Manchester United, In Search of Glory

(Part-1:- LVG and Jose)

When Louis van Gaal was sacked as the Manchester United manager before the 2016-17 season,

Jose Mourinho was touted to be the favorite to hold the coveted job. Jose was someone who

“specialized” in winning Premier League trophies. He had completely transformed his Chelsea

side to perennial title favourites. After Sir Alex’s retirement, Jose was hoping to land the United

job as he had maintained a good relationship with Sir Alex and was fascinated by the club’s

heritage. However, the then Everton manager, David Moyes, was picked by Sir Alex as his

successor. The main reason for this might have been because Jose’s philosophy did not match

Manchester United’s of promoting youngsters from the academy.

But that was not the case in 2016. The club’s board was desperate, hungry and eager to get things

back to normal, and restore the winning ways at the club. The fans called for this change, calling

Louis Van Gaal’s football as ‘boring’ and ‘unappealing’. LVG’s philosophy was based on a solid

defensive foundation and greater defensive possession during build-up play. Van Gaal did not

get all the players he wanted, rather stuck to the club’s trusted academy products and played

them consistently. In his second season in charge, he gave debuts to 15 academy graduates, most

notably Marcus Rashford and heavily trusted new signing Anthony Martial. Manchester United

had the joint-best defense, conceding only 35 goals throughout the season, thanks to David De

Gea’s heroics. Martial’s 11 league goals fired United to a fifth-place finish and although the fans

embraced LVG sticking to the club’s academy, wanted trophies. LVG was sacked just a few
days after Manchester United lifted the FA Cup. Jose Mourinho, licking his wounds after being

sacked by Chelsea, looked like the exact man for the job.

Jose Mourinho was appointed the manager of Manchester United for the 2016-17 season.

Another wave of euphoria struck the fans as Manchester United announced the signing of

Henrikh Mkhitaryan, the Armenian footballer who had a superb season with Borussia Dortmund.

Then came the bigger news, the return of the youth academy prodigy whose attitude was

despised by Sir Alex, but had gone on to have a couple of great seasons in Serie A with Juventus.

Paul Labile Pogba returned to the Theatre of Dreams once again. The transfer announcement

video of Paul Pogba where he says “I’m back home!” showed the fans that he is here to win.

Things got even better as Manchester United signed Zlatan Ibrahimovic on a free transfer from

Paris Saint Germain. The tsunami of hope had struck them. They finally thought things were

getting back to normal.

Fast forward to the end of the season, it was a disappointing end to the Premier League, as

United finished 6th, despite having a top squad, and a top manager. There were widespread

excuses from fans that Jose needed a season to understand things

I strongly feel that with a club like Manchester United where stakes are extremely high, you

need to push your players and do the needful instead of waiting, as every season has to be an

improvement rather than a step back. United had lifted the Community Shield, Europa League

and The League cup, ensuring that it wasn’t a trophy-barren season and a ticket to the

Champions League but what mattered most still eluded them.

Next season, Manchester United snapped up Romelu Lukaku, who had a fantastic season with

Everton, Swedish defender Victor Lindelof and Chelsea midfielder Nemanja Matic.
Wayne Rooney left the club, Michael Carrick’s heart related issues meant that he had to retire.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic suffered a horror injury and was on crutches. Manchester United seriously

lacked a leader on the pitch.

Although they had a fantastic start, Manchester United did what they never did. Lose to a bottom

placed team by starting the game overconfident and by playing bad football. This would become

a recurring trend in the future. United were side by side with City in the title race but losses to

Chelsea and eventually Manchester City derailed their title challenge.

That December transfer window saw Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Alexis Sanchez swap clubs. Fans

expected Sanchez to lift the club to City’s level but he never hit the ground running.

Manchester United finished the season an impressive second. They had a disastrous Champions

League season and lost the FA cup final to Chelsea. It was a Premier League season to remember

and the board was confident that they will go one better next season.

The 2018/19 season began with rampant media reports flowing out about Jose Mourinho being

promised a war chest of 300 Million Euros to challenge the title once again and fill up the weak

links. But Jose never got the players he wanted. He desperately wanted Ivan Perisic, Toby

Alderweireled, Diego Godin, and Willian but was unable to sign anyone. After a deadline day

search for a defender came up endless, Mourinho had warned the fans about a horror season, but

what followed was worse than horror.

A streak of horrible losses and a fallout with Paul Pogba meant that Jose Mourinho was sacked

by Christmas.

That is where the club did a massive mistake. Jose Mourinho has seen more of the football world

than a 24 year old Paul Pogba. He was a proven winner. Yet, when it came to enforcing
discipline, the players failed massively and the manager had to bear the brunt. The team under

Sir Alex thrived well because there was this sense of respect, moral values and discipline inside

the club. Paul Pogba was not a fan of Jose’s moral policing. There was a sense of hypocrisy in

and around the club. When it came to enforcing discipline around Manchester United with Sir

Alex, everyone loved it. And mind you, Sir Alex was a different human. He was someone who

got very angry at David Beckham who refused to remove his beanie while having dinner indoors.

No fan realized that Manchester United had won three trophies in a season for the first time

since Sir Alex retired which and a second place finish with a team filled with aging, slow and

stagnated players. All everybody seemed to notice was Jose’s angry confrontations with Paul

Pogba. That, along with a bad run of games was what handed Jose the sack.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was back at Manchester United as the interim manager. Mick Phelan, Sir

Alex’s trusted assistant was back as well. Michael Carrick was roped in as a coach and United

fans looked ahead with curiosity and hope.