The pain felt from the FA Cup final is vital to finding the Beauty behind the Madness for Manchester United

A call to war, Manchester United manager Erik Ten Hag stood plumb in the centre of the Theatre of Dreams after the team’s final victory of the Premier League season - rallying his troops to halt the noisy neighbour’s attempt at history, its history, A quest to prevent the treble in the first Manchester derby in FA Cup final history.

Split in the middle; waves of sea blue challenged the crimson blaze of red hoping to extinguish a weltering dynasty. The objectives differed for both teams on the day, one hell-bent on protecting a legacy that holds its last few remaining strings to global prominence, and another seeking recognition from Julia Roberts and the world alike amiss the talk of a tainted dynasty.

No, it was not the phenom Erling Haaland that defeated Manchester United, nor the £100 million Gucci man Grealish who dealt the final blow, but instead manager Pep Guardiola’s first signing at the beginning of his reign the rather inconspicuous captain Ilaki Gundogan who proved the marquee man. It follows a running motif for the Sky Blues where the most important players to a side whose run consists of 5 Premier League titles and 4 domestic trophies were the ones either signed by Guardiola in his first two summers or were previously at the club before he arrived in 2016.

A clear strategy by the club was put into action by City sporting director Txiki Begiristain and chief executive Ferran Soriano to establish a spine befitting of the football Guardiola intends to play, and throughout his tenure pair such a solid foundation with glistening accessories of jewels in the form of players who raise the ceiling of the team i.e: Sane, Cancelo and Haaland. Such players raise the roof, but the floor was established early, and that’s the all-important lesson the defeated Red Devils must heed – the roots and the floor are imperative to any form of long-term success.

The final score 2-1, a dreary display by City but enough to dispatch of United who could only find a breakthrough via a controversial yet correct decision from a Jack Grealish handball in the penalty area. This affair wasn’t a passing of the vanguard nor a defeat of the previous establishment. This was a lesson taught emphatically through dominance and sheer superiority.

However, maybe this was necessary, maybe such humiliation continuously dealt at the hands of the neighbours who were once just noisy is the catalyst for change. In any walk of life, a dependence on the past for feelings of joy and satisfaction breeds disaster as the present becomes a reality to escape from.

Manchester United cannot escape from this reality nor should they allow themselves to. The disparity between them and their rival is painful, but that feeling of envy and malice to the sky-blue side should carry over to this summer, possibly Erik Ten Hag’s most important in this new era. Uncertainty surrounds the club in every position of the spine of this team with GK, CB, CM and ST and who will hold stewardship of the club after the elongated selling process hopefully comes to an end. What is certain however is there remains no room for error as the pesky blue Davids will continue to dismantle the castle built by Goliath.

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