30 april 2012, the f word

For four years now I've managed to avoid using the f word: football, which for many of my friends and colleagues, let alone much of the general population here in manchester, is one of the most important words in the english language. Ironic then I was on national radio (47 minutes in) today talking about it. My dad was a big united fan, though strangely I saw more manchester city matches as a kid (colin bell, joe corrigan), as his boss was a guy called dovoud alliance who had some connection, so we worked there (sort of) on saturdays. By the time my brother came along, united was far too expensive, and rough, and so they toured local lancashire clubs until alighting on the friendliest and most convenient, the then obscure blackburn rovers, who promptly got bought by a local bigwig, built a new stadium & a great team, got promoted twice and actually won the league, kenny dalglish on that occasion getting the better of alex ferguson. And they've been in the top league ever since, though will finally drop out this year, having being bought by new indian money. City are now built on abu dhabi oil money, whereas united are debt-fuelled capitalism at its most extreme, though it may yet prove a solid enough base to win the english premier league yet again this year, despite this evening's result...