Festive Football Fun: Manchester United Fans' Best Christmas Memories

Christmas and football are inextricably linked in England. Many European leagues have an entirely sensible winter break to deal with inclement conditions and allow the humans who kick a ball around for their teams to have the kind of mental and physical break they so desperately need.

But the Premier League offers no such indulgence to its participants. Quite the opposite, in fact. Its festive indulgence is offered to the fans—or consumers, as the bigwigs in charge would no doubt describe them. It doubles down on its product.

Instead of a winter break in the shops, though, there is a winter ramp up, with multiple games designed to capitalise on the Christmas holidays.

This might upset Dutch fitness expert Raymond Verheijen—as most things seem to—but it means that between the stocking fillers and Boxing Day fixtures, plenty of formative football memories can trace their origins to the festive season.

Let's take a look at some Manchester United fans' Christmas memories.

Christmas consumerism for football fans is not a contemporary phenomenon. According to Board Game Geek, Bobby Charlton's Casdon Football (also known as Casdon Soccer or Soccer International in various markets), was released in 1966. The United icon's endorsement was key to the marketing of this contraption, which featured an indented pitch and plastic players.

As Old Football Games.co.uk noted, the game featured a "sturdy plastic pitch and two teams of figures that rotate when knobs are turned to kick the ball." The site added: "The teams clip into place and also have notched rings on the bases to catch the ball bearing."

When you are playing FIFA or Pro Evolution Soccer this Christmas, spare a thought for the people for whom this was the equivalent.

This is a reminder that all games have the potential to be memorable and special, even a routine home win on Boxing Day in 2014—Louis van Gaal's side beat Alan Pardew's Newcastle United comfortably. As well as being extremely memorable for Ranjith for obvious reasons, this game holds another unique distinction.

Wayne Rooney was really good in central midfield, which is not something that could be said all that often. He scored twice and set up the third for Robin van Persie. He made two key passes, completed 90.2 per cent of his 61 attempted passes, including completing all six of his long-pass attempts, per WhoScored.com.

He also made two tackles and an interception in what was an excellent display.

Radamel Falcao made one of his most positive contributions for United with a lovely hooked cross for Rooney for one of the goals.

A reminder that not everything under Van Gaal was bleak, this was an enjoyable game to have as your first Old Trafford memory.

Video-game review aggregator Metacritic contains plenty of snippets to back up Liam Bryce's description of David Beckham Soccer, a largely forgotten original Playstation-era football game.

They cite BBC Sport as saying: "Top of the list has to be the excellent training mode...But for now, ignore this and stick with FIFA or Pro Evolution Soccer—they're much, much better." Games Radar suggested consumers should "go and dig out one of the better FIFAs or unearth any ISS, because David Beckham Soccer doesn't live up to its namesake."

The Official U.S. Playstation Magazine reportedly wrote: "If you have "FIFA" don't bother."

It should be stated for balance that Metacritic user MattM wrote on May 28, 2002: "I think the game is really good," so at least someone liked it.

Given how marketable Beckham has been over his career, the fact that this did not take off as a franchise probably tells us all we need to know about this one.

It was Boxing Day, 2007, and one of United's best seasons in history was around its halfway mark. The Red Devils were 2-0 up at Sunderland on the stroke of half-time and cruising.

They were awarded a free-kick around 25-30 yards from goal, and Ronaldo hit a perfect knuckleball, which dipped and swerved its way into the top corner. It was a superb example of the kind of set piece he invented.

The Red Devils went on to win the Premier League and Champions League double, with Ronaldo at the best he ever was in a United shirt.

A more practical Playstation One- and Beckham-related gift here. You could use it to store Pro Evolution saves.

This is an example of just how much supporting a football team can become intertwined with all aspects of a person's life. This is a profoundly personal gift, shared at Christmas so that the team can be a part of the wedding. Something new then, but definitely not something blue.

Essential accoutrements for the United-supporting child in your life. Assuming William Abbs was a child at the time.

Two years ahead of the aforementioned Boxing Day clash between Newcastle and United came another memorable moment.

For much of the second half of the 2012/13 season, United played a fairly pragmatic brand of football. Having got his team in a position to win the title, Sir Alex Ferguson shut up shop to grind out the required results.

But the manner in which he got the team in a position to win the title was remarkable, a glorious throwback to an earlier age of "we're-gonna-score-one-more-than-you" football.

Newcastle were ahead three times, but United kept finding a way to equalise after going behind. Van Persie made it 3-3 in the 70th minute before Javier Hernandez found the vital winner in the 88th.

After the game, Ferguson said, per BBC Sport: "That was a real championship [winning] performance." He was right, which isn't all that surprising given how much he knew about winning league titles.

The football calendar can, of course, cause a few issues at a time not universally associated with domestic bliss.

A lifetime influenced by one Christmas present.

"

@UtdRantcast Keano's autobiography from my grandad when I was 13

— 2016ean (@seancourt) December 18, 2016"

It should be pointed out that many family members would not consider the language in Roy Keane's autobiography suitable for a 13-year-old. That could have been a very formative experience.

And because we could not feature every response in detail, let's have a run through some of the other memories shared.

And finally, the winner of the "tear-to-the-eye" award goes to this stunning bit of Christmas-football related parenting:

Season's greetings, one and all.

Do you have some nice Christmas related United memories? Share them in the comments below.