Ramblings #8 - The First Match

It's almost midnight.

I’ve been a football fan for 15 years…the world was so small with just the tv and me, my brother and dad watching the match on the screen. My first World Cup – watching John Dahl Tomasson score, cupping his hands behind his ears and me falling instantly in love with that game. It’s interesting what I can remember and what I can’t. I remember Ballack getting the yellow that ruled him out of the finals, Italy’s ludicrous match against South Korea – and England once again falling short of doing well.

The Premier League season I watched is probably the only one I saw without any fealty, but a plucky team having lost its crown last season, clawed back with vigour again and again to clinch what would be theirs. Of summer loves and winter desires. I became a Denmark and Manchester United fan that year.

And I’ve been one ever since.

I've seen the rivalry between Ferguson and Wenger, the season of the unbeatables and cultivating a hate for Theirry Henry. Seeing Ronaldo and Rooney arrive at Old Trafford and Ferguson building a team that secured a league hattrick after a new foe emerged in the form of Chelsea and Jose Mourinho. A second Champions League title where I hid my face under a pillow even as a penalty shootout was on. My eyes bloodshot with tears as I saw Ferguson retire and the next few years being a see saw between hope and disappointment as the team tried to find its way. 

15 years. Seems like a lifetime, especially when it covers most of my memories. And tonight, as the clock hits midnight and the world around me switches off into slumber, I will anxiously watch the team I started following 14 seasons ago take on one of the biggest clubs of all time. Not that United was any smaller.

But it’s different now. Our fortress is weaker, a legendary leader gone with a new generation coming in – led by a brilliant manager who has had a tough couple of years. United won some cups last season, but we have fallen. We are falling.

“Why do we fall, Master Wayne?  So that we can learn to pick ourselves up.”

I’m sitting here infront of my laptop, alone now as the clock approaches the witching hour – for the first time, this won’t be at hostel with friends or at home with family. It’s a new start for me, the corporate life where sleeping early and waking early is the norm.

But tonight, I shall be rebellious a bit. It’s time for something new, not just for United, but for me.

Tonight is different.

Best of luck from a Red Devil fan. Forever. GGMU.

Written regarding the UEFA Super Cup match between Manchester United and Real Madrid (2017/18 season)