Time For A Win At Old Trafford, And Qatar Cough Up
Dec 10th, 2010 by 'holic
No preview. No cricket. Just Guinness to tease the memories from the grey stuff.
My first trip to Old Trafford was in 1973. The older ones amongst you who recall Jasper Carrott talking about his trip there with Birmingham City will know that sketch was not just funny, but an accurate reflection of trips there in those days. We took just one coachload of fans there that day. As often happened the players came out with complimentary tickets and most of us found ourselves in the main stand. As the team took a stroll out onto the pitch I yelled a greeting to Charlie George, and was promptly dumped on my arse by the rest of the lads. I learned a lot that day that stood me in good stead on my travels around Europe following the Gunners.
If memory serves the game ended 0-0, but the genuine feeling of intimidation at half-time and the end was the first time I felt the special buzz you get at Old Trafford. I’ve since been there when the odds were a little better. I was at the first leg of the Champions League semi-final a couple of years back, and like most places it is now a more sanitised arena. Pints in a local pub were enjoyed with no agg, and getting out no longer involves the same ‘walking the gauntlet’ that has been known to apply up there.
That doesn’t however, mean that the fixture has become any easier for those on the pitch. As I said of Everton a few weeks back, this is a place we tend to win at in title-winning seasons. We haven’t won many titles of late. In fact it is now four years since we went there and won, although we should have done so last season. We go there on Monday knowing that a win will see us top the table whilst inflicting a first league defeat of the season on our hosts, but we make the trip with many fearing the worst because of our vulnerability at the back.
For some reason that I cannot explain, my gut feeling is that we will get the win we all yearn for. For all that I cannot deny our fallibility in defence, I also have this belief that we have been getting by in recent weeks without taking that infamous bloody handbrake off, and that law of averages suggests we are due a performance. Clutching at straws? Maybe. I’ll explain more about why I think we can win in the preview which will hopefully follow on Sunday night or Monday morning.
I’ll also be feeling more than a little jealous of those making the trip on Monday night. There aren’t many better feelings than coming out of Old Trafford, surrounded by thousands of happy Gooners, with a win under your belt. Thank goodness times have changed.
Qatarcelona And The Questions That Will Never Be Answered
A week after Qatar have won the right to host the 2022 World Cup comes news of a new shirt sponsorship deal for our friends in Catalan country. The deal will provide them with the money they couldn’t find this summer, so guess what we are going to have to put up with throughout next summer, and possibly even this January.
I wonder why the Qataris were so grateful to Barca? What could possibly have sweetened the deal?
39 Responses to “Time For A Win At Old Trafford, And Qatar Cough Up”
Only thing i want is to shut the fucking Evra and may be break his leg on the process!!Anyone who does this will receive a nice Christmas gift from me.
Just seen that Paul Kelso has dug deeper than I was inclined to.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/sport/paulkelso/100014404/have-barcelona-sold-more-than-their-shirts-to-qatar/
Somehow Quatar and Barca seem to fit together. Just can’t place why…
I don’t think we’ll get the repeat of the summer with Cesc. I just feel that he’s made up his mind to stay and will come out with firm declarations of his intent to do so.
As for Manure. Thrashing them at OT will go a long ways in easing the nerves about our squad. Who am I kidding, a win is enough for me.
Evening ‘Holic & ‘Holics
Another great post ‘Holic, thanks as always. I remember that JC sketch very well, it was hilarious.
Your post has reminded me of a visit I made to Elland road in the late 70s with a Leeds supporting friend that lived just down the road from me. Nice guy, bit of a nutter. Of course, he made me stand in their Northbank and it was just horrible. When we equalised in the second half I just bit my knuckles hard and tried not to look happy for fear of having my head stoved-in. At the station on the way back the travelling faithfull were caged (literally) in royal mail parcel trolleys surrounded by policemen. It really was for their own safety. Happy days???
My gut is telling me the same thing as yours about Monday.
In the menatime can I fill it with a pint of lager please and buy a round for all in the bar tonight?
Cheers all !
Am I the only one thinking that Arsenal will turn it on for Monday night? One thing we’ve learned with Arsenal this season is that their next performance is not based on their previous performance. If there’s any pattern to go by, it’s that we’re awesome away from home.
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Evening Holic
Ahh Old Trafford,many memories of visiting that great stadium with my dad when i was a slip of a lad
Mostly sad memories from regular defeats,but the funniest was early 60’s going up on the train on a saturday for a cup-tie.
Dad had bought me a brand new Arsenal bobble hat for the occasion.
About half way there i went to the loo,and when i came out i saw a couple of fans leaning out of the window above the exit doors for a breath of fresh air,so i thought that’s a good idea,and found an unoccupied one,pulled it down and stuck my head out.
Result,one brand new Bobble hat disappearing over the Horizon.!!
Had to very sheepishly go back and tell Dad what i’d done.
He never lost his temper with me ever,but when i had done something totally stupid,i just got the 1,000 yard stare and silence for however long it took him to accept that his son had very few brain cells.!!
To top it all off,after the long journey up there,we got to Manchester to be greeted by a Pea Souper of a Fog.!!
Result,we saw a goalpost,match postponed and had to come all the way home again.!!
Cheers
Clive
@4 TS
I go back to those days in the 70s when I lived in Wakefield, and took my young son to watch us play at Elland Road for his first visit, having seen us play at other Yorkshire grounds over the years
We were in the stand just behind the goal and beside the cage that the visiting supporters were penned in
I still remember that the uncouth mob in front of us did not watch the match but were turned always towards the cage.
It was frightening , and I did not go back there again
Unfortunately my son, who was born there, became much later a Leeds supporter………
Are you suggesting that there’s some linkage between the Barca Shirt Deal, Pep Guardiola and Qatar being awarded the World Cup in 20Whatsit then, ‘Holic? Couldn’t be, could there? FIFA is squeaky clean I’m told by Septic Bladder.
Well, that $212M will go some way to reducing there $584M debt, but not if they keep losing $120M each year on an operating basis. I think that level of debt puts them third in the global list of paupers behind our big two silver buyers:
Man IOU $1200M
Chelski $ 750M
Bacaloanees $ 584M
Level playing field?
I think there are institutions that are almost fireproof in that respect, BtM.
Chelsea are not one of them. If there were to be a high-profile failure thay would be my tip.
Institutions will always save Real and Barca, United too I think, and before I get stick from followers of those clubs I think we would be similarly regarded had we got ourselves into as much shit as them.
You back in the west yet, master?
I have really enjoyed your blog and I watched Jasper Carrot and thought it was great. You have really brightened my night. Well you and a couple of glasses of wine. But as you say Old Trafford is a special place and although I am really nervous for Monday there is also a side of me that thinks that we can do them over as they haven’t been playing well this year. All we need is a strong defence. Keep it all crossed.
Jan
Evening ‘Holic and ‘holics, and good evening to any lurking man utd fans on here as well,
Some of the comments in the Drinks here tonight have been absolutely brilliant. I’m finding myself feeling almost nostalgic, longing for an era I haven’t lived in! … (I did say “ALMOST” 🙂 )
What makes me feel slightly less nostalgic though, is our very recent history against the Glazers army.
I have to admit that last year’s defeat against them at the Emirates was the most painful memory from that season for me (yes, even moreso than losing to sp**s at WHL later on that season, and even more difficult to take than those difficult 20 minutes at home against Barça and Messi’s four at their place).
Not just because of th devastating result, but because for the first time in a while, I felt that they had deserved their win and were clearly the better team.
However, I, like you ‘Holic, have that feeling, or rather that amalgamation of feelings made up of nervousness due to our recent history against their lot, and that ineffable belief (hope?) that we had so much bad luck over the past few years, so many heart-breaking defeats, that if there ever was a moment to reverse our bad luck and get the upper hand (from a psychological point of view) against them , now would be it.
This game will be won or lost “in the head” (and in Clichy’s area of the pitch/ end of obligatory anti-Clichy jibe 😉 )
To borrow a quote from a fellow gooner on the Guardian’s forum, “let’s cut them open like a bad surgeon witha rusty knife”
COME ON ARSENAL!
One more Martini Bianco please Barman, and one for Clive as well 🙂
is ireland twice the size of qutar
wish wenger didn’t comment on fifa now we need them to grant us the silva visa
Ah Clive, the memories of the glorious rolling stock that was made available to transport football fans across the country.
I can still remember kipping on the luggage racks on the way home from midweek games in the frozen north, because they were more comfortable, and less stained, than the seats 🙂
here’s a good one
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1337584/Martin-Keown-The-day-I-thought-I-dying.html?
i have lots of match memories but being from a 3rd world country i ve not yet got a chance to watch the gunners play live but damn, i missed highbury. sometimes i cry thinking of the fact i will never see the place where history was made…we used to walk for ove 10km to watch a live match on tv but now thanks to competition pay tv is more affordable and i am no longer in boarding skool. back to OT i think this is where CHamarkh is gonna start his count against the DEVILS. cold lager please
Holic
I never had the privilege of sleeping on the luggage racks,but i do remember dad disappearing once on a long trip home from oop north,and i eventually found him fast asleep on a matress in the Guards Van,where i might add i left him undisturbed until we arrived at KCSP.!!
What you want with Qatar, i mean it’s funny but what did they do wrong to Arsenal or to you guys. So guardiola was supporting Qatari Bid and now they reach a deal to sponsor their team big deal, it’s business. So you gonna blame Qatar for given money tp barcelona, what you want no one to sonsor barcelona because you think they gonna buy Cesc. Tha’s kinda crazy and you make no sense linking qatar to Arsenal and cesc.
Just curious to know from those who may know more than me – any truth to the rumours Guardiola would love the Arsenal job? The nearest thing to Barca, but in England, so a massive challenge that a still young man like himself may be after? Would love to see it myself. Obviously in another year or two.
@Jekyll, I can’t say whether that’s true on not, but if it was it would be pretty amusing – especially after all that Barca put us through last summer. Although I don’t see Wenger leaving any time soon.
http://desigunner.wordpress.com/2010/12/10/arsenal%E2%80%99s-defence-is-actually-much-better-this-season/
I haven’t read this article yet but I really like that blog and it’s worth a read. If that’s the case then we should be optimistic :)!
Anyway, I don’t see any other result than winning at OT, we’re just a better team, all around the pitch. I have criticized Nasri for his performances against Liverpool and Chelsea when he didn’t create that killer pass in Cesc’s absence – This is his chance to put that one thing he still lacks a bit to bed.
2-1 or 2-0 – Nasri and Chamakh/Arshavin.
Irish Coffee for me, Sir ‘holic.
And may you be right as there are also few worse feelings than walking out of Old Shiteford after a drubbing 😉
As for the Qatari thing, good to see a non-profit organisation spending a fortune in a shirt sponsorship deal…
@ cognacgunner #8
I did return to Elland Road in the 90s to watch some European tie or other as a guest of a local business but by then they were on their slippery slide down the divisions and played a woeful game.
Very sad to hear about your boy not following in your footsteps but at least he had a genuine reason to do it – it could have been so much worse (LWCs or Manure).
My 2 year old is undergoing full indoctrination. He has been taught and regularly recites “1-0 to the Arsenal” and “Ooh to be a gooner”. Maybe I should lay-off the little man now for fear of pushing him over the edge :-).
Baman? A drink for CG please and one for yourself.
The ever-excellent Swiss Ramble laid out why Barca’s finances necessitate a big-money shirt deal. http://bit.ly/b3uVFH. Given that previously the club wouldn’t take a shirt sponsor because it didn’t want to sully Catalonia’s colours, it underlines the pinch they find themselves in. It makes sense, too, for Qatar, to be associating itself with top-class football, and there aren’t many other top clubs, if any, whose shirt sponsorship is available. Marketing riyals well spent.
As for Jasper Carrott, like the regrettable one-night stands of our youth, he falls into that category of people best quickly forgotten and never mentioned again.
Like you, ‘Holic, I have a sneaking feeling we’ll all be raising a toast on Monday night, so a glass of your finest red to get in practice, if you would.
For most gooners from the Indian subcontinent this match is what NLD would mean to English gooners.
A very large chunk of your friends / colleagues are man utd “supporters” – and this is the one match over which there are bragging rights and fights.
We need a response Arsene. Recent matches against United have been very painful.
Superb video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEI583ZqUXQ
Hi Holics –
I dreamt last night that we will win 6-2 on Monday, with Chamakh to get a hat-trick and Cesc to get the last goal of the game. The only problem was we were dressed in our red and white – Almost!
I had a similar experience at a Charity Shield one year. My friends dad could only get us tickets at the Man U end. All was fine, aside from the huge noise from the Man U fans, until Ian Wright scored a fabulous equalizer, leaving me the only person out of 50 thousand standing up and screaming “yeah!” followed, by a swift, but less audible “oh shit”. Fortunately, I was yanked back down quickly and I survived the experience.
Having said that, years later I was at a non league cup game in Aldershot and was far more scared of the home fans (of which I was ostensibly one) than I was that day. After losing they descended onto the pitch, blocked off the tunnel and beat the hell out of the opposition team.
I’d love to see the gooners click tomorrow for a whole game, something we haven’t done in ages, as then I think we’ll win comfortably. Trouble is our much publicized defense is frighteningly poor organizationally and positionally, something that utd’s “most loyal player” will probably enjoy. Like the ‘holic though, I think we will win and don’t really have an explanation for this. Not my usual pessimism. Hopefully we’re right.
The weekend just doesn’t seem the same without an Arsenal game and I’m not happy that this one is being played on a Monday, we’re not in the Europa league FFS.
I’m closed on a Monday so I’ll have the TV and beer tap to myself. So I’d better get some training in……
Lager please sir.
Cheers.
My pound`s placed for a 4-1 win to the Arsenal on Monday evening, odds 67-1 at bet365.
CinCin to the holic` 🙂
Yeoquizque, at those odds ‘holic would be proud of you, I’m sure. The 4-1 optimism is another blow in your favour! I’ll share in the training with H2H and anybody else in the bar. Pints all around barman.
Lots of optimism round here, nice to hear. For me, the game on Monday is one that I have no expectations at all on. I just want us to give it a proper go, and if we then lose because ManUre were better, well, then so be it. We know we are likely to concede at any time, but hey – so are in fact ManU. We have condeded some soft goals but we have not lost a two-goal lead with less than two minutes of added time to play.
Oh, and speaking of defenders, I am watching Newcastle-Liverpool as I type this and Sol Campbell is absolutely AWFUL and would not have been of any use to us this season. The Magpies are 2-1 up with about a minute to play, and the Liverpool goal was a gift from Campbell.
Pint of Boddingtons, please!
Holic – top post – sleeping in the luggage racks on the “Football Specials” – that does conjure up some memories 😉
Samir Nasri Football Focus Interview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pH35jb_SBAs&feature=youtu.be
His English has definitely improved come on….
Na na na na na na na na na Na…Samir Nasri…Nasri…Samir Nasri
I like the part when he’s being asked about Evra comments, let’d do the talking on the pitch.
Top Lad!!!
Good post Holic as always a pleasure to read!
Thanks for that wonderful video Arthur.. Didnt know Tatiana had retired from tennis.
Squillaci and Koscielny can do the job and will improve the longer they stay together. Djourou and TV give a great combo of four. Song is a monster and will keep on getting better. Despite all the emphasis on our attacking prowess, we must depend on these five to get where we want to go. Let’s keep the faith in them.
firstly i’d like to thank evra for giving us our team talk on monday night
well done keep up the good work!
I remember the 87(i think – i could be earlier) fa cup semi final v manure at villa park where me and my uncle found ourselves slap bang in the middle of the man u fans behind the goal – petrovic scored the opening goal and we found ourselves doing the carrot described celebration when it went in! there were about 10 other gooners in the whole stand and i thanked god i was only 13 and quite young looking if i’d been older we may have got a kicking! Anyway most of the banter was good natured and they cheered up when they went on to score two unanswered goals to go to wembley!
I predict a 4-0 win to the arse on monday! Not worried about the defense coz they will have a quiet night!!
1983