After a brilliant pre-season which lay the foundations for Manchester United’s barnstorming run this season, the Glazers have decided that we must get to the Asian market before Liverpool or Chelsea do.
All for the sake of protecting the brand that is Manchester United, you see.
The road to hell (as they’ll call it after players get injured and what not) kicks off in Japan on 17th July, hits South Korea on the 20th, backtracks to China on the 23rd before a grand finale in Malaysia on the 27th where, after 11 days of torture, the players will get the chance to please thousands of fans by rushing into a plan and hauling ass back home to complete a grueling 2-week trip.
It might not be as bad as it sounds, but it can’t be much better. Some of those moments when making money and spreading the ‘brand’ mix together and the players get dragged through hell for it.
These are the same players that get paid 100k per week though (ok, some of them do, the others are getting 20k / week – oh poor Darren Fletcher), so maybe they should be doing more than just playing football in Asia. Maybe they should
And what’s this obsession with the Far East? Can’t you bastards come to Pakistan? Oh yea, we don’t have a decent team for you to play with, but we promise not to beat you up (unlike the Chinese, who have no qualms in doing so (will this get Soccerlens banned in China?)).
Oh well.
David Gill says that “everyone’s looking forward to it”. I’m sure they are.
Asia Tour Matches – July 2007
17 – Urawa Red Diamonds, Japan (Saitama Stadium)
20 – FC Seoul, Korea (Seoul World Cup Stadium)
23 – Shenzhen FC, Macau (Macau Stadium)
27 – Malaysian XI, Kuala Lumpur (Bukit Jalil Stadium)
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