On The Ball | Manchester United ‘as toxic as 1989-90 season’ and in need of Premier League wins not PR
- Club take on Chelsea in first game after winter break with a win needed to avoid nine-point gap from fourth place
- Supporters upset with Ed Woodward and Glazer family after Solskjaer’s side have only won once in 2020
“Things seems to be as bad and as toxic at the club as they were in ’89-90,” a legendary Manchester United player told the Post on Monday. “And I can’t understand why Ed Woodward wants better PR. Fans don’t like the chairman or owners in football even when teams are winning, let alone losing. At United, Martin Edwards wasn’t popular with fans, nor Peter Kenyon or David Gill …”
After decades of relatively plain sailing Manchester United continue to operate under a cloud. Fans are angry and frustrated. Nine wins from 25 league games this season is a major reason why. It could be worse, Arsenal have won only six games in a league where every rival has money, but United have won one league game this year and there is no way that can be acceptable.
United sit eighth and closer to the relegation zone than they are to third-placed Leicester.
United have a daunting trip to fourth-place Chelsea on Monday. Lose and they’ll be nine points behind them, but United won 4-0 on the opening day of the season and defeated them away in the Carabao Cup. That’s the mystery of this United. Beat Spurs and City, then lose at Watford and home to Burnley. They’re woefully inconsistent in part because of a thin squad and in part because they don’t have the world-class players of yore – despite a world-class wage bill.
“They used to look at our bench and go, ‘if that’s who they’ve got on the bench, what chance have we got’,” said another of Ferguson’s trusted allies on Monday. “The Great Man (Ferguson) is torn. He supports Ole (Gunnar Solskjaer) and helps him, but he knows the squad isn’t strong enough.”
