At the heart of Manchester United’s woes lies a problem as old as sport itself

This season alone, United's statistics reflects their slump - 12 defeats and 11 wins in 24 matches.

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag after the UEFA Champions League, Group A match at Old Trafford, Manchester. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2023.

FOR one brief, tantalising moment last February, it appeared that Manchester United supporters were about to receive their wish. The EFL Cup was in the bag, thanks to a 2-0 win over Newcastle, and Erik ten Hag looked capable of succeeding where his predecessors over the previous decade had failed, in finally proving a worthy successor to Alex Ferguson.

It was a forlorn hope. In the 46 league and cup games since, United have won 23 and lost a dizzying 18. This season alone, the statistic reflects the slump even more - 12 defeats and 11 wins in 24.

Ten Hag was supposed to be the new Fergie. In all areas, apart from his ability to impose petty, vindictive and poorly thought-out bans on the media, there is no resemblance whatsoever.

On Saturday, the few fans who could bear to watch the closing minutes of the 3-0 defeat to Bournemouth booed lustily on the final whistle.

On Tuesday, after Bayern Munich had inflicted one of the most emphatic 1-0 “embarrassments” anyone could remember seeing United fall victim to, there was little public disquiet - more a sad acceptance of how far they have fallen behind one of their great sparring partners of the last three decades.

Bayern were superior in every area of the game - a point, to his discredit, which Ten Hag failed to acknowledge. Put a composite XI of the two starting teams together and no United player even enters into the conversation. Yes, Ten Hag had injury problems to contend with, but then so, too, did Thomas Tuchel.

The reasons for such a spectacular fall from grace are myriad, complex - despite the fact they usually circle, in some shape or form, back to owners the Glazers - and, as Jim Ratcliffe prepares to take 25% of the club, and a control in football affairs, off them, far from easy to solve.

Indeed, the former United manager who most closely came to mind this week was not Ferguson but Ralf Rangnick, the German brought in as an interim for the second half of the 2021-22 season and who was supposed to remain in a director of football role after Ten Hag’s arrival.

Towards the end of his tenure, he issued a heartfelt and searing analysis of the club’s problems which had to be addressed; all of which, it has to be said, remain a problem well over 18 months later.

He talked about a terrible transfer strategy which had not taken into account the way coaches had wanted to play. Recent big money Ten Hag signings like Andre Onana and Rasmus Hojlund may fit the latter demand but none of the Dutchman’s incomings can be commended after his three transfer windows.

Rangnick referenced a lack of physicality and aggression in his United squad; a criticism which has been levelled at this season’s side with every tame surrender, with Bayern, arguably, being a new low point in that department.

There was a clear identification from the German of a large group of players, many of whom were coming towards the end of their contracts at that time, who simply did not want to be at the club.

That issue tied, and still ties, in with appalling transfer strategy; players bought for over the odds and handed huge contracts and then who prove impossible to move on to other clubs.

Anthony Martial is the poster boy for this phenomenon as he approaches the final months of his contract, having spent eight underachieving seasons at Old Trafford in which he has played for Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Michael Carrick, Rangnick and, now, ten Hag.

Rangnick continued to ring the alarms. He spoke of an injury list, above and beyond the norm. Ten Hag has not hesitated to make the same reference this season, as well he might. He is currently preparing to visit Anfield, scene of a 7-0 thrashing two weeks after that Carabao Cup Final, with doubts over defenders Luke Shaw, Harry Maguire, Lisandro Martinez, Tyrell Malacia and Victor Lindelof.

The final point raised by Rangnick concerned the observation that Manchester City and Liverpool surrounded brilliant managers with “smart people who take care of recruitment, scouting, the medical department.” The long list of disasters presided over by the United hierarchy post-Ferguson, even post-Rangnick, seems endless but just the handling of two of them - the respective falls from grace of Mason Greenwood and Jadon Sancho - are spectacular in their incompetence.

It was no surprise that United management did not want to keep Rangnick around in any sort of consultancy capacity, nor did ten Hag. Perhaps at that stage, nobody within Old Trafford wanted to hear the harsh truths explained in such sensible, if brutal, terms.

Now? Will Ratcliffe’s appetite for a choking dose of realism be any stronger?

He looks poised to bring in a team of football “experts,” fronted by the former cycling guru Dave Brailsford, to assist his work but how long will it take to resuscitate a club that has been allowed to slump into terminal decline for over a decade?

And at the heart of United’s woes lie a problem as old as sport itself: a dressing room of questionable character which is not always pulling in the same direction. Put Pep Guardiola or Jurgen Klopp in charge of this squad and would those geniuses get better results? Probably. Certainly better than Ten Hag’s current 50% loss rate.

But would they re-set the club entirely and start winning trophies? Almost certainly not.

Rangnick spoke, somewhat optimistically, of United “only” needing around ten quality signings to rebuild their squad, something he thought achievable in two or three transfer windows. Three transfer windows after his departure, it is doubtful whether one of those ten has been made by Ten Hag.

If a good football club needs to make ten good decisions to offset one bad one - and even City and Liverpool make occasional errors in the transfer market - then the margin of error is far more slender for United.

Perhaps their ratio needs to be more like 20:1. As ten Hag insisted United had played “very well” against Bayern and claimed that, while disappointed, he had no regrets about their failed Champions League campaign, it was hard to imagine this current regime making one good decision, let alone tens of them.