Let’s keep this simple. The Glazers are not the right owners for Manchester United Football Club. And that’s putting it mildly. We can go down the list from perpetual dividend payouts, neglect of infrastructure, absenteeism that would put Plantation Owners to shame and on and on. For the purposes of this article, we look at their responsibility for transfers- specifically midfield.
In 2016-17, United finish 6th in the Premier League. It is only by the grace of the Special One, that the club qualify for the Champions League via the Europa League.
In the 2017-18 season, the Glazers fund the purchase of a Nemanja Matic clearly on the way out of his prime. Manchester United, finished 2nd in the Premier League. This is the highest position (in what has now been almost a decade) the club has finished since 2013. The team needed serious upgrading in midfield and defence to stay competitive and then to take the next step: Winning the Premier League.
For the 2018-19 campaign, Mourinho was given the high energy, but diminutive, inconsistent and limited ability of Fred. United end the 18-19 campaign in 6th.
For the 2019-20 season, the Glazers eventually… reluctantly and only in January, fund the purchase of Bruno Fernandes, whose penchant for the superb, time has shown, is almost equally matched by some ignominious performances.
For the 2020-21 season, OGS was given Donny Van de Beek (and I mean given because it was palpable to any serious football fan that OGS did not rate VdB, who, as a result, barely had chances to do anything of note.)
In 2021-2022, there were ‘good’ signings, but none of them in midfield. Inexcusable.
And now here we are in 2022-23 with yet another player on the way out of his prime, in Christian Eriksen, signed for free.
Surely this must be a joke. It cannot be that Manchester United Football Club, for the 5th season in a row, for the 3rd (or arguably 5th) manager, are calling on Fred and Scott McTominay- who is good at a lot of things, but passing is not one of them- to play in midfield. Is there a genuine expectation that these two will come anywhere close to winning United the Premier League?
I thank God Avram Glazer was at the season opener against Brighton, because he had to have seen now, with his own two eyes, what every single United fan knows. MCFRED CANNOT WIN YOU THE LEAGUE. The poor lads try their best (most of the time,) which is probably half the reason they keep getting picked, but they just aren’t good enough.
Their positioning is too often poor and cowardly.
Their range of passing is limited and inconsistent to the point of embarrassing.
It was absolutely no surprise to see both of them hooked in the opening day loss to Brighton. But who can United turn to? VdB evidently has to prove his way back into the good books of ETH. Jimmy Garner is extremely promising, but this is not the ideal scenario you want a young man to come into (although, in my opinion, he is ready for it). Hannibal Mejbri, Zidane Iqbal and Charlie Savage are both definitely still in need of more preparation.
Meanwhile, a summer of flirtation and negotiation and Spain-cations have done little more than expose what we all already knew, which is that Barcelona are not the most professionally run club in the world.
90 million was Pogba’s price tag years ago, when that number was actually extraordinary and not commonplace as it is now. If ETH wants Frenkie de Jong so badly, one suspects that is probably where the figure will go (as opposed to the reportedly agreed 70-odd million with add ons), given the unpaid wages issue and the lurking threat of a ridiculous and late Chelsea bid by a new owner who makes no bones about throwing extra if it means getting his man.
Will the Glazers fund this? Will they even fund a back up option? ETH is no fool, there must be a plan B. But that will probably be the last of Avram we see for the next couple of years. If Old Trafford groans with the weight of every missed pass and poor touch from McFred, and the Glazers aren’t there to hear it, does Old Trafford even make a sound?
We may find out by August 31st.
The Football 4tress 