Apparently we as City fans were bitter, bitter for the following reasons.
When any rational football fan pointed out the Ferguson manipulated officials. His conduct, normally live on Sky would marginalise any official that he did not believe he was getting the best out of. He would highlight and isolate individual officials. Any official he didn't feel he could lean on, or wouldn't be as eager to please Ferguson was normally insulted and had his integrity questioned.
Rightly or wrongly, Ferguson knew United would always be the biggest game, he knew that officials would want the biggest games. He used this to his advantage.
In my opinion fairly so.
His official manipulation was fairly obvious, yet if you dared point it out, you were an ABU, delusional or biter.
Ferguson would also control the media, they would dance to his tune, could you imagine the shit storm they had last season even getting off the ground under Ferguson? He'd have quashed it, he'd have been banning journalists left right & centre.
Again if you highlighted this, you were an ABU, delusional or bitter,
Replacing Ferguson is more than replacing a manager, it's replacing a legend. Every fan of every club could see that Ferguson was worth 15 points a season.
That has now gone, the media are rounding on them, well more than ever before. The officials aren't scared. Mainly the fear of playing United has vanished. Teams simply see them as they are, a piss poor outfit with big average players with the odd talent scattered here and there.
Ferguson was an old man, almost single handily responsible for maintaining United's success. Kenyon followed by a Gill helped, his sway with the FA, the media the officials also helped.
I personally feel thing started to unravel when Rafa's had his facts rant. He correctly highlighted Ferguson's conduct.
Sure things were great for a while, but Ferguson in my opinion took his eye off the ball, or simply started getting old.
The squad he left is laughable, his sway in the media had the World believing that Smalling, Jones, Carrick, Evans were top draw. Young, Valencia, Cleverley, Rafael all very good players. And we've seen, take their confidence away, take away the oare of invincibility and you're left with what your average football fan knew, average footballers.
Former players, Fergie bum boys rarely and never in some cases got so much as a point from him, the moment he's gone, teams who never got a bean from United were winning and winning comfortably.
As I see it, United as I've known them will be the same again. They may rise beyond 7th, they may even make the CL every now and then. Perhaps if they spend big, the odd title, but I doubt they'll ever dominate again.
Their fall, just like their rise is linked to others. They rose as Liverpool declined, they could expand like no other team. They could grow, they had the luxury of a stadium they could expand with demand, Arsenal, Liverpool, Leeds even Everton and Spurs were all stuck in stadiums 1/2 the size of United. Their growth was aided by the fact others were struggling.
In contrast their fall is at a time when their rivals can create a gap. Look at the gap between ourselves and the,pm. Chelsea and them. Even Arsenal are far superior.
As Gary Neville said, they've spent nearly £100 million net more than us since winning the league, yet are perhaps as many as 25/30 points behind us on the field.
They are likely to have to spend another £100 million net to just close the gap, that's if us and Chelsea stand still. Ourselves and Chelsea are now the ones selling our cast offs for £10,£15 million. They can't give the likes of Young, Nani & Anderson away.
Their squad is piss poor, in my opinion only De Gea, Shaw(solely based on nationality), Rooney and Mata are worth £10 million or more.
They really are in decline, and the best thing, their fans. They hate it.
Manchester City are now everything they want to be. That's why it hurts them so much.