Tag Archives: old trafford

Is This It

I’m reluctant to use the word ‘progress’ but there are signs afoot that we might finally be getting somewhere. 5 league games unbeaten isn’t exactly a milestone to be celebrated but putting all cynicism aside, it’s the first time it’s occurred since February 2024. When the team loses its innate ability to suffer a collective meltdown once a game I might truly start believing things are changing. Until that occurs and for the moment at least, it’s a step in the right direction

I’m becoming more and more convinced that a number of our problems are self-made. In a season where we’re only playing once a week, I’m not sure why Amorim persists with this habit of making defensive changes at around the 70 minute mark. If these were purely down to injuries like the recent Spurs game then fair enough – but half the time these occur for no discernible reason. Despite the recent improvement, the team remains very fragile and it doesn’t take much for things to quickly unravel. I’d be far more confident if the manager decided on his preferred back 3 and stuck with them wherever possible.

The single biggest change that’s affected our fortunes over the last month has to be the emergence of Senne Lammens. He deserves immense credit for stepping into the starting keeper’s berth with zero fuss and looks totally unfazed by his new surroundings. Bigger names than him have shrivelled in the spotlight when given the opportunity, so it’s very encouraging he’s made such an assured start to his United career. Given the fact he’s already proved he can handle Anfield on a Sunday afternoon, I’m fairly confident we might have fixed one of our biggest problems.

When I wrote last time I was genuinely concerned for Amorim’s future and doubted if he’d even reach November. The Chelsea and Liverpool results together with the current mini unbeaten run have probably bought him more time as well as regaining the support of a sizeable number of fans who were previously wavering. There weren’t many left in my circle with anything positive to say about him after the defeat at Brentford – a terrible performance that followed a similarly listless display at the Etihad where City barely had to get out of 2nd gear.

The Liverpool game was a huge result for both the team and the manager. It was a long time since we’d won there and they’ve given us a few maulings in recent years. They certainly don’t look the force they’ve been in recent seasons now the hangover from Klopp’s departure has finally kicked in 12 months later than anticipated. Nevertheless, we looked competitive and there was clear evidence of a plan in place. Cunha was absolutely terrific holding the ball up during the 2nd half – what a difference having a player like that as an outlet as opposed to the likes of Rashford or Garnacho.

The challenge now is to prove that this current run of form isn’t just a blip and to keep it going. Looking at the upcoming fixtures, this could be doable. Villa away and Newcastle at home over Christmas are the only moderately tough games we have until we face City mid-January. The rest look very winnable on paper, though these are precisely the type of routine games in which we’ve struggled over recent years. If we can string a few more wins together then a top 5 finish and European qualification should become an achievable goal – something that looked a distant prospect when the season began so poorly.

Whereas fortunes on the pitch might be improving, everything else about the club continues to disappoint. It’s now 12 months since the announcement of the stadium no sane person actually wants and the project’s progress is predictably slow. The latest survey was an absolute belter, containing the most rudimentarily stupid set of questions about ticket prices and seat locations. Q7. ‘Would you be interested in buying a ST costing £3000 situated in row 700?’ Errr… no. Q8. ‘Would you be interested in buying a ST costing £3000 situated next to the dugout?’ Again… no. Q9. ‘Would you be interested in buying a ST costing £500, 20 rows up behind the goal?’ Obviously… yes.

I’m not sure how they intend to extrapolate any meaningful data from this nonsense other than ‘the idiot proles desire sensibly-priced tickets close to the pitch’. It’s a completely pointless exercise in the guise of ‘fan engagement’ that’ll be used to justify a steep increase in ST prices when the move eventually does occur. It’s blindingly obvious now what happen – any tickets within a few feet of the pitch will cost an absolute fortune and if want a ST for less than a grand, brace yourself for several flights of stairs (possibly escalator rides provided they’re still within budget).

The 5 year timeline that Ratcliffe mentioned previously continues to look incredibly optimistic. Andy Burnham appeared on a podcast recently saying that the train line running adjacent to the ground will need to be moved and could end up “nearer Lou Macari’s chippy”. Completing an infrastructure project of that scale within the next 4 years would be some feat, never mind building a new stadium from scratch. Even if they managed to purchase the land required tomorrow I reckon you’re looking at another decade at least before we’re even close to leaving OT.

The ticket office remain fixated on doing their utmost to make life as difficult as possible for supporters. Anecdotally at least, success rates for away tickets have reached an all-time low – yet there’s no way of actually proving this following their decision to stop publishing details of application numbers and % splits across the different pots. Plenty I know in the standard pot have had nothing all season despite applying for every game – yet entirely coincidentally, instances of groups of a dozen tourists appearing in away ends appear to be on the rise.

Even if you are fortunate enough to receive a ticket, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to see the game. At Spurs recently, some tickets were being scanned red which meant the holder had to visit the TO and verify their identity with ID. There were other reports of people being stopped at the turnstile and made to close and re-open the app to check that they were the original recipient and holder. You might read this and think ‘what’s the problem?’, but it all amounts to a gross abuse of privilege and the club wildly overstepping the mark in terms of what’s actually legal.

As I’ve said previously, the claim that these measures are in place to combat touting is highly dubious as tickets for away games continue to be traded online for eye-watering sums. I’m more inclined to suggest it’s part of a campaign to target regular fans and dish out sanctions if any minor transgression of their ‘rules and regulations’ can be proven. A word of advice, if anyone purporting to be a club employee approaches you at the turnstile of an away ground and demands to see your phone, wander off and return 5 minutes later when their attention is elsewhere. Either that or just tell them to sling it.

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Not Like Us

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The long, frustrating slog of last season was forgotten in an instant. I’d anticipated a summer not thinking about United but instead I’ve spent weeks floating round in a contented daze, thoughts constantly cycling back to the unbridled joy that was triggered by the final whistle at Wembley. What an incredible tonic it was. Mad how something so insignificant to the majority of people can send thousands of us into a state of near delirium. It’s been a long time since we last experienced a day like that. Absolute perfection. Football, bloody hell.

The good vibes continued when it was eventually confirmed that ETH would be staying on as manager. I’m still to be convinced that he’s the right man for the job long term, but given the lack of credible alternatives and the manner of the cup win, sacking him would have been incredibly harsh. Against a backdrop of the takeover, disciplinary issues in the dressing room and a never ending injury crisis, delivering a trophy and European football was a fine achievement. Merely extending his current deal can hardly be interpreted as a vote of confidence, however – it’s more of a stay of execution.

It’s pretty grim that the manager’s future is being questioned before a ball has been kicked, but clearly the new regime isn’t messing about. Anything resembling a repeat of last season won’t be tolerated. And, quite frankly, nor should it be. Unless Ten Hag can deliver a marked improvement in both consistency and results, he’ll be lucky to last until the end of the season. United have to do better, and fresh changes to the coaching staff indicate there’s a clear pathway for someone (hello, Ruud) to step up and replace him as an interim the moment Ineos decree that enough is enough.

Nevertheless, all that is hopefully some distance off. The club were unusually proactive early in the window (another welcome change) although there’s still lots of work to do if we’re going to see anything resembling the squad overhaul that’s needed. At the moment we still look short considering Martial, Varane, Amrabat, Van de Beek, Greenwood and Kambwala have all left the club. We need at least 3 more in before the end of the window otherwise it’s difficult to see how Ten Hag has any hope of improving on last season’s position – especially given the additional Europa fixtures this year and the fact the number of injuries shows no sign of abating.

With Ten Hag citing fatigue as a factor at the end of another jaunt to the USA, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to make a case for these fixtures being in anyway helpful to preparations ahead of a new season. For the umpteenth year in a row we’re set to begin the campaign missing players through injury and with others still at various stages of recovery from the Euros/Copa America. Flying 5,000 miles around the globe to play some meaningless friendlies might be commercially astute, but it seems detrimental to the squad’s conditioning if there are multiple casualties to contend with by the time the tour has concluded.

Obviously, such concerns didn’t stop me booking flights as soon as Los Angeles was announced. I’d never visited the West Coast before and this seemed like as good an opportunity as any. LA is absolutely massive and unlike when visiting NYC, the public transport links are bafflingly insubstantial. If you aren’t hiring a car then Uber is a must when travelling late at night if you don’t fancy taking your chances on the Metro, where you’re highly likely to encounter some of the city’s more eccentric inhabitants.

As for what it’s actually like, well it’s a culture shock. I stayed in Santa Monica on the coast and you quickly realise that whilst the streets feel very safe, there’s a not-insignificant homeless population – many of whom are in the throes of fentanyl addiction which makes their actions unpredictable to say the least. You just have to accept that amidst all the boutique shops, Michelin-starred restaurants and miles of golden beaches you’re highly likely to stumble across a sizeable number of people with their entire earthly possessions in a shopping trolley… and they might decide to stop and drop their kecks at any moment.

I got chatting to an Irish ex-pat who has been out there for 25 years and we were discussing the contrast to living over here. He said the year-round sunshine never got old and that his life consisted of regular, ‘pinch me’, LA moments. I think the most LA thing I experienced was whilst walking through Palisades Park on a Friday afternoon. You had a group of a dozen or so well-to-do women striking Yoga poses and there was a bloke with a massage table enthusiastically offering his services to anyone passing. Meanwhile, just a few feet away you had a couple of homeless guys arguing over the contents of a bin. It was quite a scene. Talk about opposite ends of the California lifestyle happily co-existing.

The United game was being played at the SoFi in Inglewood, an outrageously opulent $5.5 billion NFL stadium that opened its doors in 2020. It’s absolutely incredible, both the architecture and the facilities – little wonder it’s being cited as one of the inspirations behind the decision to build Old Trafford 2.0 as opposed to developing what we have now. Although it’s hugely impressive, I’ll still be disappointed if United commit to such a move in the coming months. Yes, it’s shiny and new and looks great on the photographs but ultimately it’s just a high-end, soulless Enormodome. I certainly wouldn’t want to play there every week.

I’m not just being contrary for the sake of it, but undertaking a project like that would be a disaster in my eyes. Any new stadium would arrive years late, hugely over budget and bearing no resemblance to the place we’ve considered home for decades. I know the YouTube lads are ecstatic at the prospect, but I’m more concerned with United remaining accessible to my friends and I as we hurtle through middle age. Make no bones about it, if we go down this road expect your ST renewal to come in at a couple of grand minimum. I don’t want a 200% increase in ticket prices for the sake of a padded seat and a cup holder. That isn’t scaremongering or shortsightedness, it’s simply the reality of what will happen.

Everything we’ve grown up with would quickly be eroded. Some will cling on because they can still just about afford it, but the bulk of our core support will be sacrificed in the name of progress. We’re going to be told a lot of lies in the coming months when the decision is inevitably greenlit, about how it’s necessary for the club to be competitive and sign the best players and all that nonsense… please don’t buy into it. One of the main drivers behind this is that it will accelerate a purging of our traditional fanbase so they can milk additional millions from an entirely different breed of MUFC supporter. Ineos might appear preferable the Glazers, but their motivation for being here is ultimately the same.

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Afterglow

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During a season in which stand out moments have been largely absent, the climactic ending of the Liverpool FA Cup tie was an all-time classic that will never be forgotten. 2 weeks on and the sequence of events during extra time still haven’t quite sunk in, however I do possess a unsightly 50p-sized lump on my left shin as a memento of the day. To go from ‘season over’ to ‘Wembley bound’ in the space of 15 minutes was something I never saw coming and served as a reminder that football still retains the ability to make me deliriously happy on occasion. I just need to be mindful of the fact I’m no longer 15 years old and moderate my goal celebrations to something more befitting a man who turned 50 last year.

When the question of potentially leaving OT has come up in recent weeks, I’ve been pretty unequivocal about the fact I’d have no issue with moving into a state-of-the-art new build if it was located next door. Re-watching footage of Amad’s winner from 50 different camera angles has caused me to reconsider. Although I accept that OT needs a facelift, there’s no way it’s ‘falling down’ as the song claims. The key thing for me is, could the atmosphere of that Liverpool game be replicated in a shiny brand spanker built nearby? Whilst theoretically the answer is ‘yes’, the overwhelming likelihood is ‘no’ so I’m firmly in favour of staying put now, I’ve decided.

Indeed, the more I’ve thought about it, the more I reckon leaving OT would actually be a terrible idea. Sure, the Emirates and Spurs’ new grounds are visually impressive and have better facilities than their predecessors but they’re utterly bereft of soul – aesthetically pleasant enormodomes that have priced out the majority of people who frequented Highbury and White Hart Lane. OT 2.0 would be exactly the same. They aren’t going to follow the Allianz Arena model and make the thing affordable for all, it’ll just be a gigantic monument to football commercialism with a few cheesy adornments (hotel, ‘fan park’ etc) tacked on.

The main driver behind moving as opposed to re-developing OT is the club’s desire to maximise revenue from ticket sales. They hope to increase engagement with high spending football tourists whilst driving up prices until legacy supporters are in the minority. It’s a process that’s currently being repeated at several Premier League clubs. Most regulars just want to go and watch the game and couldn’t care less if there’s a McDonald’s or a Nando’s built adjacent to the ground. A bigger souvenir shop and a couple of beer tents aren’t going to help regenerate the area and enrich the local community, it’s just a convenient way of piggybacking on Trafford Council’s Wharfside development plans in the vain hope of securing additional public or private funding.

A new OT will be sold to us as something that’s necessary if United are going to compete at the very top again, but I’d argue that isn’t the case at all. Re-developing the current stadium does present significant challenges (the railway line being the most obvious), but if we’re talking £1billion+ budgets then I fail to see how building over it isn’t possible. If they extended the south stand, stuck a new roof on and re-did the concourses OT (no, honestly) could be the best ground in the country again within 5-10 years. They could even cover it in Bacofoil if they wanted to appease the e-reds and mimic the result of the recent Bernabeu refresh.

If we do leave OT it will be for something overpriced, over-budget and distinctly underwhelming once the initial novelty has worn off. Yes, a true “Wembley of the North” as promised. Expect season ticket prices to eclipse London levels and despite the multiple beers on offer, they’ll be ridiculously overpriced and I guarantee each sip will be tinged with regret for what we left behind. I’ve got no desire for a future consisting of chicken tenders, a choice of fries, vegan wraps, annoyingly loud speakers and an oversized scoreboard. Anyone actively in favour of any of this should be considered a menace.

The international break following the Liverpool game led to an outbreak of misplaced optimism and suggestions that the stirring comeback witnessed might turn out to be a turning point. Any such thoughts were obliterated after the Brentford game where the performance was truly one of the worst of the season. Once again, the midfield was an absolute shambles with the opposition given a free run on goal every time they gained possession. McTominay played for over 100 minutes and genuinely can’t have touched the ball more than a dozen times. It was excruciating to watch.

It wasn’t just him. Wan Bissaka had another of those games that makes you wonder if the coaching staff actually talk to the players at all. Rashford did that thing where he seems to be channeling Antonio Valencia when he receives the ball, ambles forward a few yards and then stops dead. And Bruno? My word. He’s always been a bit of a wildcard with his decision making but he’s now so erratic it’s like he’s taking a huge dose of psychedelics an hour before kick off. The Liverpool game was a beautifully bonkers sequence of the manager rolling consecutive sixes. Brentford was more indicative of the reality. We are utterly hopeless.

Most match-goers remain vaguely supportive of Ten Hag but if we’re being honest, the Brentford performance and his post-game admission they ‘wanted it more’ signal that he’s unlikely to last beyond the end of the season. Any lingering hopes of CL football have been extinguished and that’s been the minimum requirement for United managers hoping to survive post-Ferguson. I’m not certain anyone else could have done much better given what he inherited and the awful run of injuries this term, but ultimately we’ve gone backwards over the last 12 months and that’s on him.

Whilst I strongly suspect his departure is inevitable now, I’m still not convinced it would be the right thing to do. If there were obvious candidates to replace him I might see the logic in pulling the trigger, but names like Gareth Southgate and that bloke from Wolves don’t exactly fill me with any confidence. We have to accept there aren’t any quick fixes available and that the current re-build remains a work in progress. Another managerial reset benefits no one except some serial underachievers in the dressing room hoping for another stay of execution. Although it might seem a grim prospect at this precise moment, Ten Hag needs time and we need to be patient.

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