Blue2112 said:
There really is a difference between the two sets of clubs, management, players and ex-players. And there really is a difference in the characteristics of what makes them them and us us.
From what I can see our club has always acted professionally and with the utmost respect towards them both on and off the pitch. I've never seen any crass remarks on twitter (I still find it incredible the remarks towards the Toure's was swept under the carpet). I've never seen any City players run towards Uniteds end and stand there barrel chested huffed out beating it and giving it the hand gesture to come on and have a go, yes you Wayne Rooney and yes you Ashley Young walking back to the half way line goading the East stand along the way. It's been the same for years, Rooney always does that run towards the City fans when they come on the pitch glaring and being provacative and he did it today. His first goal today he just couldn't stop himself sliding on his knees to the City fans. Ferdinand is just a typical big mouthed gobshite and as captain sums them up perfectly. Phil Neville still likes to have a go at us in all the years he's been with Everton. Gary Neville when he was on the tochline a few years ago at O/T. I could go on...
I see it in their fans when I talk to them, they've called us bitter for years but I think they say that because it's a trait they're all too familiar with. They've hated and sung about every club that has ever challenged them as if 'how dare they' and now they can't stop singing about us and by the number of ex-players lining up for interviews it seems they can't stop talking about us.
Fergurson has without doubt created a backs to the wall attitude and it's always them against the world at every opportunity but for all the success it's brought them I really wouldn't want it to happen here. I despise everything about their make-up, about their DNA and what makes them Manchester 'Global Brand, Worlds Biggest Club, Win At All Costs' United Football Club.
I'm all for the banter both ways, but I really think they regularly step too far over the line. Great win for them today but FFS the reactions were way over the top once again.
For all our unsuccessful years if I never saw City lift another trophy they could never take away last season and I really don't think they get that sense of feeling and understand it.
I can assure you, I did have that sense of feeling, and I understand it fully. If you check my post history, you'll find I actually said last season you deserved the title, and I stand by that. You were the better side over the course of the season, and much as how I wanted us to win the league, it would have been a travesty if you hadn't won it. OK, the manner in which it was won wasn't really how I would have liked it. You should have had it sewn up weeks previously, and in all honesty, I cannot understand how we ran you so close.
But going back to your point about not understanding how you felt last season, I am afraid you do SOME United fans an injustice. Back in 1993 I sensed everything you felt last season. I'd been going to United games since 1974 and the best I could hope for was a decent cup run, maybe an odd European away game, and that was about it. Watching Liverpool win the title, season after season, resigned me to the fact that I'd never see a time where we could do what Liverpool were doing.
We came so close in 1992, and in fact, it was Liverpool themselves that scuppered our hopes, beating us 2-0 at Anfield, and blowing our first serious challenge for a league title in a long time.
When we won in 1993 I too felt that nothing could surpass that moment. I didn't care about future success. As far as I was concerned, seeing that trophy being lifted exorcised all the bad times, of which there were many. If I never saw another trophy then I would be happy enough just seeing that moment.
As things transpired, I've seen some great moments, some you could argue are more satisfying than that day in 1993. 1999 being the prime example. However, that day was the one day in my life when I truly understood what it felt like to be a supporter of the best team in the country. Very much akin to what you felt last season. OK, I appreciate that beating your local rivals in the manner that it happened does add a greater sense of achievement, and I for one do not decry you that. You have every right to feel that your demons have been exorcised. You achieved something that most probably you never expcected to witness. Beating United to become champions. Not only that, you did it in such a way that even in your wildest dreams, you could never expect that outcome.
The one thing I will say is this. You will encounter great moments in the future. You will win more trophies, just as Chelsea have done. There is every chance you will win the Champions League in the near future ( OK, not as near as you'd like it but hey.. you can't have everything :-) ) Nothing but nothing, will ever take away that moment in May, and I, as a football fan, first and foremost, appreciate just how that moment felt. Enjoy it for the rest of your lives, because no matter what happens in the future, whether we dominate, or you dominate, we can never take that moment from you, and personally I wouldn't want to. Its yours to enjoy, and enjoy it you will.
But please don't think that all United fans do not appreciate how you felt in May. I do, and for that reason, I am able to look any City fan in the eyes, shake his hand and say "fair play.. you deserved it" Whether they would be magnanimous enough to take my hand is another matter..
As for the rest of the post, again you tar us all with the same brush. As that great song suggests "if I hadn't seen such riches I could live with being poor" and for 26 years I had to live with being poor. I loved it as much then, as I have at any point in the last 20 years. In fact in many cases i preferred it when we were shit. Football has lost its way, and if last season and the game yesterday achieved one thing, its put some interest back in the Derby. Its added some spice that for a few seasons wasn't there. In many ways I prefer it now that you are the rivals. It makes it more interesting.
In May 2012 the best team win the league. IF we win it this season, I'd like to think that anyone reading this post would have the courage to return the sentiment.
-- Mon Dec 10, 2012 11:16 pm --
Stretford Born Blue said:
They simply cannot face the enormity of being second fiddle to City..
Oh I can. I would take you being Champions anyday, over having to play second fiddle to Liverpool again.. If its a choice between City, Chelsea or Liverpool winning the league, I'll take City everytime..