‘Tonight, we sleep well,’ read a meme featuring the caricature of a Manchester United fan clad in a red sweater and tucked under a red blanket inscribed with his team’s name on it that circulated on social media.
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That perfectly captured the mood of the English Premier League gaints Manchester United’s fans in the city as their team wrapped up a stunning come-from-behind victory against bitter rivals and defending champions Manchester City in the famed Manchester Derby on Saturday night. Once derided as the ‘noisy neighbours’ by the Red Devils’ legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester City has dominated the league and the Derby for close to a decade now with the 6-3 hiding in October being the latest. As their team wiped out the nightmarish memories of that game with a famous win that hogged headlines across the world, they just couldn’t stop discussing the game late into the night.
“I was repeatedly shouting ‘yes’ as soon as the final whistle was blown and my four-year-old kid joined me seeing his dad super excited. It took a sharp rebuke from my wife for us to stop,” said Shyam Alokkan, a techie from Thripunithura.
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Haneesh K.H. never knew such joy as a United fan in a long time and that left him in a highly emotional state. “This was about my team regaining its identity. This was a moment of redemption for me as a fan after the agony of all the setbacks and ridicule from other fans over the last decade,” said the youngster from Fort Kochi.
Having watched the game from Bahrain, where he works, Sandeep K.V. couldn’t stop texting his friend and fellow fan back home in praise of the United manager Erik ten Hag who the fans firmly believe is guiding their team to the high pedestal once again.
Then there were the likes of Abish Puthussery who in their state of ecstacy couldn’t stop taking a dig at Christiano Ronaldo whose contract with United was terminated mid-season after a controversial interview he had given just before the World Cup in which he spat fire at the club and the manager.
“Ronaldo sitting down with Piers Morgan (who did the interview) is the best thing to have happened to Manchester United in years,” he said suggesting how the team has been on a roll notching up victories in every game since the Portuguese maestro left and signed for a Saudi Arabian club.
There were also plenty of memes to that effect. A hilarious one read how a family always prosper when one of its members take up a job in the Middle East suggesting how Ronaldo’s exit to Saudi Arabia has brought fortunes to his old family United.