My view isn't based on results either, it's the disgraceful soul crushing football this arrogant dinosaur peddles. We keep hearing all this rhetoric about the United way yet keep a man in charge who is the very antitheses of our football identity, him being forced to play a few kids through injury doesn't change that.
pretty much agree.
the bigger feeling for me is that for many years even when we were winning things, I've seen the money men slowly taking away what I grew up dreaming about. Waking up with Manchester United in my heart and going to my dreams with United. Following United has come at a cost for me personally. It feels a bit like someone has robbed my dreams. But they cannot rob my memories.
I understand all that:
Being a fan: I started when football was still a Saturday sport, with MOTD in the evening, and 'on the ball' or similar on a Sunday lunch time. Less was truly more in those days but there were few alternatives for young people unlike today. Supporting United was an extension of a life of football, either playing or watching. I played to a reasonable standard but actually prefer to watch the game. I never wore a United shirt and still don't; I rarely wore scraves. I could never imagine spending £40 on a shirt and the two-team scarves are frankly stupid. I don't take selfies in games and think the singing section is the pathetic consequence of the money me who screwed with the club. Anyone who witnessed the Stretty, the Paddocks and the Scoreboard in their heyday all giving it knows what a pathetic statement a singing section is. I am actually not the kind of fan OT really wants although they blitz me with ST renewal requests. I dont read the Andy Mitten books but do listen to Full Time Devils which is about as far as i go in the modern age of fandom.
The manager: The position of manager was never really important to me. Yeah, Busby was great and I met Tommy Doc but they were not the ones I would stick pictures of on the wall. The Doc was the fans choice but at the first opportunity the board sacked him for a love affair, which by 1970s social standards was totally bizarre. If we couldn't have the Doc the fans wanted Cloughie so the board with their usual bloodimindedness gave us Sexton and Big Ron! The board has always been blinkered in its vision of a manager, its either a great man who grows into the job or a mediocrity who plods along - OT culture remains unable to shake off inability to select managers for immediate success.
It was Fergie who created the super manager **** when he became bigger than the squad; that for me is one of the greatest problems going forward. Our support has been hypnotised by a man who in the end cheated the fans by selecting an idiot, telling us it was our duty to support him, and then pulled out a biography about his golden years just to make sure the idiot knew who was really boss. Its been too much like Busby who also never went away, and released a biography, in the end both have been managerial calamities in their retirement. Having seen his books and listened to his interviews its clear to me that Fergie still wants his time in the sun rewriting history, before someone comes along bringing new success and the writers sense the 'real' story.
How to keep the faith: To find your roots, test where your heart lies. For me it was my fellow fans and the players on the pitch - Charlton, Bestie, Aston at first, then Pearson, Daly, Hill, Robbo and eventually to Cantona, Scholes et al. Bestie cutting Chelski to pieces, Cantona Chipping the goalie, Robbo leading the charge, I mean who could forget such moments - so yes memories are important.
I admit to wanting Ralphie Milne, Juan Veron, and even Bebe all to do well simply because they were players. Same yeaterday, everyone was slagging off Depay. I can't do that and was willing him on, and in a similar way have remained solid behind Tony V. I don't listen to many players because they are nearly always incoherent - as pundits Keano, Rio and Scholesie have slightly altered my opinion. But I dont buy STs to listen to the players, i dont read their pathetic life stories at 28, and really only want to see them play.
Always the players never the manager, and that is why I can cut out the chatter, bullshit, and bollox of OT and LVG. I engage with guys in forums and have been vociferous about not wanting LVG in forums but thats not all about being a fan. I am seriously close to ending my STs but have come to realise its my interest in the squad and players; and, not holding on to something that no longer exists. I admit to watching Leicester progress but not at the expense of watching the Reds. I dont wish the lads to lose and I dont want us out of the CL.
For me the true Red loves the players, and the squad - doesn't need to be in the singing section wearing expensive recycled coke bottles - and couldn't give a flying feck about the board, OT admin, corporate shite, or the manager/coach staff.
