After the end of last season all those associated with Manchester United including myself were on cloud nine, ok we lost to Barcelona in the Champions League Final but to be fair they are possible one of if not the greatest team of all time. The goodtimes were rolling at Old Trafford, a 19th league title was claimed on the 14th May 2011 and after years of waiting Manchester United could finally say that they are the most successful club in English football.
Anticipation as well as expectation was sky high at the start of the season, a pre season win over Barcelona followed up by a stunning comeback against Manchester City in the Community Shield to win 3-2 appeared to set the tone for another memorable campaign. United's league form saw them achieve wins over West Brom, Tottenham and an amazing 8-2 win over Arsenal at Old Trafford. It appeared as though the calls for a new midfield maestro had been silenced as youngsters such as Tom Cleverley, Phil Jones and Danny Welbeck stepped up to the plate to help guide United to an amazing start. Even an entertaining game that could of gone either way swung in United's favour when we defeated Chelsea 3-1 on the back of a 5-0 drumming against Bolton. Confidence was sky high, there was wins and a few draws against the likes of Stoke, Liverpool and in the Champions League at home to Benfica but then the biggest blow of the season came on a day all United fans would love to forget and pretend it never happened. Manchester City came to Old Trafford and cruised to a 6-1 win, it exposed United's weaknesses and proved we still lacked a playmaker in midfield and someone extra to change the game when required.
5 successive wins in all competitions following that humiliation and it appeared we had turned a corner but another Champions League home blunder against Benfica meant we had draw at home to them and Basel and needed a draw on Wednesday night just gone to qualify for the knockout stags. I never mentioned anything to anyone that night but in my head I was still haunted by 2005 at the Stadium of Light when we lost to Benfica and came bottom of the group, my fears came true as we lost to Basel and fell into the Europa League which is the only competition Manchester United have never won even when it was the Uefa Cup. No disrespect but we don't want to win that trophy, if come next May we did I wouldn't be unhappy but I doubt I'd be able to boast well I guess it would give us United fans something else to brag about seeing as we could say we've won every club competition available haha.
On a more serious note I saw people on sky sports forums and twitter calling for Fergie's head, saying he had lost the plot and it made me feel sick. It's stuff like this that proves people are Glory Hunters, Sir Alex has done so much for the club and has endured many transition periods in his time as manager. When he first joined he took us from the relegation zone in the old first division to stablise the club over a few seasons and win his first trophy in the 1989-1990 season with a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace in a FA Cup Final replay. The winning mentality had been implemented into the club once again but it took 3 seasons for the wait for a League title to finally end with Manchester United winning the Championship in the 1992-1993 season with the league now being re-branded into the "Premier League". It was 26 years since United had lifted a league title but from that moment on Ferguson's Red Devils never looked back, that year they had a young Ryan Giggs to thank as he lit up the Premeirship and went on to win the PFA Young Player of the Year award and the likes of Mark Hughes up front, Paul Ince in midfield, reliable centre back Gary Pallister and Eric "The King" Cantona (King Eric) who had signed from arch rivals Leeds to help add something special up front for United.
Alex Ferguson received the Manager of the Year award, it was great recognition for Uniteds achievements that year, back to the point this proves Fergie has overcome obstacles before and mainly during the early stages of his United managerial career. In 1994-1995 United missed out on the title on the final day of the season, the media criticised Fergie as he didn't replace key players who were sold such as the likes of Mark Hughes, Paul Ince and Andrei Kanchelskis. Even Alan Hasen said "you'll never win anything with kids" but Fergie's men proved everybody wrong, it was that 1995-1996 season where the likes of David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and the Neville brothers became key players at Old Trafford and all contributed significantly in helping United go on to win the double that season with an amazing comeback to take the title from Newcastle who lead the title race for the majority of the season, Ferguson got under Kevin Keegans skin and his infamous mindgames played a huge factor in helping United win the league. The double was completed that season with a win over Liverpool in the FA Cup final and in the following season, 1996-1997, Manchester United went on to win their fourth Premier League Title in five seasons.
Arsene Wenger took the double with his Arsenal side next year to set up a fascinating rivalry with Ferguson and the 1998-1999 season would prove to be something special. Thriving under the pressure of another Arsenal challenge Manchester United went on to win the Premiership that year but the success story doesn't stop there, as everybody knows and all United fans know the 98-99 season is one of the greatest in the clubs history. It was the first and only time that an English side has gone to win an unprecedented treble with Ferguson adding the FA Cup again to his honours list and finally the Uefa Champions League. As it was one of the clubs most historic seasons it was characterised by highly dramatic matches. The Champions League semi-final second leg saw United conceded two early goals away to Italian giants Juventus however Roy Keane inspired a Manchester United fightback despite recieving a yellow card earlier in the game ruling him out of the final if United were to progress there. The win saw United reach their first European Cup final since 1968, the FA Cup semi-final was just as dramatic as United faced close rivals Arsenal and once again appeared to be heading for defeat when Keane was sent off. The odds were stacked against the Red Devils once again as Arsenal were awarded a last-minute penalty but the Great Dane Peter Schmeichel saved Mark Overmars' spot-kick to send the game into extra time then up steps Ryan Giggs, the Welsh Wizard ran the length of the pitch to score perhaps the most memorable goal of his career to win the match as he took on numerous opposition players before firing past David Seaman into the top corner. They went on to Wembley where they defeated Newcastle United 2–0 in the FA Cup Final thanks to goals from Teddy Sheringham and Paul Scholes. The European triumph was the most incredible of all and summed up United's whole season, a never say die spirit was in that side as they never knew when they were beaten. They had fought of many obstacles so far not only domestically but in Europe like that night in Turin. 90 minutes were on the clock and we were 1–0 down to Bayern Munich at the Nou Camp in Barcelona following a Mario Basler free kick, Bayern themselves were seeking the treble and it appeared they had done it but in 3 minutes of injury time allowed by referee Pierluigi Collina, Teddy Sheringham, a substitute, equalised and extra time looked certain. But United won another corner, David Beckham went over to take it and it was definitely the last attack of the game as there were just seconds left on the clock, Sheringham got to the ball again and flicked it on for super sub Ole Gunnar Solskjær to score the winning goal and history was made. Manchester United were the Champions of Europe again and the best footballing side on the planet, it was a moment that would put them in history forever and it proved why Ferguson was an outstanding manager. His achievements were recognised with him receiving a knighthood shortly after the end of the season for his services to the game.
Into the 21st century and Manchester United's Premier League dominance continued with another league title in the following season, 2000-2001. It was United's third successive title since the year of the treble, Old Trafford was domestically on a high but in the past couple of seasons had failed to achieve success in Europe again, nevertheless Fergie was going as strong as ever. Into the 2001-2002 season saw Ferguson announce that he was planning to retire, around this time United found themselves suffering a big dip in form and despite a late run of wins once Fergie had announced he planned to stay for another 3 years it was Arsenal who won the league that season. Rio Ferdinand signed from rivals Leeds for 30 million pounds to provide stability at the back and now that the likes of Ruud Van Nistelrooy had settled in Manchester United were once again a formidable force, this was proven towards the end of the 2002-2003 campaign as with 2 months to go the Manchester club trailed Champions Arsenal by 8 points but in what Ferguson described as his most satisfying triumph ever United came back to pip the North London club to the title with an excellent win of 10 wins and 1 draw from their last 11 matches which included a 4-0 victory over rivals Liverpool and a 6-2 smashing of Newcastle. Manchester United were unbeaten since boxing day, the season turned out to be a great achievement for the club.
That summer saw David Beckham leave to join Real Madrid's Galaticos and after Ferguson failed to sign Ronaldinho he brought in young Portugese Starlet Cristiano Ronaldo. United won the FA Cup that season, 03-04, but finished 3rd in the league and were knocked out in the first knockout round of the Champions League to eventual winners FC Porto. Despite a League Title and an Fa Cup success in the past two seasons Manchester United were still somewhat in a transition period. The summer leading up to the following season, 04-05, saw English teenage sensation Wayne Rooney sign for Manchester United in a deal worth more then £20 million. The view of the transition period came to be true as United failed to win any silverware that season and in 05-06 was similar in the transition sense despite United winning the League cup, they were knocked out at the group stages of the Champions League and finished bottom which lead to an outburst by club captain Roy Keane about the clubs youngsters playing a role in him leaving by mutual consent. Ruud Van Nistelrooy also departed but in the summer and joined Real Madrid to reunite with former United team-mate David Beckham.
After being overshadowed by Chelsea and Arsenal for a couple of seasons 2006-2007 saw United reclaim the title, signings such as Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra and Michael Carrick bought new stability to their positions and Edwin Van Der Sar had settled between the sticks to prove he was a keeper worthy of playing for United. That year was United's 9th Premier League Title but they did lose out in the FA Cup final at the New Wembley to Chelsea in extra time 2-1. Still despite this and a Champions League semi-finals exit at the hands of AC Milan United were back and would build on this successful season to go on to greater things in the 2007-2008 campaign, Carlos Tevez, Owen Hargreaves, Anderson and Nani were all bought it to freshen things up and a deadly strikeforce of Ronaldo, Rooney and Tevez was now ready to take on Europe's best. The FA Cup eluded Manchester United once again that season in a game which saw defender Rio Ferdinand have to go in goal for a penalty as they lost to eventual winner Portsmouth and United had a very good penalty shout themselves with infuriated Sir Alex. Despite this and United having their worst start to the season under Ferguson they went on to win their 10th Premier League title and met Chelsea in the Champions League Final in Moscow. That night was a very entertaining game that went down to the lottery of a penalty shootout, following top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo's missed penalty Chelsea's club captain John Terry had a chance to win it but slipped in the rain to only hit the post. It was a huge relief for United and it went on to cost Terry's side as Edwin Van Der Sar saved Anelka's penalty in sudden death to clinch Manchester United's 2nd European Cup under Ferguson and their 3rd in the clubs history, United had dominated Europe again and Ferguson was back to being on top of the footballing world
Being on top of the footballing world wasn't just a cliché as United went on to win the 2008 FIFA Club World Cup to officially become the best team in the world, that season saw United win the Premier League title again to take their overall total to 18 now joint with arch enemies Liverpool and they won the League Cup but that was to be it for the silverware that season as back to back Champions League's didn't happen following a 2-0 defeat to Barcelona in Rome. United started the new season seeking to finally surpass Liverpool's overall amount of league titles but this was thwarted by Chelsea who went on to win the league on the last day of the season leaving United to finish the season with one trophy, the League Cup once again. It was the 2010-2011 season where history was made, new signing Javier Hernandez proved to be a great difference to the side up front and United's squad seemed to have grown accustom to not having Cristiano Ronaldo in the side since he left after the 2-0 defeat to Barcelona back in 2009 to join Real Madrid for a world record fee of £80 million pounds. Hernandez formed a great partnership with Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov was also a force upfront as the 3 had become the latest set of goal scoring strikers to fire United to a league title, away from home United were not great but they went 29 games unbeaten by showing lots of resilience and winning 18 of their 19 home games, on the 14th May 2011 a 1-1 draw away to Blackburn was enough for United to win the title once again and more importantly their 19th league title seeing them become the most successful team in English football!
Barcelona got the better of United in the Champions League final once again at the end of that campaign defeating them 3-1 at Wembley but Ferguson went on a summer shopping spree to try and tackle Europe's best once again and dethrone Barcelona, after the history run down and a summary of Ferguson's managerial time at Manchester United I take you back to the start and to the point of this blog post which is to ensure everyone that United are not done for and that despite bowing out of the Champions League at the first hurdle this current crop of United players can go on to achieve things, 5 of todays side that took part were 21 or younger. The 4-1 win over Wolves was a great way to bounce back following Wednesday's humiliation but Sir Alex has been in this job long enough and dealt with enough obstacles in the way, will he buy in January? Probably not but I feel that we do need someone like Luka Modric in the side to give us that extra dimension in midfield, whatever happens nobody can disagree with the fact that we have had terrible injury problems this season which has disrupted the jelling of the current squad. Club Captain Nemanja Vidic is out for the season and Javier Hernandez is out for the Christmas period, the back 4 has been reshuffling all season but we are only 2 points behind City and come next May could still win the title, I'm sure Sir Alex has told all the players how he feels and mentioned the fact that in a time of trouble now is the exact time to prove that you are good enough to play for a club like Manchester United! Only time will tell who proves good enough and what will happen come the end of the campaign but I'm United until I die and we will be back, infact who said we ever left.
Glory Glory Man United! Champ19ns!
