Post by Scott on Aug 31, 2006 0:06:27 GMT
Welcome to the 4th edition of Republik of Mancunia: The Paper. Again, another busy month in terms of activity and new members joining. Almost 100 again, so well done everyone.
We just keep growing, so thanks, as ever, to all the regulars and new signees
Just a reminder about the RoM Fantasy League, found here, which you can join if you haven't already. Also, information on joining the Predictions League can be found here.
Also, if you haven't taken a look already, check out the RepublikOfMancunia.org merchandise.The UK based site can be found here, (and I believe that ships to countries other than the UK), and for all you American and Candadian shoppers, go here. The cheapest shirts are £6.90/$8.90, and I remind you, I'm not making any money from this. More designs can't be added until we've made 10 sales, so for the time being, you have a choice between "United>England", "Gary Neville Is A Red" and "Stretford End". Redom is our first happy customer, and you can click here to see a picture of his hoodie.
Again, as always, The Paper is always looking for more contributors. Whoever wants to be involved in writing reviews for matches, players, as well as articles, to get in touch with me. If you have any ideas of your own about something you would like to contribute, give me a shout. 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.
Now let us begin:
Member of the Month
Another active month, so more difficulties choosing who we consider worthy of the Member of the Month award. Last month's was particularly tight, and this member missed out just by the skin of their teeth.
So it brings me great pleasure to announce that this month’s winner is Red Yank. The 3rd most active member on the board, who always seems to be around contributing informative posts, as well as being good for a laugh too. So congratulations Jorge.
Interview
Time for the member interview. One of, if not our most controversial member of the forum so far, who managed to reach a record reputation of -25, has been chosen for this month's interview. Want to know a little bit more about Tom? Well read on.
Real name: Thomas Matthews
Where are you from: Manchester
Who is your biggest inspiration: Wife and son
What would you like to be better at: I would like to be better educated so I could move on from my present position at work, or to put it another way, get a rise.
If you could ask anyone, living or dead, a question, who and what would it be? Nothing too deep. After the summer Utd have had I would love to ask Fergie why we still have not sorted the midfield out.
What is your all time favourite film? I have a few. The Godfather, True Romance, but I will go with Midnight Cowboy.
If you won the lottery, how would you spend it? A box at OT, a new home, holiday home, pack work in. Pretty boring really.
One job in the world, what would it be? Utds manager, I'd sort the midfield out.
What’s your biggest ambition in life? Stay alive as long as possible, see my family happy.
What’s your greatest ever achievement? Being married 23 yrs and seeing my son grow up.
What’s your biggest regret? Wasting my younger years on the beer, I should of seen more of the world.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years time? I would love to live abroad.
Who do you hate most: City/Liverpool/Leeds/Arsenal/Other
Without a doubt Liverpool.
How do you feel about being dubbed "the most controversial member" on the forum? At first i couldnt believe how serious people took what I said, as most of it was a bit of fun. Its a forum and I think everyones entitled to their views. I must admit I have had a few laughs when the bait has been took.
Realistic signing you think Fergie should have made this summer, but didnt? Gattuso/ Hargreaves/Diarra any quality defensive midfielder
Whats the best game you've ever been too? Its got to be the final in Barcelona, not just for the game but for the week I was over there it was unforgettable.
Who's your favourite member on the forum? Anyone who agrees with me.
Anything else you want to tell us? No matter my criticisms of Utd and fergie over the last couple of seasons, he is the greatest manager ever, I hope he gets his focus back on the job and Utd return back to the top, at home and in Europe.
Article
This month’s article is written by Adz, (McCilroy), writing on a topic that keeps rearing it's ugly head for United fans.
So Manchester United are yet again mistreated by the farce that is the FA.
Wayne Rooney and Paul Scholes were given three match bans that would rule them out of the league ties versus Charlton, Watford and Tottenham. A three match ban for red cards which had taken place in a pre-season “tournament” which had no bearing on the coming season until the FA decided to hit the players with the bans and in the process “shooting their own” as Gary Neville said.
What is it the FA do not like about Manchester United? We can sort of understand how we are treated by the England fans and the media but it is hard to see why the English FA treats United so badly.
We have provided the FA with some key players over the years, our stadium while their shit hole was being built and are one of a few teams to produce ENGLISH talent. So why is it that Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea are treated with less force by the FA?
In 2003-04, Rio Ferdinand had missed a drugs test. Although he returned whilst the testers were packing up and had asked to have it taken and later taken thorough tests which proved he had taken no drugs, he was hit with an eight month ban and a £50,000 fine. A ban which seemingly knocked United off the top of the table and had meant the player would miss the European Championships in Portugal.
So we look at the precedent the FA had set themselves:
- A Manchester City player, I don't know the name, had previously missed a drugs test and escaped serious punishment and was given a £2,000 fine.
- Several seasons earlier, Ipswich Town footballer Adam Tanner missed a drugs test and was banned for three months.
- Chris Armstrong in 1995 was the first Premiership footballer to FAIL a drugs test yet he returned to the game after a month.
Is that fair on United? Is that following their own precedence? Why did they punish Rio Ferdinand so harshly compared to others?
Roll on to 2006, Wayne Rooney & Paul Scholes are sent off in the Amsterdam Tournament. The FA, despite telling Sir Alex that his players would escape bans, hit the players with three match bans each after receiving reports from the fame-hungry referee.
From Cantona to Keane, Ferdinand to Neville to Rooney & Scholes why are Manchester United harshly treated?
Do the FA have a vendetta with United? It’s hard to say ‘No’.
But while the FA and the media continue to right off United’s chances through actions and words respectively and the England fans continue to blame Ronaldo for their sides shit World Cup performances you can bet your bottom dollar that Fergie and his boys will be doing anything in their grasps to get our trophy back and prove their doubters wrong.
Match of the Month
This month’s write up is by Miss United
So the Premiership is back, and damn it’s been sorely missed. It is great to have it all back; the players, the goals, the rivalry, the hunt for glory, and even the, in most cases, poor commentating. Life just isn’t the same without waking up on a weekend knowing that you will get to see the boys running out on the pitch proudly wearing the red colour, pleasing the fans the best they can. However, no one expected quite the season opener that we were treated to at Old Trafford, a goals galore that would shock every single critic, many of who were expecting United to draw at best.
Many had said that United would struggle to score the goals after the departure of Ruud Van Nistelrooy, however twenty minutes into, what I think has been, the match of the month, United had proved them wrong. Four times. Louis Saha started the goals galore, with a powerful header off a Ryan Giggs cross after 7 minutes. The man, who since joining United in January of 2004 has been troubled by injuries, lit the hope for many fans that this would not only be his year, but OUR year.
By the time the clock hit 20 minutes, United were four nil up. A pass into the box from Saha, in the 14th minute, lead to an own goal scored by Ian Pearce, who at the time was under pressure from Saha’s striker partner in crime, Mr Wayne Rooney. Two minutes later Rooney himself hit the back of the net after Fulham keeper Ante Niemi was forced to hit a volley from Saha back into the box. As the clock was nearing 19 minutes a cross from Rooney towards the back post hit the top of the net as Ronaldo scored United’s fourth.
Before the end of the first half, Fulham got a consolation goal as Helguson’s shot hit Rio and threw off Van Der Sar. Although United could have scored several more goals, especially in the first half, the fifth and final goal came in the 64th minute. Although Rooney scored the goal itself, he has to share the credit with both Brown and Ronaldo, who with beautiful passing between them created the chance for Rooney.
The match will also be remembered by the United fans for a horrible tackle on Ryan Giggs by Michael Brown. The referee felt it enough to only book Brown in a tackle that could have easily put an end to Giggs’ career, and he didn’t hesitate to book the victim in it all moments later when he happened to tackle Brown. The referee ignored the fact that Brown as he was down kicked out after Giggs, which should have been a second yellow for him, making it two occasions on which the referee failed to send off the former City man.
At the end of the day, an incredible performance by Manchester United against a Fulham team who are set to struggle in this year’s league.
This WILL be our year.
Manchester United:
Van der Sar, Neville (Silvestre 46’), Ferdinand, Brown, Evra, Ronaldo, O’shea, Scholes, Giggs (Park 60), Rooney, Saha (Solskjaer 61’)
Unused subs: Kuszczak, Fletcher
Fulham
Niemi, Rosenior, Christanval, Pearce, Queudrue, Brown (Radzinski 61’), Diop, Bullard, Boa Morte, John (McBride 64’), Helguson
Unused subs: Crossley, Volz, Bocanegra
Player of the Month
This month’s write up is by MoxDevil
Ryan Giggs
Some will perhaps dispute my choice but for me it boiled down to a decision between either the Welsh Wizard or the maturing Ronaldo, as both put in three quality performances this month, but I feel that Giggsy just edged it over Ronaldo; showing a consistency of performance and leading by example in all three of the games.
At 32 and not far short of his 33rd birthday some may have thought that Ryan would be playing only a bit-part in this year’s campaign, but if his pre-season and more importantly his three performances in August are anything to judge by, the likes of Park and Richardson and any other pretender to his left wing throne have another year of playing second fiddle to him. I for one cannot help but think ‘Long may it continue’.
Despite his wisening, one shouldn’t really speak of a ‘revival of youth’ in the energy of his performances so far, as we’ve bared witness to him consistently taking on the opposition’s fullbacks and making them look like statues (and now he has a final product) and when necessary, dashing back into his own half to make a tackle on the opposition’s winger, since he first broke into the United team back in 1991.
Of his general performance and contribution: against Fulham on the opening day, whilst he was overshadowed by the great performances of Rooney and Ronaldo he was involved in most of our best team play- including linking up with Saha for the opener. I’d even praise him for his retribution foul on Brown only a minute after the Fulham player had tried his best to do our rivals a favour by attempting to break Giggs’ legs. He was unlucky not to have scored against Charlton in our second game; striking the woodwork with a sublime free kick and later testing Carson with a right-footed shot. In two of the games he was playing in a support-forward position instead of on the wing because of a certain organisation’s continuing persecution of our great club, despite this he put in a masterful performance in our 3-0 win. In the third game against Watford he put in a man of the match performance and scored what turned out to be the winning goal in a hard fought win. Giggs was involved in both our goals- feeding Saha who in turn fed Silvestre for the opener and then scoring when he pounced on a poor back pass to round the keeper and calmly score with his weaker right foot.
So with the absence of our captain Red Nev, Giggs took on the responsibility of the captain’s armband in two of the games and led the team by example to three victories over admittedly not the sternest of opposition we are likely to meet this season, but three games every United fan knew that we had to win and gladly in a manner that suggests a possible return to us seriously competing for the major honours this season.
Deano’s Gaming - Website and Movie Section
PlayStation 3
On December the 3rd 1994, history gave birth to a fifth generation games console, the SONY PLAYSTATION. Hitting the shelves in North America, 1st September 1995, then Europe, 29th September 1995 the PLAYSTATION along with launch titles such as Twisted Metal, Wipeout and Ridge Racer was sought after by millions.
Selling over 102 million units world wide since its release, and having the longest production run in videogame history, on March 23rd, 2006, Sony finally announced the cease of the PLAYSTATION.
On March the 4th, 2000, along came the successor to the PlayStation, the PLAYSTATION2. Available on October 26th 2000, in North American, November 24th 2000, in Europe and November 30th 2000 in New Zealand the PLAYSTATION 2 became the fastest selling gaming console in history, to this date selling 106.23 million units worldwide.
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Japan, November the 11th, 2006, worldwide, November the 17th 2006, will see the release of the PLAYSTATION3, the ultimate gaming console. Having two different configurations, the ‘’premium’’ version will come with an internal 60GB hard drive, WI-FI connectivity, HDMI output and multiple flash memory card readers, along with other features, priced at around £420. The second configuration, the '’basic’’ version will have a 20GB internal hard drive but will not feature such things as WI-FI, HDMI, or a memory card reader, priced at around £340.
Many people are outraged even before the machine has even been released, stating the price is too much, for a gaming console. Other people disagree. I am with the majority who agree it ISN’T too much. The PlayStation3 comes with a Blu-ray drive, blu-ray discs are a next generation optical disc format, designed for high-density storage of high definition video and date, a blu-ray drive alone would set you back around £500. So is £420 for a gaming console really that bad? The PlayStation3’s CPU, is the ballyhooed ‘’cell’’ processor, a MEGA 3.2GHz chip that Sony developed with the help from IBM and Toshiba. The chip’s seven synergistic processing elements will work in parallel to churn out a staggering 218 billion floating point operations per second, capable of running up to 10 times faster than current PC chips and 4 times faster than the worlds most powerful supercomputer. The PlayStation3 is not a toy, it’s a machine.
Not only does the Playstation3 boost such superior components, it also has backwards capability, enabling you to play your PlayStation and Playstation2 games on it, straight out of the box. If that isn’t enough for you, Sony has indicated that its online service will be free for online competition, unlike Microsoft’s which requires a £40 per year fee for Gold membership to play games head to head.
It that doesn’t wet your appetite, then this will.
Motor Storm
Killzone
Brothers in Arms
Tekken
Assassin’s Creed
Formula One 06
Smackdown vs Raw
Eight Days
Virtua Fighter 5
Resident Evil 5
Along with, Call of Duty3, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six, Alone in the Dark, Devil May Cry 4, Need for Speed Carbon, Unreal Tournament 2007 and many more.
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I didn’t think about anybody apart from myself on the release of the Playstation2. I calmly made my way past the scuffle that broke out at the entrance to Game, danced my way effortlessly towards the counter and was greeted by a man named Neil, who clearly hadn’t brushed his teeth that morning because the air filled with a mixture of toast and orange juice as he spoke aloud ‘’Can I help you’’…. I stuttered the words ‘’ A Playstation2 please ‘’… his eyes lit up … ‘’Certainly Sir’’… but wait I wasn’t satisfied with the one, my mouth begin to go dry … ‘’ Make that two please ‘’… again his eyes lit up, but this time it was as if he had lost his virginity all over again, right there in front of me, he just couldn’t handle it. I heard the mumbling behind me get louder, somebody said aloud ‘’ Two, can’t you have one ‘’ ‘’ that means someone is going to miss out ‘’… but did I care, not at all. By that time my consoles were packed, I turned around with the biggest smile on my face and not saying a word I walked straight out of the shop.
And would I do it again on the release of the PlayStation3… You can bet your bottom dollar I will.
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I hope you enjoyed the fourth edition of The Paper. Any comments about it please leave in the comments thread on this board
Editor: Scott
