Thread by @daverich1

This week marks the beginning of ten days of shameless @ManUtd nostalgia as it's 20 years since #Treble99. It was the best ten days of my life (sorry kids) and I was at all three games even though I shouldn't have made it to any of them. Allow me a short thread to reminisce... /1

First up was Spurs at Old Trafford to win the league. I had a ticket but I also had a friend's wedding in London. A friend I'd known for 15 years and spent my year off with. No contest really. Not sure the friendship ever recovered but here's my programme from the match /2

Old Trafford was more nervous than I can ever remember. Bear in mind at that point we'd won nothing that season and Arsenal were formidable champions. Never mind the treble, a lot of United fans would have settled for just getting the title back /3

The roar when @vancole9 put us in the lead and then at the final whistle was sheer relief as much as joy /4

Next was the @FA Cup. I didn't have a ticket but went to Wembley anyway to see what might turn up - and it was my lucky day /5

I was with a friend who had a friend who was related to someone who worked at United and he turned out to have a miraculous spare ticket. Only problem: it was 2.45 and he wasn't hanging around, so he hid the ticket in a plastic bag under a bush opposite a turnstile 😳 /6

The band was already playing the national anthem and I was fishing through the litter outside Wembley. When I found it I ended up sitting near the Royal Box and on the same row as the young squad players. That's Wes Brown's autograph on the back of the ticket /7

I threw my United cap at the team as they lifted the cup & Dwight Yorke wore it for the lap of honour. Some weeks later I saw this photo on sale, sent it to Yorke and he (or someone pretending to be him) signed it and sent it back. It's still on the wall at home /8

Next: the big one. The European Cup: the trophy that so much of United's history and identity is built around, that we'd only ever won once and that was before I was born. My sister and I had flight-and-ticket packages booked with a sports travel company. BIG mistake /9

The company went bust while our plane to Barcelona was in midair because they hadn't managed to get any match tickets. We landed with no rep to meet us, no tickets, no transport from the airport into Barcelona - nothing. Just two hundred very angry United fans /10

We made our way into the city and then the scramble for tickets began. Again we got lucky: a friend had two spare tickets. Again there was a catch: the tickets weren't in Barcelona yet. They were due to arrive by courier some time that afternoon /11

So while 50,000 reds drank their way through Barcelona and headed to the Camp Nou, we spent what felt like hours in a stuffy hot DHL office waiting for a man on a bike with our tickets. They finally turned up an hour or so before kick off /12

The seats were VERY high up /13

As for the match... You know the story. 90 minutes of frustration followed by 3 minutes of utter mayhem. I've never screamed so much, so loud or for so long as when Ole scored /14

Everybody had lost it. Looking down through the haze of countless red flares in total disbelief as the ref tried to pick Bayern players up off the floor so he could restart the match will stay with me forever. What a way to make history /15

On the coach back to the airport I phoned home. "Dad?" "Yes?" "Thanks for making me a United fan and not a City fan" /16

Sure, this has been a miserable season for #MUFC. But nothing can take #Treble99 away from us, or the style and drama with which we won it. Pure United. I'll be at Old Trafford next week for the anniversary: you can only make history once, but you can remember it for ever. /End