Today highlights run that poses serious questions about the club. I wish it were as simple as the state of first team. I wish it were about bringing in two or three players in the right positions and clearing deadwood. Tactics would be a simple fix, but it’s not about that either. Today wasn’t even about the performance of the first team. Today was about the performance of the club.
Wanting to do better as a club and having the resources means precious little when it comes down to it. It’s been well covered on here how the structures in the club and the overall strategy have fallen to levels that can only be described as derelict. The academy, scouting network, non-revenue planning and overall vision are far, far from the level that can produce the excellent first team football we cane to take for granted.
Times changed—not in 2013–but gradually over the course of Ferguson’s reign. He deserves all the praise he gets. He stands as a titan in the history of sport, but his abilities masked underlying deficiencies in the club. All it took was to enable Ferguson to routinely produce top tier teams. He had that in him. Before the rise of the petroclubs, few clubs in the world could match that formula.
That’s not United now, and that’s not football now. Ferguson is gone, and it’s now about what the club can produce through its organic structures. The only thing the club has shown it can do at a world class level is tap commercial revenue opportunities. That’s clutch. People sneer at Woodward for his focus on that, but it’s crucial in funding a retooling in a sport now flush with cash.
Woodward is a symptom not the problem. While he could reasonably see that he’s not a football man and needs a DoF, that sort of humility is uncommon at the top of anything. The Glazers’ complacency and greed is the problem. They see the club in terms of dollars and cents almost exclusively. Woodward’s role fits their vision. Woodward gets the heat from the supporters and they peer through the blinds like Jim in the Office relieved the green and yellow scarves have faded away. Woodward does his best, but he’s out of his depth in an overarching role.
The money goes into the owners’ pockets, debt (from takeover) servicing and into players. The academy doesn’t factor highly for investment. Allowing City to out muscle United in this front is a betrayal of the past and an abdication of the future that is as intolerable as any facet of this period. United stars sending their kids to their academy instead was a wake up call that as only been partially heeded. I’m glad steps have been taken to improve the academy, but they have not been bold or aggressive enough. United have the resources to fight fire with fire on this front an just haven’t. That’s shameful and could prove costly.
United have shown an ability and willingness to buy players like few clubs. City and PSG have an advantage here, but it’s not as big as it could be thanks to Woodward et al. That doesn’t count for much without strategic vision and a club harmonized to meet that. Go line by line down the list of transfers over the last few players. You see the means but don’t see a plan. Look at the contrasting styles of each manager since Ferguson. You don’t see a good plan. You don’t see an overarching identity and the resources being streamlined to meet that. It’s just not there.
Today was the toll. The rot behind the scenes caused today, this run and all the odious criticisms that dominate our view of the club. Until the club pins its colors to the mast on what it is and what its going to be, this is what we’ll get. Until every aspect of this club is brought up to speed and pointed in the right direction, first team success will be only fleeting if attained at all.
Buckle up folks. The powers that be won’t undertake the self criticism and reforms to right the ship any time soon. There are plenty of bright spots and the means, but no one is both willing and able to lead the club out of the wilderness yet.