Letter To Sir Alex (2)
I wanted to follow up my letter to you earlier this year.
I’m sure you don’t have the time to read fan mail but I’ve been thinking that maybe, the post girl never brought it to you because, like so many others, she’s been moved on or is working double shifts, what with all these cuts and squeezes we read about.Let me say straightaway what a superb job you did with Cristiano Ronaldo. Alan Shearer and the boys in the BBC studio would have cheered you to the rafters if you had taken Real’s money and packed the winger off to Spain.
Thankfully, Match of the Day has had no mileage with you ever since James Bond made a chump of himself a decade ago, so you kept your own counsel and the player sweet. No-one doubts Ronaldo will be off the first chance he gets but for this season at least, he is ours and will bring a little more variety to the first team.
That said, it’s a crying shame that you are unable to supplement his craft with other genuine stars because of the straightened times in which the club finds itself. You made United great again and now the club is £660 million in debt. It is a cruel and most unusual punishment to have delivered unprecedented success to so many and then as your reward be asked to answer publicly for the incompetence and greed of others. Is Martin Edwards getting the last laugh after all?
You’ll never do to United what Keith Burkinshaw did to Spurs but goodness, it must take all the strength you have to bear the constant potshots at everything you’ve built and all you will leave behind. They call it an ‘inexorable disintegration.’ How would you describe what has happened these past few years?
You haven’t helped yourself either, Sir Alex. The spat with Ruud got out of hand. I know that he tested your patience, especially after Becks left and that he asked for a transfer on the eve of the 2005 Cup Final. But you, the man who kept Cantona on a leash for all those glory years should have made short work of the Ruud boy and kept him onside.
Selling the Dutchman without signing a genuine replacement was just plain daft, as Louis Saha told you via the newspapers. As you don’t talk to anyone but the lads working on the web site in the next office, we’ll have to wait until you publish your memoirs to have an explanation.
The pundits tell me you quite fancied Torres. Rather you than me. Questions have been asked about his ambition for some time now. If he likes being a big fish in a small pond so be it but there must have been other strikers good enough to wear the red shirt. Did you do enough to find one? Was the money in place to make it worth looking?
In my last letter, I mentioned that you needed to sort out the coaching staff and get them to start earning their money. The likes of Djemba Djemba, Kleb and the others were making you look like a dunce. Miller Light is with Keano now at Sunderland, going from Hoop dream, Champions League tyro to running the game at Southend. Football. Bloody Hell!
United are now a selling club, giving the coaching lads less exposure but when they did file a report and advise you on whom you should buy, they passed on the Argentine Javier Masherano but came up with one Michael Carrick. Like every fan, I want Carrick to be a success but a month after he signed, I’m still wondering if he really is the very best that Manchester United Football Club can get?
You and ‘busy’ David promised a world class midfielder or two. Carrick is not a world name even at a whopping £18m. I remained patient in the hope that you had someone else in mind. Then everyone got excited when you spoke of signing Owen Hargreaves and deflated when it looked like Marcos Senna was O.T bound. Neither player is a Robson or even an Ince, so I waited some more. The transfer window opened and shut and I am still waiting.
What is going on Sir Alex? As the Blues men say, have you lost your Mojo? Shall I help you find it again? Listen closely. You are the greatest of managers. You’re a legend to millions. Even when you’ve made mistakes, they were glorious. No-one thought that Juan Veron would stink out the Theatre of Dreams and even when the size of the cheque was announced, his accountant wasn’t the only one smiling. Fans have had your back because as we say in our house, ‘Sir Alex knows best.’ But now, people aren’t so sure.
You talked the right talk this summer, about needing to fix the midfield. But now, with only Carrick signed, if Scholes doesn’t show the form of the late ‘90’s and O’Shea and Fletcher fail to progress, then your doubters will be right to say that you’ve failed the test again for the third year running. It cant go on. You’ll know that better than most.
You’ve used your friends in the press to let the fans know that you weren’t going to waste United’s money buying second best players. That’s the problem. We don’t know what you mean when you say best anymore. Best now sounds like ‘all we could afford’ or ‘someone Chelsea didn’t want.’
Yes, I still cant quite bring myself to believe that United’s transfer market dominance is over. Remember the days when the mere mention of the club’s interest was enough for the deal to be concluded? Dwight Yorke, Andy Cole, Rio, Pally, Bruce were seduced by United’s tradition and glamour alone. Only Shearer resisted but we still won everything. We thought this would last forever. No-one saw the Russian billionaire coming.
Conspiracy theorists have it that there is no money for you to spend on bringing in the real top drawer talents on wages they expect or could get from Chelsea. The cash is being swallowed up in debt repayments. It must be galling for you, as the man who transformed United into the world’s richest club, to see the club milked shamelessly by the Glazer boys, with no-one to stop them.
Others say the cash is being hoarded for your successor. You’ve said nothing about retirement, bearing in mind what a disaster your public comments were the last time but it cant be long now. You’ll know that Marcello Lippi is taking English classes whilst Paul Le Guen – I mentioned him in my previous letter – is working his passage in your old neck of the woods. Whoever comes in will need money for new players and if the Glazers are going to get in the name that will satisfy the media and the fans, he’ll want financial guarantees.
So the theory is that you’ve been given enough to keep you credible and the team afloat but not nearly enough to make Chelski quiver. It’s not all about money but to misquote your pal Hansen, you’ll win nowt with next to nothing.
I have to tell you too that some money could have been saved by not signing Patrice Evra and by saying ‘tara,’ ‘get lost,’ and ‘scram’ to Mikael Silvestre. Vidic looks half decent though and with the glue still holding in Wes Brown, I’m glad Rio knows he might have to take more of an interest to get a game every week.
United’s new found poverty means that sooner or later the kids will have to get a game. The average age of United’s first team is falling fast. I suppose more of the old-timers and the high earners will be sold off sooner or later and then we might finally see the reward of loaning Foster, Bardsley, Evans, Pique, Martin, Eagles and Rossi. We’re not Chelsea thank goodness but were not exactly Arsenal either. Give ‘em a go Sir Alex.
I don’t want to end without wishing you good fortune in Europe this year. The Champions League draw was kind but much the same was said last year. Surely we’ve got the beating of Celtic and Copenhagen. If we can avoid shooting ourselves in the foot in the away match in Portugal then this New Year will have something more to celebrate.
You’ll have read Rooney’s bluster after his dismissals in Gelsenkirchen and Amsterdam, saying that he’ll continue to play the game ‘his way.’ Euro referees might not agree. I hope you can talk him round. So much depends on him already.
With a little of the luck that has deserted us in recent years, United could go on a run and surprise everyone. Wouldn’t it be fitting if you found your Mojo in Athens next year?
All the best AU
© Copyright: Absolutely United 2006
