So Manchester United are out of Europe. With the help of his friends and family this Liverpool fan will get through this, but it does mean that we will all be denied the bizarre sight of The Red Devils initiating a sea of green and gold at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu on 22nd May.
Putting the politics to one side for a moment (basically, American owners putting a club into huge debt= bad, olden days=good. I can relate), Old Trafford has had a very Carrow Road look about it for a while now and last night’s game took things to a new level. There were certainly more gold and green scarves than red, black and white and that classic bar style seems to be the default United supporter choice.
Even the celebrity fans carry the colours of proto-Devils Newton Heath. From dF favourite David Beckham to, er, one of the Sons of “Mumford and” fame, a stylishly hanging £5 number is all the rage. Plus, with an irony bypass almost tangible, most of the Salford faithful seem to ape the European tying style of the effortlessly cool Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini. The emphasis heavily on the “ape”.
Whilst all this creates an impressive image on matchdays, the truly passionate for the cause also go for NH over MU in other areas of their game attire. From Match of the Day’s crowd shots I can only assume classicfootballshirts.co.uk have made a killing on the mid-nineties retro change shirts. And Toffs must be doing pretty well on sales of the railway workers’ shirt’s replica model as well.
So this begs the question, will Nike chance their arm yet again and create another controversial Premiership away kit, this time a return for the green and gold next season? Would the Glazers block it or embrace it in some kind of “if you can’t beat ‘em, profit from ‘em” mentality that preys on the ignorant? This level of bravery even from either of these cocksure American collectives will surely prove to be a step too far but, if it was to happen, it would certainly raise a long overdue chuckle down the M62.
