Just a note to announce that with a typical complete lack of planning, I am away on a family holiday for the next couple of weeks.

Why, oh why, don’t I insist that we go on holiday in July when there is no football? I don’t know but it is something I have made a mental note of for next year so shoot me if I make the same mistake again next August.

As it happens, we’re off to Spain at a place which is apparently just an hour away from the Nou Camp so, whilst Mrs Red Devil doesn’t know it yet, I’m going to see what the chances are of going on the stadium tour while I’m there. Obviously, I’ll post some pictures up on here should my plan work out (don’t hold your breath on that one, though).

My other plan, again, unknown to Mrs Red Devil is to smuggle my laptop into my suitcase so that I am able to keep on top of our matches while I’m away but, as it happens, we “only” have Spurs and Arsenal to play during this time so it’s not all bad.

I’ve already written the preview for the Spurs game and it should be appearing any minute now.

So… erm… Hasta luego, que te cuides, pint of lager, packet of crisps, gracias (yes, I know, I’m a natural).

The Red Devil - A Manchester United and Football Blog

Just thought I’d drop a post in here to say that I haven’t dropped off the edge of the world or anything, I have just moved house which has left me bereft of time for much of the last couple of weeks and, equally importantly, bereft of an internet connection at the moment!

I am currently typing this from the mother-in-law’s who, in a bout of unusual kindness, has allowed me to use her internet connection.

Moving house here in Manchester is a funny experience in that my new neighbours have all been extremely friendly so far and have all gone out of their way to introduce themselves to me and make me feel welcome in my new home but, after the initial, “How are you settling in?” pleasantries have been respected, questions turn to the more serious issue of “Are you Red or Blue?”

Naturally, I stand tall and proud and proclaim my Redness and this is greeted by a wide smile or a grimace depending on the colour of the questioner. It’s all good humoured though and with both sides of the Red and Blue divide having something to cheer about in the last week, both sets of fans are generally at peace with the world and each other.

I have a feeling that hostilities will be resumed in earnest come August though and perhaps on the kind of scale not witnessed for decades.

Bring it on!

The Red Devil - A Manchester United and Football Blog

As some of you might have noticed, the site was completely down on Saturday and I was unable to write my usual pre-match analysis and prediction for the FA Cup match against Southampton.

This was due to the server the site is on coming under attack from a nasty virus.

Normal service will be resumed tomorrow when we take on Aston Villa in the Premier League!

The Red Devil - A Manchester United and Football Blog

No. The site hasn’t been abandoned – I have just been away for a two week vacation. I decided that during this family holiday, I would not take my laptop and football would be completely off the agenda too (although I did manage to discover the scores of the three games we have played whilst away – it isn’t too difficult to find a United fan – even in America!)

So, I now have a bit of updating to do but rest assured, the site will be running as usual from now on (or until I take a holiday again at least!).

The Red Devil - A Manchester United and Football Blog

It's an Honour to Meet You.... And you, Geoff

The odds of it not raining in Manchester are estimated to be something like one million to one so when I opened my eyes this morning to the most brilliant sunshine of the year, I knew something was wrong and then in my half-sleep, I remembered that today was not a normal day. Not a normal day, at all.

You see,  myself and a few other local football bloggers had been invited along to an event at the newly opened Kitbag sport shop in Manchester City Centre where I was to get to meet Sir Geoff Hurst and have my photo taken with him and a new England shirt (duly signed by Sir Geoff himself).

The person I was told to ask for when I arrived at the store was a chap called Russ Hirst and so I asked the lady on the door where I might find Russ Hirst… she looked at me with a confused look on her face… “Russ Hurst? We have Geoff Hurst here today but…”

So that left me looking like a bit of a plonker and I began to wonder if it had all been some kind of wind-up – perhaps from a City fan who had happened upon the TRD site?

However, Geoff Hurst was definitely there because I could hear him being interviewed by local radio station Key 103 (quipping that when he arrived in Manchester this morning he thought he was in the wrong place because it wasn’t raining).

Anyway, knowing that much of  the story was at least true, I went downstairs to see him and hear what else he had to say (amongst other things, he regards Wayne Rooney as the only current England player who could have played in the World Cup winning side of 1966).

As I was listening to Sir Geoff, I was scanning the crowd looking for someone who might look like someone called Russ Hirst when I saw a young man a few yards away holding a clipboard who had recently been joined by another young chap who had “Blogger” written all over him – I don’t mean literally, I mean, he just looked like a blogger. I was later to learn that he was a pleasant young chap called Pete who was there as a person who blogs about Blackburn Rovers (well, someone has to, I suppose).

So I took a leap of faith, “You wouldn’t happen to know Russ Hirst would you?”

“That’s me! Are you The Red Devil?”, answered Russ.

It’s quite strange to be addressed by your alter ego pseudonym but as strange was today’s byword, I was happy to go along with it, “Yes, that’s me”, I replied. Maybe my horns gave it away… I don’t know.

There was another lad there, big fella… unfortunately I can’t remember his name now but I think he also writes a blog.

Anyway, after a bit of general chit chat we were ushered along with our England shirts in hand to meet Sir Geoff himself.

I must admit that whilst I obviously know about the World Cup winning team of 1966, it was a bit before my time (I’m not that old) and so I couldn’t really say that I was excited to meet Sir Geoff – I don’t know the word to describe how I felt as I was about to meet him but I suppose it was curiosity.

You have to remember that Sir Geoff is a very rare breed – he is an Englishman who has won the World Cup.

I had better just say that again – An ENGLISHMAN who has WON the WORLD CUP.

There aren’t many of those left in the world as, sadly, some of them have already left us.

In fact, Sir Geoff Hurst is a unique rarity amongst the rare breeds as he is the only man to ever score a hat-trick in a World Cup Final.

And so I walked towards Sir Geoff and that was when the surreal-o-meter kicked up a notch.

This was Sir Geoff Hurst, MBE. Knight, World Cup winner, legendary hat-trick scorer and he was sitting in front of me…

And he was shouting at me.

Due to the general buzz in the shop and the fact that he has quite a strong London (?) accent, I couldn’t quite hear or understand what he was saying.

It was something like, “Tighter! Pull it tighter! Hold the shoulders!”

“Pull what tighter?”, I was thinking “And why is he being so scary? Someone could have warned me he was mental.”

Then I realised what he meant, I wasn’t stretching the shirt enough for him to sign it so I pulled it tighter and he explained to me how it makes a “right mess” if you don’t pull the shirt tight enough. This was better, I felt that we were really connecting now.

Then we shook hands and that’s when it hit me that the hand that I am shaking once held aloft the Jules Rimet trophy – a unique moment for me and one that I may never have the opportunity to do again.

At this point, I remembered that we were supposed to have our photo taken with him so I turned around to face the camera and, I can’t be sure, but it is possible that I pulled him halfway across the table he was sitting behind as I did so. I distinctly remember seeing him in the corner of my eye rising to his feet quite quickly beside me as I turned round (I was still holding his hand).

After posing for the camera, I walked away but turned my head back to Sir Geoff at the sound of banging behind me and “ooos” and “aaahs” from the gathered crowd. I think Sir Geoff had missed his chair when he went back to sit down and people were understandably concerned for the 68 year old Legend’s wellbeing.

Fortunately, he was fine and I had not been partly responsible for the hospitalisation of one of our most famous sporting icons.

Anyway, I went back to Russ (rapidly becoming my lifeboat in a sea of insanity) and thanked him for the fantastic opportunity and experience.

Then I made my way home wondering what the hell had just happened.

Thanks again, Russ. Thank you, Sir Geoff. And thank you, Kitbag.

The Red Devil - A Manchester United and Football Blog

Just a quick post to apologise for the lack of posts recently and an explanation for the reasons behind this.

Like so many others last Saturday, I was the victim of a very strange incident involving my virus checker.

Basically, anybody using BitDefender or any anti-virus program that used the BitDefender anti-virus definitions (I was using BullGuard) found their computers self-destructing as a poorly programmed update began moving perfectly legitimate files to quarantine. This meant that critical Windows system files were moved so that in the end, all I was left with was a black screen.

After a couple of days of messing around trying to get it back to normal, I decided it was dead and took it to someone to format the hard-drive and re-install Windows for me.

This was all done and sorted by Wednesday however, the backlog of work caused by not having a computer for the best part of five days added to the fact that I had to re-install everything onto the computer, configure email accounts etc etc meant that time has been very limited this week.

However, I am pleased to report that everything is now back to normal and normal service will resume today when I do my pre-match analysis of the Bolton game.

What this has to do with Manchester United and football, I don’t know but if it means that just one person does not give any money to the idiots at BullGuard (who were wholly unhelpful despite breaking my computer) then that will be good.

The Red Devil - A Manchester United and Football Blog

Those nice people at A Different League have provisionally nominated The Red Devil for the Best Manchester United Blog.

The competition seems pretty stiff and I’d be very surprised if I actually won it but it’s nice to be noticed and for the work myself and my contributors put into it to be recognised so thanks guys!

The Red Devil - A Manchester United and Football Blog

Hi all,

Apologies for the lack of posts recently. I have been getting into the old Christmas Spirit and with little in the way of real Manchester United action, I thought I would take a few days off.

I hope you had a great Christmas, too.

Of course, I have been reading the newspaper reports and have seen that we have been linked with everyone from Karim Benzema (again) to Kenwyne Jones on the player front and that Pep Guardiola is now being touted as the next manager.

About the only thing that seems to be fact and not a figment of some over-zealous reporter’s imagination is that Mame Biram Diouf has been granted a work permit and is now free to play for us.

Normal TRD service will be resumed tomorrow when we take on Hull and try to close that gap on Chelsea to just two points (Chelsea dropped yet another two points today).

I am hoping to see some good news about the injury situation before I do my preview.

See you tomorrow.

The Red Devil - A Manchester United and Football Blog

Hi,

As you can see, I am giving The Red Devil a whole new look.

I expect the site to be fully ready in time for the new (2009/10 Season) so please bear with me.

In the meantime, the old site is still available here:-

The Old The Red Devil Website

The new site is going to be much more “article based” with more news, more comment and more football generally (but the priority will remain Manchester United).

If any Manchester United fans out there would like to contribute articles for the new site, please get in touch (trd@thereddevil.co.uk should do the trick).

The Red Devil - A Manchester United and Football Blog