As the final whistle blew at Old Trafford on 23th April, a massive cheer went up in the heart of every Red Devil across the globe. Manchester United defeated Aston Villa 3-0 to move 16 points clear at the top of the Premier League, thereby claiming the title for a record 20th time.
“We played Liverpool a couple of seasons ago when they were fighting for the title, we beat them and got to the league before them and they’ve not been seen since. That shows the mentality and character that this club has.”
– Rio Ferdinand (after the 3-0 win against Aston Villa)
What makes this title victory all the more spectacular is the fact that we took the trophy back from Manchester City, our once-upon-a-time noisy neighbours. We took back the trophy to its rightful home. United were smarting over losing the title last season in the last second to Man City, and that too on goal difference. Personally, I am pretty darned sure that even “The Trophy” had been singing this song in its heart all along this season:
Take me home, United Road
To a place that I belong;
To Old Trafford, to see United,
Take me home, United road!
Over the course of the season, supporters and pundits left and right have said that this Manchester United squad was most definitely not the best ever, in spite of Ferguson’s comments in January about this possibly being his best Manchester United team. Definitely debatable. This team does not have an Eric Cantona or a Roy Keane or a Cristiano Ronaldo. This team does not have a recognized central midfielder (bitch please, I say! Carrick is better than most out there, but we’ll discuss that some other time). This team also has a ‘dodgy’ goalkeeper. This team has a @rioferdy5 who is past his prime (apparently). Rooney is on the Wayne (again, apparently), our full-backs are not trustworthy and our wingers are shambolic. Turns out, all that we have is Robin van Persie. We are accused of being a one man team, in spite of having 19 different goal scorers. Oh, and a certain Welsh dinosaur played his 1000th game for United in midfield as well. Against Real Madrid, that too.