The Manchester United Conundrum : Transfer Blues of the Reds

With the Olympics coming to an end and the greatest sporting spectacle in the world thus now out of the way, the world gets set for another season of the English Premier League. It's that time again when the transfer window draws to a close and the first gameweek of the season inches closer, instigating debates and arguments within fans and pundits alike as to who will be the team to beat.

In the midst of all this argument, there is this one team (that I absolutely do NOT support) that is currently enjoying one of its best ever spells domestically and in Europe (bar last season): Manchester United. Every season, come what may, one thing is of general consensus - that the Red Devils will be tussling for the top spot come the end of the season. All this seems to paint a very rosy picture. The financials even back that claim, with Manchester United being the most widely supported club in the world, and the richest! So sound the trumpets and scream from the ramparts you may think, but within all this success on and off the field, there is a huge conundrum that rears its head every transfer window.

Ask yourself these question:
1. Which was the last bona fide superstar to join Manchester United?
2. In your Dream Team, how many Manchester United players would actually have a chance of competing for a starting spot?

Apart from Rooney, I would stick my neck out to say that there is not one world class talent in that Red Devil  squad. Ferdinand, Evra are past their prime and Giggs and Scholes are somehow trying to get those creaking limbs to function like they used to more a decade ago. The rest of the team? Unproven talent like Phil Jones, Cleverley and good but not world class Nani, Young et all. So you now have this team, with arguably one truly world class player, and they still manage to be there at the end before anyone else! Man to man, the team from Old Trafford is arguably the weakest among the top clubs in Europe (Milan removed).

However let's have a look at the results of the last 5 seasons :
2006-07 : League - Winners, Champions League - Semi Finals
2007-08 : League - Winners, Champions League - Winners
2008-09 : League - Winners, Champions League - Finals
2009-10 : League - 2nd, Champions League - Quarter Finals
2010-11 : League - Winners, Champions League - Finals
2011-12 : League - 2nd, Champions League - Group Stage

So, you have 3 CL final appearances (1 won) and 1 SF and 4 league triumphs in the past 6 seasons. That is an incredible record. I would dare you to find, Barcelona aside, another club as successful as United over the last few years, infact, the last time United finished outside the top two in the English Premier League was way back in 2004, when Arsenal actually mattered! So you have one of the most successful clubs on AND off the field in the world. Naturally all the top stars should be lining up to join United, right? That's where you'd be wrong. United's transfer windows have always been about a brief flirtation with top, marquee names like Benzema, Sneijder, Nasri, Hazard and most recently Lucas Moura all turned their heads elsewhere. On the one hand you have a club that is insanely successful and guarantees you trophies, on the other hand no marquee star has recently signed  on. Young, Kagawa, Chicharito, Jones, De Gea are all astute buys, but not the names that bring the crowds or even turn a match on its head with a moment of genius. So what are the reasons why the top names are not coming?

The argument that Manchester United do not need to splash money and buy stars, instead they create stars is just glossing over the fact that over the past few years, one of it's most successful years, United have been unable to attract the marquee names.

Financial troubles with the Glazer family are well documented, however, not being able to buy ONE star a season? I don't buy it. If you spend 20m pounds each on De Gea, Jones and Young,  you cannot argue that you did not have the funds to secure Sneijder. Also, he was available at a cut price due to Inter's woes! And had the transfer been so financially unfeasible, such a long approach would not have been made.

The reason I believe that players like those I mentioned looked elsewhere is the style of play. Manchester United, to be brutally honest, are not easy on the eye. They are effective, yes. They are efficient, yes. They are ruthless, yes. But are they elegant? The answer I'm afraid is a resounding no. Manchester United are all about fast, efficient counter attacking via wing play. A midfield of Fletcher, Carrick and Park (who's left) can never be sumptuous. They will run their socks off and win you the game, but they won't make you stand up on your feet and shout "Ole!", as cliche as that might sound. Maybe this is the reason some players would rather ply their trade elsewhere?

Financial troubles, playing style, whatever the reason might be, what cannot be repudiated is that next April, the red half of Manchester will still be up there at the top of the table. Teamwork, immense belief, whatever it is that drives every group of players that dons the red jersey, you know they are here to stay. Even when down, they believe they WILL (not can, will) get the winning goal in the dying seconds. Whatever formula that wily Scot is using, is working, however, therein lies the Manchester United conundrum... compete with the best on the field and off it, but come the transfer window, the Red Devils remain second best.

What would Jesus do ? :D

Been a long time since I last posted, however, it seems my blog keeps getting a regular read thanks to a previous post I made about a nice ghazal some time back. Anyway, so recently I was asked to write a story and was given 5 words with which I had to go about it. Pretty interesting, I thought, and took it up. To cut to the chase, these were the words I got : ability, accelerate, inquiry, enormous and corporate; and following is the story I came up with. It is a bit weak in some places, I agree, but I love how it showcases my randomness... so here it is :

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Dear Diary,

Hi, my name is Jesus. You know, as in the Son of God. Yeah that’s me. It’s not easy let me assure you. They had nails put into my hands, made me carry crosses and stuff, oh the things that you must do when you are me… it’s a bummer. So my journey began when people started to discover my awesome abilities. Like the ability to walk on water, yeah that one was priceless… always the biggest drawer. Then there were the small matters of curing illness, teaching people the moral codes, basically trying to get everyone’s lives in some sort of shape.

As I kept travelling, and working, my popularity grew. Man, did it accelerate! You know like Danica Patrick at the Indy… oh wait, that’s not supposed to happen till 2000 years from now. Forget I said that. I mean, really, forget that! So my popularity ran through the charts. I had these twelve cool guys following me everywhere, basically doing whatever I told them to. Yeah, being the Son of God does have its own privileges. Anyway, coming back to my story, people then started following me and listening more intently to me. Of course the healing incurable diseases shtick and walking on water does do wonders for your credibility. But then the inevitable happened… the rulers got pissed. And as common sense dictates, that NEVER ends well.

It’s sort of like a big corporate getting threatened by the new upstart in the market. The big corporate either acquires the upstart or runs it into the ground. It’s simple economics really. Don’t worry, a few centuries from now someone will write a book about that. Spoiler Alert! Ha ha. So that led to all the hullaballoo and public inquiry into what I was doing, blah, blah, blah. Man that did not end well for me! This is where we come back to the whole crucifixion angle (which, by the way, is totally going to go out of fashion in a few centuries), having to carry a huge cross, getting nailed down onto said cross and all that.

Anyway, so that happened three days ago, and now I’m here among these dead bodies, in what seems to be a cave. Damn, I am NOT having a good week. You know what would be creepy? If one of these cadavers got out of their coffins and started walking! Hmm, I think I just invented a whole new line of stories, must remember to call them something. Something starting with Z, yes that sounds right. Ok, before any creepy stuff starts getting to me, let me just remove this enormous boulder that’s covering the entrance of the cave (with my awesome abilities!) and get out of here. I don’t want to be late to the gathering they’ve kept for me. I’ll fill you in on the details later, till then, ciao.