In recent discussions of Manchester United, a controversial issue has been whether fans blame management for the team's recent failures. On the one hand, some argue that management of the club is doing a poor job and should be blamed for the lack of recent success. From this perspective, fans have been growing increasingly frustrated, causing them to begin blaming those managing the club. On the other hand, however, others argue that it has been hard to make impactful changes in such unprecedented times. In the words of Jai Vardhan Singhania, one of this view’s main proponents, “United are set to lose an amount close to £139.39 million due to the absence of crowds and dwindling commercial revenue.” According to this view, it is nearly impossible for United to make any transactions while already losing revenue during the pandemic. In sum, then, the issue is whether or not management should be held responsible for the lack of success.
One of the main responsibilities of management for a team is to sign new players. Bringing in better players can help improve a team while also providing optimism for fans. This past offseason has been commonly regarded as a very uneventful period for signings, predominantly due to Covid. The European football transfer market states that only 4.12 billion euros were spent on new signings this summer, far down from the 6.18 billion euros spent on signings last summer.
Despite the financial circumstances, Manchester United still sought to pursue some of the most expensive players. One player that many fans were anticipating to join United was Jadon Sancho, a long-time target for the club. According to Sky Sports, Sancho, a Borussia Dortmund player, was rumored to join United since September of 2019. These rumors gave many fans a sense of optimism; however, negotiations between Manchester United and Borussia Dortmund fell through. As reported by Sky Sports, “The offer was for an initial £73m, rising to up to £91.3m, which fell short of Dortmund's £108m valuation.” The failure to acquire Sancho led to an increase of backlash and negative comments from the fans.
Although United was unable to make a deal for Jadon Sancho, the club was still determined to make a signing to appease the outraged fans. Almost immediately after not making a transaction for Sancho, the team made a signing for Edinson Cavani, a 33 year-old free agent. Ryan Giggs, a former Manchester United player, gave his input on the signing, saying Cavani was a great player, but “It’s very last-minute, it’s come out of nowhere.” The failures of United’s offseason are further discussed in an article written by Pauly Kwestel. In this piece, Kwestel is clearly frustrated and angry with management's inability to make effective signings in order to help the club. Many fans feel the same emotions as Kwestel, which is reflected in the comment section of his article.
On top of former players giving their opinions on signings, the current Manchester United coach Ole Gunnar Solskjær, mainly known as Ole, has had times where his input on future transactions has slipped out. According to Mark Ogden, a Senior Writer for ESPN FC, “Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is prepared to sell winger Daniel James” in order to generate funds which can be used to bring in new players. Ole was frustrated with the clubs progress towards signing Sancho and other players to help the team; as a result, he proposed to sell someone to give the club a better chance to afford a high caliber player.
While Ole did give his opinion on selling and signing players, he normally remains neutral on his stance towards transactions. In a recent interview, when Ole was asked about potential signings, his answer was very passive. He said that he will welcome any new signings but believes the current team is strong enough to compete. Mac from Stretford Paddock, a popular youtube channel which discusses football news, further looks into Ole’s statements about the team and potential transfers. he expands on the report that states “Solskjaer is happy with his squad as it stands without further signings.” Mac believes that Ole is only saying this so he avoids any backlash from management and the current players.
A fundamental reason behind United’s struggle in the transfer market is the pandemic. As previously noted, “United are set to lose an amount close to £139.39 million due to the absence of crowds and dwindling commercial revenue” according to Jai Vardhan Singhania. This loss is extremely detrimental to the club's off-season acquisitions. While United has been able to sign some players, it is difficult to thoroughly pursue potential signings that cost £100 million or more, such as Sancho. Singhania further explains that “taking a total of the losses, football clubs in the Premier League and Championship are facing a combined hole in their accounts of more than £1 billion. This is primarily due to the loss of crowds.” This leads to a stagnant market until fans are allowed to attend games.
The pandemic proposes a current threat to United; however, many fans believe the club had been struggling for many years. Lukaku, a former United player, noted in a recent interview that there have been internal issues at United such as poor management. Pauly Kwestel gives his opinion, stating that the management has not changed because the owners are still making “a ton of money.” While they are making money, Kwestel believes “the toxicity has never been worse than this past summer. It got to the point where last week the club criticized their fans for their online negativity, claiming that it’s not easy to get transfers done and asking fans to be patient.” He believes that no club should ever criticize their fans because the poor execution from the club is the reason for the outrage from the fans.