True blue title test in store from City
There’s more of them than the propagandists would have you believe – and, boy, are they in the midst of a wonderful week.
Last Friday night, the Rebels’ club made headlines by knocking out a team 95 places ahead of them in the FA Cup, live on TV, after a thrilling ding-dong affair that climaxed in a 94th minute winner.
On Saturday morning, ‘Little United’ rightly garnered about treble the column inches devoted to Big United’s previews, who did at least emulate FC in a way by performing ‘Fergie-Time’ heroics later that day, courtesy of the unsung Park.
FC United fans can’t attend Old Trafford fixtures for reasons of principle, but away matches are fair game, and there’ll doubtless be a few of them at Wastelands tonight for the second potentially epochal match of the week.
The hype has been immense, but for once fully justified, as the City of Manchester revels in its sense of returning in its entirety to the centre of the domestic football universe for the first time in decades. Last season’s games carried import enough, true: we stopped City getting into the European Cup for the first time since 1968 and we prevented their first final tilt at silverware since 1981 – and thereby their first trophy since 1976, thus preserving the sacred Stretford End ‘ticker’.
Moreover, the four games were quite magical, from the last-minute winners and end-to-end punching to the sheer bad temper of the players and relentless aggro of the fans.
We’d do well to top that this season, and at the back of many a Red mind is the fear that we can’t, surely, expect to have the outcomes run quite so ludicrously in our favour yet again.
But what sets tonight apart – and maybe the OT return match too, if City’s preening mutinous stars can hold it together long enough – is that the title itself is arguably at stake for both of us, even more plausibly so now that Chelsea have suddenly revealed their flaws at Anfield.
The media have been harking back to the late 60s for their comparisons, although I will suggest that 1976/77 was the last such genuine occasion.
City would miss the title that season by one point, and how they would rue the four we would take off them. But what is oft forgotten is that United led the table for much of the early autumn, until Buchan’s Robsonian injury, and also made a spring charge towards the top before becoming distracted by the eventually victorious FA Cup run. Certainly, when we met at Maine Road almost exactly 34 years ago, both teams were flying high and amidst the title favourites – and we beat them 3-1, despite being a goal down after six minutes.
“Same again tonight, please,” will doubtless have been the prayer of many a Red last night...
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