This piece was written for Viva Football (Vol X, Issue 3, September 2026) and appeared in their Fans Corner section. The printed version was trimmed slightly to fit a single page. This is the full text. Read the printed page here.
In August 2005, I watched my first football game ever. Liverpool vs. Sunderland. Xabi Alonso scored an insane free kick. The rest of the game produced a few moments, but nothing got me hooked. I watched the game because of peer pressure, mind you. School friends discussing football. I wanted to be the one talking, not listening. But following football wasn’t easy in those days. No apps to notify you about next games, no Twitter for football banter, and newspapers didn’t even waste a square inch for football match schedules. So, I tuned into ESPN and Star Sports every Saturday and Sunday evenings in the hopes of catching a glimpse of a live football match.
On one such evening in September 2005, I watched my second game of football. I recognized Liverpool from some of the players I had seen a month ago. But that wasn’t the team that caught my eye. It was the team they played against. More specifically, a duo named Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney; both young, both enigmatic, both had a flair that even a non-footballer like me could feel oozing from my old CRT-display television screen. And although the game was a stalemate, I got hooked. It’s funny, and quite ironic, that my first two games of football were of Liverpool, but I ended up being a Manchester United fan.
Twenty-one years have since gone by, and I still am a Manchester United supporter. Every year, around August, I start dreaming of a late weekend in May the following year, where I imagine Manchester United being crowned champions of England. The last time that happened was in May 2013, when Sir Alex Ferguson bid goodbye to the beautiful game. In his farewell speech, he said the following: “When we had bad times here, the club stood by me… Your job now is to stand by our new manager.”
I didn’t know he was prophesying. I thought he was just being cautious. I never imagined United would go thirteen years without winning the Premier League. In my first eight years as a United fan, I saw them win the Premier League five times, the Champions League once, and a few League Cups and Community Shields. So, what I’ve suffered in the last thirteen years is tremendous pain. And that pain outweighs the pleasure I enjoyed in my adolescent years of being a football fan. But still, I hope, as every other fan supporting every other club hopes. I hope to see Bruno lifting his first-ever (and deserving) Premier League trophy.
Will it happen this year? I don’t think so. And it’s not just about the transfers. Other clubs have evolved around a wounded Manchester United. Clubs like Brighton, Brentford, Aston Villa, and Newcastle were mid-table at best. They are now reaching European competitions and investing in transfers like never before. For the last thirteen years, when these clubs were building teams, Manchester United were busy buying marquee players hoping to win trophies with their financial might. That experiment failed miserably, both on the pitch and off of it, with United having to lay off staff and limiting their expenses to such an extent that they haven’t hosted their annual award ceremonies for the last few years. We’ve seen seven (or eight?) (I’ve lost count, actually) managers without even a glimmer of hope.
And yet, amidst all this chaos, there is a sense of the old magic returning, embodied not by a spirit but in the focused presence of Michael Carrick. He was the quiet engine during our years of glory, and now he appears as the genuine successor to the legacy Sir Alex Ferguson established. Much like his legendary Gaffer, Carrick has that exceptional, sharp ability to find value where others see none, crafting a narrative of success from a group that lacks flash but possesses plenty of heart. Things are starting to look up at Old Trafford. Even without superstar signings, Carrick’s understanding of the club makes the Premier League title feel like a far-fetched but realistic goal once more. The club’s winning culture is still there; it just needed the right leader to bring it back to the surface. And I believe, in Michael Carrick, we have that leader.
So let the new season kick off. I’m ready for yet another season of heartbreak! Or who knows! Fergie’s understudy might win it this time in Fergie Time! So, I hope again! Because someone famous rightly said, “Remember, Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”
Glory, glory, Man United!
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