For some of us lower league supporters though, the reason is a little different.  Manchester United is the embodiment of the ruthless business ethic that took hold of the Premier League in the early 1990s;  before the Glazers took over it was the PLC which used its reach and influence to hoover up the spare fans and pounds from every provincial town in the country and by extension help many of those town’s clubs on their way to significant financial difficulties.  That those smaller teams managed to survive owes nothing to any ‘trickle down’ wealth from the Premier League but everything to local supporters and communities and occasionally a charitable benefactor.

My point is that there are very good reasons why we still want Manchester United to lose when we watch them play but on Saturday lunchtime, Liverpool’s Luis Suarez somehow managed to make us forget all that and back United against possibly their biggest rival.

What happened all dates back to the well-reported racism incident between Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra which led to an eight match ban for Suarez and a general recognition that he was in the wrong.  Saturday’s match was the first meeting between the two players since the incident and all Suarez had to do was shake hands with the man he abused in the pre-match line up.  Evra offered up his hand and Suarez ignored him, instantly re-igniting the whole unsavoury business.  The guilty party had failed to shake hands with the victim and that is why, in that moment, we suddenly didn’t mind if Manchester United won the match.

Far, far too late on Sunday, Suarez apologised to everyone involved (apart from Evra) after Liverpool’s owners apparently realised the negative effect on Liverpool FC was getting out of control.  Manager Kenny Dalglish, who has so far rather unwisely stood by Suarez, was also asked to apologise after berating a Sky Sports journalist who asked him about the missing handshake.  Dalglish said he never saw it.

This whole sorry saga should never have reached the point where Liverpool’s owners had to step in to advise their employees to do the right thing and it remains to be seen whether the apology will draw a line under the affair.

Capello & John Terry

Or had it?  Would the same decision have been reached had England-manager-in-waiting Harry Redknapp not been cleared of all tax dodging charger earlier the same day, suddenly making him available should he fancy a pop at the hardest job in football?

Who knows, but the situation now is that the F.A. have a vacancy which needs filling on either a full or part time basis pretty quickly so there’s some continuity in the system in time for the Euros.  Harry looks like the overwhelming favourite but if he doesn’t want the job the remaining options are limited.  Martin O’Neill is always in the frame but the clamour for an Englishman will probably rule him out – not to mention his falling out with the F.A. during the last application process plus his obvious enjoyment at his new post at Sunderland.

Roy Hodgson could be a decent second choice but the list pretty much runs out after that.  Alan Pardew has already said he’s not interested and could be a name for the future.  The same goes for Stuart Pearce, already within the England set-up.

Steve McClaren

What everyone will want to avoid is the farcical situation which led to Steve McClaren somehow getting the job in 2006.  When the likely candidates were dropping out of the running, people started whispering the name ‘McClaren’ as a sort of joke last resort.  What then happened was that the suggestion began to become serious, to take on a horrifying life of its own.  That momentum evolved what had begun as a joke into an appalling inevitability and all us England fans could do was stand back and watch as McClaren was appointed and we all wasted another 18 months of our lives in the completely vain hope that despite McClaren, something good might happen.

Harry Redknapp

It didn’t of course – England failed to qualify for the 2008 Euros and McClaren departed.  Fabio Capello then steadied the ship somewhat but it seems as though in the end he failed to get to grips with the English psyche.  For now Harry Redknapp looks like the best, but unfortunately the only, realistically decent choice.

Man vs Horse

The Man vs Horse race is possibly one of the more sensible events when compared to cheese rolling and shin kicking and it’s not that old either.  It’s relative youth – it dates from 1980 – suggests that the British are still capable of dreaming up silly sporting challenges.

As with some of the best ideas, it emerged from a pub/hotel called the Neuadd Arms in Llanwrtyd Wells, Wales when the landlord, Gordon Green, overheard a couple of customers discussing whether, over a certain distance, a man could beat a horse across country.

Mr. Green immediately got to work organising an event which would prove the case one way or another and the Man vs Horse was born.  It’s set over a distance of 22 miles just outside the Welsh town and does include a couple of miles of tarmac.  As one might expect, the horses almost always win and when a runner does it’s a moment of some note.  Aside from the strength issues, the horses also run a slightly different route to help them avoid some of the trickier descents.

Of the 32 events run so far only two have been won by runners; Huw Lobb was the first in 2004, followed by Florian Holzinger in 2007.  Another runner, Martin Cox, won in 2009 but some apparent unannounced rule changes meant that the first horse was given the victory to much derision and anger.

Cyclists were allowed to compete in 1985 and Tim Gould, one of the foremost riders of the early years of mountain biking in the U.K. won in 1989.  Since 1993 cyclists have not been able to compete due to local laws keeping them of the paths and one may cynically wonder if the’ horsey’ set has had something to do with that.

Whatever, it’s a great event and one to put on your bucket list!

Currently Brazil has legislation which prevents the sale of alcohol within stadiums.  It was passed in 2003  and is even harsher than than the British regulations which state that you can drink alcohol and watch the match, but not at the same time.  However, when Brazil won the rights to host the final they agreed to amend their legislation.  Why would they do that?  Because one of FIFA’s main sponsors is Budweiser.  Would FIFA be pressing for beer sales in stadia if they weren’t propped up by a brewery?  Probably not, but ethics don’t really play a role here – this is all about money.

But Brazil did agree to amend their rules, if only temporarily, so what’s the problem here?  Well there are some members of the Brazilian congress who don’t want their (possibly sensible) legislation changed and their could be something of a battle to get the amendment passed.  Supporting the change is Brazilian Minister for Sports, Aldo Rebelo, who said the bill is “….a compromise the country committed to when it was bidding for hosting the event“, but others are clearly not so convinced this is the right move.

Interestingly, FIFA only wants beer sold – no other alcohol will be available.  We also wonder whether any alternatives to Budweiser will be available; after all it’s hardly the tastiest brew in the world.

Putin and Blatter

In a similar vein, FIFA is lobbying Russia to allow the same thing in all their sports stadia in time for the 2018 World Cup.  Beer and beer advertising was banned in 2005 for what Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called “the best of intentions” but has since said he will rethink the legislation.

Sepp Blatter was in St. Petersburg to take part in preparations for the 100th birthday of the Russian Football Federation.

The 15th April 1989 was when everything changed in English football.  96 Liverpool fans died on the terraces at Hillsborough, Sheffield Wednesday’s home ground, when a number of factors led to a deadly crush behind one of the goals.  The Taylor Report concluded in the aftermath that “the failure of police control” was the main reason for the disaster, although the design of the aging terraces contributed.

The outcome was the elimination of all terracing at top division stadia (with a couple of temporary exceptions) and the requirement that all new stadia built in the top two divisions should be all-seater.  Clubs in lower leagues can retain terracing as long as it conforms to the requirements of the Taylor Report recommendations.

(Very) old terracing

The long-recognised problem with all-seater stadia is the absence of any atmosphere in most venues.  Standing up in a seated area is also frowned upon by most local authorities (who govern the licensing requirements), meaning that the football watching experience is reduced to paying your money, watching a match and going home.  For those of us used to the intense atmosphere of packed terraces, something is clearly missing from the experience.

For me, it’s no fun anymore.  Back at Layer Road (look it up), the experience was one to enjoy even if you lost – a visit t0 the pub beforehand, shouting and singing at the ground for 2 hours and then going home hoarse.  The experience at the new, identikit breeze block development is not fun.  There’s very little atmosphere, the fans have lost their connection to the club and we’re reduced to paying our money, watching in silence and leaving.  If we lose it just seems like a monumental waste of time and money.  For the foreseeable future I’m not going anymore and I’m not the only one.  There’s plenty of other local clubs in the area where I can stand and watch the match for half the price – Heybridge Swifts, Wivenhoe, Harwich & Parkeston & Braintree Town to name a few.

German style terracing

So is there any hope for fans of terracing?  Probably not for the English but the Scottish football authorities seem to be letting common sense at least have a say.  The Scottish Premier League (SPL) has decided to let clubs make their own decisions as to whether to introduce standing areas inside their grounds.  Local authorities and the police will still have the final say as to whether the changes can go ahead but at least it’s a start.

It’s worth remembering that the type of terracing, or more accurately ‘safe standing areas’, would bear very little relation to what existed pre-1989.  There is plenty of evidence to show that these safe standing areas, which exist in stadia in other countries around the world, are just as safe as seating areas.  Germany is often held up as an example of modern, standing stadia.

In the end, my club probably won’t miss me but they need to be careful – I’m not the only one who is finding more attractive things to do on a Saturday afternoon.

The scene was set for this match back in October when City traveled to Old Trafford and inflicted what Alex Ferguson called “our worst ever day – the worst result in my history, ever.”  A 6 – 1 defeat was a bad one all right and Ferguson will have had revenge in his mind before yesterday’s match.  City are also top of the Premier League with a genuine shot at the title and the match was on terrestrial television on Sunday lunchtime, meaning a far larger audience than the normal Sky subscription viewers could provide.

Kompany gets his marching orders

City stormed out of the blocks at the Etihad Stadium but conceded a breakaway goal after ten minutes; this preceded the main incident of the afternoon – the sending off of City captain Vincent Kompany for what only the most one-eyed United supporter would deny was a good tackle.  If there is such a thing as a perfect two-footed tackle then this was it but the referee, Chris Foy, had other ideas and made sure City played the final 80 minutes without one of their most influential players.  Wayne Rooney once again did himself no favours – his desperate attempts to persuade the referee to send Kompany off was almost as bad as waving the imaginary yellow card.

City were 3 – 0 down by half-time and Ferguson must have been anticipating a reversal of the 6 – 1 thrashing that they themselves suffered; that’s not how the script went however.  Ten-man Manchester City fought their way back into the match, scoring two goals by mid-way through the second half and dominating the second half as much as is possible for a team missing one player.

A clear penalty for both sides was ignored by the referee and in the end City couldn’t quite manage it but the home fans cheers for their team at the final whistle drowned out the relieved noises emanating from the United fans on the final whistle.

Paul Scholes

An interesting byline to the match on Sunday was the return from retirement of Paul Scholes.  Having packed in playing at the end of last season, United are clearly lacking enough in midfield for Ferguson to persuade him to make a return.  He’s still fit but clearly lacked the edge which comes with playing in matches every week and perhaps this wasn’t the occasion to bring him on;  one of his poor touches led to Manchester City’s second goal.  Having said that, he made the simple midfield passes which brought some stability back to the United team when they began to get rattled and managed a couple of solid shots from the edge of the area.

If yesterday’s match wasn’t a tough enough test for United, they will now face Liverpool at Anfield in the next round, a match which comes hard on the heels of Luis Suarez eight match ban for racism against United’s Patrice Evra.  Interesting times……..

Patrice Evra and Luis Suarez

However, following the release of the FA’s comprehensive report on the incident on New Year’s Eve (why?), it has become pretty clear why the FA has handed down this punishment.  Evidence given by Suarez and Evra conflicted somewhat but in the end it was clear enough that Evra’s testimony was the more reliable.  According to the report the incident on the pitch went as follows:

Evra (after being kicked): Why did you kick me?

Suarez: Because you are black.

Evra: Say that to me again.  I’m going to punch you.

Suarez: I don’t speak to blacks.

Evra: I’m going to punch you.

Suarez: OK, blackie, blackie, blackie.

Suarez then gestures at Evra’s skin

Evra: Ref, ref, he just called me a fucking black.

After the match Evra told his manager, Alex Ferguson, what had happened and Ferguson followed exactly the correct procedures by heading straight to the referees room to report the incident.  The FA then took control of the investigation, resulting in a pretty comprehensive report and the eight match ban.

Suarez’ explanation of his use of the word ‘negrita’ (blackie) as a friendly term was completely undermined by the tone of the player’s conversation and the intensity of any match between Manchester United and Liverpool.  One would hope that Liverpool and Kenny Dalglish will now back down in this matter and stop insisting on Suarez innocence.  For his part, Suarez has said he will not be using that word again, at least in this country.

Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra

Perhaps the FA are anticipating a strong appeal from Liverpool and Suarez which might end with a slightly reduced ban, or maybe they really are focused on eradicating racism from the English game.

The interesting thing about the Suarez – Evra episode is that there probably was no malicious intent here; Suarez claimed to be speaking to Evra in the same way as he had always down to black players in his own country, Uruguay.  However, calling a black player a ‘Negro’ may be acceptable in one country but is obviously not acceptable in another – Suarez has been living in Europe since 2006 and resident in the United Kingdom for almost a year and it seems inconceivable that he can not have been aware of the racism issues here and the high profile anti-racism campaigns.

John Terry and Anton Ferdinand

Liverpool will definitely appeal against the punishment, they’re argument being that this was one man’s word against another and that it was Suarez himself who freely admitted what he said as he didn’t think he had said anything out of place.  If Suarez had said nothing, there would have been no evidence against him.  Chelsea’s John Terry must now be wondering what fate awaits him after television cameras captured him (possibly) saying something racist to QPR’s Anton Ferdinand.

For Liverpool, pending any successful appeal, they’ll have to make do without Luis Suarez until the second leg of the Carling Cup final on 25th January.  Notably, Liverpool will have to do without their star player for two matches against Manchester City and one against Newcastle.  It’s fair to say that Liverpool feel they’ve been treated unfairly and won’t be letting this one go without a fight.

In recent months FIFA have been working on some serious reforms which made the headlines and seemed to be turning the corner.  Transparency and oversight were the keywords and, not surprisingly, an admittance that the procedures for choosing World Cup venues were hopelessly flawed and would not be repeated.

A couple of days ago we heard some really surprising news – that Lord Goldsmith is to be appointed to the new independent governance committee which was formed as part of the reforms.  It’s surprising because Lord Goldsmith is British and it’s pretty clear how Blatter and his cronies feel about that part of the world.  After all it was the British press who ultimately forced FIFA to reform, despite FIFA’s insults and protestations of innocence.  All in all this seems like a positive step forward for the organisation.

Lord Goldsmith

What is not so welcome was another recent disclosure that Transparency International (TI) has ended it’s association with FIFA.  The corruption watchdog was advising FIFA in the run up to the reform announcements and many of the reforms had been influenced by TI.

FIFA have made the decision to fund their own expert, Mark Pieth, to oversee the reforms and TI view this as completely against their recommendations on transparency. How, they argue, can an employee of FIFA be independent?  It’s a good question.  Pieth has also said that he will not be re-examining any of the scandals that have beset FIFA in recent years – something else which goes against the recommendations of TI.

Mark Pieth

FIFA appears to be taking one step forward and two steps backward, then staggering forward a bit more before composing itself.  At least the appointment of Goldsmith will promote some confidence in FIFA’s ability to reform.

It was always on the cards, especially for Manchester City who never really managed to get into their stride in this introductory foray into the world’s premier cross-border club competition.  Manchester United is another story altogether though; all they needed was a draw away against Swiss champions FC Basel but they couldn’t manage it.  So what’s gone wrong in Manchester?

FC Basel celebrate their 2 - 1 victory

Although City will be disappointed not to reach the knockout stages of the Champions League, they’ve known it was going to be tough since the beginning of the competition; it’s their first stab at it and they didn’t really hit the ground running.  Even though they won against a below strength Bayern Munich on Wednesday evening, reliance on Villareal holding off Napoli meant their fate was not in their own hands and in the end, they won’t be too surprised they didn’t make it.  They’re still top of the league and have the Europa League to look forward to.

Kick in the conkers

For Manchester United on the other hand, it’s a real kick in the conkers; this is a club which expects to be playing in a least the last four of this competition but they too will now be relegated to Thursday nights on ITV4.  Despite the fawning commentary last night, United never played as well as they are capable and limped out of the competition in  a 2 – 1 defeat which meant that for the first time in six years they are not in the final 16.

While this is an obvious financial blow to both clubs, United’s consolation is that Alex Ferguson can now focus his attention on winning the only competition he has so far failed to.  He can also apply himself to catching up with City in the Premier League; currently five points behind with Spurs in a position to overtake them and push them into third place.  Whatever your allegiance, the current Premier League champions are giving the impression of hanging on to City’s coat tails in the league.

A final word of congratulation then to Arsenal and Chelsea who are now the only English representation in the final 16 of the UEFA Champions League.