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Manchester United: A football club confusing stagnancy with stability



It pains me no end to write to a critical piece on my beloved club. I became a fan of Manchester United the very first time I watched them about 2 decades ago, I remember we lost the game. But there was something about this team that made me want to watch their next game and every other game since. No one had told me about the club before that, but the love affair with this football club just happened. As fans we are in a lifelong relationship with our beloved club, so when we see that club stagnating we must raise our concerns. Being silent when wrong things are happening to something you care about is just plain cowardice.

This is the 21st century, we are in dynamic times, demanding change, demanding success is not wrong, it is called being ambitious. This is exactly what Manchester United must go back to being. Accepting a season of bizarre football, a 5th place finish and a FA cup final appearance is simply not on. 

Manchester United should never be a club where a manager and chief executive feel content with achieving the bare minimums. It should be a club that treats any season without premier league or champions league success as an utter failure. Big clubs aren’t allowed 3 years of transition, they are only allowed a few months of it.

In the name of stability, LVG has stayed on and ensured that the most expensive squad in the club’s history will play Europa League football next season. LVG has ensured that for the first time crowds have reduced at Old Trafford. It is easy to say fans are glory hunters if they don’t turn up, but difficult to understand how torrid it is to watch a Louis Van Gaal team. And that is exactly what it is, this is not a Manchester United team it is a Louis Van Gaal team. Even the MUFC team under Docherty that got relegated in 1974 played a more passionate brand of football.

The defining characteristic of a big club is to be ruthless. United that we see now are far from that. Ed Woodward by keeping LVG in the job for the last six months has not only ruined this season but the ripple effect of it would be felt next season when the Europa League fixtures start impacting our league season. Not only would mounting a credible title challenge be impossible, even a top 4 place would be difficult in an increasingly competitive league.

United want to be seen as a stable club, unfortunately they are nothing more than a stagnant club at the moment. There is indecisiveness throughout the organization and there is a clear lack of personalities at the football club.

United historically have been a personality driven club. Men like Sir Matt Busby and Sir Alex Ferguson are prime examples. They were the line between stability and stagnancy. Men with personalities who kept everyone else on their toes. LVG and Ed are sadly not such personalities. Mourinho is the biggest personality around and it is imperative that MUFC appoint him quickly. Mourinho is often accused of being a short term manager, but United need to realize that when a club doesn’t have anyone incharge with a long term vision – it simply needs to get the best footballing brains around and hope for the best – this is exactly what Mourinho represents. Missing out on him this summer could be looked back on as the greatest error in the club’s history.

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