It seems like everyone has had their say on Manchester United’s troubles, but only Eamon Dunphy has linked it with Ed Woodward trying to “to prove his cajones.”
The veteran Irish pundit has had his say on the troubles at United following Sunday’s crushing 4-0 defeat to Chelsea.
Speaking on Irish radio station 2FM on Monday evening, Dunphy claims the apparent malaise at the club goes deeper than a few poor results over the past month, or the lack of success over the past few seasons.
Dunphy, who was a youth-team player at United in the 1960s, before going on to play for Millwall, Reading and have a career as a journalist, reckons the issues with the club began in the final years of Alex Ferguson’s reign.
He says a “short-term” mentality carried over into David Moyes’ tenure and Louis van Gaal’s spell as manager between 2014 and 2016, and while his points are littered with some humorous exaggerations, he pinpoints a lot of issues with the club.
And not a single mention of Rooney or Pogba https://t.co/E0WhhvCro7
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) October 24, 2016
“The people who run Manchester United are the people who are responsible,” Dunphy said.
“The beginning of the end for Manchester United came before Alex Ferguson left. In his last successful season, Van Persie scored the goals, a player who was coming to the end of his career, he was a quick fix and he did the job. Manchester United when Ferguson left had very little. It was a club that needed to be re-built from the foundations upwards.
“Paul Scholes and Giggs were coming to the end. Even Wayne Rooney was coming to the end. They had to start again and nobody has addressed that core problem.
“Everyone is looking for a quick fix. David Moyes was given seven months and no budget incidentally and then they got Van Gaal who was supposed to be a quick fix. He was given some money but he wasted it and now Mourinho has come in.”
Dunphy then criticised United’s summer transfer activity. The 71-year-old reckons Paul Pogba is immature, Zlatan Ibrahimovic is past it and the manager would need “a couple of billion” to fix the squad.
“I mean the waste in the summer of £100m on Paul Pogba is one example, the centre-half Bailly, who some people think can offer something, he cost £35m. They are in denial about where the club is. It’s on a downward spiral that is beyond the capacity of one coach to fix unless you gave him a couple of billion.
“Mourinho is not going to be a success. Nobody could succeed with this team.
“He (Pogba) is a kid. He’s a young 23 and he’s been brought in as a magic, silver bullet. That doesn’t work in football. It’s a team game.
“It was a mistake to buy him. I think Ed Woodward needed a marquee signing to prove his cajones. No one else was going to buy Pogba.
“Alex Ferguson decided four years ago that Pogba was not good enough to play for Manchester United and he was right. Ibrahimovic is just a folly. He’s 35. He can barely run and he’s not playing at all.”
When the world zigs, Eamon zags https://t.co/GEUqeMUYPs
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) October 21, 2016
Dunphy claims United need to rip up their current model and start over and argues for Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe to become manager, and be given several years to build the club back up to their former glory.
He also predicted Untied to finish in mid-table, or, at best, in a Europa League place because “that’s where they fit now.”
“Manchester need to assess where they are and then choose the person who is going to rebuild them into being a great club. They are a mile away at the moment.
“There is a young guy at Bournemouth, Eddie Howe, he should have got the England job. He should probably get the Manchester United job and say ‘ this is where we are at, we need four or five years to get back to where we need to be’.
“In these times when there are so few players worth going for, United are stuck.
“I think Mourinho is good and he’ll keep them in the mix a little bit. He’ll do what he has to do, like he did at Liverpool last Monday but he can’t make top class players out of the players he’s got, they are just pretty ordinary.
“They’re doomed to mid-table or maybe scrapping for a Europa League place, that’s where they fit now.”
Say what you want about Dunphy, but you just don’t get views like this from Thierry Henry or Michael Owen.
You can catch up on the latest episode of JOE’s Football Friday Live right here…
