Fair play

Man Utd vs Burton: 5-0. End of a fairy tale. However, this is not the end of the story... you know something? I wrote in a previous posting that something smelled fishy when Man Utd drew at Burton Albion a week ago... but with hindsight, I realised that it was a good thing. Why?

1. Man Utd's out of all European competitions, meaning they are playing less matches. Meaning less opportunities to let fringe players to get games under their belts. So getting a draw AND thus playing an extra match like this is a good thing.
2. It also gives a very, very small club like Burton a chance to get some much needed funds into their coffers. It is said that a replay like this will earn Burton an estimated 500,000 pounds in extra revenue.
3. It gives Burton's players a chance to play in a stadium like Old Trafford and allow their fans to also get a feel of such a stadium, which they will never ever get to do so for a normal Premiership match, with Premiership ticket prices being so extorbitant.

If not, why do you think that in fielding almost the exact same team, with the exception of Darren Fletcher who came in for Ritchie Jones, Man Utd manage to put 5 goals into Burton's net? Funny eh? :) Anyway, its only my own speculation... you draw your own conclusions. :)

I'm glad Sir Alex Ferguson was quick to praise the Burton players for their positive spirit, the home team was nice enough to leave the field quickly after the match to allow the Burton team to make a lap of honour and the home fans had stayed back to cheer their opposition... I don't know how many big clubs are willing to do just that.

That's how football should be played don't you think?