So what exactly is the 'United Way'?

[Jaqen H'ghar]

Entertaining attacking play and youth have already been mentioned, but the thing that really made United special was the never say die spirit. I'm not talking about last minute comebacks (which were wonderful too), but the mentality and determination that allowed us to score last minute comebacks.

You could see it on the players faces, feel it in the way they played, fans on the edge of our seats till the final whistle expecting a moment of magic, and very often getting it.

Huge contrast to the Clueless One, or LvG's sedative, watch paint dry philosophy or Mourinho's cold, calculating and overly cautious (cowardly?) style of play.

 

[Marcus]

They score 4, you score 5. It's what Fergie drove into his players, and have carried on from there. "The United way" came from this era.

Agree. High risk attacking football. Swarm in numbers, knowing that you may be caught out. But then you just score more.

 

[red thru&thru]

Many have already talked about the entertaining football. Blooding in the youngsters from the academy, and never stopping till the last minute.

But for me, United is about dealing with adversity. We all know what has happened in our past but it's how we deal with it. Never using any excuses. The club being as one big family, from the tea lady, to the receptionist, to the canteen staff up to the first team etc

 

[Ishpan2]

Not about entertaining football for me, that is but one characteristic of the club and how it's been run for recent decades.

The United Way is something else, something ancient, something very simple:

We (players, managers, fans) always fight for the badge. We bleed red till the day we die because this team owns our hearts. This is the most important football team in the world, demonstrated by its continuous survival through incredible adversity. If every person gives their all in every game, then the team is following the United way.

 

[KirkDuyt]

Fergie time.

At least that's what I took away from it from this side of the pond. Didn't actually have prem coverage in the 90s though, but on TV they always said United always won in the end.

 

[romufc]

Playing for the badge, passion and all that comes with it.

Attacking football in the sense, we create chances by pressuring teams.

When we were 0-0 1-0 down it was one way traffic until we scored.

But the football changed under LVG and Jose where even 1-0 was cautious. The one game I remember was Newcastle last year at OT where we were 2-0 and Jose prob thought I will throw the kitchen sink. That was United way.

 

[dabeast]

I, in India, was given a Utd T-shirt as a young kid in the 70s and have been a fan ever since.

In the 80s, even though we were mid-table throughout, the history of Best and Charlton made me scour the UK papers for signs of Utd even though they arrived 3 weeks after being first published.

For me, that is what the United way is - the utter don’tgiveadamn brilliance of Best combined with the high performance of Charlton.

SAF, and not Mourinho or van Gaal knew this and asked his players to express themselves even though sometimes they made mistakes.

Ole seems to be, thankfully, more like SAF.

 

[Lentwood]

I think the 'United way' is about having some connection to Manchester and giving youth a chance. Now I am a bit older and I don't have that schoolyard mentality of absolutely living and dying by the result in every game, I would rather see a side containing 6/7 Academy lads finish 2nd and pick up the odd cup than be bought by the Saudi's, sign a 'World 23' and buy trophies

 

[Eleven-Eighteen]

Playing for the badge, passion and all that comes with it.

Attacking football in the sense, we create chances by pressuring teams.

When we were 0-0 1-0 down it was one way traffic until we scored.

But the football changed under LVG and Jose where even 1-0 was cautious. The one game I remember was Newcastle last year at OT where we were 2-0 and Jose prob thought I will throw the kitchen sink. That was United way.

What a feckin match that was! I remember the bar I was in and I remember the second goal going in and thinking, clear as day "Not today. We are not losing to Newcastle today at Old Trafford. I could feel it in my bones that we were going to come back from that". It was one of my happier moments of the Mourinho era for sure.

Pretty sure that was early-ish in the season too. And I thought we're in for a great season now.

 

[romufc]

What a feckin match that was! I remember the bar I was in and I remember the second goal going in and thinking, clear as day "Not today. We are not losing to Newcastle today at Old Trafford. I could feel it in my bones that we were going to come back from that". It was one of my happier moments of the Mourinho era for sure.

Pretty sure that was early-ish in the season too. And I thought we're in for a great season now.

I thought, yes this is the turning point, but that was a must win game for Jose apparently.

In my opinion that is what United is about, when teams start fearing that even 2-0 isn't a secure, it makes them nervous. That is what United is about, we could go 2-0 and Win.

Last few years we go a goal down and we struggle to create chances, struggle to make real impact on the opposition.

 

[Brwned]

It's what every big club thinks their club stands for. Great football, a local / youth connection and pride in the team. United have more credibility in the youth angle than many clubs but they don't have anything special on the other two. Longevity is actually something more unique about United (although English clubs in general have that over the big clubs in mainland Europe) but fans these days have no appreciation for it so it's slowing being taken out of the modern United branding.

 

[Icemav]

Youth, attack, aggression, never give up. No fear.

 

[redshaw]

Adversity is probably close or more accurate is coming back strong after being knocked down rather than resistance or resilience, it's more a United spirit.

 

[TRUERED89]

What a feckin match that was! I remember the bar I was in and I remember the second goal going in and thinking, clear as day "Not today. We are not losing to Newcastle today at Old Trafford. I could feel it in my bones that we were going to come back from that". It was one of my happier moments of the Mourinho era for sure.

Pretty sure that was early-ish in the season too. And I thought we're in for a great season now.

Our good friend Sanchez got the winner that game! Which saved Jose from the sack for an extra couple weeks .

 

[SportingCP96]

Attacking football, Quick Counter attacking football, and most important of all is the Never say die attitude! That will to win and the mentality that even if they were down 0-2 they know they will AT LEAST score 2 goals, The game is not over until the last second and hence those glorious comebacks and last minute goals.

That is the United I grew up watching.

 

[Shiva87]

There's a very mythical perception of Ferguson's era.

He was an attacking coach for sure but he was never an idealist. Hilariously the one fanbase who seem to get this are Arsenal fans, even more than our own, because they fully remember Ferguson's pragmatism (or what they'd call anti-football) in a lot of the games we'd play them. Ferguson could shut up shop with the best of them and admitted himself that it was what was needed in Europe particularly. I would argue all day that Mourinho is far more similar to Ferguson -from personality to playing style - than Pep Guardiola.

The latter part of his reign (Post Ronaldo) was marked by individual brilliance and relentless width/crossing getting us over the line as well as a solid defence. Anyone thinking otherwise has serious short memory issues and should think of how often we complained about a lack of midfield and how often pundits praised us for winning ugly. It was not always the swashbuckling total football some believe. I assure you.

But you are also juxtaposing the budget restricted quality deprived Fergie period with his attacking philosophy. Most of his career at united, till about 2009, he focused on attacking football. To the extent that Carlos had to come in and work with his teams on tactical discipline to do better in Europe.

 

[Jinn]

That celebration of Daniel James.