Manchester United fans may be reading this with a tear in their eye, after the news that their Serbian captain will be leaving them at the end of the season, but he has given them many years of great service. Vidic has won five Premier Leagues with the club, and while he will not add to that tally this season he should not look back on his Old Trafford career with any disappointment. Twice Vidic broke the five-goal mark, and on both occasions he lifted the Premier League title. In 2011, as he approached his fourth title, he scored a vital goal at Stamford Bridge as United killed off Chelsea's championship hopes. At the back he was an absolute rock, and in the 2008-09 season the club went on a run of 14 consecutive clean sheets in the league. Even without the goals, Vidic has been a sensational captain for United, and they would not have won many of those 20 titles without him. In Vidic's early career, he still managed to become the Red Star Belgrade captain, and was in even greater goal-scoring form than at Old Trafford, with a total of 16 goals in 95 appearances. They look back on him as fondly in Belgrade as they will in Manchester, and time will tell where the centre-back will end his career, still only aged 32.
I am from Bangor, aged 24, and possess an MA in Journalism from The University Of Ulster. I have had work published in the Belfast Telegraph and interviewed several local footballers and Olympic athletes. I also run my own sports blog, 'Sporting Thought' in addition to contributing to What Culture.
