How I Got to Follow Manchester United

It was 1990, after the World Cup. I watched my first English football match, it was the Charity Shield game between United and Liverpool. Having watch England in Italia 90, I got to know many United and Liverpool players like Robson, Barnes and Beardsley. Both teams played well but ended drawing 1-1. That was enough to convince me to follow BOTH (!!) teams.

From then on, Liverpool's Daglish, Rush, Barnes, Beardsley, Nicol, Hansen, Heysen, Staunton, Houghton, Brucie and Whelan. United's Sealey, Parker, Blackmore, Irwin, Robson, Wallance, Hughes, Bruce, Pally, Wallance, McClair and Sharpe were all my heros.

1990-1991 season was a season to forget for Liverpool. Out in both League and FA Cups and lost the title to Arsenal, there are nothing to shout for. But for Man Utd, they ended the season with a Cup Winners Cup, beating Barcelona 2-1. United qualify through winning the FA Cup last season while Liverpool was still banned from Europe due to the Heysel Disaster, where hooligans following Liverpool rioted in the European Cup final in 1985.

Mark Hughes scored the winner against Barcelona 

Yes! We won the Cup. Bryan Robson and McClair celebrate the win.

I had started reading football weekly like SHOOT! and MATCH during the season and found out that United fans and Liverpool fans are rivals due to histories between these two clubs. I had to make a choice and decided to follow United from then onwards.

My first season with United was 1991-1992 season, which saw them finish second in the league, a great inprovement. Winning the league after 25 years of misery could also be fulfilled but a 1-0 loss to West Ham and of all people, a 2-0 loss to Liverpool handed the title to Leeds. Leeds won the title with a certain player called Eric Cantona. Remember this name. United was compansated by a win in the Coca Cola Cup, which was known as the League Cup then, for the first time in their history.

The near miss of the previous season spurred United to a greater heights. With the arrival of Eric Cantona from Leeds, 1992-1993 season proved to be a great marathon run for United. They played with style and class. By the end of the season, they finished as Champions. A wait of 26 years is finally over. As I read the history of the Cup, no manager after Sir Matt Busby could win the title till Sir Alex Ferguson did it in 1993. French International Eric Cantona, a forward who supplied the link between midfield and attack,  was the key to the title success by supplying killer passes and vital goals.

Eric Cantona

That was the time I swore to stay on with Manchester United.

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