21st Jan was an evening when two of the finest players in the premiership were about to send their fans in a state of frenzy. Two players who are the best in the business to keep their heads and score regular goals using anything but their heads. Henry’s reputation with the feet is well known for a few years now and Rooney, winner of two consecutive PFA Young player of the year awards, has already started to draw comparisons with George Best for his soft feet. Still you hardly read sport headlines like “Henry scores a scorching header” or “Henry’s bald head proves too much for the opposition”. If this was not enough, Rooney himself bore a record of no headed goals in his Old Trafford career prior to this game. But as they say, “When the going gets tough, the tough gets going”. Following a long barren spell in the preceding weeks, Rooney finally registered his first header and got Man Utd ahead with style soon after half time. This game had 3 precious premiership points at stake and to top it up, it offered an extra incentive of retribution for the red devils following the painful loss earlier in the season. The visitors showed plenty of possession in the opening half and Wazza’s goal had pretty much convinced everyone that it wasn’t to be for the Gunners. I myself had already started the ceremonial celebrations by sending an arrogant sms to Bharat in India. But just 7 minutes before full-time, Van Persie managed to get the better of Neville and sent an unstoppable shot past the Dutch keeper. As I came out of the toilet, I heard a roar across the pub and saw the fans in Arsenal shirts laughing with pride. I guessed what had happened and the replays just confirmed my worst fear – in fact I was completely wrong when I thought the game was over at that point. As I was still recovering from the shock of the latest goal, Henry rose unmarked in the Man Utd penalty area in stoppage time and headed Eboue’s cross flawlessly into the United net. Devinder jumped up from his seat in a mad flurry and I threw my head in my hands in disbelief, refusing to watch the Arsenal celebrations and accept defeat – a defeat which felt much more painful than the one back in September. The referee blew the final whistle - it was finished and Arsenal had done a premiership double over us in dramatic circumstances. Bharat knew exactly what he was writing when his text at the end of the match summed up everything, "Mate I just saw the result, 2-1. That's all!". As he celebrated with that line, I sat there in complete shock and misery!
Though it felt extremely disheartening for the next couple of days, I always believed that Man Utd had the grit and skills to overcome this second blip and stage another trail of wins as they did after September. It is a team made up of individually gifted players, but a team that has started to gel together exceptionally well. Our main defence is attack and everyone in the team has contributed to the attack in its own way this season. In addition to Ronaldo, Scholes is being touted as a possible PFA player of the year (to my delight…atleast somebody has started to appreciate the consistent contribution he makes week in week out) this season. Rooney has started to score single goals again recently while the 35-yr old Larsson has been an absolute astute move by Ferguson. You have Giggs, who even at this age, is leaving the premiership defences in complete disarray by applying his experience and football intelligence to perfection. And then you have the defence – centre backs who have stood like a rock and full backs who have run into the opposition half like a bulldozer. We have a queue of top class keepers waiting in the wings in case the unswerving Van der Sar slips up and we have a brilliant passer of the ball in Carrick, who is constantly learning to anchor the Reds midfield on his own one day. It is not rocket science to realise the fact that Sir Alex is building a sensational team not only for this season, but a team that has the potential and right attitude to succeed for years to come. The United manager has always believed in improving his team at the end of every season by continuously scouting exciting talent all over the globe – and I see Rooney and Ronaldo as the cornerstones of that upcoming team. Pretty much on the lines of the team he created back in the 90s or in fact the team popularly known as the ‘Busby babes’ back in the 50s! Today is 6th February and it’s been exactly 49 years since some of those golden boys of the Busby era died in a horrific crash at Munich. It is a mishap, which still sends a chill down your spine when you think of it. So much young and promising talent…so many innocent lives just lost in a single crash. Nevertheless, their fond memories would live on at Old Trafford for generations to come and their names would be sung every time Rooney scores a goal, Ronaldo nutmegs the defence or some sizzling talent from Wales makes a block. Today’s young Reds, like Rooney and Ronaldo, are an embodiment of the Busby babes and I feel there wouldn’t be a bigger tribute to the latter than these youngsters lifting the premiership trophy this May!!
“Cut down in their prime, in silence, on that day, February 58…They got what they need, from Belgrade and back home to sleep!”
Though it felt extremely disheartening for the next couple of days, I always believed that Man Utd had the grit and skills to overcome this second blip and stage another trail of wins as they did after September. It is a team made up of individually gifted players, but a team that has started to gel together exceptionally well. Our main defence is attack and everyone in the team has contributed to the attack in its own way this season. In addition to Ronaldo, Scholes is being touted as a possible PFA player of the year (to my delight…atleast somebody has started to appreciate the consistent contribution he makes week in week out) this season. Rooney has started to score single goals again recently while the 35-yr old Larsson has been an absolute astute move by Ferguson. You have Giggs, who even at this age, is leaving the premiership defences in complete disarray by applying his experience and football intelligence to perfection. And then you have the defence – centre backs who have stood like a rock and full backs who have run into the opposition half like a bulldozer. We have a queue of top class keepers waiting in the wings in case the unswerving Van der Sar slips up and we have a brilliant passer of the ball in Carrick, who is constantly learning to anchor the Reds midfield on his own one day. It is not rocket science to realise the fact that Sir Alex is building a sensational team not only for this season, but a team that has the potential and right attitude to succeed for years to come. The United manager has always believed in improving his team at the end of every season by continuously scouting exciting talent all over the globe – and I see Rooney and Ronaldo as the cornerstones of that upcoming team. Pretty much on the lines of the team he created back in the 90s or in fact the team popularly known as the ‘Busby babes’ back in the 50s! Today is 6th February and it’s been exactly 49 years since some of those golden boys of the Busby era died in a horrific crash at Munich. It is a mishap, which still sends a chill down your spine when you think of it. So much young and promising talent…so many innocent lives just lost in a single crash. Nevertheless, their fond memories would live on at Old Trafford for generations to come and their names would be sung every time Rooney scores a goal, Ronaldo nutmegs the defence or some sizzling talent from Wales makes a block. Today’s young Reds, like Rooney and Ronaldo, are an embodiment of the Busby babes and I feel there wouldn’t be a bigger tribute to the latter than these youngsters lifting the premiership trophy this May!!
“Cut down in their prime, in silence, on that day, February 58…They got what they need, from Belgrade and back home to sleep!”
Man Utd players, staff and journalists prior to boarding the ill-fated plane
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