A replica of the Premier League trophy outside Old Trafford
A replica of the Premier League trophy outside Old Trafford
Erik ten Hag's cheerleaders liked to point out that Alex Ferguson won the FA Cup amid one of Manchester United's worst league seasons in 1990. Three years later, United were the inaugural Premier League champions.
Not many United fans will be grasping at that straw as the club targets a 21st title in 2028, the year of United’s 150th anniversary. United were predictably ridiculed for that ambition. One columnist suggested they might as well target Mars instead. Then Sir Jim Ratcliffe gave him an interview.
History shows United, 13th in 1990, can transform from underachieving also-rans to champions. Coincidentally, United are currently 13th. Nobody believes they have the wherewithal to finish in the top half, so this season would be only their second bottom-half finish since Denis Law's backheel in 1974.
Football has evolved so much since the early Nineties it rendered the desperate Ferguson-Ten Hag comparison moot. Harking back to Brian Clough taking Derby County from the Second Division to English champions within three years in 1972 and making Nottingham Forest champions in their first season back in the top flight in 1978 are also extraneous.
There is scant recent evidence of an unlikely annus mirabilis at United. The last two times they regained the title in 2011 and 2013, it was the in the season after they had relinquished it on the final day.
Under Ferguson, the longest stretch without the Premier League trophy in the Old Trafford museum were the four years between 2003-07. United finished third, third and second but the period was fraught: Rock of Gibraltar, Malcolm Glazer, Ferguson’s “If you don’t like it, go and watch Chelsea”, Roy Keane playing the pundit and Ruud van Nistelrooy banished. A banner before the start of the 2006-07 campaign was hung up outside Carrington. It read, "Fergie out".
And then United remarkably halted Jose Mourinho's Chelsea juggernaut. United cannot exactly extract inspiration from that comeback when their current drought is three times as long as in 2007.
The notion that United are certain to go at least 15 years without the golden lion badges on their shirt sleeves is misplaced. The upcoming summer will undoubtedly be their most crucial (particularly if United are not in the Champions League next season) and the ambitious target of a 2030 move-in date for the 'New Trafford' stadium would also impact recruitment. And, in all probability, affect the team’s performance.
There is little faith in the current regime to make dependable decisions. They kept Ten Hag, extended his contract and backed him in another Dutch-centric transfer window. Ayden Heaven and Patrick Dorgu are tentative steps in the right direction.
Ayden Heaven is a step in the right direction (Image: Getty Images)
United will not, cannot, fritter hundreds of millions as they used to. But one or two signings can elevate a team to a different level.
Without Bruno Fernandes, United would not have finished in the top four in 2019-20. The following season, they came second.
That was admittedly misleading and meaningless, a season played out in empty stadia. Fake football. When the playing field was levelled in 2021-22, United tumbled down to sixth in what was their worst season in decades.
Few would have predicted United would rise from sixth to third but they did in Ten Hag's first season. Had United then had the nerve to sit around a table with Daniel Levy and wait it out over Harry Kane, it is not inconceivable they would have challenged for the title last term.
They could conceivably have transformed from a squad of feckless egomaniacs under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick to credible challengers within two years. Yet United dropped the ball and dropped down to eighth.
Kane could have been playing in red
Of the post-Ferguson signings, Fernandes is without peer. Zlatan Ibrahimovic was the closest and would have broken the 30-goal barrier in 2016-17 had his right knee not juddered so gravely against Anderlecht in the Europa League quarter-finals.
Ibrahimovic was a renowned goalscorer and his goals chiselled a year onto the honours' board under the League Cup silhouette in 2017. He tallied five in the Europa League before his campaign ended prematurely and agonisingly.
Fernandes and Ibrahimovic were difference-making signings. So was Casemiro, for a season. United would not have re-entered the competition that Casemiro helped Real Madrid monopolise had they not parachuted him into Old Trafford in late August 2022.
The defensive-minded Casemiro was a decisive attacking asset. He got the winner in the League Cup final and got the ball rolling on the night United qualified for the Champions League.
Casemiro enjoyed a superb first season at United
Ferguson's final season was decided by Robin van Persie choosing red over blue. Had Van Persie followed the well-trodden path from the Emirates to the Etihad, it is difficult to imagine Ferguson knocking the Premier League crown off of Roberto Mancini's noggin.
Van Persie was a world-class goalscorer. So is Kane. As ruinous as the Glazer family have been since their 2005 takeover, United's current malaise can be traced back to the summer of 2023 and burdening a callow 20-year-old (who was also nursing an injury) with the task of matching Kane's goals output.
Kane scored more club goals last season than Rasmus Hojlund had in his entire career. That is not a poor reflection on Hojlund but United for their illogical decision-making. And Marcus Rashford for allowing his focus to waver after he was handsomely remunerated.
The borderline-doomsday scenario of a season devoid of Champions League football should not necessarily fill United with doom and gloom. Liverpool came out of nowhere to nearly win the league in 2014 during a run that was bolstered by the absence of any European football.
Leicester City rocketed from 14th in 2015 to first in 2016. Chelsea came tenth in 2015-16, hired a new coach for the next season and regained the title. It is possible.
Of course, the glaring example of a big-hitter squandering the ‘advantage’ of no midweek continental ties was United in 2014-15. They scraped to fourth place with one win in their last six matches in one of the most sub-standard seasons in the Premier League era.
That Dutch manager only had two full seasons, too.