Moyes has gone, but United’s problems have not
TALKING POINT | Whoever takes over will inherit a Manchester United squad that has slipped so far behind the elite that it will require major surgery without the lure of Champions League football
THERE is a mood of optimism around Old Trafford. The grumpy, tetchy gloom has lifted; the fug of incompetence has been cleared; the hapless and the hopeless have been expunged.
David Moyes, a man so far out of his depth he needed an aqualung as he floundered in the technical area, has been put out of his — and everyone else’s — misery. A nice guy, but it is best for all concerned he has gone. And taken his mates with him.
Now, with the class of ’92 in temporary charge, the club are back in the hands of those who understand them. And with Louis van Gaal or Carlo Ancelotti on the horizon, once more Manchester United are to be steered by those who are not scared of the club’s scale and who will not shrink in furthering traditions.
After a traumatic season to forget, all is well again in the red
Moyes inherited from Sir Alex a squad in which the holes caused by corporate parsimony were glaringly obvious
quarters of Manchester. Problems are a thing of the past now the Chosen One has been deselected.
If you believe that, then presumably you believe that Kevin Pietersen is a team player, that referee’s boss Mike Riley enjoys weekly kitchen suppers at Jose Mourinho’s place and that Formula One is purely a test of driving skill.
For all his mistakes — and he made more than a few — the reason United are not in contention at the point of the season that the destination of trophies is decided is not entirely due to Moyes’s stewardship.
More to the point, the issues that ultimately cost him his job are still extant: in his 10 months in charge he did nothing to resolve the problems threatening to consume the club.
It is true that Moyes inherited from Sir Alex Ferguson a squad that had just won the title. But it was also a squad coming to the end of its cycle, a squad in which old stalwarts had not been replaced, in which the holes caused by corporate parsimony were glaringly obvious.
With a back four ageing simultaneously, with a giant hole where central midfield should be, with the second-rate and the overpromoted masquerading as the next generation, it had been driven way beyond its potential by the genius of the man in charge.
Blessed with a full season of fitness from Robin van Persie, in his last season Ferguson had given new definition to the term papering over the cracks. The moment he stood down his successor fell helplessly through the now-exposed fissures.
It was evident in United’s Champions League tie with Bayern Munich how serious were the issues facing Moyes. The truth is, since the moment Cristiano Ronaldo was sold to Real Madrid the club have been in steady decline.
Just compare the United team that won the Champions League in 2008 to the one that played against Bayern, and precipitous slippage is evident in every position. The 2008 team trip off the tongue; the 2014 team tripped over their own laces.
Apart from the goalkeeper there is not a single player in 2014 who is as good as those in 2008. And that includes the six players who featured in both matches. Six years older, six years less hungry, six years more comfortable, all of them are a shadow of what they once were.
Football is a cyclical business — teams dip and soar. But United’s direction of travel since 2008 has been in one direction. From a team set to dominate the game, a team to destroy all comers, they have slipped to also-rans. That did not begin under Moyes’s watch. That did not happen suddenly. That had been coming for some time.
For a business that is financially absolutely dependent on the perpetuation of success, that needs trophies to attract official potatochip manufacturing and roadhaulage partners, United’s slip has been reckless in its scale.
In their misplaced assumption that things would somehow continue at the highest level without proper investment, the owning family have starved the club of the resources required to maintain their prominence, preferring to use the staggering profits to prop up a crumbling empire elsewhere.
Since 2008 the money was found just once for an unequivocally excellent new recruit when Van Persie was bought from Arsenal. Otherwise the buying since Ronaldo departed has been of
For a business that is absolutely dependent on the perpetuation of success, United’s slip has been reckless in its scale
players of lesser scale: never mind Marouane Fellaini, how many of Dimitar Berbatov, Ashley Young, Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Nani, Alexander Buttner, Wilfried Zaha and Antonio Valencia would make it into Munich’s first team? It is not just Tottenham where the buying has not matched the selling.
This is the issue that will face whoever replaces Moyes: he too will inherit a squad that has been allowed to slip so far behind the elite it will need major surgery.
Moreover, that surgery will now have to be conducted without the lure of Champions League football. In order to reclaim their position at the top of the game United need absolute quality. But absolute quality tends to restrict itself to clubs in the Champions League.
A vicious cycle threatens that could well consume any incumbent. But hey, now’s not the time to cavil. David Moyes has gone. The real United are back. —© The Daily Telegraph, London