LvG and the Panic of Manchester

I have been watching the events of Manchester United football club very closely in recent days, and it seems the payers in the Dramtis Personae have changed a bit from a year ago, but the script is eerily familiar. No more is David Moyes at the helm of this “Ship of Fools”, but now the daunted and hailed, fresh from a 3rd place finish at the World Cup, and winner of the UEFA Champions League in past years, Louis van Gaal has arrived.

So why is the script the same? Why is Manchester United still failing to win games and why is Manchester United still waiting until the end of the transfer window to spend big £ on players who aren’t really going to help them? What is the rot at the keel of this ship? Why is this happening to the great team that occupies the storied “Old Trafford”? THE standard bearers for the age of the Premier league.

It seems as if it may be a combination of things. The long vaunted and highly successful manager of Man U, Sir Aex Ferguson, or SAF as he is known by the faithful, went into retirement 2 years ago after winning the Premier League title, presumably with a lineup that should have kept on winning. But if you look under the hood of that seemingly shiny humming Bentley, you would find the hidden body of a decaying Chevy Impala. SAF did not leave an academy full of bright stars for his succesors to bring through the ranks of football for the coming years, and really had not had a shining academy class since the vaunted class of 92 that produced among others Beckham and Paul Scholes, 2 of the greatest Man U playeers of all time.

In addition to a leaky infrastructure, the first team was put together with duct tape and baling wire. SAF was getting performances from players that were inexplicable, and unrepeatable by his succesors. Players such as Nani, Evra, even his captain Vidic seemed to age magically overnight as if SAF had put some youth spell upon them that vanished the moment he left Old Trafford. Only some of the youngsters seemed solid, David DeGea the gifted Spanish goalkeeper, who continues to put in solid performances and keeps Man U from being completely blown out of games. Adnan Januzaj, the oddly all of a sudden Belgian, and James Watson, have shown some life so far.

Gone are the glory days for Wayne Rooney, who looks like a bad model for “Hair club for men”, and Robin van Persie, who was supposed to have been the savior for Louis van Gaal from the Dutch World Cup team. This side now is a ghost team, and van Gaal is a ghost coach, a man sho sits silently clicking away into his little book on the sidelines while his team makes a mockery of English football in a 0:4 loss at third tier Milton Keynes. Perhaps the lowest point of all time for this once great franchise.

Meanwhile across town the citizens are building franchises in New York and Australia, taking their brand world wide, singing players like David Villa nd Frank Lampard to play in their worldwide empire. What is really going on in the boardroom and offices at Man United? I am very curious, its a tragedy, I know that, but how many acts will if last?