16, March 2022
Football: Man Utd must hit reset button after miserable season 0
Manchester United were established members of Europe’s elite a decade ago but they have been reduced to the status of also-rans in the Premier League and even in their own city.
Under Alex Ferguson, the club reached three Champions League finals in four years from 2008 to 2011. Since then they have won a meagre two knockout ties in the competition.
United’s limp 1-0 defeat against Atletico Madrid on Tuesday consigned them to a fifth consecutive trophyless season and suggested they are as far as ever from finding the key to success.
A return to the Champions League next year looks highly unlikely, with Arsenal in pole position to grab fourth spot in the Premier League after a strong run under Mikel Arteta.
United, who drew 1-1 against Atletico in the first leg in Spain, started brightly at Old Trafford but were let down by familiar defensive lapses and a palpable lack of a cutting edge.
Cristiano Ronaldo did not have a shot on goal while substitutes Edinson Cavani, Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford failed to make an impact against Diego Simeone’s well-drilled side.
Former United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, who won a famous Treble under Ferguson in 1999, said United must do better but believes their current mess is an opportunity for root-and-branch reform.
“For a club that professes to be one of the biggest in the world, we have to do better than that,” he told the BBC.
“It’s been a long period of not being great and it’s very disappointing. But it’s also a time of opportunity and one we cannot miss.
“The club is under different leadership and wants to move in a different direction. It’s a chance to restructure the whole football department — how we recruit, how we scout, how we educate.”
Richard Arnold is the new man at the helm at Old Trafford after taking over from Ed Woodward as the club’s most senior executive.
Manager hunt
The chief executive has the unenviable task of finding a new manager — United’s fifth permanent boss since the departure of Ferguson as a Premier League champion in 2013.
Schmeichel said despite the malaise at Old Trafford, the best managers in the world would “relish” the chance of replacing interim boss Ralf Rangnick at the end of the season.
“They will see great potential here,” he said. “If they are the person to get it right, we’ve seen what that means. I think anyone who is not at Manchester City or Liverpool would take that opportunity if it was offered.”
Paris Saint-Germain manager Mauricio Pochettino and Ajax’s Erik ten Hag are both among the favourites to be the next manager even though their clubs also exited at the last 16 stage of the Champions League.
Chelsea’s Thomas Tuchel has been linked with the job because of the current turmoil at the Stamford Bridge club following the sanctioning of Russian owner Roman Abramovich over the Ukraine war.
Former midfielder Paul Scholes, who was part of Ferguson’s all-conquering side, said United needed to find an elite manager who “strikes fear into players”.
“This isn’t a terrible group of players,” he said on BT Sport. “I think if you give this group of players a structure and way of playing, there’s some real talent in the squad.
“The next man might not be the right man, but the people behind the scenes have to make sure he is the right man,” he added.
“Maybe they need a manager that they are going to be afraid of and that will scare them into performances.”
The problem facing United’s hierarchy is that there have been a number of chances to reset and rebuild since Ferguson brought down the curtain on the most successful spell in the club’s history.
United have not mounted a serious title challenge for nearly a decade, watching enviously as Manchester City and Liverpool have set standards they have been unable to match despite a huge outlay on players.
Few would bet that this time they will get it right.
Source: AFP
21, March 2022
Football: Man City top Deloitte Money League for first time 0
Manchester City have topped Deloitte’s Football Money League for the first time in their history after emerging from the coronavirus crisis in a stronger position than their rivals.
The Premier League champions, bankrolled by their Abu Dhabi owners, are only the fourth club to top the rankings after Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester United
City’s revenue of 644.9 million euros ($712 million, £541 million) in the 2020/21 season — up 17 percent — propelled them from sixth position to the top on the list of the 20 highest revenue-generating clubs in world football.
However, some of City’s commercial deals — which account for nearly half of revenue — are a source of controversy, with a number key partners such as shirt and stadium sponsor Etihad having links to the club’s owners.
The club were 4.2 million euros ahead of Spanish giants Real Madrid, with German champions Bayern Munich next followed by Barcelona and Manchester United.
A total of 11 English clubs were in the top 20, with Wolves making their first-ever appearance as the Premier League continued to flex its financial muscle.
Average revenue of the 20 clubs on the list was 409 million euros — a marginal increase on the 2019/20 season thanks to broadcast deferrals due to Covid disruption, but a 12 percent decrease on the 2018/19 season because of the absence of fans.
The clubs in the Money League have missed out on more than two billion euros of revenue over the 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons as a result of the pandemic, the Deloitte report said.
Premier League clubs were more insulated due to the much larger television rights deals they enjoy compared with their competitors in the other top European leagues and the gap is likely to widen.
“Premier League broadcast rights values are set to pull further away from the other ‘big five’ European leagues from the 2022/23 season with the rollover of existing domestic arrangements on the same terms and the total value of international rights reportedly set to increase by 30 percent and exceed the value of domestic rights for the first time,” said Dan Jones, head of Deloitte’s Sports Business Group.
Source: AFP