Doesnt bear thinking about for most of you I know, and 2 years ago this wouldn't have even been dreamed up as a possibility. But with United some way off the pace and a title challenge all but ruled out, do you think it possible you might not qualify? The old saying "Never write off Man United" has always held true, and when they have been written off in the last 20 years "You wont win anything with kids, when Arsenals invincible's stormed to the title, when Jose's Chelsea team won back to back titles, City'd ascendency" it always came back to bite the ass of the people who said it. And this is the gods honest truth, I have ALWAYS said "As long as Fergie is at United, they will not accept failure". This is the first time in 20 years and I have predicted Uniteds downfall, I swear to god. This isn't meant as a troll thread, though some may see it that way, I have the utmost respect for United and you will be challenging for trophies for years to come still imo. But the dominance you once held, at least domestically, I cannot see it happening now. Not only have you lost the best manager of the last 30 years, but you now also have to compete with Chelsea and City's finances in terms of snapping up the big players, and there are many players in the last 10 years that you have lost to these clubs that normally would have been a shoe in for United (Essien, Tevez, Hazard to name but 3 that come to mind instantly). But just how bad will it be for United if you do not make the top 4 this year? In short, my prediction is......not that bad....at least if its just for one year. Financially United make more money than anyone (except Real Madrid), and even with the debt the Glazer's lumbered you with, you are still smashing the profit margins every year and competing on a top level financially. The biggest immediate downside would be attracting top players for your squad....everyone knows United need a new midfield and without CL football, that might close the door to some of the bigger names. But United have never really been a club that often spends HUGE money on the current top players. You always blood them from within (the class of 92), or buy them at a very young age and bring them through the first team (CR7). To sum up the point, United are still a massive club, some would argue the biggest, in the world, and with CL football or not, you are still going to be able to attract young foreign talent to the club that may someday become world class players. The only problem is if you fail in CL qualification for 3 years or more. Its known that European players and fans alike follow the CL and the clubs in it staunchly, and if you are absent from the CL for an extended period, the revenue from the plastic Asians and Africans will fall away. And even though the clubs massive, this reputation will only get you so far and a period of no league titles will lower world wide attention for Utd (Ask Liverpool). I guess my point is....its too early to panic. IMO Moyes should be given till the end of the season, no matter what, to see how he fares, if he makes the top 4 then great, let him continue to build his own United team and hope things come good. Failure to reach the top 4 this season wont be a complete disaster, but should it occur, you should sack Moyes and bring in someone else in my opinion. And see what they can do. On the one hand you dont want to be stuck with a lame duck, but on the other, you dont want a reputation as a club that has the manager merry go round like my club has been stuck with.
This. It didn't derail City when they missed out to Spurs after spending all that money in 2010 (didn't stop them getting Yaya and Silva that summer either), nor were Utd, City or Chelsea derailed by dropping out in the group stage in the last few seasons. It didn't really affect Liverpool all that much either - their own internal financial implosion was much more significant than missing out on the CL. Financially it will be a blow, but we have the cash and profits to absorb that without it affecting transfer spending. It may even be of benefit in the long term - Moyes will get money to spend to build his own team which could help us push towards real trophies in the future rather than turning into the next Arsenal and spending eight years competing for the top four trophy. Completely disagree there. Chelsea's example has shown exactly what you get it you bring in someone else and 'see what they can do'. They spend a lot of money, get a short term boost out of the team, then perform almost exactly the same as the last bloke, and the team declines in quality over the long term. That worked for Chelsea when you had hundreds of millions to spend on paper for the cracks, and a fair slice of luck in the cups, but I doubt Utd will ever embrace that style of management. Can you honestly name a single club that has made a knee jerk change of management and really benefited over the long term as a result of it? Moyes needs at least two years to try and build his team, and so we can see what he can do before we start casting around in the random hope that some other name will somehow do better.
Bur seriously, Fergie left Moyes with a much better squad than Atkinson left Fergie. When Fergie took over at United, they hadnt won a league title in ages, and were in a mess, so instant success was neither expected or realistic. Moyes has taken over a United team that are Champions, granted the squad is far from the complete article, but to finish outside the top 4 with United's squad, whilst not a disaster financially, would be pretty embaressing in terms of Moyes abilities as a manager. I will concede though, that United are not the type of club to make knee jerk reactions in terms of manager appointments, so it would not surprise me at all if the club gave him another season. But I personally think that would be a mistake, for what my opinion is worth.
Not really - we have a better squad now, but not a much better squad. In Atkinson's last season we finished 4th, and had some quality players like Robson, McGrath, Strachan, Olsen and Whiteside. Maybe not a title winning squad, but certainly a good squad and not a mess by any measure. We were willing to let SAF dismantle that squad and take us back to 11th and 13th in the league in order to build his own successful squad, so why would we not give Moyes the same chance? Particularly when there's no guarantee any other manager would do any better.
Completely different eras, no one will get as long as fergie did to get it right at such a big club again
Finishing outside the top wont hurt as long as it is for only 1 or 2 seasons max. Look at Liverpool and Spurs no CL football yet they spend money galore.
I don't think comparing with Chelsea and Man City is valid. They do not need the money from the CL in order to buy players or fund their operation, they just need it to hold their owner's interest. Players go to these clubs secure in the knowledge that the owners will spend whatever it takes to be competitive. Manchester United's financial situation is always a matter for debate, but it is difficult to see how losing 25M+ wouldn't have an impact on their situation. But even apart from that, it is more the uncertainty in there situation that will affect them. Will a top player want to go to United if they don't have CL football AND they need to rebuild the side on a limited budget? I use the word limited as opposed to City and Chelsea's unlimited budgets. On top of that, you have Moyes building a reputation for himself as an unpopular manager. I think Baines not leaving Everton in the summer, and Felliaini's seeming reluctance to move, was a sign not many people picked up on. I would say that CL football is a MUST for Moyes and Co. If they don't manage it, rebuilding in the summer will be far, far more difficult than if they do recover to 4th place. Certainly, these are not impossible obstacles to overcome, but even the most hardened United fan must surely admit that it will not be a good thing.
And with this the appeal of the premier league would go down so all TV revenue would reduce at the next bid time. Most of the fans leaving United would be foriegn and would most likely go to Real, Barca or Inter.
I blame the Mayans if they had been right about the end of the world we wouldn`t be in this situation.
I can't ****ing wait for these ****ers to jump ship . It was always going to be difficult to carry on doing what SAF did. Now more than ever people are starting to realise his greatness. There are a few obvious things that need (****ing needed to be done in the summer) to be done: Behave like the biggest club in England (and one of the worlds biggest). Buy top players and stop ****ing trying to save a few millions here and there . Support the ****ing club through the sticky patch. People going to OT to be entertained (and assuming they are paying to watch a victory) should **** off. Being out of the CL has for me a massive silver lining. At least the ****ing Glazers will be getting less money out of our club. We should still go for the best players. Yes it will ****ing mean United pay over the odds but who ****ing cares except for the glazers? Give Moyes time. A year out of Europe is not a disaster as long as United and the **** glazers give him the money and Moyes himself does not behave like the manager of Everton trying to find value for money FFS
Well there is an upside. With Utd in free fall and arsenal doing well at the top. If utd fans decide to jump ship, then at least their travelling all the way to Manchester will be reduced. They can just support a local London team again.
