There are many reasons why Manchester United are the most successful football team in England – and have been for as long as most people can remember. And especially since the development of the Premier League, the club has entered an era of almost unprecedented success.
The Old Trafford Stadium keeps expanding – its current capacity is over 76,000 – and the demand for tickets shows no sign of slowing down, despite the economic downturn.
Much has been made, quite rightly, of the influence over the club of the legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson. A blunt, at times irascible Scotsman, Ferguson has been at ‘The Theatre of Dreams’ since November, 1986 – a tenure almost unprecedented in any era of the game. He has managed to stay hungry, determined and, most importantly, in total command during that time and will, when he does eventually decide to stand down, undoubtedly be hard to replace.
Ferguson’s main attribute, for me, has been to keep United at the top whilst continually changing his team. There has been one spell – between 2002 and 2005 – when the club ‘only’ had an FA Cup to display from the major competitions; but even then they could hardly be said to have languished in mediocrity.
The manager has had that priceless ability of being able to move players in and out of his squad, without it disrupting team spirit or damaging the pattern of play. Additionally, he’s shown a completely single-minded approach to moving out players he thought would be possibly past their best or simply not up to standard. Yes, he’s made a few mistakes – Kleberson, Veron, Taibi, Djemba Djemba, Jordi Cruyff – but some of those could realistically have been expected to have been successful. Kleberson was the midfield hub of a Brazilian team that won the World Cup, for goodness sake.
However, I do happen to think that Sir Alex has a hard season in prospect. Not one where United are in danger of plummeting down to fifth, or anything like that. But I do feel things could be a little more problematic when it comes to running away with the league title again.
Now, I’m not just saying that because Ronaldo has flown away to his spiritual home – I’m sure they’ll suit each other perfectly. Although a player of his skill – and the number of goals he scored – will not easily be found, it’s certain the staff at Old Trafford will bring at least one player in to take the winker’s place.
My problems are elsewhere. I do think there are a number of players who are just about past their use-by date. Ryan Giggs might have been PFA Player of the Year but we all know that was a sentimental award – unless he really was exceptional in the 15 league games he started during the season! Clearly, Giggs, Gary Neville and Paul Scholes cannot be expected to play much next season.
Then there are others about whom you can’t be really sure they’re going to be quite good enough. Darren Fletcher has come on enormously in the last two years but the same can’t really be said for Nani, Anderson, Ji-Sung Park and one or two more. It was abundantly clear in the Champions’ League Final that Barcelona’s midfield was inordinately superior to Manchester’s. Owen Hargreaves, hopefully for United, will return to something like his best form – but Michael Carrick still looks a bit of a ‘flat track bully’ to me,
And, of course, there are the classic Berbatov and Rooney problems. I don’t suppose I’m alone in wondering what on earth Wayne Rooney was doing spending half of last season stuck out on the left ‘doing a job for the team’ and looking a shadow of the player we all think he could be. And the manager’s faith in the expensive Berbatov was clearly demonstrated in the last few vital matches of the season when the player barely got picked. Personally, for all Tevez’s enthusiasm and running around, the best pairing up front for Manchester United has to be the intelligence of Berbatov – who did have more ‘assists’ than any other United player last year – with the brilliant Rooney playing in his best position alongside him.
I am looking forward to the 2009/2010 season in the Premier League. Manchester United can be sure of playing their fast, flowing football and will, of course, be right there at the end. I do think, though, that, if they are going to achieve the amazing feat of four titles in a row, the manager has got quite a lot of hard work to do.
I am looking forward to the 2009/2010 season in the Premier League. Manchester United can be sure of playing their fast, flowing football and will, of course, be right there at the end. I do think, though, that, if they are going to achieve the amazing feat of four titles in a row, the manager has got quite a lot of hard work to do.

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