The ‘United’ Way: The Demise of Tradition?

(originally published on the 3rd September 2014)

To the left: a baby faced ‘class of 92’ graduate Ryan Joseph Giggs stretching his right leg. The fact that he is wearing a Vodafone sponsored top indicates that this photo it was taken between 2000 and 2006. To the right: a very youthful Danny Welbeck with a modest haircut. He seems to be asking Giggs some interesting questions. Probably getting tips on his own game from a club legend. Welbeck is now 23 years of age (as of September 2014). It is therefore fair to estimate that he is between the ages of 10 and 16 in this picture. In true Manchester United style; Welbeck went onto play alongside Giggs when he broke into the first team from 2011. It was no surprise. This is what Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United had come to represent since the early 1990s. Building a footballing dynasty by consistently nurturing players from the academy and strategically integrating them into the first team. A plethora of talented footballers continually replacing those that preceded them. And unlike the likes of Ajax and Southampton who both boast arguably the best youth academies in Europe; Manchester United (again, arguably) have the prestige and finances to retain their incredible youngsters.

That is why – to many united fans dismay – David Moyes represented the perfect candidate to inherit the role as manager of Manchester United when Ferguson chose to abruptly retire in the summer of 2013; despite Jose Mourinho overtly positioning himself for the job. Moyes believed in and respected the importance of the ‘United Way’. He was a conservative, straight-edged and honest man. No thrills, just a hard worker and someone who was more than happy to continue to uphold the foundations that the club was now built upon. The club motto: ‘Youth, Courage, and Greatness’ is etched into every united jersey. Clearly this motto is synonymous with the tradition of the club.

With the permanent departure of Welbeck for an estimated 16m and the short term arrival of Falcao estimated to reach 24m; the legacy that took 20+ years to build was shelved in an instant. ‘Youth’ has been replaced with ‘Superstardom’. ‘Courage’ with ‘Commercialism’. ‘Greatness’ with ‘Global Dominance’. United have seemed to departed from their ideology of tradition and have joined the likes of Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and their City rivals, Manchester City. Forget the future. It is the now that matters.

Before I am accused of generalising just take a look at the team that defeated Arsenal in that famous 8-2 victory at Old Trafford (2011). It was a flat 4-4-2. De Gea in goal. Defence; Evra, Jones, Evans, Smalling. Midfield; Nani, Cleverly, Anderson, Young. Strikers; Rooney and Welbeck. In that team you have a spine of academy players. Evans, Cleverly and Welbeck all were nurtured from a young age in the same institution that provided United fans with David Beckham, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes. In September 2014 the only survivor is Evans; and this was arguably due to necessity rather than preference.

In saying this I am not encouraging United fans to start revolting and complaining about the likes of Di Maria, Van Persie and Falcao wearing the jersey. You would be mad not to want them in your team. At the end of the day, if the youth coming through are not up to the task, they will have to be moved on anyway. I am just trying to highlight the alarming rate at which the ideology of tradition has been shelved. The reason this concerns me is because this was never the original plan. By appointing Moyes it was clear that United as a club had agreed to create a sustainable footballing environment based on rational long term planning. This new policy however is far from rational. It is ruthless, short term, and obscenely ambitious.

In terms of squad composition the Arsenal first team now looks like a United team of old. Full of young British talent on relatively modest salaries (comparatively speaking). Gibbs, Wilshere, Ramsey, Chamberlin, Walcott and now Welbeck. So why such a dramatic change from United? The fact is that this new policy is a reflection of what happens when the commercial face of a football institution and the performance of its players on the pitch correlate so positively.

United are infamous for appeasing their many sponsors. One of Van Gaal’s first complaints as United manager was not his lack of central midfielders. It was the length of the tour in the US and the amount of mundane sponsorship duties the first team were obligated to perform. But there is a reason for this. The new shirt sponsorship deal with Chevrolet is worth just under £340m over the next seven years. The Adidas deal? Estimated at £750m over the next ten years. These are huge amounts of money to invest in order to be associated with the Manchester United brand.  This is something Ed Woodward is aware of.

Manchester United from a commercial perspective has no choice but to think of the now rather than the future. They can afford to spend 150m this summer because they cannot afford to be patient. An unprecedented 7th place finish in the 2013/14 season set alarm bells ringing for major sponsors as their global identity of ‘winning’ and ‘excellence’ took a battering. This cannot occur for a second year running. I am sure that everyone at the club from Ed Woodward to the groundsmen have been told by the board that their jobs are on the line if last season was to repeat itself. FTSE 100 listed sponsors are not paying United millions of pounds every year to come 7th in the Premier League; a league they have dominated since its inception in 1992.

Whether the compromising of tradition continues remains to be seen. As former assistant manager Mike Phelan bluntly put it: “Someone like a Danny Welbeck has been part of United’s identity and that has been broken. What will happen in the future now, nobody knows but that thread has been broken now.” It would be very interesting to hear what Ferguson makes of the past 18 months. After all, it is his 26 years of work that is arguably being undone.