Moyes.

This was originally posted on the wall of a friend who was arguing for the case of David Moyes and I thought I might as well put it here to share with everyone, with some slight amendments.

David Moyes.  Love him or hate him, he’s definitely on every Manchester United supporter’s lips now.  And for those of you who want to see the back of him, either look away now or read on and keep your mouth shut.

Is he incapable? I’m not too sure. Maybe his 10 years at Everton isn’t proof enough that he could handle Manchester United. But then again, going by this logic, the only manager who could handle Manchester United would have to be someone who has actually managed Manchester United before.

Is 6 months enough to determine if he is incapable? I’m not too sure. But just because he’s lost a couple of games everyone is calling him incapable. Nobody ever said anything about beating Arsenal, thrashing Leverkusen 5-0 at their own backyard. Incapable managers don’t beat Arsenal or Leverkusen 5-0 at their own backyard. Everyone only knows how to complain about losing to Newcastle, West Brom, Everton and Swansea at home, but nobody ever says anything about the comeback win at Hull, the victory against high-flying Arsenal or shutting Leverkusen five-zip at the BayArena.  For the uninitiated, Arsenal is top of the table now, Leverkusen is second in Germany.

Is there anyone better than him – and available? I’m not too sure. Everyone is mentioning names like Guardiola, Klopp, or even Sir Alex himself. But look, why would you want to leave a club you are managing decently well and take over what could be the most pressurizing job in the world right now?  And who’s to say Guardiola or Klopp or Mourinho could bring the best out of a team moulded by Sir Alex?

Some people say that players are not inspired to play for him. That’s the biggest piece of BS that I’ve ever head. To be honest, if that is indeed the case, I think it should be the players who should pack their bags and go, not the manager. This whole blame game focused only on how David Moyes is not doing a good job, but nobody even remotely tried to say anything about the players. I believe if Moyes had the chance to build a squad that he wants to build, things could be very different.  You may say a great leader must be able to motivate his players to play for him, which is true.  But I think a leader should also have the right to get rid of people who are disinterested and unmotivated to be under him.  I didn’t think Sir Alex Ferguson could motivate all the players he’s ever managed, and for those whom he couldn’t, he simply showed them the door.  It didn’t matter how big a star he was.  And If he could motivate everyone and turn them into worldbeaters, we won’t be making jokes off Sebastian Veron, Eric Djemba-Djemba, Kleberson and Kieran Richardson. Would we?

So I’d say get off his back and let him try to get things right. He sees the players everyday at the training ground and I believe he is trying to fix things. I’d only worry if he’s looking disinterested like some of the players.

Goals.

Watched two football games yesterday and saw a total of 12 goals, of which 8 were great and 4 of them were not-so-great. Well, at least I still had some fun winding up the Pegasus team yesterday at the stadium, and after winding up Kitchee a few weeks back, it was great to be able to dish out the same dirt on another title challenger whose fight for the league title suddenly went so pear-shaped. And since South China probably aren’t in the title race any more (mathematically it’s still possible, but I’m not betting on it), the best bit of entertainment we can have ourselves is probably to wind up the two teams who are in it but can’t seem to do enough to secure the title! But again, some righteous “fans” are again slagging us off, but I don’t have time for them. If they can’t understand the culture in football, I can’t really help them. As I’ve said a million times, winding up the opposition is part of supporting a team, and if these lot still remains in their 70s mentality, I think they should continue staying in their caves and not let people know how ignorant they are.

As for Manchester United… let’s say that I’m still gutted by how they shipped 2 goals in 3 minutes. I sure wouldn’t want to be in the United dressing room after the game yesterday. I won’t complain – after all these years rooting for United, I’m getting used to such bumpy rides. That said, even if City were to win the league, I wouldn’t say that they deserve it anyway because when you are spending that kind of money, buying all kinds of players, you shouldn’t be just winning the league. As I always said, if it’s Sir Alex managing that bunch of idiots at Manchester City, they would have wrapped up the title in February. Of course, Sir Alex would never have gotten Mario Balotelli in the first place.

Ever since coming back to Hong Kong from Manchester, I think I’m having quite a bad time trying to sleep well. Last week has been hectic (which is an understatement), and hopefully I could get to have a good few hours of sleep in the train when I’m heading over to Beijing this weekend.

And yes, the Manchester travelogue is still nowhere in sight yet. Patience is a virtue, my friend.

MCFC Fact of the Day: If Manchester City wins the Premiership on 13 May, they will finally be able to justify having the 3 stars on their crest, one star for each of their league title win (the other two being 1937 and 1968).

10 Things of Manchester.

As I arrived back in Hong Kong after a 4-and-a-half days in Manchester, there are many thoughts going up in my head and I think it might be a while before I could really put my travelogue together – after all, I still have to sort out my photos! Before the travelogue comes up, I’d just want to share some things I observed/experienced while in Manchester.

1. People in the Manchester are generally friendly. Or maybe it’s a western thing to be friendly.

2. The Manchester Metrolink breaks down at no warning, and when it breaks down, it doesn’t really care how you would carry on your journey.

3. Meat pies at Old Trafford actually aren’t that nice

4. I like Salford, because it’s quiet, comfortable, and most importantly, red.

5. I didn’t get any ticket checks on all the Metrolink rides that I was on.

6. Seems to me that the shops in the city opens only at 10 and shuts down at 6.

7. Out of my four-and-a-half days in Manchester, I experienced good weather (i.e. no rain) for a grand total of one day. I think that’s a good return.

8. Things in Manchester are actually not that expensive. It’s only expensive when you keep comparing it in Hong Kong Dollars terms. Many things are actually very good value for money.

9. Non-league football in Manchester has more passion and bigger crowds than football in Hong Kong.

10. We should be glad that we don’t have Value Added Tax in Hong Kong – the VAT rate in UK is a whooping 20%!

I’m quite sure I’ll visit Manchester again.

One reason to make a second trip to Manchester for...