So how bad is it going to get?

It’s looking like a decade in the wilderness if the media are to be believed. Manchester United, the team of the 90s and the 00s can only look forward to a fall from grace with the pincer movement of the new money in the game and the Glazer debt making the 2010s look a grim prospect for the red diaspora.
The shock defeat to Leeds in the FA Cup and several unconvincing league performances against other members of the Top 4 have convinced most that United’s slide has already begun. No doubt the change of decade has convinced many experts of the dawning of a new era but isn’t this virtually the same squad that was described this time last year as one of the strongest ever assembled. Did the same experts not proclaim many times that we could win the title with our reserves?
The last few games has seen United struggle but other than the cathartic defeat at Fulham, when Carrick, Fletcher and De Laet were asked to play as three central defenders, we have not really suffered a shellacking. Indeed against Wigan we played about as well as I can remember since the 2006/7 season when Louis Saha was in his pomp.
Being hamstrung with injuries to our main centre-back pairing hasn’t helped while the self-inflicted injury of the central midfield ‘lottery’ has meant that relationships at the fulcrum of the team remain patchy despite the rise of Darren fletcher to the cusp of world class status – a status he could improve on in the forthcoming AC Milan tie.
Rather it is upfront where the team seems in flux. Rooney was brilliant over Christmas but his last couple of games have seen doubts about his finishing re-emerge. Berbatov no longer seems to be first choice despite the £30m price tag and two of his beautifully judged assists going begging in the Leeds game. The back-ups welbeck, Macheda and Owen have all struggled with the latter looking about worth the money we paid for him…
Yet despite all the doubts and self-recriminations United could still win a significant trophy this season. They still have the mentality of champions in key players and the manager is still the most successful in the game.
The most notable change this season has come in supporter’s attitudes to the Glazers. For the last few seasons fans views of the owners seemed positive as if becalmed by success but the sale of Ronaldo and the failure to bring in a significant replacement has led more fans to question the club’s future.
The mountain of debt contrasts sharply with the desert full of oil at the disposal at Manchester City. All the indications appear to suggest a bright blue future while United struggle with a seemingly impossible succession, the ageing of their most influential players and an unmanageable debt. Even victory in this season’s title race might be seen as the last kick of the old order as Liverpool seem to be in an even worse position and Arsenal look likely to undergo boardroom unrest.
With the likes of Birmingham, Villa, City and Sunderland now under the kind of owners for whom money is a good deal easier to find, the old order would appear to be on its way out. Liverpool’s woes, while entertaining in the short term, might become the norm for the Big 4 especially if Chelsea’s transfer embargo is finally upheld.
Whatever happens it already seems doubtful that one team will dominate to the extent that United did in the last two decades or Liverpool the two before that – and that can’t be a bad thing. with mega-rich owners come mega-rich egos and with three or four well-run clubs added to the few mega-rich ones the Premiership title could find its way into unfamiliar territory over the next 10 years.

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