After yet another home defeat in the Premier League in the season, this time to the hands of Burnley, United find themselves a hefty 33 points behind runaway leaders Liverpool, with the Merseyside club having a game in hand too. With 14 games still left in the competition, the gap is expected to widen as the season approaches its final stages.
How did the most successful club in England fall so badly? And can they get out of it? We have tried to arrive at all possible reasons in the previous blog of this series. Here are the top parameters that must be kept in mind while moving forward and restrict committing the same mistakes over and over again:
Are the owners, ultimately, to blame:
For many years, Glazers' family has been the root cause of many ills revolving around the club, from underinvestment to choice of the executive to spearheading such a gigantic club. Since Glazers' hostile takeover in the summer of 2005, nearly €1 billion has been sucked out of United, in the form of debt repayments, interest bills, management fees, dividends and other fees. Just wonder where the club would have been if the money was better invested. United need someone with a long term goal at that position rather than ones who are looking for short term commercial benefits.
Woodward's role in the soap opera:
As the fans call him, Glazers' puppet master, Ed Woodward has been the chief executive for the club for some years now and he has been handling all key transfers. He has the final say on all signings that United make in the transfer market. Sitting at merely the fifth spot in the PL table despite having the biggest wage bill in the whole competition is a big question mark for the top officials. But sometimes, it feels as if Woodward is the lightning rod for much of anger and criticism from the fans. Protesting against his decisions is fair but chanting his death threats in public and attacking his house with flares is just too much. He is not the sole reason behind this slump of United.
Is there cash and most importantly a willpower to succeed?
The average spend for each summer transfer window since the Glazers' takeover is €48 million. But since Sir Alex retired in 2013, the number comes out to be just short of €85 million. Solskjaer needed a striker and a midfielder in the summer. He got neither. Twelve months ago, Jose Mourinho needed a centre-back. A pattern was developed. The club needs a Director of Football very quickly as they are in a position of needing to hit the mark with every deal they do. There should be a certain strategy that United should abide in the long run.
Is Solskjaer, the right manager?
With the recent 0-2 defeat to Burnley, United have lost more league games (12 games) than they have won (11 games) since the Norwegian took over in December 2018. In this period, even Crystal Palace have clinched four more points than United. There is certainly no doubting in the will of Solskjaer to succeed at Old Trafford, but belief in inexperienced Norwegian's suitability to this role that has proven tough even for the most successful of coaches (Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho) is being seriously challenged these days. They
Will one summer be enough to put things into place?
When Solskjaer took charge as the manager of this club, he stated that the side needed nine players with character and quality to get the club back to where they belong. Having just signed three players in the summer, that leaves him wanting six more. Clearing of the deadwood has taken longer than what he first thought. Thus, it will not happen in the blink of an eye. Even, Rome was not built in a day. Restructuring takes time and fans must be patient with the proceedings.
