Manchester United: the futures red, (a bit of) white and blue

Article by e-Manchester United Correspondent Mark Harbottle

Follow e-Manchester United on Twitter!

Let me make an important point before we progress; I am an avid Manchester United fan. There is nothing I enjoy more than seeing The Red Devils take three points – it makes my weekends worth living. I am ‘pro-Moyes’ and always have been. It’s safe to say I’ve enjoyed my fair share of success watching Fergie’s armies over the decades, but is there such thing as “too much of a good thing”? With regards to the Premier League, I believe so.

Let’s travel back in time to the 70’s and 80’s where a mighty Liverpool took the world by storm, winning 11 league titles and 7 European trophies (and then some). A mesmerising time for English Football, with all the dramas us Brits demand from entertainment, encapsulating generations young and old. So why is my highlight of Liverpool’s coveted history the famous last minute goal scored by Michael Thomas for Arsenal on 26th May 1989? Because they lost to the underdogs.

Following this, my beloved Manchester United danced with the worlds’ elite throughout the 90’s and early noughties. Treble winners, home grown heroes and Fergie-time (I’m convinced his watch never worked) were epic. Manchester had exploded onto the map. Breaking transfer records were commonplace, and success was expected. What happened next? Well the first two words that come to mind are Wenger, swiftly followed by Mourinhio.

Even the word “invincibles” keeps me awake at night. Thierry Henry? Elegant. Bergkamp? Superhuman. Viera? Petrifying. This was a team and club with real anchors in their squad, and a manger who knew exactly how to steamroll teams without breaking a sweat. Perhaps this was the greatest squad of all time, but alas this was never going to last.

The Special One graced our country in June 2004, and I’m sure some football fans jaws never quite got off the floor following the bold statements, cool arrogance and intense, never ending pressure his team put you under every weekend. It was like watching Spartans going to war. They were going to own the premier league no matter what happened. Jose taking his peacock’s tail to Inter Milan in 2008 was the best thing that happened for the sake of the premier league.

Our history lesson finally brings us to Manchester City. Money spent aside (because we could argue all day that all clubs have bought big to win the league at some point), this is the team in form at the minute. City epitomise football’s holy grail; win games with flair, keep scoring until the final whistle blows, play beautiful football and take no prisoners. No one has taught Manchester United (6-1) how to play football since Shankly.

What do all these rise and falls of teams tell us? At some point since the 70’s there has been a dominant force in English Football. For the individual fans this is ecstasy, for the neutrals is could be argued as boring (could be).

At the time of writing, Manchester City are slim favourites for the league after a few howlers away from home early season. Chelsea are getting out of fourth gear since letting a few draws get the better of them, Arsenal are showing a classic beauty and the beast form which never wins the league. Meanwhile in the North West, Liverpool are in the best form of the decade and Juan Mata has rejuvenated a sorry Manchester United side still licking their domestic cup exit wounds.

My point is this; tell me that the team you predicted to win the league in August are still definitely going to win the league. Who could pip them to the post? Mathematically; anyone. Theoretically; anyone. I can’t remember the last time there were more than two genuine title contenders. As a bias Man U fan, there are five teams with the maturity, mentality and depth to win the league (and I’m not counting the possibility of Tottenham or Everton clinching fourth spot). I for one am proud to say that the English Premier League has never been so competitive. I do believe that we’ve got a couple of seasons to go before we’ve got 4 teams in the Champions League Semi-Finals, or pinning Barcelona to their 18 yard box, but surely if each of these teams play toe to toe against each other over the course of a season it’s pretty good practise for Europe’s greats.

So could it be better? Of course. There could be more English players in these teams, learning how to handle these tough games in preparation for World Cup Glory. If I could look forward a couple of years I’d probably predict all the managers of these teams would still be in their respective dug outs, so after an initial settling in period, surely the quality could be better.

But for now, instead of predicting the future let’s celebrate that there is such competition this season, and let’s be proud that our turf is the home of the most brutal suffer-fest that is 38 matches over 10 months of blood, sweat and tears. At this point, I’d take my hat off to the winner and say “well deserved”. Am I honestly bored of winning the league by 11 points because Manchester City bottled it? Possibly not. But if football is not life and death, it’s got to be entertaining.

© e-Football 2013 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of e-Football