No quick solution to United’s problems

Last weekend’s performance against Swansea was a shock to the system for anyone who thought United would challenge for the title this season simply by switching the man in charge; and now the question being asked across football is not whether United can win it this season but just how many years it could take to even be in contention?

What started as an inevitable one-year transition period following Alex Ferguson’s departure now looks to have the potential to escalate into a prolonged period of frustration as it becomes clear just how much United have taken their eye off the ball since Fergie first announced his retirement.

The unilateral appointment of David Moyes by his predecessor started the problem, but managerial mistakes have since been seriously compounded by an equal lack of leadership off the pitch; and, who knows, in the end history may even show that United missed David Gill, their former chief executive and transfer market expert, just as much as they missed Alex.

Certainly the arrival this week of Argentine defender Marcos Rojo has done little to appease supporters who have seen the club miss out on first-choice targets such as Toni Kroos, Thomas Vermaelen and Mats Hummels — having also wasted so much time on fruitless pursuits of Cesc Fabregas and Cristiano Ronaldo last year. The uncomfortable conclusion can only be that United are no longer a major force in the transfer market at a time when they are out of the Champions League and unlikely to make a serious title challenge either.

As van Gaal peruses his B and C list for potential bargains, the debate, then, over how long it will take United to return to the top of the Premier League is becoming more serious than ever; and the club only has to look down the road at Anfield to know just how difficult it can be to return to Europe, and to title contention, when things begin to slip.

Liverpool are still waiting for their first title since 1989 and have only just returned to Europe’s big table following four years away from the Champions League limelight. In London, Arsenal haven’t won the title for 10 years despite producing a team in 2004 that went an entire season unbeaten — while Chelsea once went 50 years without a championship until Roman Abramovich opened his chequebook.

It surely won’t take United — who once endured their own 26-year wait for a title — that long; but when you look at the number of contenders for a top four finish this season there is certainly no guarantee that van Gaal’s side will return to the European elite at the first hurdle. The wait could be longer, and more uncomfortable, than anyone imagined.

“I am scared for United,” Paul Scholes told the London Independent this week, summing up the feeling amongst many United fans. “I’m genuinely scared they could go into the wilderness in the same way Liverpool did in the 1990s.”

Scholes’ answer to the conundrum is for the Glazers to spend big on five world class players; but Republic and Ireland and United legend Paul McGrath has little faith in the club’s transfer policy under current chief executive Ed Woodward, pointing to their failure to land Fabregas when he was clearly available. “I’m sure Cesc Fabregas would have picked Man United over Chelsea simply because of the history,” he said. “Most people believe that United is the bigger club, with the history and everything else. It is amazing we can’t get these players. I think it is a lack of leadership on the Manchester United side. The club doesn’t need selling because people want to play for them but it is going out there, getting those players, and doing it quick. I can’t believe this summer, even with van Gaal away at the World Cup, that they didn’t have things put in place. They seem to be doing business late. Manchester United supporters want to see quality players come into the club, the biggest club in the world, and no one seems to have thought about that.”

The problem for United, of course, is they are no longer the biggest fish in the transfer pool; so even an outlay of €100m has not been enough to significantly out-spend rivals such as Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool or even Arsenal, who have all strengthened this summer — maintaining the gap between top and seventh.

Perhaps Woodward, too, underestimated the weakening effect on United’s squad of allowing Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra to move on in a summer when Ryan Giggs also retired — and may in future consider that replacing that experience with Luke Shaw (19), Ander Herrera (25) and Marcos Rojo (24) was a gamble.

Already there are rumblings of discontent on the Stretford End. The anti-Glazer campaign which died down significantly once United earned success on the field, is starting to re-surface, while one fan in Belfast has recently begun a petition calling for Woodward to be sacked.

Online United fanzine, The Republic of Mancunia, has pointed out, too, that since Ronaldo was sold to Real Madrid, United — the most profitable club in England — has spent just €380m, significantly less than City, Chelsea and even Liverpool over the same period.

“For rival fans and media outlets to question the frustration of United fans just doesn’t make any sense,” the blogger says. “United finished seventh last season and the squad is arguably weaker this season, following the departures of more players than have arrived. For a club to be one of ‘the most valuable sports franchise in the world’ and be in that position is utterly ridiculous.”

It’s a sentiment that echoes in the hearts of many Manchester United fans whose patience has rarely been tested during 25 years of constant success. Only time will tell, but it could be a bumpy road back to the top.