Manchester United Fans Enjoying Improved Form

Just four minutes had been played between West Bromwich Albion and Manchester United on Saturday, when Paul Pogba scooped a lofted pass from the middle of the pitch, across his defence towards right-back Antonio Valencia, whose position was directly in front of my seat, low down in the corner of the away end.

Valencia stopped the ball and then quickly hit it forward in the direction of Jesse Lingard, like a quarterback launching as pass ahead of a wide receiver. Two opponents were taken out of the game by the ball, before Lingard crossed with his first touch to the head of Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The entire sequence, from Pogba’s pass to the goal being scored, took five touches and 12 seconds.

Television viewers will have seen replays from various angles and at various speeds. There are cameras that freeze play, others that offer aerial and side views. One operator, five metres to my right, sat behind a camera marked “4 k,” which allows viewers to watch key moments such as United’s first goal in high definition.

However, for fans at The Hawthorns, one of the Premier League’s smallest grounds with a 27,000 capacity, the experience was different. The stadium has two large screens but neither showed a replay, presumably because it would show the home fans how ruthlessly their side had been exposed.

The United supporters present saw the goal once and from a single angle, with the backs of red-shirted players running toward at the opposite end. There were no close-ups, no slow-motion replays and no accompanying analysis of a goal scored 120 metres away through a crowd of players, yet the simplicity and speed of the move remains vivid.

Ibrahimovic’s goal triggered an eruption of joy among 3,000 travelling fans in the away end as the home support in the main stand gawped in anger and amazement. United followers, many of whom had spent time in public houses before the match, would stand in front of their seats throughout the game.

Mainly male, the fans are raucous, raffish, loud, loyal and proud. They were at Selhurst Park to see the win over Crystal Palace in midweek and, three days, later the same faces of Manchester United’s hardcore support reconvened. It’s a community that supports in more ways than just singing songs about footballers from different countries.

One fan, who hasn’t missed a game for years, was left out of pocket recently through no fault of his own. Unknown to him, fellow fans raised money to clear a debt. Another has been seriously poorly, so a fundraising event was held at Old Trafford to raise funds for his ongoing needs. In both cases, sums of five figures were collected. And that’s in the last month alone.

Singing is what these fans do best on match days. Immediately after Ibrahimovic’s opening goal, the first of several renditions was launched in honour of the “Swedish hero,” a roar of a chant complete with hand claps in the cold West Midlands air. But it was smaller comments overheard that provided a more accurate barometer of the mood. One man simply said: “This is United.”

Nobody is getting carried away about a team that sits sixth, but fans just want to enjoy the football they pay to watch. Many are from Manchester, many are not. On the row behind on Saturday was a man from Northern Ireland and another from Gloucestershire. To the left stood a man returning to London, in front were a group of Mancunians who arrived in the area six hours before the game.

One group tried to get a song going about a player — possibly Marcos Rojo, though that was never confirmed — that finished: “Everyone needs a nutter in the middle.” It didn’t catch on but original lyrics are best, not ones adopted from songs sung about other players for years.

Fans starting one about Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola had more success as they sang, to the tune of Slade’s “Cum On Feel The Noize”:

“So f— off, Guardiola,
Your trophy days are over.
At the Council House.
At the Council House.”

Guardiola is one of the best managers in the world, but since when have objectivity and logic played a part in what football fans sing? Besides, it’s almost always done in jest. Kevin Keegan, long a target for chants when he was manager of Newcastle in the 1990s, bumped into hundreds of United fans at Porto airport in 1997. He handled them with good grace and humour, which was reciprocated.

You know United are doing well when a songbook of tributes to former heroes is worked through, as it was on Saturday and at Palace, but the current players were also rightly acclaimed, even those whose form has been less than spectacular.

For example, when Marouane Fellaini took to the field as a substitute against West Brom, fans sang “Do, do, do, Marouane Fellaini” to the tune of “Do the Conga” by Black Lace. That was followed by “If Fellaini scores, we’re on the pitch.” Some United fans despise the Belgian midfielder, but none of them were audible in the final minutes of the game.

At the final whistle, the players moved toward their support. Manager Jose Mourinho is uncertain whether to walk over and applaud visiting supporters at the end of games. He’s shyer than people expect and thinks that it should be the players, not the manager, who take the acclaim. But he is starting to better understand United’s fan culture, the nuances that mean terms like “Man U” are not what United fans want to hear.

Mourinho also instructed his captain, Wayne Rooney, to tell the other players to pass their shirts to fans. This they did, as delighted supporters continued singing:

“Jingle bells, jingle bells,
Jingle all the way.
Oh what fun it is to see,
United win away.”

The satisfied travellers then spilled out of the stadium, most down a narrow, poorly-lit path toward coaches or the railway station. A win lifted their mood and smiles were even spotted on the faces of West Midlands police, who are known for being among the most officious when it comes to football supporters. At one end of the ground, it had been a good day for all concerned.