Red Devils locked in a cycle of failure with no sign of a change to come
United’s slide since Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013 has been even more calamitous than I imagined it would be and what we have seen from them over the last year has been hard to fathom.
This club generates huge sums of money from a massive global fanbase, yet the decisions being made on and off the pitch are impossible to understand.
Defeat in the Europa League final against Tottenham completed the most catastrophic season in recent memory for United, with their hopes of getting Champions League qualification for next season disappearing with that defeat.
A few days later, we heard news that the club are getting rid of another 200 members of staff, with the removal of their wages unlikely to make any difference to the club’s finances.
Then it emerges that they have agreed to pay Wolves over £60m to sign Matheus Cunha. That must have gone down well with those who were told their modestly paid jobs at the club’s training ground are going, leaving them to ponder how they will pay their mortgages.
The bad news continued as United lost an end-of-season money-spinning game in Asia on Wednesday and got booed off the field after another embarrassing performance. Now they have a load more problems coming their way.
The first big question has to be around manager Ruben Amorim. Is he the right man for the job, or do they need to look elsewhere once again?
It’s hard to answer this one as Amorim says all the right things in the media, but the harsh truth is that he has been a disaster as United manager.
They have gone backwards since he replaced Erik ten Hag and some of his comments suggest he wants to get out of their madhouse.
United have been through so many managers trying to find a solution and Amorim is the latest coach trying and failing to fix United’s long-standing problems.
In my view, they have to stick with him and give him time to put some foundations in place because the constant changing is a recipe for ongoing failure.
I speak to my pal and former Everton striker Graeme Sharp about the issues at his old club and he says the lack of stability with managers and players is the major problem.
You need to build a team, build a spirit in the dressing room and add the ingredients you need to deliver a successful team.
When managers and players change every summer, it does not give you a chance to put the pillars in place to achieve success. And that is a massive issue for United.
They will sign a load of new players again this summer and if they are not doing well by October or November, Amorim will be sacked and the process will start again.
I also look at the players who have left United in recent years and it tells a big story of how rotten the club is.
Manchester United castoff Scott McTominay was voted the best player in Serie A. Photo: Francesco Pecoraro/Getty Images
Scott McTominay is the kind of midfielder who would run through a brick wall for you and I couldn’t believe it when they let him go.
He signed for Napoli, won the title in his first season and was voted the best player in the Italian league. So whoever at United thought it was a good idea to get rid of him made a big mistake.
Marcus Rashford picked up his form after his loan move to Aston Villa and Jadon Sancho showed flashes of inspiration during his loan spell at Chelsea.
Now Rashford and Sancho are heading back to United and it’s pretty clear they will want to get out of the club as quickly as possible, as that dressing room is toxic right now.
I’m not always convinced that bad owners automatically mean you have a bad team, but the Glazer family and Jim Ratcliffe are co-owners who have inflicted so much damage on United.
Both parties appear to be in it to make as much money as possible, with the move to sack loyal staff adding to the mood of misery around the club.
As for Ratcliffe’s big plan to rebuild Old Trafford and try to get the British taxpayer to give him a handout to boost the value of his shares at United ... dream on pal!
It may seem like things cannot get any worse for United after they finished 15th in the Premier League this season, but they need to be careful that their slide does not get even more critical.
I don’t think they will get relegated next season, but I also didn’t expect them to lose 18 league matches this season and to perform so badly in the Europa League final against Spurs.
If they sink any lower, relegation will be a concern next season and they need to be careful they don’t get dragged into a scrap for survival at the bottom of the table.
The bigger issue must be the fight to retain their status as one of the world’s top clubs because top players will not want to move to United if they are one of the options on the table this summer.
Unless you are in that dressing room or part of United’s management structure, you can’t fully explain what is going wrong. But it’s clear that the club has lost its way from top to bottom.
Amorim is the latest manager failing to find the answers and it is clear that the problem here is the club as a whole and not just one manager or one failing player.
They need to rip it up and start again. Off the field, the scale of the rebuild they need to undertake will take many years before they start to get back to where they should be.
Liverpool's players celebrate their Premier League title success. Photo: Danny Lawson/PA Wire
I was at the Liverpool trophy parade on Monday and the terrifying incident we saw with a car being driven through the fans was shocking.
When you see the footage, it looks like several people must have been killed, but we are so fortunate that there were no fatalities.
I knew several people who were very close to the incident and it was hard to believe what we were seeing as the footage started popping up on social media.
Liverpool is a club that has been touched by tragedy down the years, with the horrors of that night at the Heysel Stadium and the Hillsborough tragedy etched into all our minds.
If a joyous day celebrating the Premier League title win had ended with more tragedy and unnecessary loss of life, it would have been just too much to take.
I’m sure the club will support those who were injured in the bizarre incident and they will all be with us to watch Liverpool start the defence of the title in August.