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The ongoing sale of Manchester United continues to cast a cloud of over Old Trafford and given the lack of clarity over the summer budget with the transfer window in full swing, it will continue to impact the club until it’s finally resolved.
Erik ten Hag has been at United for just twelve months and despite overseeing a fine maiden season, he is running into the same issues he had last summer and those that faced his predecessors.
United are once again moving into a transfer window with no clear strategy in place from those in charge of bringing in and moving on players.
In his column for The Mail, football journalist Ian Herbert has heavily criticized the Glazer family, starting with their continued scattergun approach to the transfer market.
“At Manchester United it’s Groundhog Day. New transfer window, same old confusion. All brand, no substance. A club living in some vague hope that their hallowed name will eventually get them some players in, after their traditional midsummer game of whack-a-mole in the market,” writes Herbert.
Herbert cites Manchester City and Liverpool’s owners as a model to follow with the homeowners at United more intent on lining their own pockets rather than providing Ten Hag with the tools he needs to bridge the gap to the aforementioned.
“If United had proprietors who were ruthlessly focused on the executive oversight of their club, as City and Liverpool’s owners are, then Erik ten Hag might have a fully-assembled new squad for the return to training on July 9. He won’t.
United are, of course, marooned with football’s ultimate speculators – the Glazers. A family interested only in how they can squeeze more cash from the club, not how to keep up in a relentless competitive, strategic elite sports environment,” he stated.
Herbert continued to lay in the the United owners for their handling of the sale of the club. The lack of transparency from the Glazer family have left staff and fans facing confusion going into a transfer window which could define Ten Hag’s reign, in Manchester.
“The lazy, semi-detached sloth of these chancers is more of a disgrace than ever this summer, given that they have their noses in the trough which has sustained them for so long – dragging out the interminable sale of United for a few million dollars more.
“It’s been torture – leaving the club in a state of limbo, top to bottom, with jobs, structures and to an extent even transfer strategy, uncertain – at a time when optimal clarity is needed,” says Herbert.
Herbert concludes that whilst the relationships between the Glazers and the United supporters is beyond repair, their handing of the sale is one last spit in the face to the fans who love the club so dearly.
“It all feels like the ultimate act of Glazer vengeance on a fanbase which manifestly detests them. The only sale that currently matters is the one that will rescue this benighted club from the hands of those who have bled it dry for so long.” he adds.
Ten Hag, much like the fans, will be desperate for an end to the saga to start working with some clarity and strategy off the pitch, as well as on it.