Have People Gone Mad?
Sir Alex Ferguson
This is a post in addition to the sports blog from yesterday. It’s mainly in reaction to posts from people online and listening to talkSPORT on the radio. Is the modern football fan mental or is this a by-product of the over capitalisation of the Premier League over the last 8 years or so?
I was driving into work yesterday and switched on talkSPORT. I like to listen to that the day after big football matches (unless Chelsea lose!). There were people coming on there, some of them were United fans, calling for Sir Alex Ferguson to quit at the end of the season yadda yadda yadda. How disrespectful is that?! He’s been at Man United for something in the region of 136 years now, there is no way he wouldn’t have made mistakes but he’s the most successful manager over two generations. Let’s not forget that United weren’t a made club before he took over. He didn’t pick up a club already in the Champions League with loads of money like Mourinho did with Chelsea.
This seems to be synonymous with modern day football fans. Your team has one bad result and then the fans claim that the manager has “lost” it and he should get the sack etc etc. I know this all too well as a Chelsea fan. We’ve had quick success and we’re now one of the top sides in the world but this has come at a price. We have this culture of bringing in managers and sacking them on a whim. What’s wrong with letting a manager invoke his own philosophy over a number of years? I’ll tell you what’s wrong – the owner(s) want to make money in the short, middle and long term. If a top club has a “transitional” couple of seasons this would be a financial catastrophe. When United and Liverpool were run properly they could afford managers time but now that they are debt paying machines for blood-sucking Americans this isn’t an option. Everton should be applauded for their patience with Moyes. He’s done an absolutely fantastic job with limited funds but you mark my words, if a rich businessman comes in like at City or Chelsea he’ll be gone as soon as he has a few bad results.
The problem for me lies with the owners and their motives but why has this changed the attitudes of fickle, idiot fans? Aren’t we supposed to be SUPPORTERS? I’m not saying that these people I’ve seen in forums and heard on talkSPORT are the voice of the majority but there were certainly enough of them saying he’s lost it. After the Chelsea’s Champions League exit I hear Chelsea fans asking for Ancelotti to go. So is this the theme now? If we don’t win the treble the manager’s doing a bad job?! Get into the real world, keep your mouth shut and support the team and the manager. Obviously this is to a point. If we were in Liverpool’s position I wouldn’t be happy. Scolari wasn’t the right man for the job. His tactics were flawed and he lost the dressing room. This was proven by what Hiddink did with the same team.
Let’s look at what Sir Alex did wrong the other night then: Rooney shouldn’t have played. I can guarantee you that he would have been nagging Sir Alex all day long to play but he wasn’t right. Rooney still had a hand in the first two goals though. However, one slight knock and that was it. That was a little irresponsible. Other than that the team played well and were clearly the better side. Rafael got himself sent off and this changed the game. Before that his only concern was how to get Franck Ribery out of his pocket at half time. United aren’t going to win the Champions League every season and sometimes they WILL lose a game. He is a great manager and, although it is wrong he kind of has earned the right to be outspoken too. The “typical Germans” remark was definitely wrong and I like to think he regrets it. He’ll move on, so will they. It was a little like listening to my Grandad. It’ll be a normal conversation until he nonchalantly adds “…because of the immigrants”. It’s almost cute! The facts are that United have had some bad results of late but they’re right in the mix for the title. Considering the fact that the £80m recouped for Ronaldo has mainly been gobbled up by Americans’ debt and not used for signing another world class player I would say that it’s not a terrible season so far. United fans should look at where they were 25-30 years ago like Chelsea fans should look at where they were 15 years ago before thinking it’s all doom and gloom and calling for the managers’ head.
April 9th, 2010 at 10:44
I agree, football is a fickle sport. Papers are the big problem. Depending if City win or lose at the weekend, come Monday morning, City are either Champ league certs or mid table drivel. Too many people read into what these papers are saying and, like sheep, the majority of fans follow what they are told.
April 9th, 2010 at 10:58
We were unlucky against Bayern. A silly sending off and a stupid goal before half time cost us the game. BUT I do think we lack decent cover for Rooney and a world class midfielder who can get hold of the ball and keep things ticking over. Scholes used to be that man but I dont think he can do it now at that level. Carrick is not good enough for me. Fletcher is a great worker and ball winner but when you need to retain the ball for periods in the game we don’t have a player that is capable of doing so. I think Hargreaves could be the answer as he normally sits in there, always providing an option but is he ever going to be fit?!? We are also lacking upfront too, buying Berbatov was a mistake, not replacing Tevez was a mistake. So I think we are just lacking a couple of players. The rest of the team is solid, keeper, back 4, Nani coming good, Valencia has been awesome.
Personally I think we ARE better than Bayern but I dont think we would have beaten Barca. As for the people calling for Fergie to leave … they are idiots, as you’ve pointed out!