on our fans? Did they then tell the FA to stick their fixture up their sweet FA? No the suits at Old Trafford said, ‘How much?’
Passing through Manchester on Saturday I saw a group of Liverpool fans piling out of a pub, one had a blow up airplane tucked under his arm, another dose of that famous Scouse wit. Then later, on returning from the FC game through Manchester I passed by a car load of Liverpool fans triumphantly waving the seat that they had ripped out from Old Trafford.
There were 24 arrests made relating to the game on Saturday. Would those arrests have been made if the semi-final fixtures had been switched and Old Trafford entertained fans from Middlesborough and West Ham? I doubt it. Were Man Utds fans consulted as to whether they wanted to these fans at their ground? I very much doubt it.
In chasing the Sky revenues, Manchester United yet again proved a point that day - that the feelings of the fans and the pride of the club come behind the most important element at the club today – greed!
(c) Jamie Murphy 2006