Darren Fletcher by Jude Cauchi
R
esearch shows that for any organisation to be successful, amongst other variables, it needs to have an identity which differentiates it from its competitors. People will wonder, what has this got to do with Manchester United? The answer is simple: in the Sir Alex Ferguson era, Manchester United centred the values of the club around ‘professionalism’,
‘passion’, ‘loyalty’, ‘hard work’, ‘family’ and building for the long-term rather than the short-term. This type of strategy worked for United for so many years as this signified that no matter who represented Manchester United on the pitch, the culture and standards of the club dictated that each stakeholder associated with the Red Devils should give everything for the club. They say that one should never change a winning formula. However, after a longspell of unprecedented success, different managers and coaches arrived at the club and tried to do things their own way. Hence, without analysing the long-term repercussions of such appointments, the club was gradually moving away from that foundation with the hope that the club could still be successful in the short-term. Consequently, although both Louis Van Gaal and Jose Mourinho delivered trophies for Manchester United, it is difficult to argue against the fact that both failed to fulfil the expectations at the club. Fast forward in 2021, United have someone in charge who appreciates
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what the club is all about. Manchester United have finally someone who loves the club, has been there as a player for many years, has learned from the best and understands that in order to be successful, the club needs to have a solid foundation that people representing the club can relate to. Additionally, to assist him with the long-term project at the club, Solskjaer appointed coaches who despite their different technical skills, have common ground together due to being part of the previous United regime. Whilst, Mike Phelan and Michael Carrick accompanied Ole from the first day he was appointed interim manager, recently Darren Fletcher also joined the coaching staff as first team coach at Carrington. While bringing ex-players to the club won’t necessary guarantee success especially if the competencies of the people appointed are not aligned with the profile of the job, one cannot ignore the positive impact that such personnel are likely to have at the club. In fact, nowadays, the environment at the club seems to transmit much more positivity and gives the impression that it is a happier place than it was during the last couple of years. Manchester United is very famous for its academy and the quality of players that are nurtured from it. As a matter of fact, no football fan can ever forget that players like Beckham, Giggs, Scholes, Neville, Butt, Rashford and
