It’s been a decade since Louis van Gaal brought Manchester United here to Los Angeles.
It was during that 2014 pre-season trip that, during a lunch with colleagues in Santa Monica, the opinion was expressed that the club was at risk of going years without winning the title.
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And that’s despite Van Gaal’s first game in charge ending in a 7-0 victory over LA Galaxy.
Not everyone agreed and no one at the club would accept such a conversation.
Unfortunately, it was with this arrogance and apathy that United simply carried on, covering the end of Sir Alex Ferguson’s era and the beginning of the next, which still has ramifications to this day.
It remains an object lesson for all clubs who believe their dominance will continue no matter what.
You could see at that time, even 12 months after Fergie, that not only had the wheels fallen off, but they couldn’t even be found.
The warning signs should have been seen in Sir Alex’s final season.
It wasn’t a great Red Devils team that won the 2012-13 title.
They were nearing the end and there was no sign of anyone passing by.
What had been a seamless transition season after season wasn’t happening this time.
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Meanwhile, without his iron fist, the club began to do things off the field, mainly commercially, which seemed to take the focus away from the field.
In fact, it was only the day after Sir Alex announced his retirement that United announced “exciting news”.
It was the fact that they were going on Twitter.
Boss David Moyes was pulled back and forth to receive sponsors and was generally dealt a terrible hand when he arrived.
There was no database or anything that explained how the club would stay at the top of English football, because it was all in Sir Alex’s head.
Meanwhile, Manchester City were planning a succession a few years from now, United didn’t know what they would do next week.
At that time, I remember asking former chairman Martin Edwards if he feared the club could go decades without a title.
“Oh no, that won’t happen to Manchester United” was effectively the response.
Why not? And a decade later, here they are and that title isn’t coming back anytime soon, believe me.
Fans will feel confident that their club is finally coming to some sort of order with the changes made to the structure of football – but all of this will take time to resolve.
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MAN UTD TRANSFER NEWS LIVE: All the latest offers and rumors from Old Trafford
The problem is that Manchester City are still there. Their threat was ignored as the club put itself in order.
They are also here in the US going about their business.
Their manager, Pep Guardiola, still has a year left on his contract and, before the start of the new season, the club are hoping he will commit for another 12 months beyond that.
What this effectively means is that everyone else can forget about him for a few more years. He’s so good and City are so good.
The behind-the-scenes setup with Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Txiki Begiristain and Ferran Soriano keeps the well-oiled machine running.
Take a look at Guardiola’s stats from his eight years at City. He has won 15 trophies, including six titles and the Champions League and last season’s Prem title was a record fourth in a row.
In his first season, he got under the table and began to establish the style of play he knew would bring success. Since then, only Liverpool have won the title once.
They and Arsenal tried and pressed on other occasions.
As for United, they panicked trying to find the horse when it had long since fled.
There was no cohesive strategy, money was constantly thrown at the problem as they walked in the sand.
They are now on their third permanent manager since Pep has been at City and in that time they have collected 549 points to their neighbors’ 716.
That’s some gap.
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The city’s detractors will point to the issue of the 115 charges they face for violating financial rules. But for their fans, nothing can take away the memories of what they achieved.
Some say it’s boring to watch, but it’s not, the way they spin the ball around the field is magical.
The only annoying part is that there is no danger every time you arrive at Etihad because you know a lamb is coming to the slaughter.
It was the same going to Old Trafford in Sir Alex’s most dominant years.
Now you don’t know what will happen. In a bizarre way, this might improve the atmosphere compared to when they were just throwing everyone aside.
Something they haven’t done in a while.
A decade on from that pre-season under Van Gaal and United are back here in Los Angeles and still at square one.
Nine coaches Man Utd considered before keeping Erik ten Hag
ERIK TEN HAG appears to be safe as Man Utd manager, but the Dutchman has come dangerously close to being sacked.
Here are nine managers Red Devils bosses considered for the role and what allegedly happened to each.
Gareth Southgate
He enjoys a lot of support among bosses at Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos but made it clear he would not speak to any club until after Euro 2024. There has yet to be any suggestion that contact has been made with the England manager.
Kieran McKenna
Negotiations were opened with McKenna’s representatives ahead of the FA Cup final, but the former Man Utd manager opted to sign a new contract with Ipswich following Ten Hag’s victory at Wembley.
Roberto DeZerbi
Reportedly probed before FA Cup final with salary expectations discussed. But Ineos bosses concluded the former Brighton boss was not the right person for the project.
Thomas Frank
The Brentford manager met Man Utd representatives the day before the FA Cup final. The Dane also dined with Ratcliffe, Roy Hodgson and Frank Lampard at the launch of a new Ineos car in February.
Marco Silva
The Fulham manager is said to have met Man Utd representatives in person two days before the FA Cup final, around the same time as Ten Hag was conducting his press conference.
Mauricio Pochettino
He left Man Utd’s thoughts in the first week of June, despite being Sir Alex Ferguson’s favorite.
Thomas Tuchel
He made a very strong impression and got along well during a meeting in Monaco. Personal terms were discussed before the former Chelsea and Bayern Munich manager decided to step away from the process.
Ruben Amorim
The Sporting boss was discussed by the Man Utd hierarchy, but did not make the final calculations.
Roberto Martinez
The Portugal coach was considered at the initial stage.
Golf is in crisis or die
AS A golf traditionalist, I pretty much ignored the Saudi-backed LIV tour.
Like many others, I believed it was a gimmick that would come and go and everything would go back to normal.
But sitting in the bar of my hotel in Los Angeles, I realized it was on a mainstream TV channel and watched the action from the wonderful JCB course in Staffordshire.
There were big winners everywhere.
And there were many of the most popular names in the game, like defending US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, Bubba Watson and Phil Mickelson.
There was a good crowd, a good atmosphere and also good, exciting golf.
Players love the format and the way they are treated on this tour.
Of course, money obviously helps too.
But as Ian Poulter recently pointed out, he also has some important extra time with his family while other members of the PGA and DP World Tour go here, there and everywhere every week.
It is a real danger to the established order, no doubt… a real danger.
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Lion of England low
PRE-SEASON games are always difficult to watch.
But hold on because after just three matches of the new Premier League campaign, England will be back in action.
For those who don’t know – and this will be the majority – they play the Republic of Ireland in Dublin to start their Nations League campaign on Saturday 7th September.
Then it’s Finland at home, three days later.
After this summer, when we lost another final and watched Gareth Southgate walk in pain, can you imagine greater apathy towards some of the Three Lions’ games?
No matter who the new manager is, it really feels like time has passed and all the air has leaked out of the balloon.
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This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
