Life after Ferguson
I keep coming back to the idea that United never left their own history behind, so Ferguson's departure became a structural shock the club couldn't prepare for and every appointment since has been a reactive attempt to atone for the last manager.
The posts
- Longform Why do United managers fail? From Van Gaal to Amorim, United have appointed managers to atone for the last one rather than to build the next thing.
- Opinion Selling Rashford is a cultural defeat for United The footballing case for selling Rashford holds, but losing him is a verdict on how the club has been run for a decade.
- Longform Hostages of history Three causes: a club that never replaced Ferguson's structure, a manager whose principles stopped adapting, and a media war neither side could win.
- Longform Life after death Thirty-five years after Ferguson arrived at Old Trafford, United are still structured around a man who wove himself into every pore of the club.