Old Trafford – GAME OF THE PEOPLE

MANCHESTER United are in danger of sinking into a prolonged era of mediocrity in much the same way that AC Milan and Inter Milan did before they rediscovered their mojo in recent years. Some might say they are already at that level.

That has to be the conclusion after the latest setback to United’s recovery under Erik ten Hag. The sight of their fans leaving the Etihad at half-time as they went in four goals down to their fierce local rivals indicated that their own people have had enough.

Admittedly, United were up against a Manchester City team that was on fire and their latest acquisition, the extraordinary Erling Haaland, looked like he was going to score every time he approached the penalty area. It did look as though United had got over their early season jitters with four consecutive wins, but against City they were exposed once more.

It has not been a good couple of weeks for the club, with a huge financial loss in 2021-22 and now this humbling at the hands of Pep Guardiola’s side. It’s hard to blame Ten Hag, because he has inherited a team that has been constructed over a period of time and has the influence of half a dozen managers. The problem at United has been brewing over nine years and owes as much to poor transfer market activity as much as anything else. The 11 players that started the Manchester derby cost the club around £ 350 million compared to the £ 460 million City spent on their line-up. Although £ 100 million is a big difference, one look at City’s team and it looks like fair value, as opposed to United’s, which resembles an exercise in overspending.

The problem is also not a question of poor team managers, either. They’ve tried highly respected people like David Moyes, track record coaches in José Mourinho and Louis van Gaal, “one of our own” in Ole Gunar Solskjaer and a left field approach in the form of Ralf Rangnick, who was a wrong fit right from the word go. Now they’ve gone down the list of the most successful coaches in Europe and arrived at Erik ten Hag. They have tried almost everything except lure Klopp or Guardiola to Old Trafford. In fact, the presence of these two characters clearly gnaws at United on a daily basis. They have lost substantial ground to City and Liverpool as well as Chelsea over the past decade. And yet, Manchester United has enormous cache and greater natural cash generating potential than almost all of their domestic competitors.

Of course, they were impatient, but now United are desperate. They’ve gone from Champions League certainties to Europa League strugglers and this has clearly affected the club’s income. It’s a vicious spiral and with each blow, the confusion grows and confidence erodes. Naturally, the owners get the blame and there’s some justification in that, but there’s been no shortage of cash spent on new players, but United have not spent wisely. The apparent obsession with veteran superstars is not something a club of their status should be focused on. At the moment, they have 37 year-old Cristiano Ronaldo sitting on the bench – this is not only something of an insult to CR7 but is also a waste of money.

You only need look at the grim faces of United’s c-suite seating to see the disappointment and dismay at the club at the moment, but the most telling scene is that of the fans leaving their seats and exiting the stadium in a display of disgust. It is arguably time for United to reinvent themselves and to realise they are no longer the powerful force they once were. They have a problem and the sooner they realise it cannot be solved by the transfer market or by continually changing coaches, the better. This really is a bad time for their colossal empire to run into trouble.

FOOTBALL has to have its crisis clubs and for the first fortnight of the 2022-23 season, Manchester United donned the black shirt of doom. United were in a hole, victims of their own malaise, their poor transfer record and, apparently, shackled by their owners. Their 4-0 defeat at Brentford was supposedly as symptomatic of decline as their 5-0 humbling at the hands of Crystal Palace in December 1972. To make matters even worse, they had to host Liverpool at Old Trafford and a heavy defeat against their rivals – they were beaten 9-0 over two games in 2021-22 – could spark panic in the streets of Salford.

United’s fans are calling for the club’s owners, the Glazers, to sell and among the people interested in buying England’s biggest football entity is Jim Ratcliffe, a Chelsea season-ticket holder and United supporter. Ratcliffe has a net worth of US$ 28 billion, earned from a successful business career in the chemicals industry. Right now, many supporters see Ratcliffe as the club’s saviour, but so far, nobody has suggested United are even up for sale. Many still continue to insist United belongs to them, but the truth is the club ceased to be the property of its customers when it went public. The soul of Manchester United may rest with those that patronise the stadium on matchdays, but in reality, MUFC is an asset that sits in an investment portfolio.

Although United’s loyal band, and it’s a huge mass of people, might consider the end of the world is nigh with every passing defeat and demonstration of incompetence, observers from the outside know that the club is big enough and resourced enough to bounce back and become a force once more. With every bad mistake, however, recovery gets more complex and while neighbours City continue on a path of carefully-measured and strategic growth, United’s confused approach seems to border on comical at times. For the second time in the club’s history, United appear to have allowed an individual to shape almost every aspect of the club and along with that misjudgement, they have failed to plan appropriately for succession. Hence, the deck of cards has been slowly collapsing since 2013.

The top clubs are generally smarter than the rest – intelligence is now part of the new football business paradigm

Whether this is solely due to the Glazers is open to debate, but clearly, United have not moved with the times and recognised that intelligence and acumen have created the new football paradigm. The top clubs, in other words, City and Liverpool, are generally smarter than the rest. The most important people at a club are not necessarily the managers and coaches, but those buying and selling players, those identifying talent and the bean counters managing contracts. Managers come and go, but in the future, the most marketable individuals at a club will be sporting directors. The mess at one or two major clubs in the past few years can be partly attributed to bad and impetuous hiring of players, over-generous contracts and poor judgement in the market, not to mention, over-stocked squads of expensive occasionals.

While United fans call for new backers, it has to be asked what type of owners do they want to see in the expensive seats at Old Trafford? While debt, loaded on to the club when the acquisition was funded, is an issue, there has been no shortage of funds made available to buy players. Yet some of United’s transfers have been confusing and somewhat peculiar for a club of their size. A penchant for headline-making big name veterans has done little for the reputation of Manchester United and a number of others have not really been of the required quality. This may be the root of the problem, although it is easier to just blame the owners for just being there.

There is little doubt the hiring of the people working for the owners is something they can certainly be accountable for. What sort of owner will eventually turn up? The current trend seems to be for US sports team owners, who invariably want a return and are now becoming very data driven. United is a cash cow and a prime asset for an investor, so it would seem likely that if it’s not Ratcliffe (and nobody knows that sort of stance he would eventually take to team funding), then another US owner would takeover. The age of the oligarch and sportswashing middle eastern state may be at an end, the former for obvious reasons, the latter because of the negative PR that surrounded Newcastle United. If and when it does happen, there will be no shortage of buyers.

But the very nature of modern football means a team can lurch from crisis to new horizon in the matter of nine days. When Brentford thrashed United 4-0, it seemed that the 20-times champions were staring into the abyss. A 2-1 victory over Liverpool ended with the sun creeping over the Old Trafford stands with churns of milk and jars of honey being served up in the boardroom. Pundits eulogised about Erik ten Hag, the nearest person they’re ever going to get to Guardiola in terms of appearance, who seemed mightily relieved that his decision to leave Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Maguire on the bench worked. United were [far] better for it. Too much emphasis may have been placed on the win, for Liverpool have been out-of-sorts in their first three games of the season.

Only a fool believes a great team can go on forever

And now, the talk is of Jürgen Klopp’s side being in a mild decline, which is premature. Only a fool would pretend that a great team can go on forever, the continuation depends on replacing and enhancing a squad while in flight and on the evidence of the acquisition of Diaz and Jota, Liverpool have bought well. Sadio Mané decided he wanted to move on and he’s now at Bayern, but how much of his determination to leave was brought on by the arrival of new, younger forwards? Mane was sold for just under £ 30 million, a bargain for Bayern, but Liverpool paid £ 67.5 million for Benfica’s Darwin Núñez, a big fee for a relatively untried striker who was red-carded in his Anfield debut against Crystal Palace. Liverpool’s transfer activity is generally carefully handled and their net spend for 2022-23 so far has been just £ 5 million, a big difference to their peers. They also recouped some good money for squad players like Minamino, Williams and Grujic and allowed the popular Origi to move on a free.

But if there are concerns, it should be the inevitable ageing of key squad members. Virgil van Dijk, Joël Matip and Thiago Alcantara are all 31 years old and Roberto Firmino and Mo Salah are both 30. Jordan Henderson (32) and James Milner (36) are even older. On the plus side, Jota, Diaz and Núñez are all 25 or under, and Trent Alexander-Arnold is a mere 23. Andrew Robertson and Fabinho are at their peak but goalkeeper Alisson has years ahead of him. Some, if not all, still have some mileage in their careers, but the time is approaching to talk of succession.

Although the die-hards will be wringing their hands at the way their team has started the season, Liverpool may also be suffering from exhaustion. They had a lengthy, all-fronts campaign in 2021-22, one that culminated with two trophies and two agonising near misses. It would be understandable if they were a little flat after such an intense year, especially given the style of play Klopp advocates. More worrying for Koppites is that Liverpool do appear to have been “sussed” by some teams and this may be prove to be the catalyst for change, if indeed that is possible.

On the evidence of the first three weeks, United are not as woeful as Brentford suggested and Liverpool may not be quite as potent as they have been in recent years. Neither will be in any serious trouble and both will be contending nearer to the top than mid-table. Klopp won’t need reminding that City already have a five-point advantage over his team, although Liverpool will probably still be their biggest challenger, and Ten Hag will be aware that one impressive victory doesn’t make a season. But that could all change in another nine days.