How a Manchester United fan should handle rival fans

As a Manchester United fan yourself, how many times have you seen the rival fans making a mockery of your club, prior to the current season, after a disappointing defeat or an unexpected cup exit or a humiliation by a direct rival. I would reckon, it would be very few and far in between.

The ones that I can myself remember to be a part of when my inbox was flooded with messages like – “look at your club, this is what they actually deserve” or “you guys have always been lucky,when referee is fair, you always lose” or simply “rofl” , “lol, these are the champions of England?” – were probably after that 1-6 home defeat against City or the two Champions league final defeats against Barcelona or the first round FA cup exit against Leeds United in the recent years.

Apart from these, I can’t really remember many times where these rival fans have got the chance to belittle our beloved club. And, to be honest, even in these defeats and disappointments, we never felt let down. It only built that bond between United and us even stronger. As it has been rightly said by someone – It’s in the defeats, much more than the victories, that you really get closer.

Moreover, it didn’t really matter as we always had that belief that our club will, as always, come back stronger and will make those rival fans eat their own words. And that is exactly what used to happen every time after such disappointing defeats.

In the current season, however, things have considerably changed. Taking my own example, I have seen the rival fans ridiculing our club in the current season more than I have ever witnessed in over a decade of following this great club. And I am sure, this must have happened with most of you reading out this article here. Moreover, with the advent of social networking, this trolling has increased exponentially. This is an unknown territory for most of us. We have never faced this before.

It, for sure and quite naturally, hurts. So the question that arises here is – How to handle the rival fans these days as a Manchester United fan?

The answer simply lies in the fact as to what hurts us – The rival fans making fun of our club or the incapability of our club to answer back this time. For me, it’s the latter. It shouldn’t really matter to us what other clubs’ fans has to say about Manchester United. However, what should actually matter to us is the fact that we have not been able to answer back our critics in the current campaign like we had always done in the past.

And there is a very simple and clear reason for the same – The transition. It has happened to all the big dynasties, empires and thrones in the history where they have had to re-build by going off the limelight for a while and then coming back even stronger.

Of course, being United fans, we’ve always been at an arm’s length of creating history, so much so that we’ve almost taken it for granted. But this phase in our life is unlike any that we have ever witnessed. The winds of change are blowing hard over our safe and sound castle at the footballing summit.

There are only two ways we can ride this storm. One – bask in the glory of our past and fail to accept the current change, and eventually get blown away by it. Or two, fight with it like a true United fan – with patience – and eventually, as always, sail our ship with these winds of change.

Patience – that’s not an answer that every club reaches for. But that’s how the United juggernaut rolls. And it rolls pretty well. Once we realize this, it then becomes a cakewalk to handle those rival fans, because we simply have to do nothing. In any case, that was not even our priority.

When these rivals try to make fun of us, they are actually looking for a reaction. And when we react, we do exactly what they want us to do and fall into their trap. All of us must have seen people who, instead of celebrating their own clubs’ victory, would rather be more engaged in making fun of a Manchester United loss.

In such situations, rather than reacting to their trolls, we must take immense pride in the fact that how much deep under their skin our club has got that they think of Manchester United more than what they actually think of their own club. This is something, I am sure, we as Manchester United fans, would have never done.

It sometimes makes me believe that here are only two kinds of football fans in this world – One who support Manchester United and the others who don’t.

Therefore, the next time someone tries to mock United in front of you, avoid any reaction. Rather join him/her in making fun of United. It wouldn’t leave them with anything to say further. And it shouldn’t matter to you anyhow as you now know why they are doing it. It’s their only chance of redemption and let them enjoy it for a while. Everyone deserves that.

All we need to do is remain calm ourselves. Because when we panic, our opponents strengthen. And that is what, more than any transition, really puts our club in a spot of bother.

All true United fans who know the club’s history would also know that we will surely, sooner or later, come through this too. It may not be this season, it might not even be the next season or the season after that, but when it does happen, that will be the only thing that everyone would remember.

So till then, let that bond between us and the club build even stronger during these hard times. And even though our club is taking a little more time than the usual to respond to our critics due to the obvious reasons, just don’t let that belief, that we will, as always, come back stronger, fade away. Our club has given us a lot of reasons to smile when we were simply down and out. It’s time for payback!