Next season will be 10 years since the great man left us sitting at the top of English football. Despite the writing being on the wall that a shift in power was taking place even then, few could say they were expecting the next decade to be so bad.
Yes, there was the odd second-rate trophy and a spattering of distant 2nd place finishes, but from what we were used to it's been a pretty appalling decade for the club.
So, what better way to mark this than a run through of the worst XI - plus subs and managers - we've been graced with since then! On the back of (another) derby humiliation, this seems fitting.
GK - Valdes (Free): granted, the keeper spot has been the most settled since 12/13, but Valdes' lack of professionalism despite his reputation spoke of the burgeoning culture at the club.
RB - AWB (£50m): exciting signing that has nose-dived. Not suited to the modern game and one we seemingly can't shift from the books
CB - Maguire (£78m): most expensive CB ever and now a disaster waiting to happen. Was decent for ~18months but good god is he bad now. Embarrassing all round.
CB - Jones (£16.5m): not a post-Fergie signing, but he's been rewarded 2 new contracts in the last 9 years. He's played 6 league games since his last contract was awarded 3 years ago.
LB - Rojo (£16m): rash, reckless and injury prone. Somehow a **** hero. Moreover a crap signing.
CM - Van de Beek (£35m): the only big-money signing made during a summer where money needed to be spent and positions filled, he has been non-existent ever since.
CM - Schneiderlin (£31.5m): never a United player, and his career since has more than proved this. Senseless signing.
RW - Sancho (£76.5m): hope remains, but this guy looks like he doesn't particularly care and that the big-money move here was success enough. Shame. Not cut for the EPL.
CAM - Di Maria (£67.5m): club record transfer fee on a player who didn't want to move. Started well, ended disastrously in every possible sense.
LW - Sanchez (£30m): is there anything more to say about this one? Horrific signing that couldn't have gone any worse.
ST - Lukaku (£76m): harder position to fill than midfield and defence. Had a good season then it collapsed. Poor attitude and technique. At least we didn't lose too much on him.
Subs (special mentions): Depay - not ready for the switch. Schweinsteiger - should never have passed the medical. Pogba - never consistently met expectations, most expensive player ever. Fellaini - did his best but was the signing that kicked-off the decline. Darmian - another below-par player who overstayed his welcome.
Manager - Moyes: this is actually tough to choose. Our two worst managers (Moyes and Ole) can hardly be blamed for jumping at the chance to take up a role that they weren't qualified for. In a way, more should have been demanded from the likes of Jose and LvG. But from a managerial stand-point - and given he was working with a title winning team - Moyes has to take it. But it should be mentioned that behind every failed manager is the board, and they should be the ones to bear the brunt of all the above failures. Above all else, the inability to attract the top managers who eventually came to the league and had success is the worst indictment of how the club has been run.
Hopefully things have changed since ETH, but the above should highlight just how atrociously our club has been managed from the top-down in the last decade. No wonder we're as far behind the best as we currently are. The fact that 5 of the starting XI are still at the club shows how much more work is needed. For the record, the above cost a little shy of half a billion GBP!
Yes, there was the odd second-rate trophy and a spattering of distant 2nd place finishes, but from what we were used to it's been a pretty appalling decade for the club.
So, what better way to mark this than a run through of the worst XI - plus subs and managers - we've been graced with since then! On the back of (another) derby humiliation, this seems fitting.
GK - Valdes (Free): granted, the keeper spot has been the most settled since 12/13, but Valdes' lack of professionalism despite his reputation spoke of the burgeoning culture at the club.
RB - AWB (£50m): exciting signing that has nose-dived. Not suited to the modern game and one we seemingly can't shift from the books
CB - Maguire (£78m): most expensive CB ever and now a disaster waiting to happen. Was decent for ~18months but good god is he bad now. Embarrassing all round.
CB - Jones (£16.5m): not a post-Fergie signing, but he's been rewarded 2 new contracts in the last 9 years. He's played 6 league games since his last contract was awarded 3 years ago.
LB - Rojo (£16m): rash, reckless and injury prone. Somehow a **** hero. Moreover a crap signing.
CM - Van de Beek (£35m): the only big-money signing made during a summer where money needed to be spent and positions filled, he has been non-existent ever since.
CM - Schneiderlin (£31.5m): never a United player, and his career since has more than proved this. Senseless signing.
RW - Sancho (£76.5m): hope remains, but this guy looks like he doesn't particularly care and that the big-money move here was success enough. Shame. Not cut for the EPL.
CAM - Di Maria (£67.5m): club record transfer fee on a player who didn't want to move. Started well, ended disastrously in every possible sense.
LW - Sanchez (£30m): is there anything more to say about this one? Horrific signing that couldn't have gone any worse.
ST - Lukaku (£76m): harder position to fill than midfield and defence. Had a good season then it collapsed. Poor attitude and technique. At least we didn't lose too much on him.
Subs (special mentions): Depay - not ready for the switch. Schweinsteiger - should never have passed the medical. Pogba - never consistently met expectations, most expensive player ever. Fellaini - did his best but was the signing that kicked-off the decline. Darmian - another below-par player who overstayed his welcome.
Manager - Moyes: this is actually tough to choose. Our two worst managers (Moyes and Ole) can hardly be blamed for jumping at the chance to take up a role that they weren't qualified for. In a way, more should have been demanded from the likes of Jose and LvG. But from a managerial stand-point - and given he was working with a title winning team - Moyes has to take it. But it should be mentioned that behind every failed manager is the board, and they should be the ones to bear the brunt of all the above failures. Above all else, the inability to attract the top managers who eventually came to the league and had success is the worst indictment of how the club has been run.
Hopefully things have changed since ETH, but the above should highlight just how atrociously our club has been managed from the top-down in the last decade. No wonder we're as far behind the best as we currently are. The fact that 5 of the starting XI are still at the club shows how much more work is needed. For the record, the above cost a little shy of half a billion GBP!
