No Man U, Only Man Utd

Didnt know where to put it. FM's please move to its right place.

In India, there are a number of amateur football fans who tend to call the club they follow by names which are an utter insult to the same. An avid Manchester United fan and the moderator of Manchester United Fans in Mumbai community on Orkut, Dhruv Tikka voices his concerns as to why the Red Devils mustn’t be referred as ‘Man U’ atleast by their fans.

This term is only used by United rivals as a complete and utter insult to the club. Many United competitors would sing a song about the Munich air disaster which claimed the lives of eight players.

Man U Man U went on a plane Man U Man U never came back again...

If you’re a Man United fan and that doesn’t get your blood boiling, I’m sure nothing will.

Manchester United are nicknamed UNITED, MAN UNITED, MAN UTD and RED DEVILS.

There are no official songs with a ‘Man U’ word nor will one lay his hands on an official merchandise using that term. Manchester City isn’t christened Man C or an Aston Villa as Ast V. Like the song goes ‘There’s Only One United’ so people will know where your loyalty is.

The term Utd is the proper abbreviation for the word United and nothing else. Why can’t some accept this and get over themselves....

The Scousers (Liverpool fans) often tease United about the Munich incident again by chanting ‘Man U Never Intended Coming Home.’ It wasn’t just chants as it was also popular to write this as graffiti.

When did this chant originate? Possibly in the 1960’s.

There was huge competition between clubs to sign Duncan Edwards when he was a schoolboy in the early 50s and there was even a newspaper campaign in the Midlands to pressure him into signing for a Midlands club, as he came from Dudley. His signing for United caused a lot of people in the Midlands to regard him as a traitor and was hate figure for them.

It was West Brom fans who first began this mantra.

Duncan Edwards is manure, rotting in his grave,Man you are manure-rotting in your grave,

The origin of Man U is a song to insult the dead Duncan Edwards. The Liverpool and Leeds fans copied this with their own versions. It is strange to hear from United fans referring them as ‘Man U.’

There was literally a bloodbath up on the old Scoreboard End at Old Trafford in 1964-65 season when the West Bromwich Albion fans sang. A big battle took place with the home fans outnumbering the visiting ones and hammering them to the utmost.Get the picture?

Most clubs did try to ban the chant. After United won the European Cup , it sprang up again but this time there was also ‘Who's that lying in the aircraft.’ The West Brom fans taunted using a United song ‘Who's that team we call United.’

But by the end of the decade it became universal and the term "Man U" became the word used by almost all rival fans to affront United. Everyone knew what it meant. It was laughter at the death of Duncan and the Babes.Fans of Spurs and oddly enough Chelsea never sang Munich songs either.

A place where the word ‘Man U’ could spell doom was Millwall, even if you were a United fan .United played them when they were in the second division and the policemen were asked to work despite having a leave.

The League officials had even tried to stop allocating United fans a ticket to Millwall.The kick off was put forward to 11 am to try and stop all United fans from going down there. It was billed as the ‘fight of the century.’

Not one single punch was thrown inside the ground. There was even a picture in the Sunday Mirror of two United fans with "Harry the Dog" What did happen was after the match a combined force of 20,000 plus United and Millwall fans descended on the Kings Road and smashed the place up, including the football ground.

But a lot of the violence that happened with United fans around that time was usually sparked by the words ‘Man U.’

When Teddy Sheringham signed for United, incidentally he referred the club as ‘Man U’ and received a dressing down from Sir Alex Ferguson.

So, I expect the so-called Unite fans stop chanting ‘Man U’ and as far as rival fans are concerned…..


Dhruv Tikka

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