Old Trafford and The Perennial Doomsday Clock

 

Just like the doomsday clock moves forward and backwards throughout its history, a full blown crisis at Old Trafford is forever looming on the horizon – its just the time span that keeps moving back and forth.

This metamorphical clock that hangs over OT, signals the months each incumbent has remaining on the famed managerial hotseat. Only three incumbents had the might and the nobility to freeze time when they were in the hotseat and their surnames read – Mangnall, Busby and Ferguson, for these men won the holy grail for all United Managers – the domestic league title!

Even in the post Sir Alex era, there are moments in time where you felt that a managerial tenure was on the verge of collapse in the next few months. These are moments when the focus shifts from the perennial transfer failings to the underperformance of the man in the dugout himself. For David Moyes, it may have been the week when he lost successive home games to Newcastle and Everton. For Van Gaal, it may have been the week of the Champions League exit at the hands of Wolfsburg. For Jose, it may well have been the less talked about defeat away to Brighton a few weeks before the FA cup final. These moments in hindsight were indeed ground shifting, for post them…even the faintest moments of glory …came with caveats attached, the feeling of inevitable doomed forever loomed large.

Then there is the current incumbent Ole,  some see him as the Sir Alex reincarnate destined to restore the glory days and others see him as a Sir Alex mimicry artist – a mere actor incapable of being the real deal. Ole’s tenure has seen moments in time when you felt the doomsday clock would start the countdown, i.e, home defeat to Burnley or a 6-1 thrashing by Spurs, but in both instances he has shaped a recovery his predecessors could never quite design, recoveries that halted the countdown before they even began. But, sadly yesterday the countdown may have finally commenced!

Unlike, in previous seasons when in hindsight the league finishes were clear cases of overperformance given the nature of the squad, the league position this time though healthy  (at this stage of the season)– is an underperformance given the level of the opposition faced so far. The transfer failings of not getting a CDM become redundant when you get outfoxed by - though respected but - lesser opposition at your home turf. The yardstick for all United managers throughout history is how relevant they can keep the club at the very top of the league…it has always been and always will be that domestic cups will be seen as a bonus (a certain Mr. Atnikson can testify to that!).

Ole has been a renaissance manager throughout his time at Old Trafford, from the pits of misery, he has climbed up time and again – to keep his hold of the throne. This time, the pit is deeper, it would be fascinating to see what he can conjure. If he can pull off another renaissance, as United fans – we are in for a wonderful ride – one that might finally allow us to freeze the doomsday clock for a few years atleast….