It's about time I commented on the League Cup final, that United won 2-1 against Aston Villa. Writing about Wayne Rooney in the England match tonight has acted as a spur to doing more with this blog...
In the run-up to United reaching the final in style against Man City ("Manchester Shitty FC" as I call them), I'd been planning to support my long-time second favourite Premier League team Aston Villa in the final - in the event that United reached the final. I reckoned that we stand a good chance of winning the Premier and Champions leagues this season and wasn't keen on us getting another treble - this time in the Glazer era. It's also good to share the trophies around, and I quite like an underdog.
I had a plan of watching the match at Wembley with Salma Yaqoob, leader of Birmingham Stop the War Coalition and the Respect Party, and one of my friends on Facebook, if she could get us tickets. I hardly know Salma and she is married, so it was a long shot and she unsurprisingly didn't get back to me. Black or Asian women are a particular rarity at football matches, and going with a woman wearing a hijab seemed a brilliant idea!
Anyway, when I sat down to watch the match on the BBC, I was supporting Villa. It was great seeing them awarded an early penalty and scoring. However, I couldn't keep it up! I found myself empathising with the United players who I have got to know over my years following United, and I just had to want them to do well. I hardly know the Villa team, and some of them (including goalkeeper Brad Friedel) are skinheads, which tends to mean right-wing politics. Also, Villa manager Martin O'Neill is not the most smiley person in the world, which also suggests bad intentions. [I recently wrote a new version of my New Good Intentions Manifesto, uploading it to http://www.socialiststeve.me.uk/good-intentions-manifesto.html, which explains the world in terms of people with good and bad intentions; it is an alternative form of scientific socialism to Marxism.]
When United's first goal went in, I was so pleased for Michael Owen (especially considering the pre-match taunts from the commentators expecting United to struggle without Rooney). As we later found out, Rooney had been dropped due to having a bout of flu, but that goal vindicated Alex Ferguson's selection. [In any case, with the possibility of extra time, Rooney could have been a great substitute late in the game, although unfortunately for Owen he became injured after 40 minutes and Rooney replaced him then.]
Anyway, for the rest of the match, from the point of United's equaliser, I was supporting United. I changed my shirt at half-time from a socialist top to a United t-shirt (which a friend gave me as a souvenier from the Champions League final against Barcelona last season). It was great Rooney scoring the winner with yet another header, and United lifting the Cup. I guess there are a lot of United supporters who hate the Glazers, many of whom show their displeasure with the green and gold scarves. Maybe if we got a quadruple or quintuple (as we were in line for last season), it would be a political problem, but (despite being first and foremost an FC United of Manchester fan) I do want Manchester United to do well - and the team is primarily composed of players with good intentions and supported by such people too, unlike Manchester Shitty FC...
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