Source: The Times
April 26, 2010
A club who reflect the alternative lifestyles of their supporters are closing in on a return to the Bundesliga
Nick Szczepanik
After trekking across northern Europe to watch their team draw 0-0 with Hamburg in the Europa League on Thursday, it is a pity that more Fulham fans did not stay on an extra day to watch the club that offer the most refreshing antidote to Uefa’s corporate football ideal.
St Pauli, based in the German port’s red-light district, beat Koblenz 6-1 on Friday evening and the entertainment did not stop at the touchlines, the fans not so much a backdrop as part of the experience.
The core of the club’s support is left wing, anarchic and hedonistic, including many with “alternative” lifestyles that reflect the area. “We like to feel we are underdogs, fighting against big money,” Uwe, a magazine seller, said. “Antiracist, antifascist and internationalist.”
If a Clash reunion tour were possible, this would be its audience, except that they do all the singing. Often in English, it lasts the full 90 minutes and includes nods to the Beatles, who spent their early years around the corner at the Kaiserkeller and the Star-Club. The choirmasters are four fans with megaphones, perched on the perimeter railings behind the goal in a manner that would give British safety officers heart failure.
Attending a match at the Millerntor is like stepping back 20 or 30 years into a slightly altered, improved football universe: the old Den without the menace. With beer and smoking allowed on the terraces — yes, standing remains part of Germany’s football landscape — it even smells like an old ground. In a good way.
The motto “Non-established since 1910” says everything about the club whose team wear brown and are cheered on by fans waving the skull and crossbones. Its centenary will be celebrated not with a prestige friendly against a mega-club but against FC United of Manchester.
St Pauli could also be celebrating promotion back to the Bundesliga after relegation in 2002 was followed by several years in regional football. One win from two remaining matches will ensure that Bayern Munich and the rest will be visiting the Millerntor again next season.
They will find that the tatty but atmospheric ground is being rebuilt to hold 28,000 rather than the present snug 23,000, but it will never be confused with Hamburg’s Uefa five-star venue. The standing areas are being expanded rather than replaced by seats.
“It was a hard fight to keep standing areas in the 1990s,” Sven Brux, a former fanzine editor, now a club administrator, said. “You gave up too easily. It wasn’t standing that killed people at Hillsborough, it was mistakes by the police. That’s why so many British fans come here. English football is boring.”
This was anything but. For the first 40 minutes after the teams took the field to AC/DC’s Hells Bells promotion jitters were evident as St Pauli missed a penalty and a retake. But the crowd sang on as if they had scored and two goals in as many minutes just after half-time settled the nerves.
After the final whistle, celebrations spilt on to the nearby Reeperbahn, while 500 or so headed for their traditional watering hole, the Jolly Roger pub, to continue drinking and talk about the match and the plans for the rest of Friday night.
What they did not discuss was whether success will change St Pauli. How could it, when Corny Littman, the president, is a theatre and nightclub-owner and one-time performer in gay cabaret? “I’ve been president for seven years but a fan for 30, so I understand what they want,” he said. “I believe in the identity and you have to take care of it.”
“You only have to look around to feel the atmosphere, to understand the flair of St Pauli. I’m not afraid that we’ll lose it, even in the Bundesliga. I don’t really want to talk about it because we’re not there yet. If we are, we may change the atmosphere of the Bundesliga, but it won’t change us.”
Showing posts with label The Times. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Times. Show all posts
Monday, April 26, 2010
Monday, August 25, 2008
A club that is United by common values
Kaveh Solhekol
August 25, 2008
It probably does not bear thinking about, but in three years there could be two Uniteds from Manchester playing professional football in England.
FC United of Manchester were formed in 2005 by fans who refused to support Manchester United after the Glazer family took control at Old Trafford and their success on and off the pitch has been just as remarkable as the achievements of Cristiano Ronaldo and his team-mates during the past three years.
After three promotions in three seasons, FC United have worked their way up to the UniBond League premier division, the seventh level in the English game, and this afternoon will take on Boston United, who, before financial meltdown, were playing in Coca-Cola League Two as recently as May last year. Another three promotions and FC United will be rubbing shoulders with the big boys in the Football League.
“Football has been taken away from the working class,” Karl Marginson, the 37-year-old FC United manager, said. “Going to a football match has become like going to a business meeting. It’s too corporate. Having a season ticket has become a status symbol.”
Marginson was working as a fruit and veg man when he received a call from a friend asking him if he would be interested in managing the new club. At first, Marginson combined his coaching duties with his day job of delivering fruit and vegetables, which meant setting the alarm for 4am, but thanks to a new job as head of coaching at Manchester College, Marginson can concentrate on getting his coaching badges and leading FC United into the Football League.
“Our players know what playing for this club means,” Marginson, who used to play for Macclesfield Town, said. “I’ve got all sorts in my team — accountants, drivers, bricklayers, a couple of unemployed lads and a model. They get paid about £80 a week, so they can relate to our fans. The professional game has gone too far. How can you have players earning £150,000 a week? It is so far detached from reality it is ridiculous. We’re not in the entertainment business, we’re a football club.”
FC United are owned by their supporters and, unlike other clubs, have a manifesto of core principles including a commitment to keep down ticket prices, to nurture young, local talent and “to strive to avoid outright commercialism wherever possible”.
Home matches are played at Gigg Lane in Bury — tickets £7.50 and free for under-18s — in front of about 3,000 fans but ambitious plans are in the pipeline for the club’s own ground. Their home is a world away from Old Trafford but their kit is modelled on United’s classic strip of red shirts, white shorts and black socks — with no sponsor’s logo. “We don’t model our playing style on United, but we like to get the ball down and play,” Marginson said. “I don’t have anyone like Ronaldo in my side.”
Like most FC United supporters, Marginson used to be an Old Trafford regular but he has not been to the Theatre of Dreams for three years. When he gets the chance, he watches Sir Alex Ferguson’s team on TV and combines being a red rebel with being a red devil. “I haven’t been to Old Trafford for ages,” Marginson said. “Our supporters have given up watching some of the best in the world to drop down and watch us, so it would be hypocritical for me to go.”
So, as a manager who has won three promotions in a row, has he got any advice for Ferguson on how to retain the Barclays Premier League and the Champions League? Do they need to spend £30 million on Dimitar Berbatov? “I don’t know anything about the transfer market,” Marginson said. “I’ve never bought a player in my life.”
August 25, 2008
It probably does not bear thinking about, but in three years there could be two Uniteds from Manchester playing professional football in England.
FC United of Manchester were formed in 2005 by fans who refused to support Manchester United after the Glazer family took control at Old Trafford and their success on and off the pitch has been just as remarkable as the achievements of Cristiano Ronaldo and his team-mates during the past three years.
After three promotions in three seasons, FC United have worked their way up to the UniBond League premier division, the seventh level in the English game, and this afternoon will take on Boston United, who, before financial meltdown, were playing in Coca-Cola League Two as recently as May last year. Another three promotions and FC United will be rubbing shoulders with the big boys in the Football League.
“Football has been taken away from the working class,” Karl Marginson, the 37-year-old FC United manager, said. “Going to a football match has become like going to a business meeting. It’s too corporate. Having a season ticket has become a status symbol.”
Marginson was working as a fruit and veg man when he received a call from a friend asking him if he would be interested in managing the new club. At first, Marginson combined his coaching duties with his day job of delivering fruit and vegetables, which meant setting the alarm for 4am, but thanks to a new job as head of coaching at Manchester College, Marginson can concentrate on getting his coaching badges and leading FC United into the Football League.
“Our players know what playing for this club means,” Marginson, who used to play for Macclesfield Town, said. “I’ve got all sorts in my team — accountants, drivers, bricklayers, a couple of unemployed lads and a model. They get paid about £80 a week, so they can relate to our fans. The professional game has gone too far. How can you have players earning £150,000 a week? It is so far detached from reality it is ridiculous. We’re not in the entertainment business, we’re a football club.”
FC United are owned by their supporters and, unlike other clubs, have a manifesto of core principles including a commitment to keep down ticket prices, to nurture young, local talent and “to strive to avoid outright commercialism wherever possible”.
Home matches are played at Gigg Lane in Bury — tickets £7.50 and free for under-18s — in front of about 3,000 fans but ambitious plans are in the pipeline for the club’s own ground. Their home is a world away from Old Trafford but their kit is modelled on United’s classic strip of red shirts, white shorts and black socks — with no sponsor’s logo. “We don’t model our playing style on United, but we like to get the ball down and play,” Marginson said. “I don’t have anyone like Ronaldo in my side.”
Like most FC United supporters, Marginson used to be an Old Trafford regular but he has not been to the Theatre of Dreams for three years. When he gets the chance, he watches Sir Alex Ferguson’s team on TV and combines being a red rebel with being a red devil. “I haven’t been to Old Trafford for ages,” Marginson said. “Our supporters have given up watching some of the best in the world to drop down and watch us, so it would be hypocritical for me to go.”
So, as a manager who has won three promotions in a row, has he got any advice for Ferguson on how to retain the Barclays Premier League and the Champions League? Do they need to spend £30 million on Dimitar Berbatov? “I don’t know anything about the transfer market,” Marginson said. “I’ve never bought a player in my life.”
Monday, July 21, 2008
The quality of Mersey
Edited from original article in The Times titled "Life gets hard for Arsene Wenger, also known as Mr Perfect"
Last week another “breakaway” club, AFC Liverpool, were born and they will start the new season in the Vodkat League first division, only nine promotions off the Barclays Premier League and three divisions below FC United of Manchester, who, having won promotion in each of their first three seasons, are, in theory, three years away from the Football League.
The contrast is that, whereas FC United have met with hostility from Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, and just about everyone else at Old Trafford, with United falling out with the Manchester Evening News over the space devoted to the “rebel club”, AFC Liverpool, run along similar lines by disenfranchised supporters, have been welcomed into existence by Liverpool, who are even running features on their “little brother” on their website.
To paraphrase, Lyndon Johnson, the former US President, it is surely far better to have them inside the tent, p***ing out, than outside the tent, p***ing in.
Last week another “breakaway” club, AFC Liverpool, were born and they will start the new season in the Vodkat League first division, only nine promotions off the Barclays Premier League and three divisions below FC United of Manchester, who, having won promotion in each of their first three seasons, are, in theory, three years away from the Football League.
The contrast is that, whereas FC United have met with hostility from Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, and just about everyone else at Old Trafford, with United falling out with the Manchester Evening News over the space devoted to the “rebel club”, AFC Liverpool, run along similar lines by disenfranchised supporters, have been welcomed into existence by Liverpool, who are even running features on their “little brother” on their website.
To paraphrase, Lyndon Johnson, the former US President, it is surely far better to have them inside the tent, p***ing out, than outside the tent, p***ing in.
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Silent majority claim Old Trafford has been ‘turned into police state’
Source: Edited from main article:
The “police state” quote is evidently an exaggeration – only three fans have been ejected for standing at United’s past three home matches, with the club left to decide whether their season tickets are to be confiscated – but United fans frequently express dismay at the match-day atmosphere, citing various factors.
These include poor acoustics in the Stretford End since it was rebuilt, the number of corporate seats and day-trippers, the pricing-out of many hard-core supporters, particularly since the Glazer family’s takeover in 2005, and, uniquely to United, the formation of a breakaway club, FC United of Manchester, whose regular 2,000-plus attendances consist mostly of fans disenfranchised from Old Trafford.
Some of those fans – raucous individuals who continue to follow United away from home – boycott matches at Old Trafford because they do not want to line the Glazers’ pockets.
Ferguson has never hidden his contempt for those who jumped ship to set up a new club and he went farther in an interview on Tuesday when he criticised the “unfair” protests against the Glazers. Some of the fears expressed at the time of the takeover have not come to pass, but supporters are entitled to be upset by an aggressive ticketing policy that has priced many of them out of the ground.
The “police state” quote is evidently an exaggeration – only three fans have been ejected for standing at United’s past three home matches, with the club left to decide whether their season tickets are to be confiscated – but United fans frequently express dismay at the match-day atmosphere, citing various factors.
These include poor acoustics in the Stretford End since it was rebuilt, the number of corporate seats and day-trippers, the pricing-out of many hard-core supporters, particularly since the Glazer family’s takeover in 2005, and, uniquely to United, the formation of a breakaway club, FC United of Manchester, whose regular 2,000-plus attendances consist mostly of fans disenfranchised from Old Trafford.
Some of those fans – raucous individuals who continue to follow United away from home – boycott matches at Old Trafford because they do not want to line the Glazers’ pockets.
Ferguson has never hidden his contempt for those who jumped ship to set up a new club and he went farther in an interview on Tuesday when he criticised the “unfair” protests against the Glazers. Some of the fears expressed at the time of the takeover have not come to pass, but supporters are entitled to be upset by an aggressive ticketing policy that has priced many of them out of the ground.
Monday, September 03, 2007
The other United’s Cup dream begins
Source: The Times
Mark Venables
FC United of Manchester made their debut in the oldest cup competition in the world yesterday when they defeated local rivals Trafford FC 5-2 at Moss Lane, the home of Altrincham, in the preliminary round of the FA Cup.
After the Malcolm Glazer takeover at Old Trafford, a group of Manchester United supporters undertook to reject the corporate megalith that their club had become and thus FC United were born. Now in their third season, that workers’ revolution mentality remains, with directors preferring the local hostelry to the board room at their Gigg Lane base for entertaining visiting teams’ directors. The tone of the club is perfectly summed up by a banner hung behind the goal proclaiming “FCUM, making friends not millionaires”.
FC United rose from the North West Counties league to a berth in the UniBond League northern division, four promotions away from Football League status. After two seasons during which they barely suffered defeat, they opened this campaign with two losses, but normal service was resumed with two victories, including a six-goal mauling of Bridlington Town.
Roared on by the bulk of the 2,238 crowd, FC United raced in to a two-goal lead courtesy of a powerful header from Rob Nugent and a close-range shot on the turn from Josh Howard.
United relaxed and allowed Trafford to restore parity through Chris Mackay and Andy Lundy, but, just before the interval, they were in front again with a penalty from Nicky Platt. Simon Carden added a fourth midway through the second half before Anthony Hargreaves concluded the scoring.
Next stop is a trip to Fleetwood, the venue for the first FA Cup tie played by Newton Heath, Manchester United’s predecessors, in two weeks.
Mark Venables
FC United of Manchester made their debut in the oldest cup competition in the world yesterday when they defeated local rivals Trafford FC 5-2 at Moss Lane, the home of Altrincham, in the preliminary round of the FA Cup.
After the Malcolm Glazer takeover at Old Trafford, a group of Manchester United supporters undertook to reject the corporate megalith that their club had become and thus FC United were born. Now in their third season, that workers’ revolution mentality remains, with directors preferring the local hostelry to the board room at their Gigg Lane base for entertaining visiting teams’ directors. The tone of the club is perfectly summed up by a banner hung behind the goal proclaiming “FCUM, making friends not millionaires”.
FC United rose from the North West Counties league to a berth in the UniBond League northern division, four promotions away from Football League status. After two seasons during which they barely suffered defeat, they opened this campaign with two losses, but normal service was resumed with two victories, including a six-goal mauling of Bridlington Town.
Roared on by the bulk of the 2,238 crowd, FC United raced in to a two-goal lead courtesy of a powerful header from Rob Nugent and a close-range shot on the turn from Josh Howard.
United relaxed and allowed Trafford to restore parity through Chris Mackay and Andy Lundy, but, just before the interval, they were in front again with a penalty from Nicky Platt. Simon Carden added a fourth midway through the second half before Anthony Hargreaves concluded the scoring.
Next stop is a trip to Fleetwood, the venue for the first FA Cup tie played by Newton Heath, Manchester United’s predecessors, in two weeks.
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