That ITV trailer in 1999 advertising their live coverage of the final was cringe.... "we are United at ITV"..... Then the ITV Sport intro bit before the Champions League theme tune played with it's opening titles before every one of those games.......
That was a scar on my mind for many years until now.
Sod em, they are just another football team now, while we are now an institution.
11th August 2007..... a friend of mine died in the early hours, I was in a hotel with a bunch of friends for a gig and City won 2-0 against the hammers in Sven's first game in charge..
Was exciting stuff at the time and a day of sobering thoughts, but not long after that we later had quite a damper of a season with the fate summed up with an 8-1 hammering by Middlesbrough on the final day. Back then beating the rags felt so amazing, but not so today because that match isn't our cup final anymore. It just goes to show how far we have gone and they have fallen behind with a collapse along the way.
Despite the derby defeat they suffered, I bet the Rags were loving this while their banner ticked away another year and it was to quote ITV "Another vintage year" for them...... but look at us now..... They are hating it, it's hurting them more than they hurt me in 1999 (and 2008 but not as much) and last laugh laughs the longest.
That's what my friend said to me shortly after that 1999 final, and he was right.