Since Sir Alex Ferguson (The Gaffer of all Gaffers) retired with yet another Premier League title in 2013 it has been one long cycle of hope quickly followed by despair at Old Trafford. Over the past 13 years Manchester United have gone through 12 managers (some full-time managers, others caretakers, interim coach, or head coach). The Glazers remain the owners but in 2023 INEOS became minority owners with control over football operations, but things have got worse.
Surely Michael Carrick’s days are over after a run of 8 games without a win, including heavy back-to-back defeats in the past week to Como away in the Champions League and Bournemouth at home in the Premier League. Public statements undermining the coach from captain Bruno Fernandes and Lisandro Martinez have been received badly by the fans who have chosen to back the manager (a club legend as a player who understands the club) and are looking for the ownership and sporting directors to leave. The fans have also started to boo the players. It’s a dreadful situation for a once giant club. At this moment in time even the Conference League seems like a dream with the relegation zone not too far away. That shows how far they have fallen as a club in recent times.
They’ve tried the anointed one in David Moyes, club legends as interim and full-time coaches in Ryan Giggs, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Ole Gunnar Solskjær and Michael Carrick. Then you have some of the greatest coaches of the past 30 years in Louis van Gaal and José Mourinho, the up-and-coming shiny new coaches with clear tactical identities and success in smaller leagues like Erik ten Hag and Ruben Amorim, and ideologues such as Ralf Ragnick. Through it all, nothing has worked for long.
What tends to happen is a manager will be brought in with a clear identity that is probably completely different to the manager before. They’ll win some games, get the hopes of the fanbase up and string together some performances and big wins against their rivals, but it’ll quickly go stale. There will be a sacking, an interim coach brought in to steady the ship, they’ll be given the job full time as a result (see Carrick this time around or the original super sub for Utd Ole Gunnar Solskjaer) instead of a ‘proper’ manager being found and the cycle continues as they falter.
There have been trophies and good runs in that time, including winning the Europa League and reaching another final, a couple of FA Cups and League Cups, but for a club the size of Manchester United that’s just not good enough. Where it really matters, the bread and butter of the Premier League, performance has been poor. There have been good moments but only moments, but some big defeats to rivals including 5-0 and 7-0 defeats to Liverpool. A couple of 2nd place finishes (where they weren’t really in a proper title race), a couple of 3rd places well behind the top two have masked overall decline. A 15th place finish in 2024-25 before losing to Spursy Tottenham in the Europa League final was maybe the lowest point. But was it?
Manchester United just keep finding records to break in terms of poor performances and results. They’ve become a banter club, it doesn’t matter who is in charge and what style of play they’re currently trying out, the cycle of doom continues. Defeats at home, runs without wins, worst start to a season since (insert the latest date from decades ago), the records just keep tumbling. Even a player like Fernandes who has genuinely been a standout in the Premier League over his time at Old Trafford with a great number of goals and assists hasn’t really stood out when it matters at the very top. For some he’s a penalty merchant in the Champions League when United have made it to the top tier of European competition. If he’s now speaking up about tactics and a lack of running and pressing intensity what does that mean for the mindset of the players and the current coaching staff?
Fergie time seems like such a long time ago and it’s hard to see how they can get back to those glory days. United have tried every different type of coach and manager and nothing sticks. The only constant is the Glazers as owners. Saddling the club with debt was never welcomed but in the early years there was the momentum of Ferguson. After he left and results declined, the ownership question became a lot stronger. The focus shifted away from the pitch towards stopping rivals, including hijacking deals for Alexis Sánchez and Cristiano Ronaldo when they were close to joining Manchester City, regardless of whether it was the right deal for Manchester United at that moment in time.
Die-hard United fans want the ownership gone, and even INEOS, new on the scene, are not well liked. Recruitment is poor, Old Trafford is falling apart, and there is no optimism in sight. Even the thought of ‘The Big Six’ as a concept might not necessarily include Manchester United these days, although there is a chance that Manchester City get punished heavily then it might just be ‘The Big One’ with The Best Team to Ever Exist™ Arsenal dominating for the foreseeable future.
Could we call Manchester United a sleeping giant? Time will tell. It’s Groundhog Day in Manchester, and it doesn’t seem to matter what type of manager or coach they get in next; we’ll be having this same conversation this time next year.
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