Manchester United Fan

Being a Manchester United fan is not easy, or so they say. Sure, the last few years have been some of the most entertaining and successful, but it isn't too long back that Old Trafford was surrounded by doom and gloom. Fergie almost retired, Arsenal were unbeatable and Chelsea were suddenly rich enough to wipe their bottoms with money.

Arsenal's Invincibles were one of three great teams of the first decade of the 21st century. They were simply unstoppable. Henry was majestic, Bergkamp was sublime, Vieira was ruthless and Ljungberg was Swedish. They went an entire season unbeaten, a run stretching 49 games. A very commendable task. But it pays to remember that it was at Old Trafford that this record was smashed, what a day that was. One of the few highlights of those dark years. Arsenal's team soon crumbled, and the rebuilding has taken more than just a few welcome additions. It's an entirely new team now, albeit one that plays with the same swashbuckling flamboyance, and it remains to be seen if this shall be the year they actually go on and win something.

Then along came Chelsea. The proverbial common enemy. Blessed with a Russian owner with a seemingly endless supply of cash, every player in the world was suddenly moving to Stamford Bridge. They got a fiesty manager in the form of a certain Portugese narcissist, and suddenly they were world beaters. Lampard got good, Terry got a gold statue of himself, Drogba got an endless pool of money to dive into and Makelele got a bunch of English speaking players to kick. Whatever it was though, it worked. For two years Chelsea were simply unstoppable. Winning almost every game with a robotical 1-0 scoreline, it seemed like the years of United's winning any silverware were long gone.

But being the eternal genius that he is, Ferguson transformed those barren years into something resembling a glut of trophies. And these trophies were won with a mixture of style and substance. Something that teams like Arsenal and Chelsea are still struggling to encapsulate. There was no better sight than the flowing Manchester United team that won the title three years running, coupled with two successive champions league final appearances. No other team could boast of such consistency, while simultaneously attacking with such flair and defending with such solidity. The few barren years that went by seemed lightyears away. Fergie had rediscovered himself, and in Ronaldo and Rooney had one of the best attacking duos in the world.

Supporting a club like United, you have to face a constant taunt of being favored by referees, having dubious calls made in your favor and other such juvenile accusations. The nature of football is such that one team will always appear to be favored over another. But as is commonly seen, the team that the referee is supposedly biased towards is the team that has won. When you're on top of the table, everyone below will obviously be looking for absolutely anything to complain against.

Yes Cristiano Ronaldo was a diver, yes sometimes referees decisions favored us, and yes we won some games when we weren't at our best. But winning three league titles in a row, (a collection of 114 games), is not a task that can be achieved with a mediocre team. On his day Ronaldo could rip apart any team on the planet, numerous other teams got some questionable refereeing decisions and simply put, we were unstoppable.

People claim that being Indian and supporting United is easy to understand if you are a glory hunter. But I also know that if you are Indian and support Arsenal, Chelsea or Liverpool it is only to counter and scorn the number of United fans. Love them or hate them, you cannot ignore the force that is Manchester United. The never say die attitude, the resilience of character and the brilliance of Fergie make this a club that will go down in the annals of history as one of the greatest dynasties ever built. No matter how big the setback, there will always be a way back for United. Being a Manchester United fan is not easy they say, I couldn't disagree more.