Manchester United are in trouble, not big trouble, not at all, but a little bit out of reach of their ultimate goal, winning the Premier League, and despite being in the Champions League everyone believe you should be on top of your mark in every competition.
Despite no Premier League trophy won since the days of Sir Alex, the FA Cup, the Europa League and the EFL Cup have all found their way to Old Trafford. Not at all bad if you look at other clubs and count out Manchester City and Chelsea maybe, those two who have won the Premier League together with Leicester City since the last time Manchester United won the title.
Paul Scholes and Gary Neville were two fantastic footballers and most of all they were the ulitmate players to have in a team when it comes to winning and being able to cross the line first and if not, their attempt to do so were second to none. But at the moment as soon as a Manchester United team are defeated or any other manager comes in at the club he will be benchmarked towards Sir Alex Ferguson.
Unfair and totally out of place, but that will be going on as long as the job goes to someone that in the past were looked up on as “the enemy” by Scholes and Neville. Not that the club should bother about appointing friends of Neville and Scholes, or call them and ask if they fancy a chance themselves.
Gary Neville and Paul Scholes has nothing to show for in the trade of management, not to forget a short and terrible spell at Valencia for Neville. They talk about, together with Liverpool’s Jamie Carragher, lost dressing rooms and other special words found up by some people involved in football. There is no such thing as a lost dressing room, they just exist in the mind of football fans and pundits.
Media is today concentrating on gossip and talk, more than good and analytical views on a current situation and just have one solution for a problem, “sack the manager”, why go to school anymore, because leadership is just about “sacking”, and it’s sad to see what they do at the top shelf. This often goes down to the next level and the next all down to the kindergarten and how children behave themselves, so where to start a change, maybe at Manchester United?
Jose Mourinho was appointed at the club for one purpose, to win back the Premier League trophy, and the management of non footballing people at Old Trafford goes in yet another trap, bringing in a guy who has done it all before, not using or taking notice at all to how Sir Alex formed the club and the type of leadership that should have been taken into consideration.
Liverpool, who was a force in English football during the 70’s and 80’s, had a way to do their business, letting this smoothly go over to the next in the hierarchy when Bill Shankly left, Bob Paisley took over, Joe Fagan and Kenny Dalglish after that and another man from their own ranks Greame Souness and then Roy Evans. They left their tradition when they softly and silently glided Gerhard Houllier in alongside Evans. We all can remember they days under Souness and Evans as not the best in times.
Manchester United had Ryan Giggs as an alternative. He was given the job in a caretaker position, but lasted only three weeks. The last time the club tried the same after Sir Matt Busby left, Wilf McGuinness came in and everything went into a storm of player changes, generation gap problems and aging players really thinking, this is it.
We had the same at Leeds United when Don Revie left for the England job, back as far as 1974. Despite managing to reach the European Cup final the year after with Jimmy Armfield after a short and crazy appointment of Brian Clough. Who in their right mind could appoint Clough as manager at Leeds United, that was what we call brain dead management, and most of the key players at Leeds, Madeley, Reaney, Cooper, Bremner, Giles and several others were coming to an age that they soon would see their best days gone. Some were looking for a move away to explore other options and you know, life would be totally different losing such a great carachter like Revie was.
Jose Mourinho is not a guy who can be bullied around and he has taken his knocks as he has also celebrated his victories. But to see the current war among Manchester United fans is sad. They all just call for the managers head.
Arsenal fans forced Arsene Wenger out of Arsenal, as they wanted a change and they just wanted a new head to arrive and do the job, all because of results, and results only, and that is also what Jose Mourinho is experiencing, as he did at Chelsea also, despite being more in a battle with owners than fans down at Stamford Bridge.
Why the leaders at Manchester United are not loyal to the brand and trying to work their ways forward long term, instead of a short and billon move push for a single title kiss, appointing a man so far from the Manchester United trademark as you can get, is showing close to brain dead management as you can reach. Appointments of David Moyes, Louis Van Gaal and now Jose Mourinho shows lack of judgement and understanding of what a football club should be building on, but again who knows really what the Manchester United trademark is, maybe it was all up to Sir Alex and he is no longer the one running the show.
Pundits and fans just have to tune down the mess at the moment and what they do, as they did at Arsenal, Leeds and several other clubs leaving the throne, they are just living a vulture culture and in real just drives the club towards their lowest point, and yes a manager chance can of course work, but long term that is not what Manchester United should focus on, it’s to live and understand their brand, their trademark and appoint people and managers in line with what they like to be, and surely David Moyes, Louis Van Gaal and now Jose Mourinho are not at all people who should be running this club.
So who could take over from Jose Mourinho, Zinedine Zidane is a name mentioned, so is Ryan Giggs, the manger good enough for Wales, but not lasting more than three weeks at Manchester United. Paul Scholes and Gary Neville are they in for a go, no not really, would not really believe none of them could do a job without messing it up heavy. Both are a bit early with their trigger and ready for a gunfight whenever things are a bit shaky.
Zidane might be in great doubt with such a mob of people running after Jose, and he knows Jose much better than he knows Manchester United. But again the thrill of being in the same City as Pep Guardiola and competing against the greatest men in the game is probably something to tempting to turn down.
The Vulture culture is there to see at Manchester United, being forced forward by two former players trying to harm, not really the manager, but their own club, the brand and trademark by being critical towards everyone not really part of their family, so who will be next in line, stamped useless by Neville and Scholes?, after David Moyes, Louis Van Gaal and Jose Mourinho, who?
We just have to wait and see but the times that Manchester United experienced under Sir Matt Busby and Sir Alex Ferguson will not be easy to copy and hardly with a squad of players who are probably not well enough balanced and a bit out of the comfort zone as we would like it to be at Manchester United.
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