"My mum, who's a nurse…"

So I was sat in the living room talking to Dad today. We were both in a good mood. Me cos I'd just been t' job centre and secured my next 2 weeks' Jobseekers' Allowance payment, and him cos we were looking at the FC Utd website on t'internet, laffing at the pictures of the supporters therein. Which reminds me, if you're one of the nippers in this pic, let me know ~ I'd love to hear all about the match you watched on 5th October last year against Oldham Town.

Anyway, we got talking about fitba and how it's all gone downhill since he were a nipper. I'd mentioned that FC Utd were £7 a ticket, compared to Man Utd's whopping £50-odd, and he said he remembered when he got into Man Utd matches for 1/3 (or 1s3d, or 1 shilling and 3 pence). Mainly cos he were a "junior", but he couldn't remember the price of an adult ticket then. If anyone here can, please let us know. Dad remembers come cracking bits of fitba ~ he paid his 1/3 for his ticket to see Man City win against Man U, the winning goal scored by Dennis Law.He also remembers how he saw Robert Burns, then skipper of Man U, getting on his bus, paying his fare to Old Trafford and sitting on't top deck (a not unusual occurrence). Dad o course was too in awe to speak to him. Ahhh, those were the days ~ when players' salaries were capped at £20 a week (long before decimalisation, and when a brand new Mini cost £500!), there were no hooligans, and no shirt sponsors neither. A different world. But what they lacked back then was an aeroplane in the crowd ~ they have them at every FC Utd of Manchester match now, honest. Those were the days ~ when Dad remembers getting the bus from Flixton to Stretford, going t' pictures, buying the necessary munchies therein and all for 1/9 (a shilling and 9 pence) ~ when he was working for the bank at £10 (200 shillings) a week gross. Can you believe it?

Speaking of which, did anyone see that episode of Life On Mars about the murder in Trafford Park, apparently of a football supporter? It was a stunning episode, but Dad and my younger sister were not impressed by the fact they maintained that there actually were fitba hooligans back then, starting punch-ups and stabbing people. They reckoned there were no such thing back then (in the non-existent 1973), but we did all appreciate Sam Tyler's speech, going off on one to the guy they finally arrested. He hde a rant about how it starts with just one punch, and then in 30 years' time there's all-seater stadiums, police at fitba matches, CCTV of the crowd, racism and taunting, dead Turkish fans during the World Cup, English fitba fans banned from overseas matches etc…

Anyway, now I've added some fitba links there, you can have a look yourself. Remember: MANCHESTER UNITED ARE EVIL AND MUST BE PUNISHED...

Tags:
Life on Mars
Manchester United