The last few seasons have been tumultuous to say the least for Manchester United. Ever since Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure at the end of the 2012/13 the club has simply not been the same. With 4 permanent managers and 1 caretaker manager in under 6 years the club has become disjointed and a place for uncomfortable viewing for its fans.
David Moyes
Sir Alex’s hand-picked ancestor at one of the biggest clubs in world football turned out to be disastrous. He managed less than a season at the club where he struggled to utilise the ageing talent he had at his disposal: including Wayne Rooney, Robin van Persie and the January signing of Juan Mata.
His Premier League experience at Everton had been pretty successful. He became a well-liked and respected manager of the club after completing over 10 seasons with top 10 finishes in all but 2 of them. In the 2004/05 season he even managed to gain the Evertonians Champions League football but they failed to get past the prelimanary qualifying rounds.
He took the Manchester United job before Sir Alex had even finished his final season, the anticipation was high and so were the expectations after 27 glorious years with their previous Scottish manager. But the story of Scottish success did not continue. The marquee signing of the summer was Moyes’ own Evertonian creation of Marouane Fellaini, a player United fans began to ridicule as the years went on leading to his transfer to China this year.
The start of Moyes’ season was only foreshadowing what troubles lay ahead of Manchester United as the first pre-season game ended in 1-0 defeat to Thai team, Singha All Stars. Before Christmas United were in poor form, 13 points behind the pace of Arsenal, league leaders at the time.
However, it was not all doom and gloom as the Champions League began to look promising. 4 wins from 6 games in the group stage placed them top of the group and won against Olympiacos in the round of 16. A Robin Van Persie hat trick sealed the deal for United as they made their way to the quarter final. Here they were stopped by Bayern Munich 4-2 on aggregate but it was still an impressive run of form for a manager in his first season at the club.
The league still wasn’t going their way though and neither were the domestic competitions, losing to Swansea in the FA Cup and Sunderland in the League Cup. Remaining 13 points behind, now 4th placed, Arsenal condemned Moyes by April as he was sacked with 4 games to go in the season. United’s 7th place finish was enough for Europa League football but it was a long way from their glory days with Sir Alex Ferguson as David Moyes held the shortest stint of a Manchester United manager in 82 years. 10 months in the job was all it took to break the foundations of one of the most successful teams in footballing history.
Louis van Gaal
Off the back of his success with the Dutch national team at the 2014 World Cup, van Gaal was swiftly swept up by Manchester United as he looked to piece together the impossible jigsaw of the team left behind by Moyes. He had taken the Netherlands all the way to 3rd place in Brazil beating Mexico, a newly emerging Costa Rica and the hosts themselves in the third place play off.
Ed Woodward, executive vice-chairman of the club, said van Gaal had “impressed everyone around the club”, however, just last week the former Manchester United manager announced his beliefs on Woodward claiming, “he has zero understanding of football”, something Manchester United are all too familiar with as a result of the poor transfer history in recent years.
Yet the start of Louis van Gaal’s reign looked like a very promising time for the club with multiple lucrative signings, some of which became club favourites but some became the biggest flops the club may have ever seen. The signings of Ander Herrera from Athletic Bilbao for £29 million and Luke Shaw from Southampton for £30 million are some of the best signings in recent years with both players becoming important member of the squad, Ander Herrera ultimately leaving the club this summer without a single contract extension. The disappointments of the following season were Angel Di Maria, signed from Real Madrid for an English transfer record of £59.6 million, yet another Galacticos reject being accepted with open arms by a seriously inferior English club, and Radamel Falcao who’s loan signing from Monaco was everything but exciting as he failed to have the same success he had seen in the French and Spanish leagues.
The majority of the highlights from this season were defeats despite a 4th place finish for the side. The opening day of the Premier League season ended 2-1 to Swansea City, a team who managed to torment Manchester United at ‘The Theatre of Dreams’ for some years. The second round league cup tie against MK Dons has gone down in history as one of the darkest days of United’s in recent history, a disgraceful 4-0 defeat in which the team were simply dismantled was the earliest League Cup exit for the club. United also took part in one of the most entertaining games of the season; a thrilling 5-3 win for newly promoted Leicester City at the King Power Stadium led to United’s worst start to a season since the 1980’s, this game was probably the highlight for Di Maria’s season, and his whole Manchester United career, with a beautifully chipped goal but his efforts weren’t enough to get a result.
Even more signings in the followung summer transfer window once again filled the fans’ hearts with promise for success. However, yet again the majority of these signings ended inevitably and, in the opinion of many, prematurely. The highlights of the transfer window were Memphis Depay from PSV, the young dutchman at the time had bags of potential, however, he struggled to carry them through his United career and even lost a few on the way, Anthony Martial an unheard of French boy, if anything, signed from Monaco leading Manchester United fans deep into Youtube compilations to find the highlights of his realtively short career and Morgan Schneiderlin, another Frenchman who looked to hold the midfield but was unsuccessful at doing so ever since being shipped across to Merseyside, however, he currently dons the blue shirt of Everton rather than the more prosperous red of Liverpool.
The following season contained just as much disappointment as the previous seasons. The side were knocked out of the Champions League group stage in an average group containing German side Wolfsburg and new signing Depay’s former club, PSV. Yet 2 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses were not enough to secure knockout stage status. The Europa League took them to Denmark and FC Midtjylland where they suffered a 2-0 defeat, but the home leg was a moment of recent Manchester United greatness as it brought about the emergence of Manc born and bred, Marcus Rashford. A brace from him and goals from Ander Herrera and Memphis Depay were enough to secure a last 16 spot, but that’s as far as they went. There was success in the FA Cup, however, as United conquered Crystal Palace in the final 2-1. Extra time and a sweet match winning goal from Jesse Lingard secured the club’s first silverware since 2014.
However, the many failures outshone the achievements as Memphis Depay failed to impress, Matteo Darmian had little impact after his signing and Sergio Romero, obviously, hardly got a look in with De Gea claiming the number 1 shirt. Over £75 million was spent on Depay, Schneiderlin and Darmian none of which had an impact just showcasing United’s poor transfer decisions and financial stupidity in recent years.
The only major positive from this season would be the creation of new talent for the future. New signing Martial burst onto the scene becoming the club’s top scorer with 11 goals, including a famous derby winning goal against Liverpool. There was also the emergence of academy players Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard both with years ahead of them and both showing nerves of steel when the club needed a victory in the big moment.
This is part one of two about Manchester United post-Alex Ferguson. The next will be about the infamous spell of Jose Mourinho and the controversy over Ole Gunner Solskjaer’s appointment.
Know The Game 
A really good read
LikeLike