OpinionA sleepless night and Twitter backlash after Manchester United’s latest Premier League setback
- United’s dismal 70 minutes against Sheffield United leads some fans on Twitter to consider how the current Manchester United side ranks to previous iterations
- Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s young side battle back to rescue a draw from 2-0 down at Bramall Lane
The landlord from Liverpool has a generous offer.
“I’ll keep the pub open so that you can watch the Man United game,” he says. It’s especially generous as the pub is in Kobe and Sheffield United vs Man United kicks off at 1.30am Japanese time. “There’s another United fan who comes in here from Uganda,” explains the Liverpool-supporting landlord. “I’ll call him if you like.”
Much as I’d be intrigued to watch the match in the company of a Ugandan and a Scouser in the heart of Japan’s sixth biggest city, it can’t be done. I’ve got to head off to Astana for the next United game in the Europa League. Besides, four days after arriving in Japan to interview Andres Iniesta and Lukas Podolski, my jet lag is at its peak. Watching a game scheduled to finished at 3.30am in a pub 90 minutes from the airport would not be wise.
Instead, I go to my hotel to try to sleep as friends send messages from Sheffield. This will be the first Man United game I haven’t watched in person or on TV for years.
I’m worried already by United’s line-up. I’m even more anxious when I receive a message from a United We Stand fanzine seller outside Bramall Lane that all is not well and that he’s already been confronted by several home fans. I feel responsible for his and other sellers’ safety and fall into an anxious, fitful sleep which lasts until 3.25am.