Make or Break Season Ahead (Manchester United F.C.)

Member Name: SticMan

Product:	Manchester United F.C.
Date:	23/09/06 (969 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: With a track record like Ferguson's, United can't be written off

Disadvantages: Weakeness in cover upfront and in midfield. Lacking World class players

Manchester United

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Background Information.

Formed in 1878 (as Newton Heath FC) Manchester United Football Club has gone on to establish itself as one of the most famous and successful English football clubs. Their home is the 75,000 capacity Old Trafford Stadium. Nicknamed the Red Devils, they are reported to be the best-supported football club in the world. They have won 15 League titles, 11 F.A cups and the Champions League on 2 occasions. The club has enjoyed two periods of dominance in English football. The first was under Sir Matt Busby from 1945-1969. The second period, under Sir Alex Ferguson was between 1991-2003. Manchester United has been home to some of the most talented footballers of their generations, these have included Sir Bobby Charlton, Dennis Law, George Best and Eric Cantona.
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The 2006-07 team appears to be a team in an indeterminate state, wedged between two phases in Manchester United history, the end of an old generation or the beginning of a new one. Optimists see a new generation of young players who are slowly but surely catching Chelsea in the pursuit of Premiership dominance. Pessimists however see the current team as the dying remains of the of the legacy developed by the all conquering team of the nineties . Which ever view you hold, most people have to accept that since Jose Morinho took over at Chelsea, Manchester United have ceased to be the number one team in England and in Europe they are no longer considered one of the favorites anymore. However many refuse to believe that Man United are a team in decline, such as Liverpool were once the glory days of the seventies and eighties ended.

There is much that can be learnt by Manchester United from the decline of Liverpool in the nineties, although they were never far from the top and were often involved in the hunt for cup trophies, it took Liverpool many years to admit failure in the previous system which had served them well and recognize that football had changed and their team needed to also. It can be seen that Liverpool refused to change their ‘All things British’ approach to football where team around them in particular Manchester United were attempting to blend home grown talent with quality foreign singings. It is interesting to note that Liverpool have virtually gone full circle on that approach with the vast majority of players being foreign players, complemented by a few top home bred players. It is an approach that seems to be serving them well over recent years although they have yet to recapture the Premiership trophy. It was in the 1998 season, when Liverpool were in the middle of an almighty slump that the board and the club in general decided to make a drastic step and reverted to a foreign manager and a all new philosophy, following in the path of Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal side.

What relevance is this to Manchester United, I hear you cry. Well there are always lessons that can be learnt from history and not necessarily your own history. Manchester United hasn’t won the league title since 2003, and in reality they haven’t even come close to challenging it on the most part. Why has there been such a decline? For one the quality of the opposition has increased. When Manchester united were winning the title in 2000 and 2001 there was no team to challenge them. Now Liverpool and Arsenal have better teams and Chelsea have an open chequebook to sign players at will. Secondly and more importantly Sir Alex Ferguson doesn’t seem to be the imperious character as before. He has had failings over the past few seasons and many are wondering whether it would be a wise option to look for a new and fresh face. A European alternative has been touted, Chelsea have gone Portuguese, Arsenal have been French for a while Liverpool went a Spanish Manager. There was speculation that Manchester United would go Italian and hire World Cup winning Fabio Cappello. This didn’t appear to be the case and Ferguson was given the full support of the Manchester United board.

The key thing to assess is the necessity of changing managers . Football inevitably has a tradition in which you are only good as your last game and if it was based upon fan opinion, then most managers would last more than a year. However after 3 years lacking success Sir Alex Ferguson will be under huge pressure to deliver trophies this season. He has been doubted before of course, not once but many times and has always come back and answered his critics. However since he began winning the Premiership he had never gone more than two years before reclaiming the title. Now we see a situation where it has been 3 years without the title and also it has been 7 years since the Champions League success.

Is Sir Alex Ferguson on borrowed time? Well there is certainly a strong case for change. There have been a number of criticism aimed at him, a lot of which has been justifiable. Firstly it has been the transfers, Ferguson success in the nineties was dependent on grooming the young generation but also in making key purchases at key times. There are many examples of this, Schmeichel, Keane, Cantona, Yorke, Solskjaer, Van Nistelrooy and many more all proved to be key signings and pivotal to success. However in recent years he has made a number of poor signings. The most famous of these was perhaps Juan Veron who never found a place in the Manchester United setup despite his quality. The most publicised of the failed signings was perhaps Diego Forlan, the striker who can not stop scoring goals except when he puts on a Manchester United shirt. There have been many other less notable ‘flops’ these include Kleberson, Djembe-Djemba and the constantly changing goalkeeper situation. Even the other signings over recent years, although not failures but they haven’t fufiled the quality expected of a Manchester United player in many people’s eyes. These players have generally been young players for the future, yet none has yet to deliver. They include Alan Smith, Park Ji Sung, Patrice Evra and Nemanjda Vidic. In truth the difference between the Manchester United team now and that one a decade ago is the lack of world class players in the line-up. They are still looking for a replacement for Roy Keane, the newest acquisition Michael Carrick doesn’t seem to be the same type of player.

Another worry for Manchester United fans is the number of ‘run ins’ Ferguson has had with top players over the years. Ruud Van Nistelrooy was the current player who fell out with the manager and as Beckham, Stam and Yorke have found out in the past once that happens there is no way back. Van Nistelorooy’s value to the team could not be hidden, in particular in Europe were he was simply prolific. Many may question that this may be the reason why many top players have failed to come to Old Trafford in recent seasons. After all Manchester United were linked to many top players over the summer, yet nothing concrete materialised.

The last criticism could be one of tactics. Normally Ferguson has been an acute tactician but there have been a number of failings in recent seasons many of which have been highlighted in Europe. When Manchester United won the Champions League they were known as an attacking team which would always trust their instincts to score important goals and important times. However after a number of failings Ferguson has seemed to abandon that style of play in favour of a more defensive one. Often he has played only one striker up front. This resulted in a lack of goals by Manchester United in particular from the previously prolific midfield. The central midfield role has been a problem which Ferguson has not been able to resolve for a while, Roy Keane had become ineffectual and his replacements did not fare any better. A lot of criticism came when he attempted to convert players into the central midfield slot this has included Alan Smith, John O Shea and Ryan Giggs. However it was the latter two’s performance at the back end of last season which help Manchester United to second spot and once again it had seemed that Sir Alex had got the better of the critics. Nevertheless it is very noticeable to see that opposition teams find it much easier to play their game against Man Utd than before. Previously, at Old Trafford in particular most teams would be on the back foot for most of the game under siege from United’s attack. This doesn’t appear to be the case anymore with Ferguson preferring a more counter attacking approach. It hasn’t always proved successful.

Despite the growing criticism concerning Ferguson, the board and many fans have backed his case to continue. Surely he deserves more time to turn things around after all that he has done for the club. There are certainly some factors in his favour and often this is ignored. For one the home grown talent which is produced today doesn’t appear to be the same as the young generation which included the likes of Beckham, Giggs, Scholes and the Nevilles. There isn’t many young players coming through the ranks at Man United in recent seasons. Whether they are not being given the opportunity is not known but certainly no one has excelled except for Richardson in parts and the promise of Rossi. Transfers have also become an issue for Manchester United which can’t be entirely blamed on Ferguson. The likes of Ferdinand, Rooney and Carrick have had over inflated transfer prices and it goes some way to show the reluctance of clubs to part with their top players unless it is for top money. Ferguson had previously benefited from attracting unknown players at good prices, now it doesn’t seem possible as all clubs are looking to secure their future with protracted fees.

It seems 2006-07 will be a make or break season for Manchester United and in particular for Sir Alex Ferguson. Many hoped he would end on a high but given recent seasons it may take a disastrous season for him to finally admit his time is up. On the other hand, Ferguson has gone through a lot in his career and will not be prepared to settle for mediocrity. No doubt the United players will be aware they are playing for their own reputations this goes in particular to some of the established players like Ferdinand, Rooney and Ronaldo. The problem however may come later in the season when the games come thick and fast. Usually nearly all teams go through some mini injury crisis. This is where Manchester United may falter this season. Already the failing this season was to secure a sufficient amount of top replacement players over the transfer window. Up front things looks particularly thin with only Saha left as the out and out striker. An injury to him and goals could be a problem, if that is the case then certainly the fingers will point at Ferguson. After all it was his decision to let go of Van Nistelrooy and then deciding not to replace him. Midfield options do not look so great either, with Scholes and Giggs both nearing their end of their careers. There will be a lot of pressure on Rooney to be the pivotal figure around which the team is developed.

One thing that is known, Manchester United under Ferguson can never be written off and the end of last season when they suffered many injuries but yet still forced their way into second position is testament to that. However as general trends go there is sufficient evidence that shows Manchester United team no longer have the consistency to win on a weekly basis for a long period of time. The standards set by Chelsea have raised the bar considerably for the chasing pack and none have been able to respond.

Europe will provide another challenge to Manchester United this season, for the first time in 10 years they failed to progress beyond the group stage in 2004-05. Such failures particularly in light of their economic impact will not be tolerated one feels by the Board who are still in the process of restructuring their debt. Lack of goals in Europe was an important factor last season and with Van Nistelrooy missing this will again be the main concern. The draw has been pretty favourable with no major European clubs in their group.

2006-07 could turn out to be the make or break season for Ferguson, another failed season and rumours will be rife with speculation that he could be axed or himself resign. This would be sad ending for such a great manager and one hopes this situation doesn’t arise. It is apparent thought they change that is required at Manchester United if they are to be successful. The team needs leaders and inspirational players. Of course a lot of people will be looking at Rooney for inspiration but this may come in the form of the older generation as well, Scholes and Giggs have now more responsibility in the team and although they have past their peak they still remain class players. With the defence being generally solid and the goalkeeping situation resolved, a championship title is not beyond them. An interesting season awaits and it will be one which is pivotal to the future of Manchester United Football Club, which could lead to them have a new manager for the first time in 20 years at the end of it.

Summary: Season will either be a triumph or a failure.