Stockton Heath Blue
Well-Known Member
OK, the article starts like this:
"It was one of those wonderful pieces of theatre which will be so missed when Sir Alex Ferguson has packed up his tracksuit and gone.
Someone had asked him whether Manchester United will ever go into a derby match as underdogs and for 15 seconds or more he eyed his inquisitor, the hint of a glint in those narrow eyes, and you wondered whether that individual or Manchester City would be on the receiving end of the full force of his opinion. "What time is it?" he said, at last. "I think it is time for me to leave." And as he clambered from his seat, an answer to that question... 'Not in my lifetime.'"
It was all so comedic then, wasn't it? High theater, that. It was all so funny to kick City in the bollocks. Fergie did it and the notebook scratchers ate it up.
Those of us who were around before the events of the takeover and the movement toward success (FA Cup in '11 and League in '12) can I'm sure recall the feeling we always got when this kind of shite got slung. We stood there, we gritted our teeth and we took it. There was nothing else to do. United were the media darlings and Fergie was the Kingpin.
Then we actually started winning and taking on the shape of a quality side in the English game.
On April 30, 2012 the old Scottish pisscan finally started to show signs of the (GASP!) rivalry getting to him when he had a go at Bobby Manc during our 1-0 derby victory - a victory that brought us level with his United team on points and into first place on goal difference. As Sir Alex tore into the Italian, Mancini calmly glared back at him, gesturing with his hand and never giving an inch to the old man. Not an inch. I always look back on that day - complete with Vinnie's iconic header - as the day that things really started to tip in our favor with strong momentum. Beating them 6-1 in the first fixture was sweet enough, but then clawing back from being (if I remember correctly) 7 or 8 points behind, beating them a second time in the same season and finally pipping them for the title really opened the floodgates.
We've been, more or less, over the moon since then. They have become, more or less, a mess. A dumpster fire, at least by their own standards. A side that enters EVERY match against us as the underdog. And you can't tell me that you see this changing anytime in the next couple years, can you? Because if you can't, they will have then endured close to a decade of playing second fiddle to us.
Drink it in.
CTID
The match ball from that 1-0 Derby sits proudly on my bookshelves - complete with Vinny's forehead print! My most treasured piece of memorabilia.