15 years

[Web of Bissaka]

When did you become a fan? What are the earliest moments you remember?

When my sis woke me up late night to watch United play on tele, somewhere during 1997 to 1999, Giggs in red flying down the wing. The earliest I remember, a child back then, still vivid just a flash memory of that moment. Manchester United fan from that moment onwards, thanks sis.

I remember nothing after that though until..

Consciously, older enough to remember earliest life, it's during the time when Beckham were having problems at the club. That's during Season 2002-03 I think. Still a fan but stayed away from United after he left. On and off watching United play.. but still complaining and hating SAF for selling Beck. Being a kid.

On and off...

Came back the season before the amazing Season 2006-7, following United frequently. SAF, Saha, Park and Ronaldo was so interesting to watch. Idk, the manager and the whole squad are just so interesting, the games and following United started to become an addiction. Then that awesome season happened. Bliss.

So about 13 years for me personally, technically around 18-20 years so far.

 

[KirkDuyt]

Cantona's flying kick into the stands.

It was hard to watch foreign football back then. Only a few highlights on sunday mornings. It gave it something mystical and that angry looking French guy with upturned collar always seemed like someone out of a James Bond movie. I think fan isn't the right word, but I was in awe of him and of the club he played for.

The mysticism is gone, but I still root for United whenever they play

 

[Ryan Bobson]

Today marks my 15-year anniversary as a Untied fan. On 23.04.2003 I watched my first game. We won 4:3 against Real Madrid. Beckham scored two goals off the bench and O'Shea nutmegged Figo. An absolute classic.

When did you become a fan? What are the earliest moments you remember?

I was there that night Big Fat Ronaldo got a standing ovation when he was subbed

 

[Vault Dweller]

Can't recall one game or moment in truth. My family from down South always used to send me United memorabilia and strips so I suppose that's where it all began for me.

The first season I fully recall a lot of games was the 98/99 season, magnificent. As an 8 year old then, a 20 year love affair fully started that season I guess

 

[JohnLocke]

Can remember writing Man United on one of those football shaped pencil cases when I was in P3, probably about 91 or 92, and my best friend putting Aston Villa.

Earliest games I can remember are the 3-3 draw with Liverpool in 1994, and the 1-1 draw with West Ham that allowed Blackburn to win the league.

Went for a stadium tour in 1994 with the Cubs as well.

Pretty much can't remember anything from prior to 1993/94, aside from Cantona signing from Leeds.

 

[The holy trinity 68]

Not exactly sure of the date as I was about 4 years old. So about 1996. My brother was 16 at the time and the family were United mad. My step brother gave me his old Cantona shirt that was too big for me. My actual brother gave me the 92/93 season review VHS and I would constantly watch it. That is all I remember at that age.

 

[SteveTheRed]

I was a fan through family but I don't remember watching them much until the 99 season, I was about 8/9 years, on holiday with family, we watched the Champions League final on TV and it was just crazy, my parents were not massive football fans but we all were jumping up and down at the final.

First game I went to was a match at the old Wembley stadium just after where Beckham smashed one in off the crossbar against Arsenal, that's all I remember.

 

[Woeisme]

1985 Fa cup semi final replay. 2-1 v Liverpool. My friends were all Liverpool supporters and I wanted to be different. Didn't have that much live English football on TV at the time, so the exposure wasn't the same as it is now. I had to study hard in the run up to that match to learn our starting line up and some background stats on the team, just so that I looked like I knew what I was talking about in the playground. I was ten.

I still look back on that week and appreciate the importance of the decision I made.

 

[marukomu]

A fan for years before but my first game was
v Coventry City, 15 January 1977
Lou Macari with both goals.

 

[RedNed77]

The 1985 cup final against Everton was when it happened for me. There wasn't much football on the TV at that point for a 7 year old to watch, MOTD or the ITV equivalent was on pretty late and past my bedtime. I had gone into the game wanting Everton to win it as their name seemed unusual (no football in my family so no pressure to support any club in particular). As soon as Moran got sent off and United became the underdogs I was sold on them.

 

[Can7onA]

^^ We are the same age

Mine would have been mid 80's as well although I can't really remember much as I was more concerned with Skeletor and how he pissed he-man off.

 

[whatwha]

Today marks my 15-year anniversary as a Untied fan. On 23.04.2003 I watched my first game. We won 4:3 against Real Madrid. Beckham scored two goals off the bench and O'Shea nutmegged Figo. An absolute classic.

When did you become a fan? What are the earliest moments you remember?

I'm also a big fan of being untied

 

[Mal donaghy]

New year's eve 1973 in my dad's scrotum!! My official start date is September 17 1974, the day I was born I was a pre determined red!!!

 

[Magnus]

79 Fa-cupfinal. Was in heaven one minute and in hell the next Think I started to support United cause I liked the name and OT always had the biggest crowds. Dad keep telling me he got me into United though having been on the Stretty watching Stiles, Best, Law and Charlton. feck knows

 

[MUFC OK]

I must be old, as I never had the priviledge of choosing a team, it was chosen for me

Yeah it seems an alien concept to me too as my whole family are Reds, but then again so does the surprisingly frequent example of a Dad, and his sons supporting any combination of United/Liverpool/City etc. United are the only reason my and my old man have never properly fallen out

 

[Danny Roberts]

My first real memory is the Whiteside goal against Everton in the 1985 FA Cup final.

 

[Pace Abuser]

I remember Match of the Day raving about Giggs in his first season. That' my earliest memory. My dad was already a united fan and it was passed down.

 

[ajf75]

Norman Whiteside. 1985 FACup Final

 

[Scarecrow]

I'm also a big fan of being untied

For feck's sake. How did it take 92 posts for this?

 

[simplyared]

Born utd fan. First memory 6yrs old was the Munich air disaster. It was all over the newspapers. Wanted to see the Busby babes but my dad wouldn't take me. Said I'd have to wait till I was older. Started going to OT 60-61 season. Used to go with my mate and his dad. Took the steam train direct to the ground from Central stn. A moment I remember well was the 1963 FA cup final against Leicester and a brilliant goal from the Lawman when, with his back to goal, turned on a tanner, and unleashed his shot into the bottom corner of the Leicester net.

 

[Retrokicks]

Yeah it seems an alien concept to me too as my whole family are Reds, but then again so does the surprisingly frequent example of a Dad, and his sons supporting any combination of United/Liverpool/City etc. United are the only reason my and my old man have never properly fallen out

That usually happens around the South East of England (where all the teams are crap within 80 miles). Used to know a family who supported 4 different teams from Southampton to Newcastle, yet they lived 200 - 400 miles from those places and had no association with them

Funniest time was on the original Sky Sports in the mid nineties, before a Liverpool - Man Utd game. The reporter started asking fans (pre-match) about their team's chances with the usual Scouse and Manc accents on display, only for my old mate Rod to pop up on screen and put his 5 pence in (with his southern accent). Even Richard Keys chuckled in the studio and commented about the 'variation of accents'

 

[RedFish]

1985 FA cup Final.

 

[Gazza]

Don’t remember first game or when I really became a United fan, but probably United vs Juventus, which apparently was 9th November 1996. I remember only being able to watch the football on domestic TV, and as an 8-year old I had watched Euro 96 and been mad into England doing so well, but before that I’d only said I liked United because my older brother did and he had United posters (Ince, Giggs, Hughes I think) on the outside of his bedroom door. So watching live football with the Champions League on ITV was it for me, and it was only United from England in it that year. The whole build up and magnitude of United in their red kit with Cantona, Schmeichel and Beckham, against Juventus. We lost both games but evidently I was hooked. I definitely remember those games and then the final group stage game against Rapid Vienna (Schmeichel’s save) being the start of it for me. I could go on about those times. Happy days.

 

[Lentwood]

I remember being in tears watching the 1-1 versus Juve in 1998, until Giggs slid in at the back post to score the equalizer.

I also remember that I wasn't allowed to stay up to watch ET in the Arsenal Semi-Final replay the same year, although I could hear the TV downstairs and was trying to make out what was going on!

Also remember being on holiday in France and being in tears again watching the European Cup Final against Bayern, think we all know how that ended!

So would have to say my earliest memories are of the 97/98 season when I'd have been 8, even though I'd been to 20+ live games by that point, don't actually remember anything from any of them!

 

[youngrell]

Been a fan since I was old enough to watch football – my dad grew up loving Best and passed his love of United on to me.

Probably the earliest specific match I can remember is the CWC Final and Hughes' goal(s), but I remember players from before then and have photos of me in United kit from as early as 1987.

 

[GM K]

It was that 1999 CL Final for me. What type of a team comes back like that? I admit that it was Sir Alex that drew me in and then gradually the ethos and spirit of the club.

 

[fergosaurus]

1992. No complaints about the timing - the season we bought Eric and won our first league title in 26 years to go on to dominate domestic football.

 

[Lord Zlatan]

1977 cup final vs Liverpool. I was 6 and my dad made me watch it though i dont remember much about it...my first trip to OT was in may 1993 to see us lift the first premier league trophy...still get goose bumps about that night

 

[Class of 63]

1977 cup final vs Liverpool. I was 6 and my dad made me watch it though i dont remember much about it...my first trip to OT was in may 1993 to see us lift the first premier league trophy...still get goose bumps about that night

Whereabouts in the ground were you ?

Apologies if you were in the new seats in the Stretford End that night and had the misfortune of hearing me murdering "Simply the Best" and "We are the Champions"

 

[Lord Zlatan]

Ha ha...yeah heard you over in old north stand lower near k stand

 

[Class of 63]

Ha ha...yeah heard you over in old north stand lower near k stand

 

[Lord Zlatan]

You remember the drum?

 

[Class of 63]

You remember the drum?

Don't remember the drum, but there was a guy near me who had a trumpet

 

[LawCharltonBest]

I was born and taken home to a Manchester United bedroom. I started to properly watch football when I was about 8

 

[SambaBoy]

Was taken to Old Trafford by the old man to watch a CL game against Sparta Prague it was, think Andy Cole scored. Can't remember much but always followed United after that.

 

[Lord Zlatan]

Don't remember the drum, but there was a guy near me who had a trumpet

Couldn’t hear him over you tryin to sing

 

[arthurka]

November 1984..
Old Trafford v Arsenal. .
4-2 if I remember correctly . Goals from Robson, Hughes and Strachan .. My grandfather took me as my father is a Liverpool fan. Been hooked since.

 

[Cassady]

I must be old, as I never had the priviledge of choosing a team, it was chosen for me

It is the right answer. My parents met going the Liverpool games in the mid 60's .

 

[SpyLuke10]

Nearly 10 years since I watched my first United game. Ironically it was the 2008 Champions League Final (I was 10 years old then). Didn't really start properly following United (watching every game consistently, in Australia games are anywhere between 9:30pm and 7:00am, usually around 1-2am though) until the Moyes season though. My dad has been a United fan since the late 70s/early 80s I believe so please don't call me a glory hunter haha.

 

[Snow]

Cantona, so much Cantona. I popped my collar up when I was a kid. First memories are basically of him in the 93/94 season. I remember when a Liverpool fan got him banned and I remember Andy Cole joining. The first proper season I remember watching regularly was 96/97. It had probably something to do with me playing Champions Manager 2 season before (I had the French, German, Italian one). A lot of things stand out from that season. Gordon Strachan being the player-manager at Coventry and I also like Dion Dublin (didn't know of their United affiliation at the time). Middlesbrough bought Ravanelli and Branco, Dalglish was playing good football with Newcastle and I didn't understand how Beardsley was so good because he looked like he was the same age as Kenny. Le Tissier was still at Southampton and Tottenham somehow got Ginola despite me thinking that they sucked.

Probably as much as I disliked Liverpool that season. Loathed Fowler and Collymore. They've only been as insufferable since then when Suarez was playing. Leeds were starting to get annoying but not as bad as when they had Mills, Harte, Bowyer, Kewell, Viduka.

As for United Cantona graciously passed on my favoritism mantle to Solskjær. As a kid I always disliked something Norwegian or Swedish, probably something to do with growing up in Denmark, but I instantly took a liking to Solskjær and I used to emulate him and Raúl as a player. Even though I do say so myself I don't think I could have chosen better role models.

Of course having an older brother watching United games is the biggest influence in me being a United fan. I was a Denmark and Laudrup fan before I watched English football, I even collected Serie A stickers before even knowing about United or Ferguson. I'm thankful my dad wasn't interested in football because one of his dad's best mates was Alfreð Guðmundsson, one of Iceland's greatest ever player and former Arsenal player. I'd be a bitter gooner like my mates now if he cared enough about picking what games to watch.