There’s a freedom in failure, a licence to do what’s
necessary to get back to success. Long
term it might just be best for Man Utd and David Moyes to properly experience
it.
The Glazers were granted an incredible gift after buying Man
Utd when Alex Ferguson decided that his socialist background somehow didn’t
mean he should object to the amount of debt placed on his football club (since
the takeover close to a billion pounds has been paid out in fees and interest
according to some estimates) and got on with the business of winning titles on
a comparative shoestring. This doesn’t
bode well for David Moyes’ chances of carrying out the massive surgery on the
squad needed to get them back to where they need to be. With the Glazers’ history of doing just
enough it’s easy to see a scenario where they sneak into fourth place and go
through another transfer window failing to sign anyone of note.
Better then to fail completely, have a great big bush fire
of a season. Finish seventh and out of
Europe completely. Let the fans and
media wail that the Empire of Old Trafford has reached its’ end. Moyes can hold his six year contract in front
of him like a shield and point out that the squad he inherited obviously wasn’t
good enough. With the fear of missing
out on Champions League football for another season the Glazers would surely
have to grant him the money his rebuilding needs. Without the demands of Europe to worry about
he could ship out the dead wood and replace it with fewer players of higher
quality. Going for the title the season
after would be easier without the extra games, especially compared to nicking a
Europa League spot and having to do the dreaded Thursday-Sunday schlep. And it’s not like coming from seventh to win
would be unprecedented. In Italy
Juventus’ current dominance was started from finishing seventh the season
before their first league title. Dortmund
finished fifth then won the league twice and got to the Champions League final
the year after. They were both clubs in
worse positions than Man Utd are now.
They used their failures as fuel for their revolutions. Does anyone really think that Man Utd don’t
have it in them to do the same?
The main question over whether this is possible has to be
Moyes. Dortmund and Juve had Jurgen
Klopp and Antonio Conte respectively, coaches who are now seen as the equal of
anyone in Europe. When they took over
they were seen as inexperienced and untested at the highest level, just like
Moyes now. After doing distinctly below
average with the team he inherited from Ferguson Moyes should be given the
chance to show what a Man Utd team built by him would look like. Failing in his first season might perversely
be his best chance of getting the chance to do it.
And does anyone really think that they’re ready to have a
serious tilt at the Champions League anyway?
If Ferguson thought they were anywhere close he would have surely taken
the chance to try and add his name to the list of managers to win it three
times. He looked at what was needed to
turn the current squad into contenders and understandably decided he’d had
enough. The timing of it left Moyes with
problems he had no chance of fixing right out of the gate, problems big enough
to require a full scale rebuilding job, not a January top-up.
Whether Moyes would get the opportunity to rebuild is
anyone’s guess. Man Utd made such a big
deal of him being given time to build a legacy as Ferguson's anointed chosen
one that it’s unlikely that they’d backtrack so completely now. And to give the fans credit they’ve taken
their first real taste of (mild) failure better than many would have predicted,
with very few calling for Moyes to be given the boot. Whether this good will extends to the Floridian
billionaires who call the shots only time will tell. It’s clear that taking the time and expense
to float ten percent of the club on the New York Stock Exchange wasn’t with the
intention of having the share price drop through the season often and low
enough to make it onto the back pages.
Financially there should be no question that they could
afford the hit of one season without Europe.
The commercial deals signed over the last ten years would be enough on
their own to keep most Premier League clubs in the black. And the lure of being Man Utd should be
enough to attract high calibre players without being able to offer them
Europe. They would still be Man Utd. The walls to Old Trafford would still
stand. They’d still be on TV every
week. Ferguson would still be in that
odd position in the stands, just over Moyes shoulder. Giggs would still be knocking about
somewhere. After twenty five years of
not having to think about it, a season wasted might be the most worthwhile one
they could have.
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