We get knocked down, but we get up again

Back in August 2006, I made an audacious retort to a Liverpool fan friend of mine who kept mocking me with the 18-5 to 15-2 argument. As much as I didn’t believe in it myself, I dared to counter him by claiming that it would be 18-5 a piece in 3 years time. Guess what? What might have then seemed like a fool-hardy jibe from an over-zealous, arrogant United fan was a draw and 2 wins away from becoming a reality by May 2009.

The summer that followed was anything but depressing. We lost our best player to the sunshine of the Iberian Peninsula and were left licking our wounds in the bitter battle for an Argentinean with our formerly poor, recently turned wealthy, neighbours. The signings of a 24 year old Ecuadorian and a crocked Scouser did little to restore the damaged confidence and more importantly pride. However, no matter what happens over the next two months, the season has transpired into a truly memorable one already, for more reasons than one.

After losing players who combined to score almost a century of goals over the last 2 seasons, United as a team have still managed to hit the back of the net more number of times than at the same stages in each of those seasons. In a year, in which any hope of winning silverware rested on our hallowed defence, we have had to play large portions of it without the 3 sturdy pillars of that back five. Yet as we enter April, United are very much in the hunt for the two biggest prizes in English football. In spite of these remarkable achievements, what has been most heartening is the unprecedented support received by the campaign to win back the club from the American owners and free it from the gigantic debt thrust upon it by them.

Well, rising from the ashes of the Phoenix has always been the ethos of the club. It’s hardly ever been personified as much, as by our reactions to two of the most humbling defeats of this past decade – both 3-0 reverses away from home; against Chelsea in April 2006 and against Milan in April 2007. Sir Alex has always emphasized on bouncing back from losses rather than trying hard to avoid each one of them. I mean no offence to the 2004 Arsenal invincibles, but I am sure any football fan would prefer winning a hat-trick of league titles to going a season with a big nought in the losses column followed by 5 with bigger noughts in the trophies column. Rooney, Ronaldo and co were taught a harsh lesson by the ruthlessly efficient Chelsea juggernaut heading towards its 2nd title on that spring evening in London. I grudgingly accept that it was like watching boys against men. But the kids did grow up very fast to win the next three on the bounce. Same was the case in Milan on the most painful of the rainy European nights. The team responded by going 25 games unbeaten in continental competition, adding one more giant trophy and reaching another final. And as much as the defeat in Rome still hurts, there is one thing that following United over the past decade has taught me, that is “To B.E.L.I.E.V.E”

Manchester United never make it easy to support them. I am sure there are more cases of hyper-tension and chewed off nails in the borough of Trafford than anywhere in England. We don’t end seasons unbeaten nor do we win titles by garnering 95 points and conceding just 15 goals. Supporting United has always been a roller-coaster ride, full of brave, miraculous comebacks interspersed with heart-wrenching defeats but that adds to the fun of it all. And luckily for me and other fellow Mancs, unlike the ones in amusement parks, this roller-coaster more often than not finishes at the very top!