FIFA 12 Is Not The Real World

The end of the transfer window is finally upon us, and while I expect this to be a quiet conclusion for Manchester United, there are those who will inevitably be in an uproar that a certain Dutch footballer has not arrived at Old Trafford.

It has become increasingly difficult to read comments on Manchester United’s Facebook page as of late. Earlier this summer I was reading a post asking for fans to submit questions for a Q&A with Michael Carrick. I was intrigued to see what people were asking, but found myself astonished that the comments were predominately people calling for Carrick to be sold rather than legitimate questions. I am by no means a Carrick fanboy, but the responses certainly disgusted me.

I have never thought of myself as a superior fan at any point in my life, but that does not mean I have not questioned the mentality of some of my fellow fans. After all, what are we if we do not have our opinions? It is shocking to me that we have fans who would belittle one of our own in such a manner. Many of the people attacking Carrick were also typing the name Sneijder, and apparently their caps lock key was broken as they typed it.

Some of United’s fans seem to think that FIFA 12 is somehow representative of reality, although this would be a practice best left to Manchester City. If it was up to some people our first choice XI would look something like this: Casillas, Dani Alves, Vidic, Ferdinand, Evra, Ronaldo, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Rooney, Villa. I imagine they would also expect our bench to contain names like Sneijder, Pique, Özil and Kaká. Even worse, I suspect, Cantona forbid, players like Agüero, Tevez and Torres would also be in their teams.

There are few things that being a sports fan requires. The most obvious duty of a fan is, of course, to support your team and its players. It is possible to question a player who has lost their form while still backing them to succeed. That is part of being a fan, we want good performances and we demand good performances. I have never questioned that in a fan, nor have I ever questioned fans believing a new signing is needed to address a perceived weakness. What I do strongly disagree with are those who demand that players like Michael Carrick or Darren Fletcher be sold because they are not a super star or a big name.

I have always believed we should support the players that we have, and not become obsessed focusing on those who play for another club. We are blessed with a fantastic squad right now, with seasoned veterans providing experience and eager youngsters adding energy in abundance. It has been an absolute thrill to watch this team, and even if it is early days there is a great excitement in the air. However, new fan favorites like Tom Cleverley and Danny Welbeck would never get a chance if we were some sort of FIFA 12 all-star team. And don’t even get me started on Javier Hernandez. If we only went for big names, we would have missed out on an absolute gem. Hard to imagine there was once a time some would have preferred Karim Benzema to Hernandez simply because the Frenchman had a higher profile.

There is another fairly simple task required of sports fans – know your team. Following the West Brom game, I saw a comment from someone that was worried about our lack of depth given injuries to Ferdinand and Vidic, and that person mentioned we had Ritchie De Laet and Oliver Gill. If you don’t understand my frustration with this, then please just put a little more effort and time into staying up-to-date with the club. Not knowing what players are currently in our squad is just laziness, simple as that.

In the end we all support the club in our own way and have our own views on what it means to be a fan. I feel most will agree with me, however, that supporting all of our players and knowing our squad are important characteristics for a fan. Others I hope will be swayed by my own opinions.

In order to truly experience pleasure and ecstasy of this club, you have to invest a part of yourself in it. If you are going to be a fan, go all out. Put everything into loving United, and be an absolute fanatic! There is more to this team than winning games and trophies. Get to know all you can about the men who pull on the sacred red shirt, learn about the manager who has made it all possible and never stop yearning for knowledge of the illustrious and emotionally moving history of Manchester United. You might be surprised by how fulfilling it all can be. It is all part of Manchester United. The more you put into to being a fan, the more you get out of it.