Ruud Gullit: Manchester United are stuck living in the past
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/footbal...Echobox&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1660338048
Can't say that he's all that wrong honestly, we're very much a club that has come to value sentimentality and romanticism a lot more than efficiency and on-pitch results. We've morphed into a 90's/00's Liverpool style Nostalgia FC where we prefer to look back on our past successes rather than being hellbent obsessed with achieving future success.
Not unlike the old schoolmate who peaked in secondary school/college and continues to harp on about the old days as they've stayed static in life while those around them have evolved into better versions of themselves over time.
Even the way we hand out contracts and extend players is awash with looking backwards rather than forwards which is why we always end up with players who should've been moved off of years prior but haven't been able to be moved on due to their high wages that they've been rewarded with despite of a lack of consistent performance or on-pitch success.
We really could take a page or 2 out of the playback of the current big dogs in world football who have become well oiled machines due to an obsession winning at all costs/achieving success and doing away with any form of sentimentality if it ever gets in the way of achieving those successes.
Our 'United DNA' has become as big a hindrance in the way we do business in the post-Fergie years as any as its given way to the whole 'jobs for the boys' sentiment and constant rewarding of mediocrity. It doesn't mean we need to ditch the clubs identity entirely or ignore it, just that it wouldn't hurt to be a lot more cutthroat with the way our club affairs are ran. That's the way the modern game has evolved but we haven't evolved with it yet.
Would also help to have owners who were genuinely invested and interested in overseeing a successful enterprise rather than being passive and content with squeezing every ounce they can get out of the club no matter our fortunes in terms of actual performance. Our on the pitch stagnation will absolutely begin to have an impact on our commercial success much sooner rather than later.
Even with the massive headstart that we were afforded under Fergie, our commercial advantages over the likes of City, Chelsea and Liverpool will continue to dwindle until it's evaporated entirely and they've overtaken us given our current trajectory as they continue to be amongst the elite in Europe on the pitch and we continue stagnating and behaving apathetic over being a fallen giant stuck in the past
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/footbal...Echobox&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1660338048
Can't say that he's all that wrong honestly, we're very much a club that has come to value sentimentality and romanticism a lot more than efficiency and on-pitch results. We've morphed into a 90's/00's Liverpool style Nostalgia FC where we prefer to look back on our past successes rather than being hellbent obsessed with achieving future success.
Not unlike the old schoolmate who peaked in secondary school/college and continues to harp on about the old days as they've stayed static in life while those around them have evolved into better versions of themselves over time.
Even the way we hand out contracts and extend players is awash with looking backwards rather than forwards which is why we always end up with players who should've been moved off of years prior but haven't been able to be moved on due to their high wages that they've been rewarded with despite of a lack of consistent performance or on-pitch success.
We really could take a page or 2 out of the playback of the current big dogs in world football who have become well oiled machines due to an obsession winning at all costs/achieving success and doing away with any form of sentimentality if it ever gets in the way of achieving those successes.
Our 'United DNA' has become as big a hindrance in the way we do business in the post-Fergie years as any as its given way to the whole 'jobs for the boys' sentiment and constant rewarding of mediocrity. It doesn't mean we need to ditch the clubs identity entirely or ignore it, just that it wouldn't hurt to be a lot more cutthroat with the way our club affairs are ran. That's the way the modern game has evolved but we haven't evolved with it yet.
Would also help to have owners who were genuinely invested and interested in overseeing a successful enterprise rather than being passive and content with squeezing every ounce they can get out of the club no matter our fortunes in terms of actual performance. Our on the pitch stagnation will absolutely begin to have an impact on our commercial success much sooner rather than later.
Even with the massive headstart that we were afforded under Fergie, our commercial advantages over the likes of City, Chelsea and Liverpool will continue to dwindle until it's evaporated entirely and they've overtaken us given our current trajectory as they continue to be amongst the elite in Europe on the pitch and we continue stagnating and behaving apathetic over being a fallen giant stuck in the past
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