The Canadian Stretford End

Name: Sam Gregory

Favourite Moment Watching Football: Watching United win the Champions League final against Chelsea in Moscow. The game itself was actually a very good match, but all the drama surrounding the game made it so much more exciting. The first all English final comes in the same year when the English national team fails to qualify for the European Championships. Ronaldo the best player in the world at the time scores his 42nd goal of the campaign, Giggs breaks the record for the most ever appearances in a Manchester United kit and goes on to score the winning penalty. Chelsea captain John Terry gets within a penalty of giving his team the trophy then of course it was all capped off by an ex-Liverpool and ex-Manchester City player having his decisive penalty saved to give Manchester United the European Cup. Absolutely brilliant.

Least Favourite Moment Watching Football: Honduras’s second goal in Montreal…. I don’t feel the need to elaborate on this.

Favourite Player: Very difficult I love watching the likes of Wayne Rooney and Ryan Giggs in this United squad. I’ve always liked John O’Shea as well just because of his absolute dedication and because he scored against the scousers at Anfield in 2007. On the Canadian side of things my favourite player seems to change based on who has most recently  put in a crunching tackle on one of CONCACAF’s many scumbags.

My Dream Match: Canada has a game in Whitehorse to qualify for the World Cup against Honduras in November. Whitehorse has just installed a new stadium for their expansion team into the Canadian National League. The CSA has chosen Whitehorse as the location for tactical reasons and all 30,000 seats in the ground have been sold out for weeks. There is one small away section but the whole stadium is covered in red and white, and all 10,000 Voyageurs have somehow found a way to get to Whitehorse and they’ve put together one of the biggest supporters sections in Canadian history. The atmosphere is cracking and all pro-Canadian. Canada’s starting XI walks out and they are all domestic players playing in the highly rated Canadian National League. Canada pummels Honduras four-nil and qualifies for the World Cup.

Favourite Bands/Music: Kinda all over the place with this one. I’ll just give a rundown of my five favourite albums of all time to give a bit or perspective. In no particular order: Revolver by the Beatles, Definitely Maybe by Oasis, Stone Roses by the Stone Roses, Highway 61 Revisited by Bob Dylan and Blood Sugar Sex Magic by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Favourite Movie: Another difficult one. The Lord of the Rings movies are brilliant, so I’ll opt for those…

Favourite Book: As a 90′s/00′s kid I grew up reading Harry Potter so I have to put that on there. Now I read mainly football books, and if you want a great one check out The Inverted Pyramid by Jonathan Wilson it will change the way you view the game.

Favourite TV Show: Lost without a doubt then after that I’m a big sucker for NBC’s comedy night of Community, Parks and Recreation, 30 Rock and the Office.

Favourite Sports Teams outside Football: Big fan of CIS football (that would be gridiron football) and the Queens Golden Gaels, then moving in the NFL I’m a Miami Dolphins fan. In the hockey world coming from Kingston I cheer for the Frontenacs and in the NHL most unfortunately I’m a Leafs fan