I've decided that this blog is most fun when I use it to talk trash. So this is me talking trash about Manchester United fans.
About nine months ago an acquaintence denied to me that he was a Manchester United fan. I found that strange as I had always had him down as one. I remember talking to him about how good Cantona was a while back. I seemed to remember he had put posts up on Facebook celebrating Manchester United winning trophies, etc. But perhaps I had made a mistake? He was so insistent that he made me doubt my own memory.
Anyway, fast forward to this week as he is returning to the UK after an extended period abroad and asking on Facebook about getting tickets for Old Trafford. He is a Manchester United fan, of course, but denied it to me back then because he knew I would just take the piss. Now they're doing a bit better he comes out of the woodwork.
The last eighteen months have revealed that most Manchester United fans are pretty pathetic. When Ferguson was in charge they enjoyed being associated with a successful brand and they enjoyed lording it over others. As soon as the talismanic Ferguson left (the lexical item 'talisman' is overused in football journalism, but I think in this case it is appropriate) the magic was gone and a lot of the fair-weather fuckers deserted them. Manchester United are not a special club and they don't have a divine right to win. But Ferguson was a special manager and they were the lucky club who happened to get him.
I have heard it said that some Manchester United fans thought they somehow knew more about football than other fans because they supported Manchester United. It's like they thought they were somehow superior because they 'supported' a club which had been superior since most of us could even remember.
Manchester United attracted a lot of insecure bottom-feeders as fans. Their downfall last year was probably the most richly deserved failure in Premier League history....no, in football history....no, in the history of all of sports! And I am not ashamed to say that I loved every single minute of it.
I'm old enough to have seen this all before: the worst bunch of fans I've ever encountered were the mid-90s Liverpool supporters who were suffering from a severe case no longer supporting the most successful team syndrome. They followed Liverpool because they won stuff and for no other reason. When the winning stuff goes away, it can be tough if there's nothing more to your fandom than that.
ReplyDeleteI'm lucky enough to work with some old-school Man Utd fans, those who lived through the mediocrity of the 80s, and generally they're quite enjoying things at the moment; the excitement of not knowing how things will turn out is a new and not unwelcome feeling.