Last night’s performance was anything but symbolic of what this current Manchester United team is – broken. What is surprising is there was no outburst from United supporters around the world, which tells you how the fans have accepted the fate of this club. The only talk before the game was of the margin of defeat that United would incur, with some fans going as far as to say they would be happy if the margin were three goals or less.
With the appointment of Ajax manager Erik Ten Hag imminent and a massive summer transfer window staring in the face of Manchester United, there could be up to 10 new incomings, as claimed by the interim manager Ralf Rangnick. The club is in depths of despair, not just on the field but also off it.
Manchester United’s wage bill ranks alongside the elite clubs in European football, much of which will be reduced this summer with the likes of heavy earners like Paul Pogba, Edinson Cavani, Jesse Lingard, Juan Mata and Nemanja Matic all but certain to leave. But if you don’t lose your job for essentially overseeing that investment, that wage bill and the squad you put out with that, it tells there is something discretely wrong at the club.
Man United look to revamp in the summer, which will see new faces from top to bottom. The latest to leave the club are chief scout Jim Lawlor, who has spent 16 years at the club and Marcel Bout, who is leaving after eight years, alongside chairman Ed Woodward, who is set to resign at the end of the season. The revolution has well and truly begun, but with the ownership still lying with the Glazers, who continue to take the money out of the club and look reluctant to sell the club, it will not be easy. There is no heart, no leaders, and no quality left at Manchester United, and it is a different club to the one fans remember. As United legend, Roy Keane correctly said: “It’s not really anger anymore, it’s just sadness where the club is”, sums up Manchester United’s muddle for almost a decade now.
Despite all the planned incoming changes at Manchester United, it is unlikely that they will be able to replicate or be anywhere near the sky-high standards of the two best teams in the world right now, Liverpool and Manchester City.
