For everyone laughing at Manchester United today, allow me to tell you a story.
Once upon a time, railway workmen came together to play football. They had little more than grit and a dream, a dream to make something more of their lives. Out of that dream was born Manchester United.
The club lost its very first competitive game 6–0 to Bolton Reserves. It was relegated in its second season. In January 1902, it was ordered to shut down because of debts. It did not. Instead, it came back, and within two years it had lifted a league title, an FA Cup and a Charity Shield. That is Manchester United.
From 1922 to 1940, United were relegated again and again. In 1931, they faced bankruptcy. Disaster loomed. But United held on and fought on. They finished second in 1947, 1948 and 1949, then won the league in 1952, 1955 and 1956. They became the first English club to play in Europe, and in 1948 lifted the FA Cup. The club waited 41 years for its glory to fully bloom. That is Manchester United.
On February 6, 1958, tragedy struck. A plane came crashing down in Munich. Eight Busby Babes never came home. Despair could have ended it all. But United fought on. That same year, the club still reached the FA Cup final. With no first team, they rebuilt brick by brick. Seven years later, they won the title in 1965 and 1967, and then in 1968, with the fallen watching from above, United lifted the European Cup. That is Manchester United.
There was another long wait. Twenty-five years without a league title. Relegations. Managers sacked. Rivals mocking. Yet still United endured. Then came Ferguson. Then came glory. The league title in 1992, the double in 1994, and the immortal treble in 1999. That is Manchester United. Blood, toil, sweat and tears. That is Manchester United.
And now, in 2025, the story continues. The squad needs reshaping. The tactics need refreshing. Rivals laugh, pundits jeer, critics sneer. They think we are finished. But we smile because we have seen it all before. We have been bankrupt, we have been relegated, we have been mocked, we have been broken, and we have always come back.
Wins from impossible positions. Glory from the darkest despair. That is Manchester United.
We are not the best team in the world right now. We are not playing the most beautiful football. But we are the most inspirational team in football history. Twenty league titles, more than anyone else. Three European Cups. A legacy of rebirth after every fall.
So to Liverpool fans, City fans, Arsenal fans and every rival enjoying these rare moments of United stumbling, laugh if you must. You have earned your moment in the sun. But history whispers what you already know: Manchester United will be back.
I do not know when. Maybe this year, maybe next, maybe five or ten years from now. But it will happen. And it will not be blind faith when it does. It will be destiny.
Because that is Manchester United. Forever.
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