’NO DWELLING ON THE APPEAL
THE 50th anniversary is coming up for Liverpool.
It’s one they have mixed feelings about – and it’s one that chimes with a move that stunned An eld.
The 50th anniversary for Manchester United has just passed.
It’s one they don’t want to be reminded of, but there is an echo with where they nd themselves now.
Back in July 1974, Bill Shankly shocked Liverpool fans by resigning after 15 years in charge.
A couple of months earlier, he’d led the Reds to victory over Newcastle United in the FA Cup nal.
According to his autobiography, he sat down in the dressing-room after that game and knew it was over.
Shankly was 60 years old and felt he didn’t have the energy or the stamina for the job anymore.
But, a couple of weeks after announcing he was leaving, Shankly started to get restless.
His old assistant, Bob Paisley, had been appointed as his successor and Paisley was forced into the hardest decision he ever had to make.
Once the new season started, Shankly started turning up at Melwood training ground.
The players would come up to him and call him ‘boss’. Paisley had to bite the bullet.
Authority
If he was to have any authority, he had to be his own man.
So Paisley asked Shankly not to come to Melwood. It broke the great man’s heart. He ended up going to watch Everton and Tranmere train, and had brief advisory roles with the latter club and with Wrexham.
The announcement of Jurgen Klopp’s departure came as much as a shock as that of Shankly. He is three years younger than the Scot was then, but also feels he is drained of the energy needed to do the job.
Will he, like Shankly, come to regret his call? Only time will tell. As for United, the darkest time in their post-munich history was relegation from the First Division 50 years ago when Birmingham City’s win over Norwich on April 27, 1974, ensured they would go down.
We are harking back to that season because they nished with a minus goal difference. That has only happened once since then - with minus one in 1989/90.
But, with three games left to play, Erik ten Hag’s United have a goal difference of minus three - extraordinary when you consider they started the season with the most expensive squad in the world.
Gary Neville is the most vocal of Alex Ferguson’s old players who have moved into the media.
Again and again since Ferguson’s retirement, Neville has pinned the blame for United’s serial failings under different managers at the hands of club owners, the Glazer family, and Ed Woodward, who was effectively their CEO between 2012 and 2022.
But Neville never goes into the weeds and digs out the dirty details of how Woodward and the Glazers came to power.
It all goes back to the row over the ownership of the champion racehorse ‘Rock of Gibraltar’. That led to Ferguson and the club’s then owners, JP Mcmanus and John Magnier, tearing strips off each other.
Ferguson’s claim to the horse was – to be kind – questionable, and, for an avowed socialist, seemed particularly mercenary.
Ultimately, it led to Mcmanus and Magnier selling United to the Glazers, and Woodward was their man.
That, as much as a trophy cabinet heaving with silverware, is part of Ferguson’s legacy. That can’t be ignored.
We should remember too that the pressure on Ferguson when he took charge in 1986 was immense.
The truth is that, if he got the job these days in similar circumstances, he’d never survive.
No top club would wait until the end of a manager’s fourth season for a rst trophy, or seven years for a league title.
What Ferguson did from 1993 was extraordinary, building a dynasty and teams that re ected his own force of personality.
History has repeated itself with Ferguson’s successors all looking as if they’d shouldered a too heavy burden.
He locks horns with Neville regularly on Sky but, during his playing days at Liverpool, Jamie Carragher made it clear that he’d always admired the way that things are done at Old Trafford.
“I’ve never hated United. I’ve always had respect for them. They’re a proper club, like us, and they should have respect for us as well,’’ he once said.
“United aren’t blase or big-headed. At United, there isn’t a player who you think: ‘God, I fucking hate him.’ They’re all good lads, aren’t they? Hopefully we come across like that. We’re clubs from working-class areas.”
Pitch
Carragher respected United’s traditions. That can’t be said for many of those involved with the club over the past decade - from the boardroom to the pitch.
How different things could have been for United if they’d persuaded Klopp to come on board a decade ago.
It was the rst postferguson season and United lost faith with David Moyes quickly - he was sacked without even a full campaign in charge.
Klopp, then in charge of Borussia Dortmund, was sounded out about coming on board and met Woodward three times.
Eventually, Klopp decided that United just didn’t seem like a good t.
It was the ultimate Sliding Doors moment in the history of the
Premier League.
NOTTINGHAM Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo insisted he had “already moved on” after the club’s failed appeal against their points deduction.
Forest were docked four points in March for breaching the Premier League’s nancial rules and an appeal board upheld an independent commission’s decision on Tuesday.
Nuno’s side sit three points above the Premier League relegation zone with two games remaining and will bid to secure their safety at the City Ground tomorrow against Chelsea.
When asked for his reaction, Nuno said: “Disappointed. We were all disappointed.
“We had the hope and the belief, because we conquered those points on the pitch, that they can give us back.
“But the decision is over, so there’s no point in continuing to speak on this issue.
Focus
“We just have to focus on ourselves and our job. We have already moved on.”
Forest’s appeal against the points deduction has been hanging over them during their ght to extend their stay in the top ight to a third season. They took a big step towards survival by beating already-relegated Sheffield United at Bramall Lane last week and they will stay up with victory tomorrow if Luton fail to win at West Ham.
Nuno said he had held talks with his players after the appeal board’s announcement.
“Yes, to speak to the players is normal,” he said.
Reality
“It’s simple. This is the reality, this is what we have, this is what we have to face and let’s focus on ourselves because it’s in our hands.”
Nuno said the later kick-off against
Mauricio Pochettino’s Chelsea would give his players the chance to nish the season on a high and repay their fans for their support.
The Portuguese said: “It’s our last game at home at the City Ground.
“It’s important for our main goal and for our fans too that we nish in a nice way.”
It has been a turbulent season for Forest, who were charged with improper conduct by the FA earlier this month after the club criticised VAR Stuart Attwell on social media after their defeat to Everton on April 21.
Forest were denied three penalties during the match, while Nuno and defender Neco Williams were also charged by the FA over their comments about the officiating.
“It’s been hard,” Nuno added.
“But since day one we have embraced the challenge.
“There were a lot of things we were not expecting, but we’ve dealt with them in the right way, always with the same attitude, that working together we can overcome all the obstacles that came our way — and we had a lot.”