Rene Muelensteen: It’s unthinkable that Man United haven’t won the title since Fergie retired
Former Manchester United coach Rene Muelensteen has admitted that he finds it unthinkable that the Red Devils haven’t won a Premier League title since Sir Alex Ferguson left the club in 2013.
Muelensteen worked alongside the legendary United manager between 2007 – 2013, picking up countless trophies, and when the iconic boss called it quits, Muelensteen’s time at the club also came to an end.
Since Fergie left Old Trafford after a 26-year-spell that saw the Red Devils win a MASSIVE 38 trophies, Manchester United have gone through 11 different managers – including caretakers and interims – in 13 years. Under Sir Alex, United were the standard bearers for Premier League stability, but things have been rocky ever since the great Scott decided to spend more time racing horse.
Muelensteen can’t believe what has happened at Old Trafford
Rene Muelensteen had a front-row seat to United’s latter day success under Sir Alex. The Dutchman was a highly regarded part of the legendary manager’s coaching team for five years, working with superstars like Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo.
During his time at the club, Muelensteen was part of a United team that lifted 11 major trophies, including the Champions League and three Premier League titles.
Speaking to BestBettingSites, Muelensteen said:
“If you had told me when I left in 2013 that United wouldn’t win a Premier League title for the next 13 years, I wouldn’t have believed it. People like to claim that Sir Alex left behind an aging team, but if he had stayed another year or two, we would have been right there winning the league again. The squad had vast experience in knowing how to win, and we just needed to inject a few young, energetic signings to keep pushing forward. But once Sir Alex, myself, Mike Phelan, and Eric Steele all departed at once, the wheels completely came off.”
Glazers took Fergie brilliance for granted
The Dutchman then outlined what he thought the biggest problem was at Old Trafford since Fergie departed, saying:
“The biggest impact when Sir Alex Ferguson left was, of course, Sir Alex himself. The Glazers took Manchester United’s success for granted without fully grasping how critical he was to the entire structure he had built around him. When you take the heartbeat out of an organisation, you are left with just the shell.”
Sir Alex Ferguson would go on to choose Everton‘s David Moyes as his successor, and Muelensteen believes that Moyes was guilty of trying to change too much when he arrived at the club, ultimately resulting in his departure before the end of of 13/14 season.
“The primary message communicated back to David Moyes by myself, Mike Phelan, and Eric Steele. Our advice to David was simple: Sit in Sir Alex’s chair, keep the proven framework intact, let us run the daily operations, and ease your way into the role.
“David had his own ideas, which is understandable, but radically altering a proven formula that delivered success for decades was a massive risk. When Sir Alex, Mike, Eric, and I all departed, the club lost its entire foundation of stability and continuity overnight,” Muelensteen concluded.
As United lurch from one crisis to another, fans and pundits still argue that the club hasn’t adequately replaced Sir Alex in the decade plus since he stepped away from the dugout.
One thing is for sure, with an international break on the horizon and the latest United manager Michael Carrick under some serious pressure after a poor start to the season, and a nightmare week where they were eliminated from the Carabao Cup to Brighton and their most promising wonderkid has publicly declared he wants to leave, anything other than three points against Fulham this weekend could quite easily kick-start the Manchester United managerial merry-go-round.
Fulham vs Manchester United takes place on Sunday at 16:30 BST.