Gazza
Full Member
New Order singer talks about supporting United. Some pretty daft opinions (Becks > Keano) but he has a weird story about meeting Giggsy in there. Might not be interesting to those who haven't heard about the band.
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New Order recently talked to French football website sofoot.com about which football teams they support. The full article is reproduced here in English with many thanks to Marc @ sofoot.com for permission and Nick Mackenzine for translation duties.
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New Order is without doubt one of the greatest English groups of all time. And that didn't stop them from writing the theme song for the England team in the 1990 World Cup, World in Motion. The song is an ode to ecstasy. Just to put you in the mood…
Around the table in a hotel room near the Champs Elysees, we almost have the dream team. Phil Cunningham, Stephen Morris and Bernard Sumner are there. Peter Hook will be speaking to the press tomorrow. The Mancunian group is promoting the new album, Waiting for the Sirens' Call. Smiling and chatty, they're obviously happy to be here. We talk about football, and the natural hierarchy of the group is respected. Cunningham, the newcomer, sits on the bench and listens without saying anything. Stephen Morris supports Sumner the star, full of verve and stories, talking about Giggs in the toilets and the Gypsy Kings on the turntable.
"New Order and Football"
Which teams do you support?
Stephen Morris Macclesfield Town
Bernard Sumner Manchester Utd.
SM I'm from Macclesfield originally. It's a dirty little town south of Manchester. The team's in the Second Division, and frankly they're pretty bad… they even have an Iraqi player in the squad. Not that it means anything, mind you. Last year, they had a good spell. Four or five victories on the trot. The fans were chuffed. I can hear the stadium from my house, and they never stop singing. The media talked about us a bit then, and especially when the Iraqi arrived… But since then it's been calm. Life has gone back to normal in Macclesfield… sad.
BS Me, I grew up in Salford, a suburb of Manchester.
SM Wow, yet another United supporter who doesn't come from Manchester…
BS Salford-Manchester, it's ten minutes, Stephen. Ten minutes on foot! Salford is Manchester. And, if you really want to know, I was born in a hospital in the centre of town. We've got to kill this myth: there are as many United supporters as City supporters in Manchester. People from the north of the town support City, and those from the south support United. It's as simple as that, the division is historic… Salford is north-west of Manchester, so I support United. It's easy…
SM And China, that's north of Manchester? They all support United over there. It's nothing but a commercial undertaking, that club… It's more interesting to support a club in the lower divisions.
BS At Macclesfield, you might get a thousand in the ground. They all tell you "Division Three is real football, it's authentic," etc. But the players all dream of being in the Premier League and playing in the European Cup. They'd give anything for that opportunity… I find this conservative attitude boring. Me, I'm happy when my team wins and I don't have to be ashamed about it.
Do you watch from the stands or on the sofa?
SM When I was a kid, I was traumatised. My father knew a guy who could get tickets for all the England games. One day, this guy gave my dad two tickets for an England-Scotland match, up in Scotland. I was six years old and it was hell. Stuck amongst thousands of supporters, lost in the crowd. You couldn't move and if you wanted to pee, you had to do it in a bottle. Also, there was a real tension, a latent violence. You can't understand just how much the Scots and the English hate each other. I begged my father to get me out of there. We understood from the faces of the Scots that we saw on the way home that England had won. Ever since, I've been afraid of football grounds…
BS Sofa for me, too. But when I was a kid, I went to watch the team play. I discovered football at the time of Best… The atmosphere was fantastic, that was a few years before the match that Stephen's talking about. There were two kops, the Stretford End and the Scoreboard End. A superb time for football, before the hooligans took over. Before it got watered down, as well. You could go to the ground without feeling any danger and without feeling like it was just an expensive fairground… I loved that. I remember that I went to the city centre with Hooky to celebrate the European Cup victory in '68. Charlton was captain. Matt Busby was trainer. There were hundreds of thousands of supporters around St Albert Square. I was twelve and I was overwhelmed by the crowd. In fact, I don't think Hooky was there… In any case, I was literally carried by the crowd. At one point, I couldn't even feel the ground. Incredible!
So when did you stop going to the ground?
BS Something changed very quickly. In 1968, in fact. A few months after the European Cup victory, we played in the World Club Championship, against a South American team, from Argentina, I think, called Estudiantes. Two-leg fixture, away and then at home. I remember watching the first match, in Argentina, on a really old TV. The father of Juan Sebastian Veron was playing for the opposition, but I really remember the referee. The bastard completely ruined the match. A thief, completely corrupt. Everyone who saw the match will tell you that. That day, I understood that there was something wrong with football. After that match (won 1-0 by Estudiantes), I went back to the stadium a few times, but something had changed. I realised that in football, like everything else, there was injustice and cheating. And what happened after that didn't really take away that impression.
So why do you watch it on TV then?
BS You have to defend your colours. At home, I'm the only United supporter. My wife's father played for Manchester City in the 1940s. And my son, Dylan, the idiot, decided he had to support City. What a tragedy! For derby games, we have an agreement. Whatever the result, whether United or City wins, no-one crows about it. No screams of joy, no taunting. Obviously, when City win, this agreement doesn't stop the little brat from making me suffer for hours! But when United win, which is more often, I'm not allowed to do anything. My little lad starts crying! And I wouldn't want to add to his suffering… My daughter supports Arsenal. After United's last victory, 2-0 at Old Trafford, she was really sick. After the first goal, she went ballistic and kicked the TV set. We had to watch the end of the match on another set. At the end of the match, she jumped on me, she attacked me. But she's much better now. In fact, she changes club every week. She had her Liverpool period, and now she's changing her loyalty again. She went to the United training centre the other day with her school and she had the chance to speak to the players. When she came home, she said "Dad, I think I might support United now…" The only problem is that she's fallen in love with Wayne Rooney. Frankly, I don't agree with that!
Have you met Rooney, in town, in a bar or in a brothel?
BS No, but like everyone, I read the article about him and the prostitutes in the tabloids. Apparently, when he went to the brothel in Liverpool, he signed an autograph for the old whore that he had just had. He wrote Thanks for the feck, Wayne Rooney and wrote the date. What an idiot!
Have you met many Manchester players?
BS Beckham lived in the same street as me. I met him several times, but we never spoke, he didn't know who I was. I could have punched Ferguson on the day he sold him. All of a sudden, his ego overtook his management skills. For his own pride, he ruined our season
Do you think Beckham is a maestro?
BS Of course! The guy is superb and he fights like a dog. In the media, he's shown as a bastard or an idiot, but in fact he's a superb guy. I don't understand how Ferguson can prefer Roy Keane…
Beckham's a boy, Keane is a man
BS He's just a wanker, that guy… he has a nasty side to him. But I must be the only United supporter who thinks that…
------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Order recently talked to French football website sofoot.com about which football teams they support. The full article is reproduced here in English with many thanks to Marc @ sofoot.com for permission and Nick Mackenzine for translation duties.
--
New Order is without doubt one of the greatest English groups of all time. And that didn't stop them from writing the theme song for the England team in the 1990 World Cup, World in Motion. The song is an ode to ecstasy. Just to put you in the mood…
Around the table in a hotel room near the Champs Elysees, we almost have the dream team. Phil Cunningham, Stephen Morris and Bernard Sumner are there. Peter Hook will be speaking to the press tomorrow. The Mancunian group is promoting the new album, Waiting for the Sirens' Call. Smiling and chatty, they're obviously happy to be here. We talk about football, and the natural hierarchy of the group is respected. Cunningham, the newcomer, sits on the bench and listens without saying anything. Stephen Morris supports Sumner the star, full of verve and stories, talking about Giggs in the toilets and the Gypsy Kings on the turntable.
"New Order and Football"
Which teams do you support?
Stephen Morris Macclesfield Town
Bernard Sumner Manchester Utd.
SM I'm from Macclesfield originally. It's a dirty little town south of Manchester. The team's in the Second Division, and frankly they're pretty bad… they even have an Iraqi player in the squad. Not that it means anything, mind you. Last year, they had a good spell. Four or five victories on the trot. The fans were chuffed. I can hear the stadium from my house, and they never stop singing. The media talked about us a bit then, and especially when the Iraqi arrived… But since then it's been calm. Life has gone back to normal in Macclesfield… sad.
BS Me, I grew up in Salford, a suburb of Manchester.
SM Wow, yet another United supporter who doesn't come from Manchester…
BS Salford-Manchester, it's ten minutes, Stephen. Ten minutes on foot! Salford is Manchester. And, if you really want to know, I was born in a hospital in the centre of town. We've got to kill this myth: there are as many United supporters as City supporters in Manchester. People from the north of the town support City, and those from the south support United. It's as simple as that, the division is historic… Salford is north-west of Manchester, so I support United. It's easy…
SM And China, that's north of Manchester? They all support United over there. It's nothing but a commercial undertaking, that club… It's more interesting to support a club in the lower divisions.
BS At Macclesfield, you might get a thousand in the ground. They all tell you "Division Three is real football, it's authentic," etc. But the players all dream of being in the Premier League and playing in the European Cup. They'd give anything for that opportunity… I find this conservative attitude boring. Me, I'm happy when my team wins and I don't have to be ashamed about it.
Do you watch from the stands or on the sofa?
SM When I was a kid, I was traumatised. My father knew a guy who could get tickets for all the England games. One day, this guy gave my dad two tickets for an England-Scotland match, up in Scotland. I was six years old and it was hell. Stuck amongst thousands of supporters, lost in the crowd. You couldn't move and if you wanted to pee, you had to do it in a bottle. Also, there was a real tension, a latent violence. You can't understand just how much the Scots and the English hate each other. I begged my father to get me out of there. We understood from the faces of the Scots that we saw on the way home that England had won. Ever since, I've been afraid of football grounds…
BS Sofa for me, too. But when I was a kid, I went to watch the team play. I discovered football at the time of Best… The atmosphere was fantastic, that was a few years before the match that Stephen's talking about. There were two kops, the Stretford End and the Scoreboard End. A superb time for football, before the hooligans took over. Before it got watered down, as well. You could go to the ground without feeling any danger and without feeling like it was just an expensive fairground… I loved that. I remember that I went to the city centre with Hooky to celebrate the European Cup victory in '68. Charlton was captain. Matt Busby was trainer. There were hundreds of thousands of supporters around St Albert Square. I was twelve and I was overwhelmed by the crowd. In fact, I don't think Hooky was there… In any case, I was literally carried by the crowd. At one point, I couldn't even feel the ground. Incredible!
So when did you stop going to the ground?
BS Something changed very quickly. In 1968, in fact. A few months after the European Cup victory, we played in the World Club Championship, against a South American team, from Argentina, I think, called Estudiantes. Two-leg fixture, away and then at home. I remember watching the first match, in Argentina, on a really old TV. The father of Juan Sebastian Veron was playing for the opposition, but I really remember the referee. The bastard completely ruined the match. A thief, completely corrupt. Everyone who saw the match will tell you that. That day, I understood that there was something wrong with football. After that match (won 1-0 by Estudiantes), I went back to the stadium a few times, but something had changed. I realised that in football, like everything else, there was injustice and cheating. And what happened after that didn't really take away that impression.
So why do you watch it on TV then?
BS You have to defend your colours. At home, I'm the only United supporter. My wife's father played for Manchester City in the 1940s. And my son, Dylan, the idiot, decided he had to support City. What a tragedy! For derby games, we have an agreement. Whatever the result, whether United or City wins, no-one crows about it. No screams of joy, no taunting. Obviously, when City win, this agreement doesn't stop the little brat from making me suffer for hours! But when United win, which is more often, I'm not allowed to do anything. My little lad starts crying! And I wouldn't want to add to his suffering… My daughter supports Arsenal. After United's last victory, 2-0 at Old Trafford, she was really sick. After the first goal, she went ballistic and kicked the TV set. We had to watch the end of the match on another set. At the end of the match, she jumped on me, she attacked me. But she's much better now. In fact, she changes club every week. She had her Liverpool period, and now she's changing her loyalty again. She went to the United training centre the other day with her school and she had the chance to speak to the players. When she came home, she said "Dad, I think I might support United now…" The only problem is that she's fallen in love with Wayne Rooney. Frankly, I don't agree with that!
Have you met Rooney, in town, in a bar or in a brothel?
BS No, but like everyone, I read the article about him and the prostitutes in the tabloids. Apparently, when he went to the brothel in Liverpool, he signed an autograph for the old whore that he had just had. He wrote Thanks for the feck, Wayne Rooney and wrote the date. What an idiot!
Have you met many Manchester players?
BS Beckham lived in the same street as me. I met him several times, but we never spoke, he didn't know who I was. I could have punched Ferguson on the day he sold him. All of a sudden, his ego overtook his management skills. For his own pride, he ruined our season
Do you think Beckham is a maestro?
BS Of course! The guy is superb and he fights like a dog. In the media, he's shown as a bastard or an idiot, but in fact he's a superb guy. I don't understand how Ferguson can prefer Roy Keane…
Beckham's a boy, Keane is a man
BS He's just a wanker, that guy… he has a nasty side to him. But I must be the only United supporter who thinks that…