Some of you will look at this article and say it is pure delusion. How can this author write an article that even suggests something positive when everything is in turmoil? The club is a disaster; staff are losing their jobs, and Manchester United will finish their lowest ever Premier League finish. How can anything positive be taken from all this mess? How can anyone want to see positives when the club has just experienced its worst season ever?
This article will not tell you to not be sad or to not criticise the situation; God knows I am one of the people who criticises the most. However, once the emotions surrounding the loss of the Europa League final have subsided somewhat, this perspective offers a more rational outlook on the future of the club.
99% of Clubs in World Football Dream of Being Where Manchester United Are
Let’s be real. Even during the Manchester United banter era, the team won two FA Cups and two Carabao Cups, reached three Europa League finals, winning one of them, while finishing second place twice in the league. Manchester United played in Europe almost every season. Say that to the fans of 99% of the world’s clubs, and they’d kill for that success. One Liverpool fan told me that what harmed Manchester United the most is that they were very successful even in their banter era.
Before anyone jumps at me, yes, the standards are different at Manchester United. The only thing acceptable is winning the league and the Champions League. But before reaching those highs again, the fanbase needs to understand that where the club is now is the dream of 99% of the clubs in world football. The toxic side of Manchester United’s fanbase needs to let go of its ego.
For years, all Manchester United were doing was ignoring the difference between the expectations and the reality. They never came close to winning the league or the Champions League in the past 11 or 12 years. They always thought they were a good player or manager before returning to where they were. Guess what, they were not.
That building needed to be burnt down and destroyed, and hopefully, the fire that is this season is what the Red Devils needed to return to their place.
What Happened This Season Was Needed
In American sports, there is a strategy called tanking. It is when clubs are not good enough to win but not bad enough to get a high draft pick. It is called purgatory; you are not good enough nor are you bad enough. You find yourself caught in the middle. What do smart clubs do? They burn it all down, trade their best players, lose games to get higher draft picks and rebuild from scratch. What do idiot clubs do? They sit there and think we are one player away; they lose more assets trying to acquire said “player” and they discover they are not coming close.
Unfortunately, this is what Manchester United needed. They were never good enough to compete for the league and Champions League nor bad enough to stoop low. They were stuck in a purgatory where they were good enough to qualify for European football every season but not quite good enough to win any of the “elite” competitions. Believe it or not but the club needed that season; it needed the idea that all players are disposable, that not one of them is good enough for Manchester United. For too many years now, Manchester United have had players who have papered over the cracks in their team.
“Now it’s about how do we solve them? It’s not enough to do some minor amendments – cosmetic things. In medicine you would say that this is an operation of the open heart. If this happens and everyone has realised that this has to happen and if people want to work together then it makes sense and I believe it doesn’t take two or three years to change those things. This can happen within one year.”
It may seem bleak right now but the cosmetics done by the Glazers in the past 10 years would have never got Manchester United to winning back the league. The problem was deeper than some players or managers. It was in the culture and attitude. It is a culture of “me”, not “we”.
“For me the biggest concern is that feeling that ‘it’s OK’, and ‘we cannot change our position so much so it’s OK, That is the biggest problem in our club in this moment because we are losing the feeling of we are a massive club and it’s the end of the world to lose a game at home. I think that is the biggest concern in our club.”
Ruben Amorim on Manchester United’s squad culture and attitude problems after West Ham game.
In order for this culture and attitude to change, you need a disaster and the disaster of this season happened. It was about time Manchester United fans, management and board stopped thinking about the illusion of “we are one player away” and started understanding that the culture and attitude need to change. Believe it or not, Manchester United and everyone aligned with it needed that disastrous season to wake them up; whether they will get the message or not is something up to the management.
You Are Never as Far Away as you Think
Yes, that disaster of a season happened and it was needed. But in world football, you are never far away if you recruit well and build correctly. Nottingham Forest were fighting relegation last season and are now playing in Europe. Aston Villa were in the Championship five years ago and now they are one of the mightiest teams in football.
If you told Manchester United fans at the start of the 90s that Sir Alex Ferguson, who finished 13th and 14th in two consecutive seasons, would be the man who dominates English football for years, they would have laughed at you. If you told Liverpool and Arsenal fans 10 years ago that they would be competing for League titles and Champions League titles with Manchester United finishing 15th, they would have called you the craziest guy on the face of earth.
Barcelona were basically selling whatever they could sell, and everyone looked at that club as being destroyed for years, only for them to win everything this season except the Champions League. Antonio Conte left Inter Milan because the club could not finance transfers, and now they are in their second Champions League final in three years. Napoli finished 11th last season, and they just won Serie A. If you recruit correctly and smartly and address your issues, you can easily bring yourself back into contention in one or two years. Chelsea were forced to sell the club, changed four permanent manager in two and half years and now they are back playing Champions League football while finishing sixth in 2023 – 2024 and fourth in 2024-2025. As illustrated above, you are never as far away if you follow a plan and recruit correctly.
It’s possible that Manchester United could gain from a season with lower expectations. Playing one game a week will also help Manchester United manage their smaller squad next season. How Manchester United goes about building its squad next season will define the next era.
Returning Back to the Roots
If Manchester United wants to get back to its successful days, the first thing to do is return to its roots. The club will need to look to the talent in its academy. The Red Devils will have to return to being the club that makes stars, not signs them. Think about the Man United of old; players like Ronaldo, Nani, Rooney were signed when they were developing, not like of late, when signed after their development had finished and they are starting to decline.
The Red Devils will need to stop looking at quick fixes in the market. The foundation of that club was built on producing stars, on hungry players who would sacrifice everything for the shirt, not on mercenaries who believe they are too good to be here fighting for sixth or seventh place.
The first step in correcting an issue is to understand where it is. The club management needs to stop looking at dopamine rush signings in the market and sign players who fit an actual plan. What will bring Manchester United back and sooner than fans think is returning to the club’s roots and being a club that makes stars, not a retirement home for finished stars or mercenaries who are coming here only for the money.
The club management should follow a smart recruitment policy. The squad lacks a lot of physicality; the focus should be on physical players. But it is not just that; attitude and work rate need to be correctly assessed. Is this player coming to help get this club back to where it belongs? Is this player convinced by the project? Does this player hate to lose? Does this player have the mindset to deal with the setbacks? Does this player have the ego on the pitch and the humility outside of it?
If you want to recruit correctly, try to find more Harry Maguire and Bruno Fernandes, players who hate to lose, have the mindset to deal with the setbacks and understand the value of the shirt they are wearing. The names do not matter anymore, it never mattered at this club. What matters in the club is the attitude, work rate, hate of losing, greediness to win more and an ego on the pitch with humbleness outside of it.
Then learn the lessons from Barcelona: what helped them soar back into contention is their academy. La Masia helped get the Blaugrana back to their place, and it is time for Carrington to also help get Manchester United back to its place.
There are a lot of talented young players in Carrington, and Manchester United may well end up with having another class of 92 on their hands.
A Rise From the Ashes of Man United’s Worst Season Ever
“If there is one club in the world that has proven in the past that can overcome any situation, any disaster, it is our club. It is Manchester United Football Club.”
Ruben Amorim in his end-of-the-season speech after Manchester United’s 2-0 win against Aston Villa.
Well, the Portuguese manager is not wrong; this club will rise from the ashes. Nobody knows when it will rise again, but it definitely will. This is a club that lost all its best players in the Munich air disaster, only to win the UCL 11 years later.
This club was relegated in the early ’70s only to return and dominate English football for years. This is a club that had its stadium destroyed in World War 2 and was forced to play in its biggest rival’s stadium.
There is a reason for the hated, adored, and never ignored. Whenever you think this club is dead and buried, it rises back from the ashes and destroys everything in its path.
When Manchester United rises back to its rightful place, we may all sit there and look at 2024-2025 as the reason for their rise. If Manchester United learns from this season, it could be a blessing in disguise.
A Lawyer by profession and a writer in football by hobby and choice. A Manchester United fan which should be pretty clear by now looking at my articles.
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