The fixtures for the 2017/18 season were revealed early on Wednesday morning, in what has turned out to be a favourable fixture list for our beloved United.
A perfect 'middle of the road' fixture against an average West Ham side to open the season followed by a row of four fixtures in which a home tie with Everton seems most tricky completes our season opening.
We play Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal away during the first half of the season in october, november and december respectively meaning the trickiest of away fixtures with the exeption of City and Spurs (who in my opinion won't make a top 4 finish in view of their temporary stadium switch) are out of the way before new year.
Our Christmas schedule includes a home game against Bournemouth (12th Dec) before away games against WBA (16th Dec) and Leicester (23rd Dec) are followed by two games to close out the year against Burnley (boxing day) and Southampton (30th Dec) at Old Trafford.
The final 6 games are also favourable with WBA, Bournemouth and Brighton being sandwedged by games against City away and Arsenal at home before a last day date with Watford at Old Trafford.
Full fixture list (subject to change for TV)-
Sat Aug 12 West Ham United H
Sat Aug 19 Swansea City A
Sat Aug 26 Leicester City H
Sat Sep 9 Stoke City A
Sat Sep 16 Everton H
Sat Sep 23 Southampton A
Sat Sep 30 Crystal Palace H
Sat Oct 14 Liverpool A
Sat Oct 21 Huddersfield Town A
Sat Oct 28 Tottenham Hotspur H
Sat Nov 4 Chelsea A
Sat Nov 18 Newcastle United H
Sat Nov 25 Brighton and Hove Albion H
Tue Nov 28 Watford A
Sat Dec 2 Arsenal A
Sat Dec 9 Manchester City H
Tue Dec 12 A.F.C. Bournemouth H
Sat Dec 16 West Bromwich Albion A
Sat Dec 23 Leicester City A
Tue Dec 26 Burnley H
Sat Dec 30 Southampton H
Mon Jan 1 Everton A
Sat Jan 13 Stoke City H
Sat Jan 20 Burnley A
Wed Jan 31 Tottenham Hotspur A
Sat Feb 3 Huddersfield Town H
Sat Feb 10 Newcastle United A
Sat Feb 24 Chelsea H
Sat Mar 3 Crystal Palace A
Sat Mar 10 Liverpool H
Sat Mar 17 West Ham United A
Sat Mar 31 Swansea City H
Sat Apr 7 Manchester City A
Sat Apr 14 West Bromwich Albion H
Sat Apr 21 A.F.C. Bournemouth A
Sat Apr 28 Arsenal H
Sat May 5 Brighton and Hove Albion A
Sun May 13 Watford H
Friday, 16 June 2017
Saturday, 7 July 2012
Goodbye and Thanks Ji Sung Park
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Legend is an overused word in football these days, but at Old Trafford every so often we get a player who although not blessed with the natural footballing abilities you may see from the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo; leaves Old Trafford to a raft of fond farewells and nostalgic goodbyes from the United faithful having become a cult hero on the terraces, along with the likes of Andrei Kanchelskis, Ole Solskjaer, Jaap Stam and going back even further Remi Moses; one man typifies this description to the letter, Ji Sung Park.
On 23rd June 2005 a young South Korean stepped into a world no Asian footballer had stepped foot in before, Ji Sung Park signed in a £4,000,000 deal from PSV Eindhoven becoming not only the first Korean but the first Asian player to wear the famous red of United and in the process finally breaking the curse of the United number 13 shirt previously worn by John Curtis, Mark Bosnich and Roy Carroll.
Despite little more than a fringe role and a clever marketing technique expected of the midfielder; he shone right from his first season. He grew gradually in stature through the seasons for United, what he lacked in talent he made up for in determination and willingness to do whatever it took to not only make his country proud, but also drive United on to success.
He played an integral role for United throughout his 7 years at Old Trafford, often touted as the big game player, he could always be relied upon to put in a tireless performance against European giants in the Champions League and English ones in the Premier League, through his hard work and ability to effortlessly run thousands of kilometres per game, he was given the nickname 'Three Lung Park'.
As his cult hero status developed, another craze swept Old Trafford, one which will forever be remembered (despite sailing close to the wind on racism) as one of the most witty, clever and well thought out terrace chants ever to ring round the theatre of dreams, no doubt for years to come we will still hear:
(to the tune of Lord of the Dance) 'Park, Park, wherever you may be, you eat dogs in your home country, could be worse, could be scouse, eating rats in a council house'.
Arguably Park's best season came in 2010/11, scoring a series of late match winning goals in October and Novemeber and helping United to a record 19th League title along the way Most memorable maybe was the match at Home to Wolves where he single handedly won a tricky game with two goals including a brilliant late solo effort to win the match. His other finest moment came in the Champions League quarter final of the same season, after putting in another excellent shift, United were 2-1 up on aggregate against Chelsea after Didier Drogba had just scored a vital away goal to bring Chelsea right back into the tie, with Chelsea on the ascendancy things were not looking good for United in their bid to reach the Semi's where they knew they had a great chance of reaching the final due to the shock qualification of Schalke. Almost immediately after Drogba's away goal; with the nerves of United fans worldwide shattered; the ball fell to Park in the box, with a great finish he put the tie to bed.
Despite missing out on a deserved place in the Champions League final squad of 2008, Park always conducted himself immaculately and was a model professional, he will be missed by all at Old Trafford not least Patrice Evra. During the 2007/08 season Park, Evra and Tevez became known as the three amigos amongst the staff at Old Trafford due to their close friendship and time they spend together, three became two after Tevez' departure in 2009 and Park and Evra have remained best friends ever since.
That is why Ji Sung Park will forever be remembered by me as by no means the best player i ever saw at Old Trafford but one of my favourites all the same. And i'm sure i speak for United fans alike when i say Thanks for the memories and goodbye Ji.
Monday, 18 June 2012
New Fixtures Revealed
United will begin the fight to win their trophy back away at Everton, the fixtures for the new season were revealed live on Sky Sports at 9am this morning.
A tough opening to the campaign is followed by a home game with Fulham and a potentially tricky away day at newly promoted Southampton. Notable fixtures against City take place on 8th December (Away) and 6th April (Home), United travel to Liverpool on September 22nd with the return clash at Old Trafford penciled in for 12th January.
The Christmas period begins with a tricky trip to Swansea on Saturday 22nd December before more tough tests at home to Newcastle on Boxing Day, at home again to West Brom on the 29th, before an away game at Wigan on New Years Day.
There is good and bad news upon closer analysis of the full fixture list, many are unhappy about the series of tricky away ties following all but one of the Champions League games and also note the relatively easy run in for City compared to United, however on the positive side the toughest away fixtures against City, Chelsea and Liverpool are all played in the first half of the season, meaning the trio will have to make the trip to Old Trafford in the second half closer to the run in.
Full Fixture list below:-
Manchester United Fixtures 12/13
August
18 Everton (A)
25 Fulham (H)
September
1 Southampton (A)
15 Wigan (H)
22 Liverpool (A)
29 Tottenham (H)
October
6 Newcastle (A)
20 Stoke (H)
27 Chelsea (A)
November
3 Arsenal (H)
10 Aston Villa (A)
17 Norwich (A)
24 QPR (H)
27 West Ham (H)
December
1 Reading (A)
8 Man City (A)
15 Sunderland (H)
22 Swansea (A)
26 Newcastle (H)
29 West Brom (H)
January
1 Wigan (A)
12 Liverpool (H)
19 Tottenham (A)
29 Southampton (H)
February
2 Fulham (A)
9 Everton (H)
23 QPR (A)
March
2 Norwich (H)
9 West Ham (A)
16 Reading (H)
30 Sunderland (A)
April
6 Man City (H)
13 Stoke (A)
20 Aston Villa (H)
27 Arsenal (A)
May
4 Chelsea (H)
12 Swansea (H)
19 West Brom (A)
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