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When I sat down to write this piece, I started to think to myself ‘why bother’? And then it struck me. That was the very point.
The fact that it didn’t seem worth writing about United’s trouncing in the local derby, and that City were heavy favourites before the match, highlighted just how far the Reds have fallen.
I fully expect United to recover to some degree next season, but the main question seems to be whether it will be with David Moyes at the helm.
United handed him a six-year contract. Patience and transition were the watch words – Alex Ferguson had a very sticky start to his career and look what happened next.
I am a trader by profession and in any market you are always taught to ‘buy the dip’.
Though United are not so much in a dip, but in an almighty trough.
The board and, to a large degree, the fans have preached patience and belief in their new manager – he is (or was) after all ‘the chosen one’.
Moyes, however, is cutting an increasingly forlorn and isolated figure on the United bench, providing an essay in paralysis of both thought and action.
Some of his expressions are reminiscent of the footage of George W Bush blankly staring into space in a school classroom, having just been informed of the tragic 9/11 attacks.
Now, while not wishing to link the two events in any shape or form, what does appear similar is the portrait of a person in power with apparently no idea of what to do next.
A badly ageing Paul Scholes aside, this is the same group of players that won the title at a canter last year, with the addition of Marouane Fellaini and now Juan Mata at a combined cost of £64 million.
Add to that the availability of Wilfred Zaha, purchased by Ferguson for £10 million, and the emergence of Adnan Januzaj, who Moyes has trumpeted from the rooftops about.
If you assume Januzaj to be worth somewhere in the region of £25 million, then that’s around £100 million of talent added to last year’s squad already (in very simplified terms).
Now, Moyes didn’t ask for Zaha, but he’s generally considered a fine young wide player. He can take some credit for Januzaj, but Mata and Fellaini have been dire.
It seems Moyes wishes to persist with playing with wingers. Yet out-and-out wingers like Nani and Antonio Valencia do not feature, and Zaha has been loaned out.
Mata was never the most spectacular of players while at Chelsea, but he was devilishly effective with assists and goals in vast numbers.
At United he looks like a journeyman pro with game after game passing him by.
Against West Ham at the weekend he did look much better playing in a central role – hardly rocket science I hear you shout. But Moyes responded by moving him out wide again for the derby.
For United, other than wounded pride, it does not really matter where they finish this season if it is not in the top four.
Missing out on the poisoned chalice of the Europa League may prove a boon in any case – just ask Liverpool and Newcastle.
United are far too big an institution to not be able to absorb one poor season, players will always want to play for a club of their stature.
What could become problematic is if missing Champions League football extends beyond one season and, just as importantly, that the winning mentality is lost from the club.
The Glazers and their loans cannot tolerate an extended period out of Europe’s premier competition.
Much of Ferguson’s achievements were built around an aura of relentless invincibility that he carved out for the club.
This season, several clubs have broken long periods of failure against the Reds, with Old Trafford quickly becoming the ‘Theatre of Nightmares’.
I honestly don’t know whether Moyes should be retained this summer.
While everyone expected a dip, one would have expected that dip to take a ‘U’ shape as the season wore on. Instead we seem to have an ‘L’ shape to United’s season.
Ferguson and the United board clearly believed that replacing one tough Glaswegian for another was the best way to ensure continuity, and if given time they may well be proven right.
The similarities right now, however, look restricted to only superficial ones – such as the paint-stripping glares that they offer journalists.
Initially I was a big believer in what United had done in appointing Moyes.
As a Chelsea fan I had my own reservations about rehiring the Mourinho who, although someone I idolise, wasn’t someone I was convinced should be coming back.
It is very easy in hindsight to say that United should have chosen Mourinho, but it is hard to imagine that things would have been as bad with him at the helm.
United clearly had a long-term end game. So is this just the short-term pain?
I am entirely torn as to what I think United should do.
The derby showed the first real signs of the fans beginning to turn against the manager. What United decide to do between now and next August will be far more important than what they do in the next transfer market.
The natives are starting to get restless and there can be no room for error.
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