The breaking of Manchester United

[rcoobc]

I think right now ranks pretty high for brokenness. A season that felt so full of promise, and then the total collapse of the whole Ole era within a few weeks really. With repercussions reaching backwards, as it became clear that a lot of the negativity that once seemed misplaced or exaggerated was, well, true. And then the slowly unfolding nightmare of the Rangnick intermezzo that just reflected so horribly on everyone - Rangnick, the players, the club management. And then....nothing. Rather than treating last season as the cataclysm it was, the club's mentality seems to be one of continuing incremental improvement, as if this was just a minor setback. Rangnick said a lot of stuff in pressers that were perfectly true, and which really had quite dramatic implications. And which in the end meant nothing. Club just shrugged and moved on. "Look, new guy in the chair. Things will be better now. We believe this is a very talented squad." Currently I find it impossible to conjure any sense of belief or optimism. Started up a FM game for the first time in ages, and found myself instinctively avoiding any player associated with Man Utd. I don't even want to think about them.

(Not even the transfer window can get the juices flowing. Most rumours I read, the reaction is "what, why"?. Like Robert Lewandowski. What, we need two star strikers in their mid/late thirties? On a team that will evidently play 4231? It's generally strikers, No 8s and CBs, rather than defensive midfielders, RBs and positionally versatile forwards, which seems to me to be the areas where we have gaping holes.)

I don't think I've ever know a group of players to have their reputations tarnished so badly as this.

 

[rcoobc]

I think the rot started while Fergie was still in charge, Firstly getting that team to the title was a minor miracle, it was full of players on there last legs you just need to look at the numbers of that squad that retired over the next 2 seasons. But while that was incredible achievement, Fergie who had made his name being ruthless in moving players on over the 1st 2 decades of his rule at the end clung on to to many players far to long.

But the moment that Truely broke us was the hiring of Woodward, who clearly didnt know how to run a the football side of the business and was basically given free rein for nearly a decade.

I mean yeah, but we had;

De Gea
Rafael
Smalling
Jones
Anderson
Rooney
Evans
Welbeck
Cleverley
Hernandez
Kagawa

who were all still young or reasonably young. Then we had come in through the academy

Januzaj
Rashford,
Lingard,
Greenwood

And we added

Herrara,
Shaw,
Di Maria
Blind,
Depay,
Darmian
Pogba,
Ibrahimović
Mkhitaryan
Lukaku
Matic
Sanchez
Lindelof
Fred
Maguire
Fernandez
Wan-Bissaka
Daniel James
van de Beek
Telles
Sancho
Varane
Ronaldo

 

[Bojan Djordjic]

Except all that proved he was not a manager equipped to deal with the key responsibilities of a Manchester United manager. Making silly rules for players who were proven winners such as the no chips rule showed the Moyes mentality.

I’m always baffled that Moyes expecting pro athletes not to have chips with their meals is one of the go-to anecdotes to demonstrate what a muppet he was.

 

[Kag]

It started the summer we sold Ronaldo, pocketed the money, reneged on Tevez, and replaced them with Gabriel Obertan and Michael Owen. We were kings of Europe and actively sought to weaken our position in European football.

The Glazers, Ferguson, Gill, Woodward, the subsequent managers and players are all culpable; some more than others. While there is a tendency to blame it all on Woodward, this wasn’t a one man show. The same decline would have happened under that pole-climber, Gill. All that needed to happen to allow it to unfold was to rip off that the Ferguson-sized plaster that was holding it altogether.

Bastards, the lot of them (not Fergie for the most part).

 

[BigDycheEnergy]

I wont accept Fergie taking any blame. At worst he's guilty of underestimating himself and how terrible things actually would be the moment he left. But what should he have done? He made it work while he was in charge and he had a very good reason for retiring. Moyes was also far from his first choice.

 

[Coops73]

It started the summer we sold Ronaldo, pocketed the money, reneged on Tevez, and replaced them with Gabriel Obertan and Michael Owen. We were kings of Europe and actively sought to weaken our position in European football.

The Glazers, Ferguson, Gill, Woodward, the subsequent managers and players are all culpable; some more than others. While there is a tendency to blame it all on Woodward, this wasn’t a one man show. The same decline would have happened under that pole-climber, Gill. All that needed to happen to allow it to unfold was to rip off that the Ferguson-sized plaster that was holding it altogether.

Bastards, the lot of them (not Fergie for the most part).

You could argue it started with the Rock of Gibraltar.

 

[Kag]

You could argue it started with the Rock of Gibraltar.

You could, although the football decisions weren’t quite as shite then.

 

[Nytram Shakes]

I mean yeah, but we had;

De Gea
Rafael
Smalling
Jones
Anderson
Rooney
Evans
Welbeck
Cleverley
Hernandez
Kagawa

who were all still young or reasonably young. Then we had come in through the academy

Januzaj
Rashford,
Lingard,
Greenwood

And we added

Herrara,
Shaw,
Di Maria
Blind,
Depay,
Darmian
Pogba,
Ibrahimović
Mkhitaryan
Lukaku
Matic
Sanchez
Lindelof
Fred
Maguire
Fernandez
Wan-Bissaka
Daniel James
van de Beek
Telles
Sancho
Varane
Ronaldo

I dont really under stand your point?

 

[mitchmouse]

More an ongoing erosion over the last 10 years or so than a definitive breaking....from the Glazers taking over to having Woodward in charge of footballing decisions, the latter being singlehandedly more responsible than anyone in the "breaking" of Man United imo.

To be honest I feel broken when I see the players on the pitch looking broken, I mean if they give up then we're well and truly fecked!

But hopefully now Woodward has been replaced by football people, the rot can be stopped and treated and any deadwood can be ripped out and some new Timber (jurrien, amongst others )can be brought in.

Over to you Arnold, Murtough and Ten Hag.

Keep the Faith!

I really hope last season's overriding "meh" feeling will disappear soon. Never before have felt so little for the team/club and I've been supporting them for close on 60 years. They really destroyed my love affair and never before have I not enjoyed watching them play

 

[rcoobc]

I dont really under stand your point?

You, and a lot of others often rightly point point that SAF left an ageing squad which needed a major overhaul regardless of who was in charge.

True.

But in that ageing squad there was a decent core of players hitting their peak (27ish) or in their youth already with a Premier League winners medal to their name (18-23).

He also left the best youth squad in 20 years ( Lingard, Rashford, Januzaj) and left a massive war chest to spend big money on Pogba, Martial, Maguire, Sancho, Lukaku, etc