Manchester is situated in the south-central part of North West England, fringed by the Cheshire Plain to the south and the Pennines to the north and east. The recorded history of Manchester began with the civilian settlement associated with the Roman fort of Mamucium, which was established in c. 79 AD on a sandstone bluff near the confluence of the rivers Medlock and Irwell. Historically, most of the city was a part of Lancashire, although areas south of the River Mersey were in Cheshire. Throughout the Middle Ages Manchester remained a manorial township, but it began to expand "at an astonishing rate" around the turn of the 19th century. Manchester's unplanned urbanisation was brought on by a boom in textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution, and resulted in it becoming the world's first industrialised city. An early-19th-century factory building boom transformed Manchester from a township into a major mill town and borough that was granted city status in 1853. In 1894 the Manchester Ship Canal was built, creating the Port of Manchester.
The city is notable for its architecture, culture, music scene, media links, scientific and engineering output, social impact and sporting connections. Manchester's sports clubs include Premier League football teams, Manchester City and Manchester United. Manchester was the site of one of the world's first railway stations, and the place where scientists first split the atom and developed the first stored-program computer. Manchester is served by two universities, including the largest single-site university in the UK, and has one of the country's largest urban economies. Manchester is also the third-most visited city in the UK by foreign visitors, after London and Edinburgh, and the most visited in England outside London.
But this industrial City is going to be divided in two tomorrow when the two biggest teams in the English premier League clash.
The blue half of Manchester (Man City) host the Red half (Man Utd) at the 47,805 capacity Etihad Stadium.
This promises to be a breath taking derby with United coming wounded to take their "pound of flesh" after City handed them a double defeat last season and also stole the Premiership crown from them.
For the past few days the two Clubs Managers Roberto Mancini and Sir Alex Ferguson have been engaging themselves in an off the pitch "Mind games", the most interesting the Premier League have witnessed in a very long time.
It all began when Sir Alex said " I ve been lucky that in my time here I have been involved with great competitions against teams like Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and now our noisy neighbours Manchester City. "There is no dull moment. We at United we don't run from challenges".
Mancini responded by saying "United are better than us at the moment but who knows what will happen tomorrow"
Ferguson also accused City of winning too many penalties at home saying "There would be inquiry in the House of Commons, if United were awarded as many.
Mancini was at hand to dish out a reply saying " I remember very well last year,when Young went swimming in the ....... I think four or five times in the last 10 games and Ferguson didn't say anything. He also said that " I think in the last 15years there have been some penalties for them, Not a lot but two or three in the last 15 years.
New Striker Robin Van Persie also added spice to the already tasty mind game by saying He has no regret choosing Man Utd over neighbours City.
As the Managers are playing theirs, the fans on the other hand are not left out of the show, with both set of fans dishing out insults to one another, recalling past victories and pasting photos of their teams around the City.
Mean while the players are busy getting set for what promises to be a memorable cracker, bearing in mind that a defeat will simply make life uncomfortable for them not just in the League but also in the City.
No comments:
Post a Comment