The Corinthian
I will not take Mad Winger's name in vain
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Was reading this article earlier and it makes some great points -
United were first
Who was the second person to run a four-minute mile? Who was the second climber to the summit of Everest?
United were the first team to win the Treble and that’s important. It means the achievement will always be synonymous with them. If City pull it off, fair f***s. But they aren’t breaking new ground. United were trailblazers in 1999. Twenty-four years on, City are just following in their footsteps.
Granted, United weren’t the first European side to do it. Or even the first British club. Celtic, PSV and Ajax all completed the set but, coming from farmers’ leagues, two of the three parts were almost gimmes. No-one under 50 years old saw Celtic’s and Ajax’s Trebles, while PSV won only three games en route to the European Cup in 1988, including no wins from the quarter-final onwards, which merits a great big honking asterisk by the trophy in the club museum. Not as big as the one next to City’s mind.
So United were the first English team to win any Treble, and the first European side to win a proper one.
I'd encourage you to read the full article - bit hesitant to post everything due to the site rules.United did it in style
For many United fans, football – nay, life – peaked on May 26, 1999. At the very back of spattered minds that glorious Wednesday night was the nagging thought that never, ever would it be this good again.
Matt Dickinson had it right in his book ‘1999: Manchester United, The Treble And All That’: ‘Another English team will win the Treble one day. But they cannot possibly win it like this.’
United’s route to winning it all was an adrenaline-fuelled head f*** of a rollercoaster, ridden though weeks of glorious, petrifying jeopardy. The highs were so because United were terrifyingly close to the lows. It could have fallen apart at any moment and so often it nearly did.
The Premier League title race went to the final boot of the ball between United and an Arsenal side already proven winners. In the FA Cup came the comeback against Liverpool. The semi-final, against that double-hard Arsenal team, taken to a replay and extra-time only by a last-minute penalty save from Peter Schmeichel. Still swinging but down to 10 men and on the ropes, Ryan Giggs went and scored one of the greatest goals of all time.
And then there’s the Nou Camp. United were poor in the Champions League final, which only heightened the buzz when Bayern – themselves chasing a Treble – were left on their backs while their ribbons were hurriedly removed from the European Cup after Teddy Sheringham’s sweep and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s poke had not only dragged the Red Devils back from the dead but delivered them to the promised land. No European Cup has been won like that before or since that night in Barcelona, and certainly no Treble has been secured amid such a frenzy.
City are bloody brilliant but where’s the jeopardy? Where’s the drama? Maybe it’s still to come but Pep’s brand of ruthless efficiency is hardly material for a blockbuster thriller. You couldn’t write the 1999 script. In 2023, you probably couldn’t sell it.