There’s a multitude of reasons for Manchester United’s fall from grace, prior to the retirement of football’s greatest ever manager– Sir Alex Ferguson. Who led Manchester United to 38 trophies including; 13 Premier league titles; 5 FA Cups and 2 UEFA Champions Leagues.
Managers
The successor – David Moyes
After 11 years after Everton Football Club, David Moyes
earned his spot at the pinnacle of management in football with the chance to
manage defending champions Manchester United. Moyes inherited an aging squad
which lacked quality – leading to their worst league start since 1989. Moyes
was used as an scapegoat for Manchester United’s poor form throughout his time
at the club, winning only 26 games out of 51. In reality, not all blame can
fall on ‘The Chosen One’ David Moyes due to a lack of backing from Manchester
United’s board, as he was promised world – class players such as: Cesc Fabregas
and Gareth Bale. Whilst naming one of the greatest players of all time -Cristiano
Ronaldo - as a transfer target. No backing from the board, and false promises
led to the undistinguished signings of Marouane Fellini for £29.16m in the 2013
summer market and Juan Mata for £40.26m in January 2014. A recipe for disaster,
led to Moyes’ dismissal after only 9 months.
From touching distance of World Cup glory to Manchester
United, Louis Van Gaal had arrived at Old Trafford ready for a new era at this prestigious
club. From no signings to world beaters. Manchester United’s Executive CEO Ed
Woodward secured the purchase of Champions league winner Angel Di Maria breaking
the British record signing, with Di Maria came world class Radamel Falcao on
loan. Bringing hope back to all Manchester United fans. Within, his first
season he secures Champions League football for the club, with poor runs in all
cup competitions. As time passed, Manchester United became ‘boring’ under Louis
Van Gaal with no identity or style of play, despite winning the 2016 FA Cup.
Louis Van Gaal suffered embarrassing results at United such as a 4-0 loss to MK
Dons, a 5-3 loss to Leicester – who went on to win premier league in 2016. Louis
Van Gaal last season at Manchester United was his FA Cup winning season of 2015/16
as he failed to finish in a Champions League spot.
Manchester United then appointed ‘The Special One’ serial
winner – Jose Mourinho. With no time to waste Mourinho and Ed Woodward got to
it. Signing world class players in Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paul Pogba, Henrik Mkhitaryan
and Eric Bailly. It was believed Manchester United got the recruitment right
this time round, as Jose Mourinho’s first season at the club ended with the EFL
Cup and the Europa League trophy despite only placing 6th in the
Premier League. The next season United fans got excited signing Romelu Lukaku
and centre half Victor Lindelöf. This season was Mourinho’s ‘best ever
achievement’ as he finished 2nd to record breaking Manchester City
who were crowned champions. This was Manchester United highest point tally and
finish since Sir Alex Ferguson. Things began to go south between the board and Jose
Mourinho over transfers and actions including interviews and talking to the media.
After a 3-1 loss to Liverpool at Anfield, Jose Mourinho was axed from Manchester
United.
Club legend, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took over from Jose
Mourinho, with a famous quote of ‘mountains are there to be climbed’ Ole led
united to comeback against PSG from 2-0 in that famous night in Paris. Only losing
1 league game in his spell as interim manager he was offered the permanent job
at Manchester United. Solskjaer went on the finish 2nd in the
premier league with Manchester united and break the record for longest away unbeaten
run. Counter- attacking Manchester united side were a force to be reckoned with
in the 2020-2021 season. However, once again poor recruitment and financial aid
from owners seen Manchester United miss out on marquee signings limiting Manchester
United. Although, legend Cristiano Ronaldo was brought back to the club, a
magical return to the theatre of dreams turned into a nightmare as United’s
form dwindled. Ole and Cristiano Rinaldo being the main talking points on
social media. After a few embarrassing defeats such as a 5-0 loss the Liverpool,
Ole parted ways with Manchester United.
Fans have had enough. Fans took to the streets and in numbers
to protest against the glazers due to the talk of entering ‘the super league’ which
was supposed to be a competition like the Champions League, but the same teams
are entered without qualifying. This caused real issues amongst fans as they
felt this was caused by greed, owners wanted to line their own pockets.
Ralf Rangnick was appointed to see out the 2021/22 season
which was seen as a ‘wasted’ season as united didn’t win silverware again and
only qualified for the Europa League. Ralf Rangnick came in as an Advisor but
took the managerial job for 6 months to see the season out. Was this a good
idea? It’s believed United had planned to wait for Erik Ten Hag in the summer, explaining
this decision. Ralf Rangnick was not very beneficial performance based for the
club– suffering another massive defeat to Liverpool. However, with Rangnick leaving
at the end of the season, some believe Rangnick contributed well, exposing
united and where they need to improve, stating ‘it’s open surgery at the heart’, aiding them in the structural change needed under new boss Erik Ten Hagg.
Cameron Long.
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