It’s a 30 year old film which was panned by many but to me Escape to Victory is one of the greatest football movies of all time. The climax was that memorable strike from King Pele yet this weekend Wayne Rooney scored an almost identical effort lifting the roof off Old Trafford with one of the goals of the season. Henry Winter wrote in the Sunday Telegraph that “One fan declared it the best overhead kick since Pele in ‘Escape to Victory’. Anyone familiar with the movie will love this”.  Apart from the ‘Black Rooney’, the movie also featured such football greats as Bobby Moore, Osvaldo Ardiles, Mike Summerbee and a host of  other world stars.

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You’ve heard of Jimmy Greaves of course, everyone has even though he stopped playing nearly 40 years ago. Greaves was one of the greatest goal scorers England has ever produced which makes his recent comments in The People newspaper about Wayne Rooney being photographed smoking a cigarette quite interesting. And Roo is not the only current Manchester United player to enjoy having a puff as photos of Dimitar Berbatov and Federico Macheda clearly show. The world cup winner argues that it never did him any harm nor will it damage anyone else. In a piece titled “What’s so bad about Wayne Rooney having a fag?” Greaves presents a highly debatable point of view but guess what? It’s an opinion that this long time smoker  totally agrees with!

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You’ve heard of Jimmy Greaves of course, everyone has even though he stopped playing nearly 40 years ago. Greaves was one of the greatest goal scorers England has ever produced which makes his recent comments in The People newspaper about Wayne Rooney being photographed smoking a cigarette quite interesting. And Roo is not the only current Manchester United player to enjoy having a puff as photos of Dimitar Berbatov and Federico Macheda clearly show. The world cup winner argues that it never did him any harm nor will it damage anyone else. In a piece titled “What’s so bad about Wayne Rooney having a fag?” Greaves presents a highly debatable point of view but guess what? It’s an opinion that this long time smoker  totally agrees with!

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The 2-1 pre season defeat in Kansas City by the Wizards this morning was not the first suffered in America by Manchester United. The club has been visiting the country for decades while a number of former stars have either played there for a few years towards the end of their careers or started a new life on the other side of the world. One of those who may be remembered is Gordon Hill who was brought to Old Trafford by former manager Tommy Docherty in November 1975 for £70,000 from Millwall at the age of 21.
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For many years he had the most famous toothless gums in England. 68 year old World Cup winner Nobby Stiles suffered a minor stroke last week and spent two days in hospital but is now recovering at home according to his agent Terry Baker. The  Manchester United sixties legend suffered disorientation which was diagnosed as a Transient Ischaemic Attack and is expected to undergo surgery in a few weeks.

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