www.red11.org DAILY NEWS
Date: Date: Wed Sep 23 GMT+00:00 1998
Mail: barry@www.red11.org
This Issue:
1. WEEKLY STATMAIL*** ISSUE 7: 21st Sept 1998
2. REDitorial: "Were we City in disguise?" & "Undermining Murdoch"
3. Embarrassment in Highbury by "Our Salford Lass"
4. Reflections on the Arsenal game
5. STAPLETON'S WARNING TO HOT-HEADED BECKHAM
6. Murdoch United article from The Economist weekly, dated 18 September 1998
7. United on TV in the US
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Daily RED Trivia Wed 23rd September:
1933: United beat Burnley 5-2 at Old Trafford with goals from Neil Dewar 4
and James Brown. The Division 2 game was watched by 18,411. Team was: Hillam,
Jones, Silcock, Vose, McMillen, Manley, Brown, Frame, Dewar, Hine, Stewart.
1989: Danny Wallace made his United debut at Manchester City. Wallace, a pacy
winger cost £1.3 Million from Southampton. He won an FA Cup Winners medal in
1990, and played 70 times between 1989-92, scoring 11 goals. He scored in his only
England appearance in 1986, and joined Birmingham City in October 1993.
********************************
Next 3 games:
Result/Fixture Index:
http://www.red11.org/mufc/fix9899z.htm
Thu 24/9 Liverpool (H) PL
Wed 30/9 Bayern M (A) CL
Sat 3/10 Southampton (A) PL
UNITED Stats v Liverpool are here:
http://www.red11.org/mufc/stats/vsliverpool.htm Url
http://www.red11.org/mufc/stats/vsliverpool.xls Excel File
*** PL TEAM RESULTS - MANCHESTER UNITED - AS AT 12/09/98 ***
Date Opposition Score Pos. Attend.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
15/08/98 Leicester City Home D 2-2 11 55,052
22/08/98 West Ham United Away D 0-0 11 26,039
09/09/98 Charlton Athletic Home W 4-1 9 55,147
12/09/98 Coventry City Home W 2-0 5 55,193
20/09/98 Arsenal Away L 0-3 10 38,142
Last 2 weeks Survey RESULT
Are you For or Against the proposed sale of Manchester United to BSkyB?
For: 97 24%
Against: 314 76%
Total Votes: 411
Question closed: 20:00 EST 09/20/98
Barry comment: As expected there is an overwhelming "NO" to the sale of Manchester United to RM.
76% voted against that's over 300 whilst only 97 voted for.
Remember this is an international vote so maybe the "yes" votes
are people around the world who cannot see "THE REDS"?
*** FIXTURES ON 24/09/98 ***
Manchester United v Liverpool
*** FIXTURES ON 26/09/98 ***
Aston Villa v Derby County
Charlton Athletic v Coventry City
Chelsea v Middlesbrough
Everton v Blackburn Rovers
Newcastle United v Nottingham Forest
Sheffield Wednesday v Arsenal
Tottenham Hotspur v Leeds United
++++++=========+++++++========+++++++++========++++++++
"Are you Against the BSkyB takeover? Please Read! Click on image!"
Subject: ***WEEKLY STATMAIL*** ISSUE 7: 21st Sept 1998
*** RESULTS AND ATTENDANCES ON 20/09/98 ***
Arsenal 3-0 Manchester United 38,142
*** RESULTS AND ATTENDANCES ON 19/09/98 ***
Coventry City 1-5 Newcastle United 22,656
Derby County 2-0 Leicester City 26,738
Leeds United 0-0 Aston Villa 33,446
Liverpool 3-3 Charlton Athletic 44,526
Middlesbrough 2-2 Everton 34,563
Nottingham Forest 0-0 West Ham United 26,463
Southampton 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur 15,204
Wimbledon 2-1 Sheffield Wednesday 13,163
*** RESULTS AND ATTENDANCES ON 21/09/98 ***
Blackburn Rovers 3-4 Chelsea 23,113
*** CONDENSED LEAGUE TABLE AS AT 21/09/98 ***
Pos Team P W D L F A GD Pts
---------------------------------------------------------
1 Aston Villa 6 4 2 0 7 1 6 14
2 Derby County 6 3 3 0 6 2 4 12
3 Liverpool 6 3 2 1 12 7 5 11
4 Wimbledon 6 3 2 1 10 8 2 11
5 Arsenal 6 2 4 0 6 2 4 10
6 Leeds United 6 2 4 0 5 1 4 10
7 Middlesbrough 6 2 3 1 8 6 2 9
8 West Ham United 6 2 3 1 6 5 1 9
9 Newcastle United 6 2 2 2 11 7 4 8
10 Manchester United 5 2 2 1 8 6 2 8
11 Chelsea 5 2 2 1 8 7 1 8
12 Nottingham Forest 6 2 1 3 5 7 -2 7
13 Tottenham Hotspur 6 2 1 3 5 11 -6 7
14 Sheffield Wednesday 6 2 0 4 7 5 2 6
15 Charlton Athletic 6 1 3 2 10 9 1 6
16 Everton 6 1 3 2 4 5 -1 6
17 Leicester City 6 1 2 3 5 7 -2 5
18 Blackburn Rovers 6 1 1 4 5 10 -5 4
19 Coventry City 6 1 1 4 3 11 -8 4
20 Southampton 6 0 1 5 3 17 -14 1
*** TEAM RESULTS - MANCHESTER UNITED - AS AT 20/09/98 ***
Date Opposition Score Pos. Attend.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
15/08/98 Leicester City Home D 2-2 11 55,052
22/08/98 West Ham United Away D 0-0 11 26,039
09/09/98 Charlton Athletic Home W 4-1 9 55,147
12/09/98 Coventry City Home W 2-0 5 55,193
20/09/98 Arsenal Away L 0-3 10 38,142
*** TEAM RESULTS SUMMARY - MANCHESTER UNITED - AS AT 20/09/98 ***
P Won Drawn Lost For Against Points
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Home 3 2 (67%) 1 (33%) 0 (0%) 8 (2.7) 3 (1.0) 7 (2.3)
Away 2 0 (0%) 1 (50%) 1 (50%) 0 (0.0) 3 (1.5) 1 (0.5)
Total 5 2 (40%) 2 (40%) 1 (20%) 8 (1.6) 6 (1.2) 8 (1.6)
Averages per game in (brackets)
League position: 10th
Form position: 5th (Index: 68%)
Predicted position: 5th
(The higher the form index, the higher the average
league position of the recent opposition)
*** TEAM STATISTICS - MANCHESTER UNITED - AS AT 20/09/98 ***
AVERAGE HOME ATTENDANCE: 55,131
HIGHEST HOME ATTENDANCE:
12/09/98 - Coventry City (55,193)
LOWEST HOME ATTENDANCE:
15/08/98 - Leicester City (55,052)
BEST WIN:
09/09/98 - Charlton Athletic (4-1)
HEAVIEST DEFEAT:
20/09/98 - Arsenal (0-3)
Produced by:
E-mail: statmail@iname.com
ICQ UIN: 4358182
Homepage: http://www.graphite.demon.co.uk/
MUFC Hon. Executive CP Cheah
Webmasters: Barry Leeming & Bill McArthur
Graphics: Sam Hayward Stats: Paul Hinson
Site Design Diana Low
Webmaster Mail: barry@www.red11.org
Url: http://www.red11.org
World of Manchester United Football Club.
"Are you Against the BSkyB takeover? Please Read! Click on image!"
http://www.red11.org/mufc/devilsadvocate/index.htm
Published: Sept 20 98
"Were we City in disguise?" & "Undermining Murdoch"
Well, do we start worrying yet?
For the second time this year United have been turned over by Arsenal to the tune of 3-0, and
I have to say the team I watched lose to the Gunners this weekend bears little resemblance to
the Manchester United I have been used to seeing for the past 5 years or so.
There was so little confidence in this United performance. They looked like 11 men, later
reduced to ten-but more of that later- who had been introduced to each other during the coin
toss. There was no fluidity in that performance, a perceptible lack of understanding among the
players.
I must admit to considerable confusion and not a little disbelief at Alex Ferguson’s starting 11, and even greater perplexity at his failure to introduce others into the game.
I know when Fergie bought Jesper Blomqvist he talked about playing him on the left, thus
freeing Ryan Giggs to a more central role. But I have to question the decision to experiment
with the strategy against Arsenal at Highbury. I don’t believe this was the time or team or place for the switch.
With the combination of Yorke and Solksjaer having proved so effective already this season,
why break it up against the team who took our title away last year? And when it became
obvious the formation was not working, why were substitutions, yes plural, not made? As the
first half ended with United having just gone two goals down, I felt the right move would have
been to have Giggs revert to the left wing at the expense of Blomqvist, bringing on Ole to link
up with Yorke, and replacing Nicky Butt with Paul Scholes. Each of those two can conjure a
goal out of nothing, and if there was to be any way back for United they should have started
the second half.
Any chance of a revival died when Nicky Butt was sent off, wrongly I feel, by referee Graham
Barber. The ref indicated the red card was shown for a tackle from behind, but I don’t believe
that was correct. It was more of a late tackle from the side, and a yellow card would have
been the right decision. I hope the FA decides Butt has been punished enough and doesn’t
impose a further suspension.
By the time Butt went off, United could, and should have been down to ten men anyway. I
have defended David Beckham against all those who claim he ruined England’s World Cup
chances by his sending off against Argentina. In fact my very first "Devils Advocate" was
devoted to the young man’s defense. But had the referee or his assistant seen what Beckham
did to Stephen Hughes and the United man been dispatched to an early bath he would have
got what he deserved. We saw both sides of Beckham’s game against Arsenal. Those great
free kicks which give goalkeepers fits, and that ugly side which prompts him to lash out in
anger. In my view Beckham deliberately stamped on Hughes’ upper leg after the Arsenal
player went down under a challenge by Roy Keane.
There is no excusing such an action and I am wondering if Beckham is ever going to learn to
control that part of his nature. I am aware Becks took an elbow to the head a short time
earlier, but the referee had booked Hughes, United had been given the free kick, and that is
where it should have ended.
It is going to be interesting to see what changes are made for the game against Liverpool. (If
you are reading this toward the end of the week please note this was written the evening of
Sunday 20th September.)
REFUSING RUPERT.
Last week I wrote of my opposition to the proposed sale of the club to Rupert Murdoch and
what I believe to be the difference between Martin Edward’s attitude toward Manchester
United F.C and the feelings of those who have supported the club all of their lives. To
Edwards it is, first and foremost, a business, and the aim of any businessman is to make a
profit. Those who support the club do so for life, and no amount of money can change their
allegiance. While I must admit to having had mixed feelings when I first heard about the Sky
takeover, I am now convinced it must not happen.
By far the best comment I have heard on the current chairman’s role in all of this was from
Andy Walsh, the head of the Independent Manchester United Supporters Association. I am
sure most of you have already heard it, but for the few who might not have Walsh said "Martin
Edwards knows the price for everything but the value of nothing".
That is it in a nutshell. I am not going to repeat all I said at the end of last week’s column. Only that Edwards doesn’t understand or appreciate how the "common" United fan feels about the
club. Rich kids never do appreciate their toys as much as poorer kids do.
If you haven’t read the manifesto which came out of the meeting sponsored by Andy Walsh’s
group last week, you should. It’s at a number of sites on the net and encapsulates the feelings
of all true Reds fans. I am going to reproduce some of it here. I haven’t asked permission from
IMUSA yet and apologize for not doing so. Yet I am sure they won’t mind if it helps get the
word out to any supporter who hasn’t yet heard what United fans can do to show their
displeasure with the sale of the club to the Murdoch business empire.
The following is the introduction to the fans manifesto.
Many supporters think the future of Manchester United is destined to be in the hands of one
man - Rupert Murdoch. IT IS NOT. This club has been built on the loyalty of its supporters,
and the efforts of Matt Busby, Alex Ferguson and great players past and present, But since the
launch of the plc we have seen our club taken further and further away from its loyal support.
This latest fiasco is a step too far. Decisions affecting the future of Manchester United will be
taken on the other side of the world. Our club will no longer be independent. We will be
owned and manipulated to further the business interests of the Murdoch empire. So when Alex
Ferguson says: "We are United to the core", remember so are we and so are you. Show your
support for the club as we know it and help to stop this takeover before it makes us into the
club we don't know.
I couldn’t agree more. Too many clubs these days are in the hands of "businessmen" who have
no feel or regard for the rich traditions and proud histories of their clubs. Take a look at White Hart Lane and Goodison Park if you need proof of what happens in such cases.
If you agree with IMUSA then take note of this, the final paragraph of the manifesto:
THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE. The heart has been ripped out of this football club in recent
years, but its soul still exists within the supporters. We will never give in to the sale of our club to a man whose only interest is the money, manipulation and the power it can bring him. There is an alternative to Rupert Murdoch. This campaign requires money. Please send donations, however small to: National Westminster Bank Stretford Branch, 20a King Street, Stretford, Manchester M32 8AE. Account no. 32055595, sort code 01 08 52.
Contact the Independent Manchester United Supporters Association (IMUSA) PO Box
69,Stretford, Manchester M32 0UZ.
Shareholders United Against Murdoch (SUAM) - organizer Michael Crick - would welcome
help from any United shareholders. SUAM can be contacted at1 Sumburgh Road, London
SW12 8AJ. Tel: 0171223 5847.
E-mail: protest@stopmurdoch.com
I would like to add a couple of suggestions. As I said early on in this column businessmen do
what they do for the profit. Money is all they understand. So let’s hit them in the only place
they have any feeling. The wallet. Don’t buy meat from Martin Edwards company. Don’t buy
"The Times" or "The Sun" or any other Murdoch owned newspaper. Cancel your SKY
subscription until the Murdoch takeover bid is withdrawn or rejected by the board. I don’t
know who most of the board members are or to what they owe their fat bank accounts. If
anybody does, let me know. I’ll print their business names and we can boycott them too. If
you truly love this club sacrifice your satellite channels and your Page 3 pin-up for a little while.
We have to let this business bully know he isn’t welcome at Old Trafford, and we will do
whatever we can to stop him from making it his own. This club has almost gone under a couple
of times since it’s birth as Newton Heath and both times people who truly cared saved it. The
better part of this team died on an icy runway 40 years ago, and the team was rebuilt by a man
who, instead of giving up, fought back from his own plane crash injuries, to lead the club to
European Cup greatness.
Rupert Murdoch traded his national heritage for an American broadcasting license. To allow
such a man to walk the same hallways once trod by Matt Busby would be a travesty, an insult
to Sir Matt, and all those who played for him, and loved him. It can not be allowed to happen.
*****************************************************************
Comments/Email to: The RED-Devils_Advocate
"Are you Against the BSkyB takeover? Please Read! Click on image!"
"Are you Against the BSkyB takeover? Please Read! Click on image!"
Subject: Reflections on the Arsenal game
In the 20 plus years that I have been watching United regularly,I'm
struggling to think of a more inept performance.
I remember seeing us lose 6-0 against Bobby Robson's excellent Ipswich
team in 1981 or 1982 I think,and 5-0 at Goodison Park against Everton in
1985 during their championship winning period in the mid-eighties,but
the difference on both of these occasions was that we didn't have
particularly good teams then.
In more recent times,I saw us lose 5-0 against the barcodes in a crazy
game that we actually played well in,so I won't include that result in
the context of a poor performance.
What concerned me more than anything yesterday was that it was obvious
in the first 20 minutes that we were being outplayed tactically (in fact
I had concerns as soon as I saw the starting line up).Yorke was getting
absolutely no service,Giggs continually lost the ball and Blomquist
couldn't beat anybody to save his life.Our game desperately called for
Giggs to be out wide putting the ball across for two strikers to run on
to,rather than him being picked off in the middle every single time by
the Arsenal centrebacks.
I was convinced that Fergie would change things around at half-time,but
he did absolutely nothing.In fact,I don't even remember seeing him or
Kidd on the touch line shouting out any form of instructions.It's almost
as if Fergie had given up on the game as soon as we went one down.Mick
had this theory after the match that it was some sort of protest by
Fergie for all of the off-pitch stuff going on at the moment.I thought
this was a bit of an extreme view at the time,but I'm not too sure
now....What I do know is that if we don't get this sorted out before
Thursday, we are in for a major arse-kicking from the scousers,and that
WILL NOT do.
By the way,am I the only one to wonder why we've actually bought Yorke ?
So far he has scored 3 goals against 2 inferior teams,which is what we
could have expected Cole to do as well.It appears to me that all we have
done is spend 12 million to replace one striker with another,rather than
them forming a potentially lethal partnership.
>I was also disgusted by the policing at the game. United fans were getting
>dragged out throughout the game for the heinous crime of standing up yet to
>our right the Arsenal fans were standing continually yet were allowed to get
>away with it.
Like most police forces at football matches around the country,they are
great at causing ill-feeling and trouble by being complete arseholes
when there is absolutely no need for it,and when they are needed they
are absolute masters at either getting their too late to deal with the
problem or else they completely over-react.When we were walking back to
the car yesterday,it started to kick off on the street leading to where
the United coaches were parked.Instead of having a physical police
presence on the road leading up to the coaches,there were instead about
30 police sat in 2 transit vans facing away in the opposite direction
from the coaches,ie,not even looking towards where the United fans were
walking to.
Consequently, when it started to go off,the stupid bastards couldn't
even see,let alone hear it,even though they were only 30 feet away at
the time.It actually took members of the public to go to the police vans
to point out what was going on !! And we pay our taxes to fund this
bunch of amateurs !!
On a sadder note,I bumped into a lad that I know quite well in the
ground,who I was drinking with for a while when in Warsaw a couple of
weeks back.I was also drinking with a mate of his that I know quite
well,a good lad who's got his head screwed on OK and would never let
himself or United down when on foreign travels.Unfortunately my
suspicions that he was one of the 11 reds arrested the night before the
game were confirmed.His crime was to be in a bar quietly drinking with
some other reds when a gang of Polish hooligans burst in smashing
windows,glasses and chairs.His mistake was to keep well away from the
trouble and not to leave the pub after all of the commotion had
ended.When the police came,he thought that it was to ensure the safety
of those who were innocently caught up in it.Instead he was arrested,
thrown into jail for two nights thus missing the game,and fined 180
pounds.
Whoever said that the police are there to serve and protect ?
--
Richard
"Are you Against the BSkyB takeover? Please Read! Click on image!"
Tuesday 22 September 1998
Subject: STAPLETON'S WARNING TO HOT-HEADED BECKHAM
David Beckham must learn to control his temper if he wants to become a
truly great player, according to former United star Frank Stapleton.
The Manchester United midfielder revealed the dark side to his
character once again at Highbury when he was fortunate not to be sent off
for stamping on Arsenal midfielder Stephen Hughes.
Beckham had decided to exact his own revenge, just like he did on
Argentina's Diego Simeone when he was red-carded in the World Cup, after
Hughes was booked for hitting him in the face with his elbow
. The United star escaped without even a yellow card, but his behaviour
will not have impressed watching England coach Glenn Hoddle, who hoped
he had tamed the petulant side to his character.
Former United and Arsenal striker Stapleton believes Beckham must curb
his hot-headed instincts.
"He just has to realise that he is going to be a target for the opposing
fans and players, who when they play against him want to prove they are
better than him," he said. "That's what happens with great players and they have to overcome
these things. "He's still a young player and he can
go on to become a truly great player if he can keep his temperament in
check.
"You can't take the law into you own hands and I thought Roy Keane and him
were fortunate not to be sent off. "You can't be a great player if you
keep letting yourself down." Beckham has already been booked twice
this season and at Old Trafford the Saturday before last he was cautioned
for fouling David Burrows, again in retribution for a rash tackle from
the Coventry defender. His first booking came in
Poland for a needless and reckless challenge on Tomasz Kos of LKS Lodz
in the Champions' League qualifier.
"Are you Against the BSkyB takeover? Please Read! Click on image!"
Subject: Murdoch United article from The Economist weekly, dated 18 September 1998
Murdoch United
Even if the whole of Britain hates the idea, Rupert Murdoch should be
allowed to buy Manchester United.
To many football fans, the union between Rupert Murdoch and Manchester
United is a case of beauty marrying the beast. Mr. Murdoch has long been
a hate figure in Britain, blamed for everything from the fall of the
miners to the rise of the topless model in the tabloids. Man U, with 18%
of fans, is the most popular football team in a football-crazy country.
The news that the club had agreed to a GBP625m ($1billion) takeover bid
from Mr. Murdoch’s British Sky Broadcasting has been greeted by a blast
of protests from his competitors in the press, but also by genuine
hostility among fans (see page 64). Supporters deplore Mr. Murdoch’s
commercial motives. But this is childish. The only reason to stop the
deal would be if it were likely to give the tycoon an unfair hold over
either football or television; and it is the square box, not the round
ball, that raises the bigger issues.
“We intend to use sport as a battering-ram in all our pay-television
operations” said Mr. Murdoch a couple of years ago. In America, the
rights to the National Football League helped establish Fox as the
fourth national network., In Britain, the rights to Premier League
football turns BSkyB from a deadweight that nearly sank the Murdoch
empire into the world’s most profitable satellite-television operator,
and the dominant power in the pay-television business in Britain.
But now that dominance is threatened. Digital technology is bringing
uncertainty. Sky faces competition, from Ondigital, a joint venture of
two big commercial television operators, and from the cable industry.
This puts the Premier League in a more powerful position: there are now
three real bidders for the rights it has to sell. And the chances are,
when the rights come up for sale in 2001, they will not go in one lump,
but will be parceled out (as in America,) between free-to-air
broadcasters and pay-television operators.
Football is slipping from Mr. Murdoch’s grasp; and that explains his
grab for Manchester United. By owning the country’s richest football
club, he will be able to profit from pay-per-view televised matches,
which are expected to become a gold-mine. Fine - but might he also use
Man U to bias the Premier League in favour of selling its rights to Sky
and thus extend his dominance over pay-television into the digital age.
If owning Manchester United really was going to give Murdoch control
over Premier League football rights, that would be reason enough for
stopping this takeover. But it won’t. Even if a Murdoch-owner Man U
wanted the rights to go to BskyB, the other 19 clubs in the Premier
League need not go along. And if the Premier League is broken up on the
grounds tnhat it is a cartel 0- an issue to be decided next January -
then there is no problem, because clubs will sell their rights
separately and competing television operators will be free to buy a club
(or rights to its games) of their own.
Mr. Murdoch must be watched - and stopped if reason, not emotion,
dicates. On this, there is not reason enough.
"Are you Against the BSkyB takeover? Please Read! Click on image!"
Subject: United on TV in the US
Upcoming United games on the TV (USA) are as follows:
FOX Sports Americas and FOX Sports World
Fri Sep 25 02:00PM Pacific Fri Sep 25 03:00PM Mountain
Fri Sep 25 04:00PM Central Fri Sep 25 05:00PM Eastern
Length: 2 hr
FOX Sports World
English Premier League
Manchester United vs Liverpool
*******************************************************************
ESPN2
espn2 Champions League telecast rescheduled
espn2 has MOVED the scheduled telecast of the Bayern Munich vs Manchester United
match from Match Day 2 of the UEFA Champions League to Thursday October 1 at
2pm Eastern/11am Pacific due to a potential conflict with Major League Baseball playoffs
on September 30.
Wed Sep 23 11:30AM Pacific Wed Sep 23 12:30PM Mountain
Wed Sep 23 01:30PM Central Wed Sep 23 02:30PM Eastern
Length: 2 hr
**************************************************************
ESPN2
Wed Sep 23 11:30AM Pacific Wed Sep 23 12:30PM Mountain
Wed Sep 23 01:30PM Central Wed Sep 23 02:30PM Eastern
Length: 2 hr D-9/16
espn2
UEFA Champions League Match Day 1
Manchester United (England) vs Barcelona (Spain)
DA
"Are you Against the BSkyB takeover? Please Read! Click on image!"
Pic Link today is http://www.red11.org/mufc/imusa.htm
Barry
J. Leeming Digest Prgram
by 
William
McArthur Canada
