Ole’s chances were always wafer thin
SOLSKJAER’S NOT THE MESSIAH, BUT NO ONE COULD BE AT BLOATED UNITED
The passing of Terry Jones has triggered a million reruns of the restaurant scene from The Meaning of Life, in which an enormous diner succumbs to the temptation of one more wafer-thin mint and promptly explodes.
Manchester United have become the Mr Creosote of English football.
Inwardly dysfunctional, they have swollen into a bloated monstrosity who, as a title-winning force at least, have gone bang.
Their first home defeat by Burnley in 57 years after a dismally ineffectual performance was a new low point on a graph of depressing decline that has been in train since the end of the Sir Alex Ferguson epoch.
A succession of managers have tried to recreate the glory days. All have failed.
First there was David Moyes, domestically successful and reassuringly Glaswegian. He was Fergie-lite.
Then Louis van Gaal, the aloof Dutchman with his global trophy collection. He was too defensive. Then came the serial winner in Jose Mourinho, who turned into Mr Miserable of Manchester.
Now we have United old boy Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, right, and lo and behold, for all his early promise, it turns out he is not the Messiah either.
The fans at Old Trafford are drowning in a sea of mediocrity and the atmosphere is toxic.
The call for a show of disloyalty to the Glazer family brought a near-unanimous response on Wednesday. The fact is, though, that under the Americans’ ownership, the club have spent £1.1billion on players since Ferguson’s departure seven years ago.
The level of investment is not the problem – the issue lies with the direction in which the money has gone.
Look at Liverpool who, over the same period, have operated on a smaller budget.
The comparison on the field last Sunday – as it was with Manchester City in the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg – was jarring. United looked like a lower mid-table club hoping for a lucky break or two at Anfield. The loss of Marcus Rashford does not help, nor does Paul Pogba’s absence, but it cannot explain a home defeat by Burnley. Player recruitment has been so poor it has left United exposed. Solskjaer’s desire to bring through young British players is admirable in one sense, but they need more support.
The problem is that all trust in Ed Woodward to recruit the right players has evaporated.
The visceral demands for the head of the club’s executive vice-chairman on Wednesday were deplorably expressed – those who sing for anyone to be put in the middle of a bonfire need to take a look in the mirror – but United’s disillusioned support have identified the correct target.
Why Woodward, an investment banker, has not brought in the director of football United were chasing 18 months ago and just concentrated on what he is good at – making money – is a mystery.
United lie fifth in the Premier League, six points adrift of Chelsea, but Champions League qualification looks beyond them.
If they miss out for a second straight season there will be commercial forfeits to pay in the shape of refunds to key sponsors, and a loss of revenue.
The upshot could be Liverpool overtake them as England’s richest club, a relegation that would act like a bucket of cold water over the head in the corridors of power.
Maybe only then a once-great club who have, literally, taken their eye off the football will come to their senses and arrest the nosedive.