How did the once glorious Manchester United become so ordinary?
Manchester United is easily the one of the most successful clubs in England second only to Liverpool which has a far superior European record. However, since 2013 when Sir Alex Ferguson retired, the Red Devils have failed to win a single Premier League title over a 9 year period! To add insult to injury, players are now increasingly becoming very reluctant to put pen to paper for the most successful football club in the Premier League era. A question that fans of Manchester United (which used to be one of football’s biggest brands) need to ask is how things got this bad. How did Manchester United go from being one of the most desirable clubs to becoming one that is very rebarbative in just nine years?
The provenance of this current repulsion with which players of worth are beginning to treat advances by Manchester United is actually hydra-headed. It is a combination of the rise of the meteoric rise of Chelsea and Manchester City together with ten end of Ferguson’s era. It did not also help that Manchester United was taken over by the Glazer family. The cub’s fortune has so plummeted that the fans are left terribly frustrated and depressed.
When Roman Abramovich took over Chelsea, the pendulum began to swing for the extremely dominant Manchester United. What used to be a strait fight between Arsenal and Manchester United for the domestic trophies in England began to turn into a fierce battle between Sir Alex Ferguson and the self-styled Special One. By the time the blue side of Manchester got into the foray, Manchester United was about to drop out from the contest entirely.
Two important things happened meanwhile. Manchester United lost their greatest coach of all time to retirement. This more than any thing else has been responsible for Manchester United falling from grace. To this very day Manchester United are yet to get a perfect replacement for Alex Ferguson. Sadly, Manchester United also had to contend with having a new ownership that is nothing compared to the Abu-Dhabi Group that owns Manchester City or Roman Abramovich who used to own Chelsea. The Glazers did not tow the line of these other billionaires that invested billions in their clubs. This miserliness by the Glazers cost and is costing Manchester United a lot.
The result of the aforementioned poor investments and not having an ideal replacement for retired Ferguson is basically what has pushed the club to where they no longer qualify for the UEFA Champions League much to the chagrin of analysts. Opponents no longer tremble at the mention of Manchester United and players are mortified with the idea of playing for them. Clubs that had never beaten before in their history began to take their turns to win Man United sometimes at Old Trafford. All these culminated in players refusing to sign for the club anymore. To reverse this ugly trend then, the club has to reinvent itself so that it can rejoined the elite clubs in England because it is correctly living off of its past glory.
