TEDDY’S CORNER

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Harry Gregg OBE

Rollercoaster! Couldn’t find a better word to describe this season. Less than 3 months before the end of the season and you never know what this United team will come up with next. They get a draw against relegation-threatened Aston Villa with a lackluster performance, then all of a sudden, in the space of a week, they win 3 in a row beating Spurs at home and City away convincingly and scoring 4 past AZ in Europa League. Fans would think this is the time for a good run, time to turn the corner. Then all of a sudden, all those hopes fade away with another tame performance against struggling Everton at home resulting in a 1-1 draw. I cannot count how many times this season the teams we were chasing, hovering above us in the table, failed and our team unexpectedly flops and miss the opportunity to bridge the gap.

January was typical! The first week was a nightmare. Losing to Arsenal away, feeling as if our players just did not turn up. Subsequently we failed to give a shot on target in ninety minutes against Wolves away in the FA Cup and then suffered a humiliation against Man City at home in the League Cup. The first 45 minutes of that game merit the same level of disgust we all felt when Everton last year gave us that trashing towards the end of the season. When all was looking so gloom and doom, we scored 4 past Norwich and broke the duck against Wolves in the FA Cup, one of those teams who reached the status of ‘boogie’ for us…our first win against them since March 2012! The positive fans got filled with hope that we could go to Anfield and give them Scousers their first defeat of the season. Even though they beat us, that game showed how much this indomitable team, which Jurgen Klopp has successfully managed to create for Liverpool FC, still dreads playing Man Utd. At times they outplayed us but notwithstanding the current difference in quality and confidence, we still instill that fear in them. If only Pereira and Martial could hit the target! Notwithstanding defeat spirits were still high for some, somehow. We know this will be their year after 30 years of dreams.

Then, all of a sudden, defeat against Burnley at home, the team which failed to give a shot on target when we played them at Turf Moor in late December. Disaster! Pressures were mounting high on Ole. The FA Cup game at Tranmere was seen as the potential giant killer which would write the script for the Norwegian. A convincing 6-0 win playing on a dodgy surface followed by our second victory of the season and sweet revenge (though in vain) against the FIFA Fair Play rule breakers on the pitch of their counsel house, reinstated faith in Ole once again. Everyone was expecting a win against Wolves at home next, especially with our new acquisition Bruno Fernandes featuring in the starting line up but at the end we had to settle for a disappointing 0-0 draw. This result meant that United had failed to score a goal in the Premier League for the past 4 hours and 45 minutes. Just so frustrating! By the time, February crept in and the Chelsea game at Stamford Bridge was now a 6-pointer for that coveted 4 th place. 2 great headers from Martial and Maguire sealed our third win against the pensioners this season in all

competitions. Once again, believing our players’ confidence is now high, the performance (and to be honest the line-up chosen by the manager) against Club Brugge away in the Europa league Last 16 did not earn Ole any points with the fans. A tricky return game at Old Trafford now awaits. At the time of writing we are hoping again for wins against Watford and Brugge at home. By the time you will be reading this I hope that the wave in our oscilloscope is still going up. We never die!

Even though I am one of Ed Woodward’s critics about his capability to deal in the football world, I could never agree with violence and fully condemn the atrocities carried out by some stupid so-called fans at his residential home on the eve of signing Bruno Fernandes. Manchester United have been chasing the Portuguese for quite a long time and there was no doubt the negotiations were going to be tough. The fact that a transfer saga took so long to get the deal done and dragged to the last day of the transfer window reminds me of the Ferdinand, Rooney and Berbatov deals. We used to stay awake all night to see the news flashing that the transfer has been sealed. So from the aspect that the transfer was sealed on deadline day, I have no complaints. With Bruno there is no doubt we have signed a football star which will take our game to a different level. I am not sure about the Ighalo loan deal though. At first, it looked like a bit of a panic deal to me. However, he scored 16 goals for Nigeria in 35 appearances and 26 goals for Watford in 90 appearances. The Premier League experience is surely on his side but we have to wait and see how he adapts in a Man Utd shirt. From what we read so far, he has mingled very well in the dressing room. Fingers crossed.

The game against Everton on 15 th December was the 4,000 th game in succession where Manchester United had an Academy player in the squad. This world-famous Academy

produced the Busby Babes, George Best and the Class of ‘92 amongst other fantastic individuals. The run began on 30 th October 1937 in a second division game at Fulham with Tom Manley and Jackie Wassall in the team that lost 1-0. During the next eight decades till date we are proud to say as fans of this football club that our squad, for every game till today, has featured an academy product and that keeps showing what this football club is all about. Long may it continue.

My final thought goes to the legendary Harry Gregg and his family. What a man! The younger ones may not know much about this great personality who was the goalkeeper for Manchester United in 1958 when the fatal Munich tragedy struck. I urge you to read about his story. There are plenty of reviews around following his sad demise on 17 th February 2020. Harry was on that flight and in the burning flames of that wreckage, he jumped in twice to save people from death. Among the people he saved, there was a pregnant woman and her daughter. After 87 years on this planet, Harry went to meet the Busby Babes he lost on that fatal day but he has left us all an immense heritage in our Man Utd memories for life. RIP.

My motto as a Man United fan is always ‘For the love, not for the glory’. Amen!

Yours United, Teddy