Posts Tagged ‘Bobby Charlton’

What Do Manchester United Fans Want? A Team Which Plays Attractive Football Or A Team Which Wins?

Posted: March 12, 2018 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Football, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur
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The answer is that they want both. Not through greed but because up the road, in east Manchester, Pep Guardiola is proving that having both is possible.

In all our years watching Manchester United there has rarely been a prolonged period of time where attractive football has been accompanied by trophies and, yes, we can go back a fair bit further than some of the so-called “fans” of today. You know the ones, they are screaming for the manager’s head having won two trophies in his first season and now sitting second in the Premier League while still contesting the later stages of both the FA Cup and the Champion’s League. (more…)

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The Wayne Rooney Debate Refuses To Go Away

Posted: January 3, 2018 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton, Football, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur, Wayne Rooney
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Having entered into yet another online debate about Wayne Rooney we are forced, yet again, to abandon our retirement of the subject, temporarily at least.

Once more, tunnel-visioned United “fans” who are probably too young to know any better, are busy telling anyone who will listen what a “legend” he was, or what a marvellous player he was.

To back up this argument they cite his achievements in the game while at United because, let’s be fair, he only won anything because he was with a good team. What has he won with England, for example? Exactly! (more…)

Does José Mourinho Have The Right To Select A “Weakened” Team For Certain Manchester United Games?

Posted: May 7, 2017 in Arsenal, Chelsea, European Football, Jose Mourinho, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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In all fairness, ANY manager at ANY club has the right to select whichever team he feels is appropriate for the game ahead.

Sure, there will be “first choice” elevens which, in the manager’s opinion is his “best” combination of players. This combination will not always be the right one for different opponents. Therefore, the manager has to have the right to make changes.

The question only becomes inflammatory when wholesale changes are made in order to “protect” some players for games further down the line which are deemed to be more important. (more…)

England’s World Cup, 1966

Posted: January 4, 2016 in England, International Football, Opinion, The World Cup
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This was the first World Cup I was old enough to watch and appreciate. It was 1966, the year before colour TV appeared, so black and white it was.

Colour TV, just as an aside, made its first appearance on BBC2 at Wimbledon, where everybody had to wear white! A typically well thought out introduction to the wonderful world of colour by the BBC.

So back to the World Cup and, after a laborious 0-0 draw against Uruguay, England sailed through the rest of the group beating Mexico 2-0, then France by the same score. Without playing remarkably well, England had qualified from the group and Roger Hunt had scored three goals. Worryingly, at this stage, England’s top scorer, Jimmy Greaves, hadn’t scored a goal in the opening three games.

In the quarter-final England were to face Argentina. By now Alf Ramsey had decided to drop Jimmy Greaves and picked Geoff Hurst in his place. This paid off when Hurst scored the only goal of a drab game, remembered more for the sending off of Antonio Rattin, Argentina’s captain, than for anything else.

In the semi-final, England conceded their first goal of the competition when Eusebio scored a penalty for Portugal. It made little difference as England were already leading at the time with two goals from Bobby Charlton. The game finished 2-1. (more…)

George Best Remembered

Posted: November 25, 2015 in Football, Manchester United
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During the 1960’s I was lucky enough to go to Old Trafford every other week. I say lucky enough but, apart from in 1967 when they won the title, I didn’t see a very successful team but I did see a lot of very entertaining football.

Those were the days of Best, Law and Charlton, the three remembered more than any others for the attacking football United fans still crave to this day. It should be noted though, that United had other internationals in that team. Harry Gregg played for Northern Ireland, Shay Brennan and Tony Dunne were both international full backs. Nobby Stiles, still remembered from England’s world cup winning team and David Sadler was another occasional international. Pat Crerand was a regular for Scotland and even David Herd managed 5 caps

There were other players who didn’t achieve international status because, in those days, the majority of clubs had eleven British players so there was more competition for each of the home countries. (more…)

Average + Rooney = Record

Posted: September 6, 2015 in England, Football, International Football, Manchester United
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So Wayne Rooney has equalled Sir Bobby Charlton’s goalscoring record for England in, coincidentally, the same amount of games. If only he was half as good a player as Sir Bobby was.

It’s a pity that the record equalling goal was scored from the penalty spot against lowly San Marino, in a game where England’s main striker managed ONE goal in a 6-0 win.

People say that Rooney would have scored more goals for Manchester United had he not been played in midfield for a short while, firstly by Sir Alex Ferguson and then by Louis van Gaal. What they forget is that Bobby Charlton was never a striker and played all his games in midfield, for England and United. Charlton was not the main penalty taker for either Manchester United or England, so only 3 of his England goals were from penalties. Rooney has scored 18 goals for United and 5 for England from the penalty spot, although he also hasn’t always been the first choice taker. (more…)