Usually, at any football club, the appointment of a new manager brings about optimism, signifying the start of a new era. Manchester United fans though, having seen David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, José Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjær, Ralf Rangnick, Erik ten Hag, Rúben Amorim and now Michael Carrick come and go, are refusing to be fooled again.
No one can argue that Mauricio Pochettino does not boast a more impressive CV than Carrick, even if the Argentine has not been truly successful anywhere since his five years at Tottenham. He did not really prosper at Paris Saint-Germain nor Chelsea, while his two years as USMNT manager produced mixed results too.
Nevertheless, the prevailing wisdom is that there is no manager in world football who can fix Manchester United in their current guise. Even before the Pochettino news came to light, ahead of Sunday's clash with Aston Villa, Manchester United fans made their feelings clear with a banner in the Stretford End.
"We don't want a new stadium. We want new owners. "
Anti-Glazer chants have very much become common place at Old Trafford across their 21 years of ownership. Thus, INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe buying around 29% of the club, and taking over sporting control, back in December 2023 was welcomed with open arms.
However, under INEOS, the club has hit new lows, finishing 15th two seasons ago, very much in a relegation battle ten games into the current campaign. Of the pitch, Ratcliffe has become synonymous with penny pinching and cost cutting, implementing redundancies and sacking ordinary staff, while simultaneously wasting millions of poor signings and hires, most notably Dan Ashworth.
At the same time, a £2 billion new stadium project was unveiled in March 2025. The stadium, proposed to have 100,000, will be ready in time for the 2035 FIFA Women's World Cup, which will be hosted in the UK, or at least that is the plan.
However, fans are refusing to be wooed by this project, which is yet to get off the ground. Fans recognise that, as long as the Glazer family are involved in Manchester United, the club will never get back to former glories, competing for Premier League and Champions League titles.
It is clear that Man United need a new stadium. UEFA deemed Old Trafford sub-standard, which is why the Etihad will Manchester's host venue for Euro 2028. Nevertheless, even if this project does happen in the next few years, rightly fed up Man United fans will not be satisfied if what they're watching on the pitch is mediocre, or perhaps worse than that.
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