I was at a wedding night do last night and me and the wife were on a table that turned out to be full of rags (2 of them I knew as they're work mates)
Anyway, a few beers go down and the subject soon turns to football.
I dropped a bit of loaded question, purely for amusement with a touch of provocation. "Based on your start this season, will Ten Bob build on what was a fantastic season last season finishing 3rd"
Every one of them genuinely believed that last season was absolutely fantastic and were baffled at Ten Bob not being in with a shout of manager of the year. Apparently the love in with Pep is over the top as he's had the freedom and the funds to pretty much do as he wants.
Obviously I carried on as they were putty in my hands, asking more questions about their spend and particularly the signings that have come in since Ten Bob was manager.
The excuses and reasons why they didn't compete for the title and are unlikely to compete this season were hilarious. The manager hasn't really been backed, apparently he didn't want Casemiro (who they believe wants a move to Saudi), he demanded that Maguire is sold which hasn't happened and signings of De Jong, Kane and Rice were also demanded, which haven't materialised, leaving them with a squad that lacks in real quality and depth.
Apparently it's not a happy camp either.
I put to them that maybe Ten Bob is responsible for the overall happiness of the squad and maybe getting a tune out of the squad. Many of whom are his players with over 350 million being spent since he became manager. Throw in players that have shown that they're capable like Rashford, Sancho, Shaw, Wan Bissaka, Fernandez etc and it's hard for anyone who's not a utd supporter to have any kind of sympathy.
For about an hour I had these rags all trying to convince me that Ten Bob just hasn't been backed as he'd have wished and it was all the Glazers fault. All being said with sad faces and real fake concern in their voices whilst I'm pissing myself inside. This lot are completely deluded.
One of my work pals who I get on with and is a rag knew exactly what I was doing and called me a **** hahahaha.