A Success off the pitch, but not on it - Manchester United’s problems

Andy Mitten discusses why Manchester United continue to be a success off the pitch despite their current troubles on it.

Manchester United sent a press release out in the early hours of Wednesday morning. It wasn’t clarification of Louis van Gaal’s position, for the club don’t comment on the status of their manager publicly, but news of another sponsor.

“Manchester United and popular Indonesian isotonic drink brand YOU.C1000 Lemon and Orange Water has today announced a multi-year regional partnership,” it read, while a quote from Richard Arnold, the man largely responsible for driving such deals, followed.

He said: “Already YOU.C1000 has devised a unique way of engaging with fans through its ‘We Are United’ competition and the Club looks forward to welcoming the winning fans to Old Trafford.”

You couldn’t imagine Arnold actually saying that and most fans cringe at such utterances, but the partner wants publicity for their pounds and to accentuate their links with United.

One of Arnold’s key roles is to bring money in and he wouldn’t be short of offers from rival clubs.

It not his fault that the money he secured is used in such a profligate manner on players who don’t meet expectations, but such clashes come when business people make football-related decisions.

The press releases illustrate how United are a commercial beast. While FC Barcelona send out multiple releases on a daily basis, they’re usually about football, which shouldn’t surprise given that FC stands for ‘Futbol Club’.

They concern the status of player injuries, list the squad and the people who’ll be attending matches. They’re to inform the members of what’s going on at a club, one where the members vote for their president.

United’s structure is different and almost all their releases relate to a new sponsor - or partner as they prefer them to be called - yet Barça look up to United at the commercial trailblazers, the club they try an emulate off the pitch, just as everyone else tries to emulate the Catalans on it.

One wonders how long United can continue to attract so many partners while the team is so mediocre. If, this season, they fail to qualify for the Champions League for the second time in three years, that will again hit the bottom line. It will also make them less attractive to the players they seek to recruit.

Money matters in this respect, but the best players still want to play in the best international club competition, not in a series of goalless draws for a side attracting more ridicule than respect.

With justification, United market their history as the greatest football story ever told, but great has become grim of late.

United thought their one-year out of the Champions League in 2014-15 was a blip and were proud with the way they dealt with it internally, sending emails to staff congratulating them after United survived the downturn relatively unscathed.

The inference being it was a one off, and judging by United’s recent history where the team had qualified for the Champions League every year, that thinking was understandable.

But look at the Premier League table. Seventy points is usually sufficient for fourth place. United reached 70 last season, yet if the club are to get to that level again this term they’d need to win a lot of games.

One combination would be win ten, draw three and lose two of their remaining 15. Does the current team look like they can do that? No.

Times are not good at Old Trafford. While the commercial department of the club is in rude health and overall revenues are booming, the playing side isn’t.

The youth system, so long a success and a badge of honour at the club, has been left to slide in the last five years, even while Sir Alex Ferguson was in charge.

Underfunded, its problems have been compacted by neighbours Manchester City throwing money at their system, helping them attract better players.

United’s under 21s are still doing well, but the under 18s are on a ten game losing streak and with the first-team’s problems paramount, people involved in the youth system fear they’ll remain a secondary consideration.

Coaches are working in uncertain conditions, worrying about the future and their jobs. Will they be part of a system that gets more funding? Or pushed aside and replaced in yet more changes are made at a club which once prided itself on having a family atmosphere at the heart of a world-renowned institution.

The mood in the first-team is hardly sky high either. The players largely like Van Gaal as a person and respect his record as a coach. They like his honesty and openness, but their conviction about his methods is far from absolute.

Some of the new signings don’t think the team they joined is what it said on the tin. They’re frustrated, though the Dutchman compromised and loosened his grip after a festive showdown with senior players and training is more enjoyable. The first-team performances still remain deeply unconvincing.

Fans are angry and confused. The mistrust and uncertainty inside the club is reflected on the outside as fans decipher the mixed messages, usually via a media filter.

They read that their club met Pep Guardiola and were cheered by the prospect, only for it to be strongly denied. They read that Van Gaal had offered to resign after the latest loss at home to Southampton, again for it to be denied.

They read that Jose Mourinho sent a six-page letter to the club outlining his plans for the team should they make him manager, only for it to be described as “absurd” by his agent. But not actually denied.

Suspicion and mistrust prevails while there is a power vacuum still to be properly filled since Sir Alex Ferguson stepped down almost three years ago. He controlled everything from the scouting to team selection, the tone with the media to the youth system.

Now, the power base is with three people: Ed Woodward and the two Glazer brothers most involved in the club they own, with Joel the most active, though the American owners continue to maintain the lowest of low – and unaccountable – profiles.

Fans are furious. Most would like Van Gaal to resign or be sacked. They’ve been patient and supported him over 18 months in charge, but doubts began surfacing a year ago and months of possession heavy, penetration free football have dissolved their tolerance.

They’re entitled to make a balanced judgement after 77 games under the Dutchman, especially as he said he should be judged in his second season.

His expensively assembled team is showing no evidence of improving, though Van Gaal maintains a belief in the development of young players. He thinks they’ll come good and is determined to ride out the latest storm ahead of Friday’s FA Cup 4th round clash at Derby County.

Over 5,500 United fans will cross the Peak District and they’ll get behind the team once again, just as they did in 1990 in a crucial FA Cup game played down the road in Nottingham.

Woe betide the mood - and the manager - if United don’t win.