Young, Gifted and Red …
When the rap group Public Enemy hit pay dirt with the 1988 classic ‘Don’t Believe The Hype,’ they spoke to an international community of cynics who refused to accept illusion as fact.
What was true back in the 1980’s remains true now. No, Margaret Thatcher is not the greatest living Briton! No, fad caveman diets wont keep you thin. And yes, everyone will notice your comb over!
So, armed with a rugged sense of the righteous, what is to be done now with the latest blonde wisdom being forced fed to the nation, the one that has United’s recruitment of Carlos Tevez ushering in a new era of Red dominance, forever and ever, amen?
The papers say it. Some famous old-pros believe it too. Even captain Gary Neville is caught up in the excitement.
“Last season we played the best football, the most attacking and entertaining football - and we deserved to win the trophy,” he said. “I don’t think a United fan could ever be as excited about the players, the team and about the way the club is, as today.”
Who would disagree with the skipper? Might this, at last, be hype worth believing?
Being a United fan is mostly a charmed existence, with the only anxiety arising from weighing the team’s chances of glory against the club’s talent for cock-ups.
United are not 1-0 dullards. They always take the road less travelled. If there is a harder way, be sure United will find it, making sure every season’s journey is a white knuckle ride to the finishing line for manager and fans alike.
But has something changed this summer?
It has been a good few years since United generated such excitement and anticipation for the season ahead. The interest in Berbatov warmed the soul, whilst the Anelka-to-United tale was interesting too but mostly for the ramifications of having ‘Le Sulk’ in the dressing room.
This time last year, the string-pullers and the manager had what seemed like sorry excuses on heavy rotation by early July, their holiday tans a visual statement of a lack of attention to duty.
Who could dare say that this summer?
Sir Alex and David Gill have acted with uncommon speed in successfully concluding the summer’s most audacious transfers. Fergie has taken in the evidence of last season’s outstanding success and decided with 3am clarity that no amount of victories over Wigan, Villa and Everton could compensate for the gut-wrenching loss to Milan in the Champions League semi-final. Quite simply, United are still not good enough, leaving the manager with one obvious course of action. United are poised to recruit four outfield talents, two of whom are likely to emerge as among the world’s best within three years. That is Ferguson’s devastating answer to fears that United would repeat the error of 2003 and fail to build whilst strong.
“We think we should be doing better and I think signing these players does give us a bigger chance,” Sir Alex said at the press conference to present new boys Owen Hargreaves and Nani.
I think it gives us a really strong squad for next year. That was maybe our downfall last season. When it came to the final part of the season we just didn’t have enough of a squad to handle all the competitions we were in.”
“It brings us quality, experience of Europe and a good intensity of play so I’m very hopeful that we can do better.”
Sir Alex has underlined this ruthless pursuit of quality and reversed the previous wisdom proclaiming the value of a slimmed down squad. Most observers saw a need for United to have a greater threat from the wings. Ok, said Fergie, as he signed Nani ahead of schedule. There were suspicions that United lacked bite in midfield and quality replacements for the first choice. The manager bristled and sent his negotiating team to fetch Owen Hargreaves and the Brazilian Anderson. The manger’s wisdom in persisting with the unreliable Saha was questioned too. That evaporated once it became clear that Tevez is the man to take his place at Old Trafford.
If all that doesn’t take the breath away, this year, fans and Fergie are at last in agreement on the list of players deemed sub-standard. United often show the rigour of blamange when forcing those suspected of inadequacies towards an early exit. This summer, every newspaper nudge suggests Smith, Rossi and Richardson are doomed. Can Fletcher, Silvestre and Saha be far behind?
The midfield, long a graveyard of United’s chances of success, was addressed last season. The fans shrugged their shoulders contemptuously at the signing of Carrick, before gradually conceding the player has United class. Did a smugly content Fergie rest on his laurels? Not likely. He waited a whole year to bring in an even more accomplished defensive midfielder for a ridiculous amount of money because United must improve.
There have been grumblings since last winter that United rely too heavily on Ronaldo’s creativity, Rooney’s unpredictability and Scholes scheming. Take these key players out of the line-up and United would be ordinary. The accusation was always stretching a truth common to all teams, to the point of absurdity but Sir Alex rammed home his own statement by forging a squad with natural cover for each player.
Scholes, Ronaldo and Rooney are all automatic starters but they will know that only consistent performances will stave off the threat from Anderson, Nani and of course, Tevez, if the Premier League, West Ham and Kia Joorabchian can be satisfied.
United’s one-eyed sense of purpose and expert execution this summer has been greeted with muted accusations that they are following the trail staked out by Chelsea last year. This is unfair. Jose Mourinho brought in aged campaigners in the hope that their experience would help his team’s chances of winning the Champions League. The United of 2007, on the other hand, are moving in the opposite direction, with a youthful crop of prodigious talent that, if allowed to develop, can only get better. Wise football sages have already tipped United as Champions League winners next season. That might be too soon but Ferguson will be more hopeful now than at any time since 1999 that Euro glory is destined for the Theatre of Dreams in the near future.
Ferguson’s insatiable hunger for success, his drive to refashion United as a young, gifted team of world beaters steeped in the very best club traditions, continues to astonish, as much as the Glazer family’s decision to invest heavily in team spending after years of parsimony. The belated recognition that prizes cannot be won on the cheap indefinitely is welcome.
Surely, Sir Alex’s energy and daring, coupled with the Glazer’s new realism will be rewarded with titles over the coming years. Let this Red hype be the exception that proves the rule.
(On Jul 9th, 2007 at 10:33 pm)
I’m so excited that I’m going to try and find someone who can put me to sleep until about an hour before the Community Shield. Are we about to witness Los Nuevos Galacticos?
Without wishing to count chickens, you have to feel that even our greatest rivals in England and Europe must be feeling queasy in the knowledge that United are close to adding Tevez to the array of summer signings that Fergie has made. Only Barcelona can have any claim to similar talent in their ranks (discuss)..
The pick of the signings for me is of course Anderson. A strange choice maybe, but whilst Tevez and Hargreaves will walk straight into, and surely improve the first team, Anderson could become No.1 in world football in the next few years. Even in his fleeting appearances in the Copa America you can see that he is possessed of magic. He will become a more central version of Ronaldo on the field of play with only the simple thought of ‘get the ball, beat everyone, score.’
Of course, the transfer activity also makes it all the more senseless and futile for our best players to leave. Why would Ronni want to play in Spain when he’s winning the Champions League in Manchester, year in year out?