20 Mar 2018 20:57:41
Danny Lancs asks lower down about SAF early days.

A different perspective, there was a drinking culture in the club. People don't realise how bad it was. One Thursday night not long after SAF joined I was in a pub in Sale when two senior first team players arrived. There was a game at the weekend but they were hammered and got more hammered. I watched as one was collapsed across the end of the bar and eventually had to be carried out by the bouncer. My friends and I were going to the game at the weekend and just shook our heads in shame. There were no cameras, no mobile phones to record it on. My late brother was in the same pub for lunch and regaled to me how one key first team player sank 7 pints of lager over lunchtime with a game several days away.

You have to understand perspective, when SAF arrived we had endured circa 15 years of utter Liverpool dominance and a press that eulogised them, everything was nice stories about the boot room. We desperately longed for success, the joke about our end of season party being in February when the Scousers went too far ahead to catch them grated beyond belief. It is why winning is what matters, the Scousers ground out wins, collected trophies.

SAF arrived and he had won so much with Aberdeen, I watched some of them on tv. We had new hope, yet we hardly saw an improvement, the football was awful, it really was and didn't the Scousers love it. There was no social media but radio shows had people on doubting SAF. The only time my belief wavered was the 5.1 defeat at City in 89. it was hard to take because our dreams were being ripped apart again. Someone told me though that SAF was making changes to the club and stick with it. I was someone who stood on the Stretford End shouting Sexton out so it was hard not to protest, yet I had seen some of the issues and to be honest the choice was throw it all out start again with another manager or stick with SAF, I chose SAF. We were promised so much with Big Ron. I went to away games because we thought we could win the league, only to be shattered by a bunch of prima donnas and that was awful in the end, nice football but nothing to show for it, so we just had to wait, give SAF the chance. SAF then made a tough decision over Leighton, destroyed his career really, but it was the right one. It was probably a turning point for the club. We won the cup but the manager showed he could make tough decisions and that is what Jose is doing. There are more modern problems at the club, now players can't be criticised as it might hurt their feelings. I played football in SAF early days and it was physical, not like now, you had to deal with criticism and not get upset about it. Different problems now but still things that need tough decisions, do we want a manager to make them or someone who cosies up to them for 18 months until the players don't like what they hear again. You decide.

1.) 20 Mar 2018
20 Mar 2018 21:18:22
Cracking post red man thanks for sharing and giving an insight into those early days.

2.) 20 Mar 2018
20 Mar 2018 21:38:51
Thanks for sharing Red Man.

3.) 20 Mar 2018
20 Mar 2018 22:24:14
Loved reading that red man, good post.

4.) 20 Mar 2018
20 Mar 2018 22:42:49
Top top top post Redman these players should be men and not act like girls and take everything to heart.

5.) 20 Mar 2018
20 Mar 2018 22:43:15
Brilliant read Red-Man.

6.) 21 Mar 2018
21 Mar 2018 00:01:17
Redman, you're referring to Norman Whiteside and Paul McGrath. We used to see them a lot around Manchester in bars when they should be in bed. Different times but they were great times.
Also Bryan Robson could drink with the best of them but somehow managed to keep his career going.
Players of today are a different breed and the managers have their hands full. To be honest, it's a difficult job and one I hate to do nowadays.
I was at Stret End from 1970 till 1990 before I moved in order to take my son to the matches. Then we moved back to Stret End and now singing stand and we would like to go back to Stret End. Life moves a full cycle. There's never a dull moment at our club.
My best memory was when we got beat at home by the brilliant WBA side containing the late Cyril Regis. The crowd applauded the teams off the field. Brilliant match despite us Losing. Sorry to bore posters with silly memories.

7.) 21 Mar 2018
21 Mar 2018 00:21:51
Best post I’ve read in a long time RM. 👏👏
Good supporting post AAA. 👍.

8.) 21 Mar 2018
21 Mar 2018 02:35:52
Red Man good post. Evoked a couple of memories. Ta. 👏.

9.) 21 Mar 2018
21 Mar 2018 03:04:43
Great post redman and AAA, but I have to ask how fecking old are you people? 😉.

10.) 21 Mar 2018
21 Mar 2018 00:56:36
Does that mean AAA's post was a top top post? 😂

I think there is a move by the press to hang Jose and stick the knife into utd. They have been waiting to watch it all blow up. I for one am going to support the manager and trust that if these players aren't right then he will move them on and bring in the right players.

Can anyone really say that Alderwereld/ umtiti, Kroos, Bale, martin/ max/ rose with 8 making way Doesn't sound exciting? This squad needs a revamp, we have a few very good pieces at a good age. I think this summer will see our first team get significantly stronger.

If a few don't make it and don't feel they got a fair chance then they need to be honest with themselves. Easy to blame other people when the truth hurts.

11.) 21 Mar 2018
21 Mar 2018 05:37:34
AAA, seems we trod similar paths.

CSM, in August I will have been supporting the club for 50 years.

I started going to games in the South stand seats about 1971 with my late brother, I then went in the Stretford End Paddock around 1976 before going in the Stretford End not long after.

Tough but great at the games, we got behind the team far more, mainly because we were underdogs to the Scousers. Still we queued to get in en masse and screamed our heads off, were the extra man. I remember the 5-3 game with WBA, wonderful players Regis and Cunningham, would have graced today’s game. I have experienced the lowest, I was sat in K stand in 74 when Law back heeled in for City, people don’t realise the humiliation, now it is made out to be humiliation when we lose to a lesser opponent, 74 puts everything in perspective. However, there was 84 and Barca, what a night.

The mid eighties Everton came along and did what we couldn’t, beat the Scouse from top spot. I was at the 85 cup final, it’s never brought up now, but we sang Everton, Everton out of respect, they did a lap of honour in front of us and we cheered them, easier because we won, but they had put the Scouse in their place even for a couple of years. Hence my soft spot for Everton.

Nostalgia huh, one of my memories was in the 80’s, meeting and spending an afternoon drinking with Wilf McGuiness, lovely man but couldn’t imagine him being strong enough to lead.

Nostalgia, apologies, but my dad took me down Chester road, past Old Trafford in the late sixties, totally different place to what it is now, then it was a gritty northern town for tough footballers like Bill Foulkes, not the shiny modern one it is now where sensitivities are part of the psyche. Standing on the terraces gave a different, more grounded view of the game than sat in the rarified seats. Standing cost about 30 pence I think which you could save up from most of your pocket money to pay, it was raw and you went to support your team, now they go to watch, to be entertained, it’s different, it’s the corporate animal, sad because most of you won’t have experienced that raw feeling of a goal and thousands rushing forward in a crush all together while screaming, then trying to get back to where you stood and find your mates. Wrists were broken on the barriers in the crush, but oh what fun.

12.) 21 Mar 2018
21 Mar 2018 05:53:48
Red Man thanks for giving some perspective and good memories. I think the younger generation has now add a different meaning to supporting 🤣🤣🤣 and I guess they want instant results just like instant coffee or tea.
Love to be able to have a nice afternoon tea with you and AAA when I have the chance to visit UK. It’ll be a rewarding trip 😉.

13.) 21 Mar 2018
21 Mar 2018 09:24:10
You're right RedMan. We must have been present at all the old matches. 666 and dodgy and all other posters who commented, make no mistake, our club is the best in the world. There mught be clubs like City or Chelsea with the new money, but our club has history and tradition that they can't buy. That's why as much as I dislike the red Scousers, I also have respect for their achievements. As they are also a traditional club with great history.
RedMan, that WBA game was just something else. Sadly, both Cunningham and Regis are no longer with us.
But one thing that RedMan absolutely nailed is the atmosphere at the ground. I have also experienced the surge in the stands on countless times when we used to stand and though it was frightening at the time, it was exhilarating. The stadium used to shake with the noise. 2468 the reds are great by Bachman Turner overdrive used to start the show and the crowd were up and running from the kick off. Now we have this stupid presenter who kills the atmosphere before games and when he stops yelling on his microphone, the crowd are so quiet. As RedMan rightly says, we used to go to support while now, people go to be entertained a bit like an American football game. I do wish the club will sort this out by liaising with the fans. I sit there so many times and the away supporters if lesser teams are the only ones heard. This is not the case at our away matches, where our support is the best in the land by a mile.
And a last memory, I've been to Anfield four times and seen United win on every occasion. Two of those, my brother and I were sold tickets by touts to the away stand but in our haste to get into the match at the last seconds before the start, only to find that we're in the Kop. Have you tried watching your team score goals when you can't celebrate?

14.) 21 Mar 2018
21 Mar 2018 10:21:02
AAA you got me really laughing with the tout ticket incident. Yeah probably just smiled when we scored whilst at the Kop end 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I really agree with what you said about going to support rather than to be entertained. But then I can also understand about other who feels they paid for the ticket and expects to be entertained. It’s tough to be a supporter 😉🤣.

15.) 21 Mar 2018
21 Mar 2018 15:36:09
666, luckily my elder brother was there to control me when we scored. It involved looking at one another with sad faces while deep inside, we were laughing our head off. 😂.

16.) 21 Mar 2018
21 Mar 2018 18:14:19
Big Norm. Another great, but flawed player from my own shores. I'm noticing a pattern, here.

17.) 21 Mar 2018
21 Mar 2018 19:56:47
Brilliant lads thoroughly enjoyed that whole thread.