Welcome to Football!

Forget the gloating. Forget the violent morons arrested before the match. Forget the insults. Forget the poster. Forget Carlos Tevez, actually don't forget him, he's important.

Last night it didn't matter if you were a Manchester City or Manchester United fan, it didn't even matter if you hated both these teams, it just mattered that you can appreciate football in it's most beautiful form.

It wasn't just about last night though, it was about last week as well. Two of the countries biggest clubs entertained us to the maximum in the last 7 days and all in a competition that has been nicknamed the "Mickey Mouse Cup", the "Worthless Cup" and such other things in the last few years.

Suddenly the countries attention turned to the Carling Cup. On a night where Aston Villa faced Arsenal and Chelsea put in another brilliant performance to go top the Premier League never seemed so insignificant.

Not having Sky Sports I went to a pub to watch the match with some friends. One a big City fan, one a big United fan and one with very little interest in football. The pub was split pretty evenly with City and United fans. Singing began before kick off, the United fans booing any sights of Carlos Tevez and chanting the name of the white Pele on his every appearance "Rooney, Rooney, Rooney". Even from the pub some 3.5 miles away from Old Trafford you could sense that these two would be the protagonists for his side.

The nerves lay on the shoulders of those in Blue as the match started. United were favourites but had nothing to lose, City were ahead and had it all to lose but so much to gain to. The none football fan amongst my friends remarked towards the City fan "watching your reactions is half the fun". As the game wore on the nerves didn't quite totally shift, but I certainly began getting more nervous, and so did the other United fans as they began to sing more, the nervous energy becoming songs.

But it's not just about my experience of the game, last night was about pure drama, pure football. One moron, possibly two, tried to ruin the atmosphere and the excitement by throwing a coin at Craig Bellamy, if anything it added to the excitement and it the occasion, it showed the two sets of players agreeing with the rest of the population, that this person is clearly a moron. The way I'd punish him would be to ban him from all football matches but one. And for that one match I'd drag him into the centre circle at half time of Manchester City vs Manchester United and allow the Welshman to kick the moron right in the testicles and let everyone point and laugh.

But enough of that. He tried to ruin the game he didn't. It was awesome. I loved watching it, I love watching all football but this game was special to everyone, especially everyone in Manchester. The rivalry last night was taken to a new level but at the same time the rivalry kind of disappeared. We all loved the game no matter, obviously come the end of the match City fans weren't in as good a mood as the reds of Manchester but even they had to applaud a real battle of two teams who really wanted to win, needed to win.

This blog hasn't really been about anything. Some might complain about that but it doesn't really matter to me. I'm just telling you how much I love football especially when it was exciting as last night.

Talking of cup excitement last Sunday was the Shonn Trophy, no doubt you don't know this competition because it's one that Sporting JLGB played in. Yes ladies and gents- it's back, Sunday League is back. We lost 2-1 to Maccabi, saddening yes but we played with 10 for the whole match and we were excellent. For half an hour we outplayed them, and then we went down to 9 men, and they got a cheeky goal. Very annoying but we came off the pitch, heads held high. Unfortunately no semi final place but still.

Back at Old Trafford United fans and players celebrated. City fans and players thought of what might have been. Fortunately they have the F.A Cup still to play for and a trip to Wembley is still possible. Any side who took part in that semi-final deserves that place, and so I for one will be cheering them all the way to the FA Cup Final and I don't care if that upsets any United fans.

Welcome to the league cup! Welcome to football! Most of all, WELCOME TO MANCHESTER!!

Scrub Up!

At the forefront of any great TV soap is a well known opening sequence with a recognisable theme tune and at the end is of course the dramatic ending where the theme tune once again kicks in.

From time to time a show may slightly change the opening sequence or the theme tune, for example when the Millennium dome was built in London Eastenders had to place it in their opening sequence.

One final thing that soaps are well known for is the return of old characters just when the plot line seems to be getting a little boring. We've seen people disappear off the edge of the cliff only to come back years later, a person shot 'dead' only to reappear and some flee for the mysterious land of Manchester but find the lure of London too strong.

In the soap world that is the Premier League we often get rid of characters as they get relegated, only to return via promotion. Sunderland, West Brom and Birmingham are amongst the serial leavers and yet they always come back for more. But the Premier League very rarely gets rid of characters only to bring them back when the story line is boring, perhaps because the story line is rarely boring. But if there's one man who could make it even more interesting, well... welcome back Patrick!

Yes, for those of you who don't know, Patrick Vieira is back in England and back in the Premier League, and I for one couldn't be happier. In the pomp of his career Viera was THE force to be reckoned with. He marshaled an Arsenal side that had grit, determination, aggression (sometimes too much), and most importantly a side who won silverware. In fact it's always struck me as no coincidence that the last kick of a football the big Frenchman took for Arsenal was the winning penalty against Manchester United in the 2004/05 FA Cup final, Arsenal's last piece of silverware.

Vieira is a born winner and a born fighter and for those reasons he's possibly the ideal signing for new club Manchester City. It is obviously difficult to tell right now if the French captain can keep up with the pace of the Premiership 5 years after leaving it, especially as he's not played much for Inter Milan in the last two seasons. But his experience and determination to win could be the kind of push City need in their push toward silverware and the top 4.

The big question, other than whether or not Vieira is past it, is where exactly will he fit in. City have clearly had some problems this season, although perhaps not as many as we're often led to believe. But surely these problems have been in defence and not in midfield or up front. Expensive Summer signings Kolo Toure and Joleon Lescott have been way below par as has Wayne Bridge, leaving City's back line to consist of, well just Shay Given really. In Vieira's position the Citizen's already have Nigel de Jong- one of the Premier League's best performers, Gareth Barry and Vincent Kompany, three good, expensive and much younger players than Vieira.

Could the big Frenchman about to move position into central defence? Surely not. Especially judging on his loss of any pace he might once of had, not that I'm sure he ever had much, it's unlikely. More to the point, judging on his collection of red cards down the years and the fact at centre back he'd be last man it's certainly not a good idea.

Of course Vieira is famous in these parts not just for his red cards and his collection of medals, including a World Cup one, but also for his on screen love affair with another big character from the Premier League soap drama, and a man who for sentiment alone is unfortunately no longer acting- Roy Keane. Who can forget them almost coming to blows in the tunnel at Highbury as Keane tried to protect Gary Neville from Vieira. Like I said, unfortunately Keane is no longer in this soap as he resides in the Championship version and the reason it's unfortunate is because, for all it's current drama, the Premier League's lack of big characters.

The reason I welcome back Vieira is, successful or not, he's sure to add some more drama. And you can never have enough drama- cue music!