As a Primary School teacher, all I hear is Man City, Chelsea and Liverpool. For the next generation of football supporters Man Utd are becoming irrelevant. I've even heard them calling each other Lukaku when they mess up!! I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
You're right, in a way it's kind of sad and alarming - kids catch on quick, and if we don't get our sh*t together for a longer period, say a few years, this will have very bad consequences down the road. Even in a commercial sense - it's something Woodward and the Glazers should be worried about.
AC Milan aren't getting bigger and better sponsorship deals in the last 7 years, and the next generation of Italian kids aren't buying Borini shirts. Success, in any area of life, is fleeting and should never be taken for granted. Especially in a competitive sport.
Hopefully we don't go down that route though. But this very issue being discussed in this thread just goes to show that, while style of play may not be the most important thing, it certainly is up there. And the fate of a club, the club's following, the club's finances, the club's stature, all of it... starts on the pitch.
As a club we've clearly forgotten this, but men like Fergie and Busby knew it very well. They both often talked to the players about how important it is to entertain!! the very people who made the club what it is - the working class Mancunians who would come out every weekend with their families and who wanted to see something exciting: skillful players bombing down the wings, attacking football, plenty of goals.
It's no coincidence that this very way of looking at football (the way that Fergie and Busby understood) is exactly what made United the most supported club in the world during the last few decades. No coincidence at all.
There's more successful clubs around the world. There's more successful clubs in Europe. Up until fairly recently there was even a more successful club in England. But that's not what captured the imagination of millions of kids around the world, who grew up to watch every single minute of United playing ever since the team was televised.
And yet, the club has forgotten this.
Now, as you say, kids talk about City, Chelsea, Liverpool. And we here in this thread (with frustration) talk about the fact it's become tedious to watch our team play. So yeah, it's funny that they call each other Lukaku. But, like you said, it's also sad. And the deeper you look at it, the more it gets just sad and not that funny.
I really hope our club wakes the f*** up soon.
