“ We had the title won after Christmas” did we?

AngliaRed

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I’ve supported United for 31 years and although I cant actually remember certain seasons back in the early 90s I would always hear my Dad or Grandad and others say “ we had it wrapped up by Christmas” etc etc... obviously mathematically very unlikely, but was there any seasons where we literally ran away with it in the 80s-early 90s or is it just a popular myth that we had a 10-15 point advantage that when January came you could never see us slipping.

Looking at how dominant city have been this season It would be interesting to hear other opinions and stories because I’m sure I wasnt the only one to hear this, unless my Dad and Grandad are just bat shit crazy and I lived a sheltered life.
 

Slevs

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Considering we didn't win the league in the 80s I'd say they were batshit crazy.
 

Buchan

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United traditionally were slow starters under Ferguson and we didn't really ramp up our title challenges until spring/Easter, where we'd blow the rest out of the water with an insane run of form. I never recall United being obscene pace-setters to the point that the title was "wrapped up by Christmas". (Although there was a couple of instances where we were early leaders and never relinquished the lead thereafter.)
 

Damien

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Guessing they're thinking of 1993/94? At the end of the year we were 1st on 56 points - 13 points ahead of Blackburn. We won the league with 92 points (8 ahead of second)
 

SirAF

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99-00 and 00-01 are probably the two most dominant seasons under Ferguson - I can’t remember the standings at Christmas though.
 

Richard Cranium

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I thought it was always said that you were favourites if you were ahead after Christmas as you were half-way through, had played everyone once and had seen off the crazy festive schedule of a silly amount of games in a few days...
 

AngliaRed

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Guessing they're thinking of 1993/94? At the end of the year we were 1st on 56 points - 13 points ahead of Blackburn. We won the league with 92 points (8 ahead of second)
I’d imagine mate, thanks for the stats.

My earliest memories of watching United with them both is from the 94/95 season onwards.
 

SirAF

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On Boxing day we were 1 point ahead of 2nd in 99/00 and 8 points ahead of 2nd in 00/01.
Yes, was about to post this for 2001: «Manchester United made an outstanding start to the season and it was quickly clear that they were in pole position for a third successive Premier League title. By Christmas, most of the bookmakers had closed their books on anyone catching them»
 

Frank Grimes

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99/00 we pulled away after we got back from Brazil, whilst we were there our main challengers all dropped points and in January and February we made them suffer. That was a really impressive league season from United and I still think had we scored first v Real in OT we would have won the CL that season, Keane's og was a big blow.
 

FootballHQ

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12/13 you got the feeling Man. United had won it by xmas. Won at Chelsea, Man. City (last minute RVP free kick) and Liverpool all in the first half of the season.
 

Frank Grimes

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Also people underrate how good a position we were at Christmas in our last title success, we were 6 points clear iirc but we had beaten City, Chelsea, Liverpool all away from home and had a very nice 2nd half to the season fixture wise. RVP's winner in the Emptihad was a massive goal in how that season panned out.
 

Alex99

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There was a lot of confidence that season but we were only 2 points ahead at the midpoint. We were just playing some really great football and the atmosphere at the club was bouncing all season long.
 

Chesterlestreet

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If I remember right it's roughly 50-50 whether the leaders after Christmas go on to win it - or feck it up.

'01 was, as mentioned, our easiest stroll under Fergie except '94. We were well ahead after Christmas, iirc.
 

GE

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There was a lot of confidence that season but we were only 2 points ahead at the midpoint. We were just playing some really great football and the atmosphere at the club was bouncing all season long.
Really? :eek: Thinking back it seemed like a 10 point gap. Confidence must have been sky high.
 

Amir

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99/00 we pulled away after we got back from Brazil, whilst we were there our main challengers all dropped points and in January and February we made them suffer. That was a really impressive league season from United and I still think had we scored first v Real in OT we would have won the CL that season, Keane's og was a big blow.
The thing was, it took us a while to get back into form after Brazil. We won most games, but didn't play well. But once we got it back, we were brilliant in the last 2-3 months in the league. Our performance at home against Real was also great - well, attacking it was. Always wondered if that January break helped refresh us.
 

joeunited

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The gap at the end of some seasons may not accurately show how far apart we are to the second because, when we already won it with games to spare, we kinda took the foot of the gas and lost some points.
 

Big Ben Foster

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We were pretty dominant in 2008-09 as well, the table just seemed a lot closer since we had two games in hand for the longest time. That stretch of poor performances towards the end (consecutive losses vs Liverpool and Fulham and comeback wins vs Aston Villa and Spurs) made the run-in interesting though.
 

FujiVice

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99-00 and 00-01 are probably the two most dominant seasons under Ferguson - I can’t remember the standings at Christmas though.
We went away for the Brazil tournament and we returned with a few games in hand and everyone had dropped points. We pissed the league that year.
 

Gopher Brown

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In our most successful seasons we were pushed right to the end - in both 1999 and 2008 we only won the league on the last game of the season. I think this played a large part in our European Cup wins.
 

Shiva87

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More like, we won our titles only after Christmas!

We were notoriously slow starters under Fergie and really came into our own during the business end of the season. I think it was only Jose's quick starts with Chelsea and their ability to stay ahead which forced Fergie to change his training schedule to ensure we start well.
 

Skills

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12/13 you got the feeling Man. United had won it by xmas. Won at Chelsea, Man. City (last minute RVP free kick) and Liverpool all in the first half of the season.
In any other season that would be a done dealio. But we'd choked hard the season before in run in so it was far from wrapped up.
 

el3mel

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Not clinically wrapped up but you always got the feeling once we got top spot during Christmas that we are going to win the league no matter what.
 

Denis' cuff

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He did actually say “the 90s”. Obvs escaped some. :lol::lol::lol:

I’m sure there was another time, around new year, apart from the Brazil fiasco, when we were well,in the clear. Was it 18 pts at one stage? As somebody pointed out, oddly enough, 99 and 08 went down to the wire.
 

Di Maria's angel

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As some have said, we were utterly dominant in 12/13. I'm pretty sure at some point we were 13 points ahead of City and only won 2 of our last 5/6 games that season.
 

RedStarUnited

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Chelsea did wrapped up the title by Xmas twice, under Mourinho.
Back in 05/06, I thought Jose and Chelsea were going to be unstoppable for a decade or so. To put it into perspective, Chelsea that year had the same record as Man city have had in their first 23 this year. P23 W20 D2 L1.

Also, I think the poster is referring to the below chant from 06/07.