FC United of Manchester

[Gampern]

Dass mit Bury hat nun geklappt, FCUofM wird also seine Heimspiele an der Gigg Lane austragen!

Am Samstag kams zur Premiere, zum allerersten Spiel des FC United of Manchester! Bei Leigh RMI FC (immerhin 6. Liga!) gabs vor 2552 Zusehern ein 0:0, welches aber eher nur nebensächlich interessierte! Die Stimmung muss grandios gewesen sein, ausserdem wurden nach Schlusspfiff die Spieler auf den Schultern der Fans vom Platz getragen!

Fotos gibts hier

http://gallery.euphorics.net/view.php?uid=lala

[Gampern]

Am WE gabs das erste Ligaspiel:

Leek CSOB 2-5 FC United

Leek:

Fletcher 14

Johnson 33

FC United:

Spencer 20, 72

Torpey 30, 80

Orr 90

HT 2-2

Att 2590

Wer sich ein SHirt kaufen will: http://www.fc-utd.co.uk/shop/index.php

[Gampern]

Hince: Roll up to hear the rebel yell at FC United

THE good residents of Leek, I hope, won't mind me saying this, but their town isn't exactly the centre of the universe.

It's not even where I thought it was. In my mind's eye it was always Leek, Derbyshire. Now I know it's a town in Staffordshire.

That's not to say the town named after a vegetable hasn't got one or two little things to boast about. The Britannia Building Society has its headquarters in Leek for a start. And, bizarrely enough, this is where Kerry Gold butter is churned out.

There's another attraction - of sorts - to tempt visitors to the little Staffordshire outpost. Leek has got a football club. Well to be strictly accurate, the town has got two football clubs sharing one ground - Leek Town and Leek County School Old Boys.

Last Saturday afternoon in a monsoon more suitable to Lahore than Leek, I parked up outside Harrison Park.

I was there to watch Leek CSOBplay their opening match of the new season in the Moore and Company Construction Solicitors North West Counties League. What a mouthful that is. An entire paragraph just to record the name of the team and the league they play in.

To make any sense at all from what you are about the read, you need to know something about Leek CSOB. They are not, it has to be said, the best supported club in the country. Their record attendance at Harrison Park prior to Saturday was 238. Their average gate last season was 70 - plus, in the words of club secretary Stan Lockett "two dogs and a stray cat".

Record

On Saturday, that attendance record at Harrison Park moved up a few notches. Well, more than a few notches in truth. Two thousand five hundred paying customers squeezed themselves into that little stadium. Not only a new record for Harrison Park but for the entire North West Counties League.

Of course the Old Boys' opponents on day one may have had something to do with that abnormally large attendance. For the overwhelming majority of that 2,500 crowd had made the same trip to Leek on Saturday afternoon that I had. They had come to support the team wishing to be known as `FC United of Manchester' playing their first-ever competitive match of football.

This was Leek CSOB against the "other" Manchester United. The breakaway club formed by fed-up Old Trafford fans. Fed-up that a Yank had taken over their club. Fed-up of greedy, over-paid players. Fed-up of sitting down to watch their matches, of not being able to chant their chants. Fed-up of Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon kick-offs. Fed-up of being financially exploited. FC United? They should have called themselves `Fed-Up United'.

For Leek CSOB, the visit of FC United and its army of followers on Saturday was all their Christmases rolled into one. Two thousand fans standing behind the goals at £4 a ticket. Five hundred more sitting down in the main stand at £6 per seat.

Proudly, Leek secretary and factotum Stan Lockett told me that the entire stock of 650 meat and potato pies - at £1.50 each - had been devoured by half time - and delicious they were. All 1,750 match programmes had been snapped up at £1 a throw. For all I know Stan is still counting the receipts from the commemorative lapel badges which were on sale around the ground to mark FC United's first competitive match.

Put it all together and I estimate that the Old Boys banked around £15,000 from Saturday's invasion from Manchester. No more, maybe, than a good night out for Rio - but a fortune and a godsend for Leek CSOB and all the other North West Counties clubs who will entertain the Old Trafford rebels over the months to come.

And those breakaway fans at Harrison Park on Saturday? Exactly what it said on the label. Noisy, boisterous, good-humoured. A credit to themselves and a credit to their new club.

They stood together, they cheered together and they sang together. This, they claim, is how football should be watched and enjoyed. And this is one ageing fan who wouldn't disagree with any part of that sentiment.

You might care to know that one song from the Red rebels was heard above all others: "I don't care about Rio. He don't care about me. All I care about is watching FC." Says what those fans were doing in Leek in the first place, don't you think?

Late arrivals

Mind you, the start of Saturday's match was delayed for over ten minutes. Hundreds of breakaway fans were late arriving because they were watching the big Reds in action against Everton in the local pubs around Harrison Park. Don't get greedy, lads. You can only be married to one wife at a time, you know.

FC United, I can tell you without fear of contradiction, are no gimmick. They are a bonny side who I suspect will prove to be way above the standard of the rivals they will encounter this season in division two of the North West Counties League.

Manager Karl Marginson knows his way around the upper levels of non-league soccer - and it showed at Harrison Park on Saturday in his team's comfortable 5-2 victory against the game but out-classed Leek side.

For the record Leek opened the scoring against the run of play with a breakaway goal from striker Colin Fletcher after 15 minutes before the excellent Steve Spence wrote his own little piece of history on the 20 minute mark by becoming FC's first goal-scorer in a competitive match.

Burly centre-forward Jon Mitten (Charlie's nephew), put Marginson's boys ahead from close range five minutes later only for Jake Johnson to equalise for Leek with a long-range pile-driver ten minutes from the interval.

The second half was one-way traffic with Spence notching his second and Steve Torpey and Adie Orr adding numbers four and five.

Harrison Park, Leek, on Saturday was the first small step on the journey stretching out in front of FC United. Where that adventure will take this new club only time will tell. But something tells me it's going to be fun getting there.

manchesteronline.co.uk

bearbeitet 17. August 2005 von Gampern

[Gampern]

Padiham H 3-2

Eccleshall H 7-1

FCUoM vs. Padiham $KY Report

noch ein paar Chants und 2 Videos: >> Hier <<

[Gampern]

FC United film on Monday

Just wanted to flag up our half-hour special on Monday night on Inside

Out at 7.30pm on BBC 1 in the North West. It's also being shown on digital

channel 101 in the North West and BBC Digital channel 948 nationally.

You know it's based around the formation of FC United.

As well as interviews with Ryan Giggs, Lee Sharpe, Sammy McIlroy and

Peter Hook from New Order, it includes exclusive behind the scenes

access with the players, manager and fans. There's some great stuff.

Including Joz Mitten, the centre forward, who is a plumber, and his

pre-match routine can involve being up at 08.30am on Saturdays fixing

leaky toilets, and Karl, the manager who is up at 3am every day working

as a delivery driver.

We have followed fans who have switched with heavy hearts from Man

United to FC United and those who have stayed at Old Trafford. We got

exclusive access to the first game at Leek, which had to be delayed for

15 minutes to get all 2,500 fans in. There's a classic moment when the

harrassed, middle-aged secretary of Leek predicts a catering crisis by

saying, 'We only normally order 24 pies , we've ordered 650 and it won't

be enough!'

We have contrasted FC United's start to the season with that of Man

United. We also have contributions from the award-winning sports writer

and author David Conn, and Henry Winter from the Daily Telgraph.

The film addresses the feeling in football that the commercialism,

six-figure salaries, and TV rights have taken the soul out of the game.

RMVB format,

178MB

900kbs+

27 minutes 30 seconds

Mit bittorent: Hier oder hier!

[Gampern]

FC United Article from Red11

FC UNITED by Salford Lass

For most of my life, Manchester United has been a passion that has never waned. No matter what has been going on in the rest of my life, I've been able to lose myself at the game. For that 90 minutes (and for the hours I shared with other fans before and after games) nothing else mattered but the atmosphere, the banter, the team, the club, the feeling of fresh Manchester air on my face. And football was always the passion that had nothing to do with money or background. No matter how poor you were, you could always manage to get enough together to go the game with your mates.

Then in the early 90's what seemed the most permanent thing in my life began to change. Many of the changes were wonderful - Le Dieu arrived and we began to have the success that culminated in the best night of my life in May '99. But at the same time, changes were afoot that were not so positive. Football clubs were becoming businesses, prices began to rise, players grew further and further away from the ordinary supporters, fans who had been going to Old Trafford for years began to be priced out. After '99 I began to feel more and more distant from the Club I had loved all my life. After years of going home and away I was one of those being gradually priced out. This season it has come to a head and for the first time in many years I am not going to away games and I am having to contemplate missing home games at Old Trafford. Next season, I will probably have to sell my season ticket for the whole season.

But it's not just the money. It feels to me that "my" Manchester United, the club I have loved all my life, is no more. Fans like me have been increasingly sidelined over the years. All the things we love - the chanting, the banter, the humour, the passion -have disappeared from Old Trafford. United fans today are a different breed. They have money, lots of it, which they spend in the Megastore. They seem to want all the things that I hate. They want a theatre, not a football ground - they even have girls walking around the perimeter at half-time selling ice cream now! They want celebrities not football players! For some years we were able to live with all this, loving the team and the shirt, but not having to buy into the rest of it. But in the last couple of years that has all changed. As the team of the late 90's begins to break up, the players have begun to be as distant from us as the board and Glazer. Apart from a few notable exceptions, the players no longer seem to care about the fans. They live in a world so far removed from the real world (millionaires at 18/19!!) that they have no understanding of the reality of supporting a Premiership club today. Most of the time they can't even be bothered coming over to thank the fans for supporting them - Gary Neville is the only player who still comes over to applaud the fans at the end of every game. When fans booed Rio recently I understood why they did it. I wouldn't have done it - I have never booed a United player in my life - but I understood it and I sympathized.

And it's much too simplistic to blame it all on Glazer. It was happening long before he came along. For years now, there has been an inexorable movement towards this summer, towards a situation which would eventually attract someone like Glazer, who would plunge the Club into the sort of debt that could eventually destroy it.

This summer has been one of the saddest times of my life. I feel I have witnessed the final nails in the coffin of "my" Manchester United. I'm sure that the Club will continue, even if Glazer does his worst, but "my" Manchester United is no more and can never return. I have managed (thanks to the son-and-heir) to renew my season ticket but, if I am honest, attending home games has not been a pleasure. My addiction keeps me going to OT but at the same time I look around at the crowd and at the players on the pitch and I feel nothing but sadness. I chant and sing, I jump up and down when we score, I argue about Fergie's selections as I've always done, but my heart isn't in it.

Others (including many pals who I have known for years) have made different decisions and have been following FC United. I have to admit that over the summer, whilst the new club was being set up, I was very sceptical about FC United. I had no animosity towards the new club, in fact I wished them well, but I simply couldn't see what it had to do with me. Despite my misgivings about the situation at Old Trafford and about Premiership football in general, I renewed my season ticket and decided that when I get priced out - most likely next season - I will walk away for good and perhaps support my local non-league club. I couldn't see any reason to support a club that plays in Bury and with which I have no emotional ties, and I couldn't see how anything could possibly replace the buzz I used to get from supporting United.

One of my friends, however, who shall remain nameless - she knows who she is! - has been mithering me to see for myself what FC United is all about. She even offered to treat me to the day out. So on Saturday morning I finally gave in and arrived in Manchester to meet up with other FC United supporters in a city center bar. After traveling en-masse on the tram to Radcliffe, where the game against Castleton Gabriels was being played, and into a local pub for a pre-match drink and sing-song, we headed off to the ground and Radcliffe Borough's club house. No segregation, just lots of good natured chanting, banter and drinking and, in the middle of it all, taking good natured flack from the fans and joining in the singing, were 3 of the injured players who weren't in the team that day! What was this about? Football players mixing with the fans? And genuinely enjoying themselves? This was certainly different to supporting the modern Manchester United! Another pleasure was meeting up with so many people that I knew but hadn't seen for ages.

Eventually we dragged ourselves away and headed off to the area behind the goal where my friend insisted we stood on the "left side" - yes, they have a right and a left side! And along with us came the players who had been in the bar. They spent the game on the terracing, with the fans, singing and chanting along with the rest of us. I'm not going to comment on the football because I don't know enough about either the players or the standard of football at this level, but suffice to say that it was far better than I expected but without any of the histrionics that accompanies the modern Premiership game. The atmosphere was excellent with lots of humour and banter - particularly between those of us behind the goal and the fans standing under the "bus stop" (just in case it rained a bit!) FC United won 3-0 and I had had a very enjoyable afternoon. It still didn't explain why this new club had become such a passion with it's fans so quickly, but then we all headed back to the pub, where I got my first taste of what supporting FC United really is about and where that passion comes from.

The buzz in the pub was excellent but then it went up several notches when all the players, the coaches, the kitman and the manager turned up! The next 2 hours were incredible and impossible to adequately describe to anyone who wasn't there. Just take a memory of the away end at one of the best away games you've ever been to, add all the staff and players to that mix after making sure that they all have a Gary Neville-style love of, and commitment to the club, stick a drink in their hands and sing your hearts out. And the players don't just sing along with the fans - they lead the singing, they chant about each other, they request their own songs over and over again. And that goes a little way towards describing a buzz which is still with me today. I made a hundred new mates yesterday and came home hoarse and exhausted but with the biggest smile on my face I've had for ages. And when I asked whether this was a special day, I was told no - it happens like this every week!!

So where does this leave me now? Well it certainly leaves me wanting more! And it leaves me more positive about football than I have been for a long, long time. And it wasn't just the session in the pub, the whole experience was a refreshing change from the modern Premiership experience. The crowd was a wonderful mix of men, women and children of all ages, all getting behind the team. There was no aggro and no heavy policing or stewarding. There were lots of colours but no jester hats! There was no anti-United chanting and a respect towards the opposition that I didn't expect (the FC United fans clapped the Castleton players off the pitch at the end of the game and chanted Castleton at them). There was no sign of the arrogance that can make some United fans embarrassing to be around. And all this at 3pm on a Saturday, for the princely sum of £6!

The formation of FC United has polarised opinions in the last few months with misconceptions on both sides. The biggest misconception of all seems to me to be that you have to choose to support one or the other. That you can't support FC United and still love Manchester United. Well I won't be giving up on Old Trafford willingly - I've loved Manchester United all my life and that won't change - I'll love United until I breathe my last and I'll carry on going to OT as long as I can scrape the money together to do so. But I found something yesterday that I thought was lost forever and I'm so excited about that that I feel like a massive black shadow has lifted and I can't wait for the next time!

FC United are having a United United day on 8th October when all Manchester United fans are being invited to come along to their home game at Gigg Lane. It's an international weekend, so no-one has to miss a game at Old Trafford. I'm going, if you want to know what it's all about - come along

and join me!

[ante jazic]

schöner thread gampern, mehr davon!!

[freeceyapie]

sehr schön. so soll fußball sein und nicht anders!!!!!

[Gampern]

schöner thread gampern, mehr davon!!

843020[/snapback]

Hier gibts Leute die mitlesen? Freut mich, dass meine gelegentlichen Beiträge doch nicht ganz umsonst sind! Ist ja nicht mein einziger Privatthread...

Am Samstag gabs einen 6:0 Heimsieg über Daisy Hill, mit dem FCUM nach der ersten Saisonniederlage vor 2 Wochen eine tolle Woche abschloss: 6 Punkte und beinahe 7000 Zuseher aus 2 Spielen (d.h. der league record liegt jetzt bei 3808)

[ante jazic]

Hier gibts Leute die mitlesen?  Freut mich, dass meine gelegentlichen Beiträge doch nicht ganz umsonst sind! Ist ja nicht mein einziger Privatthread...

Am Samstag gabs einen 6:0 Heimsieg über Daisy Hill, mit dem FCUM nach der ersten Saisonniederlage vor 2 Wochen eine tolle Woche abschloss: 6 Punkte und beinahe 7000 Zuseher aus 2 Spielen (d.h. der league record liegt jetzt bei 3808)

844637[/snapback]

klar gampern (schau dir doch mal die anzahl der klicks an) & es ist nicht so, dass jeder der hier reingeht vermeint im Manchester United Thread zu sein.

[Pallino]

Dann schrieb ich halt auch mal das mich dieser Thread brennend interressiert und ich regelmässig mitlese. Nur weiter so

[themanwho]

Hier gibts Leute die mitlesen?  Freut mich, dass meine gelegentlichen Beiträge doch nicht ganz umsonst sind! Ist ja nicht mein einziger Privatthread...

Nona .. aber ich schreib lieber nix dazu, weil du in diesem Punkt sowieso unfehlbar bist.

[Starostyak]

Detto. Lese eigentlich Alles, was hier so gepostet wird.

[cmburns]

Detto.  Lese eigentlich Alles, was hier so gepostet wird.

844907[/snapback]

Da schließe ich mich doch auch an...

[ante jazic]

no, heute hama uns aber wieder alle gern!

nein, lob ist vollkommen verdient.