The theater of broken dreams

Alexander Chapman Ferguson (Scotland, December 31, 1941) arrived at Manchester United in 1986. 26 years later, In the 2012-13 season, Sir Alex was leaving, with 38 more titles in the list of Red Devils. The Scotsman retired after winning the Premier League and left the Mancuniano team at the top of the European clubs. Now, Seven years and five coaches later, at Old Trafford there has hardly been a dream again and the last and perhaps greatest nightmare in the history of the stadium took place this Sunday, October 4, 2020 against Tottenham by José Mourinho, an old acquaintance.

The set against the green of Manchester, much more typical of the London courts of Wimbledon, has opened wounds that seemed to have begun to close with the final sprint of last season.to. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Bruno Fernandes by means of, managed to get the team into the Champions League with an impressive 2020. The team was fueling and there were wickers to dream again. However, the beginning of the season in question has once again slapped the fan. Slap like the one that Fergie-time legend Patrice Evra would give “a lot of people” if he “worked at the club” after witnessing the debacle against Tottenham from the Sky commentary booth.

“How many coaches have we had since Ferguson left?”the Frenchman wondered. We already gave the answer previously, five. David Moyes, Ryan Giggs (a brief period after Moyes's removal), Louis van Gaal, José Mourinho and the aforementioned Solskjaer. A lack of continuity that has resulted in the decline of the level of the once powerful Red Devils. Five titles in seven years that collide with the 38 of the Ferguson stage.

Insufficient green shoots

“Even if Sir Alex Ferguson had been given the job of replacing Sir Alex Ferguson, he would have failed”said Simon Stone of the BBC when he analyzed the goodbye of Jose Mourinho. The Portuguese, despite not taking over the controls of the dressing room and going out the back door, got three of those five post-Ferguson wound: Carabao Cup (2016-17), Community Shield (2016-17) and Europa League (2016-17). However, as we say, the one from Setúbal did not achieve continuity, as neither did Moyes (he won the Community Shield in 2013-14, but left the team out of Europe) or a controversial Louis van Gaal (he won the FA Cup in 2015-16).

The arrival of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to replace Mou served as a breath of fresh air, with a great streak of results. However, after the initial effervescence, doubts returned. The phenomenal cleared them rush end of last year, but, as we mentioned earlier, the gas has run out again. “Solskjaer will be the next to leave,” Evra ventured to say in his visceral speech. With one game less, after four days, United are in sixteenth position, with one win in two losses.

The difficulty of signing big names like Jadon Sancho, soap opera of the summer, enrages a fan used in another time to see their dreams come true. Alex Telles, Cavani will arrive and Van de Beek already did. However, Old Trafford has not lived up to its nickname for a long time.