SAFCSA USA Diary: Man U 4 Juventus 1

A few months ago I won tickets to see Manchester United Take on their Italian Champion Counterparts Juventus at Giants Stadium in New Jersey. It wasn’t too big a deal, or so I thought, because the tickets were somewhere in the rafters of the roofless Stadium, and at 40 dollars a pop, could hardly be called the most expensive game in history… or so I thought.

You see, that was my first mistake.
It started when I won the tickets at the Football Bar on 11th and 3rd in NYC. As it happened at the time I was the only Sunderland Supporter in the Bar, and all it took was a single pint of dodgy tasting (but otherwise prize winning) Carlsberg and I was suddenly the center of attention from some hundred or so annoyed Reds.

I was offered a bit for the tickets sure enough but decided to keep them despite the trouble they were causing me. My friend (a Man U fan) had managed to get me tickets on the limited supporters bus leaving the bar as well, and although I was unsure that I really wanted to go and see United play, I thought it would be an interesting day out.

As it turned out the Match had rapidly sold out and the tickets were now going for some $150 in my section (and that was the cheap Touts). It had meant to be a Safcsa USA day out but tickets had gone so fast that I had been unable to get any more.

My second mistake was not taking enough time off work. I’m A Neurologist and one of my Patients was having an MRI scan that day, trouble is it overran and I ended up having to get down to 11th St. from 92nd street (no mean task) in rush hour in 15 minutes. I missed the bus.

However, having convinced some Man U supporting Americans that I was wearing a Man U shirt (It was the new Sunderland away one) I got a taxi over to the stadium in quick time and found my seat under the executive boxes at the very top of the 80,000 seater stadium. It was packed out.

Supporters from all over the world were here, and it had been building for some time. For the last week Man U and Juve Shirts could be seen all over the city and practically every man and his dog was wearing football shirts. Excitement

What followed was an insane 90 minutes where non-segregated American Fans didn’t quite know who to support. Man U were by far the noisiest supporters in the arena but Juve, much the annoyance of the loud Arsenal Fan next to me, didn’t seem to be bothered with the match. Although the Italian team exposed some serious holes in the United Formation early one, they still managed to squander the first few (and good) chances of the match by not seeming to care about where the Ball went once it was out of their midfeild. Davids, for instance, proved to be a great player when he ran with the ball, but often found himself without support in areas of the pitch that Juve should have been pressing for control for from the start. The more they pressed the more it seemed obvious that they weren’t going to seriously make take the risks and make an effort to finish it off, despite causing Man U to make some serious mistakes.

Its my opinion that should Juve ever play United seriously, Manchester will proverbially be up the Tyne.

However, having said that. Man U then took Juve apart in their trademark counter attacking style, wearing out the opposition and bringing them back to reality that they were in fact in front of eighty thousand people and that (some of) these people had paid money to see them. Juve then immediately responded by not giving a Rats arse about the goals that were being scored freely against them, to which the Crowd in turn responded to by starting a Crazy Mexican wave that at this point was more entertaining then watching the Italian team and that was a great deal of fun. It was now clear, that just as in the last few Sunderland games, the Crowd was going to have to make their own entertainment. At one Point I thought the Arsenal supporter was going to explode with frustration.

Perhaps I’m being a bit too scornful considering Man U beat a quality team without Beckham. But I left early, in what was now a dull drizzling rain (remember Americans don’t need roofs) I was fine because being on the top row of seats I was under the Exec boxes, but everyone else got soaked.

On the way Back I was thinking more of Sunderland then the match. I’d already lost the Smiths Bus I supposedly had tickets for in a few thousand strong crowd teeming with blasé Juventus supporters, and had been forced to pretend to be a Mancunian tourist on a tour bus going back into Manhattan in order to get home…. it worked until I put my shirt back on, by which point I was already back in the city. (Note that if you are ever at Giants Stadium; leaving the ground is a nightmare; if the game ends at ten in the evening, don’t be surprised to get back into New York City by Two Am or later).

You See I enjoyed the match a great deal. But at the end came out more determined then ever to see Safcsa USA become a successful branch. In the fast month or so we’ve talked about relegation and how it will effect the branch, but despite some financial difficulty (namely the web-site and the magazine) we’re now gunning for the First Division and know that whatever happens, we in the USA will be behind the Lads 100%. We have a great new website; we’re forming even stronger bonds with our Australian brethren, and a new version of the magazine means that we’ll soon be able to ship it regularly to all our USA members to keep in touch despite the like of first division football (this may change however Setana Sport might buy the rights for the first division for the USA by early 2004).

Having watched my first footie game in a while; I’m gunning for a season that, hopefully, won’t be as bad as the last one for Sunderland!

Capper to follow Byrne to Scunthorpe?

Former Sunderland player Stephen Capper is hoping he'll finally be able to land a new playing contract now he's on his third trial spell since being told he's surplus to requirements at the Stadium of Light.
Capper, 20, has had trial spells at Chesterfield and York City but ultimately been unsuccessful at gaining a permanent place there.

However the Irish-born midfielder played for Scunthorpe against a Man Utd XI on Tuesday and hopes to emulate another former Sunderland player, Clifford Byrne, by earning himself a permanent deal.

Capper has represented the Republic of Ireland at every level up to U20 and was included in the RoI squad in June for the matches against Albania and Georgia.

Phillips on his way?

Newspaper reports today are suggesting that Sunderland are involved in talks with both Charlton Athletic and Birmingham City over the possibility of one of them signing wantaway striker Kevin Phillips.
Gordon Strachan's Southampton are also said to be interested but looking unlikely candidates because they are not offering anywhere near Sunderland's reported £4m asking price, and unable to match Phillips's current weekly wage of £30,000.

But The Journal reports today that Sunderland have begun discussions with the sides managed by Alan Curbishley and Steve Bruce to see if a fee can be agreed before the new season starts next weekend - although the transfer window remains open for three full weeks afterwards. Birmingham have been trying to sign Francis Jeffers but it's said that Steve Bruce is refusing to match the Arsenal player's high wage demands, and is targeting Phillips as a cheaper alternative.

Phillips has not featured at all in Sunderland's pre-season schedule and seems unlikely to be picked for first-team action when the new season starts because of his lack of match fitness.

Murray speaks out against financial scaremongering

Sunderland chairman Bob Murray has again spoken out to try and quash the many rumours circulating about the club's financial problems.
The rumours reached fever pitch several weeks ago when a local newspaper suggested that the club was on the brink of administration; Murray denied a financial crisis then, but it did little to dampen the speculation, and he's spoken out again now with only seven days until the new season starts.

Many supporters voiced their frustration this week that crowd favourite Jody Craddock was sold to newly promoted Wolves for only £1.75m, and Murray said "There’s a big difference between having to operate in a difficult financial market - and having therefore to sell some players to reduce costs - and hitting financial melt-down.

"Of course, there will still be tough calls to be made and undesirable action to be taken for the good of the club going forward, but scaremongering does not help anyone. We have a 10-month plan, and we’re confident we can positively deal with the challenges ahead."

Although Sunderland will still feature in matches screened by BSkyB, the appearance fees are drastically reduced for non-Premiership teams, and the chairman confirmed just how much the difference actually is: "Last season the club earned £600,000 every time it appeared live on Sky TV. When we start the new season at Nottingham Forest live on TV we will only earn £10,000. That is a financial fact – a difference of £590,000 a game. That’s a big difference for any business to handle and that’s why we have had to act."

He continued, "It is factually incorrect and irresponsible to suggest that creditors are becoming impatient and imposing deadlines. What we need to deal in now is financial facts not fiction. Emotive language about asset stripping is not appropriate to our situation – hard decisions are being made to deal with the financial reality."

And he urged supporters to forget the humiliation of last season's performances and eventual relegation, and move on for the good of the club. "Last season is history and it’s gone. We all understand how supporters feel but what matters now is the future – it will achieve nothing continually looking back to the past.

"The spirit at the club, on and off the pitch, is positive again. We’re all focused on the job in hand and up for the challenge ahead this season - that is what matters now."

McAteer to take the armband?

Mick McCarthy has confirmed that a change of skipper for the team is in the offing, and that midfielder Jason McAteer is a candidate.
Only a few weeks after saying that he'd never considered taking the role away from Mickey Gray, the gaffer today all but confirmed that there will be a change.

McCarthy told Sunderland AFC.com "Jason's an experienced player and an influential person and he's a candidate. Jason has good leadership qualities. Everyone sees Kevin Ball as the archetypal leader and captain, but he ain't playing now. But not everyone is like Bally. Jason has been doing it and I've been very pleased with him, he's enjoyed it. He's had the job in pre-season and done very well."

And McAteer himself seems to be ready to take up the challenge of leading the first team. "I've captained the national team for the gaffer and I've bags of experience. I've enjoyed wearing the captain's armband for most of pre-season and I hope to carry it on into the season."

McAteer and the current captain are close friends, but 'Trigger' says he doesn't think that him taking Mickey's armband away would cause any problems. "In the eyes of the lads he's still the skipper.

"We're big enough, old enough and ugly enough to know what the situation is."