Post by Scott on Jan 30, 2007 23:09:16 GMT
Welcome to the 9th edition of Republik of Mancunia: The Paper. Another month has flown by, another month which has ended with us topping the league.
The news for the forum this month is that long serving and officially THE most active member, Adam, will be joining our staff team. He works particularly hard for the forum and we’d like to think that he can help MissUnited, Red Yank and me with making this place even better. His main role will be in helping us brain storm ways to get the forum “out there”, as well as continuing his role in organising things such as the Match Day board and Fantasy leagues etc. So I’m sure you’ll all join me in congratulating Adam with his RoM Creative Assistant job.
A new feature to the site is the footage of United’s goals being added to the top of the forum, for when you’re at work and need some instant cheering up
If you feel like you have something to offer The Paper, whether it be Match/Player of the month reviews, an article, or anything else you feel could be of interest to our forum, don’t hesitate to give me a shout. From this month onwards, I will be adding reviews for player and match to the RoM.org Blog and of course giving credit to those who have written them. If you fancy getting your opinions getting published on the site, then drop me a PM to volunteer. We encourage anyone and everyone to take part in The Paper, as it is for you lot, and we appreciate diverse opinions on our club. Remember, when a member has contributed four times to The Paper they will be classed as an Official Contributor, with their own member group and button in the sig to prove it ;D So get in touch.
Also, dont forget the shops, which have had plenty of new editions over the past few weeks, and this has lead to 10 new hapy customers. If there's a design you see on there which isn't on a product you'd like, just drop me an e-mail at Republik_of_Mancunia@hotmail.co.uk and I'll see what I can do ;D
Now let us begin:
Member of the Month
This month’s winner goes to a member who has been with us since almost the beginning. He’s a popular and entertaining member who always gives us a laugh. He has done well on the activity stakes, and this month, more so than ever. So, I’m sure you’ll all join me in congratulating Dizzy as this month’s winner.
Interview
Time for the member interview. Adam has kindly taken the time to give us a bit of insight on himself. Our new member of staff will now reveal all…
Real name:
Adam Mcilroy
Where are you from:
Birmingham, England...although I consider myself to be from the Republik of Mancunia.
Who is your biggest inspiration:
My parents, they are great inspirations to me in a footballing sense though it'd have to be Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs or Paul Scholes.
What would you like to be better at:
As a footballer I consider myself to be pretty good although I'd love to improve as you should always want to, also I'd love to improve as a coach. I love passing on my knowledge of football, it fills you with great pride when you see a youngster being successful on the pitch because of what you've said to him...or her!
Or revising, I've blagged my way through exams without revising and it's got me part way through college I'll have to improve for Uni though.
If you could ask anyone, living or dead, a question, who and what would it be?
I can't really think of anything, but erm...I'd ask Jessica Alba if she could lick my face, LOL!
What is your all time favourite film?
That's a difficult choice between SNATCH starring Jason Statham and LION KING, the Disney production.
If you won the lottery, how would you spend it?
I'd get a Season Ticket, move to Manchester and spend the rest wildly on myself, my friends and my family - I'd continue my education though, well I'd try to.
One job in the world, what would it be?
Manchester United player, that would be the ultimate but really a professional footballer..it's been my dream from a kid.
What’s your biggest ambition in life?
To be successful in life and enjoy it to the fullest. I don't want to be stuck in a dead end job.
What’s your greatest ever achievement?
Gaining a coaching contract with Aston Villa after a short playing career in their Academy.
What’s your biggest regret?
Getting a knee injury which stopped my development as a player other than that I have none, I try to live life without having any regrets.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years time?
As a level four football coach or qualified solicitor, a United ST holder, with a wife and a kid or two, I hope!
Who do you hate most: City/Liverpool/Leeds/Arsenal/Other
LIVERPOOL - I fuckin' hate them! How can one team be so annoying? I have cousins who are Dippers and the rivalry we share is amazing, the joy I get from beating Liverpool is greater than any other team.
YSB - Justice for the 39 - The Sun: We Love It!
You are officially RoM.org's "most active" member, how does that feel?
Feels great. I enjoy posting in this place, I've been part of other forums but none have kept me coming back like this place. It's a credit to Scott, the mods and the other members that this place has grown so big in such a short space of time.
I'm going to be around for a while, so if anyone fancies taking the crown off me...STEP UP!
After United's 3 wins in 3 weeks against Villa, what was it like being a red in Birmingham?
It's been great, we always beat them though so I don't hear much. I've been to all three games too, the away game was great. I know a lot of people around the stadium and was kitted out in Red, recieving the dirtiest looks it was great though. My Uncle has found it difficult living with me and people can no longer stand me in college, oh well it's part of being a red!
Realistically, who would you like to join United?
I wanted BECKHAM but that was never realistic, now it's HARGREAVES or TORRES. Hargreaves is just a great, tenacious player with bags of energy he'd compliment either Carrick or Scholes and would complete our midfield. As for Torres, despite a poor season so far I think he'd become a great asset for United and would thrive at a bigger club.
Whats the best game you've ever been too?
United 2-1 Bayern Munich in the Nou Camp. My dad got the tickets from one of his mates and he kept it secret up until the day we flew out to Spain. I was gutted to have not got tickets for the Cup Final because that was on my b'day but the CL Final tickets made up for it...the smiles still on my face today!
Who's your favourite member on the forum?
I like quite a few people on the forum, 7even was always helpful, Scott, Miss U, RY, then there's Redom, RnH, Mox, Sahahaha...everybody's great though! I'm the GREATEST!
Anything else you want to tell us?
Erm..United are back where they belong, Fergie's the greatest manager ever and Ronaldo made England look shite!
Apart from that, I'd like to say to everybody keep this forum the great thing it is, thanks to everybody and come on UNITED!!!
Article
This month’s article is written by MissUnited.
Pounds and Pence
I used to remember watching my team play when I was younger, much younger, probably about 8 or 9. Transfer windows, sales, loans and buys didn’t mean much to me, we used to buy players and I was happy when we did. Sometimes players would leave, and it would usually be a sad occasion. During another annoyingly quiet transfer window I miss those days of naivety when things just seemed to mysteriously fall into place.
To be fair, it’s not the fact that we haven’t signed anyone that annoys me the most, it’s the fact that we get stuck on one player (NB read as Hargreaves) and refuse to move on from him. We’ve offered near to £20million for a player who is worth £12, maybe stretching it to £15 on a good day, but even after having that turned down we continue to chase a lost case. I’m fully aware of that Bayern apparently have said we can have him for £20million in the summer, but I also might win the lottery next month. However that doesn’t mean I am going to encourage the breadwinner of house to leave work because there’s a one in a million chance we’ll be millionaires.
Some fans say we don’t have the money. Now I don’t believe that, if we didn’t have money there’s no way that we would be willing to cough up £20million for a midfielder, knowing we will have to buy a striker soon who is bound to cost at least that if not another £5-10million depending on who we get. It’s stubbornness. Manchester United and our beloved manager Sir Alex Ferguson must be the must stubborn representatives in football. When Sir Alex sets his heart on a player, then he will hunt that player till he gets it. I mean common, we hardly signed Laurent Blanc because he was still world class. Now Sir Alex has his heart set on Hargreaves and him and Mr Gill are focusing their energy on him, rather than moving on to a cheaper and possibly better player. However I am not going to go on about Hargreaves, far too much has been said about him over the last six months, both by the press and our fans.
It’s the money part that annoys me. We have the money, but still we continue bidding silly amounts for players that a club is obviously not going to part with for anything less than their set amount. Now I don’t think that we should just go out and bid silly amounts for players, or pay over the top for all players, because you can pay little and get a lot. Last years signings of Evra and Vidic are great examples of this. I would however like to see the club just set an amount that they have valued a player at, the minimum they think they can get away with paying, and the maximum they would be willing to pay. Bid the minimum amount, but if a player is valued at £10million, then bid that £10million and avoid pissing the player’s club off by offering half the amount of that. Some people say that we’re not willing to pay for players because the Glazers won’t give us the money, the problem with that argument of course is that we were playing this transfer market game for years before they even considered taking over the club. I’ve said it before, and I will say it again, the Glazers are business men, they know that to earn money off the club they need the club to be successful, and for us to be successful we need the right players.
Maybe we don’t need any additions this window, we can still go on to win the league without any new players, but it would be comforting to hear something from the manager rather than just the usual “we are looking at some players” or “there have been one or two people we are interested in”. Our team, as any other team in the league, have weaknesses. We might have fewer weaknesses than other teams, but the weaknesses are there none the less, and it’s not been a comfort that our only targets have been a 17 year old kid, who MIGHT turn out to be the next big thing, and someone from Die Bundesliga who hasn’t even kicked a ball in months. I’m purposely not counting Larsson in this because he’s just a temporary solution to a striker problem. It’s like putting plastic glazing over a broken window, it will help keep it together in the short term but it’s never going to be the long term solution.
I already covered the positions that I think we need in my last article a couple of months ago, a right back, another midfielder, a left footed winger and a striker would be additions that I would expect to be made over the next months and up to a year. Some of these positions might be able to be filled from our own ranks, but when it comes down to approaching players of other clubs, I really hope the club have learned from the lack of success that we have had this window and last. When a club doesn’t want to sell, just move on. It’s no use franticly counting and recounting every single pound and pence you are willing to use on a player if the club doesn’t want to sell, or if the player doesn’t want to join us badly enough, or if we’re nothing more than slightly interested. If we want to go back to being the best club in England on a permanent basis, and the best club in Europe, we have to show strength and determination. Not just on the football pitch, but when Gill and his Visa card go travelling, he needs to bring both those qualities with him.
We might win the Premiership this season without any additions, but at some point over the next year we will have to make a purchase. And it is about time that we do business like a company rather than someone who wants the cheapest prize for a carpet in a Turkish market.
Match of the Month
This month’s write up is by Redom, who now gets his Special Contributor button
For this month’s match of the month I was having a bit of difficulty choosing because let’s face it this month hasn’t been littered with great games for United, with us dropping points away at Newcastle and Arsenal. The FA cup provided two wins for us, the first against Villa had seen two legends of the game score for us and wrap up victory in dramatic fashion and was in with a shout but in the end I’ve gone for the game against Portsmouth as it had a bit of everything and was a great cup tie.
Leading up to the game there had been talk of Harry Redknapp repeating past success against United in this competition and when the United team sheet was announced which didn’t include VDS, Rooney, or Ronaldo in the starting line up Pompy might have fancied their chances, especially as the one man who Harry had been making special plans for in Ronaldo wasn’t even in the squad.
Portsmouth certainly started the game in positive fashion and seemed determined to give it their best shot, perhaps hoping United might a bit off song after last weeks late defeat to Arsenal, and they could have had the perfect start when Gary O’Neil went down in the United box after replacement keeper Kuszczak seemed to catch him as he knocked the ball past the oncoming Pole, thankfully the ref was having none of it and replays proved him right as they showed Kuszczak managed to knock the ball against O’Neil’s legs with his outstretched arm, but still a let off for United as many a ref could have given it.
Both teams looked up for the game and United were forcing the Pompy defence to play at the top of their game as they probed them, and they were doing a good job of keeping United out as Sol Campbell looked dominant in open play but United should have broken the deadlock in the 14th minute when Vidic underlined his aerial ability by getting above Campbell at a corner and getting a header on goal, the ball seemed to cross the line after James got a hand to it and Pedro Mendes (yes we know, how ironic) hacked it clear and United were denied a goal.
United continued to press for the rest of the half with Carrick winning a header at another corner but directing it at James who saved easily, Park inches away from connecting properly with an great cross from Evra, and Giggs crossing just behind Larsson after robbing Johnson. United were on top but couldn’t capitalise and Portsmouth still might have fancied their chances with their defence looking solid (apart from the master toilet seat thief Johnson) and luck seemingly on their side.
The second half picked up where first left off with United on the front foot and Pompy still in with a chance a nicking a goal with Andy Cole wasting a decent chance early on and once again the away team had lady luck on their side when 10 minutes into the second half Larsson showed the type of intelligent movement and clinical finishing United brought him in for when he got on the end of Red Nev’s lovely flick pass and he volleyed home superbly, unfortunately the linesman got it wrong and flagged him offside, just what did United need to do in order to win this game?!?!?!? Well as it turns out they needed to bring “The White Pele” on, after 60 minutes he was introduced as Ole departed and he gave Pompy a whole new set of problems. For a while Pompy held on and David James was stopping anything that got past the defence like making a good save off a Scholesey drive from outside the box.
The game entered the last 20 minutes and if we were to believe a certain someone then United should have been tired and Pompy would have at least been looking at a draw and a replay but instead we kept going and eventually Uniteds’ patience and quality told when Larsson played in Giggs who drove into the box and squared the ball for Rooney to tap into an empty net, they couldn’t disallow that one.
United had been in control all game and should have been out of sight but they were only one up and needed a second to seal it and boy did they get one, Neville played the ball into Rooney who had picked up his usual position outside the box, as he turned and weighed his options few would have had the vision to spot the opening he saw and even fewer would have had the audacity and skill to carry it off, he shaped to smash one but instead floated a perfect chip over the rooted David James’ head and grazed the underside of the bar as the ball found the back of the net, a wonderful goal and hopefully a sign of what’s to come from him in the rest of the season. Pompy managed to pull one back as Mendes hit a Lampard-esque shot which hit Kanu on the way in and sent Kuszczak the wrong way but they never really threatened to draw level and Park should have bagged one late on when he got in behind but he never really got the ball under control and ended up fluffing the chance.
Overall it was an entertaining game with plenty to talk about and it showed that United are still in good form (now if we could just show it against the top teams) and will be hard to dislodge from their top spot in the prem if they can keep everyone fit. Giggs looked really sharp and I think he’s benefited from Park being back and having a little rest, Evra had another marauding game and looked good going forward and of course Rooney was great off the bench and seems to have got the confidence back that allows him to try things like his second goal and I’m sure we’re all hoping that he can carry this into the rest of the season and aid our title push. The one concern is that our defence looked a bit shaky at times and once again we failed to keep a clean sheet (none in 7 matches now) but hopefully with VDS back against Watford we can cut out the mistakes and get back to the mean streak we had early in the season.
Manchester United: Kuszczak, Neville, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Park, Scholes, Carrick, Giggs (Fletcher 85), Solskjaer (Rooney 60), Larsson
Portsmouth: James, Johnson, Primus, Campbell, Lauren, Taylor, O’Neil, Hughes (Douala 82), Mendes, Kranjcar (Mwaruwari 80), Cole (Kanu 62)
Man of the Match: Ryan Giggs, he looked fresh and sharp after being given a bit of a rest and if we can keep him in this sort of condition he’ll be another vital piece of our team in the coming months. His work rate was first class and his running caused Pompy all sorts of trouble, I was half expecting another FA cup wonder goal from him when he set off on that run from in our half and skinned those first two players before Hughes brought him down for the only yellow of the game. I also thought his delivery from corners was better than usual as he rarely hit the front post which gave the likes of Vidic and Carrick two good opportunities to score and he was just a constant thorn in Portsmouths’ side, keep it up Ryan.
Player of the Month
This month’s write up is by Raisnhell
And the nominees are, Cristiano Ronaldo for an amazingly consistent pounding onto the opponents the whole month; Patrice Evra, for taking a solid stand in front of the goal and stopping those thumb sucking puppies from scoring!; Wayne Rooney, for a fantastic comeback that saw us going through to the 5th against Reading; Paul Scholes, for handling the mid field so superbly and making sure United stayed on its feet throughout the game!; Michael Carrick, for a brilliant performance throughout the month and having a wonderful impact on the United play.
And…the winner is…… [Drum Roll please (click here)] ….Paul Scholes!!!! Yayy!!! (You better be clapping right now!). A wonderful performance by the United Legend! Few mid fielders have the ability to control the midfield like the Ginger Assassin! The man has produced wonderful breathtaking goals recently and he makes them seem look so easy! But, more importantly he has controlled the pace of the game for United and has constantly been the guiding force behind ruthless attacks on the goals. Lets us forget that he is only 32 and lets us also forget that he is from the era of ’99, and even then we cannot tone down his speed, agility and sharp mind on the field. And who can rule out the intelligence in his play? Through out the month (actually even before that) the man has been bewildering the opposition. If I was to compare his importance and role in the club to anything in the world, I’d choose the abdominal-muscles (read abs) of a boxer. They are the ones that are arguable the most important part of a world class boxer’s body. Not only do they stabilize the body and keep it in perfect vigor, they also provide important defense against the opponents punches. Similarly Scholesy has been providing the stability, speed and agility that the team needs in every game. And as unselfishly as always, he lets the end result be fated upon by the strikers giving them a chance to bash the defensive pansies. So, for his irreplaceable contributions, brilliant character and intelligence to match, I choose him as the Player of the Month. (Hands the trophy to Mr. Scholes and shakes his hand)
I’d also like to give a shout out to Patrice Evra for the rock solid defense he has provided us especially during an inconsistent stand we’ve witnessed from Vidic and Co. A shout out also goes to Wayne Rooney for carrying us through, and showing us the strong character in him. Like always he scored against Arsenal and made another memorable comeback. The only reason he is third in my list for the month is due to his inconsistency of late. I just hope he does not go on another dry run. I want him to give Ronaldo a run for the money and score as many goals.
So thank you for reading and if anyone wants to bash my head then I’ll be in the Discussion Room
Lets Yell and Sing and Dance,
He scores goals galore, he scores goals, He scores goals galore, he scores goals,
He scores goals galore, he scores goals,
Paul Scholes, he scores goals
Official RoM Wallpaper
Redom has kindly offered his designing skills to make us our wallpaper for this month. So get it on your desktop
Click here to get to it.
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I hope you enjoyed the ninth edition of The Paper. Any comments about it please leave in the comments thread on this board
Editor: Scott