Imagine blaming SAF for the current state of Unite, due to his dispute with the previous owners over 20 years ago. Silliness.
It is not 20 years and it is not 'silliness', it is just something Man Utd. fans just don't want to accept - nobody likes to find out their heroes have flaws.
See:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/2374308/Ferguson-agrees-2.5m-Rock-deal.html which is from 2004 and coincidentally it was a year later that the Glazers became involved with the club. Yes, SAFs genius maintained a run of success for several years
after the American people came in, but everyone knows on here that the under-investment in the playing staff began during those latter years. Furthermore, this is not just to do with saving money on the team. There has been some debate here recently as to whether Moyes was 6th choice or whether SAF had given him 'the nod' well before the decision became public and I don't know the truth on that. But I can tell you this: the package David Moyes received will have been millions less than the great man and also a big saving on any other big names Pep, Mourinho etc. The Glazers will have been rubbing their hands glee with the Moyes appointment, especially because with the endorsement of SAF, if Moyes was not a success, there was someone else to blame.
I believe the current state of Man Utd. can be traced back to the SAF/John Magnier dispute, the Glazers arrival and also the Moyes appointment. In addition, Moyes was setup to fail because of the aforementioned under-investment in the playing staff, in those previous years.* Ever since then it has been knee-jerk reactions, changing the manager, changing the team, even changing the playing style itself. But once you don't get into the CL
there are financial penalties
and attracting the top footballers becomes much trickier. You know something else, I bet OGS has the same clause in his contract as all the others post-SAF: no CL and its sayonara to him & there will be no stability ever whilst that minimum target is put in writing.
*Did you see this for example:
There is talk that SAF was on a bonus for keeping spending down during the early years of Glazer ownership. This lack of spending has had an effect in the post SAF years.
I wonder, is OGS on a bonus to keep spending down too? He has certainly made some big savings recently these last few weeks. Getting rid of the 'deadwood' is admirable, but once winter sets in - long trips to Kazakhstan - artificial grass - injuries... some of the 'deadwood' might be much missed.
I am sorry if these 'home truths' are hard to take - but the unwillingness to accept that SAF built something magnificent, but sadly, then seriously weakened the foundations during the endgame, well
that is silliness.