Tag: Manchester United

When the full-time whistle blew at Old Trafford yesterday afternoon, the crowning of the new champions of England couldn’t have come about in more unusual circumstances. Supporters of the home side had started streaming towards the exits some time earlier – the empty seats on display had previously somewhat contradicted the announced attendance of just over 75,000 people – and most of those still inside the ground were West Bromwich Albion supporters, deliriously celebrating a result which, in the most pragmatic terms, may still end up counting for little come the end of the actual season itself for them...

There is a song by the rock band Led Zeppelin that often seems to spring to mind when thinking of the state of the modern world. Adapted from a 1927 song written by the blues guitarist Blind Willie Johnson and recorded for their 1976 Album “Presence”, the song’s title alone, “Nobody’s Fault But Mine”, sounds as dated now as the original recording of the song must have sounded to Jimmy Page and Robert Plant more than forty years ago. It is a truth universally acknowledged that, in modern football, everything is always the fault of somebody else. “Mea culpa”...

It wasn’t supposed to be like this, of course. The coming together of Manchester United and Jose Mourinho always had the feel of a Faustian pact about it. All connected with the club have long made considerable currency of “the United way”, the fundamental belief that this club should not just win but win with style, but the truth of the matter is that this was always likely to be compromised by a manager whose previous history had entirely been built upon the accumulation of results and trophies to the detriment of any other considerations, up to and including...