In the latter years of Fergie's reign, I was beginning to fall out of love with the way we were approaching the game. It felt like the grand old master - all too aware his time was coming to an end, sold his soul to the devil and was desperate to squeeze out the last remnants of silverware out of the side he had spent the last vestiges of his managerial career masterfully creating rather than plan for the future and put the fans first like he had always done.
Sir Alex for all his limitations tactically (overstated somewhat), always had it in him to produce rip-roaring sides that could take the breath away. Excitement down the flanks, fast direct possession play through the centre, flair in the final third, blood and thunder football played at a furious pace... but beautiful too, 'playground' football at its finest. Whilst clubs like Real Madrid and Barca have produced football that the gods would admire..elegant, mature, intelligent but possession focused.. United have always played a more earthier brand of attacking football, more raw, youthful, gritty but accessible.. fearless, pulsating breakneck speed football which gives individuals a platform to rewrite the game as they wish without needing to conform.
This gave way to pragmatism, championing more limited amiable efficient footballers like Valencia on the wings over more exotic yet unpredictable wingers like Nani. In 2008/09, it was the defence which led us to the title and the entertainment factor became secondary to success. Younger more exotic talents like Pique, Pogba or Rossi.. struggled to transition into the first team set up as the patience wasn't there to blood talented young players. The focus was on who could do a job for the here and now. For the first time in Fergie's reign, entertainment and winning football was no longer going hand in hand.. confronted with the fact that the side would need to be rebuilt and reinvested in heavily in order to revitalise the 2006-08 side in an attacking sense, a decision was made to win on the cheap and sacrifice beautiful football in the process. The side if playing in a certain pragmatic style was still capable of winning honours, but if attempts were made to play in the manner of old.. without Ronaldo at his swashbuckling best, it would not be successful and Fergie couldn't afford to go years without success again, his time at the top was running out and he chose the short term fix which would maximise his chances of filling his trophy cabinet in the few years he had left.
Now there is no reason why those last 3-4 years of Sir Alex's reign should have been allowed to symbolise the current malaise the club finds itself in. So what if the club endured a few years of slightly below par football and entertainment, it was still successful and with his replacement, we could surely reset the style back in line with Busby's mantra and press ahead at full speed, once again combining exciting entertaining football with winning football.. ultimately that was what United stood for, what its fame was built on. Fergie may have lost his way somewhat but this was the true heir to Busby who for 23 of his 27 years of managing the club, always aspired to play the right way and win... managing to combine both in arguably the most impressive managerial reign of all time at any club.
We all know what happened next. First came Moyes and then Van Gaal. We don't need reminding of the intricate ins and outs of their reign, but ultimately the club betrayed its principles and chose to take an alternate route to success. Now maybe the club felt that these managers would come in and ultimately adapt their methods, taking into account the clubs mantra but as we know leopards don't change their spots and what these leaders did was to try and mould the club to their vision and philosophy of how the game should be played and ultimately failed. Manchester United, was simply too big an institution, its history and folklore too strong to try and tame...
- Moyes' pragmatic football was more in line with Sir Alex's last 4 years but what he didn't realise was that the squad was too far gone by this stage and what it needed was a major rebuild -something far beyond his calling. He was neither a winner nor was he capable of producing exciting football.. an exceptionally bad fit for this club and a truly awful selection by the powers that be at the time.
- Van Gaal was more of a winner and capable of more attractive football to a point, but once again the club erred gravely. Upon closer inspection, this was a man who believed in a very pragmatic philosophy of football albeit couched in a possession-based mantra rather than in purely defensive terms. To the uneducated eye, he was able to produce sophisticated football teams that could compete with the top european teams and produced a legendary Ajax side of the 90s but this was an anti-Cruyffian manager who believed in conservative passing and eliminating mistakes on the ball. Not to mention in terms of winning major trophies, he hadn't really won anything of major significance for 5 years and the last time he won CL was 1995. So in essence we had appointed a relic of the past, who was capable of winning in the past and producing decent football in the past, but was now not really an uber-winner and lacked the ability to produce good football due to his dogmatic philosophy becoming increasingly negative in nature. Another awful managerial selection by the powers that be.
Once again the United machine has come unstuck.. fans in despair, rival supporter factions at a crossroad. Some arguing the club is on the right track and needs to focus on being pragmatic to restore the club on the path to success, others arguing they would rather see good football and to hell with winning at all costs.. but both factions are only at war because the powers that be, have repeatedly betrayed the club and lack the vision and direction to realise that sometimes for success to occur, the culture of the club needs to be respected and we need to look at what the club stands for.. what the recipe for success is at this club and stick to it, rather than trying to create a massive upheaval and take the club in the opposite direction.
When we were confronted with Arsenal of the 90's or early 00's. Instead of copying their style of football... or playing super negative football, we fought fire with fire and ultimately out did them with our own unique brand of attacking football. It was less elegant, less poetic perhaps but was it any less exciting? hell no.. as a young lad I preferred our more wing based, individual flair focused style and ultimately we achieved what they couldn't. Exciting football which rocked the domestic and european scene. Yes we could fight and do the ugly stuff, but ultimately these United teams were remembered as swashbuckling exciting teams full of courage and honour.
What United need to do is either reiterate to Jose what the club stands for.. no more of this holding certain attackers back on the bench because it compromises your defensive set up, or making your left wingers operate like left wing backs in big games and challenge him to change, or ruthlessly bin him and then start putting the wheels in motion for restoring the club back to basics.. attacking and winning football, hand in hand. It might take a few more appointments yet and it is not an easy fix, but we need to start looking at what the history of this club has taught us, what values this club stands for and be very selective in our next managerial choice. We need to be forward thinking and innovative.. because that is what Fergie and Busby were for their time. For british managers, they were incredibly innovative and thought outside the box. They loved europe and outside influences.. they didn't close their ears and eyes to new ideas and ultimately they wanted to win and entertain the fans in equal measure.
To summarise, our current manager/next manager need to start:
- Play a proactive attacking style of football (home or away)
- Emphasise flair/trickery and unleash our attacking players again - make it fun for them
- Respect the history of the club and actively engage with the past, challenge the players to win and entertain in equal measure, don't accept anything less
- Exhilarating Wing play - Best, Ronaldo, Giggs, Beckham, Kanchelskis.. its in our blood!
- Put the fans first again.. stop dividing us, we all want to win and be entertained, stop making us pick one or the other when the rival elite sides seem to be able to do both quite easily
- Sign exciting players who are technically on par with players who you'd expect to play for your Bayerns/Madrids and Barca. Stop going for below par PL-proven or Dortmund rejects. Appeal to the Mbappes of this world and make United the calling place for exciting young talents once again.. the Cristiano Ronaldo story should not have been a one off, he should have been the inspiration and the starting point of United being the place to be for likes of Hazard/Dembele etc instead we seem to be putting young players off with our style of play
- Promote the more technically gifted youngsters and integrate them into our first team. It seems the more technically gifted a United youngster is, the less chances he has of making it here. The likes of Pereira.. seem to have no chance here, but more efficient youngsters who play a more limited game seem to break through into the side more. We need to try our best to incorporate the more skilful youngsters into our set up in order to avoid another Pogba situation.
- No more hoof-ball under pressure. Play out from the back at all costs and commit to it. All the top sides seem to be able to do this.. why are we the only remaining elite club who kicks it long under pressure all the time, or passes it back whenever we get pressed
- Win the ball back more quickly, sick of us playing such a reactive defensive game when Fergie sides at their best were fast paced and looked to win the ball back quickly
- A manager who gets the club and its fans. Doesn't see us as a stepping stone or another job. Truly wants to be the next Fergie and Busby.. our history as a club is built on these era defining managers. Its one of our hallmarks of a club, we love our legendary managers.. but we don't tend to pick ones ready made, they tend to grow into the real deal but have proven they have an eye for success before coming to us. Striking that balance is key.
- Stop hoarding players, keeping players who can't do the job. More ruthlessness please and ensure we have players with the mentality to play courageous elite quality football at a place like this and guys who are winners.
not 100% serious).