New INEOS, Same United!
If there is one thing that has remained constant in recent years, it has always been the level of uncertainty surrounding Man United during the summer.
I mean, while other clubs are going about their business swiftly in anticipation of a new season, Man United has perfected the unsavory art of waiting till the new season is about to commence before they start running around for signings.
The end result has been constant too: terrible, overpriced and haphazard signings that always end up not fitting into any reasonable club model - that's if we have one, anyway. That has been the bedrock of the persistent failure the club has witnessed in the last ten or so years.
With INEOS taking over proceedings and with the swift way they started recruiting people to oversee the affairs of the club, I was confident this summer will be different. However, it looks like we are stuck in the same practice that has registered the club firmly in the cycle of failure that looks very hard to break out from.
Before the FA Cup final, Ten Hag was definitely going to get sacked. The last season was so poor that there was nothing that could exonerate the Dutchman. He then masterminded an unexpected win against City and took the opportunity to remind everyone that the team struggled because of too many injuries. That seems to change a lot of things.
For the final, he had his first choice centre back pairing of Martinez and Varane and they delivered. With that, the expectation was that the Dutchman will get at least a season with the new leadership to see how things will change. Despite that, the news about Southgate just won't go away.
So, now we are in a limbo. We don't know if Ten Hag will be sacked or not. Rumours have it that Southgate is not interested in negotiations till after the Euros. By then, we will have just about a month before the new season starts. That's way too little time to plan for a new season. And that's potentially another season getting started on a terrible note.
I had high hopes for these INEOS guys to at least do things right and hit the grounds running. I guess I'm too hopeful. Anyway, with this level of uncertainty another painful season awaits.
