Manchester United have the richest history in world football. But chants in modern-day football have become a common theme – whether it comes from the away stands in the stadium or the clubs’ own fans as well.
Fans have adapted a certain way to how they want to go with the chants of their favourite club. However, certain sections of fans can be a disappointment when they aren’t aware of the clubs’ history they support. This is the case when some of the Red Devils fans claim the support “Man U”.
For those newcomers to the football world, there is a reason why Manchester United should never be called “Man U” and why it is an insult to the club.
Why is “Man U” offensive?
It can be agreed that no true Manchester United fan would use the term in an offensive way. However, fans also need to be educated about things like these to avoid unnecessary conflicts when it comes to the clubs’ history.
Read more:
- Why Manchester United’s stadium is called Old Trafford?
- Why do modern-day fans support players over club?
Modern football can sometimes get ugly with tribalism creeping into various fanbases at a rapid pace. This is mainly done by the fans to get one over the rival fans without understanding the fact that it won’t come out and look good.
Unfortunately, the Hillsborough, Heysel and Munich disasters, to name a few are typically brought up a few times.
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For Duncan Edwards today United. 63 years ago today Manchester United's greatest ever player passed away from injuries sustained in the Munich air crash. RIP #DuncanEdwards #BusbyBabes #MUFC #FlowersOfManchester pic.twitter.com/reKdXG4RdS
— Benjamin Brazil (@bennymufc) February 21, 2021
The Munich disaster in particular was something that shook the entire football world and not just those related to Manchester United. It affected various communities across the globe and disrespecting those is just not the right thing to do, and hence it is up to the seasoned fans out there what exactly the term ‘Man U’ means.
With footballing evolving at a rapid pace, none of the pundits or TV broadcasters uses this term. This is why it is bad to call the Red Devils by that slur.
The history behind the ‘Man U’ slur goes all the back to the time of the Busby Babes. With the Munich disaster in mind, and with Liverpool and Leeds being Manchester United’s biggest rivals, a chant was disgustingly used against the Red Devils to insult the club.
What’s the chant?
While insulting chants are everywhere in soccer, some go too far. The ‘Man U’ chant was one of them which was referred to the Munich Air Disaster of 1958 where 23 people died, including eight Manchester United players.
The song went like this:
Man U, Man U, went on a plane; Man U, Man U, never came back again.
And “Man U Never Intended Coming Home”.
On combining the first letter of latter chant, we can clearly see, it comes out to be “MUNICH”. Since then the term has become derogatory to the club and synonymous with insults aimed at United fans after the tragedy.
Where did “Man U” come from?
The term ‘Man U’ has obviously become something questionable in today’s date. However, it was created way before the insults started coming in. The abbreviation was created by newspapers and was used for fixtures, results and league tables and became a normal common term amongst fans around.
The term only became objectionable once rival supporters used it as a derogatory term, particularly when West Brom targeted a great United legend – Duncan Edwards – who was one of the Busby Babes.
“Duncan Edwards is manure, rotting in his grave, man you are manure—rotting in your grave.” – was what rivals supporters started chanting in regard to the Munich disaster.
And hence ‘Man U’ has since become an offensive term worldwide when its insulting history is taken into consideration and one which was never given by the Manchester United fans. So, if you are a true United and football fan, respect the history, respect the tradition, respect the club, respect United and respect the sport.
