Ultimate United
United's decline started in 2008. Part 2 23 Aug 2018 20:20
The second part of our look back at how the last ten years have seen Manchester United go from European Champions to also-rans.
By Philip Meese, Chief Editor
When Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013, he left Old Trafford in the way that he had ruled it for most of his 27 years at the club. He went out a winner, as Manchester United lifted their 20th league title, and their 13th in the Premier League era.
Since the club’s greatest ever manager called it quits, United have not once challenged for the title. The five years since his departure have been largely frustrating, and the football on show has been nothing short of sleep inducing. Gone are the days when opposing teams would turn up to Old Trafford, and be beaten before they walked out onto the pitch. These days, many sides come to the Theatre of Dreams confident of getting a result.
In part one of this article, we focused mainly on the five years before Ferguson retired, and how United stood still while teams such as Manchester City and Chelsea moved forward. It has to be said, however, that there are just as many decisions in the half decade since his retirement that have contributed to the position the Red Devils find themselves in today.
2013-14 David Moyes
You had to feel a bit sorry for David Moyes, as he was walking into a dressing room full of players who had won it all, whereas he had not a single trophy to his name. The players just didn’t buy into him. Coupled with the fact that you always got the sense that Moyes never believed he was good enough for the job, it was a disaster waiting to happen. Throw in the fact that the new CEO, Ed Woodward, was also a novice and you start to realise why only Marouane Fellaini was signed that summer. Having been linked with Gareth Bale, Thiago Alcântara and a Cristiano Ronaldo return, the Belgian seemed like a consolation prize by comparison.
It’s possible that few wanted to be the man to follow Ferguson, after all he had achieved at the club, but José Mourinho never made any secret of the fact that he wanted the job, or that he doesn’t feel inferior to anyone. A lot has been made of the fact that he has never stayed at a club for more than three years, but how many managers do in this day and age? Either way, if United were going to appoint him, they should have done so while they were on top.
It started well enough, as United followed up a 2-0 win over Wigan Athletic in the Community Shield with an impressive 4-1 opening day win at Swansea City. A month later, however, it was a different story. A narrow defeat to Liverpool at Anfield was followed by a 4-1 thrashing by City at the Etihad, a scoreline which actually flattered United. When West Bromwich Albion came to Old Trafford and won 2-1, everyone knew that United’s title defence was already over, less than six weeks into the season. The general consensus was that Champions League qualification looked unlikely.
The writing seemed to be on the wall when United lost two home fixtures in the space of a few days. Moyes’ pre-match comments that he wanted to “contain” Newcastle are not what is expected when Old Trafford is hosting a mid-table team. Matches such as this were commonplace during his sole season in charge of the club, and one of the factors was the regular absence of Robin van Persie. The Dutchman had been an injury-prone player for most of his career, but had finally found a way to overcome it. His previous two seasons had seen him score almost 70 goals for Arsenal and United, and this was down to a personal training programme that enabled his body to cope with the demands of English football. Although it has never been confirmed by van Persie, it is rumoured that Moyes completely disregarded this training regime, and the Dutch striker was made to do the same training as everyone else. Whether this is true or not, van Persie made twenty appearances less than he had in Ferguson’s last season, still scoring 18 goals.
There were big expectations when United signed Chelsea’s two-time player of the year Juan Mata in the January transfer window. Much like Fellaini, this smacked of a panic signing, and did nothing to change United’s season. They were 7th in the table when Mata signed, and that’s where they finished. The season also saw United hand a £50,000 a week contract to Adnan Januzaj, based on one good performance against relegation battlers Sunderland. Clearly the board were mindful of another Pogba situation, but he never once repeated that kind of performance after signing. Few were sorry when he left the club.
During Moyes’ last game in charge of United, it was clear that he had lost the dressing room, but a lot of those players were gone that summer anyway. Who knows what might have happened if he had been allowed to build a team? Instead the board panicked and brought in a big name manager with an equally big reputation. But why hand a six year contract to Moyes if they never had total faith in him?
2014-16 – LVG
When Louis van Gaal took over, there was a lot of expectation. Here was a manager who had won titles in Spain, Holland and Germany. His Ajax side who won the Champions League in 1995 were one of the best teams of the modern era. He had also led the Netherlands to 3rd place in the World Cup. It seemed a match made in Heaven.
The reality was that the fast-flowing football played by his sides in the 1990’s was not how he played it at Old Trafford. Instead, van Gaal seemed more interested in keeping possession than in the actual results. If United drew 0-0, but had 75% of the ball, it was like a victory to him.
Some of the signings that were made in his tenure were also ill thought out. Bastian Schweinsteiger, Morgan Schneiderlin and Memphis Depay were all shipped out within nine months of van Gaal being sacked. Daley Blind left earlier this summer and Matteo Darmian seems certain to follow him. Marcos Rojo might have been on his way had United secured a new centre-half this summer. Ángel Di María never wanted to come in the first place. Only Ander Herrera, Luke Shaw and Sergio Romero remain from van Gaal’s transfers, none of whom have made themselves indispensable so far.
On the subject of transfers, one of the most exciting players currently in the Premier League, Wilfried Zaha, was let go for a criminally low fee of £3m. The last signing made by Sir Alex Ferguson would now walk into United’s squad, especially in a position they are trying to strengthen. His Old Trafford career spanned just four appearances before returning to Crystal Palace, none of them under van Gaal.
The overpriced, underperforming players added to the formula of the sleep-inducing football on show at Old Trafford, meant that the fans were never going to be on van Gaal’s side for too long. When United failed to qualify for the Champions League in 2016, even winning the F.A. Cup was never going to be enough to save him. Appointing the Dutchman was a move that seemed to make sense at the time. In hindsight, maybe Ed Woodward should have paid more attention to what the hierarchy at Bayern Munich had said about his reign there before hiring him.
The Mourinho Era
Two trophies in his first year, and Champions League qualification in both seasons points to a slight halt to the decline, on paper at least. There are a lot of United fans that are still disgruntled at the current situation, however, especially given the lack or transfer activity this summer.
Despite the heavy spending over the previous two years, the squad is still in need of surgery. The eight years of mismanagement that preceded Mourinho’s appointment cannot be undone in two seasons. The reality is that Mourinho’s reign can only really be judged when he either leaves Old Trafford, or wins the Premier League or Champions League. He will either be a success or a failure.
Unfortunately, some fans unrealistically thought that because he has won so much at other clubs that he would come in and instantly turn the club around. Pep Guardiola’s impact at City has only served to amplify this, but he walked into a much better squad than Mourinho. Many of the players like David Silva, Fernandinho, Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling, as well as Agüero, were already at the club when he arrived. All of them were big contributors to City’s title success last season.
Compare that with Mourinho, who has still to clear out the last remnants of what he inherited from van Gaal. He had a much bigger task than Guardiola, and his record suggests he should be given the chance to finish the rebuild. He does, however, need to get the team playing in a more attacking manner. If he doesn’t, and should he ever drop out of the Champions League places, he will most likely go the same way as van Gaal.
Conclusion
Put simply, United’s transfer activity over a few key years following Moscow is where it really went wrong. But why did they fail to invest back then, only to do a complete U-turn a few years later? It leaves a number of questions.
Did the Glazers not trust Fergie with big money? Given that the last big money signing he made, Dimitar Berbatov, wasn’t even deemed good enough to start either of the Champions League Finals United reached in 2009 and 2011, it’s very possible. In fact, he was left out of the squad altogether for the last one so that may be the case. If so, it would strengthen the argument that he wasted £30 million on a player he later realised he didn’t really need. With Ronaldo gone, Carlos Tevez could have played a starring role for United.
Was it that Ferguson was determined to show that his squad didn’t need to match the spending of City and Chelsea, so he decided that he would match them without adding to the financial madness that ensues in every transfer window? If so, then he was being truthful when he said there was “no value in the market”, but then again, the transfer fees in football have been over inflated for years. It may also be that the debt placed on the club meant that Ferguson was told he would have to keep things ticking over with minimal spending for a couple of years. This would also explain that comment, as he would have to tell the fans something. Most United fans believe the latter.
With the revenue generated by football increasing every year, plus the size of the deals that United have signed with Chevrolet and Adidas, the club have indulged in some unbelievable spending in the last few seasons. If they’d spent like this when they were on top, however, they probably wouldn’t be playing catch up now. As a result the over-inflated, wasteful spending that followed Ferguson’s retirement tells its own story. Panic buying to paper over the cracks of a bang average squad is what Mourinho has had to try and patch up over the last two years.
This is not to say, however, that Mourinho is without fault. The football served up under the Portuguese manager is only a slight improvement on that of his predecessor. That Mourinho doesn’t completely trust any of his backline comes as no surprise to any fan; most feel the same way. This seems to be the reason for the bus parking mentality that even seems to creep into home games against relegation strugglers.
The annoying thing for United fans is how limp they are going forward. There is so much attacking potential there that it is baffling that Mourinho doesn’t throw caution to the wind and let the shackles off. If he believes that defence is his side’s weakness, why not concentrate on a major strength? Right now, most United fans would rather see their side throw away a three goal lead at home because they are attacking, than take a 1-0 lead and then bore the opposition to death until full time. He needs to find the right formula before he loses both the dressing room and the Old Trafford crowd.
The position United find themselves in at the moment cannot be wholly blamed on Mourinho. The club had been mismanaged for eight years prior to his arrival, but two years into the job he seems no closer to challenging for the big prizes. Some fans believe that Manchester United would still be dominating if Ferguson was still in charge. It’s very likely they wouldn’t have fallen this far, and that Champions League football would probably be guaranteed every season. But he would have had to retire at some point, and if he had been using the same quick fix solutions as he did in the last few years of his tenure, the freefall would have still happened eventually.
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