It strikes me that many members of this forum don't know what they want.
- They want a clear-out but they don't want players to leave.
- They want experienced, 'complete' footballers who are young, hungry and can be developed the 'Manchester United way'.
- They want an experienced manager who is a proven winner but also someone very trendy and 'modern', unlike those dinosaurs LvG and Jose.
- They want the club to throw money at players but they don't want to waste any more money on overpaid mercenaries.
- They don't want 'Galatico' signings but they do want Bale, Neymar and Dybala.
- They want our Scouts to identify young, talented players before they become household names but they complain when we sign young, talented players who are not already household names
- They want to implement a 'long-term' strategy but they want to tear up the plan every time we lose a football match
I believe all of the above comes from short-termism and the desire to 'have their cake and eat it', symptomatic of the 'NuFootball' fan. The NuFootball fan is a strange creature who likes to share football-related "hilarious" banter memes on Facebook, refers to our rivals as 'Loserpool' and 'Shitteh' and has never actually kicked a football, nor been to a football game, bar the odd occasion they get a free ticket through work or a mate. The problem with this 'fan' is they become so entrenched in the tribalism and petty squabbling they fail to see the big picture.
Let's just make a couple of my opinions clear before I make my points;
- The Glazer takeover has done immeasurable damage to Manchester United, they are blood-thirsty, cretinous, uber-Capitalist parasites who have contributed NOTHING to this club
- Ed Woodward may be, in some sense of the word, a 'smart' man, however, when referring solely to his skills at running the operations of a modern day football club, he is an incompetent buffoon
HOWEVER
As I stated earlier in my post, we cannot, as fans, have our cake and eat it. Over the last six years, the Glazers and Ed have been RIGHTFULLY criticised for;
- Failing to understand the 'United DNA'
- Failing to invest between 2005 and 2014
- Looking for 'quick fixes' as opposed to long-term strategic planning
- Throwing money at mercenary footballers who perform better on Instagram and Twitter than they do on the field
- Sacking managers who are basically hung out to dry, effectively fighting a war against an armoured tank division with what has amounted to water pistols
- Employing managers who's very footballing ethos goes against 'the United way'
NOW
If you look at what the Glazers and Ed have done over the last 12-18 months, it would appear to me that somewhere, somehow, they have had an epiphany. It would appear to me at least that there has been a total shift in mindset and that the foundations are now (hopefully) being laid for a better future....what makes me say this?
- The club have done what they should have been doing for the last six years and signed the best two AVAILABLE 'young' players in their position from the PL (Maguire and Wan-Bissaka)
- The club have let go of several players who, whilst admittedly may have contributed to varying degrees over the last few seasons, were NEVER really Manchester United players. Either in terms of personality or ability. I am talking here about your Fellaini's, Sanchez's, Lukaku's, Herrera's and HOPEFULLY Rojo's, Darmian's etc...
- The club refused to bow to Dybala's wage demands NOT because we couldn't afford them but because we felt he was joining for the WRONG reasons
- The club immediately distanced themselves from the usual press speculation about signing players like Bale and Neymar
- The club moved to sign a young player with potential from the Championship. Something we never had to do in the past because we were by far the most resource-rich team in the league. Roman, Sheikh Mansour and TV money has changed that.
- They have appointed Ole, a man who understands Manchester United and its History
Now, I can feel the NuFootball lot gnashing their teeth.....'but what about squad depth' they cry....'how will we cope with only three senior forwards', furthermore 'Ole is a novice, a Glazer yes-man with no more tactical nous than a cabbage'. They also bang on about 'net spend' and 'not replacing Player X'.....well I have an answer to all of the above and that is that this situation we are in now is going to have to get A LOT worse before it gets better and I believe the club finally appreciate this. Here's what I think the club have realised;
- A senior football manager like a Jose Mourinho is the antithesis of what we need right now. We cannot afford to spend the £800m+ I believe it would take to transform us into title contenders in one window and therefore we would end up in another situation whereby we have a frustrated manager sat in the dugout, constantly firing shots at the Board and at the players. We do not need this right now. What we need is a positive man, a man who understands the club and his role within it, a man who admittedly, to a certain extent, is happy just to be here. That man is Ole. Is he the best manager out there? Hell no. Does Ed believe he is the best manager out there? I highly doubt it. I believe the Board see Ole as a man who can oversee this painful transitional period with a smile, whilst just about managing to keep just enough players and fans on-side to make it bearable. At the point were we ARE ready to start challenging for titles again, I believe Ole will make way for a more senior, tactical aware manager who will then go to war with a proper squad of footballers.
- Signing mercenaries and expecting players who performed well for other teams in other positions/formations/styles to slot straight in and produce a 'quick fix' is NOT the way forward. This never, ever works. All of the very best teams are constructed, not bought in one window. What we need now is to identify the right players at the right age and steadily, over the course of four or five windows, build a team. We will lose players like De Gea and Pogba along the way, but this is a hangover of poor choices made in the past. In De Gea's case, we wasted his best years and his powers are now waning. In Pogba's, we failed to find the right players to get the best out of him and keep him happy in a side challenging for trophies. He won't want to, nor should he, waste two/three more seasons pissing about in 6th. This will make it more difficult to build a strong squad but IF we keep identifying the RIGHT players, at the RIGHT age and adding two/three at a time, it ought only be three seasons max before we can at least compete for second
- We need to get rid of the players who don't WANT to be here or who are not good enough to be here as quickly as possible, even if we don't have replacements lined up. A common mistake the NuFootball lot make is that they have gained their experience of buying and selling football players from Football Manager 2018. They think you can simply transfer list 12 players, sell them for asking price before July and spend the money on 5 replacements. Sorry but this is so far from the reality it's laughable. Selling players is almost as complicated as buying players for a club like Manchester United. Our players by default are on big wages and by virtue of the fact we want to sell them, it's unlikely other clubs who could afford their wages would touch them with a barge pole. That means that IF the club identify that Lukaku is NOT the striker to take us forward as a club and there is an offer of £75m on the table, then we HAVE to take it whether a replacement is lined up or not. Does this weaken us short-term? Of course it does, because right now Lukaku and Sanchez are better players than Greenwood, however, next window and the window after we SHOULD have cash, wages and squad positions free to target the players I outlined earlier - the best young players from the PL (and the odd one from elsewhere) in their positions.
So in summary, I believe;
- The Glazers and Ed have learned something from the Jose debacle and the last 6yrs
- Ole is basically a 'long-term caretaker' overseeing the transition phase
- Money IS available but we won't just throw it around anymore. NOT a bad thing at all.
- The club want to get back to signing two/three top young, hungry players at a time, as opposed to hordes of mediocre 'established' footballers (and I include your Lo Celso's and Ndombele's and Icardi's and Fernandes' in that 'hordes of mediocre' category)
However, that all being said, in terms of league position and points gained, this season IS going to be very, very painful. We've left ourselves very thin, our squad is lacking in quality and we have a manager who doesn't appear to have much tactical nous. What we need to appreciate as fans is that this is a result of poor choices made between 2005 and 2018 and just repeating these poor choices MIGHT scrape us 4th on the odd occasion but will never get us back to where we want to be. For that, we need open heart surgery and unfortunately, where going to be very weak for a while before HOPEFULLY making a full recovery
Patience is a virtue. Don't come on here wailing every time we lose one football match. Understand the big picture. Still appreciate the damage that the Glazers and Ed have done to our club. Let's just hope that the green shoots on display are not a mirage!
