Bob Piper has been a Labour Councillor for the Abbey
Ward in Sandwell, West Midlands, for 10 years. He is a lifelong supporter of Aston Villa Football Club and a follower of Yorkshire County Cricket Club.
The views expressed here are mine in a personal capacity, not those of the Labour Party, Sandwell MBC, Aston Villa or Yorkshire County Cricket Club. Get it! Mine... just mine!
Although I like football, I detest both Manchester United and Chelsea. So, next Wednesday I'm off out for the evening with Mrs P. I'm more than happy to miss watching these two rich kids of European football - it would be a joke to suggest that they are English teams - slugging it out in Moscow for a 1-0 win for one of them after extra time.
Having said that, it could be quite a boost for his fellow Scot in Downing Street to see former Clydeside shop steward Alex Ferguson holding up the Champions League Trophy on the eve of the Crewe and Nantwich by-election.
There are still some Manchester United supporters left in the north, surely... although all the indications from the opinion polls are it will take more than a recommendation from Alex to pull this one off.
Still, I suspect Alex had not long hung up his boots as a player the last time the Tories won a by-election from Labour, so as even he would admit, you've got to lose one every now and again just to experience a bit of humility. Although, as we all know, Alex doesn't do humility.
The real difficulty I have with Sir Alex Ferguson is that he has completely ignored the issue of the financial persecution of working class fans at Old Trafford at the beginning of this season.
United forced their fans to accept membership of their new compulsory Cup Scheme in an attempt to get more money from thier recently increased capacity. It meant that excisting season ticket holders were now forced to buy tickets the all the Cup games as well as splashing out their hard earned cash on a season ticket or have their season ticket withdrawn.This questionalble business practise was imposed on the fans after they had already sent out comfirmation of season tickets for the 07/08 season.
Many life long fans just couldn't afford the added expense and regretfully were forced to stop going to games.
This was no hardship for the Utd as they had hundreds of new fans to replace them. Business is business to the clubs American owners.
What angered many football fans was a statement by SAF four months later claiming that OT was no a "Theatre of Noise" and the fans needed to pipe up, however, all the fans that knew all the songs, old and new, had been discarded.
Add to that the Gerry Sutcliffe , Minister for Sport , who is a Red, turned his back on direct represention by the official supporter club to invervene. Sadly, Sutcliffe turned the other cheek and stated he had "other issues he wanted to take up with United". Surely Sutcliffe can't be talking about the Lord Stephen's enquiry ?
Although I like football, I detest both Manchester United and Chelsea. So, next Wednesday I'm off out for the evening with Mrs P. I'm more than happy to miss watching these two rich kids of European football - it would be a joke to suggest that they are English teams - slugging it out in Moscow for a 1-0 win for one of them after extra time.
May 18, 2008 9:09 PM | permalink
The real difficulty I have with Sir Alex Ferguson is that he has completely ignored the issue of the financial persecution of working class fans at Old Trafford at the beginning of this season.
United forced their fans to accept membership of their new compulsory Cup Scheme in an attempt to get more money from thier recently increased capacity. It meant that excisting season ticket holders were now forced to buy tickets the all the Cup games as well as splashing out their hard earned cash on a season ticket or have their season ticket withdrawn.This questionalble business practise was imposed on the fans after they had already sent out comfirmation of season tickets for the 07/08 season.
Many life long fans just couldn't afford the added expense and regretfully were forced to stop going to games.
This was no hardship for the Utd as they had hundreds of new fans to replace them. Business is business to the clubs American owners.
What angered many football fans was a statement by SAF four months later claiming that OT was no a "Theatre of Noise" and the fans needed to pipe up, however, all the fans that knew all the songs, old and new, had been discarded.
Add to that the Gerry Sutcliffe , Minister for Sport , who is a Red, turned his back on direct represention by the official supporter club to invervene. Sadly, Sutcliffe turned the other cheek and stated he had "other issues he wanted to take up with United". Surely Sutcliffe can't be talking about the Lord Stephen's enquiry ?
The whole thing stinks to high football heaven.