Does it matter?

Bloody hell, of course, it matters. It matters every time we play them, anywhere in the world. Wot a question to ask!

In Giggs, we should trust

Nowadays, very little disrupts my sleeping routine. In the past five years or so, my routine is to retire for bed at 12.30 a.m. at the latest unless there is something urgent concerning health or family matters to attend to. Not even football can persuade me to stay up and watch 22 men play with a ball in a field. I really do need my beauty sleep. It's such a precious commodity.

And so it was too last night. I slept at 12.30 a.m. but then at four o'clock in the morning, I was suddenly wide awake. No matter how I tossed and turned, sleep could not come back to me. In resignation, I knew that at the back of my mind, there must have been a tinge of regret in not staying up to watch the football game between Manchester United and Norwich City. It was the first game with Ryan Giggs in charge as the interim manager and I chose to sleep. And thus, missed it.

I reached out for the iPad and went to the sports section of The Guardian and the Manchester Evening News. Read the headlines: a 4-0 win against Norwich. Eagerly poured over all the news reports and looked over the pictures. The stadium erupting in adulation for a true son of Manchester United. Having satisfied myself with that, I tried to go back to sleep. But it was not until past six o'clock that I managed to nod off until about eight in the morning.

Moyes is history

I just got wind of the news that David Moyes has been sacked by Manchester United Football Club. And, Ryan Giggs is appointed as caretaker manager until a new permanent manager is identified.

What a relief! I used to think that the success of a football club was driven solely by the players on the field and that a manager's role would be peripheral but not any more. Ever since Moyes took over from Alex Ferguson, I have come to realise that a good manager is indeed always needed to push the team forward.

Unfortunately, Moyes has not been able to do that. The last 10 months under his guidance has been such a disaster for the club.

Knocked out of every conceivable tournament in England and Europe, in danger of missing out altogether from games in Europe the next season - certainly from the Champions League - and finishing in an absurdly low position in the Premier League.

An excerpt from theguardian newspaper summed up the feelings in the dressing room: "A lot of the analysis will inevitably feature on the way Moyes has "lost" the dressing room. The truth is actually that he had never had the dressing room. Not properly anyway. Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, important players at Old Trafford, could never be won over. Ryan Giggs, who understands the place as well as anyone, has been thinking about not just retiring but also quitting his coaching role and walking away from the club altogether. When senior players rebel, younger ones follow. Danny Welbeck, the only other Mancunian in the squad, has just let it be known that he wants a move." And et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Anyway, it is time to look past this forgettable season and towards the future for my club's fortune....

Goodbye, Laurence How

On the way back from Hong Kong this afternoon, my wife brought this obituary in The Star newspaper to my attention. "You know him, don't you?" she asked. I was shocked and devastated.

Laurence How dead? He was one of my fast friends. I had known him through chess since the mid-1980s. He was then the secretary of the Malaysian Chess Federation and we got on very well. But excellent organiser though he was, he was bad at documentation. As a result, I've known people who had moaned about having to tie up his loose ends at the end of every chess project. That's the Laurence How I knew.

Apart from chess, our interests also extended to the Manchester United Football Club. When he left the post of MCF secretary in the mid-1990s, he set up the MUFC Supporters Club Of Malaysia in Petaling Jaya.

Football was Laurence's other passion. He told me once that he used to play football but a bad knee put an end to his playing days. In the early days of the supporters' club, I helped him out with a mailing list and website. Often, he tried to interest me in going to visit Old Trafford but I never could make the trip. There will not be any more trips with Laurence How. Going to miss you, Laurence...

UPDATE (19 Mar 2014):  I was talking with one of his nephews yesterday. He told me that Laurence had been complaining recently about a lump in his throat and had been taking Chinese medicine. But about a month ago, he was persuaded to be admitted to a hospital where they diagnosed him with leukemia. He had undergone a course of chemotherapy and was in rather high spirits. Then about a week ago, some complications set in and he was placed in intensive care. Towards the end, his blood pressure dropped which was never a good sign. At the final moment, even the doctors knew that there was nothing more that could be done. Laurence passed away at about 1.45pm on 15 March 2014.

UPDATE 2 (20 Mar 2014): Apparently, I have just been made aware that I should know Laurence from way before the mid-1980s. If he was the first Secretary of the Chess Association of Selangor, then I should have known him from 1974. But yes, with my memory jogged, I do remember we talking a lot about Prof Dr Lau Kam Seng who was the CAS president before he migrated to Australia in 1976 or 1977.  Laurence had such high regard for Prof Lau.

End of an era

First David Gill leaves, then Alex Ferguson retires, Paul Scholes quitting and now, David Beckham hangs up his old shoes...

A bookmark in football history

Just a few memorable pictures from the team's final home game under Alex Ferguson.

Red replacement

Yes, this is David Moyes in 1982.

Gaffer goes!

Thank you, Alex Ferguson, for 26+ wonderful years at Manchester United.

Number 20

900 games and counting!

"My goal when I was younger was to play for Manchester United just once. But then after that you get greedy. You want to be in the team all the time. Then you want to score goals.Then you get really greedy - you want to win trophies and then you win more trophies. All these things have happened to me. I realised my dream and at 38 I'm still living my dream. You can't ask for much more." 

Liverpool, oh, Liverpool

Sign language

How many fingers have we?

Wesley Sneijder

There are speculations that it's almost a done deal, but I'll believe it when it's finally official!

Transplanted

Here's the News of the Day: Wayne Rooney, under suspension from the England team for one match of Euro 2012, underwent a STG10,000 hair transplant process at a London hair specialist clinic while his team mates slogged out to a draw with Switzerland at Wembley Stadium. Can we see the results quickly before the hair gel sets?

Paul Scholes retires

"I am not a man of many words but I can honestly say that playing football is all I have ever wanted to do and to have had such a long and successful career at Manchester United has been a real honour. This was not a decision I have taken lightly but I feel now is the right time for me to stop playing. To have been part of the team that helped the Club reach that record 19th title is a great privilege."

United's greatest!

The top 10 Manchester United players of all time:

1. Ryan Giggs
2. Eric Cantona
3. George Best
4. Sir Bobby Charlton
5. Cristiano Ronaldo
6. Paul Scholes
7. David Beckham
8. Roy Keane
9. Peter Schmeichel
10. Wayne Rooney
 

Farewell to Gary Neville

"Obviously I am disappointed that my playing days are at an end. It comes to us all and it's knowing when that time is, For me that time is now. I have been a Manchester United fan all my life and fulfilled every dream I've ever had. I have played in the most incredible football teams, playing with some of the best players in the world, as well as against them, and I have been lucky to be a part of the team's achievements and the club's great success. There have also been so many great players that I have had the privilege to train and play alongside. The experiences we've shared will be with me for the rest of my life."

You can't play Superman into your 40s

He'll be missed...

Brr, where's that ball?

Shall we start the game? On 16 January 1926, snow covered the ground as Arsenal and Manchester United readied themselves to kick off their game in the old Division One. For the record, we lost by 2-3.

Worst nightmare

It certainly was a close shave for Manchester United. Can you imagine what it would have been like for football if the Myanmar (or Burma, if you wish) generals had full control of England's top football club?? I shudder to think about it. What's the worst-case scenario if despotic countries had decided to take over football clubs? Say, for example, if the Chubby Old Man from trigger-happy North Korea - the so-called "Democratic" People's Republic of Korea - had gone into the market. Ahh, can you imagine a wild scenario where football clubs are owned by despotic regimes? Hah, there'll be anarchy in football's board rooms. Instead of playing football, they'll be playing "Let's nuke'em" on the playing fields of England or Spain or Italy or France or Germany or...wherever else. Come on, come on, banish this improbable thought from your mind. Don't get delirious, don't get wild ideas. But the full story is out here, especially for Manchester United fans. Phew, close shave, indeed! Am I glad it's only a story.