 POTENTIAL STARS FOR 2022-23 - WHERE DID IT ALL GO WRONG, GEORGE?

Potential stars for 2022-23

Where did it all go wrong, George?

by Julian Tabone

There is this story (myth?) which I am sure most you have all heard before. George Best, after a successful night at the casino, orders a bottle of champagne in his hotel room. The waiter goes up and whilst waiting for the tip, he sees thousands of cash strewn across and Miss World looking on. At that point, he could not help popping the famous question, “George, where did it all go wrong?”

Honestly, I don’t think I have ever felt so disconnected with Manchester United. I am 43 years old.

Trying to find out where has it all gone wrong is quite simply a depressing exercise. It has been one whole slow decline with sporadic encouraging episodes and one disappointment after the other; a catalogue of errors and strategic blunders, a collective mess. For every step forward we thought we were doing, we actually went 3 steps back.

It has been a horrible and painful season, not just because of the results or because of the team’s league standing. I could point to various factors but it is not my intention really. It’s the attitude of some of our players which quite frankly, stinks and is absolutely unacceptable. At times, they did not even harass the opposition when they lost the ball. They did not run around enough. There was no pride, for so long during the season. At times they literally checked-out and gave up and just jogged around in third gear. And that’s what mostly hurts.

There is nothing wrong with losing matches. But lack of effort and intensity is simply deplorable. Some of the players are not good enough, it is clear. They don’t run. They are lazy. An absolute shame and they do not deserve to wear the shirt because they are simply not playing for it.

Every player that puts on the Manchester United shirt is ultimately representing us, the Busby Babes, the teams of the 90s, our club and our whole history. That is why last season was a total embarrassment. I honestly do not remember such a bunch of overprivileged, over-paid set of United players more concerned about themselves, their own world and their social media.

Four (4) of the top five (5) paid players of the Premier League are Manchester United players. Ten (10) of the top thirty (30) best paid Premier League players are Manchester United players!

And this has to go down to the way the club has been managed, from the scouting department to the people who sanction the transfer market deals. I miss Sir Alex Ferguson. I miss his scrutiny of young players and his involvement in transfers, his analysis of the players’ character, their background and that of their parents. Of course, things have changed and nostalgia will get us nowhere. But, we have to start from somewhere. As always, I look at the new season with a sense of renewed optimism.

I look at the next crop of youngsters and the likes of Garnacho, Alvaro Fernandez, Garner, Malacia and Mejbri who do represent hope. But cautiousness is needed here. The fans, for a start, need to stop transforming our players into cult figures when they have barely touched a ball. It makes no sense playing players – even if it’s the Europa League or the Carabao Cup - that have no future at the club. That is what we had in the past years: players such as Mata, Jones, Matic, Lingard and others. We need to use the cup games to bed-in players that have really got a future at Manchester United and that actually need and want to impress the new manager.

The new manager, from his end, needs to remove the toxicity and stop the rot. He needs to instil the discipline back and introduce a new style of playing. He needs to kick out the players who keep on leaking and feeding information from inside the dressing room. Easier said (or written) of course.

We are not going to solve this situation in one summer but there needs to be a sign from somewhere. And sadly, the signs are yet not that encouraging either. The protracted negotiations to bring De Jong, Lisandro Martinez and Christian Eriksen have already tired us all. Now, to make it even worse, Cristiano Ronaldo, the GOAT, wants to leave precisely because of a lack of ambition.

Right now, Cristiano Ronaldo is basically all of us.

He wants a Manchester United side that is competitive but he too has now realised that things are really bad and given his days at the very top are of course numbered, it is very understandable he wants out. He wants out because he will return to pre-season training and apart from the new manager, there will be no new additions, the promised overhaul nowhere to be seen, no real leadership. Ronaldo knows that himself, De Gea and a few other players together with Ten Haag is simply not enough.

This transfer window still has got a couple of weeks left and things will definitely improve but splashing the cash at this stage will not do the trick either. We have been doing that ever since 2013. Buying the glamorous players, over-paying average players who did not fit the system of play and concentrating on the merchandising aspect of the game has worn us all.

We need to buy the right players, with the right attitude.

George Best of course, is history, part of our folklore. I don’t know what he replied back to that waiter (legend does not tell us that). He must have surely smiled but deep down he knew he had thrown it all away too early.

As for Manchester United, we need to go back to basics, I say or hope. No more expensive galacticos and no more social-media spin.

The real stars of next season will be those players who will show us that they really care for this great club of ours.