Old Trafford riches are not being translated into comparable Euro glory
Manchester United are failing to punch their weight as the continent’s biggest money-machine
The Manchester United match-day programmes for their 2017-18 Champions League campaign were framed in that deep royal blue that, even for a club steeped in red, is unmistakably the colour of the shirts from a warm May night at Wembley 50 years earlier.
It was always a long shot that on the 50th anniversary of Sir Matt Busby’s most astonishing achievement, that first European Cup in 1968, United would square the circle with the club’s fourth triumph in Europe’s premier competition. They have been out the Champions League altogether for two of the previous four seasons and they have made the quarterfinals or better in just three of the last eight seasons, which is one of the reasons Sevilla were as bold as they were.
Perhaps in the mind of Jose Mourinho, who has always retained an outsider’s perspective on English football however much he flatters the game, that is where United are now, a big European club in England but a second-tier club among Europe’s elite. Most of the time, Mourinho can apply a filter to his private thoughts but in defeat he struggles and Tuesday’s claim that elimination for United was “nothing new” might just have been a little window on what he really thinks about the club. He recalled how he had sat in the same chair having twice eliminated United “with Porto and Real Madrid, so it is not something new”. It was, he conceded, a “disappointment” for United to lose a Champions League tie at home but it was more about what was left unsaid.
Sir Alex Ferguson never turned up for that final Champions League press conference in March 2013 after Mourinho’s Madrid had beaten his 10-men following Nani’s red card, and the old Scot, said to be heartbroken, must have known then he had run his race in Europe.
This might be a bad time for Mourinho, who has won as many Champions League titles over his 18-year managerial career as United have in the same period, to start lecturing the club on their own history. Of course, United have won more Champions Leagues than many other pretenders, the likes of Arsenal and Manchester City with none, and Chelsea who have one, but United have fewer than Liverpool and Ajax.
In the recent era, when United have established themselves as the goliath of the modern age when we can compare revenue and what it returns, there is no question that the club has underachieved.
The Deloitte Money League began recording the finances of Europe’s biggest clubs in 1996-97 and since then have ranked them according to revenue, with United having been above the big two in Spain and Bayern Munich at the top of the list for the last two years. Over the 21 seasons, working on position alone, United come out on top – narrowly from Real Madrid who finished in first for 11 straight years until 2014-15.
Unlike Madrid, United have fallen out of the top three wealthiest clubs just once in 21 seasons and they may well finish top again next time. Yet in that period, United have two Champions League titles and two beaten finalist appearances, Madrid have won it five times, Barcelona have won four, Bayern have reached five finals and won two.
Beyond the wealthiest clubs, Juventus, sixth in terms of revenue over the last 21 seasons, and having not been in Deloitte’s top four since 2005-06, have reached five finals. AC Milan, seventh overall, and currently not in Deloitte’s top 20, have two Champions Leagues titles in that period and reached the 2005 final. Financially, United have maintained their status as the biggest money-machine in Europe. They just have never translated it into comparable success in the Champions League.
Ferguson might well point to the great Barcelona side that existed in his last years at United, as well as Real Madrid’s acquisition of Cristiano Ronaldo, who deprived the club of the Champions League’s greatest-ever goalscorer at a period when United were more competitive in Europe. There are the old complaints about the domestic domination these clubs enjoy in their own leagues, of the players they can cherry-pick, of the games they can reschedule. It is a big picture, and life has changed a lot since Ferguson, but it is hard to argue that United have mobilised their wealth to its greatest effect.
Ferguson did his bit, even if he acknowledged that United never won as many as they should. Before his second Champions League in 2008, he said the club “will always be disappointed that we haven’t won it more – I’m sure the way I feel about that is the same way that everyone at the club feels.”
Mourinho has never been particularly robust when it comes to taking criticism but he will see United’s record differently to those who regard them as perennial favourites. He has won as many modern Champions Leagues titles himself as United and will regard himself just as important to their ambitions as the club is to his.
Injury has claimed Ruben Loftus-cheek and Nathaniel Chalobah while Harry Winks has failed to command a place in the Tottenham Hotspur team.
Gareth Southgate can at least say that he gave those young midfielders a chance last autumn but it is hard to see how many of them will make it to the World Cup finals this summer as things stand. The central-midfield playmaker role is the hard one to fill and the options are slim for Southgate when he names his squad today.
He could yet pick Jack Wilshere although that route has led to heartbreak before. He could go for Jonjo Shelvey as an in-form alternative who, in normal circumstances, would be worth looking at. The problem being the allegation that Shelvey refused to play for Southgate’s Under-21s in 2013. Shelvey has always denied that to be the case, and was subsequently capped by Roy Hodgson, but we may be about to find out what Southgate made of it all.
This might be a bad time for Mourinho to start lecturing the club on their own history