The fuss about handshakes is all the rage at the moment, after the FA cancelled the pre-match handshake between Chelsea and QPR following rumours that Anton Ferdinand's teammates would all be willing the snub John Terry's hand.

Last weekend we had more fuss, with speculation then suggesting that Rio Ferdinand wouldn't shake Terry's hand in support of his brother.

When Eric Cantona of Manchester United did his amazing Kung-fu kick on an obnoxious Crystal Palace supporter seventeen years ago this month, I was there. By chance I was also an eye-witness thirty-five years earlier when United's goalkeeper Harry Gregg spectacularly whacked a spectator at Luton Town in April, 1960, knocking him to the ground.

Wes Brown was repeatedly given a hard time by Sir Alex Ferguson when it came time for contract negotiations. In October 2004 the club had offered Brown what they believed to be a reasonable deal and weren't prepared to budge.

"We've made the boy an offer and he's turned it down," said Ferguson.

I was lucky when I first used to go to Manchester United matches, over fifty years ago. Although the team was in the painful early stages of recovery from the Munich Air Crash they still often managed to play wonderfully expressive football in keeping with the finest traditions of the club.

The return of that smug prick Thierry Henry might be just what the doctor ordered to make Sunday's game more like the fiery encounters we used to enjoy. Whilst the Arsenal official site claims this match will be "epic" and one of the biggest games on the clubs' calendar, I can't help but think they're living in the past.

In the summer of 2006 Manchester United were written off. Chelsea had just won the league with ease and added one of the best players in the world for each position to their squad. Ashley Cole, Michael Ballack and Andriy Shevchenko joined them, whilst in contrast we sold our top scorer, Ruud van Nistelrooy, and didn't replace him, and brought in Michael Carrick, who was hardly the midfield general the fans had been hoping for.

Here are the most interesting and important points from the 115 page document which explains why the decision was made to charge Luis Suarez with racially abusing Patrice Evra.

Evidence
- The FA and Evra watched some video footage of the match. Evra pointed out to the FA, by reference to the video footage, when it was during the match that Suarez made the comments about which Evra had complained.

Ahead of kick-off on Wednesday I was nervous but I was still entirely confident we would progress to the Champions League Round of 16. I would have preferred not to endure a nervy draw and fancied us to get a win, but it was neither here nor there. Whilst there was some talk of the game falling on the 6th anniversary of the last time we had failed to get out of the group, it didn't feel within the realms of reality that history could repeat itself.

We have seen in Part I how the term 'Man U', considered objectionable by many supporters today, was created entirely uncontroversially by newspapers at least sixty years ago, as an easy printed abbreviation for Manchester United. Used initially almost exclusively for fixtures, results and league tables, it only later became part of grassroots speech a little later.

It has been estimated that Manchester United have 333 million supporters in over 200 countries, providing an astonishing cumulative audience of 4.2 billion television viewers watching the team in 2010-11. It would be lovely to think we're all one big happy family but it's probably no exaggeration to say that millions of those very fans have no idea that the name they routinely use for their favourite club irritates the hell out of untold thousands of others.

A lot has and will be said about Fergie's winning mentality this week. It's at milestones such as these (and let's face it, SAF's had a few) that well worn phrases are paraded about like leathery skinned ex-pros at identikit stadia they never graced. "Never knows he's beaten", "obsession with winning" and "addicted to success" are all old favourites.

Henry Winter, The Telegraph

On his 25th anniversary, Sir Alex is being hailed as one of the greatest managers of all time. Rightly so. He possesses the four qualities that shape the finest leaders of footballing men: he buys well, bonds well, prepares well and exudes an aura. Never underestimate the power of an aura in a sport where psychology is key.

I was recently asked to write a couple of paragraphs about what Sir Alex Ferguson meant to me. How on earth do you put in to words what a difference this man has made to us? My life is considerably better and I have been unquestionably happier than I would have otherwise been because Ferguson became the manager of Manchester United in 1986.

Mark Ogden, The Telegraph

It's a tough call trying to pin down the highlight of Sir Alex Ferguson's time as United manager, but I think everything revolves around the title win in 1992-93.

But for that, would United have gone on to be successful for so long? I just think that was the platform for everything because it lifted the weight of expectation and it was perfectly timed, with the biggest club suddenly becoming the best team at precisely the moment that Sky came in to inject money and global appeal into English football.

People will tell you that when someone of power and prominence walks into a room, before you have even seen them, you feel their presence. It's an absurd notion really. The idea that anyone has an invisible aura of authority or influence is at best descriptive indulgence, more accurately it's physically not possible.

So we lost. 6-1. To City. In a week that brought us the catastrophic news of Westlife splitting up, it had me wondering what about now? Could this really be City's season in the sun?

It's always a mini-trauma to lose heavily to a bitter rival, and we all have our own personal coping mechanisms.

By January of last season, Dimitar Berbatov had scored more hattricks for Manchester United than Wayne Rooney had goals, as we chased down that historic 19th title. Berbatov ended the season the league's top scorer with 20 goals and United knocked the scousers off their perch.

After failing to fully justify his massive price tag in the first two seasons it was great to see our Bulgarian play such a vital role in such a massive season for the club.

It's sometimes easy to laugh at Yanks. I remember watching a pulsating FA Cup tie at Stamford Bridge in 1995 when Manchester United roared into a miraculous 5-0 lead against Chelsea only to concede three goals in the last twenty minutes, leaving them desperate to hang on for the 5-3 win. As the huge crowd drew breath at the end a lone American voice was heard saying, 'Wow, that was some game!

It is perhaps one of football's most popular myths that Manchester United get help from referees, in the form of anything from the rub of the green to outright corruption. Not only will it be referenced several times throughout the season by rival fans, it has actually entered the mainstream media, with phrases like "that was an Old Trafford decision", "if that was down the other end it was a pen" and "Fergie time" entering the common parlance of footballing punditry.

It is perhaps one of football's most popular myths that Manchester United get help from referees, in the form of anything from the rub of the green to outright corruption. Not only will it be referenced several times throughout the season by rival fans, it has actually entered the mainstream media, with phrases like "that was an Old Trafford decision", "if that was down the other end it was a pen" and "Fergie time" entering the common parlance of footballing punditry.

1993. The year the youngest of United's squad breathed their first. Paul Pogba, Sam Johnstone and Ravel Morrison are all younger than Dumb and Dumber (the film, not the Arsenal centre-half pairing). If that doesn't make you feel old, stop reading this and go tidy your room I'm not telling you again.

RoM: Do you like Fergie?

DT: Well, I'd probably like him more if he re-admitted me to his Friday press conferences! I certainly find him fascinating, I admire his achievements, his longevity, the way he has beaten the system for so long. He's always got an opinion, he's never dull.

RoM: Do you like Fergie?

DT: Well, I'd probably like him more if he re-admitted me to his Friday press conferences! I certainly find him fascinating, I admire his achievements, his longevity, the way he has beaten the system for so long. He's always got an opinion, he's never dull.

Paul Scholes was a bit older and slower, Michael Carrick struggled to find the form he enjoyed before the disastrous 2009 Champions League performance, Owen Hargreaves was permanently injured, attitude and injuries held Anderson back from fulfilling his potential to the maximum and Darren Fletcher still had plenty in the engine but his virus only interrupted what was an ineffective season for the Scot.

RoM has published the thoughts of Andy Mitten, Pete Boyle, Pete Shaw and Paddy Crerand ahead of the derby tomorrow and is today pleased to share Terry Christian's opinion on the rivalry.

Scott the Red: Where do you think our rivalry with City ranks amongst that with Liverpool and Leeds?

Following on from Andy Mitten's interview, today we've got the thoughts of Pete Boyle on our rivalry with City, his favourite derbies and trusting the manager.

Scott the Red: Where do you think our rivalry with City ranks amongst that with Liverpool and Leeds?

Pete Boyle: Liverpool is still way out in front, with Leeds hated but rather insignificant nowadays.

Leading up to the FA Cup semi-final against City, RoM will be running a series of interviews with United fans. Our first is with Andy Mitten, Editor of United We Stand, who will be talking us through his favourite derby day memories, City's fanbase and our greatest rivalries.

Scott the Red: Where do you think our rivalry with City ranks alongside that with Liverpool and Leeds?

Like many other United fans, I'd laughed off rumours linking Wayne Rooney with a move away from the club. Granted, it was odd that he had claimed that he'd never been injured, contrary to what Sir Alex Ferguson had said in the press, particularly because we all saw him icing his injury after coming off with an hour played against Bolton, but nothing too out of the ordinary and certainly not a cause for concern.

We love Gary Neville because he is one of us. All this phony hugging and high-fiving you see other teams do ahead of kick-off, the badge kissing, the promises of finishing a career at a club, the sulks, the agents and everything else involved in football these days made us appreciate Nev all the more.

Nat Lofthouse, United and the 1958 FA Cup Final My oldest friend is a life-long Bolton Wanderers supporter. That's why for more than fifty of the sixty-odd years I have known him we have argued about whether Nat Lofthouse, who sadly died earlier this month at the age of 85, fouled Manchester United's goalkeeper Harry Gregg in the 1958 FA Cup Final when scoring his 'controversial' second goal.