MANCHESTER UNITED ATTEMPT TO SWAY FANS INTO A POSITIVE MINDSET

Massive improvement and determination to still secure a place in the top four of the Premier League table appear to be the message echoed around Old Trafford this past couple of weeks. While on going rumors suggesting that Ole Gunner Solskjaer term as manager might be coming to an early end next year  continue to surface around Old Trafford, Manchester United's performance in the last two weeks appears to suggest that the managers message regarding improved performance was heard loud and clearly by the players.  

Sitting currently in the 7th spot of the Premier League table with a 7 point gap between the Red Devils and the current fourth-place team on the Premier League standing looking like a small gap to cover compared to the position Manchester United had found themselves in less than two months ago. What has been established as the reasons for the recent struggles Manchester United faced?  

Poor club management in terms of how the board is handling the affairs of the club at the top and lack of dept in terms of the number of players with genuine quality in the Manchester United team. While other factors such as how the lack of experience from current Ole Gunner Solskjaer in matters concerning the transfer window also played a crucial role in aiding Manchester United's current struggles this season, when the discussion of how Manchester United turned from a world-class football club capable of winning both domestic and foreign trophies to a football club currently hoping for a spot in next seasons Europa League competition the answer will more than likely boil down to these two points: Poor club handling from the Board of Directors and poor team management from manager in terms of the recent business done in the 2019 summer transfer window. Simple as that! 

In yet another recent interview taken by another person involved with the board of directors at Manchester United this time in the shape of the ever-popular Chief Executive of Manchester United Ed Woodward, the British executive had this to say:

"There is a myth that we have non-football people making football decisions," he said. "I think that is insulting to the brilliant people who work on the football side in this club." 

He added: "We've expanded our recruitment department in recent years and we believe this now runs efficiently and productively. 

"Player recommendations and decisions are worked on by this department and by the first-team manager and his staff, not by senior management." 

(Ed Woodward, Manchester United chief executive. - Simon Stone, BBC Sport.  18 Oct 2019)  

In response to the above comment the idea projected by the Manchester United chief executive seems to have clearly divided the opinions of the media, the analysts and most importantly the fans regarding Manchester United. On the one hand, the comment above seems to support the idea that the board of directors is up for spending substantial amounts of money to bring in the right level of top-quality players into Manchester United to improve the club and yet evidence of the last six Transfer windows clearly suggests otherwise. 

The reality is that of two option: one is that Manchester United have accepted that the idea of winning any top silverware after the retirement of one Sir Alex Ferguson as manager is unrealistic thereby prompting the decision to trust the players Solskjaer already has at his disposal and the second option is that the current long-running disappointment Manchester United has experienced of not being able to sign top-class player after Paul Pogba has ultimately come down to the independent decision made by the Manchester United manager. 

  

Regardless of the response coming from the Executive directors at Manchester United the fact still remains that Manchester United is still a team that has continuously shown signs of weakness and a team that has continued to show serious signs of struggling to succeed this season. While the Manchester United chief executive continue to insist on the idea that even though Manchester United have undoubtedly depleted in the level of performance on the field and while Manchester United have clearly fallen short of expectations that were once attached to the club Manchester United, according to the Board of Directors the reality remains that Manchester United football club will continue to improve under Solskjaer with little to no groundbreaking strides made during the transfer window in the near future. 

January 2020 will be a massive month for Ed Woodward and the rest of the Manchester United board of directors to back the claim of being willing to improve the teams' level of productivity on the pitch by adding one or two more creative midfielders to the current squad manager Ole Gunner Solskjaer has at his disposal. While the Manchester United fans will expect the 2020 January transfer window to be accompanied by the usual massive flow of numerous articles in online websites and newspaper magazines found on newsstands everywhere, January 2020 must be a month that requires the Manchester United board evaluates their approach to success and ask the realistic question of the current squad and the possibility of winning silverware with the current Manchester United squad remaining the way it is. 

In conclusion, as Manchester United football club look forward to January 2020 in a month that is show to set the marker down for rest of the year 2020 and what direction manager Ole Gunner Solskjaer and the Board of Directors are willing to approach the future, the question of if Manchester United will add more talent to the squad or leave the squad as is will certainly be put to rest. At the moment in regards to the January 2020 transfer window, Manchester United are already being linked to a hand full of players with one name being far more interesting than others in James Maddison. Maddison has been the talk of the town in the last two months with highly regarded analysts insisting that the midfielders move Leicester City to Manchester United is all but done. 

While there is still no concrete deal agreed as of yet, Leicester City does not appear entirely certain of retaining the services James Maddison past the month of January with Leicester yet to confirm or deny the rumor. Should Manchester United successfully sign the English midfielder, James Maddison will add a little more creativity and firepower that Manchester United's midfield appears to need a little more dose to compete as a top-four Premier League team.