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United players who have received royal honours

Linked to the camapign for a knighthood for Ryan Giggs, it's interesting to note the following 23 United managers and players have received royal honours, though in some cases, it wasn't while they were with United:

1. Sir Matt Busby, CBE 1958; knighted 1968
2. Sir Bobby Charlton, OBE 1969; CBE 1974; knighted 1994
3. Sir Walter Winterbottom, OBE 1963; CBE 1972; knighted 1978
4. Sir Alex Ferguson, OBE 1984; CBE 1995; knighted 1999
5. Sammy McIlroy, MBE 1986
6. Bryan Robson, OBE 1990
7. Ray Wilkins, MBE 1993
8. Gordon Strachan, OBE 1993
9. Peter Beardsley, MBE 1995
10. Harry Gregg, MBE 1995
11. Gary Pallister, OBE, 1998
12. Jim Leighton, MBE 1998
13. Mark Hughes, MBE 1998; OBE 2004?
14. Garth Crooks, MBE 1999
15. Viv Anderson, MBE 2000
16. Nobby Stiles, MBE 2000
17. Peter Schmeichel, MBE (hon) 2001
18. David Beckham, MBE 2003
19. Shaun Goater, MBE 2003
20. Henrik Larsson, MBE (hon) 2006
21. Ryan Giggs, OBE 2007
22. Teddy Sheringham, MBE 2007        
23. Walter Smith, OBE

If you haven't yet signed the 'Sir Ryan Giggs' petition please do so here and watch the video.

Michael Crick

Who should take United's penalties?

Michael Carrick has never taken a penalty for us before during as game (though he has several times in penalty shoot-outs).  Wayne Rooney has only taken two penalties, and missed both times.  The only other members of the current squad to have taken proper penalties are Scholes (three successes out of six) and Nana, who scored his only spot-kick last season.

We are clearly missing both Carlos Tevez and Cristiano Ronaldo.   Tevez scored both his United penalties, while Ronaldo was successful with 17 out of 20.  That's 85%.

Since the war United have been awarded 410 penalties, of which 304 were scored.  A success rate of 74.1 per cent, or roughly three out of four.

10.30am update from Michael:

The Guardian today have some slightly  more comprehensive figures than mine on United penalty-takers.

They agree Rooney has only a 50 per cent success rate - three successful penalties from six taken.  Surprisingly, Michael Owen has scored only 14 of the 24 penalties he's taken during his time with Liverpool and Newcastle - a pretty poor rate of 58 per cent.

But until Wednesday night, according to the Guardian, Carrick had scored six from six (though none of them with United).

So perhaps Ferguson made the most  sensible choice, after all.

The record-breaking Giggsy

Sunday's victory makes it 21 consecutive league games against Birmingham City unbeaten - five short of the club record of 26 games unbeaten against City's neighbours Aston Villa (a run still continuing). United have gone 22 games unbeaten against Birmingham in all competitions.

When Ryan Giggs came on as a substitute it marked his 20th successive season of league football.  Only a handful of players, surely, have managed that with just one club, and certainly nobody else at United.  (PS Have you signed MustBeRed's petition to honour Ryan Giggs with a knighthood?).

Valcenia is the new Charlton?

Valencia made his home debut against Valencia just as Charlton made his home debut against Charlton!

Michael Crick's Trivia Corner will be a regular MustBeRed.com feature.