Welcome To My Blog

Firstly, welcome to The Wrong Colour Shirts. The name is simply a tribute to the greatest moment in the history of English football. Its not Geoff Hurst, George Best, Alan Kennedy, Ricky Villa, Thierry Henry or Sergio Aguero. It doesn't even involve 'a football.' It was in fact, without doubt, when one of the greatest managers the game has ever seen, blamed a dismal first-half display from the best team in the country on the colour of his players' shirts.

For all the millions of twitter characters spent daily discussing formations, tactics, goals-per-minutes ratios, distances covered, phases of play and goalline technologies; when arguably the greatest exponent of the aforementioned was staring at a surprise defeat away at Southampton, he lost his temper, and he made his team change their shirts.

Regardless, United went on to win the 1995-1996 Premier League title, and Fergie has won nine more since, plus a sick-bucket full of cup medals. He has made my first 20 years as a Liverpool fan an exercise in looking over my shoulder, while our bitterest rivals chipped away at our once considerable pile of trump cards, until I'm curled up naked in a corner, clutching onto my '5 Times' as if life itself depends on it.

When this 'genius' retires, we will have to sit through hours of tedious programming, and debate over whether he is in fact the greatest man the sport has ever engaged. He's considered so proficient at his job that he was long-ago made a knight of the realm. And yet he'll always be the man who blamed a defeat on the colour of his shirts. And no amount of silverware will change that. Football, eh, bloody hell.

Anyway, this ramble doesn't lead me on neatly to another topic in this post, or to the general theory behind the creation of this blog. Its merely the online version of the discussion we all had last week around pub tables after Sergio Aguero's bewildering piece of skill and composure, accompanied by Martyn Tyler's beautiful roar. We talked about the most dramatic goals, the greatest goals, the funniest own-goals, the nastiest tackles and the most bizarre incidents - all those moments that make football such a scintillating sport to watch.

However, it wasn't until 24 hours later, that the real lasting beauty of Aguero's spectacular moment became clear. When Sir Alex Ferguson, 12 league titles and all, having reacted so graciously to such a demoralising defeat, finally burst. He claimed City had gained an unfair advantage by their match continuing after United's game at Sunderland had finished, and suggested the Premier League "look into that." Suddenly it all became clear - all those late, late goals United have scored over the years - Fergie has been freezing time.

Sir Alex, you genius. The gift that keeps on giving.

So, that's the intro done. The fact that its almost entirely about Alex Ferguson is something to be ashamed of, I'm sure. The only way is up from here, so next time, its onto Liverpool FC... that'll be fun.