The year is 1992 and it is the dawn of a new era in English football.
The rebranded Premier League has started to huge fanfare but Manchester United have opened the campaign terribly.
Clearly suffering a hangover from the previous season, when the title slipped out of our grasp in agonising circumstances, as we were pipped at the post by Leeds United, one of the favourites to win the inaugural trophy were falling dangerously behind the early contenders for the prize.
On the back of conceding the very first goal in the new division, to Sheffield United's Brian Deane on the opening day, the Reds followed up the 2-1 defeat at Bramall Lane with a crushing 3-0 home reverse to Everton.
A 1-1 draw with Ipswich Town at Old Trafford had, at least, registered a first point on the board but the pressure was mounting on Alex Ferguson's side ahead of a trip to Southampton.
This was an opening Monday-night slot for United, an unfamiliar timing back then, as TV companies started to wield more power in terms of fixture allocation.
It was a test of mettle and, resplendent in our blue-and-black away kit, getting its debut airing in a competitive clash, this is a game that lingers long in the memory and is always one associated with that classic shirt.
Ferguson opted to hand Dion Dublin a start, after the striker had come on as a substitute in the previous three matches, wearing the no.7 shirt that would soon become owned and embraced by a certain Eric Cantona.
A surprise £1 million signing from Cambridge United, which raised eyebrows in certain circles, the angular centre-forward would go on to have a marvellous top-flight career but was very much an unknown quantity at this level, with something to prove.
Dublin lined up in attack, alongside Mark Hughes, while the midfield offered perhaps more solidity than the flair associated with this side, as Ryan Giggs was in the XI but Andrei Kanchelskis and ex-Saints winger Danny Wallace were on the bench.
Brian McClair was unable to beat an advancing Tim Flowers in the opening exchanges and it took almost half an hour for Hughes to hammer a drive over the bar with a shot of real intent. Kerry Dixon produced a similar attempt for the hosts and, with 10 minutes left, Darren Ferguson forced a diving save out of Flowers, as a rather attritional battle appeared to be heading for unsatisfying stalemate.
As was traditional of the manager's teams, the sense that the three points were up for grabs prompted renewed effort in the dying moments and, with 89 minutes gone, Ferguson Jnr swept in a free-kick from the right. It came off the head of McClair and, for those watching on television, seemingly only into space inside the box.
Out of shot, Dublin suddenly appeared, sidefooting into the net coolly and instantly became the first man ever to score a Premier League winner for Manchester United.
“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.