Fan Rant: What Will It Take to Stop the Mediocrity at Manchester United?

Things have been going too wrong for Manchester United for the better part of the last half-decade. Starting with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s tenure, and now with the management of Erik Ten Hag, Manchester United has consistently failed to up the ante and come out of their slump. In this fan rant, we ask, what will it take to stop the mediocrity at Manchester United? And yes, Man Utd’s performance for the last few seasons can only be described as mediocre, at best.

What’s Wrong with Manchester United?

Perhaps the most befitting question is what’s wrong with Manchester United? What’s ailing the legendary English football club? Despite Man Utd being among the richest clubs in all of football and with a roster of really good players, the team has failed to bring some heat on the pitch and is more and more becoming a second-tier club in numerous ways.

It’s unheard of that Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United would finish a Premier League Season so poorly as they did last season. Can you imagine Manchester United finishing eighth? 8th??? I mean, isn’t that the stuff of nightmares? After each game as a Manchester United fan, I am left wondering whether this is really the same team that was truly the ‘Red Devils’ — for how hot it was.

Fergie’s Man Utd was a masterpiece, as was Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal. The clubs were behemoths— not at all for their finances, but for the power and excitement they brought onto the pitch. Watching a Premier League match back then was an event; now it’s become just routine. I, personally, can hardly sit through a full PL match nowadays, especially when Manchester United is playing. It gets to the point that the team’s performance is too mediocre to interest my attention.

No Football Spirit at Old Trafford

A lot of things could be wrong at United, but the loss of the football spirit at the club, I feel, is responsible for doing the most damage to the club in recent years. If we’d had this conversation a year ago, I would have told you that Manchester United needs infrastructure, or proper investment into the club. Now that there is that, thanks to Ineos and Sir. Jim Ratcliffe coming in, the club is still missing that spark.

Disunity at Man United

What I think is wrong with Manchester United today is that the club is disunited. i.e., there is no cohesion in the team. Erik ten Hag’s leadership has failed to, above all, bring the players and the team together. He’s failed to create an environment where camaraderie is the order of the day.

Think of Manchester City and how palpable it is that the boys are brothers and truly have genuine love and respect for one another. For instance, you can see that after Erling “The Goal Machine” Haaland joined City, he was quickly brought into the fold and made to feel that he belongs, and truly, you cannot unsee the Manchester City in Erling Haaland today and vice versa.

Ten Hag’s failure, the biggest of his failures I think, is failing to make all the players feel not only appreciated, motivated, and valued but also as part of something bigger. When a football team is playing for greatness you can see it and it tells. Think of how Fergie’s Man United played. Alex Ferguson‘s Manchester United did not play for mere goals or trophies, they played to become legends.

That’s why Wayne Rooney could have easily pulled a bicycle kick without even thinking about it. Rooney could swerve and shove like a rugby player without fear of injury or criticism because he knew he wasn’t just playing to win an English Premier League season. In his mind, his heart, and his soul, he was playing for greatness.

Oh Bruno, What Have They Done to You?

Fast forward to today, and magnificent, highly capable players such as Bruno Fernandes find themselves shouldering the burden of the entire team’s disharmony. Bruno is such a good player that he would be a football magnate if he were in a team such as Manchester City. To me, it feels like such a waste that good players will come to Manchester United only to be disappointed with how disconnected the players are, on and off the pitch.

The result? A Bruno Fernandes red card in their match against Tottenham last weekend. Spurs beat Man United a handsome 3-0. 3-0! If you’ve been watching and know Bruno, he is not one to get a red card. His level of discipline and fortitude in sportsmanship are unmeasured—but what can he do if the team is just forcing itself to play well.

What Happened to Playing Book-Worthy Football at Manchester United?

I am left wondering what happened to playing book-worthy football at Manchester United. Why would the team’s owners let the issues at the club get to a point where it is clearly visible that the players are unmotivated, and only playing as a job while trying to force themselves to play well. Some players give it their all. A player such as Christian Eriksen plays from his heart. As does Bruno, and a few others. You can see that they love the game and it barely feels like a job to them.

Playing from the Heart

What United desperately needs as the PL 2024-25 season starts to get heated, is to find a way to play from the heart. It is as simple as that. Sometimes when a team is doing so poorly, it’s seldom that they need financial reforms, and more like they need to reconnect with their reason for playing football and their love for the sport.

To play from the heart, every football player must go on a journey of reflection and self-discovery. They must dedicate time each day to gratitude, and meditation, and reminisce on why and how they got into football, what it has done for them, and what it means to them.

I look at how Cristiano Ronaldo plays at almost 40 years old and I think, that is a product of Sir. Alex Ferguson’s wonderful coaching back when CR7 was a Man United player. In many ways, Fergie built legends. His tenure at Man Utd has produced some of the best players in football globally, and it tells tales of just how a good manager he was. It may not be fair to compare Erik ten Hag with him, but you really can’t mention the two in the same breath.

???????????? Cristiano Ronaldo: “I’m just enjoying playing football now as I know I don’t have much time left on the pitch”.

“It is not important to me now to be the best player or to win awards. What is important to me now is to enjoy and help my team”. pic.twitter.com/i5j8TV1W8b

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) October 1, 2024

Is the Solution Man United Firing Erik ten Hag?

The current mediocrity at Old Trafford begs the question: should Manchester United fire Erik ten Hag? Should INEOS show the manager the door?

Come the tail-end of last season, INEOS and the club’s football management declared that they were focusing on a long-term project with the club and that ten Hag would be a big part of it. But there’s the problem.

I appreciate what INEOS and Ratcliffe are doing, very much so with the upcoming stadium renovation, the investment, and so on. But I can’t help feeling that they miscalculated when they chose to let ten Hag stay.

Mind you, I think Erik ten Hag is a good football coach, but I believe he is not the right fit for Manchester United.

Could Ten Hag’s Style of Play Be the Cause of Mediocrity at Man United?

Ten Hag came from Ajax before joining United and in many ways, Dutch football is incomparable to English football. The level of competition, the investment, and the stakes are too high for a manager to come into one of the world’s biggest clubs and effectively manage to get results, especially in a league such as the EPL, which is extremely competitive and ever-fluid. My humble view is that ten Hag would have been better as a West Ham or Newcastle manager first before getting to coach a club as huge as Man United.

The Advantage of a Local Manager

The biggest reason I say this is due to the stark differences in the style of football played in England and elsewhere. English clubs do best when under an English coach because he’s been there, he’s probably been a player himself, but above all, he’s familiar with English football and has probably watched it all his life. Consequently, he knows the English style of playing football inside out, and understands what works, especially when coaching a team with such a legendary history—and where the stakes are extremely high.

You could argue then, that Pep Guardiola has done incredibly well despite not being English, and yes, he has but Pep is a genius and Spanish football isn’t all that different from English football. The level of competitiveness and investment is comparable to English football.

Summing Up: Man United SHOULD Fire Erik Ten Hag

Therefore, yes, Manchester United should fire Erik ten Hag. Not because he’s a bad coach, far from it. United should fire ten Hag because he is not a good fit. He doesn’t have that edge or that people-centered personality that would allow him to take in good players under their wing and, in a way, father them to greatness. Think of the needless squabble he had with Jadon Sancho, who he secluded, only for Sancho to go into the UCL final with another team. Think of how easily the club let Mason Greenwood go.

There is nothing wrong with ten Hag, but he’s probably just too ‘stuck up’ to inspire the boys to achieve pure greatness.

Ten Hag defended himself that the team is “in a transition”, doing little to reassure fans like myself that Manchester United will go back to being the behemoth it once was.

Watch ten Hag’s interview with Rio Ferdinand below. Courtesy of TNT Sports.