Goodbye and Thanks Ji Sung Park

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.

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