It is hard to believe that we are already at the penultimate
game of the league season. It feels like only yesterday that I was
taking my seat in the East Stand for the first match against
Newcastle United. Come 12.45pm on Saturday I will be taking my seat
in the Stretford End to watch our final home game against Arsenal
and I ask myself is it really all over so soon?
As a United supporter going back to 1980’s I am hard pushed to
remember a more memorable season than this one, well if we exclude
the Treble back in ’99 that is! Two defeats to Liverpool in the
league and a gut-wrenching defeat to Everton in the FA Cup
semi-final may have been the lowest points of our season, but the
highs have far outnumbered the lows. Ranging from Carling Cup glory
to becoming the first English club to win the FIFA Club World Cup, from setting a new British clean
sheet record to standing on the cusp of Premier League and
Champions League glory, there have been few seasons like this.
Whilst Rome looms on the horizon, retaining the Premier League
title is what the season is all about. Winning the league at any
ground is special, but it means even more to supporters for the
triumph to be secured on home soil.
Back when I was nearly a teenager, controversial American
hip-hop band, The Beastie Boys, sang “You gotta fight for your
right to party,” and I know that is exactly what the players will
be doing on Saturday for another 90 minutes – fighting for their
right (and ours) to celebrate!
When I first started supporting the Reds, the league was the
Holy Grail. After we finally secured our first title in 26 years in
the 1992/93 season I thought nothing could ever match that feeling
again, but this season title success is going to mean just as much
to me. For so long United supporters have had to put up with the
incessant boasts from Liverpool fans about how many more times than
us they have won the league that it will be of immeasurable
pleasure to draw level with them.
For 36 league games that have come before the players have
toiled to put United on the brink of glory and I implore everyone
inside Old Trafford on Saturday to make a noise like they have
never done before to help drive the team across the finishing line.
It will not be easy to overcome an Arsenal team that will no doubt
be looking for revenge for their Champions League exit. I
appreciate the challenge they will provide, but I cannot help
feeling more than a tinge of excitement now we are so close to the
finishing line. I hope though that unlike the recent games at Old
Trafford against Aston Villa and Spurs that we do not have to go
through the mill emotionally.
As our mosaics in the Champions League have boasted over the
past two seasons – BELIEVE! I certainly do.
We will prevail on Saturday and then we can let down our hair
(though in my case there isn’t much of that these days!) and
party!