“I was deadly from four yards,” Dion recalled of that moment with his trademark humour. “To have that mantle, scoring for United and getting the first win, it’s special to me and I’m very proud of it.”
This was not Ferguson’s United at their swashbuckling best, the side we remember so fondly, with two dashing wingers who would rip defences to shreds – the game towards the end of this season at Norwich City, another Monday night affair, leaps to mind as a classic in that respect.
However, it was so important to get a win on the board in the context of kickstarting a season when so much was expected of the Reds, and yet the opening to the new league had been very much a damp squib from our perspective. It sparked a run of five victories on the spin and, although it would take Cantona’s unexpected arrival, in the November, to transform the team into a title-winning one, nothing can diminish the relevance of this 1-0 triumph at The Dell.
Under the lights, on the brink of more frustration and a barrage of questions about just how good United were, this was a moment that produced lift-off for our Premier League love affair.