Manchester United were back to their normal selves when they outplayed Newcastle United in the FA cup semi-final winning 4-1. After losing to Norwich City (league match) the knives were out for the Red Devils and the Newcastle win has not stopped the ultimate debate, everyone jumped on the bandwagon of "this is the end of an era" statements.
We heard this before when Gary Pallister and Steve Bruce left, we heard again when Eric Cantona left, we heard this when Beckham left, but now could this be true? Is this really the end of an era?
If Chelsea win the Premiership (okay they will!) it will be the first time since the inception of the Premiership that United will go two seasons without winning the title. The cracks seem to be telling a similiar story, this time the signs were there two seasons ago when Sir Alex Ferguson made a few blunders in the transfer market.
As if Forlan and Veron fiasco was not enough, he went on to sign featherweights Eric Djemba djemba, Kleberson and Liam Miller. Selling Nicky Butt was a mistake by Ferguson, but don't expect him to own up to it.
Kleberson a six million pound signing from Atletico Paranaesense in August 2003 has been injury prone, but who hasn't been in United, almost everyone is injured at some point in the season and we start to wonder about United's training techniques, something they can learn from Milan.
Meanwhile Roy Keane went on one of his "God Damn it" talks, he said that most of the United players are not pulling up their socks, but this is stale news. The rot is already in and started from the sudden decline in the youth system, which is down to bad scouting by United for the past four years. The real bad sign that United are falling apart is when they started questioning authority.
Some players were not happy that Ferguson was giving too much authority to coach and assistant Carlos Queiroz. Queiroz is an excellent coach no doubt about that. He won the World Youth Championship in 1989 and 1991, the European under-17 championship in 1989 (all with Portugal), add this with his managing stints in South Africa, Portugal, United Arab Emirates national teams and his stint at Sporting Lisbon, Grampus Eight in Japan and NY/NJ Metro stars in the USA and you know he is not chop liver.
His stint at Real Madrid cannot be judged considering the musical chair of management was being played by chairman Florentino Perez. Queiroz did bring a lot of innovative methods when he arrived at United, but what is really confusing is Ferguson's statement that he wants Roy Keane to take over as manager when he leaves, this is surprising after his whole hearted support for Queiroz.
The other "mistake" that Ferguson recently admitted was the fielding of Nistelrooy in the Champions League match against AC Milan, "It was a mistake as he was not fully fit and it was a rush" would we expect this from someone as experienced as Ferguson?
Meanwhile, Les Kershaw will be retiring at the end of next season as the Academy Manager at the age of 65, he will be replaced by Brian Mclair. If you ask me Les Kershaw should have retired long time ago, a more dynamic person was needed for this job and perhaps this is why the youth system is in decline. There are other changes at United in-terms of personnel at the other age group levels, but the interesting one is Francisco Filho, the Brazilian who will leave at the end of his current contract, strange as this man was one of the brains behind the French football revolution.
United will meet Arsenal in the final of the FA cup and whatever happens Ferguson will still be there next season but not winning the FA cup will mean some anxious faces at United next season and we wonder if one of them will be Malcolm Glazer, the raider who is not welcomed at United...that is another story for another time.
We heard this before when Gary Pallister and Steve Bruce left, we heard again when Eric Cantona left, we heard this when Beckham left, but now could this be true? Is this really the end of an era?
If Chelsea win the Premiership (okay they will!) it will be the first time since the inception of the Premiership that United will go two seasons without winning the title. The cracks seem to be telling a similiar story, this time the signs were there two seasons ago when Sir Alex Ferguson made a few blunders in the transfer market.
As if Forlan and Veron fiasco was not enough, he went on to sign featherweights Eric Djemba djemba, Kleberson and Liam Miller. Selling Nicky Butt was a mistake by Ferguson, but don't expect him to own up to it.
Kleberson a six million pound signing from Atletico Paranaesense in August 2003 has been injury prone, but who hasn't been in United, almost everyone is injured at some point in the season and we start to wonder about United's training techniques, something they can learn from Milan.
Meanwhile Roy Keane went on one of his "God Damn it" talks, he said that most of the United players are not pulling up their socks, but this is stale news. The rot is already in and started from the sudden decline in the youth system, which is down to bad scouting by United for the past four years. The real bad sign that United are falling apart is when they started questioning authority.
Some players were not happy that Ferguson was giving too much authority to coach and assistant Carlos Queiroz. Queiroz is an excellent coach no doubt about that. He won the World Youth Championship in 1989 and 1991, the European under-17 championship in 1989 (all with Portugal), add this with his managing stints in South Africa, Portugal, United Arab Emirates national teams and his stint at Sporting Lisbon, Grampus Eight in Japan and NY/NJ Metro stars in the USA and you know he is not chop liver.
His stint at Real Madrid cannot be judged considering the musical chair of management was being played by chairman Florentino Perez. Queiroz did bring a lot of innovative methods when he arrived at United, but what is really confusing is Ferguson's statement that he wants Roy Keane to take over as manager when he leaves, this is surprising after his whole hearted support for Queiroz.
The other "mistake" that Ferguson recently admitted was the fielding of Nistelrooy in the Champions League match against AC Milan, "It was a mistake as he was not fully fit and it was a rush" would we expect this from someone as experienced as Ferguson?
Meanwhile, Les Kershaw will be retiring at the end of next season as the Academy Manager at the age of 65, he will be replaced by Brian Mclair. If you ask me Les Kershaw should have retired long time ago, a more dynamic person was needed for this job and perhaps this is why the youth system is in decline. There are other changes at United in-terms of personnel at the other age group levels, but the interesting one is Francisco Filho, the Brazilian who will leave at the end of his current contract, strange as this man was one of the brains behind the French football revolution.
United will meet Arsenal in the final of the FA cup and whatever happens Ferguson will still be there next season but not winning the FA cup will mean some anxious faces at United next season and we wonder if one of them will be Malcolm Glazer, the raider who is not welcomed at United...that is another story for another time.
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