And Højlund? I think the kid has a lot of potential and it would be harsh to judge him on this season where he’s been thrown into the deep end.
This is the bleakest it has been in my lifetime
- Thread starter Martial
- Start date
I mean that's just not true, Aston Villa were floundering at the bottom of the league under Gerrard now they are in the champions league all but, its very easy to change things with some smart recruitment and a good manager, to win the league might take a bit longer but to make the jump into the CL spots should be doable pretty much right away if they get it right
I fully agree, I keep harping on about Liverpool, They shipped of Fabinho, Henderson, Keita, Oxlade & Milner, in one window, raising around £60m
In the same window they signed McAllister, Szoboszlai, Gravenberch & Endo, with a net spend of about £110m, and they are immediately challenging for the title again.
Can you only dream of United completely overhauling the Midfield in that way..?
I can't remember another season where we've been so consistently awful. Teams in the relegation zone have played better than we have...usually against us. We started poorly against Wolves, and have got steadily worse, winning games either through good luck for us and bad luck for the opposition.
It's darkest before the dawn. Bleakest was when SAF was telling us to support Moyes. Proper King Lear stuff. We're bad because we're trying to fix decades of problems. That has to be a good thing.
Because they had Klopp and a well organised football club people want to join. Not the Glazer graveyard of reputations.
Bleakest was byfar after the ragnick season after the Brentford and Brighton games. We had just had our worst season by far. We then lost Pogba, lingard , matic, mata, cavani all on a free . Still had martial (post Sevilla loan) , bailly, Jones, awb, elanga, van der beek on the books with basically no chance of moving them on. We had rashford, maguire, mcT coming into the season after a woeful year. Our only striker was an old and petulant Ronaldo. We seriously needed investment that summer but by the time the Brentford game started we had only bought martinez and malacia and got eriksen in a few to bolster the squad.
But the biggest reason I say it was the bleakest is the ownership at the time. Our stadium and other facilities were crumbling, our squad was getting worse, our debts were constantly getting higher, all the while the parasites were clinging on to their hosts sucking every blood out.
The football side this year was probably even worse but there is genuine intent shown by the new owners to make the background changes to allow the football side to blossom. There's been a clear shake up in senior management with everyone coming in semmingly more qualified than those that were in charge. Sir Jim's communication about standards has been spot on and clearly he's backing up with affirmative action. He also appears to be extremely hands on and knows how to run a streamlined and efficient business environment so I'm hopeful this will bear fruit eventually.
Small comment on the football side too, unlike the ragnick year, we have a lot of positives to take into next year. Among our top performers are two <20 year olds. our new 21 year old also hasn't been terrible either. Our youth teams seem to be nicely ticking along and producing 1st team quality. We jsut need to get rid of most of the old heads and get a young and energetic squad.. Oh and sort out the damn injuries! Here's hoping.
But the biggest reason I say it was the bleakest is the ownership at the time. Our stadium and other facilities were crumbling, our squad was getting worse, our debts were constantly getting higher, all the while the parasites were clinging on to their hosts sucking every blood out.
The football side this year was probably even worse but there is genuine intent shown by the new owners to make the background changes to allow the football side to blossom. There's been a clear shake up in senior management with everyone coming in semmingly more qualified than those that were in charge. Sir Jim's communication about standards has been spot on and clearly he's backing up with affirmative action. He also appears to be extremely hands on and knows how to run a streamlined and efficient business environment so I'm hopeful this will bear fruit eventually.
Small comment on the football side too, unlike the ragnick year, we have a lot of positives to take into next year. Among our top performers are two <20 year olds. our new 21 year old also hasn't been terrible either. Our youth teams seem to be nicely ticking along and producing 1st team quality. We jsut need to get rid of most of the old heads and get a young and energetic squad.. Oh and sort out the damn injuries! Here's hoping.
Today I really started to feel very pessimistic about next season. As I started to think about who we'd probably be selling and the signings we could realistically make, I fear we could actually do even worse next season. Hoping that we're looking at signings that simply haven't been leaked yet, but still don't see any way we can fix our squad depth problems. These repeated squad overhauls over the last few years and the ones coming in the next 2 years have hurt us more than most realise imo.
I'm hoping I'm wrong, and this season will be the bleakest I feel about Utd for a long time (hopefully ever).
I'm hoping I'm wrong, and this season will be the bleakest I feel about Utd for a long time (hopefully ever).
Nah, it is the bleakest right now. This will be our worst season in decades. Rangnick was interim and there was hope with a new manager. Right now, ETH might continue, there is no hope currently.
Even this shite Chelsea team is looking much better than us.
It was bleaker under Ralf. At least now we have somebody that’s actually interested in the club running things and hiring people that know what they’re doin. On paper at the very least.
Aye exactly, that’s the thing. Us finishing this far down the table probably reduces the chance of getting better players.
To the naked eye, this has been our worst season in the PL era. In all aspects of play we have been dire, yet somehow we’ve managed to stay in the top half of the table and for a few weeks even felt the top four trophy within touching distance.
It really can get worse but I don't think it will. We have a chance of hanging around that top six with some shrewd player moves and better management. But an assault on the PL is out of our reach for the foreseeable future, definitely not while the Glazers still own the majority shares of the club.
It really can get worse but I don't think it will. We have a chance of hanging around that top six with some shrewd player moves and better management. But an assault on the PL is out of our reach for the foreseeable future, definitely not while the Glazers still own the majority shares of the club.
95% of football supporters would love to have their bleakest season ending in a FA Cup final.
A lot of people on here enjoy the misery.
A lot of people on here enjoy the misery.
Underrated post.
Obviously you have to take this thread in the context of a "big" team.
It goes without saying that 100s of clubs in the country would be delighted with an 8th place finish in the top flight.
In terms of on the field it’s as bad as it’s been probably but the future of this club isn’t bleak. We finally have an owner that cares about the club and wants to succeed rather than just make money. We are getting the right men in the right places and finally we will be ran like a proper football club. Being able to just swoop in and take Newcastle’s sporting director without any fuss shows the pull we still have, we are the biggest club in England by a distance and one of the 3 biggest clubs in the world. It will take time but we will be back to the top of football soon.
Managers have failed time and again because everything above in the club was rotten to the core. It is among the primary reasons the shiny new manager at the time did not work out over two seasons and had SJR not come in, this cycle would have repeated until a financial time bomb exploded and we as a club would have been in huge trouble.
We are finally addressing the more deep-rooted problems that have plagued the club by doing a top-down audit and implementing real change. We have a new ownership group, new CEO, new sporting director, new technical director and I'm sure a lot more will change behind the scenes...we even have an interim CEO in blanc! Sir Dave Grailsford has been extremely hands on and is an expert at optimising conditions for elite sporting institutions. He is already pushing for a bunch of changes in the summer including a revamp/move away from carrington. We are also well underway with planning a new stadium and a regenerative area around it. This new approach is far more likely to yield real results than JUST changing the manager.
I would have thought by now people would realise that performances and results on the pitch are not soley down to a single person (the manager) but is the aggregate output of all the different departments that comprise the footballing side of the business. The managerial/coaching department leaves a lot to be desired after this horrendous season but I'm optimistic that all the other changes being implemented will help us become better in the next few years with or without ten hag.
Exactly this. We generate a tremendous amount of pull and, importantly, revenue. We have a gigantic fanbase across the world that the likes of city can only dream of having. In SJR, we have someone who has the business nous to leverage that to ultimately give us a huge advantage over other clubs in terms of spending power. The footballing side to him is of paramount importance so he will direct all his energy to get us back to the top. It will need patience ofcourse. We need to get wages back under control, get rid of aging players stealing a living and probably tread carefully to meet PSR rules. We also importantly need to change the whole culture around the club from top to bottom which is easier said than done. With SJR, we will get there. With the Glazers we were far more likely to slowly rot away and fall into the football abyss.
True but tbh a lot of people would feel less down if they remembered most teams never reach our poor standards.
Doesn’t mean people can’t complain but currently we look like someone crying because their wallet can’t hold anymore £20 notes.
I'm a 2 club guy, United and Wycombe, so i can handle United being 8th without calling it an absolute "disaster".
Certainly helps supporting a minnow who were minutes away from going into non league and probably oblivion a decade ago.