1992 wasn’t all bad. It’s 1992 and contrary to what Boyz II Men are telling everyone, we haven’t come to the end of the road, we’ve simply missed out on the title to dirty, dirty Leeds inspired by some French bloke who’s fancy flicks are obviously a flash in the pan.
It’s not all doom and gloom though as United have triumphed in the League Cup, defeating Roy Keane’s greatest ever manager Brian Clough in the final thanks to a goal from inspired diary writer and all round salad dodger Brian McLair.
Before the days of the ‘Champions League’ or at least before it became the money spinning beast by which all clubs measure success, a season with a trophy was deemed a good one for Manchester United- mainly because we hadn’t commandeered the league title as our own property. Back in 1992, despite the angst felt by Reds at missing out on the title, there was the comfort of winning something, albeit the lesser glamourous of the two domestic trophies. The question is, now that Sir Alex Ferguson has made winning compulsory at Manchester United, would the league cup, in his current form, be enough to save his successor should the Premier League campaign, prove disastrous? On it’s own the Capital One Cup is arguably not enough to quench the blood-thirst of the Moyes out brood, but should United make it through to the last eight of the Champions League, win a trophy and at least make a half decent stab at qualifying for Europe’s top competition, then maybe Moyes has bought himself another season.
If Moyes fails, Sir Alex does too, as there’s no doubt he was the man behind his successor’s appointment, why else would a trophy-less Scot have been given the biggest job in the history of world football?
United’s Champions League draw against Olympiakos over two legs of course- means that Moyes could win those, get through to the last eight and be considered to have done a good job in Europe. Should the Reds beat Stoke tonight, prevail over the two-legged semi-final and then win at Wembley, that could well be enough to give Fergie the argument he needs for keeping his choice in the job. It’s very feasible that Moyes is more or less, six games from keeping his job secure via the cup competitions, naturally permitting the league results aren’t totally shambolic.
It may seem naive to lay such a monumental decision for the Old Trafford heirarchy on such a set of almost incidental results, but those six games could well be the ones Moyes looks back on as Sir Alex did to a match at the City Ground many years ago.
Does Moyes have a job to keep? No. He should just go. He does not have the charisma and winning mentality expected of a manager of United. He is taking United from grace to grass. United supporters cannot stand it.