They moved the goalposts for George Best. He was there.
OUR THINKING / OPINION
Anthony Parker’s first ever football match was a Matt Busby testimonial. George Best was on the pitch. They moved the goalposts to the 18-yard line because Best was carrying a few extra years and a few extra pounds by then, and nobody wanted to see him embarrassed. He played ten minutes. He had bags and bags of skill. Anthony was five or six years old. He never forgot it.
In episode eleven of Football for Breakfast, Jim Johnson sits down with Anthony in the greasy spoon café to talk about Manchester United, the weight of history and what it means to be a fan of a club that has built its identity on tragedy as much as triumph.
Munich and what it built
They talk about the Busby Babes, Duncan Edwards – who broke into the United first team and the England squad at 18 with virtually no substitutes available, which Anthony says makes him probably the best player in the world at that age – and the way the Munich air disaster created something mystical about United that even their rivals can’t fully deny.
They talk about the 1992-93 season, when Anthony’s dad turned up on the Sunday with scarves hanging out the window, a cake and a bottle of champagne. Twenty-six years. Worth every second of the wait.
Midway through, Man United call
Anthony answers. He tells them he’s recording a podcast. He hangs up.
The object on the table
A ticket stub. The Champions League group stage game against Fenerbahce, 2004. Wayne Rooney’s Manchester United debut. A hat trick. Anthony was in the stadium. He watched the whole thing happen from the beginning.
The result he’ll never get over? Agüero. QPR. The last minute. The one where City didn’t even have to be that good.
Also available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Football for Breakfast is presented by OSS Security. New episode every Tuesday morning.
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NOT TACTICS. NOT TRANSFERS. THE FEELING OF FOOTBALL.
