Se acabó la novela: Xabi Alonso al Real Madrid... El Liverpool, finalmente, accedió a vender a Xabi Alonso al Real Madrid en $43 millones más un variable por objetivos. El chileno Manuel Pellegrini, técnico del Real Madrid, ya tiene al futbolista que había situado en la primera posición de su lista de preferencias. Pidió un volante de categoría y su club satisfizo sus deseos, al cerrar ayer el fichaje de Xabi Alonso, quien llegará procedente del Liverpool. Liverpool confirma que el club llegó a un acuerdo con el Real Madrid para la venta de Xabi Alonso. Los detalles del monto de la transferencia no se revelarán, indicó el club red. El vasco, de esta forma, se convierte en el sexto refuerzo del equipo de Pellegrini, que ya cuenta con Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaká, Karim Benzema, Raúl Albiol y Álvaro Arbeloa, todos comprados este verano. dannijuve!
I was born in January 1960, less than two years after the air disaster at Munich. The legends who lost their lives that day should have been the first team I supported. I should have watched Tommy Taylor and Duncan Edwards in their prime, but like millions of others, I was robbed of that privilege when the aircraft carrying the team crashed into the icy ground at the end of the runway aMunich Airpot in 1958. This is the true story about my love affair with Manchester United. My story obviously begins in the early sixties, when I started to play, watch and love football, but before I can tell it, I need to share a few facts and a little history.
Manchester United is the biggest football club in the world. In fact, they are by far the biggest sports franchise in the world. This has major advantages, like the ability to sell merchandise all over the world, but it also has disadvantages like losing its identity as a local team. I personally will take the wealth, as long as it continues to be invested in the team, but there is an air of sadness when half the accents at Old Trafford don't speak properly.
United have been champions of Europe three times and have won the Premiership ten times, more than anybody else by a country mile. They have also won more FA Cups than any other team and are the only English team to be crowned Champions of the world, and they have achieved this glory twice. United have the biggest club stadium in Britain, holding more than 76,000 and this is way too small for most games. I've been disappointed so many times when I've failed to get a ticket to a big game. Applications are usually over-subscribed and the ballot seems to skip my membership number with glaring regularity. Old Trafford would easily fill 100,000 if there was a sensible way of expanding the stadium.
The current team is made up of millionaire superstars but this has not always been the case. In fact, they have not always been called Manchester United. Surprisingly, they have not always played in the famous red shirts either; their first kit was green and gold, reflecting the colours of the industrial company where it all began in a suburb of Manchester. In the nineteenth century, Manchester was the heartbeat of England. The industrial revolution was born in Manchester and it was the most productive industrial city in the world. Manchester was also the birthplace of the railway.
In 1878, a group of football mad railway workers created their own football club. They were called, Newton Heath L.Y.R. (Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway). Newton Heath was denied entry into the Football League on several occasions and because of the lack of ability to take on the wealthy teams of the day, they struggled financially. Like so many twists and turns in the United legend, this adversity led to opportunity and the birth of success. Club Captain Henry Stafford took his St Bernard dog to a fund raising event for the ailing club. The event itself barely broke even, and worst still, the dog went missing. A few days later the dog was discovered at the home of local brewer and wealthy businessman, Henry Davies. When Davies, a rugby and bowls fan, met with Henry Stafford, he was intrigued by the clubs story and bought them, injecting much needed cash. Like many a traveler on his last legs, Newton Heath had been saved by a St Bernard dog.
Henry Davies also moved the club to a new ground at Bank Street in Clayton. This was three miles away from the railway works at Newton Heath and closer to Manchester city centre. He decided to change the name of the club and after much soul searching the names of Manchester Central and Manchester Celtic were both turned down (thankfully) and Manchester United was born in 1902. Within two seasons United were promoted to the First Division (the premier league of its day) and in 1908, United won its first league title, now playing in the famous red shirts.
United were also moving forward off the pitch as well. In 1910, they moved from their old Bank Street Stadium to a new purpose built ground at Old Trafford. It was just in the nick of time. Two days after moving to Old Trafford, strong winds blew down the main wooden stand at Bank Street. Even in the early days, the fortunes of Manchester United would have made an Oscar winning Hollywood script.
When Old Trafford was opened on February 19th 1910 it was described as the best football stadium in the world. (It is remarkable how a century later it is still regarded as one of the best football stadiums in the world.) The cost of the 1910 version seems modest today but it was a small fortune of 60,000 pounds at the time, with a capacity of 80,000.
During the Second World War, the Luftwaffe added their bit of history to the legend by bombing the ground. It was 1949 before it re-opened; looking exactly the same as it had before the bombing. In 1950, a roof was added to the famous Stretford End which packed in 20,000 fanatical United supporters. When floodlights were installed in the late 1950's, Bobby Charlton recalled that thousands of fans were congregated outside the ground before the season had started. They just wanted to be part of the story and witness the floodlights for the first time. United has always had that type of support.
The team's fortunes were up and down throughout the 1920's and 1930's, mainly down. In 1930 they made their worst ever start to a season, losing their first twelve games, and we thought the seventies were bleak! It was in 1945 that Matt Busby joined United, having turned down Liverpool. Matt was still at the helm of the club twenty five years later.
Busby's impact was immediate, leading the team to second place in four out of five years before eventually winning the championship for the third time in the clubs history in 1952. This was the end of one era and the start of the most legendary period in the history of sport, the birth of the famous Busby Babes. The Babes redefined football, winning successive championships in 1956 and 1957.
Most of the Busby Babes had graduated through the ranks, starting with the youth team. Matt decided that although they were incredibly young, he could not leave them out of the first team. The average age of the team that won the championship in 1956 was just 22. The following year, they won it again with a teenager called Bobby Charlton now in the team. The team had eleven stars but the two stand outs were Duncan Edwards and Tommy Taylor, possibly the best two players in the world at that time. Tommy was signed from Barnsley and scored an amazing 131 goals in just 191 games. Duncan is still revered by those lucky enough to see him play as the greatest player of all time.
In 1958, United were going after their third title in a row and at the beginning of February went to Arsenal, winning 5-4 in what has since been described as the greatest game ever. Of course, it was completely overshadowed by what happened just a few days later. Having triumphantly knocked out Red Star Belgrade on their way to the European Cup semi final; disaster struck. After refueling at Munich airport, the plane crashed at just after 3 o'clock on February 6th. Twenty one people died, including seven players, David Pegg, Liam Whelan, Eddie Colman, Roger Byrne, Geoff Bent, Tommy Taylor and Mark Jones. Fifteen days later, the great Duncan Edwards joined them in heaven, dying from his wounds. The Busby Babes were cut down before they'd even reached their prime. I still cry when I watch the Pathé News report of the day. The best way I can think to describe the feelings of the nation came by way of an anonymous poem, 'The Flowers of Manchester' first published in folk magazine 'Sing' and later attributed to editor Eric Winter after his death. There is an amazing a cappella song version by Mick Groves of the Spinners folk group. Mick, a fellow Salford lad, claims his proudest ever moment was when he sang it quietly to Matt Busby and Louis Edwards (then chairman of United). Mick's song can be found easily on the internet and if you haven't heard it, make sure you have a box of tissues handy. Here are those amazing words.
'The Flowers of Manchester'
One cold and bitter Thursday in Munich, Germany,
Eight great football stalwarts conceded victory,
Eight men will never play again who met destruction there,
The flowers of English football, the flowers of Manchester
Matt Busby's boys were flying, returning from Belgrade,
This great United family, all masters of their trade,
The pilot of the aircraft, the skipper Captain Thain,
Three times they tried to take off and twice turned back again.
The third time down the runaway disaster followed close,
There was slush upon that runaway and the aircraft never rose,
It ploughed into the marshy ground, it broke, it overturned.
And eight of the team were killed as the blazing wreckage burned.
Roger Byrne and Tommy Taylor who were capped for England's side.
And Ireland's Billy Whelan and England's Geoff Bent died,
Mark Jones and Eddie Colman, and David Pegg also,
They all lost their lives as it ploughed on through the snow.
Big Duncan he went too, with an injury to his brain,
And Ireland's brave Jack Blanchflower will never play again,
The great Matt Busby lay there, the father of his team
Three long months passed by before he saw his team again.
The trainer, coach and secretary, and a member of the crew,
Also eight sporting journalists who with United flew,
and one of them Big Swifty, who we will ne'er forget,
the finest English 'keeper that ever graced the net.
Oh, England's finest football team its record truly great,
its proud successes mocked by a cruel turn of fate.
Eight men will never play again, who met destruction there,
the flowers of English football, the flowers of Manchester.
This all happened two years before my birth in January 1960, and some fifty years later we still remember them. I have been the lead singer in many bands over the years and on several occasions tried to sing The Flowers of Manchester but I can never get through it without breaking down. God bless the Busby Babes and Manchester United.
Posted on 10:04 | By nui | In Liverpool
Liverpool FC have some of the greatest stars in the English Premier League. Fernando Torrez, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher are legends on Merseyside and the support for Rafa Benitez team is immense. Other big stars on Merseyside include Alberto Aquelani, Jossi Benayoun and Glen Johnson.
Liverpool FC are one of the most successful football teams in history and football legends like Kenny Dalglish, Ian Rush, Alan Hanson, Stevie Highway, Phil Neal and Emlyn Hughes are all heroes on the Kop, as are managers like Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley. Liverpool compete at the highest level in all competitions, year after year. Some of the most exciting games of football of the season take place at Anfield and the atmosphere is electric.
During the 1970's and 80's Liverpool dominated English and European football. Between 1977 and 1984 they won four European Cups. Liverpool has won a joint-record eighteen league titles, seven FA Cups, seven League Cups, three UEFA Cups, and five European Cups, an English record. They won a cup treble in 2001 under Rafa Benitez.
Liverpool play in an all red kit, their emblem is the city's crest, the liver bird. The team play at the legendary Anfield stadium. Liverpool fans famous anthem is the song - "You'll Never Walk Alone", whose words adorn the famous 'Shankly Gates' outside the ground. In 1906, the banked stand at one end of the ground was formally renamed the Spion Kop after a hill in Natal. The hill was the site of the Battle Of Spion Kop in the Boer War where over 300 men of the Lancashire Regiment died, many of whom were from Liverpool.
There are plans afoot to build a brand new Liverpool FC stadium at Stanley Park. Liverpool's biggest footballing rivals are Everton and Manchester Utd.
Liverpool FC gifts include DVD collections of the greatest games in the clubs history, DVD Season Reviews and many biographies of great players like Ian Rush and Robbie Fowler. There are also official guides to Liverpool FC and it's history. Tours of Anfield stadium are also Liverpool FCpopular gifts, as are signed gifts such as shirts and posters.
British football, more commonly known in The United States as soccer, has gained in popularity, as is evidenced in the fact that more and more companies that print banners are seeing an increase in the production of soccer banners and other soccer and team related apparel and products. Soccer moms proudly display soccer ball stickers on their automobiles. They don T-shirts that proudly proclaim them "Soccer Moms" and team parties and tournaments are gaining in popularity and scope.
Soccer banners can be elaborate or simple. They come in a wide variety of sizes, different colors, fonts and font colors. They can be generic enough to be used over and over again, or be personalized with team photos, Names, dates, slogans, quotes or quips. They normally average from twenty-five dollars each to one hundred dollars each. They can be ordered ahead of time or as late as two to three weeks ahead of time, depending on the policies of the company with which you are dealing. It is always a good idea to get the banners early and check them for errors, so if they are not right, they can be returned and replaced before you need them.
Often banner companies offer individual banners, or pennants, for team members to take home as keepsakes and/or sell at the games. Many teams order T-shirts, caps, stickers, buttons, pennants, and other team merchandise and sell them throughout the season to finance end of the season parties, all star events, and other team related expenses.
Taking a look at Fernando Torres great goals in a Liverpool shirt!! :D Please comment and Rate! I dont not own any of the Music that is in the Video -------No copyright infringement intended--------- PLEASE JOIN NEW LIVERPOOL FORUM lfcfooty.forumotion.com ITS FREE AND EASY TO JOIN----THANKS!
www.squidoo.com - Watch Liverpool Vs Atletico Live Online Liverpool FC striker Fernando Torres will hope to be fit to face his old team, Club Atlético de Madrid, when Group D's top two meet again at Anfield a fortnight after their 1-1 draw in the Spanish capital. • If Torres, scorer of 102 goals in 243 appearances for Atlético between 2001 and 2007, missed out an emotional return to the Vicente Calderón on Matchday 3 because of injury, the sides' second encounter offers Atlético pair Luis García and Florent Sinama Pongolle the opportunity to make the journey in reverse by heading back to their former club on Merseyside. www.squidoo.com - Watch Liverpool Vs Atletico Live Online Luis García left Liverpool for Atlético in 2007 after three seasons in which he made 77 league appearances, scoring 18 goals. His most significant strike in a red shirt came in the UEFA Champions League where he got the only goal of the 2004/05 semi-final against Chelsea FC. • Sinama Pongolle also made a telling contribution to Liverpool's triumphant 2004/05 campaign, scoring the first of three second-half goals which rescued them from elimination against Olympiacos CFP in December 2004. The French forward struggled to establish himself having joined Liverpool as a teenager, but has blossomed in Spain and moved to Atlético this summer after 22 league goals in two seasons at RC Recreativo de Huelva. www.squidoo.com - Watch Liverpool Vs Atletico Live Online
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