The past few days have been tough for Manchester United and show that even home advantage is no longer worth it: the famous Theater of Dreams, as Old Trafford is known, has given way to nightmares. On Sunday, the Red Devils were defeated at home (0-3) by rival City in the Premier League. And on Wednesday they were eliminated by Newcastle in the English League Cup, also 0-3. Erik ten Hag’s place is at stake and the press is already pointing to possible successors, with The Times saying yesterday that Rúben Amorim and Zidane are the names in the pipeline.
Amorim, who has a contract with Sporting until 2026 and a buyout clause of 20 million euros, has been appointed to other English clubs in the past, such as Chelsea and Tottenham. But he always emphasized that he is fully committed to the Lions project, so a departure is unlikely to happen at this time. Zidane has turned down several invitations since leaving Real Madrid.
When Amorim was asked about Chelsea’s interest in April, he was very clear: “I like being here. I’ve seen a lot of coaches move to other championships and not be happy about it. I’m not looking for anything, I appreciate what I do.” have and not what is said. I like being at Sporting. If I had to leave here it would be because I was pushed by white handkerchiefs or for some other reason. The club that wants me like Sporting wanted will have to pay the clause. I don’t invite myself to other clubs. I want to stay here, I’m happy here.”
In England, the press reports that Ten Hag has a price on his head, and that he will be fired if he does not win the next two games: Fulham for the championship and FC Copenhagen in the Europa League.
Criticism comes from all sides, from fans to commentators. But the coach has already left a warning. “We are in a terrible situation. I take responsibility, but I am a fighter, I am in the fight and I have to make sure that I share responsibility with the players, that we stay together, that we fight together,” he said. after the defeat against Newcastle.
“We’ve seen this before, we know how it ends and we’re fed up with it. We’ve seen the Theater of Dreams become the Theater of Nothing. Every United fan is angry. We have players in front of our eyes in a state of panic. ” shock, outrageous performance and a coach in trouble,” the club’s historic player Gary Neville complained on social media, wondering how the Red Devils are without a sporting director.
The season is not even halfway through, but the situation is becoming untenable. In addition to the early elimination in the League Cup, the club where the Portuguese Diogo Dalot and Bruno Fernandes play remains in a modest eighth place in the Premier League, already 11 points behind leader Tottenham, with five defeats in 10 games and with more goals conceded than indicated (11-16).
Post-Ferguson debacle
Since Alex Ferguson left the club in May 2013 after 27 years in charge, Manchester United have never become English champions again. In fact, the Scottish coach left the club just after celebrating the title, in a team with names such as Di Gea, Rio Ferdinand, Evra, Rooney, Paul Scholes, Van Persie and the Portuguese Nani.
It is clear that the entry of millionaires into English football, as in the cases of Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea, has helped end United’s hegemony. But the shortage of titles is enormous. The last major match the club won was with José Mourinho, in 2016/17, when they won the Europa League. Last year they won the English League Cup with Ten Hag at the helm, a small trophy for a team that has twenty English championship titles and three Champions Leagues to its name.
Manchester United has been owned by the Glazer family since 2005 and the relationship with the fans has always been very complicated (the demonstrations against the North American family became famous). And they have always been accused of having a somewhat conservative attitude when it comes to acquiring players, unlike other rivals such as Manchester City’s neighbors Chelsea and Liverpool, who are also managed by foreign multi-millionaires.
In fact, this lack of investment in the football team has always led to a lot of criticism from José Mourinho (he coached the team between 2016 and 2018), who one day said that it was a shame to have finished second in the English championship with Manchester United. one of his “greatest achievements” because people never knew “what was happening behind the scenes”.
About a year ago the club was put up for sale and there was no shortage of interested parties. But only two proposals managed to reach the final stages, created by multi-millionaires Jim Ratcliffe (Britain’s richest man) and Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani (Sheikh of Qatar). But still far from the figures the Glazers need, who value the club between 8.2 and 11.7 billion euros. A value that none of the interested parties wants to promote.
Source: DN
