Manchester United's New Season Begins With a Defeat at Hull — and the Jokes Write Themselves
Manchester United opened their new Premier League season with a 2-0 defeat at Hull City, who earned promotion through the play-offs last term. For a club that finished third under manager Michael Carrick in the previous campaign, losing to a side fresh up from the Championship is not the start anyone at Old Trafford had in mind.
United have not won the Premier League since Sir Alex Ferguson's final season in 2012-13. Since his retirement the following year, there have been several false dawns — moments when it looked as though the club had turned a corner, only for the corner to lead somewhere familiar. Last season's third-place finish, under former midfielder Carrick, was the latest reason for cautious hope.
Over the summer, United signed midfielders Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos to strengthen the squad. The fixture list handed them two promoted sides in their opening matches — the kind of start a top-four club is expected to handle. The trip to Hull, where around 2,400 United fans made the long journey east, was supposed to be a straightforward assignment.
It was not. United lost, and the mood among travelling supporters soured further when news broke over the stadium tannoy that two trains back to Manchester had been cancelled. Home fans, never ones to waste an opportunity, chanted "You should have come in a taxi" at the away section.
Before kick-off, one United fan named Danny told BBC Sport's live page he was impressed by the line-up and the substitutes' bench — the kind of depth that suggests a club ready to compete. Another supporter, Alec, who has followed the club for 38 years, took a different view. The last 15 years, he said, had taught him not to be optimistic.
His caution is not without foundation. Back in February, BBC Sport reported on what it called a "growing disconnect" between the club and its supporters, noting that pre-season optimism had faded as the campaign wore on. Only a handful of players had shown their value, and while some potential had emerged, overall progress was limited.
For United fans, the concern is obvious: a third-place finish last season raised expectations that the Carrick era might be different, but an opening-day loss to a promoted side is an echo of the false dawns that have defined the post-Ferguson years.
The Premier League returned this weekend with a full slate of fixtures, and The Guardian published its annual club-by-club fans' guide to the 2026-27 season on 16 August. United's opening two matches against promoted opposition offered a gentle introduction on paper. Paper, as the Hull result demonstrates, is where optimism lives until the whistle blows.
One match does not define a season. But for a fanbase that has learned the hard way to manage its expectations, the first 90 minutes of this one landed like a familiar story told from the start.
