Letter To Sir Alex (1)
First of all, let me congratulate you on your successes this past season.
You did a fine job keeping the lads motivated when so many of them must have had an eye on the World Cup. You personally seemed to be reborn during the latter stages of the run-in. It was a real treat to see you so focussed on bringing West London’s ‘Special One’ back down to earth.
I have to say Sir Alex, that I had begun to wonder whether your best was in the past, after the side slipped out of Europe before the Christmas decorations were up. You’ll know that the team didn’t do itself justice and I don’t even want to talk about the Cup disaster on Merseyside! For a short time, I thought I might have to address this letter to your likely replacement Paul Le Guen.
But in all fairness, you did turn the season around after the divorce with Roy Keane. The Carling Cup victory seemed to galvanise the team, as you said it would and the sequence of wins that followed were a tonic. The team finished second, qualified for Europe and added a trophy to the Old Trafford portfolio. As you have said on several occasions, United have a good mix of youth and experience, can score goals and are set fair for a great future.
A cup and automatic entry to the Champion’s League should get the respect of the players whom you will want to sign. A tip for you – rip up the list you and Kenyon wrote on that fag packet a couple of years ago. Those players are Chelsea’s now anyway. Forget Obi Mikel too. This whole affair is a PR fiasco for United. Let him join Chelsea if that’s what he and his agent so desire.
Sadly, we know it’s a lot tougher these days to get the better players to come to United. Those Glazer Dick Turpins might even take the light bulbs if given the chance, so as you know, there’ll be no 35 million quid centre halves joining after Brazil’s victory in Berlin. Some would say thank goodness but that would be churlish.
I just hope you know who you will signing before the World Cup begins. When you don’t have too much money to play with in the first place, I don’t want to hear of you crying into your vintage Bordeaux bemoaning how you’ve been gazumped or that such and such a player’s word is as worthless as a Betamax video recorder etc etc. Do you recall the last player with whom that happened? Let me remind you if it’s not already engraved on your soul. Ronaldinho!
Thankfully, your buying strategy should not be too complicated. The defence finally seems to have taken shape. Edwin Van Der Saar, Neville and a fit-again Heinze are automatic. Rio has looked better alongside Vidic. If the defence could only chip in with 10 to 15 goals next season, we’d be back to the glory days of Dolly, Daisy and Denis!
I have to say that I still don’t understand your purchase of Patrice Evra. What is he for? As a five million pound French international defender, I rather hoped for more. Much the same could be said about Wesley Brown. I wonder Sir Alex, if you’d be tempted by an offer for him of between seven and nine million pounds from the likes of Newcastle or Everton? He’s a lovely player Wesley and home grown too but poor lad, he’s held together with plasters. We could invest the money elsewhere as I’m sure you know already.
Unlike Wesley Brown, the attack is very healthy and surpassed all expectation last term. Rooney looks a snip at 27 million and I hope he heals fast enough to start the season. Like many fans, I didn’t get your decision to drop Ruud until both he and Saha started to score crucial goals. Now that you appear to have had a permanent falling out with RVN, you’ll have to find someone else who can score 25 goals a season. You do have a point when you suggest that Louis Saha gives the team added pace and is perhaps a harder worker but he gets injured too often. Can he really be relied upon for 20 goals a season?
Of course, no Ruud means a new opportunity for young Rossi. That will make most fans happy. The Italian-American looks a great prospect but are United really going to storm Europe next season with a forward line of Rooney and Rossi or ‘Little and Littler’ as they might soon be known?
If so, then you’ll have to sort out the midfield. Shopping couldn’t be simpler Sir Alex. One or two defensive central midfielders and a two-footed playmaker please. Not Fulham’s Senegalese wardrobe, unless you’ve seen something that the Premiership has missed. Others like Gattuso or Diarra won’t come cheap either. I’m rather hoping that you have up your sleeve someone other than the usual suspects but then on second thoughts, perhaps not. Let’s stick to those who’ve been tried and tested in the Champions League arena.
Of course, getting the right man means having a competent, well-connected scouting network. Those media wolverines wont allow you to get this signing wrong, so I’d have a word with your scouts and tell them that their salaries are paid by Manchester United Football Club and not the Dog and Duck Public House. Some of the recent arrivals have been laughable. Sort it. Whilst you’re at it, make after training free-kick and corner practice compulsory for Ronaldo in particular and get someone in who can perform an exorcism and rid the club of the terrible injury curse that plagued the team last season.
Let’s assume then that by next August, you’ll have no more complaints about the playing staff and the depth of the squad. As players come in, some will have to leave. Make sure that Silvestre loses his car park space permanently. His performance at Chelsea was the final straw. Take any reasonable offer that comes in too for Kieran Richardson and Tim Howard. It’s not working out for them. Why prolong the agony? The jury is still out on Darren Fletcher’s future as a United player too. He needs a big season next term as does Paul Scholes.
Some tough decisions lie ahead too concerning the young talent out on loan. I really hope you’ll be allowed to go your own way rather than heed Glazer’s instruction to keep the wage bill down. Remember your shop steward roots. It looks as though you’ve made up you’re mind about Spector and Bardsley. What about Chris Eagles, David Jones and Ben Foster? Can you accommodate Pique in your first team plans or will he be sent out on loan too?
There are still more questions to be answered but the most important is how do you want the team to play? I hope you will be faithful to your instincts and stick with 4-4-2 next year irrespective of what Carlos might be whispering in your ear after the emphatic loss to Chelsea and another year without the title. Simply put, this formation brings to the fore width, pace, aggression and a high tempo game which are written into the DNA of United’s playing style.
So, Sir Alex, with the right players signed, the youngsters encouraged and a system in place that exploits the team’s best advantages, the next year could begin promisingly. With a determined start, consistent team selections and good luck, you might just make chumps out of all your critics for another year.
All the best AU
© Copyright: Absolutely United 2006
