Can Manchester United move forward?
It is a much-spoken fact that Manchester United supporters have truly suffered this year. The truth is that after firing Erik Ten Hag at the beginning of the season, his successor, the much admired Sporting Lisbon coach Ruben Amorim, has prospered no better and United finished 15th and only three points above the relegation zone […]
It is a much-spoken fact that Manchester United supporters have truly suffered this year. The truth is that after firing Erik Ten Hag at the beginning of the season, his successor, the much admired Sporting Lisbon coach Ruben Amorim, has prospered no better and United finished 15th and only three points above the relegation zone – their worst since 1974! Yes, over 50 years ago!
Much of the problem, according to insiders and informants stem from inside the club itself, not the players but the blame is levelled at the owners, The Glazer Brothers and Sir James Ratcliffe.
Since Ratcliffe took over, he has demoralised the whole club. Staff were refused travel facilities and tickets to United’s only bright spot of the season, the Europa Cup final, which they lost to Tottenham. In what can only be seen as humiliating to Ratcliffe, Amorim personally paid for his assistants and backroom staff tickets, otherwise I suspect he would have been standing alone in his dugout! That was in contrast to Ratcliffe and his team travelling first class to Bilbao, being driven around in private cars, staying in five star hotels and eating the finest food. It was reported to me that staff, watching in Manchester on a big screen, constantly booed whenever Ratcliffe was featured. During his first full season, he severely devastated staff numbers by sacking 250 staff, including many who had served United for decades and I understand there are more to come this summer.
Club legends such as Sir Alex Ferguson have seen their ambassadorial roles taken away in order to save money.
Supporters of United tell me they are tired and fed up with the Glazers and Ratcliffe. Ratcliffe is a football supporter not an expert and his controller of football operations Sir Dave Brailsford is a cycling man and admitted last year that he is “no expert in football.”
What on earth are these people doing running one of the two most famous football clubs in the world and the club which boasted Bobby Charlton, Denis Law, Duncan Edwards, Ryan Giggs and George Best? United fans deserve much better.
Sunderland back in the big time
Well done to Sunderland who join Leeds and Burnley in the Premier League next season after beating Sheffield 2-1 at Wembley. They replace Leicester, Ipswich and Southampton who drop down to the Championship.
Their head coach Regis le Bris was a much questioned pick when he took over at the Stadium of Light last summer and he was so unknown to Sunderland supporters that he lived in a local hotel for several months without anyone knowing who he was.
Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham was the first to text his brother Jobe Bellingham, the Sunderland midfielder, to congratulate him on the win.
Jobe has many admirers and there is a chance he could follow his brother’s career path by joining Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund where Jude played en-route to Madrid. Dortmund have already made enquiries about the much admired Jobe but Sunderland will need all their star players and more when they kick off next season.
Arsenal close in on Victor Gyokeres
Sporting Lisbon’s star striker Victor Gyokeres and RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko are both high on Arsenal football director Andrea Berta’s wish list to boost the Gunner’s goal scoring problems next season. Berta has competition from Ruben Amorim at Manchester United for the services of Gyokeres as the two worked closely together when he was managing Sporting and both know that worked extremely well and the Portuguese club won the league title. The Portuguese press reported last weekend that Gyokeres had played his last game for Sporting in their victory over Benfica in the Portuguese Cup Final.
Slovenian Sesko has a £62 million release clause in his contract but I am informed that the German club has to raise funds in order to progress next season and a deal is possible.
Jack Grealish must decide if he leaves
The 24/25 season has been a disappointment for Jack Grealish. The ex-Villa captain, signed by Manchester City for £100 million, made only seven starts across all competitions and he saw Omar Marmoush, Jeremy Doku and Savinho elevated into the first team squad and
Pep Guardiola has shown them more confidence than Grealish.
The coach has persuaded the hierarchy at the Etihad Stadium that he needs a smaller squad and has given them a list of players he could let go. Grealish is not on that list but at the same time Guardiola would not guarantee that his playing time would increase significantly next season.
Tottenham players back Postecoglou
Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy previously made it clear that win or lose the Europa League final last week, coach Ange Postecoglou’s position would be reviewed at the end of the season. Winning the competition and with the whole of Tottenham’s squad backing their coach, Levy is now under some pressure to look favourably at keeping Ange at the club but it is still not definite. Spurs finished a dreadful 17th in the Premier League however defender Ben Davies has spoken for the team when he said, “He’s delivered what was asked of him. He came in and wanted to change the history of the club and to win trophies and that’s exactly what he has done. Do the boys want him to stay? Yeah, the boys know it’s been an incredibly tough season but one thing we’ve done is stick together and all the way through. Who knows what will happen but the boys are here for him.”
De Bruyne heading for Serie A
Kevin De Bruyne has agreed a three-year deal with Serie A champions Napoli and to support that news, he has bought a house in the area. De Bruyne becomes a free agent on the 30th June after being released by City and the 33-year-old has turned down very lucrative deals from the Saudi Pro League and America’s MLS and decided to head for Italy. He has accepted a £15 million deal until 2028. When asked if Napoli supporters would be seeing Kevin next season, club President Aurelio De Laurentiis answered, “Probably yes. I know that he has already bought, or rather I believe he has bought, a house.”
Chelsea lagging behind in stadium crowd capacity
When Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital bought Chelsea from Roman Abramovich they underestimated just how big a deal controlling a Premier League club is. They promised a new stadium because more fans want to watch the Blues than the current stadium can accommodate. Now, he has admitted that it could be 2042 before we see a new home for Chelsea fans. The club is situated in the Fulham Road in South West London and it is an area which is highly populated and increasing the current ground is impractical. Wembley has been considered a temporary home or rugby’s stadium at Twickenham. Boehly’s problem is that Manchester United can pack in over 74,000 fans and Tottenham, West Ham, Liverpool and Arsenal can sell tickets to over 60,000 supporters. Chelsea can only allow 40,000 to watch their biggest games in the Premier League.