Saturday, that is...
Such a strange feeling, anyway. when I look back to Cup Finals of the past, 83 and 85 in particular, but also 76, 77, 90, my excitement was immeasurable.
In the 90s - well, 1990 seemed at the time to be a spark in the dark, a momentary relief from five years of having won nothing. In retrospect, of course, it was the start of everything. I wasn't at the 1990 Cup Final, but I was at the Third Round Match at Nottingham Forest. Beforehand, people were quoted in the Press as saying "I'm never going to watch Manchester United again whilst that useless Alex Ferguson is manager..." Mark Robins scored a vital goal, and the rest, as they say, is history.
1994 was very special; it was only a year since we had become Champions for the first time in my lifetime (well, we were Champions when I was born, but we were soon to concede that to Manchester City...the hilarious irony being that the season they happened to win the League, we won the European Cup...thirty one years and they've won f...all). An FA Cup win and it would be the double. Fantasy Football League, with Baddiel and Skinner, had had a hilarious sketch, based on a costume drama being broadcast at the time "Middle of March,where it all went wrong..." So wrong, we won the Double. I remember that FA Cup Final. No, I don't. I was at a friend's flat, and her flatmate had a boyfriend who was a drug dealer,and we found a packet of grass down the sofa. I learnt a vital lesson that day - smoking grass eradicates special memories. Just say No, kids.
1995 was awful. I missed the Final because I was at Union Conference. Not even full Conference, but Sector Conference, for the amorphous groups of organisations that were too esoteric even for the Civil Service General Group - the Public and Commercial Sector (us, the Research Councils, British Council, the Equalities organisations, Forestry Commission, Alliance & Leicester-ex-Girobank etc). The Girobankers were all Toffees. Oh dear! The next day I was admitted to hospital with suspected appendicitis which turned out to be burst ovarian cysts. A week off work. One of the managers, himself a Manchester United fan, declared he had never seen such an over-reaction to an FA Cup Final defeat.
1996, Double Again, getting a bit of a habit. I got very drunk on green and yellow Hooch, which my then boyfriend bought me because they matched my Green and Yellow Newton Heath replica shirt.
1999, Make Mine a Treble! I was actually at my sisters that weekend, because it was My Favourite Niece's Christening the next day. At three minutes to three I was in the garden having a cigarette and Nephew #1 (at the time, Favourite Nephew) asked me to play football. I scoffed, no way, I'm old and past it, I'm almost as old as Teddy Sheringham...oh boy, what with his FA Cup Final performance and his subsequent European Cup performance, Teddy Sheringham earned himself a place in the United pantheon of heroes.
This century becomes blurred. I sofa-blogged the 2004 Final when we beat Millwall in a particularly one-sided Final, the match that saw the emergence of Cristiano Ronaldo as a player of exceptional potential. I block 2005 out of my mind, losing on penalties is really unpleasant - having said that, penalties are a better test of ability than tossing a coin, and the rules are known before play commences. And I will be just as happy to forget Saturday. Chelsea won. Fair and square. I thought they were dirty, I thought that Ryan Giggs had a perfectly good goal disallowed. but end of the day,that's the result. I can live with it. Because we are Champions!. And we are still in the lead with 12 wins in history. And we are now level with Arsenal, Newcastle and Everton in having 7 runners up places.
We lost in 1976, but returned victorious in 1977. Because Arsenal did much the same in 1978/9, I developed a view that that was common. Of course I know different now, but supporting a team like Manchester United, one does have the confidence that some time in the not too distant future, there will be another attempt at Glory.
And one day, I suppose, Alex Ferguson will retire - although he has stated he has a renewed zest for football - and those True Fans who tore up their season tickets in January 1990 will be able to start watching United again. I'm not sure about those who said that the Glazers would asset-strip...
It still makes me laugh when the minnows keep sacking their managers. Martin Edwards stood by Alex Ferguson through three-and-a-half years with nothing to show, and some shockingly low League positions; he ignored the clamours for the sack in 89/90. And Nine Premierships later - I want Ten! Not to mention5 Fa Cups, two Mickey Mouse Cups and one each of European Cup and European Cup Winners Cup
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