It’s not often we find ourselves feeling empathy with Manchester United supporters but after watching their lifeless surrender to El-Toon in the Carabao Cup it was impossible not to draw a few parallels with our own miserable plight.
They, of course, are in a different stratosphere when it comes to history, expectation, fanbase, and finances, but, equally, as the Sky cameras panned around Old Trafford in the closing stages of the game, that depressing mix of empty seats and glum faces was all too familiar.
They too are a club in crisis – one that is also now suffering the effects of many years of off-field mismanagement and underfunding, albeit their particular brand of underfunding has tended to have been confined to infrastructural things, like a stadium in desperate need of renovation and fixing.
Our infrastructural issues are not completely dissimilar – certainly, the River End is looking more than a little tired and in need of a spruce-up – but our greater need is for an expanded stadium that will, in theory, enable us to garner more revenue through ticket sales.
(I say in theory because, right now, we’re not even close to selling all the seats we have available – but you get my gist).
Only time will tell if the Attanasio-led Norfolk Group has plans to expand Carrow Road, and when I say time, that will be in at least three years and could be in as many as seven (you know what I’m saying … let’s not go there right now).
United’s problem in terms of their stadium has been, according to Gary Neville, based around the Glazers’ intransigence in making any changes, renovations, or additions to Old Trafford. They have, we’re told, a giant stadium that’s crumbling and has, among other things, holes in the roof.
But what United fans, unlike ourselves, cannot complain about is their spending in the transfer market under their US ownership, after breaking the £2billion barrier according to Kieran Maguire from The Price of Football.
Sums like those are beyond the comprehension of most normal clubs, especially those who espouse the joys of self-funding, but there are parallels with us around how well that money has been spent.
You could argue that there is even more need to acquire value-for-money when your pot, like ours, is minuscule and that when you have the capability of spending £2billion then you can afford gambling on what turn out to be a few duds, but the principle is the same – the need to spend the money you have wisely.
Both clubs are guilty of doing precisely the opposite.
And then there’s the coaching, which in both cases has ultimately suffered from what is or isn’t happening off the pitch.
I suppose you could argue that with City having a sporting director and United still operating without one, we’re ahead on that particular curve but both clubs are suffering badly from having board and management structures that are both dysfunctional and unfit for purpose.
Success on the pitch can cover a multitude of sins, including behind-the-scenes chaos, but as we are learning on a daily basis from the ongoing Covid inquiry, eventually those failings will be exposed as things at the sharp end start to unravel.
United, City and our government are all now paying the price of more than a decade of mismanagement – some of it inadvertent, some of it the result of bad luck, and some of it down to sheer incompetence.
(It’s okay… the government analogy ends there).
While Erik ten Hag arguably has more credits in the bank than David Wagner – United won some silverware last season and also a place in the Champions League – both are now displaying that worrying characteristic of being unable to explain the reasons behind a series of stinking performances.
For Wagner, there appears no obvious route out of this current hole, while for ten Hag the route to redemption closes with every defeat, even though he is merely the latest in a long line of managers who have suffered at the hands of the aforementioned owners and structural deficiencies.
What both clubs have in common is that any success on the pitch comes in spite of the ownership and off-field management, not because of it.
But both also appear to have owners who are reluctant to relinquish control, albeit for very different reasons.
While Delia and Michael’s white-knuckled grip on Norwich City comes from a place of them believing only they are truly capable of owning our football club, the Glazers have taken down the ‘for sale’ signs at United because they didn’t receive what they deemed to be an acceptable offer.
The upshot, however, is the same.
Two clubs with owners who have maxed out and who appear incapable of taking them further; two clubs desperate for off-field reform that will enable them to break out of their current malaise; and two clubs with managers who appear close to the end of the road but who are carrying the can for problems way beyond their control.
I don’t, however, feel a single grain of sympathy for those United fans who, over the years, have taken great delight in reminding us of our lowly place in the footballing hierarchy, but I do feel terribly sorry for those around me clad in the yellow and green of City.
The phrase ‘we deserve better’ is rather too easily thrown around and smacks of the entitlement for which we mock others, but what we don’t deserve is the contempt in which we are held by some of our decision-makers in a Glazer-style.
Perhaps that can be the first thing to change when change eventually comes.
Hi Gary
A rather interesting analysis and so well written, I wonder if any United supporters will comment on it.
Watched said game last night with the volume off (my wife hates the Neville commentary) and saw multi-millionaires that showed very little interest in playing in heavy rain and in the middle of the week was an inconvenience to a good night of partying.
Ten Hag and his Wally with a Brolly seem more lost than Wagner and his Valkeries, but both are asking for patience so they can turn things around. Have both men lost their respective dressing rooms? It certainly looks like it last night for Ten Hag and Wagner in his last game.
Unlike City, United will be able to pay their underperforming manager. City will struggle and on the same theme United can pay what it takes to recruit the man they want while City will have to look to the unemployed.
It all reverts back to the Green Backs but will Attanasio fund a sacking and recruitment for a new coach?
We are told an agreement is in place for Attanasio to vote in sync with Delia on all major matters, so will he agree to something that he doesn’t like because of this deal it just sounds very unbusiness like
Manchester United are one the elite group that has done its very best to wipe out clubs like ours and deserve no sympathy.
Agreed, Delfy.
No sympathy from me.
The amount of stick we’ve taken off their supporters over the years…
Funny I was watching that game last night, at half time I said to Mrs and Son, it must be like watching Norwich , the difference being for me was a much higher grade of players, looking lost just like our cheapo options.
The Glaziers will sell if price is what they want, unlike ours who would not sell even if the price was right and fair. the demonstrations at Utd have achieved zero, we haven’t tried that route yet, The Stowmarket duo have had a very easy ride in those terms. Ignore the noise, but then you cannot hear much when your head is buried up to their butts, like theirs.
Pound for pound, the fans of Norwich do deserve much better for their money, than the surrender yet again they have to endure…. especially for the thousands who travel to away games.
Onto Sunday, I suggest the fans try to let Wagner know he is not the sole person responsible for this sh!te show.
I don’t dislike Wagner but his pressing from the back game demands young fit players not old has beens. Daniel Farke was not afraid to ‘blood’ Lewis, Aarons and Godfrey and I suggest that is what he needs to follow here. Another piece today from you lot(!) went through the candidates – Adegboyega, Brad Hills, Finley Welch (ok one of whom is out on loan can’t he be recalled?) Why Omobamidele’s sale wasn’t structured to include a loan back when he ain’t even on the Forest bench? My Nottingham contacts are gob smacked. It seems like our loans and sales departments are ring fenced from the inevitably fluctuating fortunes of the 1st XI but that didn’t stop Daniel. And no fewer than FOUR f*cking geriatric slow error prone CBs and we are badly looking forward to Grant Hanley’s return?. Badly is the right word he might have once been a rock but he’ll be error prone too in midst of that shower.
Extremely well argued article Gary.
Manchester United have spent billions in recent years and like Everton they are paying for poor recruitment both on and off the pitch.
Poor Bill Kenwright didn’t deserve the stick he got, they weren’t his appointments, but both clubs don’t deserve any sympathy with that amount of money spent.
I agree with Gary Neville on a lot of things, but whatever he says United have had enough money available to their managers to challenge for the Premiership.
No such excuses for Delia I’m afraid.
In appointments or money spent.
I find it remarkable that unqualified people pontificate on things they now nothing about.
The Right Wing of the Tory party, newspapers like The Daily Telegraph and its journalists like Annabel Dunham say there should never have been a lockdown during Covid😱 that’s from people who can work from home. And they want their share dividends to be unaffected, that’s for sure.
The NHS would have collapsed without lockdowns. No thought from those individuals for the NHS staff risking their lives to save us 🤬
How would they have coped with a potential 300-400% increase in patients.
Just like Delia. She believes is the only person on this planet who can be trusted to run Norwich City FC.
Without her continued rule, in her opinion, National League South is around the corner
Think about that for a minute, that’s barking!!! NLS is much nearer with her remaining here. We do face the very real chance of relegation to League One this season or next.
Don’t forget that from next season the cupboard is bare. That’s why we need the Attanasio investment.
Ten Haag, falling out with as many players as he can, Boris, jeez where do you start, hairdryers up the nose to “cure” Covid or him personally discharging people from hospital, Delia, overseeing our two worse EPL seasons in history.
What have they all got in common….they all think they are/were doing a good job.
I just can’t believe the world we live in, Ten Haag want more money, Boris is actually calling for the vast majority of his Tory Members to “accept their fate” and our Delia actually thinks we cango on like this under her rule for another 3-7 years 😱
When the AGM finances come out I would be interested in Gary Field’s opinion.
All the best Gary.
I don’t think that they will make pretty reading, Tim and I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a loss in excess of £10m.
I think you might be being optimistic, Gary. My instincts were for £25-50 mil deficit, but I’m not as familiar with the club as you are.
I was referring to the loss in the last financial year, the overall deficit will be higher than your upper figure.
I must admit I’m a bit confused. For years now various smart arses have been telling me that self funding was the only way to keep the club going and that delia Smith was a careful and competent owner.
I bow to your superior knowledge (and financial skills). 🙂
Is that a good guesstimate Gary. ? I guessed it would be around 15-20. Rowe and Sara will I take go on next year’s spreadsheet but the money funnelled this year to help fill the ever growing hole
£25-50M and £10-20M are both commensurate with Gary’s “… in excess of £10m” estimate!
Sorry Tim , but I don`t thinks its appropriate to bring politics into the conversation and disrespecting Telegraph readers . Next you will be calling us fascists!
And …?
I’m afraid, Brian, that many of the postings on MFW come from Guardian readers so that you and I have to put up with the occasional rant to enjoy reading the football stuff!
Must admit I read the Mail Express Independent and Guardian.
Sorry Brian if I offended you but to me it is free speech.
After the year I have had I know what I am talking about regards the NHS who have saved my life last year and this at Papworth.
I stand by everything I said and if anyone thinks the Tories did a good job during Covid god help you.
Not saying if the manager should go or stay. But one has to ask who would have got more out of this awful squad
Webber has decided to go from recruiting young players with promise, to recruiting directly of freebie’s from Dad Army.
Frankly he should have gone before sacking Farke. He never supported Daniel when he miraculously took us up twice, and gave him the lowest budget ever given to a newly promoted side. I even seem to remember he admitted that himself.
The board in the meantime have overseen this, but has having Webbers wife on the board stopped them in anyway from sacking to one to blame.
Couldn’t agree more Ken, I’m still angry as hell about it too. Talk about making a decision and knowing you are untouchable, eh Mr Webber?
Cracking article. You could have kept the political parallels going for pages, as far as I’m concerned. Head in sand stuff all round. Mind you, I don’t think Johnson, Sunak et al can cook anything other than the books.
“You could have kept the political parallels going for pages”.
Oh believe me, Richard… I wanted to 😀
Just for any young un’s read this from 2006 re lack of ambition and money. Nigel Worthington said in an earlier article he spent £700K on Lee Croft and that was nearly all his budget
17 years later nothing has changed. and will not
https://www.pinkun.com/news/22698941.ncfc-money/
Many good points there, Gary.
Just to update you on something you appear to have missed. It’s a gradual process (the wish of both parties) but Delia & Michael have just relinquished their majority ownership of the club. Not kicking and screaming, but by their own instigation.
Mark Attanasio’s share is now the same as theirs; he’s not yet a majority owner, but he’s not a man to sit quietly watching.
Thanks, Stew. But didn’t deliberately ignore said point.
By any stretch of the imagination, this is one *very* gradual process and I believe I’m right in saying the three to seven year induction/appraisal is Delia’s wish, so they can be sure Attanasio is the right man to take this club forward.
That, to me at least, sounds like someone currently unwilling to completely let go of the reins. That’s the point I was trying to make. Apologies if I didn’t make that clear.
Hi Gary
I think William Shakespeare’s a Comedy of Errors becomes a drama compared to how this takeover is going.
3 to 7 years to assess if Attanasio is the right person or group to run a football club and who’s had a Baseball Franchise for nearly 20years.
What happens if Dowager Delia decides he is the wrong person ? More scampering around to find someone to sell her shares too or will the Norfolk Group complete a hostile takeover.
Personally I think she hanging on for dear life and the dye is cast no matter what she or her Happy Clapper Brigade think, Attanasio not going to sit around for 3 years without making further share purchases to become the majority owner and would he risk his investment under a failed self-funding??
It’s January 2025 for the 3 year voting alignment and September 2029 for the long stop on the C-preference shares redemption.
However, I think those timescales are overplayed, not least because of the debt burden to MA. The reality is that D&M, or, more accurately, the club, will almost certainly have no choice but to accept MA’s long term involvement, sooner rather than later.
Cheers for that, Gaz. Comforting.
Sorry, it’s January 2026 on voting, so, just over two years away.
Hi Gary, I know nothing about the finances but Attanasio and his group became involved when we were slightly better off both moneywise and our league position didn’t he? In this sort of business deal is he able to decide he wants to walk away with the club owing him millions? Is this the main reason for the protracted timeline to him becoming ‘owner’?
Or is it, as many of us guess (we can’t know of course) that Delia and her family just don’t want their custodianship to end?
As a minority shareholder – even if she retains a holding when Attanasio becomes the majority owner, as he surely will in the foreseeable future – Delia wouldn’t be in a position to block anything.
Her completely letting go of the reins certainly isn’t seven years away – most likely less than three. Some would say she already has.
Your are spot on, Gary, in pointing to multiple areas in which the club has failed during the past few seasons, Delia and Wagner are taking much of the flak, yet I believe the biggest flop of all has been Webber.
Over the past two years top performers such as Buendia, Pukki, Omobamidele and Aarons have all been replaced by inferior newcomers. For the two seasons we have lacked a game-reading defensive midfielder remotely near the standard of Oliver Skipp, a situation which restricts the attacking flair of Sara., This is basically a team built by Webber, and to me it is a complete mystery that the club still permits him to have any role at Carrow Road. He seems to have checked out mentally long ago.
It’s easy to to point to our defects, but much harder to come up with the name of a trustworthy outsider prepared to pump millions into a medium-sized provincial club. Mark Attanasio has dipped his toe into the water but if things turn really sour financially there is every chance that he will demand full control to get back on track or freeze his investment. He is not in this game to lose pots of money if he has disagreements with Michael and Delia on the financial side.
And with parachute payments ending and a very average-looking squad, the necessary rebuild will have to be handled very astutely, with long-term struggles not unlikely.
After supporting City’s many ups and downs for 63 years, I have sadly had to accept the reality that we cannot compete consistently against the mega-millionaire clubs who dominate the Premier League.
But apart from Norwich I do lend fervent support to at least one other club every week —- anyone up against Manchester United (yes, even Ipswich). United are getting their richly deserved come-uppance for decades of arrogance. Long may it continue.
No