Why The Glazers Have Set Man United Up To Fail
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has made mistakes at the start of the season – but the Glazers haven't exactly helped matters at Old Trafford.
Transcript
00:00 Manchester United finished their 3-1 defeat against Arsenal with Harry Maguire and Johnny
00:07 Evans as their centre-back pairing, the same two that Leicester City had four seasons ago.
00:12 It's an example of the stagnation at Old Trafford alright, and not something you could possibly
00:17 imagine at Manchester City, Liverpool, even Arsenal these days.
00:21 Ex-club captain Gary Neville berated the Glazer ownership on Sky Sports after yet another
00:25 away defeat for their lack of investment, and yes it's well known to everyone that those
00:30 at the top of the tree aren't particularly invested in the club, but is that the biggest
00:34 reason for Manchester United's failure to catch up with rivals in the last few years?
00:38 Really?
00:39 This is why the Glazers have set Eric ten Haag up to fail.
00:44 The Glazers are a polarising topic within the world of English football.
00:48 Ask any Manchester United fan and they'll tell you that US businessmen are parasites
00:51 proceeding over a slow demise of a once great institution, yet to some that's an excuse,
00:58 and it's true that the numbers don't quite stack up.
01:01 Chelsea have been handing out 8-year contracts for the past three transfer windows like they're
01:05 totally the norm, and so they have the highest net spend in the Premier League over the last
01:09 five years, yet second on the list sit Manchester United, whose fans regularly call for more
01:14 investment from their owners.
01:16 It's not quite as simple as just going out and spending more money though.
01:20 United have spent huge sums in the past ten years, and that's thanks to the commercial
01:24 deals that the club has brought in.
01:26 United have shelled out £50m or more for a player 15 times in their history.
01:32 Neville pointed out on Sky at the weekend that with the revenue the club brings in,
01:36 his former side should be high up on any net spend list, but it's hard to argue that his
01:40 former employers have spent the money well.
01:42 Paul Pogba is still the club's record signing, ahead of Anthony who cost £80m.
01:48 The Brazilian has managed 11 goals and assists in 47 games at United, which isn't a particularly
01:53 great return, and he regularly starts ahead of Jadon Sancho, who's failed to impress
01:57 too after moving for a similar amount of money.
02:00 Between Anthony and Sancho on the record signing list is the much-mined Harry Maguire.
02:05 Below them are Romelu Lukaku and Angel Di Maria, two big money buys who left shortly
02:09 after joining, and whom United were lucky to recoup big fees for from clubs on the continent.
02:15 Just on the list after that are two players at different ends of their careers, Rasmus
02:19 Haaland and Casemiro, with one thing in common, United paid far more than the going rate for
02:25 either.
02:26 Bruno Fernandes and Luke Shaw cost a lot of money and they're both in hits at Old Trafford.
02:30 Anthony Martial and Fred cost £100m combined, and the former has a Ballon d'Or clause in
02:36 his contract, which just now seems wild.
02:39 You can argue that the Red Devils had to pay a United tax for some of these players, but
02:43 clubs demand more money when they know a wealthy Premier League club are interested.
02:47 But clearly, the club can still afford to compete for transfers without the greatest
02:51 help.
02:52 Let's not forget here, United have outbid their rivals for players time and time again
02:56 over the last few years, and it has been celebrated by fans as a show of power.
03:00 Lissandra Martinez was wanted by Arsenal, but United outbid what the Guardians could
03:19 afford.
03:20 Manchester City were interested in Fred, in Alexis Sanchez and in Cristiano Ronaldo.
03:25 Manchester United lured all three away from Pep Guardiola.
03:29 So let's just get this clear.
03:31 It's not the Glazers fault that Harry Maguire hasn't worked out.
03:34 It's not the Glazers fault that Angel Di Maria didn't like Manchester, or that Romelu Lukaku
03:38 didn't recreate his Everton form.
03:40 It's not the Glazers fault that Casemiro is starting to look his age just a year into
03:44 his contract, nor is it their fault that Anthony doesn't look a good fit for English football,
03:48 or that Sancho isn't explosive enough for a Premier League forward.
03:51 But it is the Glazers fault for allowing the club to waste hundreds of millions of pounds
03:56 without any kind of clear plan.
03:59 Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results,
04:04 according to Albert Einstein, and the Glazers haven't seemed to realise that a world-class
04:08 recruitment team is needed to support the manager.
04:11 Liverpool's first title winning side in 30 years was masterminded by Michael Edwards,
04:16 who brought in the likes of Gini Wijnaldum, Andy Robertson and Sadio Mane.
04:21 Jochen Klopp infamously wanted Julian Brandt as his right winger.
04:25 Edwards vetoed the idea to instead sign Mohamed Salah.
04:28 Mauricio Pochettino's Tottenham team had Paul Mitchell working behind the scenes, the
04:32 man who brought Dele Alli, Son Heung-min, Kieran Trippier and Tobias de Veraud to the
04:37 club.
04:38 At Arsenal now, Nikola Teta has Eddie Gaspar as his sporting director.
04:43 At Newcastle, Eddie Howar has Dan Ashworth.
04:45 At Aston Villa, Unai Emery has Munshi.
04:49 At Manchester City, Pep Guardiola has Chiqui Begadistain.
04:53 Manchester United do not have anything close to an equivalent.
04:56 United's football director John Murtough has history in analysis, but not as a scout
05:01 or someone directly involved in identifying talent.
05:04 Darren Fletcher is the club's technical director, after serving other roles at the
05:08 club, while CEO Richard Arnold has less to do with the playing side and more to do with
05:12 commercial operations at United.
05:14 While most other clubs have brought in sporting directors to oversee recruitment and ease
05:18 the burden of the modern day manager, United have a complete void in this area.
05:23 The Red Devils plan to bring in Ralf Rangnick on a consultancy basis following the Germans'
05:27 interim management post ending.
05:29 Rangnick reneged on the deal to manage Austria.
05:32 The club decided not to get a replacement.
05:35 Eriksen Haag spent most of last summer pursuing Frankie de Jong, a player he worked with at
05:40 Ajax.
05:41 He instead signed Christian Eriksen, a former Ajax player.
05:44 He also added Anthony and Lissandra Martinez, two other players he worked with at Ajax.
05:49 He signed two Dutch players, Foutveeghorst and Tyrone Melasia, and this summer he signed
05:54 two more former players, Andre Onana and Sofiane Amrabat.
05:59 Now there's nothing unusual in the odd reunion here and there, but the sheer volume of players
06:04 joining Manchester United who have a close connection to the manager is astounding.
06:09 Most of them either know him personally or have played against his side.
06:13 It certainly feels as if Ten Hag is not just the head coach for this side, but the most
06:17 important man on the recruitment side too.
06:20 Ten Hag has worked as a sporting director before, but that was almost a decade ago at
06:23 Utrecht.
06:24 It's incomparable to the job he's got to do at Manchester United.
06:28 It's similar actually to the problems that Ralph Rangnick faced.
06:31 Rangnick had spent just two years of the previous ten coaching players when he was appointed
06:35 the interim coach of the club.
06:37 He was a failure at Manchester United, but the people who hired him set him up for that
06:42 fail.
06:43 If Ten Hag is to blame for poor signings during his United tenure, that's perhaps because
06:47 he's underqualified to make them.
06:49 Yes, he has lots of money to sign players, but money does not guarantee success as United
06:55 have found in the past ten years, and who, well, Chelsea are finding out right now.
07:00 Asking the Glazers to invest in the squad is one thing, asking them to refresh the infrastructure
07:05 at the stadium to keep the club competitive, even to show they care a little is another,
07:10 but simply ploughing more money into Manchester United's playing squad won't get to the root
07:15 of how Ten Hag is strained to carry so much more than any of his contemporaries.
07:20 Last season, Brentford beat Manchester United 4-0 in just Ten Hag's second game.
07:26 The B's ran eight miles further than Manchester United's players in that game, and as a punishment,
07:30 Ten Hag made his men run eight miles to make up for it.
07:34 But Ten Hag did something incredible that day.
07:36 He ran with them.
07:38 He's not a professional athlete anymore, but he ran over eight miles to show his players
07:43 that they were all equal and the responsibility of failure in his eyes.
07:47 It helped bond the players together.
07:49 They ended up having a great season, winning a trophy and qualifying for the Champions
07:53 League.
07:54 But who's doing the running with Eric Ten Hag in the transfer market?
07:57 (upbeat music)