I have been a supporter of Manchester United since 2000. My feelings for the club weren't intense, probably for two main reasons: one, I grew up without a television; the second being, I was just a 12 year old kid. I would follow the club's achievements on the field through newspapers. The person who made the headlines regularly, was none other than David Beckham. Ah yes, now I have to confess that Mr Beckham's popularity might have had a big hand in me supporting this club. Soon I learned about other players in the club and the manager, the club history and its philosophy, and mainly the fan base. It was all new to me. I guess nobody in my class knew about the culture of club football in the world and maybe it was due to India being a cricketing nation. And sadly all of us had our heads stuck up the asses of the so called Cricketing Gods of our country, but I digress. I continued to follow the exploits of 'my club' or rather 'our club'.
Once I convinced my parents or rather guilt-tripped them into buying me a PC with a TV-Tuner box in 2004, I started following the English Premier League.Yaay! Manchester United's way of play enthralled me. Since then I have learned to play and appreciate the sport, understood that no movie, not even a Christopher Nolan, or a Tarantino can entertain and amaze you for 2 hours and helped reinforce that it is THE beautiful game in the world.
Once I became familiar with club football: the different leagues and its competitions, I knew that Manchester United was the right club to support even though it was established based on the popularity of Mr Beckham. During this period I came to appreciate the master, Sir Alex Ferguson, his man-management skills (the Hairdryer Treatment being one), his hunger, his belief in youth system and of course, his success. Among Fergie's Fledglings, I found Paul Scholes to be an enigma. I don't know why. But he continued to amaze me through his skills. His shots from just outside the box were deadly, his passing was mind-bogglingly accurate and ah yes, his notoriety for getting yellow cards. He sort of made it a rule for himself to obtain a yellow every game and any exceptions to that was termed strange by everyone. No matter what, Paul Scholes is my favorite player, a genius of the game, and an idol.
Since 2004, Manchester United have won five Premier League titles, three League Cups, UEFA Champions League once, the FIFA Club World Cup once and the Community Shield, five times. Also the fans have suffered numerous heartbreaks since then. The success has been due to brilliant players like Patrice Evra, Nemanja Vidic, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Rio Ferdinand, Gary Neville and the footballing brain of Sir Alex Ferguson and his staff. And the fans cannot thank them enough.
Since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson WTF happened? Many fans have blamed David Moyes for not attracting players to play at Old Trafford, but that precludes me. I was happy with the squad which did include the arrival of Marouane Fellaini. The reason I and few others, like my friend, Pradyumna Rao, blamed Moyes is for the team selection week-in week-out. We had a world class number 10 in the form Kagawa, whose talents weren't utilised at all when both Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney weren't available due to injuries. which brings me to state that, injuries, the defensive players suffered didn't help either. The back line was different for every match day. As result we finished a humiliating seventh in the league table. The only highlight of the season was, the rise of Adnan Januzaj.
2014-15, another season and a new manager, which is strange for Manchester United. But the man in question this time is an absolute taskmaster and a legend. Louis van Gaal has proven himself with a young Ajax Amsterdam, FC Barcelona and FC Bayern. Pardon me but I have to question the 3-4-1-2 formation, he wants to adopt, given that our back line is inexperienced. Manchester United have brought in world class players in the recently concluded transfer window, but not the players I expected. I have to give them the credit for their efforts. I really hope Louis van Gaal can restore the pride and success at Manchester United. I really hope that I'll be a witness to the success that has been promised, just like the good old days when I first started supporting my club.
