General Premier League Thread 2020-21 - Mod Notes in 1st post. [Updated 17/12/20]

6 wrote: »

Liverpool are challenging and winning trophies. Klopp is a big factor too.

United are a level or two below and aren't challenging for top honours. They have a manager who looks out of his depth.

Bound to be major factors for players looking for a new club.

I still think a significant portion of the United fanbase doesn’t realise how far down the pecking order the club has gone. Very much comparable with Liverpool of the 90s.

Uniteds stadium is run down badly, it’s a very good metaphor for how poorly the football side of things are being run. People know how much United is spending but there is a disconnect in terms of responsibility when you factor in that it’s the glazers/Woodward deciding how money is being spend and where it’s being used.

It’s like some people think “well they are spending money, therefore they are doing all they can” type attitude. The club can afford a much larger wage bill if it wants (it’s 3rd smallest to revenue in the league) and they can easily afford to spend more on transfers (club is worth over 1.5 billion more then Liverpool). They need to spend better, not necessarily more but I’m making this point to counter the suggestion that they can’t do much more in terms of spending.

The 7 years of continual decline stops at the people at the top. The culture of hiring and firing managers has created a delusional acceptance from fans that a managerial change can cure all ills. This generally only plays out in clubs that are reasonably run and focused on football as a primary goal.

I’ve said this countless time’s, why can ranieiri, pelligrini , manchini and di Matteo win big trophies at clubs and united aren’t chasing these lads? They won trophies at clubs who have a football club that is primed to do the best it can with the resources available. These clubs can succeed and do well regardless of manager. Avram grant nearly won the league and CL double with Chelsea and nobody has taken him on as manager!

Liverpool has shown how a superbly run club with a top coach can become the best in the game without needing to be the biggest spenders. They are really clever in how they do business and make United look like an absolute shambles in comparison. I actually don’t think United get half as much grief as they deserve, I really don’t think Woodward (or whoever is responsible for ins/outs) could be doing a worse job if they tried and the fact nothing has changed in a decade tells us all we need to know about how important the first teams requirements are to the owners.