Theatre Of Dreams

Glory Glory Man United
Glory Glory Man United
Glory Glory Man United

And The Reds Go Marching On! On! On!

ah..

yep yep..

Just got back from Manchester.. home to the best football club in the world..

But not best football team ah.

That one goes to Southend..

geram siak..

For the benefit of those who didnt watch the Carling Cup the other day.. Man Utd, who's a defending Champion, were kicked out of the Cup by the team whoz at the bottom of the Coca Cola League.. Southend..

but cannot blame them also lah.. Southend played like a top Premier League team that nite..

ok.. nvm.. Man United is still at the top of the EPL table.. 3 points ahead of Chelsea.. *YEAH*

ok.. anyway.. weather in Manchester was a lil bit too chilly.. abt 5 degrees in midday..

I dread the start of the season.. coz it means that itz gonna be months and months of Winter.. till we get back the sun in March.. and every other flight is gonna be a Winter flight..

but then again.. I'm still excited abt Milan in December.. :)

spent the first day with the crew.. Melvyn, Queenie and Sharon.. and 2 of the pilots.. Lionel and Loy..

Had a late lunch and then just walked around town..

The next day.. woke up in the morning and headed to the Theatre Of Dreams.. The Old Trafford Stadium..

and for the uninformed.. thatz the Manchester United stadium..

I had watched several Manchester United games before.. but only one at the Old Trafford.. abt 8 yrz back.. with Cantona, Keane, Beckham and Peter Schmeikel still in the squad..

Got back to Singapore then and got the game ticket laminated..

and it turned totally black afterwards coz of the laminating heat..

argghh..

ok.. anyway.. the memories remain.. cheh..

itz a must.. and a pilrimage for any Manchester United fan to go watch a match at the Old Trafford..

so I'm Haji Zulkarnain coz I had done my pilrimage there..



yep yep.. Right is definitely the way to go..

which would bring us to..



ah.. Manchester United.. the BEST team in the world.. yeah.. ok.. I changed my mind.. Southend is better only to Chelsea, Liverfool and ARSEnal.

and here it is.. the stadium from a distance..



We came in thru this one.. the North Stand.. just a random pic je..



During match days.. the players are to come to the stadium abt 3 hours before the game.. in which they will have a low carb meal at one of the 22 dining areas, with high energy drinks and juices.. no alcohol 2 days prior and a day after the games..

They are to finish their meal at least 2 1/2 hours prior to the game, and then head down to the lounge..



ah.. letz go there now..



On the wall, therez the names of the former and current British players who had served their countries in international games..

Beckham's name is still there too.. but the international tally has not been calculated till he retires..

In here, the wives and kids of the players will come thru another door to the lounge and get some juices or other non-alcoholic drinks..



Therez even a creche with nannies to take care of their babies..

See the sign on the door?

The babies are not allowed to smoke.. poor fellas.. such discrimination..

The wives and kids will remain there till the time that they need to head down to the stands to watch the game, and the players will then go down to the changing room to get prepared for the game..



ah.. come.. letz take a look at the changing room..



Even Ferguson got his own hanger there.. but I wonder what does he need to change to..

bukan dia ada pakai jersey.

Maybe they hang some strips of chewing gum for him..

Anyway.. he will only reveal the names of the selected players for the game here, abt 30 mins before the game begins..



Where the legendary tactical decisions are made..



I think a lot of girls would like to be here..

The shower room is similar to the ones in our NS camps.. a long stretch of showers without any partitions..

Just dont drop a soap.. man.. but then again.. I dont think therez any gay professional soccer players..

It just dont work that way..



A jacuzzi for after match relieves..

During half time, this is where they will be served refreshments and some high energy Jaffa cakes.. and where Alex Ferguson will throw some boots to some players' heads..





Some random pics in the changing room.. reminders for the Players just before the game..

Anyway...

To think of it..

Isnt it obscene for a person who dont need to go to school to succeed get more than $60,000 PER FREAKING WEEK.

about $240,000 per month for an average player..

Isnt it worse for a whole group of 25 ppl to get that?

And they come down to be pampered and to run around and kick around some balls in their Ferraris, Lamboghinis and in their spare Porsche cars..

But nevermind lah.. they are still the BEST football club team in the world.. second only to any Brazilian teams..

I think ah.. any Brazilian school team is better than Chelsea, ARSEnal and Liverfool..

Chelsea on wins thru Abramovich.. and since his wife is gonna divorce him soon and taking half of his assets, which means, probably about 10 Chelsea players and substitutes will go to his wife too..

These lucky ppl of the Manchester United squad seems to get anything they want..

They dont even need to wash their own boots.. after every game, they can dump their jerseys and boots and someone will come and collect them and during match days, a fresh jersey will be hung at the changing room and their boots lined up for them to collect..



Right after changing.. come the run down to the field.. where the world will shout cheers to the BEST football club team in the world.. and jeers to Chelsea..

and ARSEnal and Liverfool, whoz positions are even lower than Bolton and Portsmouth..



ah.. The Old Trafford..



As it had been said.. the Theatre Of Dreams..



At the Home Team side of the stands..

There are specific seatings for everyone.. and the seats for the officials of the two teams are RECARO bucket seats man.. nothing else..

gosh..

Macam nak kebas satu pair letak dalam kereta..



And after the game.. traditionally, the Press Room, where the managers will do a press briefing..

but since Ferguson dont do it, so most of the time only the opponent team manager and players will be there..

And previously, players are signed to the Manchester United team in this room too.. and the last player to be signed here was Teddy Sheringham..



the Busby Babes with an Indian man holding the trophy for them..

Thatz it for the stadium..

Went back to town afterwards, and back to the hotel to watch the Carling Cup match between Manchester United and Southend United..

The captain of the squad that nite was Wes Brown.. so.. what happened to Gary Neville then?

HE WAS FREAKING WALKING AROUND THE CITY!

macam siak!

The worse thing that can happen to a football fan is that.. one of ur favourite players is spotted in public, a few metres away from a friend of urs who dont even recognise him.. and they dont even bother to approach!

Why does the non-fans always get to meet the heroes ah?

On one flight several years back.. a friend of mine had the entire Brazilian soccer team travelling on her flight.. and in the cabin that she was serving..

And she wasnt even impressed..

Coz she oso dunno them..

WTF.

Another girl had Santana on her flight, just before he rose back into popularity for the second time.. and he was heading down to Jakarta for a concert.. gave her a VIP ticket and a backstage pass..

And she threw away the ticket coz she was too lazy to go..

God.. next time ah.. give these things to me can? I can appreciate it better..

ok..

Some pics of the city itself..



A ferris wheel.. what else..

I have heard that Singapore is gonna build a huge ferris wheel just like the London Eye..

But then.. on the London Eye, u can see the city of London..

The ferris wheel in Paris gives a magnificent view of the city of Paris..

And a huge ferris wheel in Singapore?

we'll end up looking at Johore and Batam..



I have no idea what this place is.. maybe a mall or something.. but I took the pic for the reflection of the ferris wheel..



Hard Rock Cafe, Manchester..

After walking around town.. we headed down to an Irish pub.. which looks extremely small and quiet from the outside..

But with several levels downwards.. and totally packed..

Cheers to the Best Club Football Team in the World.. Manchester United..

Chelsea, Liverfool and ARSEnal players should come and help clean up the Man United boots..