England’s Greatest Football Club

I am a Liverpool fan. I have been a supporter since I was 12 when Kenny Dalglish was still a player. I must admit Liverpool was not the first English league team I supported; that honour goes to Tottenham Hotspurs. Supporting Spurs had nothing to do with their playing style, players or history; as a ten year old, the name ‘Spurs’ was kinda cool plus they had a cool looking Steve Archibald playing for them and that was enough reason to be a fan.

The 70s and 80s belonged to Liverpool. Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa, Everton and Arsenal managed to sneak a title or two in between Liverpool’s run of championships but there was never a single club that constantly challenged the Reds’ dominance.

In 1991, Dalglish left the club. His successors failed where he succeeded the most – winning.

In 1990, Alex Ferguson broke his four year trophy duck. He’s won everything ever since.

Well, almost everything; Dalglish took Blackburn Rovers to the title in 1995 and pushed United all the way with Newcastle a few years later but no other team really bugged United during the 90s. Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal won the double in 1998 and a few titles and FA cups in between but other than that, it was all MU.

Then came Roman and Jose. Abramovich’s money and Mourinho’s tactical brilliance gave Ferguson and MU a big fight. Chelsea is now a serious challenger and the noughties is theirs as much as the 90s were United’s. Chelsea however can only claim to be a great team of the moment, they have yet to acquire the right to be in the same group as the greatest team of all time.

I am a hard core Liverpool fan. But I’ll humbly admit that the greatest English football club is no longer the Reds of Merseyside, it is now the Reds of somewhere near Moss Side. It is without doubt Alex Ferguson is the most successful manager of all time in the English league. Shankly, Clough, Busby, Paisley and Robson were great managers but Ferguson brought continuous success to MU, year after year, without major downswings.

All this wouldn’t have happened if the United Board hadn’t given Ferguson time. If there was a good decision, retaining Ferguson despite his horrible record during the first 3 years was definitely the best.

All of MU’s success is attributed to Ferguson. He is ruthless, rude, arrogant, vengeful and scores of other bad things. I can’t think of anything nice about him. He plays football on the field as well in the mind. His confrontations with Keegan and Wenger are well documented. His contempt for match officials is a well known fact. Despite the many negatives, Ferguson knows how to win games. He knows how to buy players. He often gets who he wants (the United brand does play a part too).

I’m still a Liverpool fan and will be for a long time but I’ll take my hats off to Manchester United and Alex Ferguson. They have earned the title of the greatest club in England and the most successful manager ever in English football.

Having said that, King Kenny is back. The glory days are coming back to Merseyside and United’s 20 year reign may soon come to an end.

Please Take Action Against Utusan

I’m disgusted with Utusan’s recent behaviour. They have been so brazen in inciting racial and religious hatred. If the peace and calm in the country is shattered, the party that should take most of the blame has to be Utusan. The recent report on DAP conspiring with Christian leaders wanting to take over Putrajaya and abolish Islam as the country’s official religion is short of being brainless. No, it is brainless! To top it all, it is based on some blog posting. I mean, didn’t they themselves (Utusan, BN leaders) remind us (dumb citzens) not to believe what the bloggers write? Now, their front page news is based on a blog! Stupid or what??!!

Let me stress again (to my 3 loyal, regular blog visitors), there is NO WAY DAP on their own can take over Putrajaya. There is no way DAP or the Christians for that matter can change the constitution on their own. The present electoral structure doesn’t allow the DAP to take over the country on their own. Therefore, the constantly under threat and weak Malays/Muslims (that’s how Perkasa and their ilk portrays us, makes us believe) can be rest assured that no one, let alone the DAP; can take our birth right away.

The thing about Utusan is; I’m guessing their readership is mainly the rural, low income, less informed, less educated masses. These people, not having the right tools and exposure to evaluate, tend to take whatever Utusan says as gospel. When their more educated and exposed children tell them that Utusan is so full of bull, they will bark at the kids and tell them not to be ungrateful because Utusan’s master (UMNO) made them what they are today. By the same logic, Dr Mahathir should thank the British for establishing that kolej in Alor Setar and that University in Singapore for making him a doctor. I agree; we all should be grateful to those who have given us whatever we have now but to what point?

Latest I heard, 9 police reports have been made against Utusan. I however doubt any action would be taken against them. In the mean time, let us not worry about non-issues. Let us instead focus our worries on rising food prices, crime levels, corruption, job security, education opportunities and health services and maybe, love.

No More Osama

Now that the world’s most wanted man (according to the FBI/CIA/MI6) is dead, the US Armed Forces, CIA and probably the US foreign service will from now on have very little to do. I foresee a lot US armed forces personnel losing their jobs unless they find another bogey man to keep them occupied and employed for the next 10 years. We might also have some unemployed journalists as I’m sure Reuters, AFP etc had teams dedicated to reporting anything Osama related. The death of Osama actually causes unemployment to rise! Economics professors take note!

But seriously, I’m guessing, a lot of effort was put into the pursuit of Osama. The multiplier effect must have contributed quite a bit to the US economy. The White House cannot afford to lose that x% factor in the economic growth so they need a new target, a new public enemy. Ladbrokes and William Hill might not be taking any bets yet but odds on to succeed Osama as the most hunted and wanted would probably be Ayman Zawahri, Al Qaeda’s until recently second in command. Gaddafi probably has an outside chance, so does any Iranian leader. Unfortunately Kim Jong il has no chance of getting the kind of attention Osama got; North Korea ain't got no oil dude. Oil is apparently the magnet that attracts US warplanes and warships, which explains the lack of Western military intervention in oil-less, despotic dictator-ruled countries.

Osama is one smooth operator. No one really knows where his HQ is but from where ever he’s based, he can attack locations anywhere in the world! The latest I heard, his main means of communication is via human couriers. Yes, just like back in the good ol’ dark ages! Yet, this man Osama is able to evade the technologically superior Americans and at the same time launch periodic, deadly attacks all over the world.

No, seriously seriously, if Osama contributed to or ordered most of the terrorist attacks during the last 10-15 years, wouldn’t the world be a safer place now that he’s gone? Wouldn’t that be a good enough reason for the foreign forces (read, US) to leave Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Goaheadgostan? The targets for the suicide bombers were mostly places which are either foreigner-related (e.g. embassies) or foreigner-assisted (e.g. army/police camps). Maybe, just maybe, no foreigners will result in no (at least much less) bombings?

1Melayu

Utusan is pressing for a 1Melayu movement to counter the threat of Chinese political dominance.

Perkasa is taking up the responsibility to spearhead the 1Melayu movement to counter the threat of the Chinese taking over the country.

The Chinese in question are (apparently) Malaysians too. As Malaysian as any Malay, Iban, Kadazan, Indian or Negrito. They are not Singaporean Chinese, or Chinese from China. They hold Malaysian passports and blue IC. Yet they are not supposed have political power. Strange!

No, I’m not a Chinese sympathiser or a Chinese political protagonist. I’m merely curious as to why Utusan and Perkasa are so insecure about Malay political power.