When I was younger, the occasions I came across someone who wasn’t a United fan were few and far between. There was a lad at primary school who supported Oldham but even the kids whose parents were City fans saw themselves as United fans when we were small. How it must have broken their dad’s hearts to have to go out and buy the latest United strip and decorate the bedroom in United colours. (Most of these lads have since diverted back to the team they should be supporting, I might add).
I remember after we lost 4-0 to Barcelona back in 1994 one of my dad’s City supporting mates was ribbing me about it. It was probably just light-hearted stuff, I can’t really remember, but I remember getting hot and bothered about it. I didn’t have the knowledge or the maturity to deal with it.
City finished just two places above the relegation zone that season and were sent down the season after. But ho ho ho, United got thrashed by Barcelona, let’s all laugh at them.
As I’ve grown up I’ve obviously come in to contact with more people who aren’t reds and more people who hate the team I adore. Living in Leeds meant I came across more people than ever before who hated what I loved, so I got the best practice imaginable at how to deal with it. On drunken nights it would be dealt with regrettable thrown punches, on other nights I would pick out belittling facts about their team, and on the best nights I would revel in our magnificent achievements. There was always something they could say back though.
Arsenal fans: We won the league at Old Trafford, we won the league in Manchester, you bastards!
Chelsea fans (for a time): We’re richer and better than you, you bastards!
Liverpool fans: We’ve won the league 18 times, you bastards!
Everyone else: We support our local team, you glory supporting bastards!
We’ve now won the league at Old Trafford after getting the result we needed against Arsenal. Chelsea are still richer but they are certainly not better than us any more. Liverpool have won the league 18 times, but so have we.
So what can fans throw at us now? What can the press say about us? Apparently, we’re in decline again.
Scanning through football forums, fans truly seem to believe that because of our defeat at the hands of Barcelona, United are over and done with. Take this example from the F365 mailbox:
Now I am not saying that ManYoo are suddenly a bad team and will not win anything again, but I am convinced that they have finallly been found out and that their best period is behind them. Fergie has lost it. Last season was lucky. The old fart is gone in the head. Liverpool and Chelsea are better teams (first 11 against first 11) and will be the two teams challenging for the title.
Is this a wind up? Or are there people in this country who honestly believe this? Forget that United won the league with their new record points total of 90. Forget that we were robbed of our place in the FA Cup final thanks to Mike “Manchester United fan” Riley going blind when Welbeck was brought down in front of an open goal. Forget that we reached the European Cup final, beating the Champions of Italy and Portugal along the way, as well as totally outclassing Arsenal “beautiful football” FC. Forget that we won the League Cup. Forget that we went to Japan half way through the season and won a trophy there. Forget that we played far more games than any of our rivals, yet still won the league comfortably. Forget it all because we lost to Barcelona and it’s all over for us… just like it was in 1998 and 2002 and 2005.
As a United fan, you have to get better at dealing with people winding you up, because it seems to get worse every year. The media focus and attention we receive from every football fan in this country puts us in a spotlight no other team or fans have had to endure before.
In 2005, the media criticism was at it’s worst, but I can’t even imagine the reaction if we were to even miss out on winning the title now. Winning five trophies in two seasons doesn’t seem enough anymore. Who cares that we’ve won the title three times in a row, that we’ve made two European Cup finals in two years, that we’ve won the League Cup and FIFA World Club Cup? We need to win it all, all the time, to avoid the talk of our ‘decline’.
So hold on to your hats, prepare yourselves for infuriating and inaccurate talk.
1. Liverpool will be back bigger and better next season. If Fernando Torres hadn’t been injured, they would have definitely won the title this season anyway.
2. Following that BATTERING in Rome, it is clear United’s best days are behind them.
3. Cristiano Ronaldo can’t wait to leave. Did you see his expression as he was leaving Rome?
4. Dimitar Berbatov was a flop
5. Chelsea will win the league next season with an experienced manager staying for longer than 9 months.
Start practising!
Man Utd News 24/7
I know how you feel Scott, I’ve never heard such rubbish! We will be back stronger than ever next year, if we don’t keep Tevez then Macheda and Wellbeck will get more chances to improve and when Berba gets a full preseason behind him with the team he’ll be a different prospect next year. After the dissapointment of the Champs league defeat I can see us wanting to prove a point next year!
Our History Makes Us Strong
MUFC
Your Hate Makes Us Stronger
Next season we will win quadruple
Premier league
Champions league
FA Cup
Carling Cup
Then lets talk with our rivals
Liverpool fan:It’s our year,this year,just watch.
Chelsea fan:We will win the league easily this year with our new manager.
Arsenal fan:We’ll win the Champions League because Arshavin can play in it.
All true quotes from friends of mine.
I think you went too far with no.5 – we’ll never keep a manager that long.
I wouldnt worry too much about United’s ‘decline’ though, I’m sure the rest of us just wish we could go into ‘decline’ so successfully.
To lpool:WE WON 3 TROPHIES THIS YEAR,YOU HAVE NOT WON ANYTHING FOR 3 YEARS…
Chelsea D, kind words but shouldn’t you just make John Terry player-manager with Drogba as coach!!
SCOTT I KNOW WHAT THIS IS ALL ABOUT,TRY LIVING IN BULGARIA OR MACEDONIA,BECAUSE WE DON’T LIKE THE TEAM THAT IS CLOSE TO US ,ALL THE PEOPLE HERE HAVE A DIFERENT TEAM THEY FAVOUR ,AND NOW YOU SHOULD FACE NOT ONE,NOT TWO BUT HUNDREDS OF DIFERENT FANS WHO ARE GOING TO SAY WHAT YOU SAID UP THERE.I’M PROUD TO BE A UNITED FAN,AND I’M GOING TO BE FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE!!!
ABOUT BERBA,BECAUSE I LIVE IN BULGARIA HE IS ALWAYS ON TV,FOR GOOD OR FOR WORSE.BUT THIS IS WHAT I CAN TELL YOU ABOUT HIM:
HE WAS LEAGUE’S TOP ASSISST,AND HAVE SCORED 14 GOALS IN HIS FIRST SEASON AT OT.IS THAT BAD???
i honestly dont share your optimism,i know we have a great squad but we have some garbage to get rid of ie berbatov,and it would be folly to dismiss liverpool next season because the way they are progressing is quite frightening really,so i really dont know anymore.
This is the truest thing i have read in a while!
well done mate!
You are totally right! It is outraging that they write us down that easily. They seemed to completely forget all about our achievements. Just because we lost the CL final in Rome doesn’t mean that we are declining… what a rubbish…
We need to clean our squad a bit, though..
Imho the roles of Berbatov, Nani, Anderson and Scholes are questioned.
I see your point. I don’t how to call this state of mind but we are starting to get a little bit philosophical about the issue. It happens after the defeats.
You know better than me Scott, that it is better for us to be in decline. They can say whatever they want we’ll prove them wrong.
it gets a bit much when you have to listin to(wait for it) a spurs fan, who got so excited about utds defeat i thought he was going to explode, sad but true, are the dippers going on about their sucessful season, if they think thats sucess, ill have more of that.
@UnitedMacedonia
Have you seen this?
http://actimindex.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/premover_index_top10025.gif
@ unitedmacedonia
remember, upper case doesn’t make your post bigger.
There are 2 variants when you talk about Berba. One half calles him lazy, the other half magnificent. Next season can answer all our questions.
over the past few days i’ve had people walk up to me and offer sympathy like i’m terminal ! i dont have a problem with dippers , gooners n the like…if they know their football they wont make a snide comment .
its these people who dont know jack and just watch one united game the whole season , put on their ABU hats and go on n on about our misery….sick , twisted scum ..they all deserve to die!!!
@ rc7
what/who is actim (index)?
@spriter
If you follow this link it should explain.
http://actimindex.wordpress.com/the-actim-index/faqs/
@rc7
thanks
i googled it just after i asked you..
hehe.. got so, what should i say… glad… when i saw that berba was so highly rated..
berba deserves more plaudits for his first season.. i think he needs it, so we can get the best out of him next season.
It’s funny really. If we’d scored in the opening ten minutes then I truly think we’d have won that match and everyone would be hailing the tactics.
We were handed a humiliating lesson by AC Milan – 3-0 defeat at the San Siro – and the very next season won the CL.
Barca were awesome this season. like any treble winning side they also had large helping of luck – the CFC game and Pique’s handball will always stick in the mind.
I just hope that next season we are just a little more attack minded. All these clean sheets are great but we are not an ultra defensive side and we’ve actually been alarmingly exposed defensively at times this season.
I still think we might have won if we’d scored first buy:
once going a goal down , the performance was disappointing
we shouldn’t again modify our tactics so much that we change the ethos and shape of the team just to nullify an opponent.
Let’s get a few goals and a bit more fun back..
Isn’t it obvuous?The team is in decline!Scholes,Giggs and Nev can’t last 30 minutes in a Reserve game,Ronaldo and Rooney are old and we have no academy players coming through.It’s a good thing i haven’t bought a newspaper in 3 days.What a load of crap.
Saha scores for Everton. Another season without a trophy for Chelsea ?
Use the forum for FA Cup final talk.
I’ve had enough of our hammering n Rome and how it’s undone an entire 2 years’ work.
For my money, we took a bigger battering in Milan in 2007 and we seemed to have recovered from it. Not too worried. Just pissed off still.
SB
Don’t know whether to pity these scousers or hate them. Already writing off united before the start of the season. But to be fair i’ve got used to this bullshit because of the pundits on football focus have been doing this for the past 3 seasons. We tend to do well when we have our backs against the wall and when everyone writes us off.
Just off to a BBQ in merseyshite (missus’s friends) and know they’ll come out with a load of shite! My response to all their crap is 11-0! They just don’t like that!!
I’m not Reading any papers or watching sky sports news until the pre-seasonas all the media-tripe is just bollocks.
In decline because United lost the final to Barcelona…..my oh my.
If United played differently it would have been another matter….but they simply didn’t turn up.
Also for me it was who scores first in the game……as if Ronaldo’s chance went in in the first 9 minutes it would have been a different matter and United were capable of closing down Barca players as they usually did.
Okay maybe the tactics didn’t work out as both teams went for an adventurous start……but it isn’t the end….sure United will be back stronger….
People mentioning the battering by Milan……don’t anyone remember with what team United played ……all the defence players injured…..that also if we had the regular defence in place….surely Kaka wouldn’t have sparkled….so a game got it’s own story…..
DIMITAR WILL COME BIG NEXT TIME, HE ONLY NEED TO SCORE MORE GOALS,AND HE WOULDNT BE PRESSURED LIKE THIS YEAR
It’s always the way unfortunately… And of course it’s crazy. I was listening to TalkSport last Thursday and they actually offered up a phone-in on whether Ferguson was finished! Incredible.
For my tuppenceworth, a couple of things.
1. We still had a great season. Three trophies, including the league.
2. We missed Hargreaves and a fit Anderson this season, big time. But next season will see us back to the 2007/08 standard.
3. Ferguson will no doubt buy in the summer, as well as the promising youngsters coming through (Kiko, the two Serbian kids bought in Jan, etc)
I reckon just let them get on with it and let United do their talking on the pitch.
FUCK PLATINI
AND FUCK THOSE RACISTS FROM CATALONIA
IM FROM TRINIDAD AND ME AND A FEW LADS WENT OUT ON THE PISS AFTER THE LOSS TO REPRESNT THE TRINI REDS
ALL THE ONE SEASON BARCA FANS WERE THERE
NONE OF THEM EVEN HAVE A CLUE ABOUT THE CLUB THEY SUPPORTIN THIS YEAR
FUCK EM
We’re the second best team in Europe, how can anyone say that we’re done?! We had another fantastic season, and there’s no reason why the next won’t be the same!
For me, I’m disappointing on how Man Utd Played that night. We lost the ball very frequently & missed a lot of chances. Platini & Cruyff had a big laugh after their precious Barcelona make a fun of Man Utd. From my view, Man Utd doesn’t just lost the Champions League but worst of it, it lost the spirit of Sir Matt Busby & the Busby Babes. They are loyal to their club not like some player that are just mercenaries, played for bigger club for their money. We always talk about our rivals but never concentrated on our performance. Then we got player who said he will stayed because he loves the club but in the end uncertain about the future if Man Utd started losing. Man Utd want players that have no interest in Man Utd history but only for the money. Man Utd buy youth that they doesn’t use. If they use youth player but lost 1-0 or 2-0, for me it’s okay. The youth is Man Utd new power to be Champions once more. For me Man Utd rivals are not the team from Premier League but from La Liga & Serie A. We need to conquer Europe once more in Champions League & the Europa League to show how great Premier League is.
I can finally bear to get back online after last wednesday. We did not only play badly we had an atrocity of a performance – But it was just ONE game. OK it was a very important game but 90 minutes of not firing on full cylinders and not a single player played anywhere near their usual standard.
That was then and this is now. Now we need to put some fire back in the belly and replace that nauseated feeling but how? Make no mistake, each player will feel terrible and worried that things may never be the same again and now must wait what will seem like an age til they kick another ball in the Champions League or Premiership. You only feel as good as your last performance and when you fall off the horse you need to get back on straight away, trouble is when you lose the final like that you have a long summer to dwell on that final game. The horse is in the stable now til August and Fergie will be contemplating which of his jockeys will be in the saddle again next year. Those who deserve to stay will and those who we can expend will be heading the wrong way down United Road only to be passed by the new players walking the other way to the Theatre of Dreams where winning in style is what is accepted with no excuses or alternative perspectives on what makes a succesful club.
Who shall we send and who should we summon ?
There will be as many opinions are there are Reds but I believe that Ronaldo must go for the good of our club. Like Beckham he has become too high maintenance and has begun to believe he is bigger than the club and Sir Alex. We all know where that gets you and like Beckham before him he will spend the rest of his career aching for that feeling you can only get being a Manchester United player and will never be reproduced anywhere else. We need to start giving the youngsters more and more games allowing them to flourish as I am sure they will. Sending Nani down the road would serve as a good reminder that promise will only keep you at United so long and sooner or later, however young you may be, you need to take care of business. Berbatov has this full year ahead to show that he is the 30million pound jewel otherwise he too will be sent down the road.
With the Ronaldo money I would buy Gattuso, Valencia, Benzema and Kaka. You can be sure they would love to come to Manchester United and I think they would love to come knowing Ronaldo will not be there to sulk and pout and look hard done to. That has never been what we do at United and at times I have been embarrased that he was our player. I loved the goals of course but I would have loved them even more had absolutely anyone else scored them and that says it all for me really, to play for MY UNITED you must not be a dick and I am sorry to say it but that is exactly what Ronaldo is. Adios ( I hope )
Berba is considering his future at OT ? Are you kidding ?
corea, calm down.
@corea
Just media speculation..
not even a quote from berba.. made up, i think.
and why should berba take a step down, to a club like City for instance.. where he has new fans to “satisfy” and where he’s not sure he will win anything at all for the rest of his career..
if berba goes this summer, then it is because SAF dont want him.. and because berba has had a fairly good season and given that SAF is a big admirer of the guy, i think we’ll see some “berba magic” next season as well
@ spriter
summer hasn’t even started..
and sudenly we suck..
if winning 3 trophies including our 18th tittle(and thats a fact), reaching the final in rome and the semis of the fa cup being denied a clear penalty is our decline then imagine when we are at our best..
your dreams our HISTORY-
cz man utd never die
Been thinking about the whole thing. The media hype and all the ABUs talking about Uniteds decline. How SAF has lost it etc etc. The thing that came to me is that I think we peaked in the semi final against Arsenal. I also think we ran out of ideas against barca, plus we really lacked midfield cover in midfield -we know this. We have to regroup and come 09/10 season we will be better no doubt. great champions always rise up and come back stronger. That’s what united will do.
2008/9 honours !!
World Club Champions !
Charity Shield winners !
Carling Cup Winners !
Premier league Champions !
Semi Finalists of the FA Cup !
Losing Finalists in Champions League Final !
Total Pots won 3 !!!
And we are disappointed !!
If you would have said that to me at the start of the sason I would have been pleased with a successfull campaign !!
Scousers highlights
Beating the greatest team in the premierships twice !!
Cheering Barca to beat us in Champions League final !!
Total Pots won 0
And again its the time of year when we hear the old tune ‘This will be our year’ !
And as for decline !! look at the last part of the season we played some awsome football, the Champions League final, we just didn’t play at all; no where near our potential of what the team was capable of and we know it !!
Decline ? You are judging us on 1 bad game ? Look at the 2008/9 campaign would you take that AGAIN next year !!! I would !!!
Well done United !! You have done us proud !!
yes we are in decline since mike phelan started wearing trousers.
i also sir alex needs to change brand of chewing gum the opposition are becoming aware of it and its affecting the players.
2007 premier league winners /semi final cl/ final fa cup
2008 premier winners / winner of cl
2009 premier winners /finalists of cl /carling cup /world champions / semi finalist of cl
GUYS IS THAT CALLED PROGRESS?
PLEASE TELL ME
Lets all face facts, United are in decline!!!
We ONLY won 4 of the 7 competitions we could have, obivious decline there – FACT.
I mean how can we compete with the scouse bastards Treble – double over United in the EPL and Barca winning the CL.= their best ever season, deliriously happy scouse bastards all over the place. This is just above Shitty’s wonderful Double last year- FACT
When you look at how other world great clubs have done –
Aresnal (4 years no trophies but hey play beautiful football so that wonderful), Scouse bastards, Real Madrid, Valencia, AC Milan, Juventus, Ajax absolutley nothing, But its United that are in decline because we only won 4 out of the 7 competitions we were in for(which is 2 more than any of the above could have won).
Usual shite from LBC and scouse loving media, wistful thinking on their part, dream on.
AS the shirt says Alex Is God
Excellent-excellent stuff mate. You don’t become a bad team after one result.
EPL Champions
Carling Cup Champs(ok-doesn’t really count
World Club Champs
I’d say this has been a damn good year!
I’ve been a United fan for 43 years now and will support this great club until the day they put me in the ground.
Thank-you United, for another fantastic year!!!!!!!!
liverpool was a better team than us this season but i don’t see them gettin any better that.
the thing with Benitez is he doesn’t keep the same squad for atleast 2 years, look at us the same squad since 2005 and we have improved a lot.
and they knw each others game plus we hav youngsters coming thru the ranks.
what abt Liverpool and Chelsea aren’t their youth systems working
THANK YOU UNITED FOR A JOB WELL DONE
HAIL SIR ALEX FERGUSON!!!!!
Great post again, Scott. All so true.
Lets just bite our tongues and laugh at this come the end of next season – much like we’ve done for the past 15 years.
Great article, but I have to disagree with you on point 1. and 2. (If you meant that that was absoluteley rubbish.). 1. Liverpool may have not won the league if Torres was in every game, but judging by the goals he have scored this season (14 in 21 starts), he could have been a match winning factor for Liverpool in matches against Arsenal (away) and Stoke. I think it is no doubt that Torres´goals will provide a huge threat to us next season… 2. I certaintly do NOT think Uniteds best days are gone, BUT I´m one of a few United-supporters who can admit that against Barca in Rome, we DID got battered, we didn´t play up to Barcas knees, we were outclassed. And I truly are afraid that if Fergie don´t strenghten our midfield and keeps Tevez, I think next season will be much, much more difficult for United. Lets have a look at our strenghts / weaknesses we have PLs best defence, alongside Chelsea, but just a good midfield, while Liverpool (which I think has the best midfield) have a superb one. The striking force, United and Liverpool are very close, but after my opinion United got more width in their attack so my vote goes to Uniteds attack. The goalies, Liverpools Reina wins with clear margin, I think he got 4 assists this season, one of them came against us (Dossenas 1-4 goal). I still don´t know why he isn´t taking over Casillas place in the spanish national team, maybe his length or his ability to be a leader. Anyway, I think he is amazing. The reason I may speak TOO warm about him, is that I was a goalie once, and that is the part of the game I find most interesting to watch. Conclusion; Keep Tevez, sell Anderson, find a new midfielder, and a replacement for VdS, then we would dominate Europe and the World next season. Sorry, but of some strange reason, I can´t get paragraphs…
Gibbs – the point was these were the things people would be saying, that these were true things.
@ Scott. Where did you read that our points total for the season was the record for United? It’s not. They managed 91 points in 1999/2000.
You have to sense we will move into the new season a far wiser club & team.Talk of Decline, Liverpool are like their docks they just haven’t realised yet no matter what they do its only patching things up .
Chelsea i feel will be our real challenge now.
Michel Platini has announced that the next time United get to a European cup final, they will play with two balls so each team can have a kick.
For Sale: 30,000 Man United Final flags – good as new – only been waved for 10 minutes
For Sale: 70,000 Man United Champions League Winners 2009 t-shirts. Contact http://www.overconfidentb*st*rds.com
Doctors are today carrying out tests on Nemanja Vidic by force-feeding him. It’s to see if he only chokes in big games.
Police have confirmed that they have arrested a 27 year old Manchester man on suspicion of fraud. The man named as Michael Carrick is believed to have being at the centre of an £18m scam. The man charged has been masquerading as a top class international centre midfielder for 3 years. Italian authorities have handed overwhelming evidence of the fraud to English police including video footage of his inability to retain the ball, hit long range forward passes and poor defending. An English police spokesman said ‘We are delighted this fraud has been uncovered. We have being following the suspect since similar incidents occurred in Liverpool on 13 September and Manchester in on 14 March’
Italian Police are set to release two suspects detained on suspicion of trespass in Rome without charge. The two men detained, Anderson and Sun Ji Park, trespassed upon the pitch during the Champions league final in Rome on Wednesday night. It is thought that they will not be charged as their presence on the field did not disrupt or impact on the game at all. An onlooker said ‘What were those guys doing on the pitch they ran around for up to an hour each, clearly they were not playing football. They should know that spectators who have paid to watch Xavi and Iniesta should remain seated in the stands’
Former footballer Paul Scholes has been convicted by an Italian court of assault. The accused’s conviction is as a result of a violent two footed lunge at Barcelona’s second choice holding midfielder Sergio Basquets. Unsurprisingly ‘the consistent inability to tackle’ defence put forward by the accused representative Gary Neville was dismissed by the Italian jury. During the trial the Italian courts turned down extradition applications from Spain, Germany, Portugal, France and Holland. Scholes who is known to be a serial offender for these types of assault tackles is wanted by authorities all over Europe. Interpol said today that they would be launching an investigation to determine how Scholes had evaded police for these assaults for so long.
We lost the European Cup badly. it was one game and we did not play well. We do need a bit of strengthening – perhaps a combative midfielder and a right back but apart from that there is no need to apnic as I’m sure fergie has it in hand. i have no doubt that there was a bit of complacency. Most of the younger players have seen us win 3 league titles and a European Cup. Consequently they have forgotten the pain of losing. Now they know it and they may strive hard to prevent it happening again. Noone wins everything all of the time or even something every year. i reckon that talk of United’s demise has been exaggerated. i for one will be renewing the Season ticket. Chill out everyone – leave team building to Fergie – relax over the summer and look forward to us at least challenging for everything again next year
Ella
Giggs 11 x 0 Gerrard (Robin Thicke)
Kinda says it all to Meyerside.
Owensleftfoot…how fuckin original.
Are you some sad voyeur….that loves utd sooooooooo much, you cant get enough of ROM and are living here. Like unwanted vermin.
Now do me a favour…yor mum’s just shagged her 100′th bloke of the day, be a good little boy and give her a quick wash and vac.
By the way good luck in trying to locate who your dad is…muct be difficult looking at every man in the street and praying and hoping he’s your daddy.
Now go go go….the guys are queuing up for some spit roasting with your mammy……goood luck washingall the gunge out.
Sad dirty bastard