As I sank into the couch today minutes after Brighton slumped to a 6-1 defeat to Aston Villa, my COVID stricken brain managed to muster a humorous thought about the midweek comparisons of Roberto De Zerbi to Erik ten Hag. Every time a manager does something good in the Premier League Erik ten Hag immediately gets criticism, but that same manager losing 6-1 conveniently goes under the radar.
If my COVID was going away before the United game kicked off, it was back with an army 15 minutes in. Watching United at times feels like that Interstellar clip, when he watches himself from space walking around the old room in his house. We know what’s going to happen in these games, but nothing we do from behind our screens can stop it. We can smash, scream, squeal and cry, but the same patterns of play continue to happen. It’s been that way for ten years.
In the minutes following the game, social media was of course calm. I’m joking of course, it was as toxic as ever. The one hashtag that I expected to come didn’t disappoint me. #TenHagOut rang shrill over the Twittersphere. Elon Musk handing out X payouts to the countless Manchester United fans who only seem to preach negativity on the app. Although I expected the hashtag to come, it didn’t fail to baffle me in a massive way.
Back The Manager:
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
Albert Einstein.
That is and will continue to be one of my favourite quotes. It’s my favourite outside of football, because it applies to real life. Keep making the same errors and you’ll never learn. Keep falling back into the same habits and you’ll never grow. It’s also one of my favourites because of how it correlates to Manchester United.
It’s a sickening cycle. We hire a manager. He is ‘backed’ to get us back into the Champions League in order for the club to generate more funds for the owners to take dividends. We qualify, and the season after less money is pumped into the club. The manager fails due to a lack of adequate recruitment, and the fans immediately want a new shiny toy in. The club give in. The new shiny toy is hired. Let’s give Roberto De Zerbi as an example. Erik ten Hag leaves, and the fans get that new dopamine hit of De Zerbi coming in. De Zerbi plays some decent football, and finishes in the top three. Fans take to social media, ‘we’re back’, ‘De Zerbi Ball’, that usual mumbo jumbo. Less money than the season before is afforded to him in the following transfer window. He misses out on three key targets. The club have their next worst start to a league campaign in it’s history. The fans take to social media again. ‘De Zerbi Out’, ‘Time For Conte’. The cycle repeats.
Glazernomics:
People often say to me, how are they not backing the manager? They’ve spent X amount of money. Manchester United’s spending is blown up due to the incompetence from above over a ten year period on the market. The willingness to spend ridiculous amounts of money on players has given the club a reputation on the market. Now every transfer they go for, the price rises 50% more than it would for any other club. Manchester United paid £82million for Antony last summer. They paid £82million for Antony because the owners refused to sanction the deal for £50million in June. They sanctioned the deal for £82million in August due to a 4-0 defeat to Brentford. Why? Because Champions League qualification looked daunting, meaning no dividends money for the dudes in Tampa.
10 Years Of Mis-Management:
Paying extortionate fees due to mismanagement on the market is not backing a manager. Three signings a year after finishing second to try and get closer to Manchester City is not backing a manager. Failing to sign Erik ten Hag’s main target in Frenkie De Jong and then slapping £70million on a 30-year old that doesn’t fit his system is not backing the manager. It’s throwing something at a wall, and hoping it somehow sticks enough to do something.
When do we learn? Gary Neville said it best, when a business is failing over a period of 10 years, it’s the owners of that business who have to take responsibility. But they don’t, do they? They hide behind their employees. They leave staff in limbo, wondering whether a sale is happening for 12 months. They fire manager after manager, but never communicate with the fans to say what the vision for the club is. Nothing will change until the head is cut off the snake. We can hire and fire every manager to ever live, we will always end up back in this cycle while the Glazers own the club.
Ralf Rangnick declared Manchester United needed open heart cosmetic surgery to return to the top of English football. Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp didn’t create success alone. They had teams working with them. Recruitment teams, filled with football experts to try and identify the best players that fit the style of play the club wanted to employ. Erik ten Hag has business men, shoehorned into the football department, in a Ted Lasso esque experiment hoping that somehow they will come good. As I said, Frenkie De Jong main target, Casemiro eventual signing. Anyone seeing the issues here?
Nothing Will Change Unless Something Changes:
How can a club which still employs players from the Louis Van Gaal era expect to compete for a league title? Manchester United had a record year for revenue last season, why was Sofyan Amrabat a loan deal? Where is the money? It’s in a bank account in Tampa. Rotting away. Collecting dust. Just like roof in Old Trafford.
Stop looking to blame the players. Throwing your Rashford’s and your Bruno Fernandes under the bus. Point then blame above those. Point the blame at the incompetence at board level. Stop the rot of wanting manager after manager sacked just because you think the new wrestling toys on the market can do a better RKO than the last batch. Erik ten Hag is a top manager. He makes mistakes, absolutely. But he will put this club back where it deserves if they leave in the coming months. I know that for sure.
Read More Manchester United Coverage:
- Report: Manchester United Have Lowered Their Asking Price For Fred Amid Galatasaray Interest
- Report: Real Sociedad Have Formally Approached Manchester United For Donny Van De Beek
- Report: Manchester United’s Matej Kovar Has Interest From Top Seven Premier League Club
- Report: Fiorentina Midfielder Sofyan Amrabat’s Priority This Summer Is Manchester United
- Report: Manchester United Considering Moves For Jean-Clair Todibo & Jarrad Branthwaite
Follow The Utd Transfer Room: Twitter | Facebook & Instagram Coming