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Rock Bottom

 

A United fan I know, is also a psychiatrist by profession (yup what a truly relevant field full of case studies!). During our in-game zoom calls with other fans (some of whom are good friends now, yup misery and joy both act as great unifiers), he said something really relevant…this was rock bottom. It’s a way to make people look on the bright side after bitter disappointment. But, such is the tribal nature of football, all it needs is for one of your rivals to hit rock bottom…for you to temporarily escape your own emotional hellhole!

Everything that has followed this football club since that fateful day at Leicester has been pretty bizzare. The sheer relief of being back amongst the big boys, followed by what was a strange Europa league campaign. We wanted to win it, but would contrive to lose it. Then the club captains gets himself into a strange circus of who dun ‘nit in Greece, Mason our wonderboy goes bonkers in Iceland and all this while the board is putting us through a live demonstration of the SAW with their transfer market ‘hara kiris’.

Then the season looms upon us, Palace make us look like a newly promoted team. We travel to Brighton and realize the woodwork is our best centre half, but wait hold on its United…so there is a twist…we win a game after the final whistle. Jose and Ole are swiping each other left and right in public, at a pace that would put Woody and Zorc to shame.

Now, let’s come to yesterday, we lead for the first time at Old Trafford since June only to concede an equalizer while Pogba and Bailly engage in a circus and Maguire and Shaw wrestle away like school kids. Ndombele the kid who Jose treats worse than a step child, scores the equalizer. Lamela and Martial engage in their own school like antics soon. Down to ten men, we reengage in the tradition of giving the ball out from the back to the opposition. The scoreline at the end may well have said “Revenge of the Special One – Edy and Ole’s Trip to the Centre of Nowwhere’.

But, alas football is such a beautiful equalizer. The team I feared would be back on our perch, contrived to stay with 11 men and out do us by conceding seven to a team that avoided relegation thanks to technology failing Sheffield at the goal line last season. The tribal nature of football especially the PL that the great man Sir Alex used to always allude to….was being witnessed in full swing. Yes, we were rock bottom, but thank god our bitter rival was there with us!

 

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