Manchester United tale by United fan

The Year was 2012 and Aguero scored a last minute goal against Queens Park Rangers. This went down in the history of Manchester city as one of its most iconic moments, both euphoric to some Manchester fans and heartbreaking to every other. Ferguson couldn’t take this anymore. He had to bring back what rightfully belonged to Manchester, a word that is repeatedly uttered in our chants- Glory! Yes, I’m a Manchester United fan.

That summer the team splurged 24 Million Euros on a 29-year-old striker. However, they did not address our midfield and defensive paucity. Surely, this was bad business. At least, that’s what we the fans thought. Regardless of the number of goals put past our defense, our attack still scored enough to get us over the line. This brought out the real meaning to the phrase ‘Fergie time’. Our team, in the coming years, would forget this even though this happened consistently. This ability to get back couldn’t have been sweeter than in the game at Manchester City that season. That day, we crucially won the game 3-2, with an injury time free kick goal from our striker, Robin Van Persie. I sniveled up watching that goal. To quote Walter Scott, “Revenge, the sweetest morsel to the mouth that ever was cooked in hell.” All of a sudden, our leaky defense too seemed to have turned a corner, keeping clean sheets, and we were on a roll. It really did happen! Sir Alex Ferguson had done it again. We had won the title! The glory was ours. It was rightfully back where it belonged! (Sorry, that’s just the United fan screaming out)

First there were rumor’s that Sir Alex was retiring, but they were ignored. When Sir Alex did in fact announce his retirement, everyone was in shock, fans and rivals alike. The slew of emotions that both the fans and rivals felt thereafter were, to say the least, antithetical. No one could possibly fill his shoes and honestly, no one has been able to ever since. If you’re a footballing fan, the emotion that befall you reading the previous few lines would reveal which side you’re on. He was the myth, the legend and the manager who could turn a team that was plain mediocre at times to title challenging contenders. Truly a living legend! For us fans, our hearts throbbed. We felt goalless. (No pun intended)

Sir Alex believed that David Moyes was capable of ensuring that our winning ways do not become history. I mean Ferguson couldn’t possibly be mistaken about this right? So the fans believed. We couldn’t have been more wrong yet again, but unlike with Van Persie, this time for the wrong reasons. Moyes brought along with him negativity; negativity results in a negative playing style. Little did we know that this was the theme for the next few years. We kept losing games we shouldn’t have. Players looked like they were on Mars and didn’t know what they were doing. We crashed out of the champion’s league in a remarkable fashion, just a year after being crowned with the honor of being the Premier League champions. We finished 7th and failed to qualify for the European competitions. This couldn’t be right. At least to me, it wasn’t.

Manchester United went on to search for our savior, someone who had tasted major honors at the highest level. To be precise, it had to be someone who had done it with Ajax, Barcelona and Bayern Munich. It was la crème de la crème -Louis Van Gaal (LVG). LVG ‘had’ to be the man that led United from where Fergie had left off. To fans like me, the time under Moyes was an unforgettable season that left a distaste in one’s mouth and was meant to be forgotten. LVG claimed to have inherited a “broken” squad and thereby promised to give youth a chance. His history with football and the club’s history seemed to align, and we had a sense that he fit United like a glove. But just like with OJ, the glove didn’t fit, so the ball started rolling downhill to the losers’ valley. One dismal performance after another, it looked like he never came to grips with his job. The football was boring and even when we won, it just did not feel right. The game play lacked excitement. There were too many long balls and the players looked tired and confused. More often than not they relied on the opponents’ mistakes to capitalize on something. People started sensing that the board was to blame after all but the time wasn’t right. In 2016, LVG got the sack.

There is nothing a world-class manager ‘The Special One’ couldn’t do, right? Even when all the odds are against him? However, if there was a coach who demanded respect like what Sir Alex did, it was Mourinho. If it is not him, it probably isn’t going to be anyone else. Although he was famed for his defensive and park the bus attitude, there was one thing that people wouldn’t dare question his ability to win matches and win trophies. Along with him came Ibra and Pogba. At this point, the fans were tired and the style of play mattered less. Let me correct that, the style of play was ‘insignificant’ as long as we got back what Sir Alex had spoiled us with. Pride (although rivals would call it arrogance) came with success on the pitch. The first year we went on to win the Europa League, even though the performances in the league were, to put it lightly, uninspiring. But Mourinho knew what was important. The Europa League was a European trophy that had not seen our cabinets and I truly think that this was a turning point. We’d qualified for the champion’s league. I mean how were we even out of it!

The next season after a really strong start, we lost all the gas we had in the beginning but were able to do enough to secure second. Now, many would argue that the other so-called BIG teams also performed poorly. But it is what it is. It seemed like Mourinho was the right man for the job albeit many a time, his players looked confused, and our style was pretty lack luster. To reiterate, how he brought the glory back to United wasn’t important, but his ability to bring it back was.

The following transfer window was shocking and Mourinho started the campaign losing 2 of their 3 opening fixtures, the first in 26 years for Manchester United. In a recent interview Mourinho said that he was crying for a central defender. I would not be surprised if he meant it literally. Mourinho grew a dislike for Pogba while favouring players like Fellaini and Matic. No player was above the club, but trailing the leaders by nearly 20 points in December, while Mourinho being ‘Mourinho’, throwing some players under the BUS and constantly talking about how great he was as a manager, didn’t make the fans happy. We knew the board was a part of the problem, but Mourinho wasn’t helping his case either. The angry fans kept pleading for his exit then came the sack. It was all a lie, and Mourinho was not our savior.

Where to go from here? All fan channels started talking about heavy-weight replacements like Pochettino and Zidane. Honestly, I had no faith in anyone. The real problem had started surfacing. All the United fans can guess it. You’d be right because it’s apparent today that we are fighting for a change.

Anyway, while the board needed some time to decide Mourinho replacement, they appointed an interim manager to pacify the fans. A player from the class of ‘99, Ole Gunnar Solskjær, a treble winning player and a fan like many of us. Whether he was capable or not was secondary at that time. Fans needed a glimmer of hope and a sign of positivity. After many years, we had a manager who smiles, who has so much hope for the club (Yes, he’s still here). Although I found his smile little exhausting, at that point, that’s what we fans needed.

Ole’s coming saw a sudden and remarkable performance improvement. In his first game, he won against Cardiff City 5-1. 5-1! Then he finally went on to win his first five league games and emulated Sir Matt Busby’s start as a manager. And for the football fans reading this, remember the second leg of the champion’s league against PSG? How United turned that around? I still get shivers thinking about Rashford’s penalty that came in the final few minutes. What a glorious night that was! We really did play excellent football for a brief stint.

Anyway, all of a sudden our interim manager didn’t seem like a temporary solution to the problem. Nothing made sense at that time and emotions took over rationale. Ole was given the permanent job. I still don’t know if that was the right decision, and to this day, fans are divided on this issue. But credit where it’s due. He’s brought back to the club a lot of things that the fans cherished. An attacking style of football and real opportunities for academy players, albeit he doesn’t seem confident in all his players. Yes, he’s a manager with trust issues which was even more evident in the Europa League final.

We might be divided on whether Ole was the right man for the job or not. Nevertheless most of us would agree that the real problem had been elsewhere all along. Time gave United fans perspective and now most of us see the reason for the downfall of our club. The real villains: the Glazers, the controlling stakeholders in Manchester United since their acquisition in 2005.

The Glazers used our football club as a cash cow, to squeeze out every single penny that they can make, through dividends. They acquired the club through a buyout and left the club in debt ever since. Now, I don’t care about debt necessarily as long as my club is run well. But our owners are nothing but trash when it involves running this football club. The club doesn’t get our manager the players that he demands. Rather than strengthening the whole team we’ve always been “gifted” a star who’d satisfy the Glazers’ greed through shirt sales. Our wage structure is nothing less than a joke. We overpay players like Phil Jones who’s barely seen light on the pitch. Such players continue to receive lucrative contracts. Although under Ole we’ve tried to resolve this issue, but we still refuse to get rid of our deadwood. Our stadium is in such a horrendous shape with a real rat infestation problem. And don’t even get me started on the European Super League.

The nerve of the Glazers to think about taking part in a league to protect their pockets from leakage with utter disregard for the “fair competition” that football actually represents. And therefore, the history of Manchester United is nothing short of a disgrace. Clearly, the protests aren’t unwarranted. Many people think we are a bunch of emotional United fans just overreacting. But to me, who’s been a fan of United since the Ferguson era, we’ve every right to be disappointed in what has been happening to our club.

I’m surprised that the Glazers have not foreseen such an outrage coming. Honestly, I’m scared of the protests dying down too soon. The owners seem to forget that the number of fans who support the club are going to die out if there is no performance on the pitch. So ultimately, whoever comes in or goes out, the managers, the players, the fans even, as long as the Glazers are not weeded out of this club, we might not see triumph like in the days of Sir Alex Ferguson and that’s a shame. But then again, the Glazers’ intention may be to leave before the worst happens. Maybe that is their exit strategy. Whether the club rots thereafter wouldn’t concern them. After all who cares about the fans, right!