There are few things I dislike more than the 'man on the street' and his tendency to hyperbolise everything and anything when it comes to football.
Yet the advent of Twitter has given said street dweller a new forum to pass judgement and exaggerate. Enter... 'The man behind the screen.'
Carlos Tevez refuses to warm up: "#Mercenary"
Carlos Tevez returns and scores a hat-trick: "Mancini was wrong to get rid of him. #Idiot"
Paul Scholes returns: "#Glazer-nomics"
Paul Scholes succeeds: "Scholes has single-handedly won Manchester United the title: #Legend."
The list goes on: #WengerOut, #InArseneWeTrust, #Pardew4England, #KingKenny, #Swanse-lona.
Yet the biggest trend of this year has been the notion that the Premier League is now a far inferior league to its foreign counterparts and is a pale imitation of its 2007-'09 self. Whilst this may be true, the reasons for suggesting it are short sighted.
Ask most people to justify themselves and you hear: "Well, only one English team made it to the last eight of the European League, even Cyprus had one participant - we must be rubbish."
Wrong.
The performance of European clubs on the continental stage should never be used as the sole measuring stick for a nations footballing health. The real measuring sticks are visible every week where defending is at an all time low, ditto for the amount of genuine world class players on show (3 at best) and the 'big four' have never been weaker.
But the point of this column is to point out that Manchester United, in particular, have been the source of irritating hyperbole this year.
Rightfully pilloried for a poor showing in this seasons Champions League and Europa League the criticism reached a crescendo after the beating the 2008 European Champions took in the Basque country. Radio phone-ins, forums and newspapers lined up to explain why this Manchester United incarnation were faring so badly on the continent.
The hyperbole kicked in when many suggested that this was "The worst United side of all time and the failure on the European stage proves that."
Well not quite.
On the European stage Manchester United were just as appalling last season (when they reached the final) and to a lesser extent the season before (Quarter-Finalists) but it appears no one took the time to examine the previous 18 months worth of performances before passing judgement.
Had they done so it would be clear to see that a final appearance should not mask the deep rooted problems facing the side in Europe.
In 2010/2011 United were handed a draw that should have had conspiracy theorist shouting from the roof in Nyon. Paired in a group against debutants Bursaspor and a woeful Rangers, progression was a formality, before facing, and making incredibly hard work of, a poor Marseille in the first knockout round. Familiar opponents in the shape of Chelsea were vanquished in the Quarter-Finals before United took on the worst Semi-Finalists of the modern Champions League era: Schalke.
Had United been drawn with either Milanese club and then one half of the Clasico brotherhood, a final appearance would have been slim to none. Yet no one mentioned any of this when assessing the current version of Sir Alex Ferguson's side.
The same poor performances and kind draws were present the year before. United advanced from the group despite being beaten at home by Besitkas and held by CSKA Moscow prior to being picked apart by a ruthless Bayern Munich side who exploited the gaping holes in United's midfield and exposed the inconsistency on the right hand side by drawing a crucial free kick from Gary Neville in Munich, and goading Rafael into a second yellow card at Old Trafford.
This season the luck ran out.
Handed an assignment that was tougher than it looked Manchester United were eliminated in the group stage after failing to register a win against a side other than Galati.
The Europa League was never going to end well for United either. Despite the positive rhetoric coming from Carrington; I'd like to see anyone try and motivate serial European Cup winners that the Thursday night competition was worthy of their time. The players pulled out of 50-50 challenges all over the field and showed both Ajax & Athletic Club a great deal of disrespect by taking their foot off the pedal when leading.
So it's been a season of exaggerations but none are more inaccurate than the myth that Manchester United turned into a bad European team overnight.
There are numerous reasons for United's European failings of the past 3 years; none more so than the invisible midfield. But they are for another time. In the mean time....
#RDMMustStay.