Lot of gloom here for obvious reasons. I actually think it could happen sooner rather than later, but it depends on a number things, some of which we don't entirely control ourselves.
The chaotic and transitionary nature of last season in particular gave us a shaky start to this one. The whole takeover saga, terrible and reactive transfer business, self-inflicted financial woes and so on have put the club and the new management team in the hole from day one. I think they chose to bet on investing in the squad first and rolling the dice a bit on Ten Hag to save money and buy some time in order to properly implement the structural changes they have identified to bring United into the modern age. Obviously that bet hasn't quite panned out, but I think overall we had a pretty solid window all things considered. The squad was strengthened throughout the whole spine, and personally I believe someone like Zirkzee will turn out to be a solid signing even if he never sets the world on fire (like Olise quite possible could have..... *sigh*). At the same time they got rid of a lot of unwanted players in that one window, which we have really struggled to do in previous years. It's easy to forget that right now, but it was a meaningful sign of things to come.
If they manage to establish a lead the club and our recruitment with a game model, while also turning around our strategic reputation in the industry by sticking to the principles they've set out for themselves, we will start to see a proper realignment of the current discrepancy between our position and the underlying strength in our brand and economics. Yeah, there are some 'if's here, and the challenge both domestically and internationally is substantial, but if we keep caring for and training this horse in the right way we could have a proper thoroughbred in the competition in a few years. Look at the others - Arsenal, Liverpool, Villa in particular. How quickly they managed to climb the ranks once they started doing the right things consistently without panicking because of short term setbacks.
There is the making of a good core in this squad in my opinion with players like Onana, Yoro, Martinez, De Ligt, Mainoo, Højlund, Garnacho and Zirkzee. I still think Rashford could contribute significantly to a top level squad if we played to his strengths again and got a really good man manager in there (though he will properly never start for a title winning side). Sure, those players all have question marks against in them in one way or the other, but for me at least there is enough sparks flying there to believe fire could follow. I won't pretend to know the youth department, but my perception is that we have some real potential there as well with the Fletcher kids, Obi-Martin, Amass and Kone among others.
If we manage to keep building on the summer window and avoiding big injuries, I see some proper potential there for a good manager to work with and potentially construct a Champions League capable side at least within the next few seasons. The challenge will be to keep recruiting players that can improve the squad in spite of the competition we face in the market, and getting a manager who can improve the talent pool by being the centerpiece of a better organisational culture making the team more than the sum of its parts. It's absolutely crucial that the management team can keep the 'Yoro pitch' credible for future targets, and also the infrastructure investments into fitness, medical and analytics will take a bit of time to start paying off, but there is really no reason to think they won't.
They need to get the next manager right and importantly strengthen our midfield with a starter level signing either in January already or in the summer. And of course they can't allow the Ten Hag situation to fester for too long. It's a balancing act right now to keep the scenarios they're operating on alive for both new players and managers, but personally I still have confidence they will get those hires right, when they choose to pull the trigger.
After all, this kind of process worked out for clubs with a much weaker starting position than United. Why wouldn't it work for us? Big injuries, rival investment levels and luck of the draw. We don't control those, and they can throw a spanner in the works. But we have real ambition again with an owner like Ratcliffe, and we aren't being run by a crony clown crew anymore. If we keep doing the right things, I do believe we will start seeing it pay off with better football and results within a season or two.
It's like one of the great voices in football has said himself: 'It's maths, pure maths, and it will happen.'
