Today marks the 20th anniversary of the Glazer takeover of Manchester United.
It’s unlikely there will be anything official to mark the occasion or any cause for celebration inside Old Trafford.
Two decades on and the leveraged buyout in May 2005 remains as toxic as ever among United fans who continue to protest against the American owners and the £1billion debt they have heaped upon the club.
There have been times over the last 20 years that United fans thought they had hit rock bottom, yet the irony is that it wasn’t until the Glazers handed over day-to-day running of the club to Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos that it really felt as though the wheels were coming off.
Hearing Ratcliffe admit in March that United could have gone bust by Christmas was sobering indeed.
Amid a savage cost-cutting drive that will claim 450 jobs by the time it is done, morale has sunk to an all-time low.
It is 20 years since the Glazer family (pictured Avram (L) and Joel (R)) took over Man United
Two decades may have passed but fan unrest at United is arguably at an all-time high
Despite reaching the Europa League final, Ruben Amorim’s side have been in abysmal form
On the pitch, United have plumbed such depths in the Premier League that the biggest club in English football could now feasibly finish one place above the relegation zone after Sunday’s 2-0 defeat at home to West Ham.
So who could blame Ruben Amorim when he faced the media afterwards for admitting that maybe he should hand over the reins to someone else if the situation doesn’t show signs of improvement next season?
Amorim knew the danger of leaving a perfectly good job at Sporting Lisbon and joining United in mid-season. He would rather have waited until the summer, but the message from Old Trafford in late October was now or never.
Amorim knew the risk of imposing his style – notably wing-backs either side of a defensive back-three – on a group of players that wasn’t his. Was it a wise move? In hindsight, probably not.
He has been brutally honest about the team he inherited from Erik ten Hag, only last week doubling down on a previous claim that United might be the worst Premier League side in the club’s history.
But Amorim knows he can’t duck his fair share of the blame for that either. United were 14th when Ten Hag was sacked and 13th after caretaker Ruud van Nistelrooy took charge of his last game.
Amorim has won just six of his 25 Premier League games in charge, half of those victories coming against the three relegated clubs Leicester, Southampton and Ipswich. It is inexcusable given the squad he has at his disposal and the cost to put it together.
The only thing averting a full-blown crisis at Old Trafford is an unbeaten run to the Europa League final against Tottenham a week on Wednesday that could yet be rewarded with Champions League football next season and £100million to help with the summer rebuild.
Things have got worse since the Sir Jim Ratcliffe took over day-to-day running of the club
Banners unveiled by United fans during their defeat to West Ham at Old Trafford on Sunday are a damning indication of the divide between ownership and supporters at the club right now
Still, that seemed the last thing on Amorim’s mind when he spoke after the West Ham defeat. In two separate interviews – with the written press and Match of the Day – he raised the prospect of leaving.
He said he was ‘embarrassed’ seeing United in 16th place. He said he didn’t know if winning the Europa League was a good thing because the prospect of combining Premier League and Champions League football next season felt as far away as the moon.
On Sunday, he looked like a man who doesn’t know which way to turn at the moment. Tense at the best of times on the touchline, Amorim wandered between his technical area and the dugout shaking his head.
When Rasmus Hojlund went down with an injured left shoulder in the first half, the man who had a large plaster over his knuckles when United beat Athletic Bilbao in the Europa League semi-final on Thursday night gnawed on his fingers as he looked at the TV monitor.
Manchester United does this to the best of them. David Moyes and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer were decidedly greyer by the time they left. Who can forget Louis van Gaal hurling himself to the floor during a game against Arsenal or Jose Mourinho’s ‘history’ rant?
Amorim is just the latest poor soul to be swallowed up by the soap opera that is United. Will he be spat out as well? Time will tell, but let’s not underestimate the decision United face in backing Amorim in the transfer market this summer.
One of the reasons Dan Ashworth was so ruthlessly axed as sporting director by Ratcliffe was his influence in keeping Ten Hag and spending £200m on players for the Dutchman, as well as his opposition to appointing Amorim.
As it stands, there is nothing to say United won’t stand by the Portuguese and he won’t decide to start next season as head coach.
While the Red Devils will have a chance to salvage the season with victory against Tottenham in the Europa League final in Bilbao, they could finish as low as 17th in the Premier League
Although fans’ ire to the club’s owners is fair, Amorim has won just six of 25 league games
Victory over Tottenham in Bilbao could yet provide a silver lining to the season, just as beating Manchester City in the FA Cup final gave Ten Hag a new lease of life, however temporary.
It papered over an eighth-placed finish, United’s worst in the Premier League era until now. When Moyes was sacked with United in seventh, it felt like the world was ending.
Sunday’s defeat to West Ham left Amorim’s side in 16th. With their final games against Chelsea and Aston Villa – two clubs chasing Champions League football – the prospect of finishing in 17th is very real.
Twenty years on from the Glazer takeover, it feels as though United’s problems are worse than ever.
