Isn’t it nice to have owners – or co-owners, technically – who care? Owners who want what is best for Manchester United, and are not in the game purely to line their own pockets.
Days like this are what Sir Jim Ratcliffe dreamed off when the Failsworth-born billionaire took control of his beloved, boyhood club in February after a long and drawn-out transfer saga.
Winning at Wembley, and beating your despited local rivals while doing so… if this is the first of many trophies in a new era for Manchester United, then what a way to kick things off.
Ratcliffe, while refusing to comment on speculation suggesting that Erik ten Hag was set to be sacked by Ineos regardless of the result, was content with purely basking in the glory of United’s first FA Cup triumph since 2016.
Decisions over Ten Hag’s future can wait. Saturday was a day for celebration.
Ratcliffe delighted by Manchester United FA Cup triumph
“It’s a glorious feeling to win the FA Cup final at Wembley,” Ratcliffe smiles, speaking to BBC Sport’s Simon Stone on X.
“Manchester United were clearly not the favourites to win today but they played with total commitment and skill and overcame one of the great teams in football.
“We are very proud of the players and the staff who work tirelessly to support them.”
It was one of those rare performances – well, rare in terms of a previously pretty dreadful 2023/24 campaign – when every decision Ten Hag made turned to gold.
The decision to start Sofyan Amrabat at the base of midfield, his decision to call upon the tough-tackling, touch-tight defensive brilliance of Aaron Wan-Bissaka, the decision to start without a centre-forward and utilise Bruno Fernandes, Alejandro Garnacho and Marcus Rashford in a fluid, mobile front three.
Bruno Fernandes hails Erik ten Hag role in Wembley win
“Everything,” captain marvel Fernandes told the BBC when asked what Ten Hag got right in his tactics and team selection. “He prepares every game well. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
“It was about being compact and making pressure between lines, about showing some heart and passion.
“We just want to celebrate. We just want to enjoy this moment, together with all the fans and the staff, including the manager – we all deserve this. All (of us deserve it).
“(Ten Hag’s future) is not for me to decide. I am just a football player.”
‘Just’ a football player, maybe, but what a football player. Fernandes delivered a performance for the ages at Wembley, his assist for Kobbie Mainoo’s 39th minute winner nothing short of magnificent.
If any player ‘deserves’ a night like this – the wild, champagne soaked celebrations making for very entertaining viewing on social media – it’s a man who has performed with rare consistency and quality throughout an era in which Man United as a whole have not really been renowned for either consistency or quality.