A New Hope

Season 2012

On May 8th, 2013, An Old man decided that winning needs to take a backseat and the victory jig needs to be put on hold. After overseeing 26 trophy laden successful years, he decided it is time to hang up his boots.

The man who motivated people to never give up (Not John Cena of course), who knocked some team named Liverpool off their perch, the one who unearthed some gems from the rough and the one who made ordinary looked extraordinary, called it a day. It was a shock to me and to most of the United family that day. I was in mourning for almost a week when the news broke out.

Sir Alex Ferguson, the man who lived and breathed Manchester United, bid his goodbye to the club and left a huge void in the footballing world.

He came.He won.He conquered.

Thank You, Sir Alex.

Season 2013

What came next, for the Manchester United supporters, were hard times, a fellow Scot, David Moyes, was appointed as manager of the club, whilst bringing a mid table mentality to the club and anguish among supporters. His time did not last long at the club, Ryan Giggs was appointed as a part-time manager but the board had different plans on appointing him as a full-time manager.

Clueless. As always !!!

Season 2014

Then came one of the masterminds of Tactical Football, Louis Van Gaal, and along with him came great expectations. He was then, the manager of the Dutch National Football team and his win against Spain during WC 2014 earned him more fans. However, he failed to win the fans during his stint with the club (apart from the dive in front of the refs in the match against Arsenal). Well, to be honest, he gave more to the club than he was given credit, he gave the youths a chance to flourish, won our first trophy (FA Cup) since Sir Alex's retirement. But, the philosophy and the quality of football he brought to the club was so rigid and devastating, it took the next manager nearly 14 months to fix it.

Thank you for the moments, Louie!

Season 2015

Enter, Jose Mourinho, A wanted man with a thing for notoriety was appointed as the Club's Manager. The supporters had divided opinions on whether he is the one to lead us to the promised land. The Board, Sir Bobby Charlton for sure, would have raised some flags when there would have been some noises on him being appointed.

A two-time Champions League Winner, numerous titles, and accolades across the European Continent, now it is his biggest and sternest task of leading a club back to where it actually belonged. He had to prove his critics and doubters wrong that he was sacked incorrectly in the midst of a player revolt in his old club. In the transfer front, we ended up buying Paul Labile Pogba for a then world record transfer of 89 million, eyebrows were raised. We also invested in a beast of a defender Eric Bailly that season and pulled a coup by signing God to the club. More eyebrows were raised when you especially go a mile further to sign an entertaining-charismatic-volatile 36-year-old striker.

Age is just a number!

We all had a lot of expectations from Mourinho and his players last season. Bringing the club back to the top was not an easy task, especially, when you had the additional burden of removing the dreaded LVG philosophy and mentality. And also there were clubs giving us competition in the transfer market, investing millions in reinforcing their squad. We did have a squad, but there were far from how they were supposed to perform and neither did we have depth.

Mourinho had one thing and only one thing in the mind, get the club back to where they belong, UEFA Champions League.

Our league position last year did not reflect our expectations. We were stranded in 6th position for more than 100 days last season, losing points by playing out to draws, giving teams a chance to have a go at us when the score was 1-0. 

Goalkeepers were on steroids when they played against us, we missed easy opportunities to score and were targeting the goal-posts as if we were competing in a FIFA Challenge (We still love you Paul Pogba). Not killing the game when leading 1-0 was also a pending issue that needed to be addressed. These came to bury us out of the picture for the necessary Top 4 finish for Champions League Qualification.

Now, we had one route and one route only, winning the UEFA Europa League. We played the final against a youthful Ajax side, and yes, we did win that with a remarkable team effort and gave us the much deserved Champions League automatic qualification spot.

Mission Accomplished

The game play has now improved and is much energetic than the past few years, there was this swagger from Paul Pogba, with a warrior of Ander Herrera supporting him. Zlatan, God of Manchester, gave us the goals and the much-needed arrogance and attitude to the team. Wayne Rooney broke the record of Sir Bobby Charlton, scoring the most number of goals in a Manchester United shirt. The ever present David De Gea and Carrick saved our blushes most of the time with Valencia and Mata supporting.

Engine

The performance of Manchester United last season was not a single handed effort, it was a team that did the talking on and off the field. And who else than Jose Mourinho, known for people management, ensuring that the chemistry and the performance coexisted with each other.

Season 2017

Yesterday, we played our first game this season against West Ham United, who are neither Barcelona nor Blackburn in defense, ended up conceding 4 goals against us at home.

But it was not the scoreline that emphasized the difference, it is the way of our play, the movement, the confidence and the intelligence United had on the field when the ball was with them that decided the outcome.

With a beast of a Striker Romelu Lukaku already signed with the help of our own Agent P, we shall probably end up with winning the "Steal Of the Season" award for getting Nemanja Matic from Chelsea. My sympathies and condolences to the Chelsea fan boys who are still pondering about the decisiveness of selling such an impact player.

Future Starts Now.

Yes, we are just one game into the season, but something tells me that I can look forward with optimism this year. After such a long time, I have this rejuvenated hope and expectations for this season. 

With the first team evolving with the new talents, and opportunities waiting for the rest of the squad, I cannot think of anything else but Manchester United slowly climbing back the ladders of success.

Special 1 with Number 1

This is Manchester United. And the Force is strong with this one.

GGMU.