http://timesonline.typepad.com/fanzine_fanzone/2008/01/they-dont-they.html
January 22, 2008
"They don't, they don't speak for us..."
The 138th Manchester derby is still over two weeks away, but already City fans are being castigated and vilified by the national media. The game, as has been well documented for the last god knows how many months, is going to be a sensitive affair falling, as it does, just four days after the 50th anniversary of the Munich air disaster. There is some debate as to whether or not this is a freak coincidence, one of those anomalies thrown up by the computer which generates Premiership fixtures each summer, or if United instigated the idea, romantically yet naively seeing it as an ideal opportunity for the city of Manchester to be, ahem, united in paying their respects to the Munich dead. One wonders if this whole issue could have been averted by simply rearranging the fixture with a minimum of fuss behind the scenes.
The latest furore surrounds the revelation that City's Official Supporter's Club asked United to consider holding a minute's applause as opposed to silence, as is often the tradition these days, in order to nullify the very real prospect of a small minority of City fans being disrespectful. It wasn't a particularly unreasonable request, a preventative measure given that the world's eyes will be upon us. Not that the press saw it that way, of course. "City fans demand Munich tribute to be scrapped" screamed the morning's headlines. Hardly. We're being hung, drawn and quartered before the game has even taken place. Still, it's not for us to tell United how to conduct their tribute.
You almost sense that United fans and the media are willing us to break the silence; every story needs its bad guys and City fit the bill perfectly. There must be literally hundreds of thousands of City fans in the world, yet our reputation will be forever sullied by some drunken lout who thinks it's the height of hilarity to scream an obscenity whilst the rest of us pay our respects. I'm not sure if the press would get away with pigeon holing any other section of society based on the actions of a tiny minority, but what can you do? The knives are already being sharpened.
Every right minded City fan is dreading this fixture, and not for football reasons. It's pretty much a given that the silence will be broken, as there is a small, but vocal, minority of City fans completely lacking in civil decency who will do anything to antagonise their United rivals. How hard can it be to remain silent for one solitary minute, to respect the young men who tragically lost their lives? The vast majority of us find such taunts nauseating and abhorrent, hence the request for a minute's applause so that we could drown out the Neanderthals, but it wasn't to be.
Many United fans revel in their own self-righteousness, but there's a degree of hypocrisy about this, evident in the songs sung about Marc Vivien Foe, Hillsborough and, going further back, Aberfan. Every team has their moronic element I guess, and City are no different.
As a club, City are doing everything within their power to play their part in the tributes. The team will play in a special commemorative kit, incorporating a black ribbon with the sponsor's logo removed (which is probably for the best, given that we're currently sponsored by an airline). United will play in a replica of the strip worn by the 1958 side, which will probably be on sale in the Megastore after the game. Never ones to miss an opportunity. There's currently a big memorial poster outside Old Trafford, with the sponsor's AIG logo crudely plastered on it, which seems a little crass. But United have been exploiting Munich for many years, making the tragedy emblematic whilst simultaneously neglecting the surviving players and families of those who passed away (as detailed in Jeff Connor's excellent "The Lost Babes").
In addition to the special kit, club captain Richard Dunne and manager Sven Goran Eriksson have written to the 3,000 supporters attending the game, asking them to uphold the image of the club by observing the minute's silence respectfully. The letters are accompanied by a photograph of the late Frank Swift, City's greatest ever keeper, who also passed away in the tragedy whilst covering the game for the News of the World. This hasn't gone down too well with some City fans, as the club has done nothing of note to remember Swift in the past, but now seem to be using his legacy as a bargaining tool ahead of the game.
The over riding feeling amongst many City fans is that we should just turn up, pay our respects by observing the silence, not get involved in the media circus surrounding the game, and then get on with the task in hand; namely aiming to beat United at Old Trafford for the first time since that glorious day in 1974 when Denis Law back-heeled them into Division Two.
Ric Turner (Bluemoon)
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Brilliant article.
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