Manchester United’s Ineptitude Deserves to be Celebrated
Manchester United’s humiliating 6–1 defeat at home to Tottenham Hotspur was met with stinging criticism. Ken Early described it as “sorry ineptitude” in his report for the Irish Times. Jonathan Veal wrote in the Irish Independent that they “sunk to a new low” on Sunday.
The Theatre of Dreams tagline has been thrown around a lot as an ironic remark during past embarrassing defeats, but this really was the stuff of nightmares for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
His job is now under threat as Executive Vice Chairman Ed Woodward has already effectively given the Norwegian the dreaded vote of confidence.
Mauricio Pochettino looms ever closer, his shadow casting a dark cloud over Carrington.
However, the current relationship of Woodward and Solskjaer should not be split so easily for it is one made in heaven.
Given the vast resources available to Man United, to stick with Solskjaer is the only moral thing to do. In fact, more super clubs should follow in their footsteps and bow to nostalgia when making managerial appointments. To Juventus and Chelsea’s credit, perhaps the trend is now well under way. Even Barcelona are getting in on the act.
Looking at the amount of money that Man United make, and given the rules around Financial Fair Play, the Red Devils have a much greater capacity to spend in the transfer market than all but a handful of clubs.
But don’t ask me, ask Mr Woodward who in July 2014 said that the club “could do things in the transfer market that other clubs can only dream of.”
If other clubs are dreaming of failing to land their main target (Jadon Sancho), panicking on deadline day and signing an old, washed up striker (Edinson Cavani) or some 18-year old that’s only played a couple dozen minutes of professional football (Amad Diallo) then those clubs better wake up from their cold sweat fast.
Ok, money can’t buy every player. Some clubs just won’t sell at any price — or maybe a price just slightly more than was offered (… Sancho again) — but money can also be spent on wages. It even turns out that those that spend the most on wages traditionally are the most successful. Sounds like a winning formula!
According to recent figures released by safebettingsites.com, Man United are seventh in Europe in terms of most expensive wage bill in football. They spend roughly £120k a week per player in their squad.
Man United are also third in Deloitte’s most recent Football Money League, which highlights how much money clubs earn on an annual basis.
The Manchester club earned a total of £627.1 million in 2019, which was an increase on the £589.8 million in 2018. The only clubs to earn more in 2019 were the two Spanish giants Barcelona (£741.1m) and Real Madrid (£667.5m). There is no doubting that the club, even in times of poor on pitch performances, is a money making machine.
This is not to be celebrated. This is a large contributing factor in the increasing inequalities seen in the game. Real Madrid and Barcelona routinely top these money lists and also, coincidentally, always take up the top two positions in the Spanish league table.
It is only sometimes that they are disrupted by Atletico Madrid, who finished 13th in this year’s Deloitte Money League. No other Spanish club is close to the top 20 and coincidentally also nowhere near these three teams in the league table every season. What a lot of strange coincidences!
There are eight Premier League clubs inside Deloitte’s top 20. The Big Six clubs all occupied top 11 spots. Everton and West Ham also take up two further places.
Examining where these teams lie in the top 20 and where they lie in the top 20 of the Premier League is where we can very easily see who is spending their money well and who is Manchester United.
The Red Devils’ current strategy of just simply throwing money at everything and seeing what sticks should frankly become more common at the top of the game.
Only AC Milan, who were seventh in the Deloitte Money League in 2011 and are now nowhere to be seen in the top 20, can truly claim to be better than Man United at wasting away their wealth. Arsenal, too, have shown that United are not alone in their incompetence. From 11th in the Money League to eighth in the Premier League is an obvious waste of resources.
But these examples aren’t enough, more must follow in their inefficient footsteps.
Those in charge of running football have shown absolutely no desire to correct the dire financial inequality in the game. It is now up to smaller clubs to play catch up by maximising their resources off the pitch while also hoping to find some over performance on the pitch.
When Leicester City won the league in 2016 the question wasn’t “how do we ensure a miracle like this happens more often?” but instead became “how do we ensure this never happens again?”
The answer was to spend smartly and efficiently. Big clubs have figured out the basic formula for maximising their own vast resources. In the years since Leicester’s win, the big clubs have all figured out how to best spend their money, leaving an impossible barrier to break into the coveted top four places.
Manchester City reacted by bringing in Pep Guardiola, highly regarded as one of the best coaches in the world. A very smart decision and a great use of their incredible wealth.
Chelsea finished 10th in 2016, an abject failure for a club of their stature. Their response was to bring in Antonio Conte, who had brought the worst Italian team in a generation within a converted penalty of a semi final at the Euros that Summer. Another smart decision.
Both managers would win league titles at their respective clubs. Liverpool would fall to 8th in 2016. They had persisted with Brendan Rodgers up to October of that season, but when things hit rock bottom they acted swiftly and brought in two time Bundesliga winner Jürgen Klopp. We all know how that played out, they too won a league title.
Leicester have since struggled to repeat their great feat. Their best league finish since was 5th place in 2019/20, and even that required both over performance and also terrible decision making at bigger clubs like Arsenal and Tottenham.
So, morally, the best United can do is stick by their manager. Objectively, it’s a terrible decision. Nothing on Solskjaer’s CV has ever suggested he was capable of being a Premier League manager. Hell, would any club in the championship take him in a managerial swap with United? Somehow, I don’t think so.
Man United can bring in the likes of Pochettino but they ultimately will continue to make poor decisions, will continue to recruit inefficiently and will continue to be considered an easy target for rival fans to laugh at.
At least the Argentine is a good enough manager that he will be able to work far more effectively with the poor tools he’s given than anything Solskjaer can muster. Third flattered United last season.
United still finished 33 points behind the league winners and spent £47 million on Bruno Fernandes who helped save their otherwise dismal first half of the season. Leicester couldn’t afford to compete with such signings last January and ultimately faded from their third place position.
Any potential winning formula that Woodward and co. stumble upon will be entirely by accident. Winning isn’t a design they know how to draw up at Old Trafford, the last seven years has proven that.
They have shown no aptitude for running a football club, let alone the third richest in the sport. Their sorry ineptitude is the template other super clubs must follow if we are to save football from the financial inequality eating the game alive.
Author’s Note:
I’ve written a lot recently about the financial inequalities in the game. I even wrote about it as the main topic of my dissertation! It’s a very important subject and one that football fans should be more concerned about than any other.
The threat of a European Super League is right around the corner, but more importantly the threat of extinction is here and present among many lower league teams. Just ask fans of Bury FC.
If you would like to know more about this topic then I highly recommend reading this piece by Miguel Delaney on the subject from February, you know… when everything was considered normal. This won’t explain everything, but it is certainly a great starting point and a fantastic piece of journalism.
