There are a lot of people that took great delight in Manchester United’s performances last season.
True that was fans of sides that weren’t Manchester United, especially those who follow the blue side of Manchester or the red side of Liverpool, but in that sadistic way it was enjoyable nonetheless.
To try and explain it to United fans, after years of the inevitable injury time winners in Fergie time and the relentless and annoyingly successful pursuit for trophy after trophy, there was a satisfaction that you had fallen of your perch, that you had to endure something that most us go through every season… losing!
It was the fact that you had something very different to what you had become accustomed to and possibly almost expected each season. I’m sure some of you United fans would agree last season was possibly a good thing in a way because it may have grounded the club following some very heady days?
Of course the big defining change at United last season was the manager and try as he might, following the initial charity shield and opening league game against Swansea, it seemed David Moyes was doomed to failure. In hindsight Sir Alex’s chosen one was a poor choice for so many reasons, so it’s not surprising that David became the holder of many an unwanted United record.
However, the successor to David has now be chosen and “The chosen one after the chosen one by the unchosen board” (not sure that will catch on) seems to be a stroke of genius. You can’t help but think that where David was certainly doomed to fail all things considered, Louis is doomed to succeed!
To start to examine this paradox, when David was announced as the ‘chosen one’ many were underwhelmed. The way Sir Alex had built this moment, it felt like he was going to tell us all a big secret, you got the feeling he’d been concocting a master plan for his succession for years, so you wouldn’t have been surprised if he announced the ‘chosen one’ was a specially commissioned clone of himself… or at least Jose, plucked from under the noses of Chelsea.
Unfortunately for David however, the clone Sir Alex had chosen seemed a poor copy and there were doubts in people’s minds before he had started the job in earnest.
Louis on the other hand decided to officially announce himself to United fans by using his Dutch side to thrash the World Cup holders 5-1, possibly killing tika taka in the process, so not a bad way to go about things.
And as if showing his tactical genius wasn’t enough, Louis had waved his magic wand to transform the form of Robin Van Persie, a player who had looked so lack lustre just a few months previous in a United shirt into master finisher again. As the Dutch captain ran over to celebrate with his national and to be club manager following his unbelievable headed goal I’m sure every United fan world wide were suddenly dreaming of titles again, not just looking to re-join the Champions League club.
There are more reasons for those United fans to dream as well, because although there are problems for the incoming manager to sort out, the pedigree and record of the man is without question, something David could not boast.
Regardless of David achievements with Everton, and no one should deny they weren’t excellent, the nagging doubts in people’s mind was the lack of silverware. This is not something that can be levelled at Louis, with him winning the Dutch title trice and the Spanish, German and Champions League once to name but a few of his honours to date.
Another factor in Louis’ favour is the undoubted contacts that managing all over the world brings you. You can’t see United being unable to attract targets this summer, with the lure of Louis and Old Trafford being a strong carrot for any player, where as last summer you would imagine David would have been an unknown name to many a player they were targeting, meaning a leap of faith was required before signing.
As it turned out, only Marouane Fellaini was willing to take what was quite a small leap for such a big man, but again you can’t see Louis’ marque signing, initially rumoured to be Kevin Strooman, turning out to be as much of a disappointment and you never know – he may even be able to get the best out of Marouane!
Louis also seems to have luck on his side, or maybe a good friend in the Premier League fixture compilers office, because United’s opening sequence looks generous and gives the manager the very real possibility of hitting the ground running and bringing back the fear of travelling to Old Trafford for a game.
Conversely David’s opening fixtures last season were far from kind and the early defeats were not only costly points wise, but from a mentality point of view because this allowed doubts from within to grow and teams began to realise this United team were beatable. Whereas before most sides went to Old Trafford with a faint hope of nicking a point, sides were leaving the bus in the car park and looking for 3!
Now what fans would deem as success in Louis’ first season may vary, but when you consider
that Manchester City’s crimes against the financial fair play rules may restrict them in freshening up their squad for the defence of their title, Liverpool’s squad will be facing the additional pressure of Champions League football this season (and may yet lose Suarez this summer) and Jose hasn’t quite got things to click at Chelsea and who’s hopes will largely depend on whether Diego Costa becomes the striker they missed all last season, is the big one out of the question?
United also have the advantage of having most week nights off, what with no European competition and because Arsenal won’t spend any money and flatter to deceive before finishing fourth as usual there’s a whole host of positives in United’s favour when you consider they’re priced around 6-1 joint third favourite for the title.
So yes it’s very very early to say this, especially given a ball hasn’t been kicked in pre-season training and it’s not something I particularly wanted to type, but I can’t help think come May 2015 United fans will be celebrating both title number 21 and the dawn of a wonderful new era for the club. As I say Van Gaal and United, they’re surely doomed to succeed.
The Armchair Supporter
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