A Lesson For The Fan - Never Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch by Mos_Hygh

Manchester City became English Champions for the first time since 1968 as they beat Queens Park Rangers 3 – 2 at the Etihad Stadium with two injury time goals. Manchester United hearts were broken as a 20th league title was snatched from their grasp despite a 1-0 victory at Sunderland.

Manchester United had opened up an eight point lead by Easter (April 8^th) but that evaporated after an erratic run much to the consternation of United fans.

For many purported United fans in Nigeria there was shock. They have never known it like this before. They have seen United claw back deficits to win titles before but they have never seen United claw back a deficit, establish a healthy lead with only a handful of games left to go and then relinquish the lead. Never ever! 

Manchester United fans have a bad habit of bragging about things before they happen. They get over excited about events at a time when there is very little likelihood of occurrence. A typical example is captured in a Tweet posted by my good friend Joachim MacEbong shortly after United beat Queens Park Rangers 2 – 0 courtesy of huge error by referee Lee Mason.

Even if United had picked up maximum points at Wigan and against Everton, It will still not have been enough to crown United Champions before their visit to Etihad Stadium for the Manchester derby. Hence this kind of braggartism and utter display of ignorance was totally out of place.

By Manchester United's standards they have been diabolical this year with a disastrous Champions League campaign and failure in the FA and Carling Cups now overshadowed by throwing away the Premier League title to its so-called "noisy neighbors" Manchester City. 

Yet, Manchester United are still one of the biggest clubs in the world and over the years have put together a rich history, and for this reason deserve fans who share an in-depth understanding of the game and history of the club. A large chunk of the current crop of United fans in Nigeria seem to be "BANDWAGONERS" which by definition is;

"In sports, someone who shamelessly cheers for a particular team not because he likes them or follows them faithfully, but only because that particular team is the "popular" choice or has been or is the top team in their specific sport recently. When that team which bandwagoners follow falls from grace, they gleefully jump on the next teams bandwagon and cheer for that team."

However, for true soccer "fanatics", we couldn't have asked for a better climax to the season. We can only hope that next season will present as much drama as we have witnessed in 2011/2012.

By @Mos_Hygh

PS: I have attached a few interesting Tweets posted by United fans shortly after the team established an eight point lead. See below :D