Opinion: Were the 1970s the best decade to be a Man Utd supporter?

“The more adventurous the way of travel, the better it was. We went to Derby once on Friday night and got there about 8.30pm, sleeping under a tarpaulin in a cattle market near the rail station. Locals would ask us if many United fans were coming and I’d be really proud as I said, ‘Thousands, absolutely thousands.’”

“Coaches would line up at Gorse Hill in Stretford, ready to take the fans on their away days,” continues White. “For games at places like Ipswich and Norwich they would leave at midnight. Stacked with crates of beer, the coaches were a moving nightclub.”

For young Reds, it was a new kind of adventure. Away from the limelight of Division One, and with the celebrity-like appeal of Best, Law and Charlton removed, the club was free to re-establish its identity; reforming itself anew as a wild, thrilling rollercoaster ride after the beatific dignity of the Busby era.

When promotion under Tommy Docherty led us back to the top table, did we meekly file back into line, behind the big boys who’d been making hay while we were away?

Did we heck. We steamed to the top of the league and, for long stretches of the 1975/76 season, looked set for the Double.