United? Yanited? Man U? What to call Manchester United – and what it says about you

New York Times

2 days ago

Shaun Ryder of the Happy Mondays took to the stage at Elland Road, Leeds. It was 1991, when the Manchester United and Leeds United rivalry was deeply hostile, yet here was a Man United fan on stage in Leeds headlining a festival along with other Manchester bands.
Ryder surveyed the 25,000 crowd and asked: 'Are you Man U? Are you f****** Man U, you?'
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The terminology was familiar to locals when trying to sniff out stray Mancs around football matches and the crowd loved it — although one of them scaled a 260ft floodlight and refused to come down as the anthemic bass from Loose Fit's opening chords followed.
Man U. I'd only ever heard that term once before, when Everton captain Kevin Ratcliffe reckoned in a pre-season guide that 'Man U will be there or thereabouts'.
In the 1990s, when Man U became serial winners, the term was more a pejorative and not something United fans would say. It was hardly 'Manure', which some rival fans used — and still do — but it marked the person out as definitely not a Manchester United fan. Cockneys and Geordies called the team Man U. Maybe that's why Steve Bruce, a Geordie who played more than 400 times for Manchester United, still calls his old club Man U.
What else are they known as? The Reds, MUFC, the Red Devils, Manchester, or just United, which is bound to annoy fans of the many other Uniteds. In Leeds or Newcastle, United are the local heroes, not a team from Manchester. Most fans I know call them 'United' without meaning offence, though the club's superb official centenary book by the esteemed author Geoffrey Green in 1978 was called There's Only One United.
When my dad referred to United he called them the Reds. My mother calls her team 'Yoo-nigh-tid' as if she's a Yorkshire sheep farmer and not an Old Trafford girl. It's not only the term you use but how you say it. The YouTuber Angry Ginge has popularised the term 'Yanited' and that's how the word United has long sounded when sung by fans in defiance during games.
'I say, 'u-NI-tid' (emphasis on the 'ni'),' supporter Neil Meehan tells The Athletic. 'But I emphasise the 'tid' on the chant and I'm fighting a losing battle.'
'If it's one of those who support Doncaster or someone and you know they're about to say, 'How many games do you go to?', I say, 'Manchester United Football Club',' says James Young. 'As a student in Salford, I had to justify why I supported the team in a way that a Peterborough United fan never would. And I don't like, 'Man Yernited', just grates me for some reason. Like people that say, 'footy' — trying a bit hard.'
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Much is said in jest, too. I have a mate who says things like, 'Looking forward to some good man yoo-ing tonight…' Which means going to see United play. Manchester United. 'Going Man Yoo'ing tonight and the timing of those two fantastic performances previous are completely coincidental to my attendance,' wrote Bashy Mc on X in January after the 2-2 draw against Liverpool in the league and the penalty shootout win against Arsenal in the FA Cup.
For years, until a certain other club in Manchester became more successful, United were simply known as Manchester by many in Europe. That's how most Spanish people referred to United, and still do — City are El City. A ticket printed by Milan for a game at San Siro in 2010 simply listed 'Manchester' as the opponents.
There are terms of affection for groups of players like the Busby Babes or Fergie's Fledglings, but these were coined and used by journalists and not used in everyday vernacular. Ditto the Red Devils, which was first given to Salford's rugby league team after it took a two-month tour to France in 1934 and got the nickname 'Les Diables Rouges'.
And then there are the names that rival fans use. Juvenile ones like Manure or Manush***-ed. Then there's Rags (Red Arrogant Gits). I've heard City fans call United the Stretford Rangers because Old Trafford is in Stretford, Trafford.
There are also far more offensive terms. The term Munichs was and is used by a few rival fans as a slur relating to the Munich air disaster.
In 2024, the novelist David Peace released a book about the Busby Babes called Munichs. Some fans were outraged at the title.
'From the moment he revealed he was giving his book that name, people, including the lifelong match-going fan and broadcaster Michael Crick, suggested to him this was not a good idea, that it would hardly be the most appealing of titles for book-loving United supporters,' wrote United fan Jim White in his fanzine column.
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'But the author responded that maybe it was time United fans reclaimed the word. That in the manner of other groups who had been insulted by provocative language, they needed to seize hold of it and use it as a point of pride. Maybe, he said, Reds should all chant 'Munichs' in the way Tottenham Hotspur followers use the Y word. Peace is a superb writer; his Red Riding Quartet and The Damned United are among the finest of modern novels. But on this, he is wholly wrong. There is nothing to reclaim here.'
In Germany, Manchester United are commonly called Man U (there's a well-intended movement among hardcore fans not to say it, because of a misunderstanding that it's offensive and somehow comes from the Munich air disaster, which it doesn't), though they pronounce in it Men U.
'Essentially it sounds like the menu in a restaurant as a result of Germans learning at school that the sound 'a' is pronounced 'eh' in English and overdoing it,' explains Germany-based United fan Matt Ford. 'Hence they'll pronounce 'hand' as 'hend', 'bag' as 'beg' or, most annoyingly, my name as 'Mett'. Which is actually a type of raw meat, but never mind. Anyway, it also gives them 'Menchester' and therefore 'Men U'. With the weird emphasis. Does my head in.'
Near the Lake District town of Windermere lies the grave of Fred Attock, a Liverpudlian who founded Newton Heath Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Cricket & Football Club in 1878. They became Manchester United in 1902, which is much easier to say.