the theatre of dreams

Spent most of New Year's Eve (NYE) cooped up again in another Megabus for 9 hours as I thundered towards my final destination for my Noël trip - Manchester.

Nothing much to blog about NYE except that we (Andi and me) checked in at our hostel and finally received the match tickets which we bought online 3 months ago. Great! Before coming here, my greatest fear was that the tickets would not arrive or arrive late and we would not be able to watch the match. So that was one obstacle cleared. However to my horror when I opened the envelope I found out that the tickets were for short side seats instead of the alongside (better view and thus more expensive) seats which we had paid for, and (momentarily) I thought that we were going to be seated with the away fans! I was super pissed at that moment but I knew that there was nothing I could do about it. It was not so much so of getting short side seats that I was angry about. I was angry because I had paid a obscene sum (and many times more than the original ticket price) to the online shop, and yet they did not even have the integrity to contact me about the change of tickets! Worse still, they could send me an email at the time of purchase telling me that the ordered tickets had been purchased. *fumes*

But this is not a post/rant about the dangers of online shopping. I probably will have another post on this to expose the risks and tactics of online vendors, but now I will continue on with the rest of my Manchester trip. All you need to know at this point in time is that all's well that ends well. =)

As I said earlier, I was pissed but I knew that there was nothing that I could do to rectify the situation, so I did the best thing I thought at that time - Eat dinner. =P We initially wanted to get ourselves some KFC but we decided to save that for supper so we went for some more pub grub instead. As I said in my earlier post, I luuurve pub grub! =D

chicken tikka masala

Being NYE, the streets were pretty crowded on a Monday night. We explored Manchester by night and soon, we were hungry again (must be the cold night air), and there was no way we could usher in the new year feeling hungry right? But alas, KFC was already closed at the early hour of 2100 and so we frantically looked around for some source of nocturnal nutrition. Finally, we managed to find a bastard offspring of KFC - Allen's Fried Chicken. Are they related or not? Read the label on the photo and judge it for yourself!

the manchester eye

all you ever wished for!

Compared to the earlier events in the day, the countdown itself was not much of an event: We settled for more booze in a pub and we watched as celebrities on the TV counted down themselves silly. Tranquil.

01/01/2008. The day of the holy grail. As a Manchester United fan since young, I have always been united behind them, be it the 1999 treble winning year to the time when Mark Bosnich let in that embarrassing own goal to confirm United's then pathetic form. So it was only a matter of time that I finally paid my homage to them on the first day of the new year at the Theatre of Dreams.

Everything was still pretty dull when we started our walk to Old Trafford. However it got more and more exciting as we neared the stadium and we started to see more and more fans walking along with us and cars driving past with fans cheering inside. It was all so surreal: Was I really going to Old Trafford?

Then I saw it. In the distance, but unmistakable. The Theatre of Dreams: The stage for many a great player to display their skills, the place where dreams are fulfilled, and also the venue when hopes are dashed as well (their's not our's.. =P). Immediately we hastened our pace towards our mecca and the next few hours were spent shopping (I eventually bought a jersey), grabbing lunch, and hoping for good seats in the stadium.

Kickoff was scheduled at 1500, but we entered the theatre a good 45mins earlier. I think we may have looked foolish in the local fans' eyes as we scuttered around taking photos and generally trying to take in the entire scene in front of us. We must have looked like blushing schoolgirls as we could not stop gushing at the marvelous sights in front of us. Surely, this cannot be true? But who could blame us? Such is the power of soccer, and anyway it was our first time there! In the end our seats turned out not to be that bad too as we were seated in the front row right near to the goal post. It afforded us a view and a degree of closeness that I have never felt before at any of my previous soccer matches. And about the view, it was really not that bad as we still were able to see all the way to the other end of the field.

the Theatre of Dreams

with my newly-bought jersey at the megastore

stadium overview

getting all excited before the match

I guess there's no point in me explaining the match (Man U against Birmingham) details to you as the feeling of being so close to the action is indescribable. What I can say is that the final score was 1-0 to the Red Devils, the goal scored being just right in front of us. Andi and I took a couple of videos, but sadly we missed capturing the goal on tape as it all happened too quickly for us. If you have cable, do watch the replay of the goal as we might have been caught on video! If you don't, here's some DIY footage right from the heart of the action! =)

so close..

players being introduced


united setpiece


ronaldo freekick


tevez having some fun with the defenders

full on action

ronaldo

goal celebration

Time always seem to pass quicker at live matches, unless I guess if your team's the losing team. =P Before I knew it, 90mins had passed and United had (routinely) secured another 3 points. After the match, Fergie was quoted as saying that the atmosphere was "like a funeral" Obviously he was referring to a Chinese funeral: We must have been as noisy as the wailing and crying that is usually associated with one. Furthermore I was there, so could it have possibly been quiet?! =D

And so with the end of the match also comes the end of my Noël adventure. Its been at two weeks of non-training, at least €1000 spent, and millions of kilojoules of energy expended, but in the end I think it was worth it. I've seen the things I wanted to see, done the things I've wanted to do, and experienced the diverse experiences which until then I had only read or heard about. So now that my dreams have (sort of) been fulfilled, I should feel re-energized; Time to refocus and head back to my books for the upcoming exams.

Or can I? =D

one last shot