The Sir Alex Ferguson era of Manchester United is now a distant memory. The club, once driven on and off the pitch solely by the Scotsman's determination and sheer force of personality, has become a rudderless ship adrift on the changing seas of the Premier League.
Fans need to become realistic about the new world order of the English top flight. Despite trophies post-Cristiano Ronaldo, reality is that the landscape changed forever by the time he galloped away like the prized show pony he was. Massive investment has been made with Manchester City. Liverpool has fresh backing and ambition. Throughout the leagues, foreign investors have thrown everything they have at the Premier League riches on offer. Due in large part to the Television package distribution, teams at the bottom of the league, as well as those who have fallen from the top flight with their balloon payments, are now more financially capable than all but a few of the European powerhouses. If Manchester United had the same right as Real Madrid or Barcelona to negotiate their own Television rights deals, United would have unmatched financial clout around the globe. As it stands, the more equitable distribution of wealth in the Premier League leaves us with formerly lower or mid table clubs now capable of competing for a higher and higher quality of player.
While many United fans live in a world where every player wants to come and play for the club, reality doesn't match. Players want money. Players want trophies. Players want guaranteed playing time. While United can offer the money, so can countless other clubs. While United can offer trophies, so can countless other clubs. But even under Sir Alex, we saw the tide changing when it came to players wanting to come to United just for those two things. The promise of a chance wasn't the same as a promise of pitch time, which cost us when it came time for players like Eden Hazard to make a choice. At the time, I said that any player who needed to be coddled and promised playing time over an opportunity wasn't the type of player we needed, but I was wrong. Its the way players are today. They have been told from birth how they are the greatest thing since sliced bread, they are a star, and that they need to be prancing around the biggest stage regularly to gain the financial clout of endorsements that will keep themselves, their families, and agents flush as long as they live. They don't want managers with strong personalities to challenge their internal image. Players these days are basically now Peter Pan, child-men who never grow up and need to have their butt wiped for them. The landscape is changing, and for most top players, raised outside of England, United isn't the biggest fish in the sea anymore.
As these changes were becoming more apparent, we were still blind to the future, as Sir Alex covered up many of our ills simply with a hair dryer. When Fergie decided to call it a day, the warning signs became evident immediately. His replacement, a strong willed Scotsman named David Moyes, was meant to continue the Ferguson style reign. The gaffer was in complete control, the players pawns in his own game of chess, and everything would fall right into place as United kept sailing towards glory. The players however, had differing minds. The shackles were off. Moyes wasn't a world renowned trophy winner, a Fergie part two. He was just the new guy, who thought he was Sir Alex, and the players responded by going out on the pitch for themselves, and not their manager or the club. They thought they knew better. Their agent knew better. They were players for Manchester United, this guy was just some manager.
To make matters worse, as Sir Alex walked away, so did David Gil, the business architect of Fergie's later day teams. So while United should have cleaned house of players, they were left in limbo, with a new manager and a new chief executive, stagnating with the same squad. The die had been cast, and United was in deep trouble.
In response to the ship hitting an iceberg, United did something they never would have normally done, and replaced the manager. What the team needed was a manager the players feared and respected. Someone who could be a Fergie for the modern player. So, they went out and found a dictator from the Fergie era, and shoehorned him into position in an act of desperation. While Louis van Gaal has won titles and does rule with an iron fist, his glory years are well in the past. He also has a history of broken relationships with the players, the board, and the fans, all within a few short years of his arrival. While I warned my fellow fans of what was coming, the majority jumped up and down and celebrated our return to prominence. We needed a good rebuild. A dip would come, but we already had the dip before the rebuild, so we needed to reform the entire squad without the blip. A tall order for the manager and new chief executive, making the pressure even greater. Our response was to open up the check book, and throw money around willy nilly, all while turning over the past, building for a future world while mentally still in the past.
The demands are unrealistic, but thus is the position we find ourselves in. We need to achieve a top finish, play an attacking and attractive style of football, and win trophies, all while rebuilding and completely turning over the squad. A task difficult under even the best of circumstances, made nearly impossible when under the direction of van Gaal's iron fist, and Chief Executive Ed Woodward's naivety.
So where do we find ourselves today? We have a half assed squad of players in the middle of a rebuild. The team is rising or falling on the back of a young frenchman in his first season, admittedly bought for the future and not the present. The captain is being lambasted at every turn for doing his best to apply the managers wishes during this difficult time. The fans are baying for blood at every turn because they do not care what the reality of the situation is, they are spoiled from decades of dominance, the "glory" being more important than the "United". Most of our players are barely good enough to be role and bench players for United, let alone leading the charge toward the future. Players and agents see the troubles of United, and rightfully so are not interested in hitching their wagon to a truck parked facing the downward slope of a large hill. The rest of the league is becoming richer, more powerful, and better equipped to compete week in and week out. And when all other things are equal, Manchester is far less attractive than London or Madrid.
Doom and gloom, doom and gloom. But all is not lost. We have enough financial clout from all of our corporate deals via Woodward. We have a squad good enough to compete for the Champions League places, ready to be refreshed with more over priced talent to do a job in January. van Gaal, while stubborn and rigid, has the tactical knowledge and belief to achieve our basic demand of a top four finish. And we still have sellable assets who are not United quality, but could do a job for decent sides, allowing the rebuild to continue instead of stagnating.
Football has changed. United has changed. The fans need to change as well. We need to keep pressure on the board, manager, and players, but we do not need to constantly whine about every single moment. We do not need to throw the baby out with the bath water. We do not need to expect the moon when for now, the Earth will do. We are going through a difficult time, and we should understand that. Playing attractive football but failing to achieve a top four finish may make some fans happy in the interim, but it does nothing to move the club forward, and in the end would only lead to more bitching.
United fans have to come to the realization that the Sir Alex era they all remember and relish is over. It hurts. Its sad. But it is what it is.
Fergie is dead, and I don't feel too good myself, but there is still a pulse, and we need to throw all of our energy into achieving what is best for the club in the future. Not just what the fans want today with no foresight or care for tomorrow.
