1) I am two people.
One is calm, considered and appreciative of our current predicament. This
person understands that all good things come to an end. And boy was it good.
This person realises that it’s unfair to demand a seamless transition. After
all you cannot worship a man like a God then move onto the next idol when he’s
gone. It doesn’t work like that. So that person realises. But this split
personality has another side. The Hyde. This person is depressed, angry and
frustrated that his greatest love has been destroyed in 6 short but torturous
months by David Moyes, his backroom staff, Ed Woodward and of course, the
Glazers. I am two fans. One is reasonable. The other is angry. One understands.
The other is despondent. Where one sees hope, the other decline. Since we last
met there was a winning run (Shakhtar, Villa, West Ham, Hull and Norwich)
followed by a quite stunning start to 2014 (3 defeats in 3 competitions).
United themselves seem be the perfect match to my newly found bi-polar
disposition. Their form has proven after all these years that the old adage really is true: you win
some, you lose some. And that, gentlemen, is life. We just didn’t realise it
before now.
2) Moyes and the players
have entered the vortex. They are in a vicious cycle, on the wrong end of a narrative
that they will not escape until they recapture the glories of old. There has
been a paradigm shift. Ferguson was a winner – everything he did was right.
Winning begets winning. And unfortunately, losing begets losing. There is no
middle ground. It’s a winner’s paradise out there and Moyes is lost, miles out
at sea. And I’m not just talking the 3 games in 2014 – I’m talking about his
whole career. There is no tangible success he can point to. No “feast your eyes
on these bad boy medals” that reassure us he’s the man for the job. But then
Moyes wasn’t appointed for his CV – he was appointed for the manager he could
become. And that’s fine but he needs to win some games, win a trophy and turn
this ship around quickly or he will never recover from the loser’s cycle he
currently finds himself in. Compare and contrast the two men. Moyes losing his nut on the touchline is a man out
of control. Ferguson doing it was a sign of control. Moyes deciding a player
isn’t good enough is a farce, but with Ferguson it was a sign of decisiveness.
Now to compare the two men is a) ridiculous on my part and b) unfair on Moyes,
but the truth is the same for any man who wants to manage MUFC. Unless you are a winner
you’ll lose every time.
3) It is my absolute
right to sit on the fence re Moyes. I refuse to believe he’s the archaic fool
that he’s being made out to be I just wish he’s shown a whole lot more in the
last 6 months to convince me he isn’t totally overwhelmed. I worry about
standards. How high are they? Alarm bells rang when he arrived and immediately
waxed lyrical about Ryan Giggs. Of course we adore Giggs – but has he not been
playing for over 20 years? Surely Moyes was aware of his quality. Obviously
not. Moyes hasn’t worked with world class players before. His standards are
lower. Signing Fellaini smacked of a manager who didn’t understand the
requirement of a Manchester United player. It’s all very well to say he was 8th
on the list – but why was he on the list at all? To listen to Phil Neville bang
on about ex-Everton players as if they were gods is equally alarming. To hear
him say ‘Felli’ can be a great box-to-box midfielder when a) not only is that
patently untrue b) he’s never even showed that at Everton, smacks of a
management team with the bar too low. Manchester United became dominant not because
they are Manchester United. They became dominant because of the incredibly high
standards set by the manager. He didn’t want to win the league. He wanted to
win 10 leagues. He didn’t want to win in Europe, he wanted to dominate in
Europe. He was loyal to his players but when a better option presented itself
he didn’t think twice. These are the standards and I think Moyes has fallen
into the trap of thinking that Manchester United will always win games and win
trophies because they always have. That quite simply isn’t true. No team deserves
to win. They only ever win what they deserve. Even the famous Man United.
4) “Just when I
thought I was out, they pull me back in.” In this brave new world nothing makes
sense. United do not win 4 games on the trot, build momentum then lose at home
to Spurs on New Year’s Day. That just doesn’t happen. Unfortunately we are
constantly experiencing thing that are not ‘supposed’ to happen. We don’t lose
3 on the bounce. We don’t lose in the third round of the cup. We don’t look like
a total bunch of strangers in a semi final. But this is the transition. We are
discovering new and weird things about one another. We are recalibrating and
learning about ourselves all over again. At times it’s torture. But it’s a
challenge. Having absorbed (and by absorbed I mean kicked and screamed like a
toddler in meltdown for a week) the Spurs defeat I wasn’t overly surprised or upset
by the subsequent defeats. If we’re going to come 5th, then we may
as well come 15th. If we aren’t going to win the cup, then the third
round is as good a round as any to go out. People talk about par for the
course: we should be getting to a semi final and coming top four. That is
wrong. We should be winning the league and the cup. That is what we aspire to.
And if David Moyes has a vision to get us back onto that path over a 5 year
period then I'm with him come what may. If he doesn't then he's in the wrong job. There are so many questions
waiting to be answered. Why did Moyes do this, why did he do that, who is Ed
Woodward, where is Ed Woodward, why is Ed Woodward – but these are to obsess over
detail. There is absolutely no comfort in the detail right now. In truth we
need only one question answering. Is David Moyes the man for the job? And for better or worse, only the
fullness of time can answer that.
5) We do miss Paul Scholes. Carrick was magnificent last season
but let’s not forget Scholes’s early season contributions. Without him (and a
fit Carrick) we move the ball so slowly. We lack either the confidence or
quality to go for the jugular. Our best moments have come with a directness and
confidence to commit men into the box. At Villa, against West Ham and for 15
minutes against Spurs we were electric. But other than that we have become
hideously predictable. That is the worst thing I can say. We are totally and
utterly predictable. The players are trying to play the Ferguson way but with David
Moyes as manager. That can’t work. Whatever it takes, Moyes needs to get the
players dancing to his tune. If it’s new players he needs, new coaches, new
tactics, new everything then he has to go for it. But he’d better change the
record because right now we’re dancing to a tune everyone
has heard a thousand times before. In all honesty, even our opponents know the
words.
6) The panic is all
consuming. I am not above a good tantrum and a complete meltdown. The press are
(understandably) full of it. The knives are out. But we must remain calm. If
Moyes loses his nerve and signs players he doesn’t believe in (which is exactly
what happened with Fellaini) then we won’t come back. If the board panic and
get rid of Moyes (which there is absolutely zero chance of happening) we’ll be
finished. We need to take our time, relax and stick to the plan. Talk of moving
on 12 players and bringing in (presumably) the same number is a farce. There is
no evidence in the history of football for this model producing success. The
top clubs build. They invest in youth, let them make mistakes, sprinkle the
core of the side with stardust and give them time to gel, to become a unit.
Liverpool under Dalglish (first time) stopped buying young players (second time
he just bought crap players – but they still love him. He has done more to ruin
that club than any other man but they worship him. It’s weird). They let the
team grow old. Souness came in and tried to change too much too soon. That was
his single biggest mistake. Look at Spurs signing seven players from all over
the world. How could that ever be expected to work? If you are a very successful
side you can absorb 3/4 new players. They’ll be given time to work out what
it’s all about and eventually find their way into the side. But anything more
than that just cannot work. This United squad needs adding to – it does not
need culling. You never turn down world class players – but you can count on
one hand those that fit into that bracket. We have some very good players, one
world class player (RVP) and one potential world class player (Adnan). There
are some players who are too sure of first team football and some not getting
enough. It would be wrong to say we don’t need to add to the squad but it would
be suicide to panic.
7) Young players are not necessarily those under the age of 21. Young
players can be as ‘old’ as 25. It’s to do with experience and physical
development as much as age. I have never been Tom Cleverley’s biggest fan but now
is not the time to get on his back and claim that because he’s 24 he should be
doing better. This is only his 2nd full season of Premiership
football. He made his breakthrough in 2011 before missing 6 months of the
season with injury. He played last season making this his 2nd full
season. Whether he’s 19 or 23 this is still his 2nd season. So to
put pressure on him because of his birth certificate is a farce. He is a young,
inexperienced player and watching him now – he’s desperate for a rest. He is
mentally exhausted and making countless basic errors. The mistake and foul
against Sunderland was an unfortunate example of that. He’d switched off in the
middle of the park then compounded the error with a tired and poor decision in
the box. A fit and fresh Cleverley would not make that mistake. He may not be a
world beater but now is not the time to judge him. Fletcher and Jones will take
his place in coming weeks and though he might not thank Moyes for it now, no
one will be more grateful in the long run than TC23.
8) Anybody who thinks
Ferguson attending games has a bearing on anything is an idiot.
9) You know you’re in
trouble when the January window takes on unprecedented importance. The
situation we are in is due solely to the lack of activity in the summer. This
is not the result of a Glazer-induced trend. People criticising the Glazers
(which I fully understand) saying that they’ve taken too much money out (they
have) and not put enough in (also true) are perhaps missing a key point. Let me
ask this question: if the Glazers had told Fergie (post-Ronaldo) that money is
unlimited, go nuts, do you think we’d have signed the world’s best players? How
different do you think the squad would be to the one we currently have? I’d
argue not very. MUFC have always struggled to attract (and retain) Europe’s top
talent. They realised as soon as Abramovich came along that developing young
talent was the best bet to securing long term success. In 2014 there are 10
Abramoviches while Madrid, Barca and Munich have the rich pickings of their
respective leagues. We will not win a transfer war however much we are prepared
to spend. I am not a Glazer apologist but then nor is Gary Neville who has been
banging this drum for years. The best teams develop their own. Yes it needs to
be augmented with world class signings but if you think money is the sole
reason we have struggled in the transfer market, then more fool you.
--
10) Darren Fletcher –
the bright spot. It’s hard to under-state how incredibly unlucky both he and
United have been. When he broke into the team he looked like a good runner with
a big game temperament. Perfect to play in a three against Arsenal or in
Europe. He didn’t look like a truly top midfielder. In fact, for a while, he didn’t
look like a footballer. In 2006 his game went up a level. Competition for
places was fierce but he did not shirk the challenge. In 2008 when he’d missed
out on a place in the UCL final his game went up another level. It was then we
started to see a midfield maestro. Comfortable in front of the back four, or
further up the pitch, what he lacked in skill he made up for in temperament and
energy while being a terribly under-rated passer of the ball. His performances
that season were best epitomised by his red card at Arsenal in the semi final 2nd
leg. 4-0 up on aggregate with a few minutes to go, Fletcher who had kept Cesc
quiet all night, executed the most perfectly timed tackle to prevent a
consolation goal, only to find himself on the end of a red card. Out of the
final he didn’t cry, he didn’t harangue the ref and he didn’t moan. He took it
like a man. His performances the following season were of an incredibly high
standard with a high point in Milan. Then his illness kicked in bringing his
career to a shuddering halt. When he came back it was his first game in just
under a year. In fact this was only his 12th game since Christmas
2010. 3 years. On discovering his operations were successful the club made a
conscious decision to stick by him. They feel they have a quality player back
in the squad. If this is the real thing then Moyes will be vindicated for doing
what’s right by the club. As a player he is no Bryan Robson but, assuming his
recovery is permanent, Fletcher will be the next United captain. The club have
taken a risk – but when it’s one of your own, it’s a risk worth taking.
11) Is Ryan Giggs. I
just wonder if maybe his new coaching role and business interests are catching
up with him. For the very first time he has looked half a yard off the pace.
Could the life of Ryan as we know it be coming to an end?
