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And at the end of Friday night’s FA Cup fourth round clash at home to Leicester City, the defending holders of the trophy received some harsh and frustrated reactions from fans around the world after Harry Maguire’s stoppage-time winner sent them into the last-16 by a score of 2-1.
With the defender seemingly offside for the match-winning moment, and VAR not a factor in the tournament until the next round, United advance while the 2021 winners go out feeling extremely hard done by after initially leading the game.
Leicester manager Ruud van Nistelrooy, an Old Trafford legend who also coached at the club and served as their caretaker manager earlier this season, was understandably disappointed after the game.
“We are not defeated in Fergie time, we are defeated in offside time,” he said. “It is a hard one to take because the game was decided on a mistake, that is clear.
“It is not a matter of VAR, where you have to look at millimetres. It is half a metre, it is clear.
“The team didn’t deserve to lose the game in this way. They fought, played well, and dominated the game for a long bit.”
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Older fans will recall the classic meme-before-memes-were-a-thing known as ‘Fergie Time’, named after United’s legendary and long-standing manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
It made reference to the perceived number of times United would receive ‘extra’ time added on, past what was signalled by the officials in the 90th minute of regulation time, allowing for the Red Devils to turn losing scorelines into last-gasp draws and draws into dramatic wins.
While it was never proved that Ferguson or the club had any actual influence over this situation, the Scot never helped matters whenever he seen by TV cameras tapping his watch in the closing stages of …
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