Our Empire is crumbling!.. Apparently.

Youngie · 9th January 2012, 01:11

Rob Smyth-Observer
"It did not take a couple of spineless defeats to Blackburn and Newcastle, or a reminder of the apparently inexorable breakdown in the relationship between Sir Alex Ferguson and Wayne Rooney, to confirm that Manchester United are on their knees ahead of Sunday's FA Cup tie at Manchester City. The defeats and the latest Rooney story barely registered. After a while, you stop noticing the nails going in the coffin.

There is a perception, born of ignorance or sandyheadedness, that United fans complaining about the state of the club are just spoilt brats who can't handle the odd bad result. Poppycock. You would be surprised how many fans welcome defeats, even humiliations, on some level, because they hasten an industrial cleansing of the club that has been necessary since United embarked on the road to ruin with the Glazers on 12 May 2005. The sooner United hit rock bottom, the sooner the club can regain its identity.

Every significant aspect of the club is decaying. The squad is riddled with uncertainty. The star player, Rooney, has gone from having a sulk every football season to a sulk every calendrical season and seems certain to have one fallout too many with Ferguson sooner rather than later. The fans have been replaced by consumers, people who see no contradiction in draping a green-and-gold scarf over a replica shirt and who seem to take their attitude from Nirvana: here we are now, entertain us. The wall of silence against Blackburn was a shocking nadir.

The Glazers are siphoning money in such staggering quantities that, in the past three years, United's net spend is lower than that of Hull City, Blackpool and Burnley. There are now rumours of a move for Frank Lampard and a return for Paul Scholes. Lampard, Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Michael Owen and Rio Ferdinand. All hail the geriátricos.

Then there is the manager. In terms of results, Ferguson has arguably never been better than in the past few years, manipulating limited resources and imposing his obscene will to stunning effect. Last season's title was almost entirely down to him. Ferguson is a miracle of longevity who has emerged triumphantly from deeper holes than this in the past, and may do so again. Yet all genius is finite. It is not just all political lives that end in failure.

Ferguson has looked weary in the past two games, slumped passively in his chair when before he would have prowled the touchline, liberally applying the fear of God. His often eccentric selections have started to verge on the wilfully perverse. He is also picking more fights than usual, almost bringing to mind the last days of Tony Montana and Tony Soprano as they burned bridges with humanity.

Ferguson often says nobody is bigger than the club, yet there are signs that he has started to believe in his own omnipotence. His greatest strength – the absolute conviction that no challenge is too great – may become his defining weakness. It's a textbook tragedy: a genius unwittingly presiding over the excruciatingly slow ruin of the empire he created. United may beat City on Sunday and go on to do the Double; it does not matter. There can be no happy ending here."

Bear with me lads.
Wade through this waffle and bitter bullshit, it's worth it just for the comedy value of the last two lines alone!
Rob Smyth I salute you.

Grinner · 9th January 2012, 01:13

What is sandyheadedness?

Is he being gingist?

Plechazunga · 9th January 2012, 01:14

He did this once before, about 7 or 8 years ago. I emailed him about it... he's a red and a nice bloke, just seems to have panic attacks from time to time.

WR · 9th January 2012, 01:15

Why do all these shit articles get attention? It's just drawing more attention to something not worth discussing. Don't give them what they want.

Cal? · 9th January 2012, 01:15

Was it this guy who wrote a similar article in around 2005?

Btw, would rather not "bare" with you though...

Utd heap · 9th January 2012, 01:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Plechazunga

He did this once before, about 7 or 8 years ago. I emailed him about it... he's a red and a nice bloke, just seems to have panic attacks from time to time.

He has an account on RI and pops up every now and then saying Fergie's past it.

Nuts fella for a journo.

gooDevil · 9th January 2012, 01:16

We worship this video round these parts...

Youngie · 9th January 2012, 01:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Plechazunga

He did this once before, about 7 or 8 years ago. I emailed him about it... he's a red and a nice bloke, just seems to have panic attacks from time to time.

Email him again Plech, he doesn't sound well!

SteveJ · 9th January 2012, 01:17

'Sir Alex Ferguson powerless to stop Manchester City spending' would be a more appropriate headline; big difference between that and 'the crumbling of an empire.'

Red Dreams · 9th January 2012, 01:19

the one thing I am certain about is no matter who replaces Fergie, we will go through a period 'in the wilderness'. but as long as he remains here for the next 3 or so years...we will be fine.

everything that is done at the club will change in the image of the new man.

my only hope is the 'period' is not as long as the one between Sit Matt and Sir Alex.

The Neviller · 9th January 2012, 01:20

"Shredding his legacy at every turn" was his other famous article. Worth a google. Idiot.

Coca Cola · 9th January 2012, 01:20

If you listen to journalists, the empire has been crumbling for at least a decade.

gooDevil · 9th January 2012, 01:21

Someone should post the text so he doesn't get all the clicks for that nonsense.

Cal? · 9th January 2012, 01:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Red Dreams

the one thing I am certain about is no matter who replaces Fergie, we will go through a period 'in the wilderness'. but as long as he remains here for the next 3 or so years...we will be fine.

everything that is done at the club will change in the image of the new man.

my only hope is the 'period' is not as long as the one between Sit Matt and Sir Alex.

Not if it's Mourinho, I'm more convinced than ever he is the only viable replacement for Sir Alex.

SteveJ · 9th January 2012, 01:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Youngie

Sir Alex Ferguson powerless to stop Manchester United empire crumbling | Rob Smyth | Football | The Observer

Since when did respected newspapers employ bloggers? There are better football writers here on the Caf, FFS...

Mockney · 9th January 2012, 01:23

I can't believe he's written this again...What an absolute weapon.

SteveJ · 9th January 2012, 01:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by gooDevil

Someone should post the text so he doesn't get all the clicks for that nonsense.

Ok:

Quote:

Manchester United's empire will crumble...eventually...I hope...please read my article - I got a gold star off my teacher for it...the end.

Sarni · 9th January 2012, 01:24

He sounds like 90% of United fans in Poland, delighted when we lose because he can moan, moan, moan, very confused and running out of steam when we win.

Youngie · 9th January 2012, 01:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Twat

United may beat City on Sunday and go on to do the Double; it does not matter. There can be no happy ending here.

Well I sure as Feck would be pretty happy come May time! Imagine what an impetus to the likes of de Gea, Jones, Smalling, Cleverly, Welbeck and Young winning the Double would bring. Not to mention Citeh imploding!

The Neviller · 9th January 2012, 01:28

Enjoy his previous efforts, for those unlucky enough to miss it. Quite brilliant considering what happened in the few years after this article. Take a bow Rob Smyth, you massive bellend.

Maybe he's just a master of the anti-jinx. Hope it works this time round as well as last time.

Quote:

Shredding his legacy at every turn
Sir Alex Ferguson's brilliance famously knocked Liverpool off their perch. Now his incompetence is doing the same to Manchester United. How did it come to this, wonders Rob Smyth

Winding down: Ferguson no longer has the stomach or the wit for the fight. Photograph: Getty.
Rob Smyth
guardian.co.uk, Mon 31 Jul 2006 13.01 BST
Comment
It was John Cleese, in Clockwise, who said: "I can take the despair. It's the hope I can't stand." Manchester United fans would beg to differ. Usually, the best thing about pre-season is the hope: reality's incisors have yet to pierce the gums of optimism, and fans can live off the balmy, often barmy belief that this is their year. For supporters of most of the other 91 English clubs, that's the mood right now. For United fans? Forget it. After three seasons of papering over the cracks, it seems most United fans are awaiting the moment that the fault lines tracing a veiny path across Old Trafford are exposed.
Almost everything about the club reeks of disarray. Owned by the Glazers, who push buttons from a remote hideaway like Dr Evil; run by a manager who shreds his legacy at every turn; almost exclusively represented by the inadequate (Darren Fletcher and Kieran Richardson) and the odious (Rio Ferdinand); unable to close a deal for West Brom's reserve keeper, never mind the new Roy Keane. The signing of Michael Carrick, a Pirlo when a Gattuso was needed, is a band aid for a bullet wound, and a ludicrously expensive one at that.
If anything, it's a surprise that United have bought anyone at all. This summer, they have been like a pathetic drunk lumbering across a dancefloor at 1.45am, trying to get off with everything that moves. No matter how many people they move in for - and if reports are to be believed, United have made offers for dozens of players - nobody wants to go near them. And the one person who surely would, Damien Duff, was allowed to slip into the arms of Newcastle for less than United paid for Patrice Evra. You couldn't make it up. You don't have to.
United finished second last season, but that as much about the deficiency of the Premiership as their own quality. Arsenal will surely not have a four-month blind spot this season, while all evidence suggests that Liverpool's gradient will continue on its upward trajectory. With Tottenham getting stronger, even with the loss of Carrick, it is conceivable that, if they start slowly and get significant injuries, United could finish fifth; in today's environment, that would be disastrous.
The problems are so obvious, so fundamental, as to be beggar belief that they have not been addressed. Just as the glory years of 1992 to 2001 will only fully be appreciated in 20 years' time, so will Ferguson's subsequent failure. It is particularly bewildering that a man who once exerted such an unyielding grip on every single aspect of the club that he had to be virtually coerced into delegating has let things slip to this extent. Take the Cristiano Ronaldo situation: Ferguson said recently that he had not even spoken to Ronaldo since the World Cup, a dereliction of duty that is in total contrast to the us-against-the-world protection that he gave to David Beckham - and for which, for a time, he was so thrillingly rewarded - in 1998.
Once upon a time Ferguson could play 'who blinks first' with fate and win every time, his iron will shaping his destiny exactly as he wanted. Now he is reduced to uttering garbage like "it's like having a new signing" of Paul Scholes, Ole Solskjaer, Gabriel Heinze and Alan Smith, the irrational if-I-say-it-enough-it-might-happen gibberish you'd associate with a serial loser like Kevin Keegan. These days, the man they call The Hairdryer is full of nothing but hot air.
Ferguson's squad, once so taut, is a baggy mess of has-beens, never-will-bes and Liam Miller. The simple repetition of 4-4-2, of Giggs, Scholes, Keane, Beckham, Cole and Yorke, has given way to myriad tactical and personnel changes, to a ruinous obsession with utility players and tinkering. It's a truly appalling fact that, with Ruud van Nistelrooy gone, none of United's outfield players have played in only one position at the club. A nadir was reached in the FA Cup game at Wolves last season, when nearly £60m of defensive and attacking talent (Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney) was used in the centre of midfield.
It is an increasingly inescapable conclusion that, unwittingly or otherwise, Ferguson is winding down, a prizefighter who no longer has the stomach or the wit for an admittedly enormous challenge which, once upon a time, he would have fervently inhaled. Like he did with Liverpool. Ferguson's almost maniacal yearning to "knock Liverpool off their fucking perch" was arguably the single most important factor in United's 1990s renaissance. It makes it all the more vicious an irony that, 10 years later, he should knock United off the perch he had made for them through increasingly rank mismanagement.
Indeed, it must irk him beyond belief that United are making exactly the same mistakes that Liverpool did: lack of pheromones in the transfer market; laughable, fall-back signings at suspicious and ridiculous prices; deluded ramblings ("we are as good as Chelsea, no question") - and, worst of all, a dressing-room where playing the field seems as important as playing the game. Liverpool's Spice Boys were bad, but they have nothing on Merk Berks like Ferdinand, Richardson and Wes Brown.
Ferguson has taken this end-of-an-empire template and, incredibly, managed to develop it: he's added a sprawling, outsized squad chock-full of obscenely well-paid deadwood; insultingly obvious spin that a two-year-old could see through (the Van Nistelrooy saga); economy with the truth (Ferguson ridiculed a journalist for saying that Paul Scholes had been scouting for United; a few days later Scholes confirmed the story); a coaching set-up that had Wayne Rooney playing wide for a season and turned Ronaldo from the world's most thrilling off-the-wall talent into a run-of-the-mill winger when he plays for United, as was confirmed by his liberated displays for Portugal at the World Cup.
Ferguson, an essentially honourable man, is partly suffering because of the impossibly high standards he set, and he carries the fatigued incomprehension of a man who is out of time. When he cites his favourite United team it is not the Treble-winners of 1999, but the Double-winners of 1994: Schmeichel, Bruce, Pallister, Ince, Keane, Hughes, Cantona, Robson - a team that dripped masculinity, who bonded over blockbusting Saturday-night sessions, who embodied the old-school values to which Ferguson can relate. Real men. The gentrification generation - sarong-wearing, pink champagne-swigging metrosexuals - are entirely beyond his comprehension. He could handle one, David Beckham, for a time before eventually giving up on him. Now he has a pack of them, for whom the hairdryer means only one thing - a trip to Toni & Guy. It is a different world. Ferguson probably doesn't even know what 'merk' means.
Everywhere, principles are being sacrificed. In years gone by Ferdinand - who for all his irrefutable ability is the type of character whose presence in a United shirt symbolises much of what has gone wrong with the club - would've been out the door faster than Paul Ince could say 'big-time Charlie', but now Ferguson can't afford to lose his only world-class defender. In years gone by he wouldn't have considered signing someone like Patrick Vieira, on grounds of age or character, but now he is left looking for someone, anyone, to appease the fans. In years gone by he would never have given a game to someone like John O'Shea, whose sole use is to put the podge in a hodgepodge midfield, or someone as meek as Darren Fletcher. In years gone by, he would never have sanctioned the mediocre football that, except for a few giddy weeks in the spring of 2003, United have played ever since Carlos Queiroz arrived in 2002 spouting gobbledygook disguised as continental sophistication.
And the thing is, it is only going to get worse: Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham have all made shrewd, cheap signings and are going in one direction. United are going the other way: they are hugely dependent on Ferdinand and Rooney, but no number of Carling Cup medals is going to sate their ambition. Then there is the Glazer factor, the full, inevitable horror of which is only just beginning to emerge. United fans think this season is going to be bad. It hasn't even started.

Neo_Mufc · 9th January 2012, 01:30

I'm immune to this shizzle. Wummery at it's finest.

Youngie · 9th January 2012, 01:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by gooDevil

Someone should post the text so he doesn't get all the clicks for that nonsense.

Sorted.
He shouldn't be encouraged.

Jiggs'Hamstring · 9th January 2012, 01:36

"Damien Duff, was allowed to slip into the arms of Newcastle for less than United paid for Patrice Evra. You couldn't make it up. You don't have to." I honestly think that if I'd written that, and that many people had read it, I'd really struggle to continue being a football journalist. How can anything you say be taken seriously?

Steev · 9th January 2012, 01:40

I read this bizarre concoction of bullshit late last night. Thought it might be a joke.

Quote:

This article can no longer be commented on. The comments were opened by mistake

Hmm. Wonder why?

Cal? · 9th January 2012, 01:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob Smyth

turned Ronaldo from the world's most thrilling off-the-wall talent into a run-of-the-mill winger when he plays for United, as was confirmed by his liberated displays for Portugal at the World Cup.

I'm literally lost for words...

SteveJ · 9th January 2012, 01:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Twit

"Damien Duff, was allowed to slip into the arms of Newcastle for less than United paid for Patrice Evra. You couldn't make it up. You don't have to."

Yes folks, Damien Bloody Duff is better than Evra. Coming soon: 'Why Joey Barton is better than Zidane.'

RedLars · 9th January 2012, 01:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neo_Mufc

I'm immune to this shizzle. Wummery at it's finest.

It has to be. I've never seen the guy, but I can still picture him sitting there and laughing to himself thinking "I'm gonna get so much hate mail for this, I'm awesome!" while writing this crap.

The Neviller · 9th January 2012, 01:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cal?

I'm literally lost for words...

This was in 2006, before Ronaldo really hit the heights. Just shows how little foresight Rob Smyth has. And also shows that he just hasn't learned his lessons considering his most recent article.

mariachi-19 · 9th January 2012, 01:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Neviller

Enjoy his previous efforts, for those unlucky enough to miss it. Quite brilliant considering what happened in the few years after this article. Take a bow Rob Smyth, you massive bellend.

Quote:

Shredding his legacy at every turn
Sir Alex Ferguson's brilliance famously knocked Liverpool off their perch. Now his incompetence is doing the same to Manchester United. How did it come to this, wonders Rob Smyth

Winding down: Ferguson no longer has the stomach or the wit for the fight. Photograph: Getty.
Rob Smyth
guardian.co.uk, Mon 31 Jul 2006 13.01 BST
Comment
It was John Cleese, in Clockwise, who said: "I can take the despair. It's the hope I can't stand." Manchester United fans would beg to differ. Usually, the best thing about pre-season is the hope: reality's incisors have yet to pierce the gums of optimism, and fans can live off the balmy, often barmy belief that this is their year. For supporters of most of the other 91 English clubs, that's the mood right now. For United fans? Forget it. After three seasons of papering over the cracks, it seems most United fans are awaiting the moment that the fault lines tracing a veiny path across Old Trafford are exposed.
Almost everything about the club reeks of disarray. Owned by the Glazers, who push buttons from a remote hideaway like Dr Evil; run by a manager who shreds his legacy at every turn; almost exclusively represented by the inadequate (Darren Fletcher and Kieran Richardson) and the odious (Rio Ferdinand); unable to close a deal for West Brom's reserve keeper, never mind the new Roy Keane. The signing of Michael Carrick, a Pirlo when a Gattuso was needed, is a band aid for a bullet wound, and a ludicrously expensive one at that.
If anything, it's a surprise that United have bought anyone at all. This summer, they have been like a pathetic drunk lumbering across a dancefloor at 1.45am, trying to get off with everything that moves. No matter how many people they move in for - and if reports are to be believed, United have made offers for dozens of players - nobody wants to go near them. And the one person who surely would, Damien Duff, was allowed to slip into the arms of Newcastle for less than United paid for Patrice Evra. You couldn't make it up. You don't have to.
United finished second last season, but that as much about the deficiency of the Premiership as their own quality. Arsenal will surely not have a four-month blind spot this season, while all evidence suggests that Liverpool's gradient will continue on its upward trajectory. With Tottenham getting stronger, even with the loss of Carrick, it is conceivable that, if they start slowly and get significant injuries, United could finish fifth; in today's environment, that would be disastrous.
The problems are so obvious, so fundamental, as to be beggar belief that they have not been addressed. Just as the glory years of 1992 to 2001 will only fully be appreciated in 20 years' time, so will Ferguson's subsequent failure. It is particularly bewildering that a man who once exerted such an unyielding grip on every single aspect of the club that he had to be virtually coerced into delegating has let things slip to this extent. Take the Cristiano Ronaldo situation: Ferguson said recently that he had not even spoken to Ronaldo since the World Cup, a dereliction of duty that is in total contrast to the us-against-the-world protection that he gave to David Beckham - and for which, for a time, he was so thrillingly rewarded - in 1998.
Once upon a time Ferguson could play 'who blinks first' with fate and win every time, his iron will shaping his destiny exactly as he wanted. Now he is reduced to uttering garbage like "it's like having a new signing" of Paul Scholes, Ole Solskjaer, Gabriel Heinze and Alan Smith, the irrational if-I-say-it-enough-it-might-happen gibberish you'd associate with a serial loser like Kevin Keegan. These days, the man they call The Hairdryer is full of nothing but hot air.
Ferguson's squad, once so taut, is a baggy mess of has-beens, never-will-bes and Liam Miller. The simple repetition of 4-4-2, of Giggs, Scholes, Keane, Beckham, Cole and Yorke, has given way to myriad tactical and personnel changes, to a ruinous obsession with utility players and tinkering. It's a truly appalling fact that, with Ruud van Nistelrooy gone, none of United's outfield players have played in only one position at the club. A nadir was reached in the FA Cup game at Wolves last season, when nearly £60m of defensive and attacking talent (Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney) was used in the centre of midfield.
It is an increasingly inescapable conclusion that, unwittingly or otherwise, Ferguson is winding down, a prizefighter who no longer has the stomach or the wit for an admittedly enormous challenge which, once upon a time, he would have fervently inhaled. Like he did with Liverpool. Ferguson's almost maniacal yearning to "knock Liverpool off their fucking perch" was arguably the single most important factor in United's 1990s renaissance. It makes it all the more vicious an irony that, 10 years later, he should knock United off the perch he had made for them through increasingly rank mismanagement.
Indeed, it must irk him beyond belief that United are making exactly the same mistakes that Liverpool did: lack of pheromones in the transfer market; laughable, fall-back signings at suspicious and ridiculous prices; deluded ramblings ("we are as good as Chelsea, no question") - and, worst of all, a dressing-room where playing the field seems as important as playing the game. Liverpool's Spice Boys were bad, but they have nothing on Merk Berks like Ferdinand, Richardson and Wes Brown.
Ferguson has taken this end-of-an-empire template and, incredibly, managed to develop it: he's added a sprawling, outsized squad chock-full of obscenely well-paid deadwood; insultingly obvious spin that a two-year-old could see through (the Van Nistelrooy saga); economy with the truth (Ferguson ridiculed a journalist for saying that Paul Scholes had been scouting for United; a few days later Scholes confirmed the story); a coaching set-up that had Wayne Rooney playing wide for a season and turned Ronaldo from the world's most thrilling off-the-wall talent into a run-of-the-mill winger when he plays for United, as was confirmed by his liberated displays for Portugal at the World Cup.
Ferguson, an essentially honourable man, is partly suffering because of the impossibly high standards he set, and he carries the fatigued incomprehension of a man who is out of time. When he cites his favourite United team it is not the Treble-winners of 1999, but the Double-winners of 1994: Schmeichel, Bruce, Pallister, Ince, Keane, Hughes, Cantona, Robson - a team that dripped masculinity, who bonded over blockbusting Saturday-night sessions, who embodied the old-school values to which Ferguson can relate. Real men. The gentrification generation - sarong-wearing, pink champagne-swigging metrosexuals - are entirely beyond his comprehension. He could handle one, David Beckham, for a time before eventually giving up on him. Now he has a pack of them, for whom the hairdryer means only one thing - a trip to Toni & Guy. It is a different world. Ferguson probably doesn't even know what 'merk' means.
Everywhere, principles are being sacrificed. In years gone by Ferdinand - who for all his irrefutable ability is the type of character whose presence in a United shirt symbolises much of what has gone wrong with the club - would've been out the door faster than Paul Ince could say 'big-time Charlie', but now Ferguson can't afford to lose his only world-class defender. In years gone by he wouldn't have considered signing someone like Patrick Vieira, on grounds of age or character, but now he is left looking for someone, anyone, to appease the fans. In years gone by he would never have given a game to someone like John O'Shea, whose sole use is to put the podge in a hodgepodge midfield, or someone as meek as Darren Fletcher. In years gone by, he would never have sanctioned the mediocre football that, except for a few giddy weeks in the spring of 2003, United have played ever since Carlos Queiroz arrived in 2002 spouting gobbledygook disguised as continental sophistication.
And the thing is, it is only going to get worse: Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham have all made shrewd, cheap signings and are going in one direction. United are going the other way: they are hugely dependent on Ferdinand and Rooney, but no number of Carling Cup medals is going to sate their ambition. Then there is the Glazer factor, the full, inevitable horror of which is only just beginning to emerge. United fans think this season is going to be bad. It hasn't even started.

Maybe he's just a master of the anti-jinx. Hope it works this time round as well as last time.

Fuck he really couldn't have thought of a worse time to print that article. Ronaldo became the best in the world, we signed the likes of Evra, Vidic, VDS and Park for pittance, we made a CL semi final, playing some of the best football in the world, and then the next year did the double with a CL and PL. Ending the 3 years period, post this article with 3 straight PL's a CL and a carling cup which is hilariously ironic given that cunts last paragraph. Meanwhile Liverpool and Arsenal won fuck all.

Eat a dick a cunt

Oh and who turned out to be the smart Shrewd signings for Livershite and Le Arse?

Edmeiste · 9th January 2012, 01:55

I applaud those who actually read this. I couldnt be bothered. Looks boring.

Red Dreams · 9th January 2012, 01:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cal?

Not if it's Mourinho, I'm more convinced than ever he is the only viable replacement for Sir Alex.

think he is the most 'viable' and the 'strongest' one out there.

but every great manager builds the club in his own image...and he is not a 'local'.

not being xenophobic. but you have to be from 'here' to truly appreciate our history.

Fergie drunk it all in.....

tbh I had a false feeling of thinking we finally found the person to replace Busby when Docherty came along. We did not have the great players I grew up on...but he had those lads playing some football I loved to watch.

there has been a lot of negative revisionism about him since tbf...

Red Dreams · 9th January 2012, 02:02

there was another article after we got kicked out of both the Carling Cup and the CL...

I remember Keano saying around the time he left...."As long as Alex Ferguson remains the manager of Manchester United, we would be successful"

Cal? · 9th January 2012, 02:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Red Dreams

think he is the most 'viable' and the 'strongest' one out there.

but every great manager builds the club in his own image...and he is not a 'local'.

not being xenophobic. but you have to be from 'here' to truly appreciate our history.

Fergie drunk it all in.....

tbh I had a false feeling of thinking we finally found the person to replace Busby when Docherty came along. We did not have the great players I grew up on...but he had those lads playing some football I loved to watch.

there has been a lot of negative revisionism about him since tbf...

Hopefully we won't have to worry about it for a few seasons yet, but the timing works, Mourinho looks like completing his mission of the big 3 league titles, he has said many times that he'll be back to England...

marcus agrippa · 9th January 2012, 02:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Plechazunga

He did this once before, about 7 or 8 years ago. I emailed him about it... he's a red and a nice bloke, just seems to have panic attacks from time to time.

It certainly reads like something a fan would write, to be fair to him.

SteveJ · 9th January 2012, 02:06

The Empire Strikes Back

nistleloy · 9th January 2012, 02:24

Quote:

And the thing is, it is only going to get worse: Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham have all made shrewd, cheap signings and are going in one direction. [United are]hugely dependent on Ferdinand and Rooney,but no number of Carling Cup medals is going to sate their ambition.

Trophies won in the 5 and a half years since that article was written between them 3 teams....1 League Cup.

United... 4 Leagues, 1 Champions League, 2 League Cups, 1 FIFA Club World Cup, 4 Charity Shields.

Plechazunga · 9th January 2012, 02:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by nistleloy

Trophies won in the 5 and a half years since that article was written between them 3 teams....1 League Cup.

United... 4 Leagues, 1 Champions League, 2 League Cups, 1 FIFA Club World Cup, 4 Charity Shields.

Edmeiste · 9th January 2012, 02:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by nistleloy

Trophies won in the 5 and a half years since that article was written between them 3 teams....1 League Cup.

United... 4 Leagues, 1 Champions League, 2 League Cups, 1 FIFA Club World Cup, 4 Charity Shields.

I just looked at that quote

Liverpool?!?!? Liverpool!?!?! fuck me twice! this guy's ridiculous

Plechazunga · 9th January 2012, 02:51

Quote:

It is an increasingly inescapable conclusion that, unwittingly or otherwise, Ferguson is winding down, a prizefighter who no longer has the stomach or the wit for an admittedly enormous challenge which, once upon a time, he would have fervently inhaled. Like he did with Liverpool. Ferguson's almost maniacal yearning to "knock Liverpool off their fucking perch" was arguably the single most important factor in United's 1990s renaissance. It makes it all the more vicious an irony that, 10 years later, he should knock United off the perch he had made for them through increasingly rank mismanagement.

SteveJ · 9th January 2012, 02:54

See, Sir Alex has not only won all those trophies, he's also won Ed Miliband too.

9th January 2012, 01:11	#1 (permalink)
Youngie Reserve Team Player Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: "Ach..away and print yer Shite!" Posts: 4,015	Our Empire is crumbling!.. Apparently. Rob Smyth-Observer "It did not take a couple of spineless defeats to Blackburn and Newcastle, or a reminder of the apparently inexorable breakdown in the relationship between Sir Alex Ferguson and Wayne Rooney, to confirm that Manchester United are on their knees ahead of Sunday's FA Cup tie at Manchester City. The defeats and the latest Rooney story barely registered. After a while, you stop noticing the nails going in the coffin. There is a perception, born of ignorance or sandyheadedness, that United fans complaining about the state of the club are just spoilt brats who can't handle the odd bad result. Poppycock. You would be surprised how many fans welcome defeats, even humiliations, on some level, because they hasten an industrial cleansing of the club that has been necessary since United embarked on the road to ruin with the Glazers on 12 May 2005. The sooner United hit rock bottom, the sooner the club can regain its identity. Every significant aspect of the club is decaying. The squad is riddled with uncertainty. The star player, Rooney, has gone from having a sulk every football season to a sulk every calendrical season and seems certain to have one fallout too many with Ferguson sooner rather than later. The fans have been replaced by consumers, people who see no contradiction in draping a green-and-gold scarf over a replica shirt and who seem to take their attitude from Nirvana: here we are now, entertain us. The wall of silence against Blackburn was a shocking nadir. The Glazers are siphoning money in such staggering quantities that, in the past three years, United's net spend is lower than that of Hull City, Blackpool and Burnley. There are now rumours of a move for Frank Lampard and a return for Paul Scholes. Lampard, Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Michael Owen and Rio Ferdinand. All hail the geriátricos. Then there is the manager. In terms of results, Ferguson has arguably never been better than in the past few years, manipulating limited resources and imposing his obscene will to stunning effect. Last season's title was almost entirely down to him. Ferguson is a miracle of longevity who has emerged triumphantly from deeper holes than this in the past, and may do so again. Yet all genius is finite. It is not just all political lives that end in failure. Ferguson has looked weary in the past two games, slumped passively in his chair when before he would have prowled the touchline, liberally applying the fear of God. His often eccentric selections have started to verge on the wilfully perverse. He is also picking more fights than usual, almost bringing to mind the last days of Tony Montana and Tony Soprano as they burned bridges with humanity. Ferguson often says nobody is bigger than the club, yet there are signs that he has started to believe in his own omnipotence. His greatest strength – the absolute conviction that no challenge is too great – may become his defining weakness. It's a textbook tragedy: a genius unwittingly presiding over the excruciatingly slow ruin of the empire he created. United may beat City on Sunday and go on to do the Double; it does not matter. There can be no happy ending here." Bear with me lads. Wade through this waffle and bitter bullshit, it's worth it just for the comedy value of the last two lines alone! Rob Smyth I salute you.

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9th January 2012, 01:13	#2 (permalink)
Grinner fat gutted, hairy shouldered stinky arse Join Date: May 2003 Location: Gumbroski draws mud.... Posts: 21,569	What is sandyheadedness? Is he being gingist?

9th January 2012, 01:14	#3 (permalink)
Plechazunga Phones, soup, paint, chairs and computers are troubling. Join Date: May 2003 Location: Where Albert Stubbins scored a diving header Posts: 47,728	He did this once before, about 7 or 8 years ago. I emailed him about it... he's a red and a nice bloke, just seems to have panic attacks from time to time.

9th January 2012, 01:15	#4 (permalink)
WR Formerly Wayne_Rooney Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: SM: Milwall Posts: 8,823	Why do all these shit articles get attention? It's just drawing more attention to something not worth discussing. Don't give them what they want.

9th January 2012, 01:15	#5 (permalink)
Cal? from Redcafe (matchfixing department) Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: It's our perch now... Posts: 19,957	Was it this guy who wrote a similar article in around 2005? Btw, would rather not "bare" with you though...

9th January 2012, 01:16	#7 (permalink)
gooDevil First Team Regular Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: The Kids are the Future ✹ Posts: 10,730	We worship this video round these parts...

9th January 2012, 01:17	#9 (permalink)
SteveJ Nicest fella on the Caf and Newbie of the Year 2011 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: The Divided Kingdom Posts: 11,926	'Sir Alex Ferguson powerless to stop Manchester City spending' would be a more appropriate headline; big difference between that and 'the crumbling of an empire.'

9th January 2012, 01:19	#10 (permalink)
Red Dreams First Team Regular Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Thunder Road to Old Trafford Posts: 23,454	the one thing I am certain about is no matter who replaces Fergie, we will go through a period 'in the wilderness'. but as long as he remains here for the next 3 or so years...we will be fine. everything that is done at the club will change in the image of the new man. my only hope is the 'period' is not as long as the one between Sit Matt and Sir Alex.

9th January 2012, 01:20	#11 (permalink)
The Neviller First Team Sub Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Northern Ireland Posts: 8,357	"Shredding his legacy at every turn" was his other famous article. Worth a google. Idiot.

9th January 2012, 01:20	#12 (permalink)
Coca Cola One balled wonder Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 4,123	If you listen to journalists, the empire has been crumbling for at least a decade.

9th January 2012, 01:21	#13 (permalink)
gooDevil First Team Regular Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: The Kids are the Future ✹ Posts: 10,730	Someone should post the text so he doesn't get all the clicks for that nonsense.

9th January 2012, 01:23	#16 (permalink)
Mockney Only poster to be named Poster of the Year twice Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Bangerang.net Posts: 24,967	I can't believe he's written this again...What an absolute weapon.

9th January 2012, 01:24	#18 (permalink)
Sarni nice guy, unassuming, objective United fan. Thinks hes intelligent though. Nutter Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Krakow Posts: 21,628	He sounds like 90% of United fans in Poland, delighted when we lose because he can moan, moan, moan, very confused and running out of steam when we win.

9th January 2012, 01:30	#21 (permalink)
Neo_Mufc First Team Sub Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: The Matrix Posts: 6,481	I'm immune to this shizzle. Wummery at it's finest.

9th January 2012, 01:36	#23 (permalink)
Jiggs'Hamstring Reserve Team Player Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: right up next to Sky Valley Posts: 1,730	"Damien Duff, was allowed to slip into the arms of Newcastle for less than United paid for Patrice Evra. You couldn't make it up. You don't have to." I honestly think that if I'd written that, and that many people had read it, I'd really struggle to continue being a football journalist. How can anything you say be taken seriously?

9th January 2012, 01:55	#30 (permalink)
Edmeiste First Team Sub Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: In a land far far away....playing Fifa Posts: 6,962	I applaud those who actually read this. I couldnt be bothered. Looks boring.

9th January 2012, 02:02	#32 (permalink)
Red Dreams First Team Regular Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Thunder Road to Old Trafford Posts: 23,454	there was another article after we got kicked out of both the Carling Cup and the CL... I remember Keano saying around the time he left...."As long as Alex Ferguson remains the manager of Manchester United, we would be successful"

9th January 2012, 02:06	#35 (permalink)
SteveJ Nicest fella on the Caf and Newbie of the Year 2011 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: The Divided Kingdom Posts: 11,926	*The Empire Strikes Back*

9th January 2012, 02:54	#40 (permalink)
SteveJ Nicest fella on the Caf and Newbie of the Year 2011 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: The Divided Kingdom Posts: 11,926	See, Sir Alex has not only won all those trophies, he's also won Ed Miliband too.