Thursday, November 24, 2005
Mancs dominate again
It seems that Manchester United just cannot be kept out of the news this week, off the pitch at least; not only did we have assault and battery by their fans at The Valley at the weekend, the weekdays have brought the announcement that United will lose their sponsor - Vodaphone - and more bad news concerning George Best's health.
George, it seems, is on death's door, with family and friends all expecting an announcement about his demise any time now, sadly. A previous post on here recounted my own recollections of seeing him play, and I won't repeat those; but I'll add one more memory - that of the 1968 European Cup Final. Just old enough to be "into" football (my first Charlton game was earlier that season), I watched the game (Manchester United versus Benfica) from Wembley on TV like millions of others. Fabulous players, some of whom had played against each other in the 1966 World Cup semi-final, met on the famous pitch, and after 90 minutes, the score was One all. My father, who had been watching the game with me, then had to go into the garden at the behest of my mother to water the plants (it was a warm balmy early summer evening). Within minutes of the first period of extra time kicking off, Best had waltzed through the Benfica defence to score. He claimed afterwards that he intended to stop the ball on the goal line, and head the ball in, but the fast retreating Benfica goalie made that dream impossible.
I ran into the garden and tried to explain the goal to my dad, and show him how Best had scored. Action replays were in short supply then, so it was the only chance he would get of seeing it, performed by yours truly! United went on to win 4-1, with Bobby Charlton and Brian Kidd also scoring in extra-time. George's doctor is on TV now, telling the media that he will be dead soon - "his hours are numbered", "he could die at any time", "I will be surprised if he survives another 24 hours". George was a great footballer, but driven to excess - women, drink, money, power. It's probably best that we remember Georgie as a player of fabulous football, rather than anything else.
Shirt sponsors are a subject (literally) close to Charlton hearts at the moment, with all:sports going bust. Now Vodaphone have pulled the plug on their partnership with United, with one of the reasons stated being that non-United supporters refuse to use their services. That point has been stated on other blogs recently, and it inherently true. United will not be short of suitors for logos for their shirts, but whoever they are should bear in mind the point raised by Vodaphone and beware of losing customers as a consequence. Whoever is willing to stump up the £10 million or so a year it will cost them shouldn't impact on Charlton's own search for a new sponsor, as the level of cost versus benefit is immeasurably different at the two clubs.
George, it seems, is on death's door, with family and friends all expecting an announcement about his demise any time now, sadly. A previous post on here recounted my own recollections of seeing him play, and I won't repeat those; but I'll add one more memory - that of the 1968 European Cup Final. Just old enough to be "into" football (my first Charlton game was earlier that season), I watched the game (Manchester United versus Benfica) from Wembley on TV like millions of others. Fabulous players, some of whom had played against each other in the 1966 World Cup semi-final, met on the famous pitch, and after 90 minutes, the score was One all. My father, who had been watching the game with me, then had to go into the garden at the behest of my mother to water the plants (it was a warm balmy early summer evening). Within minutes of the first period of extra time kicking off, Best had waltzed through the Benfica defence to score. He claimed afterwards that he intended to stop the ball on the goal line, and head the ball in, but the fast retreating Benfica goalie made that dream impossible.
I ran into the garden and tried to explain the goal to my dad, and show him how Best had scored. Action replays were in short supply then, so it was the only chance he would get of seeing it, performed by yours truly! United went on to win 4-1, with Bobby Charlton and Brian Kidd also scoring in extra-time. George's doctor is on TV now, telling the media that he will be dead soon - "his hours are numbered", "he could die at any time", "I will be surprised if he survives another 24 hours". George was a great footballer, but driven to excess - women, drink, money, power. It's probably best that we remember Georgie as a player of fabulous football, rather than anything else.Shirt sponsors are a subject (literally) close to Charlton hearts at the moment, with all:sports going bust. Now Vodaphone have pulled the plug on their partnership with United, with one of the reasons stated being that non-United supporters refuse to use their services. That point has been stated on other blogs recently, and it inherently true. United will not be short of suitors for logos for their shirts, but whoever they are should bear in mind the point raised by Vodaphone and beware of losing customers as a consequence. Whoever is willing to stump up the £10 million or so a year it will cost them shouldn't impact on Charlton's own search for a new sponsor, as the level of cost versus benefit is immeasurably different at the two clubs.
