Manchester United : A Nonlinear Narrative

Chapter 1: The Promised Land

“Beckham… into Sheringham… And Solskjaer has won it!!”cried an excited Clive Tyldesley at the top of his voiceonly for it to be soon lost amidst the deafening cheers that had begun to fill up the Camp Nou on that epic Wednesday of May 1999. The match referee, Pierluigi Collina later described it as one of the most memorable days of his refereeing career and likened the noise of the crowd to a “lion’s roar”. For the less fortunate souls like myself, who couldn’t watch the game live, watching the YouTube footage of the match itself gives enough Goosebumps to last for a couple of hours.It is beyond my powers of imagination to comprehend what must have been going through the minds of the fans who were watching that game live. I remember myself screaming and running like a maniac around my house (waking up my parents and a few neighbours in the process) after United won against Chelsea in the 2008 Champions League Final. But the 99 victory would have mattered much much more I presume. Manchester United had beaten the mighty Bayern Munich in the most dramatic fashion by scoring 2 late goals after trailing for most of the game. And not just that;The victory also gave United the unique distinction of being the first (and till date, the only) English club to win the coveted continental treble consisting of the domestic league, the FA cup and the European cup. It was heartbreak for the Germans and pure ecstasy for the red devils!! First the kings of England and now the Kings of Europe!! Yes!! Manchester United had reached the Promised Land!!

Chapter 2: The Bo(o)gie men

The year was 1878. Almost 100 years had passed since the AmericanRevolution and 20 years since India’s first war of independence. The whole world was witnessing several revolutionary changes in the fields of Science, literature & art. The 19^th century also saw the birth of some of the first professional football clubs in world. The popularity of the beautiful game was on the rise. When several workers from the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Company’s Carriage and Wagon works joined together to form Newton Heath LYR FC, little did they know that they were laying the foundation for a club that would go on to become one of the biggest names in sports in the future. In its earlier years, the club mainly contested against teams from other departments. The club joined the Football alliance in 1889 before it merged with the football League. Newton Heath played first division football in the league for 2 seasons starting with 1892-93 before being relegated to the second division. The club was ordered to wind up in 1902 with accumulated losses of 2670 pounds. But the club’s captain Harry Stafford found a local businessman Mr.John Henry Davies who along with his friends invested 2000 pounds in the club andwas in returnmade its president. In the same year Newton Heath changed its name to Manchester United FC. J Ernest Mangnall, a charismatic publicist who knew how to work the media was appointed as United’s manager in 1903. United under Mangnall signed quite a lot of players including the legendary winger, Billy Meredith. After being promoted to the 1^st division in 1906, Mangnall led United to its first league title in 1908. They moved to their present home ground, Old Trafford in 1909 where they won the FA Cup and finished as league winners for a second time in 1911. The following season saw Mangnall depart to join local rivals Manchester City. The period between the first and second World Wars saw a series of relegations and promotions and United eventually attained the status of a yo-yo club. However United picked themselves up and fought their way back to the first division in 1938 and there they stayed for the next 36 years. Manchester United had won just 2 league titles and a single FA cup title by then. But that was only the beginning of a club that would go on to achieve much much more!!

Chapter 3: A perch high above the rest

The referee blew his whistle and PENALTY!! A penalty has been awarded to Manchester United after Blackburn Rovers keeper Paul Robinson came out and brought down Javier Hernandez. Sir Alex Ferguson looked at the time displayed at Ewood Park. 72 minutes. He knew that the 12 yards from the Penalty spot to the goal line was not just a measure of distance. To cover that distance successfully would mean fulfilment of a certain promise that he made to the fans, the board and himself when he took over as the manager of this esteemed club. He sat and waited; chewing on that piece of gum like he alwaysdid as Wayne Rooney braced himself to take the spot kick. The refereesignalled and Rooney kept his nerve to fire a shot that went past Robinson to bring the devils onlevel with Blackburn. The score line remained the same for the rest of the match and when the final whistle was blown, the 2010-11 Premier League title was United’s. Their record breaking 19^th league title!! SAF had completed his biggest challenge ever- Knocking Liverpool off their fucking perch!! Ever since he took over as manager, he had strived towards that objective-To surpass Liverpool’s tally of 18 league titles and make Manchester United the most successful club in England. He built champion teams, turned his players into legends and led Manchester United to glory. After the 19^th league title, he went a step further and took United to their 20^th league title in 2012-13 before announcing his retirement. His retirement came as a shock to the fans and the football world in general. Everyone knew that the void left by the Scot could not be filled that easily. In his 26 years as manager of Manchester United, Sir Alex had built a name for himself as the most successful manager in the premier league and one of the most successful managers ever in the world. His retirement speech was watched by millions and to this date it remains THE ONLY retirement speech that has ever made me cry (No. Not even Sachin’s). But he stepped down in style, having achieved many milestones that others could only dream of. And I’m pretty sure if some United fan with dry eyes had looked up at the skies on the day SAF stepped down, he/she would have seen a proud Sir Matt Busby up there in the heavens beaming at SAF for the way he took his beloved United to the top of World Football.

Chapter 4: The Phoenix

The post world war era saw the appointment of an ex-Manchester City Player, Matt Busby as United’s new manager. He was clearly ahead of his time and is believed to be

the first manager who used to go out on the field with his players during training. He made quite a few astute signings adding to the nucleus of the squad and laid the foundation for the new youth system that would pay big-time dividends later. League football resumed in 1946-47 and United finished second. They won the FA cup in 1947 and demolished Arsenal 6-1 to finish as league champions in 1952. The next season saw the introduction of the Busby babes including David Pegg, Bill Foulkes, Dennis Violet and Duncan Edwards. The team’s average age was just 22 years and quite astonishingly they won the league by a 11 point margin in 1955-56. Duncan Edwards was one of the stars of the team by then having been called to represent England at a young age of 17 years and 8 months, the youngest for an Englishman at that time. This record stood for almost 50 years until it was broken by a certain Michael Owen in 1999. In 1956, United became England’s first representatives in the European Championship and put up quite a show in Europe as well demolishing Anderlecht 10-0 and posting victories against Borussia Dortmund and Athletic Bilbao before eventually bowing out to the mighty Real Madrid in the semi-finals. With the kind of performances the team was put

ting up, talks of United winning the treble were also on the rise. But the dream didn’t last much longer. On Feb 6^th, 1958, a plane carrying the players and staff crashed on take-off at Munich thus shattering the dream. Players like David Pegg, Roger Byrne and Duncan Edwards were killed and Matt Busby was critically injured. It was one of the most tragic incidents English football had ever witnessed. A clock at Old Trafford still displays the date and time of the crash, a tragic moment etched so deep into the hearts of the fans.
Matt Busby recovered after hovering near death and the Herculean task of rebuilding the team began. United struggled in the league after Munich finishing 9^th. However in the next season with players like Dennis Violet returning from injury and survivors like Bobby Charlton stepping up, United managed to finish 2^nd in the league without needing to dip into the transfer market. A period of rebuilding followed the next year with several marque signings the most notable of which was the signing of Denis Law. 1963 saw the signing of George Best completing the holy trinity of Best,Law and Charlton who would propel United into greater heights in the 1960s. United finished 2^nd that season and won the league in the 1964-65 season. The rebuilding was complete. However a certain dream remained. One which the Busby babes would have achieved earlier had it not been for the Munich disaster - European glory!! The 1968 European Competition began with United easily cruising past their opponents before facing giants Real Madrid in the semi-finals in what looked like a repeat of the 1956 semis. The second leg of the semi-final saw United going to the Bernabeu with just a 1 goal advantage from Home. But a goal from veteran defender Bill Foulkes, his only goal in a European competition, meant that United won the semi-final 4-3 on aggregate. The final test lay in the form of Benefica at Wembley, a team that could boast off the likes of players like Eusebio. It was an emotional day for the players and fans and also a testament to Busby's skill in judging talent, as only two of the 12 players in the line-up that day had cost transfer fees to acquire. Bobby Charlton scored and Jaime Graca equalised. Benefica pressured United till the end with the black panther Eusebio causing troubles for the United defence. The match went into extra time and George Best scored. Brian Kidd added another and Bobby Charlton found the net for a second time making the score 4-1. United were living the dream. The first English team to win the European Championship. A team that lost almost its entire squad to an air crash had risen from the ashes like a beautiful phoenix and to be crowned the champions of Europe. What a display of character!! And it was that man who led them to glory – Matt Busby who was eventually knighted for his services. His vision, the dream was complete!!

Chapter 5 : Believe

Change as they say is inevitable. It is not an easy job to manage a team for 26 long years, achieve success and not grow old at the same time. Sir Alex is no exception to this. For many years the pink faced, gum chewing scot towered over his counterparts like a titan achieving milestone after milestone. But sadly, all good times have to end. The day he announced his retirement, the question was not “Who next?”. The real question was, “Will United be the same again?” And I guess the entire football fraternity knew the answer to that question. No United will not be the same again!! But that doesn’t mean we, the fans will love United any less. The history of this club has always been that of someone who would never back down and someone who would never give up without a fight. How United fought its way up to the top and how it has become a force to be reckoned continue to inspirethe fans and players generation after generation. It is exactly that attitude that made me fall in love with the club. What if we have a bad season? As long we have the will and skill, we always find a way to face all odds get right back up on our feet.The belief is still there because no matter who the manager is and whoever the players are, we shall remain one, we shall remain United!!

Tail piece

“Hope is a good thing. Maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies” (The Shawshank Redemption)

About the author

Govind Menon hailing from Kozhikode is an associate member of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and works as a financial consultant at the commercial capital of Kerala-Cochin.  This young Chartered Accountant loves football as a religion like all other Manchester United fans.