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.
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00:00Manchester United finished their 3-1 defeat against Arsenal with Harry Maguire and Jonny
00:07Evans as their centre-back pairing, the same two that Leicester City had four seasons ago.
00:12It's an example of the stagnation at Old Trafford alright, and not something you could possibly
00:17imagine at Manchester City, Liverpool, even Arsenal these days.
00:21Ex-club captain Gary Neville berated the Glazer ownership on Sky Sports after yet another
00:25away defeat for their lack of investment, and yes it's well known to everyone that
00:29those at the top of the tree aren't particularly invested in the club, but is that the biggest
00:34reason for Manchester United's failure to catch up with rivals in the last few years?
00:38Really?
00:39This is why the Glazers have set Eric ten Haag up to fail.
00:44The Glazers are a polarising topic within the world of English football.
00:48Ask any Manchester United fan and they'll tell you that US businessmen are parasites
00:51proceeding over a slow demise of a once great institution, yet to some that's an excuse,
00:58and it's true that the numbers don't quite stack up.
01:01Chelsea have been handing out 8-year contracts to the past three transfer windows like they're
01:05totally the norm, and so they have the highest net spend in the Premier League over the last
01:09five years, yet second on the list is Manchester United, whose fans regularly call for more
01:14investment from their owners.
01:16It's not quite as simple as just going out and spending more money though.
01:20United have spent huge sums in the past ten years, and that's thanks to the commercial
01:24deals that the club has brought in.
01:26United have shelled out £50m or more for a player 15 times in their history.
01:32Neville pointed out on Sky at the weekend that with the revenue the club brings in,
01:36his former side should be high up on any net spend list, but it's hard to argue that his
01:40former employers have spent the money well.
01:42Paul Pogba is still the club's record signing, ahead of Anthony who cost £80m.
01:48The Brazilian has managed 11 goals and assists in 47 games at United, which isn't a particularly
01:53great return, and he regularly starts ahead of Jadon Sancho, who's failed to impress
01:57too, after moving for a similar amount of money.
02:00Between Anthony and Sancho on the record signing list is the much maligned Harry Maguire.
02:04Below them are Romelu Lukaku and Angel Di Maria, two big money buys who left shortly
02:09after joining, and whom United were lucky to recoup big fees for from clubs on the continent.
02:15Just on the list after that are two players at different ends of their careers, Rasmus
02:19Haaland and Casemiro, with one thing in common, United paid far more than the going rate for
02:25either.
02:26Bruno Fernandes and Luke Shaw cost a lot of money and they're both in hits at Old Trafford.
02:30Anthony Martial and Fred cost £100m combined, and the former has a Ballon d'Or clause in
02:36his contract, which just now seems wild.
02:39You can argue that the Red Devils had to pay a United tax for some of these players, but
02:43clubs demand more money when they know a wealthy Premier League club are interested,
02:47but clearly the club can still afford to compete for transfers without the Glacier's help.
02:52Let's not forget here, United have outbid their rivals for players time and time again
02:56over the last few years, and it has been celebrated by fans as a show of power.
03:14Lissandra Martinez was wanted by Arsenal, but United outbid what the Gunners could afford.
03:19Manchester City were interested in Fred, in Alexis Sanchez and in Cristiano Ronaldo.
03:25Manchester United lured all three away from Pep Guardiola.
03:29So let's just get this clear, it's not the Glacier's fault that Harry Maguire hasn't
03:33worked out, it's not the Glacier's fault that Angel Di Maria didn't like Manchester,
03:37or that Romelu Lukaku didn't recreate his Everton form, it's not the Glacier's fault
03:41that Casemiro is starting to look his age just a year into his contract, nor is it
03:45their fault that Anthony doesn't look a good fit for English football, or that Sancho isn't
03:49explosive enough for a Premier League forward.
03:51But it is the Glacier's fault for allowing the club to waste hundreds of millions of
03:55pounds without any kind of clear plan.
03:59Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results
04:04according to Albert Einstein, and the Glaciers haven't seemed to realise that a world class
04:08recruitment team is needed to support the manager.
04:11Liverpool's first title win inside in 30 years was masterminded by Michael Edwards,
04:16who brought in the likes of Gini Wijnaldum, Andy Robertson and Sadio Mane.
04:21Jochen Klopp infamously wanted Julian Brandt as his right winger, Edwards vetoed the idea
04:26to instead sign Mohamed Salah.
04:28Mauricio Pochettino's Tottenham team had Paul Mitchell working behind the scenes, the
04:32man who brought Dele Alli, Son Heung-min, Kieran Trippier and Tobias de Verelde to
04:37the club.
04:38At Arsenal now, Nikola Teta has Eddie Gaspar as his sporting director.
04:43At Newcastle, Eddie Howe has Dan Ashworth.
04:45At Aston Villa, Unai Emery has Munshi.
04:49At Manchester City, Pep Guardiola has Chiqui Begadistain.
04:53Manchester United do not have anything close to an equivalent.
04:56United's football director John Murtough has history in analysis, but not as a scout
05:01or someone directly involved in identifying talent.
05:04Darren Fletcher is the club's technical director, after serving other roles at the
05:08club, while CEO Richard Arnold has less to do with the playing side and more to do with
05:12commercial operations at United.
05:14While most other clubs have brought in sporting directors to oversee recruitment and ease
05:18the burden of the modern day manager, United have a complete void in this area.
05:23The Red Devils plan to bring in Ralf Rangnick on a consultancy basis following the German's
05:27interim management post ending.
05:29Rangnick reneged on the deal to manage Austria.
05:32The club decided not to get a replacement.
05:35Eriksen Haag spent most of last summer pursuing Frenkie de Jong, a player he worked with at
05:40Ajax.
05:41He instead signed Kristian Eriksen, a former Ajax player.
05:44He also added Anthony and Lissandra Martinez, two other players he worked with at Ajax.
05:49He signed two Dutch players, Foutveeghorst and Tyrell Malasia, and this summer he signed
05:54two more former players, Andre Onana and Sofiane Amrabat.
05:59Now there's nothing unusual in the odd reunion here and there, but the sheer volume of players
06:04joining Manchester United who have a close connection to the manager is astounding.
06:09Most of them either know him personally or have played against his side.
06:13It certainly feels as if Ten Hag is not just the head coach of this side, but the most
06:17important man on the recruitment side too.
06:20Ten Hag has worked as a sporting director before, but that was almost a decade ago at
06:23Utrecht.
06:24It's incomparable to the job he's got to do at Manchester United.
06:28It's similar actually to the problems that Ralf Rangnick faced.
06:31Rangnick had spent just two years of the previous ten coaching players when he was appointed
06:35the interim coach of the club.
06:37He was a failure at Manchester United, but the people who hired him set him up for that
06:42fail.
06:43If Ten Hag is to blame for poor signings during his United tenure, that's perhaps because
06:47he's underqualified to make them.
06:49Yes, he has lots of money to sign players, but money does not guarantee success as United
06:55have found in the past ten years, and who, well, Chelsea are finding out right now.
07:00Asking the Glazers to invest in the squad is one thing, asking them to refresh the infrastructure
07:05at the stadium to keep the club competitive, even to show they care a little is another,
07:10but simply ploughing more money into Manchester United's playing squad won't get to the
07:14root of how Ten Hag is strained to carry so much more than any of his contemporaries.
07:20Last season, Brentford beat Manchester United 4-0 in just Ten Hag's second game.
07:26The B's ran eight miles further than Manchester United's players in that game, and as a punishment,
07:30Ten Hag made his men run eight miles to make up for it.
07:34But Ten Hag did something incredible that day.
07:36He ran with them.
07:38He's not a professional athlete anymore, but he ran over eight miles to show his players
07:43that they were all equal in the responsibility of failure in his eyes.
07:47It helped bond the players together.
07:49They ended up having a great season, winning a trophy and qualifying for the Champions
07:53League, but who's doing the running with Eric Ten Hag in the transfer market?