Sir Alex Ferguson, for many, is regarded as the greatest manager football has ever seen. With a career spanning over 3 decades, the man changed the trajectory of Manchester United. From being a club of occasional winners, to knocking Liverpool off their perch, thereby crowning the Manchester side as the most successful club in English top flight history. By the time of his retirement in 2013, he had achieved 13 Premier Leagues, 5 FA Cups, 4 League Cups, 10 Community Shields, 2 UEFA Champions Leagues, 2 European Cups and 1 FIFA Club World Cup. He did not just retire as United’s most successful manager, but he retired as the manager with the highest amount of silverware in football history.
An early survey during the 21st century stated that Manchester United had one of the biggest and most popular fan bases in the world. 1 out of every 10 people were fans of the club. For anyone reading up to here, it is a clear assumption that a club with such legendary status and achievements, rich history, financial backing and enormous fan support, would taste success in any given era. Unfortunately to the fans dismay, the club has not been the same since their gaffer retired in 2013. The reason behind this instability are a lot of internal and policy factors surrounding the club.
Due to Sir Alex’s departure, the club decided to allow him to handpick the next manager. With the amount of experience the manager had, the fans and the club decided to respect his decision as he named David Moyes as his successor, a manager who was yet to prove himself. Moyes was sacked even before he could complete his first season at the club. At the time of his departure, the club were 7th in the league, knocked out of the UCL and the FA Cup. After a decade, fans questioned the idea behind Ferguson appointing Moyes despite having several other proven candidates.
Pep Guardiola who had defeated United twice in the UCL final was available at the moment. Later that summer he joined Bayern where he achieved 3 Bundesligas. In 2016 he joined Red Devil’s local rivals Manchester City along whom he tore up the league and created a new legacy. A second option was Carlo Ancelotti, whose tenure at PSG was coming to an end. The Italian tactician had tasted European success with AC Milan and had been associated with several top clubs including Chelsea, PSG and Juventus. After not being approached by United, he signed for Real Madrid, where he won the UCL in his first season.
Another interesting option was Jurgen Klopp. The German manager was quite impressive with his “Geggenpressing” at Dortmund. He won 2 Bundesliga titles and reached a UCL final as well. He was waiting for his next big move. Just a few years later he joined Liverpool and won each and every trophy with the club.
The next reason is appointing managers who were not proven enough and not entrusting them enough for the role. Jose Mourinho during his time won three trophies in a year- FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Europa League. This is still the most successful year for the club in the post Fergie era. Not long enough later, Mourinho had a fallout with the dressing room that led to his eventual sacking. Since then the club have appointed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Ralf Ragnick, Erik Ten Hag and Ruben Amorim.
The results with all of them were mostly the same. Initial success followed by major setbacks and disappointments. With the constant change in the coaching staff, the players were never able to settle in with the tactics and adapting to the high level of the Premier League was viewed as a threat, rather a challenge.
Spending excessive amounts on players beyond their market value has been damaging the club’s performances beyond proportion. For instance, the club spent a huge amount on Andre Onana who had just come off 1 good season in the Serie A and UCL. As a player, especially being a goalkeeper, he needed more time to prepare and experience the high game tactics of the top 5 leagues.
Instead he was pushed into the Premier League, considered as the toughest in the world. In addition his price tag as well as coaching changes led to silly and similar mistakes which not only turned the fans against him, but cost the club dearly in terms of silverware.
A successful club regularly requires the backing and guidance of its legends. Manchester United has the backing of its legends, but with strong opinions. Ex players like Gary Neville, Roy Keane, Paul Scholes have always had a negative opinion about the work ethics of the managers. They are often seen criticizing the manager and players even when the team is winning and state that they do not see these tactics working in the long run. This additional media pressure makes the dressing room environment stressed and worked up before every match.
The only manager to not be criticized by such legends has been Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. This behaviour has forced the fans to question if the ex players do want the club to succeed, as they only showed their support to their fellow colleague and are insecure of the club’s future success.
Fans have started naming the team “The Cursed Club”, as every player that leaves the club starts performing unexpectedly well. Scott McTominay, who was considered a washed up player, left for Napoli and won the Scudetto and tournament MVP in his very first season. Rasmus Hojlund followed him and started scoring regularly. Antony, who was tagged as a 100 million flop, switched to Real Betis and seems to have unlocked his new prime.
But the success of these players does not mean that the Red Devils are a “cursed club”. It’s the Premier League and the historic status of United that keeps them in everyone’s attention such that one bad performance feels like the world is crashing down upon the players. Moments of support is what the players are keen for, but end up being the targets of trolls and abuses from everywhere.
As of February 2026, the club has sacked Ruben Amorim. They have appointed Michael Carrick as their interim manager until the end of the season and what a move it has proven out to be. United have won 3/3 of their matches under the new manager. They defeated Pep Guardiola’s City in a dominating fashion and secured a historic win against table toppers Arsenal at the Emirates.
With the past decade being a phase every United fan will be looking to forget, the future has always been promising. The brand of football that Carrick wishes to play, along with the right investment from the club owners, the team will definitely be on track to reclaim their long lost glory. The project and its success under any manager will highly rely on the club to not repeat their past mistakes. The quality is there, the money is there, the future will only tell the next part of this story.
Aadi's Sports Corner 
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