Opening Day.....

Manchester United 4 Life!

I'm going to write a blog about Manchester United. I know, me, Robert Needham the guy with the words "Manchester United" tattooed on his right arm is going to write about United, big surprise there. The thing is, I have no real clue how to start a blog or how to write it.  I figure though that since I update my facebook page all the time with countless information concerning the greatest football team in the world Manchester United, a blog will give me more space to do it. 

As most people know, I'm loud, opinionated and loud so I want to use this blog to voice my thoughts, opinions and everything else United.  I'd also like to use this blog to breakdown United's entire season for those who may not know what's actually involved with an entire football campaign. Trust me, there is a lot of drama and excitement. There are many other competitions that go on simultaneously during the full campaign. There's of course the Barclays Premier League which United won last year (their record 19th league title) and will try to defend, The FA Cup, The Champions League, UEFA Europa League and the Carling Cup.  I'll go into more details of each competition as they come up as one did on Sunday Aug. 7th. Manchester United won the Community Shield against derby rivals and extremely rich Manchester City 3-2 in dramatic fashion. "The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup"

Hopefully, anyone who really doesn't know too much about the game will be able to follow a team through me, a die hard Manchester United supporter. You don't even have to be a fan of the game but like anything, if you actually give some time to following a team, or a player then it's hard not to get addicted to the greatest team playing the greatest game in the greatest league in the world.


This years  English Premier League season aka Barclays Premier League started this past Saturday but for me, my season started when Manchester United played at West Bromwich Albion on Sunday August 14 2011. During the summer, United had splashed out 55 million pounds on 3 new players; Ashley Young (midfield winger from Aston Villa), Phil Jones (Defender from Blackburn) and David De Gea (goalkeeper from Atletico Madrid in Spain). After a great pre-season US campaign which included stops and wins in New England, Seattle, Chicago (I was there suckers!!) , New York and Washington, Manchester United looked really really sharp and I was very excited for their title defence to start.


I got to the "Main Event" (2368 Yonge St - Toronto) which is the home bar for the Manchester United Supporters Club of Canada, MUSCC for 11am and was greeted by all my mates from the bar. I'm part of the Red Mob, which is a tight knit group of guys from the bar who occupy the front entrance. I'll be writing a lot about these guys and the supporters club but for now on to the game.

Rooney opening the scoring 

Ashley Young

Alex Ferguson, who is United's manager in his 25th year in charge gave some younger players the start after preforming well in the preseason, players like Tom Cleverley and Danny Welbeck. The game started out well, United were running on all cylinders and Wayne Rooney  had them in front after 13 mins with a great low shot into the corner. It very easily could have been 2-0 United had Nani converted one of his many chances. I was well impressed with Manchester United's flow of passes and Ferguson's  team selection. Unfortunately though, West Brom equalized in the 37 min on a very soft goal given up by United's new goalie De Gea. De Gea is only 20 years old and will definitely endure a learning curve playing in the Premier League. I personally think that United's other goalie Lindegaard who was signed last January will take over the number spot sometime this year but that debate is for another day. The game was 1-1 at half but I was never worried about getting the result though my mate Rudi was. I was proven right in the 81st min after new signing Ashley Young  scored what ended up being the winning goal, 2-1 United!!! Although the winning goal did take a few defections, the one thing to know about Manchester United is that we have the amazing ability to score late in games. We always play for the full 90 mins and time and time again manage to win games late. Why? because we're winners!  It was good to start the season off on a winning note. Winning on the road is never easy, so getting our first win away from home was great especially since our away form was poor last season. We're now 2 points above most of our title rivals Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool since they all drew in their first games. On Monday, the other team from Manchester, Manchester City aka fucknuts won their game vs newly promoted Swansea to share top spot with United, Bolton and Wolves with 3 points.


In each country there are different divisions of football and in England, the Barclays Premier League is tops with the "Coca Cola" Championship League below and Football League One below that. If you didn't know, each year the teams that finish in the bottom 3 in the Premier League get relegated to the Championship while the top two teams and the winner of the Championship play-offs are promoted to the Premier League and the bottom three teams are relegated to Football League One. Get it? Good! 


Here is a look at the standings after week 1 of the EPL:

ted 21:52 15thAugust 2011 | Home | Away | POS NAME P W D L F A W D L F A GD PTS 1 Bolton 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 4 0 +4 3 2 Manchester City 1 1 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 +4 3 3 Man Utd 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 1 +1 3 4 Wolves 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 1 +1 3 5 Liverpool 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 6 Norwich City 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 7 Sunderland 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 8 Wigan Athletic 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 9 Arsenal 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 10 Aston Villa 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 11 Chelsea 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 12 Fulham 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 13 Newcastle 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 14 Stoke City 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 15 Everton 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 16 Tottenham 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 17 Blackburn 1 0 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 -1 0 18 WBA 1 0 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 -1 0 19 QPR 1 0 0 1 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 -4 0 20 Swansea City 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 4 -4 0             Manchester United's season doesn't end until May 2012, ya it's a long season so I'm sure I will get better at posting this blog as I'm on a learning curve too.  I also hate computers so some weeks I'll just be posting a few comments on the games with pictures and others I'll be writing long detailed posts. I'll also be posting videos once I figure how to do it, LOL. Really I'm writing this blog just for me but hopefully you enjoy reading it,  following along and maybe joining us up at the Main Event for a game or two.   Manchester United's next game is their home opener at "Old Trafford" on Monday Aug 22 vs Tottenham Hotspurs. I've already taken the afternoon off from work to go watch at the Main Event.  I will also be posting Manchester United chants throughout the year. United are the team for me U-N-I-T-E-D United are the team for me With A knick knack paddy whack give a dog a bone Why dont City fuck off home Till next time, HVE IT!!!  Cheers