RIO DE JANEIRO, June 23 (Xinhua) -- Following are the results from Brazil's Serie A championship on Thursday (home teams listed first):
Thursday, June 23
Coritiba 1 Internacional 1
Gremio 1 Vitoria 2
Sao Paulo 0 Sport 0
Chapecoense 0 Atletico Paranaense 0
Wednesday, June 22
Atletico Mineiro 2 Corinthians 1
Botafogo 0 Figueirense 0
Fluminense 2 Santos 4
Ponte Preta 0 Cruzeiro 4
Santa Cruz 0 Flamengo 1
Tuesday, June 21
Palmeiras 2 America-MG 0
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FC United of Manchester manager Karl Marginson poses during the photocall at the team's training ground in Manchester Air Jordan 13 Altitude Pre Order , England on November 3, 2010. Photo: CFP
They'd waited seven seasons so what was another agonizing 90 minutes? It took 69 of them for Greg Daniels to break the deadlock and another 20-odd for the final whistle to blow and confirm that FC United of Manchester were going up as champions.
The Rebel Reds, as they have become known Air Jordan 13 Altitude For Sale , began in a Manchester curry house following the -Glazer takeover of Manchester United back in 2005. The American's unwanted buyout was the -catalyst but dissent had been growing among the Old Trafford faithful for years: Rising ticket prices and an inflexible ticketing policy; a lack of atmosphere in the ground; Sky TV setting unpredictable kickoff times; a belief that the board pandered to daytrippers and the overseas TV audience over the club's local fanbase; and heavy-handed stewarding were the common gripes. Enough was enough.
And so it was that FC United of Manchester came into being that summer. They applied to the -highest league on the pyramid with an open spot and found themselves in the North West Counties Football League Division Two, kicking off their first game away at Leek CSOB at 3 pm on a Saturday.
If that first game was a return to what people wanted from football then the first three seasons were beyond everyone's wildest dreams. The club topped the league that season and then did the same in the first division before winning the playoffs in their first campaign in the Northern Premier League Division One North. Since then they have been in the Northern Premier League Premier Division. Until Tuesday night, that is.
Long wait over
Their seven seasons in the Premier Division have seen them come agonizingly close to promotion. They just missed out on the playoffs on the last day of their first season and have since been beaten in the final three times and once in the semifinals. This season they have gone one better and will play in the Conference North next season Air Jordan 13 Altitude Shoes , just two more promotions from league football.
They started at level 10 of the pyramid and now they are only five leagues below the team that everyone left behind but it has not all been easy. FC United were ridiculed in all corners when they set out their plans to do it their way. Then Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson was very public in his dismissal of the club while former Manchester United player and pundit Alan Gowling said it would "all be over by Christmas." Gowling has since admitted he was wrong.
Four promotions in 10 years is what has made the headlines but FC United's greatest achievements are off the pitch. The club is operated as a community benefit society, with membership open to all and every member getting one vote. It was the first football club to introduce the living wage for its employees, has a strong LGBT supporters group and has encouraged the less well-off and youngsters into attending games through ventures such as pay-what-you-like season tickets.
A new home
The biggest achievement of all Air Jordan 13 Altitude 2017 , after the football equivalent of staying the night on various friends' sofas, is the move to their own ground. From next season FC United will play at the 5.5 million pound ($8.27 million) Broadhurst Park in Moston, a stone's throw from the Newton Heath home of the original iteration of Manchester United. They open the stadium next month with a friendly against Benfica Air Jordan 13 Altitude Green , the team that Manchester United beat to lift the 1968 European Cup and another club owned by its fans.
FC United might not have been the first fan-owned club - the club manifesto thanks AFC Wimbledon for its unstinting support - and it is unlikely that it will be the last. In 2008, AFC Liverpool followed in the footsteps of the Rebel Reds. AFC, which stands for Affordable Football Club Air Jordan 13 Altitude , entered the North West Counties Football League Division One. They were promoted to the Premier Division in 2011, where they remain. Disaffected Newcastle United fans are now talking of an FC United of Newcastle in response to how owner Mike Ashley is running the Premier League club and its effect on the match-day experience.
Punk football, the fans in Manchester call it and people are clearly listening Cheap Jordan 13 Altitude , with their promotion -covered by sports media all round the world. This Do-It-Yourself attitude has won fans in far-flung places, including a supporters club in China. The sense of ownership that the fans have means that opinions on what's best for the club are as vocal as the support in the ground, and opinion is divided on what's next. Some want league football as soon as possible Jordan 13 Retreo Altitude , others want to continue to enjoy the ride but everyone who has paid to be a member gets a say.
Karl Marginson, the man who has managed the team since day one (when not selling fruit and veg from his van) has his own ideas. The "immensely proud" coach says that "the Football League is possible" and there "are certainly no fears from us on a football level" in gaining promotion.
Whatever the coming seasons have in store for FC United, there's only one way their fans are returning to Old Trafford and that's to watch the Rebels.
The contrast between the old and the new couldn't have been more pronounced.