The main thing for me is that I like the team again. I like watching us, I like the team as players and people, and I'm invested in a way I haven't been in a long time. Today, I haven't been that excited about a United game for years.
Under van Gaal and Mourinho I almost stopped caring. I hated both men, football-wise and personality-wise, and I was so eager to see the back of them that I was almost rooting for us to lose some games just to speed up the process and start feeling good about United again. I just couldn't recognise us under those two: Unlikeable managers, boring, negative football, trying to buy our way to success by spending a fortune on spoilt mercenaries, becoming exactly what we used to accuse Chelsea and City of doing. We just weren't a likeable team in any way.
Now, with a young team full of home-grown talent, great team spirit, great energy, fluid, watchable football and a club legend who understands the ethos of Manchester United at the helm, it feels like United is finally back as a team that even neutrals can sympathize with, or at least envy.
I'm thrilled with third-place, proud of our comeback and excited about the next few seasons but that, for me, is the real reason to celebrate. That, once again, I care.