At Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United in the late summer of 1987, a winning August in the old First Division had given way to a more difficult September.
United hadn't won a league title for 20 years and Ferguson was only at the start of his first full season as manager. But United were still United and an awful lot of reputation was wrapped up in that name.
So teams would come to Old Trafford and play conservatively, sitting deep to frustrate a side containing star names such as Bryan Robson, Norman Whiteside, Gordon Strachan and Brian McClair.