So goes the line from James’ Sit Down, a song repeatedly played during the Manchester United players’ post-Champions League final party in May 1999.
As United’s history-makers took to the dance floor of their Barcelona hotel, revelling as England’s first Treble winners, even the euphoric haze was pervaded by the recognition that, as spectacular as the view from the pinnacle of the game was, there were no more Everests left to conquer.
Some supporters never attended another United game, knowing nothing could ever match the high of Camp Nou. Others did the same after Moscow nine years later. There have been countless stops on the journey to the present day, at which point fans could have disembarked, sated with glory.
All that has gone before has unavoidably heightened expectations. And rightly so. This season, everybody has been right to expect three points from home games against Stoke, Burnley and West Ham, and right to expect leads to be steadfastly protected through the final few minutes against Arsenal and Everton. It is easy to hark back to United during the 1990s and much of the 2000s and suppose such outcomes would have been secured.
This is our backdrop, and the reason why it’s natural to grow frustrated at the recent dropped points, the current standing in the league and the ongoing post-Sir Alex rebuilding process. But all the signs are there – if you take a step back from today’s culture of instant gratification – that the foundations are now in place and the rebuilding project is clearly on track.
On Jose Mourinho’s arrival, he identified four main areas of squad refurbishment which needed immediate attention and has spent the ensuing months personally bedding into life at his new club, while getting to know his squad, teaching them his own mantra, integrating the new signings and working within an evolving framework of player recruitment and development behind the scenes. He is meticulous in his planning and is painstakingly working his way through improving each and every player in the squad.
For all the negative headlines thrown his and United’s way this season, it has been overlooked that the respective situations of Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Wayne Rooney have been carefully managed to coax the best out of each player, a process which is now bearing fruit, while Phil Jones and Marcos Rojo have gone from the fringes of the first team to impressive features in recent weeks. Antonio Valencia goes from strength to strength, while Juan Mata and Ander Herrera are playing the best football of their United careers. And those are just the outstanding cases, with many other examples of growing form and confidence visible throughout the squad.
The narrative-confounding truth is that United are playing well. Juxtapose the majority of this season’s games with the majority of last season’s games and there is an unmissable leap in entertainment, even if points haven’t been as forthcoming this term. Disappointing as some of the results have been, those who focus all their attention on the day’s league table are missing the evolution unfurling before their eyes.
October’s draw against Burnley, despite finishing 0-0, was one of the most characteristically United games of the current decade with drama, adversity, skill, relentless pressure and a baying crowd. If Zlatan Ibrahimovic had converted his injury-time chance then that game would have joined the long showreel of typical United games of the Premier League era: expectation into hope, hope into frustration, frustration into elation. Only the last step was missing.
With neater finishing then and in the games against Stoke, Liverpool, Arsenal, West Ham and Everton, an extra 12 Premier League points could be on the board. United bossed each of those games, looked solid in defence and had the chances to win each and every one. While some opposing goalkeepers – Tom Heaton and Lee Grant in particular – have reserved their finest form for United, some officials perhaps have not. We have seen a perfect storm of misfortune – some self-inflicted, some uncontrollable – and that is why we are currently closer to West Brom, Bournemouth and Watford than we are to the top five.
It would serve no purpose, however, to allow a sense of injustice and indignation to parlay from game to game into neurosis, as would be easy to do amid this current maddening run of Premier League results. Luck changes, especially when you graft, and the players and staff are unquestionably putting in the hours and hard yards at the Aon Training Complex.
This current league run is a test of faith, admittedly. Silverware will always be the yardstick of success for the majority, because everybody likes their team to play well, win games and win trophies, but it can’t happen for everyone. Plenty of great teams have gone without silverware. United’s brilliance meant Arsenal – a penalty and two points away from a second successive Double – ended 1998/99 empty-handed. Liverpool’s most thrilling crop of the Premier League era finished 2013/14 with plenty of memories, but no trophies. Some of the great modern United moments – Scholes at City, 9-0 v Ipswich, finally beating Juventus – came in competitions which ended with another club’s name etched on the trophy.
Timing also plays an enormous part. It’s little more than sod’s law that, at a time when United finally mastered the art of Champions League football, reaching three finals in four years, Barcelona took the club game to new heights and brushed Sir Alex’s Reds aside in two of those finals. 'What ifs' are irritating but counter-productive, and if we can’t take trophies right now then we can at least cling to making more memories in the meantime.
This should not be taken as surrender or an acceptance of lessening standards. We all want to be back at the top, peering smugly down on the rest, but at the moment we are still in the ascendancy. Matchgoing supporters are always the best barometer of current affairs, and the growing passion every week in each airing of ‘Mourinho’s red and white army’ says it all. There is much work ahead, but something is mounting here at Old Trafford.
We have a passionate, intelligent manager who loves the club, its fans and his players. We have a squad featuring some truly wonderful players and thrilling prospects for the future. We also have cause for the same siege mentality which underpinned the majority of Sir Alex’s tenure – another spell that proved that patience does pay off, either sooner or later.
In the meantime, United are heading in the right direction. Games are events to look forward to because they are enjoyable and unpredictable. We’ve seen riches and we’ve been poor, and this situation currently resembles the former much more than the latter.
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