The new Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho recently told Manchester United fans to forget the past three years as if they never existed.

Whilst he has a point that it hasn’t been the Red Devil’s golden age, it seems a tad harsh to completely forget all the good things that have occurred at Old Trafford in that time.

Here at the Football Transfer Tavern though, the punters agreed that it wasn’t particularly easy to decide the 3 best things United have done because there have been so many errors and only 1 title victory in 5 years, but we’ve managed to narrow it down and come up with a decent list.

Our landlord gave it the seal of approval so it has to be at least acceptable! See if you agree with us here…..

Premier League Title in 2012-13

Manchester City famously won the Premier League in 2011-12 in a moment most supporters will never forget for the rest of their life.

Aguero scored the league’s most famous goal to send the City fans into raptures, and give the Citizens their first title win in 44 years.

However, United regrouped and strengthened whilst City arguably rested on their laurels.

In the summer of 2012, United signed Robin Van Persie from Arsenal  and he hit the ground running in his career at Old Trafford, scoring goals for fun like he had done at the Emirates during the previous two seasons.

The Red Devils famously beat City at the Etihad through RVP’s last minute deflected free kick, which gave United a 6 point lead at the top of the table going into the Christmas period.

As City continued to drop points, the Red Devils wrapped up the title with a 3-0 victory against Aston Villa in April. The impervious Dutchman scored a sensational hat-trick against the Villains to wrestle the title back in style.

With consummate ease, United had won the title back from their rivals and that must be the best United moment of the last 5 years.

Winning the FA Cup in 2016 

In 2016, Manchester United defeated Crystal Palace in the final of the FA Cup to win the competition for the first time since 2004 when they beat Millwall at Wembley.

For a club the size of Manchester United, a 12 year barren run without winning the FA Cup is far too long.

So long in fact that during that time, Arsenal overtook the Red Devils in terms of all-time FA Cup successes.

However, under the drawn out stewardship of Louis Van Gaal, Manchester United beat Crystal Palace in a tightly contested game.

The Eagles took the lead with less than 10 minutes to play as Alan Pardew cockily jigged on the sidelines whilst celebrating Jason Puncheon’s goal.

However, Juan Mata dramatically equalised for United taking the game to extra time.

Chris Smalling was sent off in the first half, significantly reducing United’s chances of winning. Jesse Lingard produced a superb piece of magic though to turn the tie on its head and send the United fans into the stratosphere.

The triumph did nothing to save Louis Van Gaal though as he was sacked the next day.

To be honest, to some United fans, LVG’s sacking might be one of the best things United have done in the past 5 years considering the generally turgid football he subjected the team to during his two-year tenure.

However, we at the Tavern prefer to celebrate the successes rather than focus on the pitfalls!

Give Marcus Rashford his debut in February 2016 

It has only been 7 months since his debut, but Rashford has been a sensation for United and England.

He scored twice on his Europa league debut for United, twice on his Premier League debut against Arsenal, once in his full England debut versus Australia and during his debut for England U21s last night, he netted a hat-trick against Norway.

He even netted the winner in the Manchester Derby at the Etihad last season.

However, the teenager from Manchester just seems like a player who is down to earth. He returned to school days after helping United defeat Fc Midtjylland and Arsenal to continue his education and complete his A-levels. His innocent nature has warmed the hearts of everyone, even those who dislike United.

United have always been a team to blood youngsters and give them an opportunity in the first team. Examples like Rashford show why showing faith in youth can reap the rewards and his emergence has got to be in the list as one of the best three things United have done in the last 5 years.

Have we punters at the Tavern missed any obvious choices? Let us know below!