Manchester United and Sir Alex have delivered once again – 12 league titles in 19 years now. Undoubtedly, the kings of the English game and surely one of Europe’s elite, Sir Alex’s brilliance has turned the fortunes of this Manchester club upside down. Every United fan owes tons of gratitude towards the legendary Scot who, despite all odds and fierce media pressure, has delivered the most memorable of league titles. This one is unbelievably sweet, exceptionally special, and this one felt like delivering a tight slap on the ABU face.
Ferguson has made United a symbol of greatness and a standard for others to emulate. However, the ever-increasing ABU (Anyone But United) contingent wouldn’t give him his due; not even after the record-breaking 19th. One would think that people would learn by now, but stupidity can’t be reasoned with, nor can biased agendas ever see the light of truth. The ABU nation has derided this current league winning side as average, unimaginative and at times labeled it undeserving. Football has taken a backward step these days it seems, since league titles can be won by mediocrity and a European Cup final birth can be secured by sloppiness.
United have won the most games, lost the fewest, scored more goals than any other side, led the league for longest, boast the best goal difference and are top of the table for games played between top-half teams. If such figures are now considered a benchmark for an average side, wouldn’t every other club’s supporter give an arm and a leg for this aura of averageness to take over their club?
To those poor souls who still believe in this myth or would like to hang on to that last bit of straw that remains, one can only say – “whatever floats your boat”. The bitterness in the air just adds to the charm of United’s triumph. Keep hating Sir Alex, keep hating the club, but Manchester United will just keep winning – defying the apparent average ability of the squad on its way.
Back in the summer of 2006, the Old Trafford club was in a bit of a transition. It had been three years since the league championship was won and ABU’s all over the world were out in numbers. To read some of the things that were mistaken as journalism in media would make you believe as though the Red Devils were on the verge of relegation, or perhaps, even administration.
Back then, they thought Fergie had lost the plot completely and was now “shredding his legacy at every turn”. In a piece of pure hate filled and agenda based journalism, it said:
“It is an increasingly inescapable conclusion that, unwittingly or otherwise, Ferguson is winding down, a prizefighter who no longer has the stomach or the wit for an admittedly enormous challenge which, once upon a time, he would have fervently inhaled. Like he did with Liverpool. Ferguson’s almost maniacal yearning to “knock Liverpool off their fucking perch” was arguably the single most important factor in United’s 1990s renaissance. It makes it all the more vicious an irony that, 10 years later, he should knock United off the perch he had made for them through increasingly rank mismanagement.”
Read the full article here.
That legendary piece has now become the king of all jokes on each and every United forum. Five years from the date Man United have won four league titles and are about to compete in their third European cup final. It must have been really hard to be so wrong as it takes quite a bit of effort to do so; probably one from the Alan Hansen school of thoughts.
Year after year the trend continues – a prediction of Man United’s demise and the gloom mongering over United’s future. Perhaps, they are waiting for the day when they finally get it right, but not after a gazillion failures.
Roll back to the summer of 2010. Chelsea had beaten United to the crown by the thinnest of margins and stopped Sir Alex from wining an unprecedented fourth consecutive league title. Seeking the opportunity to ridicule United, the anti-United contingent was out in numbers again. For all those in the red of Manchester, this was hardly surprising and its inevitability was never in doubt.
As the trend goes now, all the top journalists come out with their summer predictions. Manchester United were predicted to finish outside the top 4 by some of the leading lights of the world of journalism at the stake of their own credibility. So, basically the ABU’s thought a team that finished a solitary point off the eventual champions last season would now drop down 3 more places and finish outside the Champions league spot when in the history of the Premier League they have never ever finished outside the top 3 – quite a ming-boggling prediction.
Some of the reasoning mentioned for United’s presumed fall from grace has often been rather incomprehensible, utterly laughable and, at times, just plain figment of ones flimsy imagination.
One of the self-confessed ABU’s mentioned in his season predictions:
“Manchester United won’t make the top four and Wayne Rooney’s aura of invincibility will be shattered for good. Manchester United will miss a top-four position for the first time in decades. Putting aside my usual detestation of all things United, I actually believe this. Based on current squads, I think Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal are stronger.”
Read article here
Less than nine months later, Manchester United are the champions of England and easily ahead of all those supposedly “stronger” teams! The ABU bandwagon has often scoffed off United’s success with adjectives such as fluky, lucky, and undeserved; ignoring the obvious adjectives about themselves – deluded, bitter and ignorant.
United are where they are because of a reason. They are champions because they deserve to be, the word you are looking for is –merit. If this United side is a bit sh*t as being termed in the media, ever wondered what that makes the rest of the league? The much-celebrated treble wining side accumulated a total of 79 points in the league, the current one is on course for 80. Unlike the 99 side, Fergie’s 2011 outfit has wrapped up the title before the final game of the season; some achievement considering the fact that the likes of ‘99 and ‘08 sides failed to do so. It’s human tendency to look upon the past and feel how things were much better in those days. Nostalgia clouds even the most reasonable of minds.
Now that the league has been wrapped up, it might be time for the ABU’s to rest in hell for a while. However, that would be too much to ask for? It took less than 24 hours for the next prediction of United’s downfall to be on print. Bitterness, it seems, knows nothing better. Now, the claim being- “for Sir Alex to win another title might be a step too far”, which sounds so ridiculous to quote, one wonders how someone managed to come up with it in the first place. Every United fan reading the article must have felt the author was having a laugh; strangely, though, she isn’t. This time around they couldn’t even wait until the end of the current season to start churning out doomsday articles. Usually, we have to wait until the slow football news days of summer before the end of an era articles. Starting early this time seems to be the mantra – first mover advantage?
Read more here
Questioning Sir Alex’s acumen and his desire for reinvention is almost as foolish as trusting a crook with your hard-earned money. However, it’s getting amusing now, with every United obituary in the press matched with a trophy in the cabinet.
The ABU’s nation is getting desperate by the hour, praying for Ferguson to call quits, waiting for the red bus to halt.
Accept it, now – “We are Man United and we’ll do what we want!”