Sir Jim Ratcliffe is ‘saving’ Man Utd from ‘total ruin’ after Glazer ‘mobsters’
Sir Jim Ratcliffe is seen as a villain by some, but Man Utd fans should be grateful that he is ‘saving’ the club, apparently.
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Defending the Ratcliffe cuts
I’ve never met John Nicholson and I know nothing of his life though from what I’ve read of his work we would largely agree on most things. Politics, yep. Unions, yep. Longing for a fairer and kinder world, I’m right there with you pal. Even reading his latest rant lambasting my club’s new minority owner Jim Ratcliffe I’m sat nodding along. Whilst not particularly revelatory, ‘billionaire is bad man’ shouldn’t be news to anyone, I just can’t find the anger that Johnny manages.
Like roughly 30,000 per month in the UK I’ve been through redundancy and it’s a horrible experience, especially with a young family and a mortgage to pay. I really feel for those United employees who are losing their jobs and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone but the more I read of these brutal cost-cutting measures the more I can’t but agree with most of them.
It doesn’t seem unreasonable to me to expect your services team to count stock and use what they’ve got before ordering more, same with office supplies and stationery. Company credit cards are readily abused by even the most moral of employees because it’s just too easy to say ‘f*** it I’m not the one paying’. If I have to travel for work then I log the mileage and make a claim, get the money in a week or two. It’s not really a big deal.
The latest revelation is the closing of the employee canteen. Another scourge on the workers’ rights but I’m sat here stunned to learn they were getting free dinners and the awful compromise is now they’ll only get free fruit and soup. Still looks like a pretty good deal compared to my dinner of a too ripe banana and bowl of porridge, which I obviously pay for myself, hastily eaten at my desk whilst replying to emails.
The reality for most employees is a boss who doesn’t give a shit about you. It’s working for corporate entities where you’re a statistic rather than a person. It’s toiling in multiple roles for small businesses where every penny is counted and re-counted. Perhaps as a writer Johnny has never experienced the truth of the average salaried employee but most of what’s happening at United is just standard practice, even the really callous stuff. Demanding staff rise up in rebellion and put their livelihoods at risk is infantile.
That’s not to say it shouldn’t be criticised and I applaud Johhny for raging against the machine, we should shout our disapproval loudly. However, the cold truth is that United were not far away from total ruin under the Glazers. Like mobsters their practice of acquiring more and more debt, burdening ever increasing and unsustainable repayments, meant the club was only ever heading for annihilation.
We needed saving and regrettably we live in a world where that could only be done by someone like Jim Ratcliffe. It’s a hateful situation to be in as a fan, seeing your club being ransacked whilst knowing that not only have you no choice but to watch it happen but also that it’s mostly necessary if you want your club to still exist for your children to support. Uncompromising morality is great until compromise is the only way forward.
Dave, Manchester
READ: Ten cost-cutting/money-spinning ideas for Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the Man Utd penny-pinchers
The dystopia is now
Are Billionaires just trying to out-c**t each other now? R**cliffe really living up to his name. Rat in name, rat in nature. And that’s being incredibly harsh on rats.
F**k it why not, they get no repercussions. Hey Liverpool fans who want FSG out, remember those links to M**k? Yeah I’m sure E**n wouldn’t tear the literal soul out of your club with a big old smile on his face, telling you how dumb you are for being so poor in the process. Keep wishing for that greener grass.
Will (Football is f***ed, we’re simply watching it die)
Man Utd the toxic ex
Aaron Wan Bissaka just provided more evidence that Manchester United is a toxic partner whose exes go on to enjoy much better relationships. That pinpoint/Nani-Valencia-esque cross he produced for Bowen’s opener was absolutely gorgeous.
P.S. If Arsenal had won that game, would there have been another cringe-worthy fallout from MLS’ red card? In the infamous words of Kanye West at the Grammy’s, “I guess we’ll never know”.
Gaptoothfreak87, Man. Utd., Somewhere on Earth (Why the f*** wasn’t he putting in crosses like that for us?)
System v player
Gazza V states in the Monday mailbox that ‘good players should be able to adapt and play any system, you are welcome to convince me otherwise.’
Here I am to try and convince you otherwise Garey.
Because some systems and tactics rely on physical characteristics as well as technical and mental ones.
A couple of managers back, I watched a season of Colchester United lumping high crosses into an opposition penalty box containing 5ft 7in Freddie Sears and only 5ft 7in Freddie Sears to know this to be true. Once or twice a game someone would go maverick and try a through ball for him to run on to and actual shots on goal would happen much to the surprise of whoever was managing us that season (like fairground goldfish, it’s best not to get too attached).
The obvious Premier League example is John Terry under Andre Villas-Boas. I think most football fans would agree that John Terry was a ‘good player’. But playing in high line without a more defensive full back next to him was pretty disastrous and may (if rumours were to be believed) have led to him cheerleading the ‘Andre Out’ campaign started by some of the senior players in order to preserve his own career.
Or, hypothetically, take an intelligent player with good technique – Teddy Sheringham for example. Could you drop him into the Arsenal counter-attacking team of the early Wenger years in place of Henry and expect the same output?
It’s certainly true that some players should be quicker to adapt to a new system, but I don’t think it’s as straightforward as them being good or not. If a player has spent age 6-26 as a defensive full back, should they be expected to be a marauding wing back overnight?
Good coaching will obviously help with this transition, but even if the physical capacity is there some players will be more conditioned to positional flexibility than others. Asking one or two to adapt mid-season might work, asking most of your starting eleven to change at the same time does seem a little optimistic. I don’t disagree with your conclusion by-the-way. Man U might as well run with it now, but decrying the players being unable to adapt just because they are no good is too simplistic.
Jeremy (AVB is still only 47 and has already gone from management to club president) Aves
Show some respect for Man City
Wow, there is nothing like a Liverpool fan when they win the league. As they almost certainly will now. De Bruyne (never any good) City fans (classless obviously) Arsenal (proper bottle jobs) Pep Guardiola (obviously a fraud and incapable). No chance they could just enjoy their procession to a title (in a very ordinary season), with none of those butt-clenching moments they have come to dread.
City have clearly hurt Liverpool badly in the past, so I suppose it’s little wonder they are so traumatised by those experiences that they resort to anger and vitriol at their moment of triumph. They are Liverpool fans after all. But no one seriously believes De Bruyne wasn’t one of the greats of the PL era surely? Likewise, does anyone really think Pep isn’t a brilliant manager? Come on guys, have a little bit of class.
What would be so nice (but impossible clearly) would be to see Liverpool proclaim their own success and act with the swagger of champions, instead of idiotically trying to rewrite history in half-lit bedrooms.
And of course there is the claim that this is the start of something enormous. Yeah, just like 2020 guys.
Given the recency of your delusions you’ve probably forgotten that in that season City lost 9 games in defence of a title they had won so gloriously the season before. Teams get tired in pursuit of the top prizes. Look at Arsenal this season and Liverpool a couple of years back when the top four was beyond them. It’s obviously a transitional period for City and I can easily imagine 6 players leaving in the Summer and a couple of transfer windows being needed.
I was at the game on Sunday as well as at Anfield in December (by the way guys, you are also allowed to try and go to games too) and I saw a few green shoots of recovery in the way we set up and played with more energy and commitment than in the reverse fixture. I saw enough to make me think Pep knows what he has to do.
But do you really think a generational talent like Pep Guardiola is going to depart the big stage with a whimper? You just hope he goes, which says everything.
And let’s remember the other big prize this year. If City get nothing more than a wrap on the knuckles next month there is every chance we might finish this season riding a wave of rivals’ boiled piss into the Summer. Now that would be fun!
The Invisible Man, Manchester
De Bruyne has dropped off a cliff though…
Sixteen conclusions is spot on, no footballer’s career has dropped off a cliff like this since Gary Neville retired at half time. Been dialling it in for Belgium and City for a good couple of years…KDB your retirement awaits.
Thom, Newport
We were 25 points ahead when COVID hit mate. That’s approximately 15-20 points ahead of your IQ.
Sam, LFC (At least we now know who the inspiration for the “Have a word” podcast was) Leeds
The next Arsenal manager…
Before I proceed – I am well aware that Arsenal have not yet officially conceded either the title, or the Champions League, and that the following missive is mostly based on an assumption that Arsenal will once again end the season trophyless despite a 3rd season of relatively strong performances, and a 2nd concurrent season that started with much promise.
However, as I spend a weekend listening to Arsenal fans getting restless, after a shocking performance, and talk of Arteta’s failings bubble right to the surface… in a weekend where Como immediately followed up their impressive victory last weekend over Fiorentina by beating title challengers, Napoli, is Arsenal’s heir apparent waiting in the wings to come in provide the final ingredient that Arteta has, as yet, failed to deliver?
Fabregas clearly still speaks very fondly of Arsenal, he’s an erudite, educated, and highly respected student of the game, who has done things with Como – who yes, spent a bit when they got to Serie A, but got out of Serie B with very little investment – that are significantly more than notable, and he brings actual tangible first-team management experience to the table.
This is not to say that Arteta should go in my opinion (though I think he’s neared the mark this season if, as appears, this is his first significant step back in final points and profile), and it’s certainly not to say he’s done a bad job (even with serious investment that compares with his peers) but just, when the manager is unable to get a vital home win against West Ham when the chips are down, it might be time to at least think about the succession plan and, well, Arsenal could surely do far worse than look to another veteran midfielder – one even more decorated than the last and who comes with actually, tangible, first-team coach experience.
It might just work, y’know.
Harold Endeavour Hooler
P.S: Aware I might just be biased to Fabregas from his absolutely exceptional pundit work whenever he is allowed in front of a camera
Give referees a break
I can see that referees are copping a lot of grief in the mailbox. I know this may be unpopular, but that’s really not fair.
I help coach an under-9’s boys team. Due to the appointed FA ref not being around for this weekend’s game, I stepped in as ref for the game. First time I’ve done it. Never again!!!! It’s horrible. You get non-stop grief from spectators (in this case, parents), non-stop grief from the opposing team coaches, I even got grief from my own team at one stage. Everyone cheats like mad. The number of times the ball went out, when I didn’t really see what happened, and both sets of players would scream that it was their throw-in or their corner or whatever. There’s absolutely no honesty in the game. And these are just eight year olds…
I would hate to be a ref in the professional game. It looks so difficult with the amount of play-acting, simulation and general just bad-sporting behaviour going on. I was almost tempted to just walk off before the end of our game with the horrible atmosphere being directed towards me. Anyone who rants about referees should be forced to referee a Sunday league game. Only then are you allowed complain. And I bet you most wouldn’t after the experience. Give referees a break.
Ted, LFC
