Make us dream...

A resurgent Manchester United owes its rising stock – and fan hopes – to a force named Bruno Fernandes

Credit: Bruno Fernandes, Twitter

In the year and a half that Bruno Fernandes has brought his aggressive yet breezy style to the hallowed tunnels of Old Trafford, there’s been much that’s been written about him. And much that’s been not written about the team any further.

Gone are the op-eds and pundits wondering whether Manchester United have it in them to sort their woeful form, their lack of ambition, their inability to fix a squad that’s been mostly held together with marquee bandaids here and there. This wouldn’t be the first time since Sir Alex Ferguson departed that the team would be looking to finish in the top four, but the hushed talks of mounting title challenges have been louder – real music to long suffering fans.

A force of nature

In any major experiment, in order to get the most accurate results, you change just one variable. Just one. In football, you could aim to change one major variable. This phase of Manchester United’s new future has seen the one piece of puzzle fit, the successful experiment succeed, thanks to Bruno Miguel Borges Fernandes.

Fondly called the Portuguese Magnifico in an instant classic of a chant, Bruno may not have played many a game in front of an adoring home crowd that’s dying to sing their hearts out, but that’s something most of us are willing to wait out.

But, let’s get to why I’m dedicating this week’s post for Bruno. What’s there to write about the man that’s not already been written? Granular analysis, his effect on the team, his teammates, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the future of Manchester United – I’ve read in-depth features of every sort.

This is a love letter. One of admiration, of pride that bursts through your chest because your heart is so full, and of supplicant gratitude.

The puzzle piece that fits

Supporting Manchester United in the past decade has been a bit hard. When you’ve seen glittering heights of success, popularity, and infamy, the fall is equally sharp and painful. It’s been even difficult to deal with it as a fan who started supporting the club in 2005-06. The decline has been far longer than the glittering high was.

The most painful bit of this period of decline has been seeing cluelessness on the management part. Bringing in individually brilliant players that don’t seem to fit into the system and fulfill the promise they come with – Angel di Maria, Alexis Sanchez, Radamel Falcao, Memphis. The list goes on and on (not surprisingly, many of them #7s) with no salvation in sight.

Like a giant jigsaw puzzle that didn’t seem to have the correct pieces packaged in the box, Manchester United – and the three managers that came before Ole – tried their best to hack, saw, chisel, file and make the pieces fit somehow. And nothing worked.

Credit: Bruno Fernandes, Twitter

The ultimate team guy

Only a season and a half ago, the biggest question was how Paul Pogba was to be unlocked. How you could find the right players around him to unleash his full potential. Then came Anthony Martial and unlocking him. Little did we know a January transfer (can you imagine?) was the key to it all.

After his thunderous – yet cautious – welcome to Old Trafford, not only has Bruno’s work rate been mind boggling but it’s had a sort of effect on his teammates than no one else in recent history has had. If you told me in 2019 that one player’s presence would go on to get Pogba more interested, Martial give it more than what he could, heck, even the defense coming together nicely, I’d have laughed. But it has.

I’ll admit, I didn’t know much about Bruno’s brilliance before he stepped foot into England. What I had seen was an extremely angry outburst he once had (about being subbed off, I think?) during a Sporting game that had him storming into the tunnel, kicking doors, screaming at himself, at the situation, and just generally being upset. I read about how he routinely yelled at his teammates if he thought things were less than optimal. Some leaked chats from his time at Sporting showed him questioning the intent of some teammates. That could’ve been divisive in many dressing rooms, but not with Bruno.

It’s clear the man has only and only the team’s betterment on his mind. Several times on being praised for scoring an audacious goal or providing an amazing assist he’s been asked about “what next”, he’s always made it a point to say , “I’d rather stop scoring and assisting if it means it’ll end in trophies for the club.”

Not one soul’s about to doubt that. His only aim’s to lift the team up, and win trophies. That’s the goal that feeds the soul of the Portuguese midfielder that United has snagged for an absolute steal. If this isn’t captain material reminiscent of some of United’s older, aggressive captains forged in the same mould as Roy Keane, I don’t know what is. He demands and demands, but also gives it his 120%. I can’t think of anyone better to wear that armband soon.

Surely, he’s your favorite too?

The best part is that his enthusiasm has rubbed off on the fans too. “He is inevitable” is what most would say. On a good day he gets goals, a bad day he gets at least an assist. You can count the number of times he’s actually blanked. A bit of a superhuman feat that, his dips have never lasted more than a few weeks.

And he’s an all round wholesome guy off the pitch too. Whether it’s shyly singing his own chant, shyly seeing his daughter wrap herself around his leg, or talking about his teammates – there’s barely anything you won’t like about Bruno.

Unless you think winning/scoring penalties is a problem. There too there are other teams that have won/scored more. So, deal with it.

The point is, for me, the post-Fergie era has been Before Bruno and After Bruno. And I believe the best is yet to come for Fernandes, who seems to effortlessly say, “What’s my next challenge?” Splitting hairs over his lack of retaining the ball notwithstanding, you’d have to be terribly blind to an absolute force of nature to not believe we have something supremely special on our hands.

And I don’t want to think of an After After Bruno era. Make us dream more, magnifico!