Post by Scott on Aug 30, 2007 23:32:35 GMT
Welcome to the 15th edition of Republik of Mancunia: The Paper. We’ve started the season slower than we would have hoped, but at least we get to end the month with three points and a blindin goal. We have the Sunderland game coming up, and I better not show up with booze blues, because I just don’t know if I’d be able to keep it together when singing songs for Keane and Solskjaer. I hope it’s a great match, not just for the sentimentally though of course, as we desperately need another win and three points on the board.
We’ve added a new design to the shop, to add to the one we already have, in honour of Ole who retired this week, after 11 years at the club.
Keep checking back though, as more Ole designs will be going up over the next few days.
Quick reminder about our Carlos Tevez competition. All we’re asking is for you to send us a short video of you dancing like Tevez. Don’t be worried about making a fool out of yourself, it’s all in the nature of good fun, and a United > England hoodie is up for grabs for the winner. So stop being lazy, pull your finger out, and get on with it. Click here for more info.
Finally, I’ve sorted out a WordPress account for RoM, meaning that more people can write for the blog. We’re looking for people who are interesting in being given an account so that they can contribute to the blog. This doesn’t mean you’re committing yourself to set contributions, or demands on you, but just offering a chance for people to get their opinions heard. So if you do your daily check of Sky Sports and Football365 (what, I’m not the only who does that right?) and some United related story catches your eye (a rival twat coming out with comments that makes you want to punch them in the mouth can go in to this category), then you can just log in and write an article about it, as long as short as you like. If you’re interested, drop me a PM.
Now let us begin:
Member of the Month
The winner this month is a lad I would consider a friend of mine, and as the staff discussed this month’s MOTM, we couldn’t believe this person had been overlooked so far (and I’m sure he’ll be the first to say he agrees with that lol). He’s a good laugh, says it as it is, and is personally responsible for Lehmann fucking up left, right and centre so far this season. So, I’m sure you’ll all join me in congratulating Supatrice as this month’s winner.
Article
This month’s article is written by ME.
…and Solskjaer Has Won It
Whenever I am introduced to a fellow red, I joke over the amount of time it will take for us to get started talking about 99. We seem to find it impossible to go a night without mentioning that night at the Nou Camp with a United fan we’ve just met. “Where were you?” “Yeh I was still celebrating the first goal when the second one went in, and was confused at the replay too.” We talk of the celebrations, how the match was for the most part pretty naff, how screwed we thought we were when we saw the line up, and exactly what it meant to us. It was the single most amazing evening of our lives. The happiness and emotion we may feel when we pass our driving test, at graduation, on our wedding day, when our child is born etc., may all vary in their degrees of excitement and meaning to us, there are several occasions we may have which we will class “the best day” of our lives…but I can’t see how any event will match the feeling of knowing we were on the brink of winning the European Cup that night. No event will leave me jumping up and down and crying and shouting and losing my mind in quite the way I did that evening.
It is United’s “never say die” attitude that gave us that wonderful day, and it is Ole Gunnar Solskjaer who gave us the goal that made it.
We all have our favourite Ole memories, whether it’s him flooring Rob Lee, scoring the goal that knocked the dippers out of the FA Cup in the last minute back in 99, bagging four goals in the final ten minutes against Forest, the 26 goals he scored in 2001-2002, his brave stance in support of SU against the Glazers, or his general love and loyalty to our club and fans. What is undeniable is the legendary status our Ole holds at the club. He is admired for his professionalism and likeability by most outside of Old Trafford, and he is adored inside Old Trafford.
Solskjaer has spoken out about his time at United, thanking the club and fans for all their support. “I would like to thank the manager, the coaching and medical staff and most of all the supporters, who have supported me through my career,” Solskjaer said. “They have been fantastic and were a real inspiration to me when I was out injured. The support the fans and the staff showed me during that time was the main motivation for me making my comeback. I feel proud to have represented Manchester United for 11 years and have some very special memories.”
Like the greats before him, we will sing his name every week at Old Trafford. We will buy shirts for years to come with Solskjaer 20 on the back. We will miss singing “Ole, Ole, Ole” when he runs on to the pitch. We will miss his goal celebrations with the crowd. There are so many things we’re going to miss about the fella, but fortunately, we won’t have to miss him as much as we might, with him staying on at the club. It’s looking as though he will take on a coaching role and even follow in the footsteps of Sir Bobby with an ambassador for the club.
He will go down in our history books, and stories will be passed down for generations about our baby-faced assassin. You will get to say you remember the days when he played for us, and how he saw out his last season helping us to win back our trophy. So, thank you for it all Ole. 20legend.
Match of the Month
This month’s controversial write up is by Sil
So how do you pick the match of the month from a month that has been anything but satisfying? Do you go for the well played matches you drew, or the dreadfully played match that you just happened to win? Neither. You pick the match where you played good football, but you lost.
I hurt that day we played City. I get over losing to Chelsea. Losing to Arsenal isn’t that big a deal. I HATE losing to Liverpool, but that makes me pissed off more than anything else. Losing to Manchester City in the third match of the league, after drawing two matches that we should have and deserved to win just really hurt. So why would I chose a match that made me feel so down and aching as my match of the month? The answer, as they say, is elementary.
For those of us who grew up as United fans in the nineties, and even for those who had followed United in the hard years that came before, we became spoilt. We were the best team in England for a decade, at times arguably the best team in the world, although I am sure Liverpool fans would argue the lack of European trophies tells a different story. We expected to win the league every single season. We wanted to win the league, and although we never took it for granted when we did win it, we were so incredibly disappointed when we didn’t win it. As the years went by and we were getting towards the middle of the 2000s, we went three years without it. The first season was hard to deal with, the second season was a bit easier to digest when we lost the league to a team that bought it with the money of a dodgy Russian billionaire. By that third season I was hopeful about somehow managing to overcome England’s bad impression of Spain’s Galácticos and snatch the league from them, but I didn’t expect to win it, and so when we didn’t win it I wasn’t too disappointed. Instead I turned my eyes to the next season, as always hoping that we would and thinking that we could win the league. We did. It was the most amazing feeling seeing that trophy back where it belonged, but it didn’t come without cons. When this season started I was back to EXPECTING to win the league. That’s why Manchester City was a blessing in disguise, it made me realise something really important. We might have the best team in England on paper, but it is not a given that we’re going to win the league. We need to go out wanting to win, but we should never expect it, as that would be digging our own grave.
We didn’t have a bad match against Manchester City. They had half a chance and managed to convert it into a goal, we had plenty of chances but couldn’t score. New signing Owen Hargreaves had a brilliant match, seemingly fitting straight into the team, we didn’t make many mistakes as a team, but we just couldn’t score. Carlos Tevez and Luis Nani had several shots at goal, although I admit some attempts were better than others. Nemanja Vidic managed to hit the crossbar with a ball that I was so certain would go in I was half way in mid air celebrating, it didn’t go in though and neither did Paul Scholes’ attempt after the ball bounced off the post. We were in control of the match, and then Geovanni stole the show with a nice enough shot that stole a little bit of a lucky deflection off Vidic. It was never going to be our match after that, however many chances we had or how much possession we had.
That’s how football goes though, we had a rubbish match against Spurs, but managed to get three points, we played well in the first three matches and ended up with two points out of nine. That’s just how football works, and if it was a spell that had happened a few months from now, no one would have given it too much thought or worried as much as some of us did after that match at the City of Manchester stadium.
The transfer window will close within twenty four hours of me writing this, most fans hoping that we will sign a striker before it does. Personally I’m hoping for a last minute miracle securing the signing of Ajax striker Jan Klaas Huntelaar to ease the pain of the retirement of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Even if we don’t I hope that we keep up with what started against Tottenham, and continue to snatch the three points, both when we’re playing like Champions and when playing like a championship side. I hope we can play as well and as beautifully as we did last season for as much as possible. I hope we remain relatively injury free and that those who are injured at the moment will make swift returns. Lastly I hope that the players and fans remember that horrible day when Geovanni won the match for City. We can’t get cocky; we should have no expectations, just ambitions, hope and a hell of a lot of fight. Then maybe, we can keep the trophy where it belongs. And it wouldn’t hurt to show City the meaning of the word pay back when they make the trip to Old Trafford either. Best make that a massive payback.
Manchester United:
Van Der Sar, Brown (O’Shea 73’), Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Giggs, Carrick (Campbell 73’), Hargreaves, Scholes, Nani (Eagles 60’), Tevez.
Unused subs: Kuszczak and Silvestre
Manchester City: K. Schmeichel, Garrido, Richards, Dunne, Corluka, Geovanni (Ball, 74.), Hamann, Johnson, Petrov, Bojinov (Mpenza, 8.), Elano (Bianchi, 63.)
Unused subs: Hart, Onuoha,
RoM.org Gaming Section
This month’s write up is by Rais.n.Hell is the first member to get the ball rolling.
For anyone who loves hard-hitting blood pumping action games, BioShock is the game that will suck your blood through your nose and splash it on your face. Without even playing the game, its setting itself can send a shiver down even a cold-blooded spine. With a very deep and intriguing story line, the game play absorbs every piece of your concentration and reflexes. Adding some really new dimensions to the elements of first-person shooter war games, the game still keeps in some common variables that make the game understandable and enjoyable. Newest additions in the game include bio-genetic mutation and self-modification with open-choice freedom to interact with the world as you choose, and first-person action that requires you to think every time you pull the trigger.
The game has won alot of pre-release awards from various gaming sites such as the "Game of the Show" award at E3 2006 from IGN, Gamespot and Gamespy, including GameTrailers's Trailer of the Year award.
In my opinion, this is possibly Irrational’s (also known as 2K Boston/2K Australia) best game to date and probably the only one that might actually buy instead of downloading. The game is set in the under-sea city of Rapture, which was constructed for an idealistic society for select group of scientists, artists and industrialist. However, the present seen now lacks the same idealism that was its founding principle and the city now rots with corpses. At every turn you find powerful guardians that roam the street and genetically mutated “citizens” of the underwater world attacking you at every turn. The game forces you to choose how it evolves ahead. Any involved player can choose over a hundred different ways to play the game and finish it.
Every game has its flaws and you have some here too. Each weapon has three types of ammunition, each with a different effect. You also have an array of weapons to choose from, it is not like other games where you have just a limited supply of Semi-autos and AKs or grenade launchers to attack. You also get the ability to genetically change your character and provide it with “magical” attacks and shield from injury. However, this buffet of choices tends to act as restraints when you are in the middle of a battle or even worse, a war.
The characters too have their own way to react to your choices that affect them. For example, the Little Sisters are jubilant when you decide to save them from their misery. You see their expression of thankfulness for your actions or the utter silence and acceptable of their fate, when you decide to harvest them instead.
Your enemies are not nincompoops like they are shown in various other games. These intelligent beings are equipped with a mind of their own and defense mechanisms that leave your frustrated and bewildered. An enemy on fire will try to extinguish itself and one under fire will take evasive action. Injured ones will also try to heal themselves and take revenge on you. Ohh, and don’t think shooting in their vicinity will cause them to fall dead; you gotta hit them on their body. So make sure your shooting skills are well oiled. There are a few surprises in the game that might revive your love for Mortal Kombat! Hint: Did you ever freeze your opponent before smashing him to bits?!
It is probably one of the few games that challenges the industry to not force feed you the tried and tested formulae of first shooter games. It demands more from the player and from the developers to up the ante and make the games far more realistic and deliver the 360 degree experience we all yearn for!! It is a much play for every single-player shooter lover!
My game rating: 9.8/10
Available for: Xbox 360 and PC
WEBSITE Review
Simple website, tons of fun...a must for those bored souls that cant find much to do. FreeOnlineGames.com! Countless number of games, freely available for your benefit! Download them if you want, or play them online. There is a game for all kinds of players! Rock it off fellas!! You will love the site and get addicted to it at the same time!!
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I hope you enjoyed the fifteenth edition of The Paper. Any comments about it please leave in the comments thread on this board
Editor: Scott
