Stand up if you hate ManU; England's obsession with the Manchester club

On a cold drizzly night in Podgorica city stadium under the lights, England were trying hard to protect their one goal lead over Montenegro. In a quick turn of events, the home crowd went wild after seeing a No.10 England shirt hack down their defender Miodrag Dzudovic from behind. It was by all means a dirty challenge and the player was punished accordingly with a straight red. Andrija Delibasic scored an equalizer at the death, to finish off their comeback from 2 goals behind.

A single moment of frustration had cost England a win, though they had still finished as group leaders. What welcome would Rooney have received back home, had it been a must-win game for England? England failed to qualify for EURO 2008 and they found a scapegoat in former United’s assistant manager, Steve McLaren. Had England failed to enter next year’s competition this time again, the London press and the football’s Barmy Army would have launched a massive head hunt with pitch forks in both the hands, baying for Rooney’s blood.

Sorry to disappoint you because it didn’t happen this time. Rooney shook hands with Dzudovic and headed for the locker room without exchanging any angry words with Capello. But in the year 1998, it actually did happen in the FIFA World Cup in France when David Beckham saw red in a crucial round of 16 match against Argentina. England got knocked out on penalties eventually and Beckham became the most hated person alive in Britain and the fans really wanted his head that time. He had to put up with a lot of booing and hissing from the away crowd for most of the Premier League season. After representing his country in three World Cup, he is now considered a legend by the same fans who heckled him in ’98.

This was the probably the first of many incidents that led to the popularizing of the quote

Stand up if you hate Man U

England’s jealousy towards the great club from Manchester:

If there is a reason why the English crowd of all ages across England hate United so much, it is not just because of the North-South divide, but it is mainly attributed to the success this club has enjoyed for many years till date.

The England fans make no effort in hiding their jealousy against the Manchester club and this can be experienced at the fullest during any international fixture where vile chants and catcalls are often aimed at United players representing their country.

These St. George’s cross waving uber English fans can never stomach the that Manchester United players have put on the most number of appearances from any English club since the first United player to represent England in 1905 till Danny Welbeck against Montenegro in 2011. A total of 1066 appearances from the United players have seen England through the thick and thin over the years.

Sir Bobby Charlton holding the cup

England’s only World Cup triumph in 1966 had three United players in its squad and two of them started in the final against West Germany. The two players, Bobby Charlton and Nobby stiles, are now part of the United folklore. Bobby Charlton, the only surviving member of the Busby Babes, has the distinction of scoring the highest number of goals (49) in an England shirt.

Yesteryear United stars like Gary Neville (85) , Paul Scholes (66) , Nicky Butt (39) , Teddy Sheringham (30 in United shirt), and Phil Neville (59) shared 279 international caps between them. Some of the highlights of their international careers are:

• The Neville brothers hold the record for the most number of England appearances by a pair of brothers (142), breaking the previous record held by Bobby and Jack Charlton and also the most number of starts in the same England team by two brothers (31).
• Paul Scholes has the same goal average as Steven Gerrard despite playing 23 games less than the Liverpool player.
• Teddy Sheringham was selected for the FIFA World Cup in Brazil at 35 years of age after a brilliant final season with United in which he scored 21 times in 42 appearances.
• Nicky Butt has more appearances than Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher in his seven years of International football to Carragher’s eleven years of experience.

The present United boasts of a few seasoned campaigners like Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen, and upcoming stars like Ashley Young, Tom Cleverly, Danny Welbeck, and Phil Jones.

The FA’s step-motherly treatment towards Manchester United:

Like Phil Neville was never part of the England’s World Cup squad, Rio Ferdinand never made it to the EURO Championships till today. He twice came close to making it but once was wrongfully banned by the FA for missing a drug test in 2004 and in 2008 England couldn’t qualify for the EURO games. This ban allowed John Terry to rise up in ranks and become England’s captain later.

Similar to the Ferdinand’s ban, the FA has always treated United like a school ground bully and punished the team harshly in the guise of setting an example to other clubs.

• Last season Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish swears at Arsene Wenger during an away game at Emirates. Punishment : FA were busy studying Ferguson’s footage of previous matches to catch his swearing at referee’s ,so they completely missed it.
• Last season Wayne Rooney swears on camera at no one in particular after scoring, during an away game against West Ham United. Punishment : Two match ban.
• In a game against Spurs last season, Rafael da Silva showed dissent against the referee’s second booking. Punishment : £8,000 fine
• During Liverpool’s defeat against Wigan 9 months previously from the Rafael fine, Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard made a shameful sign and bad mouthed the referee for booking him. Punishment : FA ignored this “momentary show of frustration”
• Last year during a Carling Cup semi-final against Hull, Rio Ferdinand had swung his arm at Craig Falan. Punishment : Four match suspension.
• In the same year in the same competition, Liverpool’s Mascherano swung an arm at Leeds player Jermaine Beckford that caught him at the back of his head. Punishment : ‘There will be no action against the player.’ said a FA spokesperson with look that said ‘what can you do about it?’
• Two years ago during a Manchester derby, Shay Given celebrated in front of the United stands after a late Bellamy equalizer. Punishment : N/A
• In the same derby match, Gary Neville ran in the direction of the City supporters to celebrate Michael Owen’s late winner. Punishment : Was let off with a warning.

Stats Courtesy - Republik of Mancunia (After harassing the sites admin ScottTheRed, he was kind enough to give me some info on the subject)

Phil and I went straight out to have a look at the Wembley pitch and were greeted by a chorus of ‘Stand Up If You Hate Man U’. We’ve had this abuse before playing for England, but over the last year it’s got worse!

- Gary Neville

Stretford Enders

Incidents like these propelled former club players Paul Scholes and Gary Neville, who played important roles in England shirts, to retire prematurely and express their love for the club over country. Their statements have led fans to reaffirm their faith in the notion UNITED > ENGLAND.

I decided to call it a day with England because it just wasn’t any fun any more. I don’t know why it became like that, I’d just stopped enjoying it.

-Paul Scholes

United fans find it hard to believe that their iconic center back, Steve Bruce, was never called for international duty. Also questions were raised over Glenn Hoddle’s decisions during his 3 year stint as England’s manager, when he chose to play former Liverpool player Emile Heskey over Andrew Cole. Cole scored 25 times the season before the World Cup and Heskey managed just 9 goals in 40 starts in the league. Glenn Hoddle, in his defence , accused Cole of needing six or seven chances to score one goal. These dubious decisions and frequent taunts aimed at United players have put off the Manchester faithful from cheering for their country.

However I personally think that there is no written rule that one must support one’s country, as it is just a game of football and not a World War III. I also think that hating England or United’s rivals Liverpool just because its is expected from you to hate them as an international United fan is naive and immature.

I put a question to “The Gaffer” from Manutd24 on the subject UNITED>ENGLAND. His answer was simple and straightforward.

Personally, I don’t care much for the United > England thing. I enjoy watching my club more and easily care about them more than England, but the whole concept of Club>Country is unfair. You can like one over the other, but still do both.

Everyone has his/her own reasons to like or hate one’s club/country. You must follow your own intuition before taking a call. Please resist herd mentality while expressing your thoughts on others, think twice before hurting club or country sentiments.

Author’s note : I would like to thank unitedrant‘s editor Edward Barker for pointing me in the right direction.