The infamous "Phoenix" badge.

Therefore, that badge is often assumed to be the mark of a Phoenix, rising from it’s ashes- spitting fire and gaining life from the grim and dreary clutches of death. The crest is nowadays looked on as a tribute to the tenacity the club and Jimmy Murphy, to have steadied ship during such turbulent times and have brought the club onward to greater glories. The mythical bird is also looked upon as signs of rebirth and rekindling of hopes and dreams of the Old Trafford faithful- but in reality, the bird that’s taking flight on the badge is not a Phoenix at all.

United- The BBC drama.

The myth of the phoenix has been made popular by the BBC drama titled “United”, which was a re-enactment of the events that occurred in Munich and beyond. Though the film itself was rich and beautiful, they did misplace the fact of the badge quite naively. It is shown that Sir Matt (Dougary Scott) enters the dressing room of the players right before the final and tells them that the badge they are wearing is that of the mythical bird. Whether it was done so by mistake or by purpose (to give the players a moral boost) is not really known, but it had definitely deluded some fans. The bird on the crest that night was actually an Eagle. And to justify that fact, we have to go back in time.

The first Coat of Arms granted to the city of Manchester was that of a Shield supported by a lion and an antelope, which had a ship drawn upon it, and a globe up top- regarding the city’s seaways link and global trade. Man United wore this badge to the 1948 FA cup final. In 1958 the city of Manchester’s coat of arms was redesigned by a man named Mr H. Ellis Tomlinson. The new design now sported a helmet in between the globe and the shield, and emerging out of the helmet on either side was a mantling. Now the mantling itself- or the scarf flowing out of the helmet had small details that are not always visible in small representations, but if you look closely, you can see the very Eagle sitting atop a mural crown. This design repeats itself often on the mantling. This eagle design, which was included in the 1958 city coat of arms was the badge that United wore to the 1958 FA cup final.

The 1958 coat of arms, and the eagle design.

According to a museum report in 1958, the eagle was said to be symbolic of Manchester’s connection with ancient Rome. The letter ‘M’ in the centre is a symbol relating the association with the past lords of the manor, and the circle around it is symbolic of Ringway. The mural crown, however was supposed to be a sign of the municipal corporation. This badge was then allotted by the town clerk to be worn by the football team in the final. It was not much different from adorning the coat of arms, as they had done earlier- as the badge represented the city just as the coat of arms would otherwise.

The use of this badge on the club’s kit was announced on the 24th of April, in the Manchester Evening news. This was a good 9 days before the FA cup final, to be held on the 3rd of May. The newspaper also mentions, “Although it looks fittingly like a phoenix rising out of the ashes it is in fact a golden eagle on a mural crown.” making it seem that it was the source of the rumors about the mythical bird in the first place.

The Report of the Badge.

Hence, history busts the myth of the Phoenix on Man United’s badge. It also discards another theory that the eagle was a bald eagle that symbolized the American trade fair that was taking place in Manchester at that time. This eagle badge was worn by Manchester United only one time in their history. Additionally, this is the same bird that the team from ‘cross town- Manchester City, currently base their club crest upon.

Yet, if you look back, you would say that Manchester United’s comeback is very likely to that of a real Phoenix rising from it’s ashes. And looking at United’s glorious past and present, you could always say- that even if the Red Devils never had a Phoenix woven into their chest, they do have an undying spirit embedded into their heart.

Lets check his past records to settle how big a titan he is in the footballing sphere, and in the hearts of Juve fans from all over the world. He is already the record holder for maximum club appearance for The Old Lady, as he is their top scorer domestically and in Europe. Also, he was included in the FIFA 100, which is a great achievement for any individual. Yet realistically, numbers and statistics don’t really amount to much when looking at how much the player is respected by every soul that watches the beautiful game.

But, what the great man did some days ago can be termed as downright miraculous, and it may very well eclipse his other achievements, due to the amount of emotions involved, and the spectacular nature of the events that occurred. The Italian football legend managed to wake a girl from a two-week come, just by speaking to her.

The legacy grows stronger

Giada Scalise, a girl from Ceredigion, Crotone, fell into the coma while watching her favorite team Juventus play, on the 22nd of january. She suffered from a brain hamorrhage, that saw her in a pacific state for as long as two weeks. The nurses tried everything to try and get the school-girl’s situation to improve. The saddened family then asked their beloved club Juventus to do anything they could, to help their little supporter in her struggle to better health.

Juventus happily obliged, and Del Piero sent the girl a recorded tape saying, “Hello Giada, this is Alessandro del Piero. I hope you’ll wake up and come back to us as soon as possible to watch many of our games.” The nurses kept playing the tapes, and slowly, there were signs of reaction. His words were re-played to the little girl on a daily basis, and the rehab that started with a small shake of the hands turned into a full fledged come-back. The girl returned to her senses within 24 hours of the first signs of consciousness, and demanded ice-cream to help her return to her jolly state. The girl’s father, Francesco was convinced that Del Piero’s voice had worked magic, and helped her daughter recover completely.

In the end, this little piece of happy news from the Italian legend seems like a breath of fresh air, when one is surrounded by stories of deceit in football each day. Columns about sex scandals, racist remarks, wild youngsters and lack of respect float up too often, and Del Piero needs to be saluted to offer a bright exception to it all. He showed that for some people, goodwill and humanity is still more important than most other things. And the girl was also instrumental in showing that the spirit of football, and the love for football gods is what true fans still live by.

Does he have the answers?

Andre Villas Boas was voted one of the best coaches in Europe in the past year, by SportsKeeda for his lofty achievements in The Dragon’s Den. This man, rather boy was Andre Villas Boas- and it was the prodigal son’s return to Chelsea, in a bid to take them to the height where his predecessors had taken them. Yet, from that date, a lot has happened, and  much has fallen apart for the Blue brigade and their young boss. So now, let us look into what has gone wrong, and how the man from Portugal can settle it all before he is victim to yet another Roman sacking.

A year and half back, Chelsea started as juggernauts. At the beginning of the last Premier League season, the Stamford Bridge dwellers were rampant and deadly. They left weaker teams flattened in their wake, and a title seemed probable. Yet, they lost their spark in the middle of the season, and never recovered. As the disappointment ended, it cost them the job of their beloved gaffer, Carlo Ancelotti. Yet, there was hope when a new name was floating around the capital. This boy-turning-man from Porto would surely turn this squad into a champion team, as he did with his other clubs. But it was not to be. Now, the fact of the matter isn’t that Chelsea have been downright poor under Villas Boas; but in all honesty, they are short of the spectacular driveforce they were expected of being. And here are the reasons why:

The English League:

It is no joke, when the English League is touted as one of the most competitive leagues in the whole world. Being a young coach in this league is tough, no matter how old you are or how clever you can be. Even proven mid-table coaches have struggled when they have made the migration to bigger clubs (Ask Mister Hodgson) leading to an ugly sack, or the detriment of the team. And this year, the struggle wasn’t about to get any easier. With the rise of clubs such as Man City, Tottenham and Newcastle, the race for the top four spot has become more grueling than many past seasons. And with the two halves of Manchester sitting pretty at the top, the vying for the next two spots has been the concern for five top class teams. The pressure to come against such quality is a huge task in itself, and though Andre hasn’t done a perfect job, he is slowly coming to terms with it.

The league, tougher then ever.

The English Media, and his Team:

Chelsea FC are full of top-class players, and the English media are known to be pricking needles in any manager’s coat. Honestly, controversy and publicity has come together in a very ugly way in Villas’ first season at the Bridge to make his tenure harder than it should already be. Claims of racism from his captain, numerous players underperforming, and a few sex-stories emerging from the bridge has left the young gaffer with more than he can grasp on to. He has tried everything, from calming down dressing-room egos, to asking the players to celebrate with him, after scoring. He also has to deal with the misfiring Fernando Torres and justify his pricetag to the owner, while making sure the Spaniard is well motivated.

Villas is often seen, nowadays, defending his players and captain for things that are remotely related to football. On top of that, with players like Malouda and Kalou delivering lukewarm performances, at other times, he has to answer to the media and the fans for mistakes or complacency that the team reflects while on the pitch. In the end, Boas will have to cope with this kind of phenomenon if he is to carry on his charge of the Blues, but sometimes, you just feel sorry for the man.

Troubled times for Villas-Boas.

The Chelsea backline:

The Chelsea back four are not the palisades that they were a season ago. With John Terry leading the backline with his heart, and everyone around responding, it was very hard to break the Blues down. Yet, with John Terry out for some part of the current season, that confidence and stability in Chelsea’s defence seems to be lost. David Luiz seems a tad bit immature at times, and gets caught out of position too often. Iva, on the other hand, seems to be a rock, but loses his head at times, making him a tad bit volatile. Their combination at the back has been a solid one of late, but it seems to be undone quite easily- which isn’t good news for the Bridge faithful. Also, Cole and Bosingwa are seemingly slipping up too often as well, leading to troublesome patches for their goalkeeper, Petr Cech, who himself has hit a bad area of late.

All-in-all, Villas Boas was known to be a great tactical coach, and his comprehension and organizational powers need to be exercised to the brink in order to settle the fiasco that the defence is turning out to be. We hope the man finds a way out soon.

They need to get it right.

This article was written after Chelsea suffered a shock 2-0 defeat to Everton at Goodison park. There were rumors floating around, of the eventual sacking of the Manager by Roman Abramovich, but we do sincerely hope that it doesn’t happen anytime soon. Though he hasn’t coped well with the pressure of the Chelsea job yet, Andre has every ingredient in him to be a great manager, and a hero for the Stamford Bridge faithful- and we hope Roman gives him the time and space to carry on and onto greater things, and better times.