- The manager needs time to put years of undercoaching and ineptitude to the side.
- Manchester United have a desperate need to qualify for the Champions League.
Both statements are close to irrefutable (some still believe this is a CL-qualifying level squad as is) and yet the latter almost completely errodes the former.
I think the caf consensus - which seems to be both reasonable and realistic - is that we'll be a 5th or 6th placed side at best with some people deviating by a place or two either side of that.
Not being a Champions League team has caused numerous problems this summer. Where in the past we could stomach the blow and still recruit (or retain) with the suggestion that the failure to qualify was anomalous and just a blip, we're now entering territory of [top] players avoiding us or having serious reservations about coming. We also don't have the coffers to simply drown out noise with wads of cash to the point we can offset this. There isn't a pissing contest to be had - we are a less attractive proposition without the CL and 'other' (such as us being Manchester United) is not picking up the slack.
Even if you remove the recruitment of players from the equation, as a commercial entity, drawing in lucrative deals and sponsorship etc. we're fading rapidly relative to our name and previous standing as a behemoth - the CL is the razzmatazz and the financial boon so many offshoots we're accustomed to arise from.
The above is stating the obvious and it is not new news, but it is an anchor around the manager's neck. I also seriously doubt that we as a club have budgeted and prepared for consecutive seasons - or a run - outside of the CL. Weren't there clauses and conditions set as penalties from sponsors should we find ourselves outside of the CL in consecutive seasons? The knock on effect will demonstrably impact upon recruitment, from up and coming potential to those about to make the leap to final destination clubs, and obviously ruling us out of the established star-level tier. These players go to upwardly mobile clubs or those already at the top. Two consecutive years out of the CL sets a ruinous precedent across the board and has us wallowing in the fallen giant territory, like Arsenal and their emphatic collapse.
I would like to believe that the club is sick and tired of cycling through managers and will stick with this one unless the season and performances there in make his position untenable, but equally, I can't see how we aren't in squeaky bum time with regard to CL qualification and the pressure that will heap upon the manager.
As fans, are you able to separate or accept the position not finishing top 4 leaves us in? It's very easy to casually state we're not likely to finish top 4, but have the implications of that sunk in? Is the manager going to be afforded that time by the fanbase?
- Manchester United have a desperate need to qualify for the Champions League.
Both statements are close to irrefutable (some still believe this is a CL-qualifying level squad as is) and yet the latter almost completely errodes the former.
I think the caf consensus - which seems to be both reasonable and realistic - is that we'll be a 5th or 6th placed side at best with some people deviating by a place or two either side of that.
Not being a Champions League team has caused numerous problems this summer. Where in the past we could stomach the blow and still recruit (or retain) with the suggestion that the failure to qualify was anomalous and just a blip, we're now entering territory of [top] players avoiding us or having serious reservations about coming. We also don't have the coffers to simply drown out noise with wads of cash to the point we can offset this. There isn't a pissing contest to be had - we are a less attractive proposition without the CL and 'other' (such as us being Manchester United) is not picking up the slack.
Even if you remove the recruitment of players from the equation, as a commercial entity, drawing in lucrative deals and sponsorship etc. we're fading rapidly relative to our name and previous standing as a behemoth - the CL is the razzmatazz and the financial boon so many offshoots we're accustomed to arise from.
The above is stating the obvious and it is not new news, but it is an anchor around the manager's neck. I also seriously doubt that we as a club have budgeted and prepared for consecutive seasons - or a run - outside of the CL. Weren't there clauses and conditions set as penalties from sponsors should we find ourselves outside of the CL in consecutive seasons? The knock on effect will demonstrably impact upon recruitment, from up and coming potential to those about to make the leap to final destination clubs, and obviously ruling us out of the established star-level tier. These players go to upwardly mobile clubs or those already at the top. Two consecutive years out of the CL sets a ruinous precedent across the board and has us wallowing in the fallen giant territory, like Arsenal and their emphatic collapse.
I would like to believe that the club is sick and tired of cycling through managers and will stick with this one unless the season and performances there in make his position untenable, but equally, I can't see how we aren't in squeaky bum time with regard to CL qualification and the pressure that will heap upon the manager.
As fans, are you able to separate or accept the position not finishing top 4 leaves us in? It's very easy to casually state we're not likely to finish top 4, but have the implications of that sunk in? Is the manager going to be afforded that time by the fanbase?