The other week, Sir Alex Ferguson (Fergie) announced he was to retire at the end of the season. Apparently he wanted to announce he was to retire, after the last home game at Old Trafford the following weekend but the news was leaked.
There were rumours on Tuesday evening going around Twitter etc. It was official confirmed the next day.
End of an Era
It really is an end of an era. He has been manager of United for 26 and a half years – since November 1986. Its incredible! Many, many United fans will not have known United with another manager. We are not used to have different managers every few years like some other teams.
There are a couple managers who have been manager of a team longer – someone was manager of Auxerre for 44 years – but he was not anyway near as successful as Fergie.
The Premier League title was the 13th Premier League title United have won. It was the 20th league title in total. With the year being 2013, it was just perfect. Also, at the weekend, Rio became the 20th different goalscorer. And of course, our top goalscorer was Van Persie – who wears no. 20 shirt.
Its going to strange next season but in some ways an exciting change. At first I wanted Mourinho as the new manager. He would almost guarantee trophies and is a brilliant manager. However, thinking about it, I think Moyes is a great choice. For United, its all about having a long term manager, bringing the youth through to the senior team etc. Also Moyes style of management, apparently, has similarities to Fergie.
As well as Fergie retiring, Scholes is also retiring (again). David Gill is leaving and the kit man Albert is leaving too. Gary Neville retired recently, his brother Phil Neville has left Everton (and retiring from football??). (And its now been announced that David Beckham is retiring at end of the season). Out of those “Fergie’s Fledglings”, its only Giggs left!
United parade
It was the United Parade on Monday. I went round to friend flat around 6 – he lives besides Deansgate so we got a decent view as the team went past in the bus. There were 6 of us all with our heads out the 2 windows taking photos (and a bit of singing) as they went passed.
Was a bit worried about the weather though. Around 3pm, weather went horrible. Rain, wind, hail, bit of snow, lightning and thunder! It was sunny in the morning. Thankfully around 5, the weather improved a lot!
My friend made a sign also which the team should have seen. It said “Thank You Sir Alex and Scholesy”.
There were tons of people everywhere. There were 100s of people on some scaffolding along Deansgate – crazy – not safe. People stood on top of bus stops. People climbing on cars – and causing some damage (idiots!). Also heard about some people smashing up the City Store. All football clubs always have some “fans” like this – its the minority. We should have more class than that!
Anyway, after the team went passed, we quickly left flat and headed towards Albert Square. It was all closed off though. To be honest, I thought it may have been closed off. Or even if it was not, we would not be able to get anywhere near. People had been waiting there for hours before the team arrived.
You can see the photos I took here - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151586716111195.1073741828.597316194&type=1&l=34c82fffc5
David Beckham has announced he is to retire at the end of the season. He’s a Manchester United legend. He has always been a United fan and always has good things to say about United (and Fergie).
We have pretty much come to the end of the summer of sport for 2012 – although you could argue that the Ryder Cup at end of September is the end?? Anyway, its been a rather good summer of sport – especially for Great Britain!! As a spots fan, I had lots to look forward to with the Euro 2012 tournament, the Olympics and Wimbledon. However, its been so much more.
and Andy Murray winning. First grand slam won by a Brit for 74 years! Added to his Gold and Silver in Olympics, its been a great year for him!
There were many highlights (not just for Brits) from the Olympics and Paralympics including (in no particular order):
With all this amazing success for Britain, the voting for the Sports Personality of the Year is going to be tough!! Very tough!! I think I heard that regarding special honours given by Queen – CBEs, OBEs, Knighthoods etc – that there will be a special section this year. Is that right??
The Chris Moyles show has ended 
Personally, I am sad its ended. I’ve been listening to the Chris Moyles show in various different time slots pretty much since he was on Radio 1 around 1997/98. Now if your not a fan of Chris Moyles or the show, you probably won’t be interested in the rest of my blog post!!
