And not just because the Bad Guys got a punch on the nose from
the Good Guys.
This was also a victory for the vibrancy of youth. And for the
way teams and clubs should be built.
Best of all, this was a victory for having the balls to go out
and play attacking football when you are staring down the barrel at
a huge, embarrassing defeat.
City boss Roberto Mancini, in comparison, took off striker Mario
Balotelli and sent on defensive midfielder Gareth Barry with the
score at 2-2.
That told you everything you needed to know about the philosophy
of the two managers.
At the end, Alex Ferguson went over to pay homage to the
travelling United fans before finishing it off with a bow.
Minutes earlier, he had risen excitedly from his seat to acclaim
the goal from Nani that had seen United come back from two goals
down to win the Community Shield - and exact some revenge for their
FA Cup semi-final defeat by their nearest and dearest.
The look on his face said 'How do I do it? Am I a genius? Or is
it just luck?'
Whatever it is, even in his 70th year, Ferguson still has
it.
First blood: Manchester United celebrate winning
the Community Shield
At half-time, United were 2-0 down to a City side they
had largely outplayed courtesy of a couple of mistakes by new
£18million keeper David De Gea.
The second, when the former Atletico Madrid keeper was first out
of position and then horrendously late getting down to a
speculative 25-yarder from Edin Dzeko, was an absolute belter.
De Gea had arrived to tributes from all and sundry, with
Liverpool's Pepe Reina saying: "He is the future of Spain, an
incredible keeper who will improve even further in England."
Real Madrid's Iker Casillas heaped more praise on the
20-year-old with the words: "He'll retire us all."
Suddenly, though, we were once more hearing the name Massimo
Taibi while De Gea attempted to hide behind his beard.
Ferguson's reaction was to haul off Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic
and the hopeless Michael Carrick.
In place of his three most experienced men came Phil Jones, Tom
Cleverley and Jonny Evans.
It was a mixture of throwing in the towel and damage limitation
in that Ferguson was now admitting 'Yes, it IS a
meaningless friendly - and here come the kids to prove it'.
Yet within 12 minutes a team of comparative greenhorns had drawn
level and scored the sort of equaliser that was patented at London
Colney. It was pinball wizardry, with Nani starting and finishing
the move after deft touches from both Wayne Rooney and
Cleverley.
Such was United's dominance over a City side that did little
other than score their two goals that United won the possession
battle 63 per cent to 37 per cent.
Most encouraging for Ferguson will have been the fact that the
oldest man in the side who played most of the second half was
Ashley Young, at 26.
The others were De Gea, Chris Smalling (21), Jones (19), Evans
(24), Rafael (21), Anderson (23), Cleverley (21), Nani (24), Rooney
(25) and Danny Welbeck (20).
And they were still missing Javier Hernandez, 23.
What riches for United fans. What a testimony to the way
Ferguson keeps rebuilding.
In the blink of an eye, he seems to have moved on from one
dynasty - that of the retired or departed Neville, Scholes, Brown,
Van der Sar and O'Shea - to another.
What a contrast to moneybags City whose main aim in life seems
to be to buy every player not wanted by Barcelona or Real.
While there was a warm feeling about United yesterday, City left
you cold.
They were intent on intimidating United from the start with the
deranged Balotelli starting it all by going head-to-head with
Vidic.
Dzeko was then booked for a late tackle on Anderson, whose
reaction also bought a booking, while Micah Richards should have
been sent off for a studs-up effort on Young.
Yaya Toure then saw yellow for moaning and play-acting and it
was only a matter of time before Nigel de Jong came skidding in
both late and from behind on Welbeck.
It made you think that if a team is built in its manager's
likeness then Mancini, on yesterday's evidence, should be as ugly
as sin.
