I don’t think that last point is right, save that the rot can ultimately be dated to the Rock of Gibraltar fiasco.
in his last season GPC won the title by a distance with more or less the same team that would struggle to make seventh a year later. That in itself is evidence that he was the glue that held everything together. I would argue that the rags post Ferguson haven’t under achieved, but they massively over achieved with GPC at the helm.
Since he has gone, that which he held together has started to unravel. We lose count of the number of good players who have gone there, turned to shit, left and then rediscovered their ability elsewhere. Sancho is probably just the latest in a long line. Even with VAR they do not get the protection from referees they once did.
The ultimate problem it seems to me is the extent to which the current board is in complete thrall to United’s reputation. They sneered at us for buying success, now they are buying failure. They sneered at Chelsea for the rate they went through managers but they are now on their fifth since the GPC (not including the times they gave it Giggsy till the end of the season) and many are calling for him to go. They sneered at Liverpool for clinging to their history, now it is all they have left.
United have pandered to what their fans have wanted. They wanted a new manager? They got one. They wanted a superstar striker? They got one. They wanted to get one over on City in the transfer market? They got one.
They have done none of the things that club needs. Have they invested in the ground or the training facilities? No. Have they invested in their youth section or their academy? No. Anything that requires major capital investment for long term reward they have steered away from in favour of short term revenue gains. The Glazers are complicit in appeasing their supporter base, because keeping their support sweet is what keeps them spending money, which leaves the Glazers able to keep milking the cash cow, rather than doing what the club needs, and that is what is ultimately responsible for their decline.
On that, the buck stops with them.
