George Hannah said:
Sir Alex Ferguson’s parting gift to Manchester United manager David Moyes may have been a poisoned chalice
By Alan Hansen 20 May 2013
With Sir Alex Ferguson now the ex-Manchester United manager, the club will now witness the dawn of a new era and sustaining success at Old Trafford will be a really hard job for David Moyes.
In at deep end: David Moyes will face intense pressure Photo: AFP
With Sir Alex Ferguson now the ex-Manchester United manager, the club will now witness the dawn of a new era and sustaining success at Old Trafford will be a really hard job for David Moyes.
David is a top-class manager, one of the very best, and there is no way that anybody in his position would ever dream of turning down a six-year contract to manage Manchester United.
But I believe he would have been better served had he taken the job on with a different United team to the one he inherits from Ferguson.
Ferguson has been unbelievably clever in recent weeks by telling the world that United are in the best position they could possibly be in, with the current squad ready to prolong the success he has masterminded for the last 20 years. But after saying all of that, he has then gone and announced his retirement.
He has set the scene for the future, but outside of Old Trafford, people are wondering whether this group of players he has left behind really are capable of dominating as Ferguson’s team have done in the past.
Said this myself.
Let's put this into perspective. He's bowed out with a 20th club title win and a 13th for himself. Timing was perfect but the handover itself isn't. He's bowed out on top with the statement of winning back from rivals but he hands over just before his main rivals strengthen and regroup and the elite teams in Europe have pulled away from them.
His handover contains a squad that is mid transition. Lets go through the squad.
Players over 30 and over will be bolded.
1 GK David de Gea - Good player with good future, sound shot stopper
2 DF Rafael
3 DF
Patrice Evra (vice-captain)
4 DF Phil Jones
5 DF
Rio Ferdinand
6 DF Jonny Evans
7 MF Antonio Valencia
8 MF Anderson
10 FW Wayne Rooney
11 MF
Ryan Giggs
12 DF Chris Smalling
13 GK Anders Lindegaard
14 FW Javier Hernández
15 DF
Nemanja Vidić (captain)
16 MF
Michael Carrick
17 MF Nani
18 MF Ashley Young
19 FW Danny Welbeck
20 FW
Robin van Persie
23 MF Tom Cleverley
24 MF Darren Fletcher
25 MF Nick Powell
26 MF Shinji Kagawa
28 DF Alexander Büttner
40 GK Ben Amos
In short their main players are older guys who have a limited future due to age, they either face retirement or are due to natural decline. The guys coming through are good players but nothing great. Their wingers are the poorest set of widemen I've known United to have. Zaha isn't changing that. Their CB's have always been their strong point, Bruce, Pallister, Stam, Rio, Vidic etc. Instead they face a future of Evans, Smalling and Jones whilst also hoping Vidic stays injury free but even still he's going to decline anyway due to age and lack of match practise. Their midfield has been weak for 3 years now. They never replaced Keane properly other than Hargreaves and when he got injured they put hoped on Fletcher, who as we know is another gamble due to the stomach problems he has. Scholes is replaced by Kagawa (a proper player to be fair) and Cleverly (good utility player to have but nothing special), Carrick is good at the moment but they have maybe 2-3 years in him at this level, after that decline again.
Upfront they have the leagues best striker, no denying. If they keep Rooney they have a great forward and playmaker but he is likely to leave. God help them if RVP gets injured because they pine hopes on Rooneys replacement or second choice starters like Hernandez and Welbeck.
To conclude, they have a great selection of players as a squad, they cover all bases. The problem is the quality within the ranks are either close to retirement or are on the natural decline due to age. The replacements chosen aren't good enough for United to remain an elite team so it will be challenging for them as a club unless the reinvest and do so with good choices. In all fairness they should've set the stall out and brought in Klopp, this is a guy that lost Sahin and replaced with Gundogan, lost Kagawa and bought Reus. The guy has an eye for a player and makes them fit and the team continues on an upward curve. Moyes will get the most out the players he has but whether he can get these guys to compete v a resurgent Chelsea and City is a mammoth task without equal spending themselves. This is a guy that boats Fellaini as a big money buy but also has Yakubu, Johnson and Bilyanetov to his list of bad buys. Real, Barca, Dortmund, Bayern and Juventus are going to get better also, Moyes will have his work in Europe cut out too.
I expect a bumpy road for these lot, the squad needs to be turned over in the next 2-3 years whilst also maintain league position and good showings in Europe (last 2 years not been great but before then they were tbf). Lets see if the players, the board and the fans will offer the patience and trust. fair play to them if they do because imho Moyes now has the hardest job in Europe.
