Like Real Madrid, AC Milan and Bayern Munich; a club the size of Manchester United; with the tradition, history and constant hunger for success, either nurtures talent from a young age until the time is right to be a first team regular, invests in players full of potential with the ambition to develop them into superstars, or on the odd occasion, buys an already established superstar.
For more than a quarter of a century, Sir Alex Ferguson had been the man in charge of making the decisions on who comes in to the club, who leaves the club, who wears the red jersey and ultimately, who represents Manchester United on a weekly basis.
While most United supporters have witnessed Sir Alex get the best out of squad players – the rest of the footballing world have not seen it quite the same way.
There is not one Manchester United fan who did not love John O’Shea – yet the rest of the footballing world couldn’t believe a player with such limited ability made over 250 appearances for the club.
While most United supporters sang songs about big bad Wesley Brown – the rest of the footballing world couldn’t believe the he was capped for England. It must have because he played for United, not because he was any good, right?
Hard tackling Phil Neville, adored by the Old Trafford faithful – again, the rest of the footballing world looked on in disgust at how much silverware this guy was winning, considering he never made a position his own, and was perceived to be the rubbish, younger brother of half decent Gary Neville.
The above names are only a handful of examples in which former players have performed well for our club, simply because Sir Alex Ferguson got them playing to at 100% every week. Would any other manager have worked such miracles?
If you feel I am off the mark with those players, how about Alan Smith, Jesper Blomqvist, Jordi Cruyff, Roy Carroll – these are all players who had significant roles or long spells at the club, and performed well, but to the outside world, were absolutely dreadful.
Moving on to the current crop of United players. Yes, the reigning Premier League champions.
Yes, title winners by 11 points.
However, a squad full of players the United fans adore; players Ferguson could rely on – but players that the rest of the footballing world wouldn’t have anywhere near their own squad.
To hammer this point home as I can imagine there are a few angry reds reading this: my concern is not what other supporters think – far from it actually; but what if David Moyes cannot paper over the cracks and disguise the obvious flaws in certain areas of the squad. Something which Ferguson has done for generations.
To pick a few of the current crop who do take a lot of stick from the outside world:
Danny Welbeck
The good: A player with great power, pace and bags full of potential.
The bad: For a striker, let’s face it – he is a shocking finisher.
Jonny Evans
The good: Another product from the youth squad, a great leader and apparently a future United captain.
The bad: A defender who turns like he has a fridge-freezer on his shoulders. Evans was turned inside out time and time again last season.
Anderson
The good: Great skill and passing range.
The bad: Never fit and cannot control the tempo of a game.
Phil Jones
The good: Athletic, quick, great in the air, an all-round gifted footballer.
The bad: Coming into his third season at the club and still unable to hold down a regular first team place – possibly because nobody can agree on his best position.
The sad fact is David Moyes is highly unlikely to have the same magic touch as Ferguson from the word go – but a massive thing in his favour is he will not carry any burden.
There will be no burden of needing to give players games because he signed them for big money, brought them through from the youth squad, or made promises of first team football.
It will be a totally clean slate, and this could mean changes.
Every manager needs squad players. Footballers who can fill in when there are injuries, do the job in a host of positions, and go about their business without question or worry – footballers you can trust.
Whilst David Moyes is inheriting a title winning side, will the squad players be motivated to give for him what they did for Ferguson? Probably not.
I believe within the next 12 months, the Manchester United squad will see significant departures from the playing staff, but I for one do not see this as a bad thing.
Have I got this totally wrong? Are these players actually world class and I just cannot see it?
Respond in the comment box below and follow me on Twitter: @NathonW
I don’t agree wit u. Moyes can manage dm properly
You’re absolutely spot on! We adore this average players because they were able to perform and win things under the motivation of Sir Alex, but to the envious outside world, they’re no more than run-of-the-mill players.
You got three right but that of Phil Jones is totally wrong. At the moment Jones is the signing made by Ferguson in recent time. It was just that Ferguson messed him last season. The boy was not allowed to maintain.a permanent position.
So what would you suggest for Phil Jones this year, going into his third season – a permanent spot in the side? If so, where?
phil jones certainly is..this kid has a lot of potential which if properly channelised can work wonders…
Of the 4, my guess is tt Anderson wl hv most to do to impress Moyes and stamp his own in the game. Time wl be kind to Welbeck, Jones & Evans but not so for Anderson. Moreover, Welbeck & Evans were brought up from the youth teams while Jones was always meant for the ‘future’. I believe Moyes wl be able to extract the very best from these 4, as he had done wz Everton, especially the last 2 seasons. From 5 seasons back, one could see Everton surging ahead past mid-table to Europa placings. They were unlucky to not have secured CL placings. If u take away the monies from the likes of Chelsea & City, I would strongly believe that Everton would hv finished ahead of them!. I believe its the monies that hv brought Chelsea & City success(players too!). A good comparison is to place Moyes alongside Brendan Rogers, Alan Pardew, & Harry Rednapp. These lot had the money but end up behind Everton. Spurs is a one off – 1 season wonder, as in Bale. It would be interesting to see whether they are able to sustain the form they had towards 2nd half last season. My opinion is that they will not. So, to conclude, I strongly believe Moyes will be up to the task … & might even surpass Fergie’s record … … if given time.
I certainly think he will be given time. I for one am not expecting him to win a thing, and definitely won’t be on his case about it.
I just believe within 12 months, Anderson, Nani, Cleverley, etc could all be gone!
You’re not expecting him to win a thing?!? Is this what the new thing is for united fans, saying we don’t want to win things because we don’t want to come across as glory hunters. If you are a united fan and you are not expecting us to win anything this season after just winning our 20th title you are a disgrace. That in itself says that you don’t really believe in the squad or the manager. I’m sure moyes would be hurt more that your expectations of him are so low rather than telling him he should be winning things at Manchester United. I for one think every season united has finished empty handed in the past 20 years has been a failure. So go on pretending that you’re happy with mediocrity because ur such a great person, but Manchester United does and should have bigger ambitions to fill. So at the end of next season, having been beaten by Wigan in community shield, knocked out of all cup competitions early on, finished 5th in the league, all our best players leave and the debt starts to cripple is more than ever, it will all be worth it just so you can say your a real fan!
Jesus Christ someone’s tired.
This isn’t a case of ‘I told you so’ or accepting being mediocre. No United fan would be happy with coming second.
All I am saying is I don’t expect Moyes to win anything in his first season. I am not saying I will be happy with it – of course I wont.
I want us to win every single trophy – but the point of the article is expressing how Fergie got the best out of our average players; something which Moyes might not be able to – and if you know anything about the game, you will know our squad is full of average players that performed well for Ferguson.
i think you got it 80% right. I only do not agree with your choice of evans in that category and probably anderson. We all noticed that last season evans is one centre back who made our defence tick. Except he is one player just like carrick whose importance is only realised in his absence. Take for instance the first leg of our derby. As for anderson we all know how menacing he can be when fit. May be we should be focussing on making him fit. I personally tink players like welbeck, young, antonio, smalling should leave. As for jones he should be established in central defence as a future partner of evans. Then why are we not bringing our young stars to seniorhood? I believe player like Janujaz, keane, lingard should get their trials soon.
Sori 2 say, A big club lik united shuld b a club of world class players i dnt espect seing player lik smalling, jones, welbeck, young, if dey could get rid of dis players nd get beta players beleive me united wil b unstoppable. United 4 life
I think he will use dem
I do think that Anderson shud go, he’s been given enough time to prove his worth. Evans’s quite capable but my opinion is that Utd players are not strong physically but mind you, not like Micah Richards. Cleverley cannot play 90 mins which means that after 1 hour he’s walking on the field – basically they shud also have more stamina. Last year’s draw 4-4 with Everton, it was clear that Rafael was gasping for oxygen and this enables Pienaar (sorry if am wrong) to score in the last 5-10 mins. We shud get somebody to bolster out players’ stamina and physical strength – no more being tossed asides by the likes of Citeh players.
I do not agree with U̶̲̥̅̊ wen it comes †σ jonny Evans he is world class he wasn’t turned inside out alot as you claimed he was on top of his game when we played Madrid I don’t agree with you on Anderson he’s a Ǥōōd football player injury has been his major problem maybe bcos of his body build these players give Their all for games they are not ᵀᴴᴱ xavi of this world but they sure are very impressive players .ur article begs ᵀᴴᴱ question as †σ why names like valencia under performing nani and injured fletcher I think you were a bit harsh on them,G̶̲̥̅̊o̶̲̥̅̊ easy man
I only used Welbeck, Evans, Anderson and Jones as examples.
Personally I think Welbeck will start scoring, I think Jones will go on to be a first choice centre half and I think Evans will remain a good back up.
I do however think Anderson will eventually move on.
I could have also used Valencia, Cleverley, Nani and Young as players who still have things to prove.