Eight Final thoughts on '08

By Doug Gratton




1. Fergie goes back to the future

Not sure if it was player power that turned the bulb on, but Sir Alex Ferguson finally seemed to see the light last night. He put Cautious Quieroz’s ‘Coward’s Guide to the Euro-Game’ back in its box and went for Chelsea’s throat from the kick-off. Result: not only are United champions, but looked the part for 45 minutes at least.

2. But he’s still a tactical disaster

True to form, however, he came up with a classic bit of Fergster tinkering. What do you do when you need an outlet up front and a winning goal? You take off the one and only Wayne Rooney – whose leg did not appear to be broken - and bring on the one and only, err, Nani. You still got it, Fergie

3. Did Edwin really win it?

Many in the media inevitably made VDS the hero, apparently we even support ‘Van United’. But if the old beanpole hadn’t saved that penalty, he could have been a villain of the piece. Flapped and slapped, fell over to let Lampard score, two other soft pens went through him. Fergie signed him too late, but that’s no excuse for keeping him too late as well.

4. Why Drogba did it

Was it really such a mystery why the obnoxious Chelsea striker cissy-slapped Vidic? It was surely because our Serb militiaman had slapped Drogba’s ass – figuratively speaking and in strictly football terms of course – through the game.

5. Kick fatalism out of football

Everybody from Fergie down is banging on about how fate made Terry miss that penalty. Presumably if he had scored and they won, it would have been fate or Frank Lampard’s mum that bounced the ball off Rio’s backside for their goal, United did not win because of anniversaries, but because they seized the day.

6. Ronaldo's going – should Giggsy go first?

Let’s face it, Ronaldo to Madrid is a matter of when and how much. Stop worrying and enjoy it while it lasts. Meanwhile, can those who say this team is already better than ‘99 explain why Giggs should still be more or less in it in 2009? Of course it is harder to retire from the champions than from a team heading for relegation, as Charlton did. But what better time for an all-time great to go?

7. Schadenfreude – bloody hell.

Like it or not, the final reminds us that one of the pleasures of football – as opposed to real life - is enjoying the misfortune of others. No doubt John Terry is the upstanding citizen many claim, but I fear the immediate reaction of many of us was that it couldn’t have happened to a nicer person.

8. Victory, but no parade?

Well, I suppose it’s better than doing it the other way round like some clubs, but a victory for commonsense it ain’t. The authorities are happy to exploit football for financial or political purposes, but cannot seem to get over their view of fans as the scum of the earth. Or in our case, champion scum of Europe.