Manchester United are squandering Sir Alex Ferguson’s legacy with scattergun spending and a naive hierarchy out of their depth

• Souce:www.dailymail.co.uk
• The chaos of the collapse of De Gea’s move to Real Madrid served to underline the death of an underlying philosophy at the club
• Why were United prepared to countenance the loss David de Gea that they allowed another star of genuine world class, Angel di Maria, to move away?
• It is more than two years now since Ferguson and chief executive David Gill left and the reality is that the club have still not got their mojo back
• The sense of order and purpose that reigned when Ferguson was in charge has been replaced during each subsequent transfer window by something closer to blind panic 

When Manchester United took to the field at the Liberty Stadium in Swansea last Sunday, it was the club’s 3,750th consecutive first-team game to have featured at least one player who has come through the youth system.

It is a remarkable record that stretches back to 1937 and something that United fans are rightly proud of. It is part of the identity of their club, something that runs through it from the Busby Babes to the Class of ’92, but it is also a record increasingly under threat.

The recent loan departures of Adnan Januzaj and Tyler Blackett, the marginalisation of James Wilson and the influx of new signings meant that only goalkeeper Sam Johnstone and defender Paddy McNair kept the record alive at Swansea.

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Both of them sat on the bench and neither was called on to play. If David de Gea is rehabilitated for the rest of the season, Johnstone will probably lose his place among the substitutes.

When Phil Jones is fit, it is likely there will be no place for McNair. The culture at Old Trafford is changing. It is only a matter of time until the run is broken and when it is, another link to the great days under Sir Alex Ferguson will have been lost.

The sense of that loss quickened last week as United thrashed around at the end of a summer transfer window that had started so well for them. The chaos of the collapse of De Gea’s move to Real Madrid served to underline the death of an underlying philosophy at the club.

Where is the plan? Why were United prepared to countenance the loss of the goalkeeper who has been their best player in the same window that they allowed another star of genuine world class, Angel di Maria, to move away from Old Trafford?

Where is the sense of direction here? Where is the long-term recruitment policy? What has happened to the idea that United never sold their best players? It is more than two years now since Ferguson and chief executive David Gill left and the reality is that the club have still not got their mojo back. They are still in a state of flux.

The sense of order and purpose that reigned when Ferguson was in charge has been replaced during each subsequent transfer window by something closer to blind panic.

It has not been particularly dignified, either. This summer, United were very obviously used by Sergio Ramos in order to secure him a new deal at Real Madrid. They got played but United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward couldn’t seem to see it.

The pursuit of Pedro and the Barcelona player’s decision to join Chelsea instead was humiliating as well. Bids to prise Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo from Madrid and Thomas Muller from Bayern Munich have come to nought.

It is not that everyone disagrees with the method. It is just that, apart from waving a very large cheque book at everything that moves, it is hard to see any method at all.

Paying a king’s ransom for a player like Luis Suarez or Muller would be understandable but to blow up to £58million on a talented but largely untried Anthony Martial on the last day of the window felt like a sign of desperation.

Was the willingness to jettison De Gea and the signing of a French teenager a sign that United have given up on the title this season and are planning for the next campaign already? Again, it is difficult to discern a plan in any of this.

United’s squad has now cost just more than £389m to assemble, which makes it the third costliest in Europe behind Real Madrid and Manchester City. City and Madrid at least appear to be reaping the rewards of their spending. United do not. It would be fair to say they have not got an awful lot of bang for their buck.

At least they are spending money. Arsenal fans must envy them that. But it is not targeted spending. It’s a scattergun. Success has been limited. Di Maria didn’t settle, De Gea wants to leave, Marcos Rojo is at odds with manager Louis van Gaal.

Remember the days of City’s bullish former chief executive Garry Cook, days when City were mocked as naive arrivistes who did not have the class or the pedigree to cope with the big time? Remember when Cook accused a club of AC Milan’s stature of ‘bottling it’ over City’s attempt to buy Kaka from them?

United are being portrayed in that kind of light now. United under Woodward are gaining a reputation as a club whose hierarchy is out of its depth. It lacks know-how. It is naive.

It is still a wonderful, wonderful club but the people in charge don’t seem to understand it. They know an awful lot about value but not much about worth. They know what to sell but not what to cherish.

In the summer transfer window, more than at any other time since Ferguson left, it also felt as if Woodward and his cohorts were beginning to squander the legacy bequeathed by the Scot.

Not just in the way that United’s style of football has changed, something often referenced by ex-players like Gary Neville.

But also in the chaotic approach to signings and the loss of balance between players imported from other clubs and those brought through the youth system.

United have more spending power than ever but money cannot buy sound judgment. Bit by bit, the wisdom that once pervaded the club is ebbing away.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3223645/Manchester-United-squandering-Sir-Alex-Ferguson-s-legacy-scattergun-spending-naive-hierarchy-depth.html#ixzz3l16amr7Z