Baby-faced assassin is taking baby steps
IT’S been seven years since Manchester United last won the Premier League – and, judging by the latest betting, an eighth is a near-certainty.
To the generation who grew up gorging on title triumphs and cup victories, it must seem like an eternity. To everyone else, it’s a taste of what they suffered at the hands of Sir Alex Ferguson & Co.
Finally, however, Manchester United are on the way back even if bookmaker odds of 18-1 for the title suggest they still have some catching up to do.
It’s taken oodles of cash and four managers but the signs are that it is coming together.
Qualification for the Champions League and a march to the Europa League semi-finals demonstrate that the green shoots of recovery are starting to flower.
Is there more reason for optimism under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer than there was under Jose Mourinho, given that Mourinho led them to silverware, namely the League Cup and Europa League?
Yes, because that was management by confrontation. Management with no long-term benefit attached to it. It was about the here and now for the Portuguese.
The one thing that the appointment of Solskjaer, the baby-faced assassin, has given the club is time. Baby steps are being taken.
There is a goal threat, academy products are being given a chance, and the recruitment has moved up a notch from ‘ bloody awful’ – although when you are spending £130million on defenders such as Harry Maguire and Aaron WanBissaka and £60m on midfielders like Bruno Fernandes, it really should.
It must also be pointed out that the atmosphere is less poisonous. Fans seem to have accepted that their club has been knocked off its perch and the climb back will be a slow process.
And the ever-increasing ranks of former players among the army of Manchester United pundits in the media can hardly criticise Solskjaer, a man for whom the phrase ‘ butter wouldn’t melt’ was surely invented.
They took potshots at former managers David Moyes, Fergie’s replacement, Louis van Gaal and Mourinho. The difference now is that they all know the Norwegian.
Against this backdrop – where criticism has been far more restrained – Solskjaer, who took over as caretaker boss in December 2018 before getting the job on a more permanent basis three months later, has profited.
All this, then, is good.
However, for all United’s financial might, a deadly combination of poor purchasing during the latter years of Fergie’s reign and some severely muddled thinking since then had left the club in reverse as others galloped past.
The problem for the Red Devils is that Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea were all putting down long-term roots to remain at the forefront of the game while they walked around in a daze of confusion. Decisions taken at the Etihad, Anfield and Stamford Bridge have all been better than those made at Old Trafford.
In football, as in life I suppose, if you continue to make more good choices than bad your position will improve. And this is exactly where Manchester United now find themselves.
It has taken time – seven years is a long time – but an air of relative calm has descended. The club is competitive again.
Of course, the exact measure will be seen in 12 months’ time. Not by their position in the league or the trophies in the cabinet, because they aren’t that good yet.
No, it will be seen when the bookies release their title odds again. And, mark my words, this time next year they’ll be shorter.