I think we all know how bad we are.
I feel bitter towards the United board that OGS was given three years in his position. He was happy with the temporary job for god's sake! We let this man (without experience) "build" a team and spend OUR money making us worse then before.
In that time we could have had Conte, Poch, ETH starting the rebuild much sooner and more effectively.
We then appoint Rangnick but ignore all his suggestions. His talk of 10 new players was too dramatic to take seriously yet he is right.
Sometimes players develop "muscle memory". No matter how hard you try to program someone to move differently they have become so accustomed to doing things a certain way they genuinely cannot change. The only way is to get them out and bring new blood in. If we don't get enough of the deadwood out then they will only infect the new blood like a bloody virus!
I still remember the transfer window of 2007 clearly. 15 years ago, sheesh, I'm getting old. Anyhow.
Bayern had just been spanked royally by AC Milan in the UCL 4-1. It was crystal clear that Bayern was on a steep decline and couldn't compete with the big boys of Europe anymore. Domestically the club had won back to back doubles. But players were retiring, hardly anyone from the youths had yet made it big time in the senior squad (Lahm and Schweinsteiger on their way though) and the club was dirt cheap buying players from Bochum and Cerro Porteno in Paraguay in hopes of unearthing diamonds in the rough.
Bayern finished 4th in the Bundesliga 2006/07. A really mediocre Bundesliga-competion btw. And back then only the top 3 qualified for the Champions League. Bayern were relegated to the Uefa Cup, today known as Europa League. Big mighty Bayern were the laughing stock of Europe, bullied by the likes of Stuttgart.
How does this relate to Manchester United you may ask? It's eerily similar. A giant getting its ass handed to it by minnows and in need of a total overhaul.
In that transfer window Bayern brought in Ottmar Hitzfeld as manager. "The General", two times UCL-winner with Dortmund and Bayern, was retired but agreed to manage the team for one year. Think of him as if Sir Alex Ferguson had returned for one year to steer the ship after Moyes failed capitally.
Bayern bought 9 players and promoted two from the youth ranks. A total of 11 players in one transfer window.
Franck Ribéry, Miroslav Klose, Luca Toni all were brought in the same transfer window. World Cup runner up, World Cup Top Scorer, World Cup winner.
In their debut seasons Ribéry went on to be named German player of the year, Klose got 21g+12a, Luca Toni scored 39 in 46. The most underrated of them all - Zé Roberto. The great brazilian, Brazils best in the World Cup 2006, had returned to South America the year before but came back rejuvenated. Once a winger he had been converted to a CDM. And my lord, it was like watching prime Thiago Alcantara. All that technical flair paired with a great engine, positional awareness and some bite too. Oh yeah, those two youths that got promoted? Sandro Wagner later went on to become a German National Team Player and had a decent career. The other was a bloke called Toni Kroos.
Bayern won the domestic double that year and reached the semis of the Uefa Cup losing heavily to the would be winners Zenit. But that window and overhaul laid the ground work for later attracting stars like Mario Gomez, Arjen Robben, Neuer and so on reaching 3 UCL-finals in 4 years (2010-2013) ultimately lifting ol' big ears once.
What I'm trying to tell you is that Rangnick - a german who certainly knows this Bayern story by heart - might have had a very valid point. Bring in 10 new players! If possible you should have brought in a wise seasoned manager for a year or two who could oversee the project. Like Guus Hiddink did for Chelsea in 2015/16.
Or I suppose you did do that with Rangnick. Except you didn't exactly follow through with the overhaul. Now that's you've brought in ten Hag he should be handed time but he also needs investments.
