Fans deserve better than the Glazers at this club!
TIME’S UP, FOR UNITED’S SAKE OWNERS HAVE TO GO
IT was 125 minutes into the latest new era at United when the loyal away end once again regaled the players in front of them with a chorus of ‘you’re not fit to wear the shirt.’
That came shortly after Erik ten Hag had been told he was getting sacked in the morning for the second game in succession. Just like Brighton had last week, Brentford’s fans also told Reds supporters they were going down.
It’s an embryonic league table after two games this season, but it makes as grim a reading for United as at any period in the last decade.
They are bottom of the Premier League after two fixtures against mid-table teams. One goal scored, six conceded. No points. No point.
It makes you wonder, just when will United hit rock bottom?
This was supposed to be a summer of change at Old Trafford, the chance to mark a line in the sand, but 2022/23 looks an awful lot like 2021/22. A shambles, in other words.
If we thought the depths had finally been plumbed at the Amex Stadium in May, then it turns out we were mistaken. It would be brave to say with any confidence it won’t get worse than this. Saturday’s defeat was as bad as any of the indignities United suffered last season. This time they had to endure the embarrassment while dressed head to toe in the new green third kit. Less lime, more like lemons. Until the actual football started there was a lot to like about the start of the Ten Hag era. They looked slick and good to watch on tour in Thailand and Australia. But as soon as the competitive football has begun they have melted as quickly as ice cream in the Brentford sunshine. It’s been pitiful to watch.
Every aspect of this football club is letting its fans down.
The owners are absentee landlords cashing their dividends twice a year and not giving a damn about the institution they own. It is their carefree and careless approach that has permeated every pore of this club. The snake rots from the head.
The Glazers have failed to get the best in class running their football club and for that reason, it’s no longer the best in class.
Unless the final 18 days of this transfer window bring about a sudden change in approach, they might easily lose their status as one of the Premier League’s big six.
Old Trafford has become a place where careers go to die. Not one of these players has improved for playing for a club that not so long ago claimed to be the biggest and best in the world.
In fact, they’ve all regressed. Cristiano Ronaldo must be absolutely desperate to get out of here by September 1.
Maybe nobody sums up the malaise as badly as Marcus Rashford. A once promising and popular academy graduate who is now bordering on a player who has thrown in the towel.
He was completely anonymous at Brentford, just days after it emerged his brother had been meeting with officials from Paris Saint-Germain. Talk about timing. United must be tempted to cash-in.
As for Erik ten Hag, he must be wondering what on earth he has got himself into.
He certainly isn’t blameless for this catastrophe. Picking Christian Eriksen as a holding midfielder was a naive move that not one of his top six rivals would have copied. It was asking for trouble.
But having got a tune out of the players in pre-season, he’s now finding them to be tone-death on the big stage. He’s the
first United manager to lose their first two games since John Chapman in 1921. Yes, 1921!
United undoubtedly took a risk in appointing the Dutchman. They have to back him to the hilt now, but that is not happening in the transfer window. This is a squad weaker than it was at the end of last season.
It’s a concern that the centre-back Ten Hag was so desperate for, in Lisandro Martinez, has been bullied and battered in his first game and a half. It’s also a risky approach to let the manager dictate transfer policy to the extent he has this summer. But United have done nowhere near enough so far and after this debacle, they will find it hard to convince any elite player they have a bright future at Old Trafford.
Football director John Murtough should be feeling the heat now. He’s not been good enough so far. As for the fans? Impeccable once again. They never stopped in the second half. The loudest bursts were reserved for chants ‘We want Glazers out’ and the banners that read ‘Glazers Out’ summed up the mood. This is a club letting down its supporters. That starts with the Glazers. Time is up.