Written by: Baz

For a good 26 years with Sir Alex Ferguson in charge, Manchester United fans enjoyed unbridled success year after year. They were always winning at least a trophy every season bar 5 seasons – the first 3 years of his tenure and 2 seasons: 2001/02 & 2004/05. When you compare this to where they have been Post Ferguson (PF), oh how far the mighty has fallen. In the 7 seasons since, only 2 seasons have they won a competition – Van Gaal’s FA cup victory followed by Jose Mourinho’s EFL up and Europa League victories. And now, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in charge their best season has been 3 semi final eliminations in the 2019/20 season. Many factors have led to this decline but what fans are more concerned is how to return United to the top along the likes of Liverpool and Manchester City.

  1. Ed Woodward – the architect of United’s weakened negotiations.

Ed woodward famously said back in July 2014, having taken over David Gill – the ex-chief executive of Manchester United, “We can do things in the transfer market that other clubs can only dream of. Watch this space” and “What resonates is a top, top elite player that the manager wants that is going to be a star for Manchester United. We are in a very strong financial position. We can make big signings.”

These were statements considered taboo during Sir Alex’s reign as they did not want other clubs to drive up the prices. But in his eagerness to prove that he is capable of taking over David Gill, Ed Woodward naively announced to the world how much fortune Manchester United have and of course any club that wants to do business with Manchester United would then mark up their prices – famously known now as “the Manchester United tax”. It is the reason why United always have to pay over the odds or the extra $10 to $20 million pounds more for a player. This does not yet include the hidden charges that is the agent fees especially with super agents Mino Raiola or Jorges Mendes.

What United can now do is to move Woodward back to where he is most useful – commercial side of business. He has had 7 years or 14 transfer windows to prove his worth and the most erroneous thing he has done is to have the final say of the player that a manager wants. At this point, the optics that is being seen is that he wants to be the main man at Manchester United – the commercial champion, the approver of signings and also the manager. In 2018 he denied the sale of – Martial, Rashford, Shaw and Lingard. In the famous attempt to sell Pogba, he override Jose’s decision. His attempts to negotiate a deal for Fellaini only to end up paying higher than his initial release clause further highlights how he is trying hard to build a legacy that David Gill had once did. But it is his arrogance that is costing Manchester United now. He and probably the Glazers still believe that Manchester United will forever be the biggest club in England – whatever the result may be. The longer he is there, the more likely United will be a fallen giant.

2. The Glazers needs to be removed.

Reportedly, Sir Alex Ferguson had plans to continue for a few more seasons after buying Robin Van Persie and Shinji Kagawa. According to Patrice Evra, who revealed in an interview, Ferguson decided to retire after their bids to get Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale failed. Whilst there is no clear indication as to why they failed, it can be pointed that at this point, the squad needed to be bolstered. United had won the 2012/13 title with what many have said was one of Sir Alex’s weakest squads. Would it be a surprise, as we have now seen with Van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and at the time of writing, OGS that as long as United get a champions league slot – the Glazers would not reinvest? The answer to that would be a shocking no. With the club laden in debt of an initial $660 million pounds, most of whatever money has been earned has went to refinancing the loan. An article done by The Athletic (https://theathletic.com/1833452/2020/05/26/glazers-malcolm-joel-avie-avi-manchester-united-bryan-green-gold-red-knights-solskjaer/?source=user_shared_article), indicated that the Glazers takeover has cost the club $1.5 billion pounds in 15 years. There have been many attempts by various groups to buy over Manchester United, but it has been widely reported that the Glazers are holding out for a buyout of $2 billion pounds. Until that amount is reached, or worst, United fall into mediocrity, it seems that the Glazers are here to stay.

3. Getting a top class manager.

There are many United fans who seem to think that OGS is the messiah to save Manchester United. He was their treble hero, a legend at the club and therefore he knows how to play “the Manchester United way”. He came in as interim manager and went on to have a winning form that was a regular occurance under Sir Alex. In 15 games, he won 12, draw 2 and lost only 1. This was then followed by losing 6 in 8 after he was announced as permanent manager and it was saved only when the world was sent into lockdown due to the COVID19 outbreak and more crucially, the signing of Bruno Fernandes. Whilst he has returned United to its roots in the transfer market – buying potential players and making jaded players like Martial and Shaw become better. It is his tactical nous that one has to question. He has a plan A – to play on the break. But other than that, what has he provided. He does not rotate his squad because he does not feel or trust his squad players. This is evident during post lockdown where he selected the same first 11 for nearly all of the games. His in game management is also left to be wanting. Having options like Mata and Ighalo would bring possible changes to a team’s attacking style with the former bringing guile, despite his lack of speed and the latter a target man who can bring others into play. But OGS has ever rarely used them to change the flow of the game despite teams hunkering in a low block against United. Instead he persisted with dribblers and fast forwards of Martial, james and rashford. In recent games, there seems to be a lack of style or structure in United be it going forward or in defence. Many have blamed Lindelof, rightly or not, for the mistakes that has occurred that has led to conceding goals, but are these not things a top class manager should work out during training? One only has to look to Everton and Leeds to see the difference in how a top class manager is able to extract the most out of their players and turn them into a stronger outfit than the sum of their parts. United fans MUST get rid of the notion of their glory heydays. It was something Sir Alex always ingrained in his squad and a value that all fans should get behind.