In a season of turmoil there is finally light at the end of a very dark tunnel, as the great city of Manchester sits on the cusp of collecting another English Premier League title. Arise champions of England-elect.
That the colour of the recipient’s shirts will be sky blue rather than devil red is a mere trifle. Better sky blue than Scouse red.
Across many oceans and vast plains of land I can hear my brethren in the Stretford End reluctantly agree. Despite the difficulty, the distress, and the sheer idiocy of basking in the success of our noisy neighbours, it is the tragic demise of Liverpool FC that we really celebrate.
Call me a little man if you will, but it is often the little man who rises against the odds to strike down his larger foe. Was it not David who defeated the Philistine Goliath?
It has been a cathartic season for United fans. For the first time in over two decades, wins were not guaranteed, dynamic performances few and far between, and highlights a rarity. Records at Old Trafford were smashed like cheap dinnerware at a Greek wedding. Unfortunately it was the West Broms, Newcastles and Evertons of the world that were doing the dancing.
For the first time in this mobile digital age, I was reluctant to check the overnight scores on a Monday morn. As rays of sunlight streamed into my bedroom, I could only anticipate bad news would greet my eyes. Like a drunkard struggling with irritable bowel syndrome, it was better not to turn around for a glimpse at the damage left in the toilet bowl.
Yet every cloud has a silver lining. And for long-suffering fans of MUFC, the lining shines brighter and brighter each day.
Firstly, David Moyes was correctly advised to change his Facebook status from ‘Chosen One’ to ‘Demoted One’. The Moyes reign was like the vomit that swells up in the pit of your abdomen and flies uncontrollably out of your mouth following a heroin high – euphoria promptly replaced by partially-digested kebab, stomach lining and bile all over your overpriced denims.
Moyes was that bile – a nasty, stench that only serves to cleanse the system before moving onto the next high. And move on we shall.
The news that Louis Van Gaal is positioned as Sir Alex’s real replacement can only be greeted with cheers. A proven leader of big clubs, a proven manager of big players, and a proven winner.
It was not long after the Sporting Gods adopted an 11th Commandment ‘Thou Shalt Banish David Moyes’ that the shadow of darkness enveloping Old Trafford began to dissipate, travelling across the north of England to settle on Merseyside.
For many a month the Kop had been holding its collective breath, unable to fully embrace a series of unfolding events that would potentially crown Liverpool FC as the new champions of England. The demise of Sir Alex, inevitable decline of Arsenal, turmoil in Tottenham, and uncharacteristic stumbles of City and Chelsea left a vacuum at the top of the table.
Brendan Rodgers, Steven Gerrard and Co were more than happy to waltz through, playing a cavalier brand of football that can only be described as breathtaking.
For a United fan it was the direst of situations. Not only was David Moyes successfully tearing down 25 years of domination in a heartbeat, but our most feared and despised rivals were on the cusp of returning to the very perch Sir Alex had knocked them off so devastatingly. The Gods certainly have a twisted sense of humour.
Meanwhile, Liverpool fans were caught in a storm of conflicting emotions. Years of disappointment had hardened them against premature celebration. But as win after magnificent win piled up, and with the finishing line in touching distance, they began to believe. Scousers the world over played a delicate game of edging, the glorious art of maintaining high level of sexual arousal for an extended period of time without reaching orgasm.
Unfortunately, when you’re out of practise it can be extremely difficult to sustain the required levels of self control. And so it came (pardon the pun) to pass that on the 13th day of April in the year of our Lord 2014, Liverpool defeated Manchester City 3-2, opened up a seven point lead at the top of the table, and all Liverpool fans felt the slightest bit of sticky leakage.
And from that moment it was all over.
Inspiring visions of Steven Gerrard marshalling his troops in the middle of Anfield were quickly replaced a fortnight later by Stevie G slipping over to gift Chelsea a goal. Then followed the tragedy at Crystal Palace.
For Scousers, there will only be memories of a wonderful 2013/24 season, where they threatened to overcome all odds, but fell at the final hurdle. And with Chelsea, Manchester’s City and United and Arsenal all promising to be stronger next year, the stinging reality that this lost opportunity may never be recovered.
For United fans there is joy in celebrating the bitter, salty tears of Luis Suarez, and the promise of another dynasty on the horizon.
Come on you Reds!
Swampy
Guest
I take umbrage to the notion that City have no merit as a champion because it is on the back of Arab money. Sure we have well and truly outspent everyone bar Real Madrid and PSG but who cares - good luck to us! In a game where there has never been a salary cap, United bought players expensively for years during Fergie's reign. No one could compete against United in England if they wanted someone. Calling yourself long suffering is a fire I'd like to see stoked for many more years. Try being a city fan. I've been a fan since 1981 and learnt to deal with disappointment from the very beginning. Missed the decade of greatness and seen them drop to 3rd division. Supported class strike force duo's like Shaun Goater and Paul Dickov. How city winning titles over arrogant clubs like Liverpool and United is not a better story is beyond me. The bandwagon on Liverpool made me sick. As a city fan however I truly know it's not decided until the ref blows the whistle on the last seconds of the season. So while I would like to celebrate, brag and boast like United fans about Liverpool's apparent choke or crow on about how my team has the best manager in the world and play football the way it's meant to be played like Reds fans I'll just wait and hold my breath until the title is decided. Best of all, no mata what happens, I can always go rooview the last 5 minutes of the 2012 season. Us city fans will have that moment forever. It doesn't matter that money created the moment. It was still the greatest moment of my life as a lifelong city fan. So enjoy the last round and may United fans be truly long suffering and Reds fans join them.
Worlds Biggest
Guest
Well said Paul, another bitter United fan revelling. Any Liverpool fan would have taken second position at the start of the year. Sure the last two weeks have been painful to watch but it was coming. Our defence has been suspect all year. Also Rodgers tactics against Chelsea were all wrong. Why he had his defenders pushing forward leaving Stevie isolated ( Ba goal ) is bewildering and frankly ridiculous. City were always looming with the game in hand so the deficit was really only 2 points. That's by no means decisive when there was 3 games still to play. No doubt they let the opportunity slip however it's a reasonably young squad and with more finances now they should be in tge mix for a while. Let's finish strongly against Newcastle.
Steven McBain
Roar Guru
Cheers Aleks, much appreciated!
tony stenson
Guest
i am a 50 yr old man who has seen it all with reds and all this self pity is annoying - We threw it away through gross naivety/stupidity against chelsea where 1 point would have done but what we got was a cavalry charge that led to mistakes being made - then we had a goal hunt at palace in front of a defence that we have known all season is not fit for purpose [ how many times have we scored 4 or more and still been biting our nails ? - that is just ridiculous ! ] so a tactictly naive manager and the poorest defence i have seen in a red shirt cost us the league [ 49 goals dont lie ] wanting efc to beat city when efc fans wanted to lose was just embarasing - and now we clutch at straws with villa - face it ! it,s over and we haven,t got the squad to do it again - and the pain just wont go away !
Aleks Duric
Roar Guru
Great article Steven. You hit the nail on the head. What bothered me most about the hire of Moyes was the easy comparison people made to Alex's first years at United i.e. rugged Scotsman coming from a smaller club that punched above it's weight. IMO this was rubbish as the context was completely different. Discounting the fact that Fergie significantly overachieved at Aberdeen, the United of the mid-80's was completely different to United in 2013. One was a serial underachiever with a drinking problem, the other a over a perennial champion with a huge mortgage. Apples and oranges.
fadida
Guest
Agree 100% Brian. The consolation is most definitely that City were financially doped, coming from absolutely nowhere on the back of a sheik's money. A Liverpool win would be much more meritorious. However, as someone who grew up in a Liverpool dominated world (arrogance and homer refs easily rivalling United's dominance) I'd rather a hollowish City victory than the Reds returning to the summit. Liverpool are THE rival. Watching Stevie G cry if they fail will make up for the lack of success this season :)
Steven McBain
Roar Guru
Blread you not wrong. They whipped straight over to Mourinho (I'm a Chelsea fan), best coach in the world, taught Rodgers a lesson blah blah, then they lose to Atletico and they're slaughtering Mourinho for being unduly negative and how he'd got his comueppance, they literally don't blink when changing sides.
blread
Guest
I am a Liverpool supporter but I am sickened how even the commentators were fawning over us when we were playing well. This is after years of frustration over obvious bias towards United, this is the commentators mind you, who are supposed to call the game not wax lyrically about one of the teams for 90% of the game. You could almost pin point when they moved from Liverpool cheerleaders to Mourinho cheerleaders during that game.
Steven McBain
Roar Guru
Also, not sure if you read my own take on the United situation, interested to see what you thought...... http://www.theroar.com.au/2014/04/25/moyes-debacle-end-product-far-wider-united-story/
Steven McBain
Roar Guru
As I say though Aleks, my real beef in all of this is with the English press. They are so fickle it's just ridiculous the way they just sidle upto the next good thing. All we heard about was how Rodgers was the best manager ever. Once they lost to Chelsea then all of a sudden all we read about was how Tony Pulis should be manager of the season. Now that City are on top, there was even a big piece in one of the broadsheets about how the FFP sanctions on City were draconian and unfair. The fact that they've spent a billion pounds or there abouts deemed moot. Next will be a month of pieces about how England CAN win the World Cup. At the same times they'll have their columns ready to destroy Hodgson the minute they go out on penalties. It's never ending.
Aleks Duric
Roar Guru
Great wrap up of the situation without any of my in-built bitterness or bias as a Man U fan. Well played Sir...and completely agree...from a neutrals perspective the demise of ManU has to be funnier.
Steven McBain
Roar Guru
Come on Brian, that's stretching it!!! I just wiki'd Blackburn and it's '9 miles North of the Greater Manchester border'!!! Although, there were huge celebrations in and around the Maine Road area of Manchester when they won granted...........
Steven McBain
Roar Guru
Watch this space Paul. I'm actually trying to put a piece together on that very subject. Reading the woes in particular of Newcastle and Villa fans is soul destroying. Those two in particular seem to have been transformed into teams who's sole objective is mid table mediocrity with the most exciting prospect being a brief flirt with relegation. It sounds woefully boring (and is) but it's a very interesting sub plot in terms of how the money in the Premiership is changing the outlook of the teams. Now merely taking part and continuing to do so is the requisite.
Steven McBain
Roar Guru
As a fan of neither ManYoo nor Liverpool, a slightly different perspective. I don't think anyone who doesn't support United hasn't enjoyed their experience this season. However, as the season has worn on I've found their story less and less relevant and not really 'news' anymore. I'm sure they'll improve next season but hopefully that awful sense of entitlement has disappeared. However and without blinking...... And I blame mainly the English press for this. Liverpool were quickly installed as the new cause celebre for the media. The United bandwagon was entirely abandoned and the Anfield one fully harnassed as the press shamelessly played up to the next big fan base. For a while, Liverpool was a great story and their run starting with the win at Fulham was exceptional. Unfortunately, such was the fawning by the press, the likes of ESPN here in Singapore dropping their commentary for a few mins so we could all listen to 'You'll Never Walk Alone' in all its' glory EVERY WEEK,. We listened to weeks of Hillsborough being poured over and how this gave Liverpool some entitlement to the title. Yes it was a dreadful event but to the vast majority of us a distant memory in the same way that anyone who doesn't support Glasgow Rangers isn't even possibly aware of the Ibrox disaster. Nor is Heysel marked in any meaningful way, that one is simply brushed under the carpet. The media decided unilateraly that all neutrals wanted Liverpool to win and in doing so actually turned many against them so that when Gerrard slipped against Chelsea after his proclamation 'this doesn't slip' there were a few smirks starting to appear which turned into guffawes after Palace. I've thought about this long and hard and realised that I have nothing whatsoever against Liverpool or their fans but the shameless nailing of colours to the next fashionable mast by the press is just sickening. For that reason I hope City finish the job off on Sunday or we'll be reading about this for years and the articles next week will be about Raheem Sterling winning the World Cup single handed. Having said that, the situation at United is probably funnier...........
Paul D
Roar Guru
Maybe that could be the next article - surviving as a fan of a mid-table club. There are plenty of them - safe from relegation every year, but not quite good enough to crack it for the Champions or Europa League. I'm sure fans of Villa, West Ham, Newcastle, Swansea could all use the advice.
bill boomer
Guest
Manure fans should strap themselves in, it's going to be a bumpy ride. Van Gaal is not the saviour though how he deals with the blowhard over the shoulder will be interesting. Shameful joy is a wonderous thing.
Aleks Duric
Roar Guru
Completely agree Paul...very bitter and tawdry. In my defense it's been a long while since we've had to deal with mid-table mediocrity. The transition is quite confronting.
Paul D
Roar Guru
What a bitter, tawdry piece of shlock. I''ll take the disappointment of a second place finish over the disappointment of mid-table mediocrity any year, thanks. Would you rather Suarez had laughed it off rather than cried? I'm glad a player in such a cash-for-hire industry shows such passion for his team. Cancel the passports lads, you won't be going to Europe anytime soon.
Brian
Guest
As a Man U fan I've also found myself prefering Man C over Liverpool. Its because we know we've beaten Man C for years, we can attribute their success to money rather then good management, we get to keep being the club with most titles and we get to see all the disappointed Liverpool fans. Its a good trivia question, the last club not from greater Manchester or greeater London to win the title? Leeds 1992
Aleks Duric
Roar Guru
My therapist advised it's best, for my own sanity, to bury the Moyes piece...like a dark part of history that didn't really happen. Kind of like the Ricky Stuart years at Parra and Star Wars Episodes I, II and III