Blue dawn can’t take from the joy of 19

I KNOW it’s juvenile but perhaps my favourite moment this past memorable weekend was hearing BBC Radio reporting live that a stunt mounted by the Red Issue fanzine had succeeded perfectly.

Brave operatives infiltrated the Anfield Road End at the Liverpool match and unfurled a banner that simply stated: ‘MUFC: 19 Times’. Now then: howsabout a Scousey minute’s silence to mark the death of their reign? The lads involved had a getaway car running outside, and managed to make off without a bruise to their bodies.

There’s a metaphor for United’s behaviour away from home all season long, then. And Saturday was more of the same, fittingly — yet another bewilderingly inept display, rescued in trademark modern MUFC fashion with a late home heartbreaker with a whiff of controversy. Not that anyone cared about anything beyond the point this secured, nor do we think the display signifies anything for the approaching Wembley final.