Do you like United as much as you used to?

I'll always love United exactly the same way I always have, whether they've been successful or not. That won't change until they lower me in the ground and even then I plan to come back and haunt them (in a good way).
 
I still love United as much as I used to and watch every game.

One area that has dwindled is I don't neccessarily have favourite player anymore. I don't dislike any of our players, but I don't like them to the extent that I did Keane, Scholes, Ruud, RVP, Giggs and Vidic. De Gea was one, but he loves Madrid so to hell with him. Every year I buy a shirt with a player name on the back and this year I'm finding it difficult to pick a player.

Note: before anyone goes on about buying kits, no I'm not a full kit wanker and buying and wearing jerseys with players names on them no matter what age you are is perfectly acceptable in North America. NFL and MLB stadiums are full of people doing the same.
 
Despite being far from a regular poster here and coming from Germany, this is a question I wanted to ask for a while now. My favourite club is Borussia Dortmund since my childhood, but I always had something for United since 2000 or so. I admired for the club for the likes of Scholes, Keane, Giggs, the Nevilles, RVN and having its very own way of handling things (despite spending a lot of money). Having (and keeping) so many talented and for me likeable players was simply fascinating for me.

But in the last few years I realized that my affection for United was dwindling and nowadays it's almost gone. I hardly visit this board these days even though I like the atmosphere in here. Maybe it got something today with Dortmund not playing as badly as before, but I think it's more because of the development of the Premier League and United being a victim of it.

Every club is now able to spend lots of money on mediocre players and since United is United, they can spend even more. Since SAFs departure (probably even during his last years) I'm missing the identity of the club. There are hardly any talented homegrown players, every season there are about five or six huge transfers, so it's almost hard for me to keep track of all the new signings and when I hear of them I keep thinking for myself: "Probably shite and gone in two years."

Don't get me wrong: United is probably still the international club that I like most, but I miss the old times, when there were about one or two big signings per season with a manager like SAF who tried to strengthen his squad and not like Moyes or van Gaal rebuilding it every year.

Man Utd is like having a kid. They will drive you up the wall sometimes but at the end of the day you love them totally and unconditionally. Yes you moan like crazy about the things they do but will defend them to the hilt if somebody else dares run them down.
 
I don't think I feel differently about the club. I think I feel differently about everything surrounding it - and there's a whole lot more of that nowadays. Just the transfer speculation, especially in this era of social media and stuff, is too much.

I'm really looking forward to the window closing and the focus being shifted towards football, which hasn't happened yet. I kind of find myself not being too interested to discuss United because it always comes back to this. It's just the games I'm looking forward to. The rest, not so much.

Maybe it'll change once the window closes. Maybe not. Somehow discussions always seem to be far too volatile now that the Fergie is era is gone and there are always big doubts.
 
Think I'm more of a fan now than when we were actually consistently successful under Fergie. Not sure why. Just seemed to made me realise how much I care about the club when we aren't as successful. Puts stuff into perspective. That Moyes season was bad for us, but many fans in England would jump at the chance at finishing 7th in the PL. Just found it all interesting.

The lack of success has certainly rejuvenated football for me, yet again at 22 it didn't really need rejuvenating. Just made me open my eyes a little more.
 
As an Arsenal fan I use to not want to do anything if we had lost a game ( I know it's sad but its true). Since around 4 years ago I kind of stopped feeling like that and was convinced it was because I got so used to us failing. However lately I've realised that it's simply down to maturing. Once other things in your like become important football takes a step back and whilst I completely love Arsenal and get some of the most enjoyment in life when we win important games you just start to realise that your team not doing well isn't the worst thing in the world.
 
I'm not the greatest United fan, but from the age 9 - 16 (1979 - 1986) my whole weekend revolved around United, and my weekend was rotten if we lost. And I remember balling my eyes out when we lost to Arsenal in the 79 Cup Final and liverpool in the 83 League Cup Final. As you get older there are greater priorities in life, but United will always be in the hearts of true fans.

I went to Old Trafford recently and talked to a taxi driver who was very passionate about United, but hadn't been to a game for a long time. He was at wembley when United beat Benfica in 68, but could no longer afford to go to any matches today. I sat in the Taxi as he fondly told me stories about Macari, Mcclroy, & coppell etc. And how we used to turn up on the day and pay £2 to stand in the Stretford end in the early to mid 80s. I remember wondering if true fans had moved on, or if Manchester united, no, football had moved on and left the true fans behind.
 
Yes, probably even more. However, it doesn't influence my daily life like it used to when I was younger.

Also, van Gaal is not "rebuilding the team every year" - he is merly trying to fix the mess it was.

This sums it up perfectly for me.
 
As an Arsenal fan I use to not want to do anything if we had lost a game ( I know it's sad but its true). Since around 4 years ago I kind of stopped feeling like that and was convinced it was because I got so used to us failing. However lately I've realised that it's simply down to maturing. Once other things in your like become important football takes a step back and whilst I completely love Arsenal and get some of the most enjoyment in life when we win important games you just start to realise that your team not doing well isn't the worst thing in the world.

I'm inconsolable for hours after a defeat, sad maybe but I doubt that'll ever change and I'm 38. Sure there's worse things going on in the world and I probably have more pressing matters to concern myself with but the 'what-ifs' is all I'll think about for the best part of the day after a game!
 
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Same as always, everyone who knows me hates me around match time, especially if we lose.
 
I'll always feel the same about United but my feelings towards football have definitely changed. I used to love the game but nowadays I can't stand it most of the time. players who are payed millions rolling round on the floor, agents/ parasites influencing players and taking money out the game, corruption at the highest level, fans being ripped off, not being able to just go to a game anymore etc etc. oh and now BT screwing more money out of us. Bollox to it I'm off to bed.
 
I love the club but have fallen out of love with football a lot, and I'm sure it's partly due to age, and being married and not being able to go to Old Trafford for many match games, and enjoying the buzz of match day with mates. I can pinpoint the decline starting with the automatic cup ticket introduced by the Glazers, back in the days of posted paper tickets in match week, I used to work away all week, get back on a Friday and find my champs league ticket that I'd paid for on my doormat. I gave up my season ticket at that point. Layer onto that player power and the general twattishness of players now. Then add in the lack of inspirational players, I grew up with Robson as my hero, anyone from that generation will appreciate just how decking amazing he was, and having enjoyed other heroes such as Cantona, Giggs, Irwin, Solskjaer, and Scholes, I don't see anyone in the current crop who I get excited in the same way. Football has changed, I'm older, and I guess I'd say somewhat jaded by football now.

I will be tuning in at 12.30 on Saturday though lol.
 
And how we used to turn up on the day and pay £2 to stand in the Stretford end in the early to mid 80s. I remember wondering if true fans had moved on, or if Manchester united, no, football had moved on and left the true fans behind.

I used to join that same queue at the turnstiles every other Saturday and pay my two quid. I even watched them a few times from the South Stand during their relegation season (which will tell you that I'm no youngster, lol). And yet, even now, I'm as much a fan as I was then. And I live almost six thousand miles away and never get to see them play, unless they tour the US and play close enough to the Canadian border. As corny as it is to say this, my blood will be this same colour red until the day my number comes up. I could no sooner disavow my United fandom than I could murder my family. Ha ha, extreme, I know, but it's how I feel.
 
I still follow the minute by minute and score if I'm out and about but I won't put off any plans to stay in and watch the game anymore.

A lot of my love for the club was born through growing up with the 92 boys and SAF, all of which has gone now (Giggs being assistant manager doesn't count)

Still care obsessively about whether we're winning or not and it still dictates my mood.
 
Anyone who says no should be forced to go on an away day. Guarantee any doubt you had will disappear.

As a youngster just walking to OT got the goosebumps going, but meeting up on away day is often mind blowing particularly if it is an important game.
 
I still like United but watching the actual games is becoming less enjoyable. The football we played at one point last year was the best we played in years and I was more excited than I had been about United in years. We didn't just win games but dominated them and clearly outperformed the opposition. Since then we just went back to being boring but effective.

I think when we are proper title contenders (and I think LVG will make us that) we'll be more exciting to watch than we were even in the last years of Ferguson. All the talk of "not like the United of old" has been said since 2009 and that is just what I remember but since then, we were clinical and consistent rather than outrageously talented but with Ferguson gone, we can't win on attitude and experience alone. We need to play and play well. I think that will come and it will be worth waiting for.
 
Man Utd is like having a kid. They will drive you up the wall sometimes but at the end of the day you love them totally and unconditionally. Yes you moan like crazy about the things they do but will defend them to the hilt if somebody else dares run them down.

This I guess.

I started supporting when I was eight, so in a few years time it'll be my 50th Manchester United anniversary - so glad I made the right choice! All that waiting to win the league, but good times with Tommy and Big Ron in charge (not so much Dave Sexton - must be a Dave thing!) then Fergie came along and really did take the club and me to the promised land. What's not to love - until the day I die!

Silly I know, but the great thing for me was that in the late 90's my personal life kind of fell apart - marriage, hated work - could have ended up hanging from the rafters, but having United games to turn to, and culminating in the 1999 treble probably saved me from myself. I like to think that whilst I will always be there supporting them, when I needed it they were there to support me! I chucked the job in, went off to Uni as a mature student and haven't looked back. United may evolve and change over the years, but so do we - support your team unconditionally and the rewards are life-long.
 
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If you have to ask if you like United as much as you used to , you probably don't .
And that doesn't make you much of a fan in the first place

Really this. It's a strange question to begin with, never mind that it is coincidentally at a time when we're at our most vulnerable for decades.
 
I still like the club as a whole, but I guess I have had less emotional attachment to what is called Manchester United first team these days.Looks strange to me.Guess that's what you have growing up watching Class of 92 and co.
 
For me, strangely United seems to have a deeper place in my heart as I have got older.

In my preteens, I used to be a fan boy of Gordon McQueen and the Joe Jordan as a kid. I loved their tough man "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass...and I'm all out of bubblegum" demeaour.

Then as I got older, I loved the arrogance of Cantona. Collar up; immense skills and yet tough as nails.

Then came the continuous years of success ... I was actually quite bored after a while. It was almost embarrassing to win the league every other year! Worried about being accused of a fan due to the success if United only. You also take it for granted -- almost a fantasy or a parallel universe. But deep down you know that this was not how life works.

So post the Fergie years, i actually have a deeper renewed sense of engagement and immersion with United. Its like you want to be involved in this new phase -- Phoenix phase. (No alliteration intended.)

So now its more like.. life imitating art, imitating life now.
 
I'll always be a United supporter, but in truth, in the last years United have not played a brand of football that excites me. I follow two other teams - Valencia and Bournemouth - and watching these two over the past years has made my feeling more pronounced - I am less and less expectant of watching a great game when United play. I can't remember our last enthralling win. The other two teams try to play fast flowing attacking football - that's what we used to do. I lament the play of the last few years and under Van Gaal, I struggle to see any impending change. That does not mean that I like United any less - I am a United supporter and always will be, full stop.
 
Still love Manchester United, but I've realised football can be full of shit. I've gotten older and there are more important things in life than football, real life issues that affect me.
 
Still love United as much as ever. I've actually quite enjoyed this different fan experience of the last couple of seasons, looking up at other teams, lowered expectations, the excitement of every signing potentially getting us closer to where we feel we should be. Don't get me wrong, it's also been a frustrating time, with a lot of bad football, failed signings, seemingly baffling management at times, but it's been different from what most of my 30 years of supporting United have been like, and that part of it has been strangely enjoyable. That being said, I'd like us to get back to the top ASAP :)

As for OP's point about United falling victim to the new premier league, I kind of agree with his point in general, but it's every club, not just United. I don't like what football has become, with the ridiculous transfer fees, wages, primadonnas and non stop made up speculation. But it's been like that for a while now, and as I'm getting older I've just come to accept that's how it's going to be. We're not going to see another title winning team largely made up of homegrown players, probably in our lifetime. As much as it sucks, buying big, more than buying smart, is going to be how titles are won in the foreseeable future.
 
Love the club, hate the modern game and all its trappings, I know I'm getting old as I miss the blood and guts football of 80's and early 90's.

Memphis Depay vs Brugge got me excited again, maybe I have been waiting for that typical no.7 to come along to bring out the inner kid in me.
 
I originally used to watch United in the days of Best, Law and Charlton. Denis Law was the then British transfer fee record holder of £115,000 and I was suspicious of where his heart lay but he won me over. The last flowering of Manchester United club football for me, was the class of 92 when you knew that the players were playing for "their" team. Things are different now and you have characters like Di Maria, who I have no feelings for whatsoever. I still want United to win and to do well and to beat whoever is the current main rivalry. I badly want us to stuff City but lets face it, David de Gea is no Harry Gregg!
 
Probably not. I care less and less about football overall.

Still love the club a great great deal.

No. I miss the team of 99.

Agree with both of these. Over time, since adulthood, I have gradually cared less. I still care. But missing games doesn't bother me the way it used to, losing doesn't upset me as much as it used to - and winning doesn't fill me with the same joy either. It's good but I quickly move on, good or bad.

I think it peaked in 99 for a number of reasons. Partly age. Partly it sated my appetite for success. And partly it was the team itself. I didn't notice for a few years, but certainly by our next CL victory I noticed, it was still great but nothing like the same.

I think more than anything you feel more passionate about things like this in your youth. As you grow older it just means less, naturally.

But still enough to spend my time on a United online forum tho.
 
Loving the club and loving the team are 2 different things.
Club - history, memories, players of old, coaches, matches
Team - the current situation

Do i like the RB less? No, I like Darmien more than Valencia.
Do i like the whole "team" less? The last couple of years under SAF, the team was "worse". He made them win it with his abilities.
Do i like the style of football less? In general yeah but that game against Brugge was awesome
Am i less excited when watching United? With the likes of Bastian Feck...Schw...and Memphis things are really exciting

Do i love the club any less? Hell no, it will never happen. I am built to support and be emotional for 1 club only my entire life. Do i agree with how LvG is setting the team up? No.

Yes, the situation is different and the memorable moments are further between but that doesn't change my passion for United. Also, unlike someone suggested, i think that the passion for a sport does not depend on your age and growing up doesn't mean caring less. Yeah, you have become more boring cuz you care less but you haven't really grown up. You just have conformed to what the capitalistic society expects of you.

When your partner get solder do you love her/him less?
When your children grow up and change their views on things, do you love them less?

How we handle defeats is also not an indicator for how much we care. It shows only how well we can control our emotions and the ability to allow or disallow them to influence us.

Bottom line - If you care less for your club because they don't win/play ugly football/whatever, you shouldn't call yourself a fan.

In 20 years ( if i am alive) if United are in the second division ( cmon, not really but if) i would still be a fan, and no less caring for that matter.

I get off my white horse now. Time to ride my pink Unicorn.

PS: Honestly, "I grew up and now i don't care" is very meh. What does grow up mean? You have responsibilities and less time, you don't catch every match - this doesn't mean you care less but it also doesn't mean you grow up. Growing up means that your body is fully developed, nothing more. "I am mature now" is another one. What does it mean? Who says what it should be and that it is a good thing? Society? F...society. Be yourself


Grown up, mature, etc. are just subjective terms which aim to put you in a frame. They suit the need of people who can't explain what they actually mean or just accept the social norm. Conformism 101.
 
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I've fallen asleep watching us play...the last couple of seasons, to be fair. Will always love United but with age other things have become more important than football. Thankfully. Anyway I think we tend to love the first team we watch more than any other. For me it's the side from the early to mid 80s. And nostalgia was the only reason I was excited watching United run on the pitch with the three stripes on. As far this side is concerned, if they start playing attacking football, fans will love them the same way again.
 
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No. Football has increasingly taken a back seat in my life compared to my earlier years. I still watch every United game, I just don't think about United throughout the week anymore leading up to the game.
 
I watched Duncan, Edwards, the holy trinity home and away, loved watching the class of 92, Robson and Cantona. My love hasn't change, I would still watch United and ignore real life issues and that will never change. pumped for tomorrow
 
I've always loved United since I was six but now i would say I'm obsessed with the club. Not a day goes by without me thinking of the club and how we can improve.
 
Can't not love United..I watch more live games now then ever, partly due to getting older and knowing how to stream games. I don't like the football as much but I feel we're just a few years away from being something special.

I genuinely think once we move away from the Rooney and Mata focused football, we will finally return to playing quick and sexy football.. at the moment I've been bored shitless since 2008.
 
Rooney and Mata are two of our best players.

I personally do not love football anything like as much as I did in my childhood, or in my twenties. Has been slowly ebbing away a bit. Will always love United though.