Football is a major pastime for men. I have also increasingly realized the large following football has amongst ladies. There is a funny saying that men choose a football team to support at an early age and stick with them through thick and thin. I suppose it is the same for a lot of female fans too.
It has always fascinated me how men can have endless conversations about football. Back in secondary school and university, colleagues will discuss into the night about footballing events that occurred ages ago, with razor sharp memories about the main characters, dates and consequential moments. It always baffled me how I was one of the odd ones who could not remember details like that and participate in such lively conversations.
When I started actively following football, like most people, it was the English Premier League that captivated me. “The best league in the world” had what most football fans sought, the grit, the competition, the coverage and perhaps most underrated, the language. Commentary is a major part of the appeal of English football, it is “narrative excellence” and I, like many fans around the world, can understand it because it is in English.
Initially, my affinity was towards Liverpool Football Club. The Merseyside club had a rich legacy and players that I adored like Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso. But unlike most fans who choose a club to support and never change that, I gradually found myself gravitating towards Manchester United.
Manchester United was as iconic a Premier League club as Liverpool. The two clubs are cultural institutions with long histories of success. However, Manchester United not only had admirable players like Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Paul Scholes, but they were at the time, the most dominant English club, winning trophies year in and year out. And I love winning, I adore winners! So they captured my allegiance.
In the last decade, Manchester United seem to have gradually lost that winning culture. The club’s legendary manager of twenty-seven years, Sir Alex Ferguson, retired. It has been difficult for supporters much to the amusement of opposing fans whose childhoods were ruined by Manchester United winning everything, every year. Thankfully for me, I am not as committed a fan as many others, so I was not as heartbroken, although I looked forward to better days.
Better days seemed to come in 2022. After experimentation with seven managers in 10 years, the club appointed a new manager. The start was slow, but he eventually seemed to be getting it right.
The last week however, appeared to be a week when all the good work could either come to a climax or just another false dawn. The team had 3 games in seven days in three different competitions. A loss in any of them and it would seem back to “square one”. How can the team navigate such a trickery period? Would they fall off? Where will they be come the end of the week?
Well, the last of the three games just ended and most Manchester United fans have not been happier in a long time. The team won all three games and lifted a trophy in the process.
But as fans, we only want more. Success breeds even higher ambitions. But with the way the team is going under this manager, fans have a right to believe.
Glory, glory Man United!
