I am a lifelong United Supporter as was my father before me. I was born in Salford, England not far from Old Trafford Football Ground. I have followed the team through bad patches of form that includes the relegation to the Second Division in the 1973-1974 season. I watched Denis Law backheel the ball into the United net; a goal that sealed our fate – cruel irony indeed. That was April 27th, 1974.
Flash forward to November 8th, 2026 and United’s home match against Aston Villa FC. We started the match in 17th position in the league, 1 place above the relegation zone. Within 4 minutes from kick-off we were 2-nil down. 2 minutes!!!! And the goals were both gifts from the United defense. Somehow we came back and levelled the score at 2-2 before Diogo Dalot gives away a penalty in a clumsy, schoolboy tackle, from which Villa took the lead again. After we gave another goal away to trail 4-2 we again, miraculously, came back, scoring 2 goals in added time. The equalizer from Patrick Dorgu came in the very last minute of the match. Today, we sit 3rd from the very bottom of the league on goal difference alone. We have won only 1 Premier League match this season. 1 in 10!
I bring all of this up because there is so much talk about the problem at United. Since Sir Alex Fergusson retired in 2013 we have not won the league once. We have had an endless stream on managers/coaches who last 18 months at best, spend fortunes to bring in “their” choice of players only to be sacked after a string of bad results. It now looks like the current head coach, Michael Carrick, is soon to follow. Wash, Rinse, Repeat! The only thing that might save his job is that there cannot be many, if any, capable coaches that would take the job. The team needs a TOTAL rebuild after 13 years of neglect.
Which brings me to my point. I have not mentioned what I, and many, many others, feel is the root cause of the decline. The team ownership! The Glazer family and Ineos.
Until someone else who actually cares about football comes in and buys the club I fear we will merely drive this club into the ground and the consistent success we enjoyed in the past, will become a “myth” that folks will scarcely believe.
However, the current owners are expecting to get billions of pounds for this club, which seems impossible when you look at the team results, what is needed to rebuild the stadium, etc. What could lower that asking price is……relegation! I hate to say it, but it is true. Which means that I should not worry about results, let’s just go down and regroup under new ownership in 2027-2028! Who’s with me?
