Victory parade; POTY; The final bow from Fergie and Scholes

Alright, with the trophy presentation done and dusted and covered in our last post, we had an eventful week culminating in the end of season with a 10 goal thriller at Hawthorns and the MANAGER bidding adieu to the game he so dominated. Before we go in to the game, let us look at the highlights of the week and rightfully to start from the open top bus parade for the champions. As I mentioned in the last post, I was so eager to catch the action Live and to be frank, it was a nice experience too and enjoyed the celebration. This being the last season for Sir Alex, no doubt the city of Manchester was in full attendance to say goodbye. The streets looked like they were given a fresh paint in red.

Manchester is RED

MUTV were covering the event Live and they were pulling aside the players for their comments on the season, triumph and of course on their thoughts on Sir Alex’s retirement. The younger players were overwhelmed with the occasion and why not, having tasted the league triumph for the first time after agonisingly losing to Man City in 2012. Rio and Ashley were the leaders in the pack belting out one song after the other for the fans to pitch in and sing along. It wasn’t surprising to hear a lot of “oh Robin van Persie..” or “He scores goals galore”. At the end of the parade, Fergie addressed the gathering and pretty much covered the same points that he gave out at the last home game. There was one point however that Scholesy and Fergie kept repeating – “I thought that ’99 could not be beaten, but I think this was better than that”. We know the reason behind an unprecedented crowd swelling up the streets of Manchester largely due to the manager’s decision to retire from the game.

                Couple of days later, it was the team’s end of the year party where the POTY and other awards are dished out to the deserving. When it was time to announce the awardees, I was right on 4 of the major awards. Adnan Januzaj was announced as the winner of the “Reserves player of the year” and this was hardly a surprise if one was following the reserve team in action for the last few months. Goal of the season – who else could it be if not for RVP having fired 25+ goals. He bagged the award for scoring a peach of a goal against Aston Villa, yes the game that mathematically confirmed us to be the winners of the league. “Sir Matt Busby Player of the year” is given to the player chosen through fans’ voting. Since it was RVP who grabbed the headlines for all the right reasons and completed the United puzzle, also becoming a crowd favourite instantly, garnered most number of votes to pocket this trophy as well.  I was a little bit disappointed as I had voted for Michael Carrick. L The last but the most important of the personal awards is the “Player’s player of the year” and I don’t recollect if there had been a unanimous choice for this in the last 10-15 years. Sitting deep and dictating the game for the whole season and being the heartbeat of the team, Carrick was more than deserved in receiving the award from Sir Alex. It has taken quite a few seasons for many people to acknowledge the talent that he is, rightfully the successor for Scholes.

MU awards

                On Sunday, the season came to an end with United travelling to West Brom, an occasion that would also mark an end to the careers of Paul Scholes and Sir Alex Ferguson. Giggs and Scholes started from the bench while Rooney was given a leave of absence to be with his wife at her bedside as she went into labour. It was a young and untested eleven that was fielded to mark 1500^th game of Sir Alex as a manager for Manchester United. To mark the occasion, both the set of players gave a guard of honour for Sir Alex. It was also unheard off that a club dedicates 40 pages in the match day programme to the visiting club or its manager which underlines the respect and adoration that Fergie commands across the whole of Britain. Thanks to the West Brom club, its manager and especially their fans who were equally applauding and saluting Fergie when he walked into the pitch, they made it special.

When the teams headed into the tunnel at half time and the score reading 1-3, it was like the players had planned for a great send off to the gaffer. I was imagining us winning by a goal difference of 5 or more. This being the last game for the gaffer, I knew there would be room for some sentiment. Giggs and Scholes (his last game as well) made entry into the game in the second half as substitutes. I was delighted to see Adnan in the bench and was expecting him to make an appearance as well. However, things took a turn at Hawthorns as home team took the game to the United players and they in turn were least bothered about their defensive duties. Anders was not afforded any protection by United’s defenders and I felt bad for him. With United leading 5-2 when Scholes came in, were trying to save some grace in the last moments of the match after Lukaku scored a second half hat trick to bring the score line to 5-5. I guess this was the reason, Adnan was not sent in and Rio was pushed instead to shore up the defence.

Bowing out

When the final whistle was blown, the away fans let out a collective sigh of relief for not losing game and embarrassing the outgoing manager. This was a game that we should have put to bed very early but the players slackened a bit and never looked to play like the champions that they are. End of the day, Fergie was not left embarrassing, but still it was a good send off with a 10 goal thriller. A thriller it was, that had come to define the manager’s reign at Manchester United. A goal in the “Fergie time” so fervently hoped by many fans including yours faithfully never came but it was still a wonderful game that I enjoyed (only because we had won the league already). Fergie took to the field and applauded the visiting fans for their support over the last 27 years. It was again a teary eyed moment for me reminding me that this giant will not be in the bench next year plotting for more glory.

We will look at the U21 action that happened this week and a review of how the season was in our next post. Until then....