May 27, 2025 • 42 mins
In this episode of the Huddle Within podcast, I reflect on the tumultuous season of Manchester United, analysing the team's performance, management issues, and the impact of ownership on the club's future. I also discusses the need for fan unity and support, the legacy of Sir Alex Ferguson, and the necessary steps for rebuilding the team moving forward.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to the Huddle Within podcast, where we go beyond the
surface to uncover the real impact of sports on our lives.
Whether it's lessons of resilience, the passion that
fuels us, or the stories that connect us all, This is where
the game gets personal. I am Daniel, a regular sports
fan just like you, and together we'll explore what sports truly
means beyond the surface. So step right into the Huddle
and let's get into it. What is going on, everybody?
(00:40):
And welcome to this week's episode of The Huddle Within
podcast. As you can tell from the title,
the day has come. I did mention two weeks ago
after my little wizard's emotional rant with the Draught
lottery, that if United were to lose the Europa League, I would
come back for some more emotional rants.
So here I am today, basically breaking down the United season
(01:03):
overall, which also includes theEuropa League Cup final results
and also the issues that are deeply rooted inside the
Manchester United Football Club.These are obviously researches
that I've done, but also my opinion as to why we are the
mess that we are. And yeah, it's, it's, it's
bizarre what I've what I've seenin this club the last 13 years,
(01:27):
but especially, especially this year.
So obviously, you know, I'm a United fan, been passionate
United fan pretty much my whole life.
And I've never, ever seen any ofmy sporting clubs look and, and
run this badly. And, and I go for a lot of teams
that besides this mob over here that are in a mess.
So we're gonna basically jump into that.
(01:49):
But before we do, if it is your first time listening, feel free
to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
And if you could leave a five star review, that would be great
as well. For the first time, sort of like
in this in this podcast scene and and kind of content creation
scene, I went and did a bit of acontent piece at the CQ bar in
(02:09):
Melbourne interviewing fans postand pre Europa League final
match, most of them being obviously United fans.
So to those that I did interviewthat had the had the audacity to
come on, thank you so much for that.
Thank you for giving me your thoughts and your takes.
It was the first time thing for me.
It didn't really come as prepared.
(02:30):
Do you want to shout out my friend Matt with his own page
that runs basically sign Memorialia?
It's called sign by goats on Instagram.
I might drop a a link in the description below, but he
essentially invited me to this event ran by Dan, who also I'm
going to shout out is the the leader of the Manchester United
Melbourne community fan page where he's running events on a
(02:52):
regular basis for United games and potentially future sporting
events moving forward. They've partnered up with CQ Bar
Melbourne who are also getting involved as well.
So I got there, I managed to meet the guys and moving
forward, I'm going to potentially do a few more events
coming up as well, hopefully fora wide range of sporting events
and also for football as well. Basically, yeah, went there and
(03:17):
given that it was 4:00 AM in themorning on a Thursday, people
have obviously work and school or university after the match.
It was just great to see so manyUnited fans present at the at
the bar, 350 of them to be exact.
And just having that opportunityto give Australian fans a voice.
There are a lot of footballing fans in this country that do
(03:38):
wake up at crazy times of the night to watch their team play.
And that's what it's about It's about that sport fandom.
It's about the loyalty. And in this podcast we kind of
dive into that as as you probably all know that have
listened to a few episodes. So being able to kind of share
that on, on my platform and alsokind of transfer that into this
podcast is kind of what I'm going on about as well.
(04:00):
So for those that have come through the the content that I
created, welcome as well. And yeah, it's finally my time
to give my opinion on on Manchester United as well.
Didn't really have the chance totalk about it with fans, but
yeah, we're gonna we're gonna break it down.
And I think the first thing we'll do is pretty much break
down the season. So it's a tough one.
(04:22):
I've got the table here. We finished 15th on the table.
So we did get a a win against Aston Villa, beating them two
nil. I think the only reason why we
won the game is because of the red card.
So ended up finishing on 42 points.
So we managed to just be above the top three or the bottom
three teams that relegated and also on top of Tottenham, but
(04:43):
not really. And then Wolves as well.
So finishing on 42 points. We lost 18 games.
That is that is a club record. So that's the first time in the
club's history, I think in the Premier League that we've ever
lost 18 games. So that that's already a crazy
start in itself. We only scored 44 goals.
(05:03):
And comparing to Liverpool, Liverpool scored in the 80s.
So that we they pretty much almost doubled the amount of
goals they scored compared to us.
And I got the sniffles. I'm a bit sick.
We also conceded 54. And in the landscape of things,
looking at the table, West Ham, Wolves, Tottenham all conceded
(05:24):
over 60 goals. So from a defensive standpoint,
1 wasn't too bad. Obviously 54 goals is a lot, but
comparing to the teams that are around us at the bottom, not the
not the most goals conceded, butdefinitely 5th in in goals
scored. So that that is, that was a
major, major concern. We've obviously got out of cups
(05:44):
early, terrible performances allaround the season.
And we did lose that, that Europa League final, which we'll
talk about as well. Obviously when Ruben Amarim came
in, he did expect things to happen badly, but I don't think
he was prepared for for what wasgoing to happen towards the end
(06:04):
of this season. And yeah, just a terrible,
terrible season. Like, I can sit here and be
angry like I was when the Wizards got the 6th pick, but
that genuinely surprised me, if I'm honest.
I'm not surprised at all. Like, yes, I'm surprised that we
finished 15th, but I'm not surprised that we had a losing
season and a terrible season, especially with how the club has
(06:28):
been over the past five years, Iwould say.
But most recently, ever since Jim Radcliffe have come in and
he was supposed to be someone that was going to help the club
and push the club forward in a good direction, but it just
seems like he's making stuff a whole whole lot worse.
And yeah, it's it's scary. Like I'm going to obviously go
(06:48):
on to that as well. But yeah, again, finishing 15th
on the table is just is just embarrassing.
And we thought that there was going to be an opportunity for
us to finish in this place, win Europa League and qualify
ourselves into the Champions League, which would have gave us
a a big salvage or saved our season.
(07:08):
But we all know what happened. United end up losing 1 nil to
Tottenham. Brendan Johnson getting a goal
in the 42 minute, 42nd minute, definitely an own goal.
I don't think that was his goal himself.
And pretty much from then on Tottenham decided to hold the
lead the whole game. And fair play to Ange Pasta
(07:29):
Koglu, he is a fellow Australianlike myself, managed the game
perfectly, deserved the the result in the end, if I'm honest
and I'll get into that. But he did say in one of the
coldest lines in football that he always wins trophy in his
second season and he proved thatthat to be right.
It's Tottenham's first trophy in17 years and I'm so glad he was
(07:51):
a fellow Australian that that did it as well.
When he did get picked up from Tottenham, I was really excited
for them himself. I've always wanted him to be a
United manager, but again, he's still coaching a Premier League
club and he's just proven wherever he goes he wins
trophies. And they've got Mila Yadonak
there as well, who was also an Australian, a former player of
Crystal Palace. He's also on the management
(08:12):
board, so hopefully he might lend an opportunity in the
future. But Angie's success at the
moment is definitely opening thedoors and pathways for
Australian football to grow and also for aspiring football
managers in Australia to potentially grow and seek top
flight management in in in big leagues in Europe.
So awesome play to Ang. But this podcast is about
(08:35):
United. So looking at the game itself,
if there was any team to sit back against it would be United
because when we move the ball itis terrible.
We're not a team that is good playing with possession and
build up play and that was proven in this week's this
year's Europa League final. And as a fan watching, I just
felt we weren't going to score. It just didn't seem like we were
(08:57):
going to score the way we were moving the ball, so slow, so
passive, attempted switches which we couldn't execute.
We had a few chances that you could think that we could have
scored the header obviously in the 90th minute and the goal
line clearance from Van Toven, but other than that we didn't
look convincing. A lot of our star players such
as Bruno didn't show up unfortunately and we just we
(09:20):
just couldn't get the result. And as I spoke about Amaram, I
do generally feel like he did get out coached this game.
As much as I am a big believer in Reuben Amaram, I think he got
this one wrong in terms of the substitutions.
The substitutions were way too late and now you can see the
consequences of that with Garnacho going out on on our X
and pretty much saying and interviewing saying that he only
(09:42):
got 20 minutes. So not good things for the
locker room. But again, I think that the
wrong decisions were made there.In saying that, do I think
Ameren should get sacked? 100% no.
Reason being is because he came into this season not prepared,
not wanting to take the job. He wanted to take the job after
this season so he was able to have a full transfer window and
(10:05):
a preseason where he's able to get his systems in place.
He basically got forced by IneosGroup and the Glazers to take
the job or else he'd never get it again.
And if Man United comes knockingon the door or these days you
can say no, but for the stature of the club, you really can't
say no. So he took the job, warned us
that the worst days are yet to come and again, he may have not
(10:27):
expected us to finish 15th abouta trophy, but that happened and
I think Ameren needs a lot more time here.
We're going to have to go through this, this struggle and
it starts with the new signing of Kunya, which which is
exciting, but again, that's not going to be able to to fix our
problems. So in terms of Reuben Abraham, I
don't think you should get sacked.
(10:47):
I think we should be backing themanager here.
The problems are not with the management.
The problems are above. If you look at all the coaches
we've had post Fergie, we've hadMourinho, we've had Van Hal,
we've had Eric 10 Haag and we'vealso had Olegonic Solsha and I
forget the last one, but pretty much we've had some well, 10
Haag and pretty much some world class managers and they still
(11:10):
weren't able to win US a title or make us consistently qualify
for Champions League every season.
Yes, we won Europa League, an FACup here and there, but nothing
of any significance or nothing as to how big the, the club of
United is. And I think, and we're going to
talk about the owners. I, I will mention the owners
100% will, but the club is in shambles in terms of the
(11:33):
atmosphere of the game itself. Honestly, like it was really
good to see a lot of United fansthere are passionate and, and in
hopes for, for a result. But yeah, the fan, the, the fans
let us down in terms of the result itself as a club 100%
deserve the loss. And the reason why is because of
(11:55):
the issues that happened before the game, the ticket
controversies. Players were only allowed to
have two tickets, yeah, per player.
They're only allowed to give outtwo tickets to fans.
And also the staff got none. So no staff were actually
supported with free tickets to the game.
And if you look at a club like PSG, they've got their Champions
League final coming up. The club is going to be paying
(12:17):
for every single staff member. And if a club wants to do well
in Europa League, wants to succeed and you're not giving
players tickets to their families and friends who they're
excited to watch to, for them towatch and, and have that extra
motivation. And then you don't give staff
and you force your manager to pay for about 30 staff members
tickets, then that that is that is ridiculous ownership.
(12:39):
That is an ownership that to me feels as though they don't
really care about the fans. They don't really care about
people that are working in the club that are, that are
sacrificing that are that are the key reasons as to why the
team is in the Europa League final to begin with.
It's just ridiculous in my opinion.
And then if you look at that, you really think that we don't
deserve it as a club like that. The reward we get is not that.
(13:01):
And what frustrates me is how the club will use the budgets
and and the high charges as an excuse.
But the end of the day, one, they're obviously gonna still be
making profit, the owners and whatnot.
But two, if you were able to have more support from your
staff and for for the players families, don't you think that
they would be a little bit more motivated to win the game?
(13:23):
I'm not saying that that is the ultimate factor and I'm not
saying that if the players, fans, family and friends were
there they would win, but it would most definitely have given
them a higher motivation to win the game and they would have
felt the support coming from their closest peers.
In saying that if they did win the the guy of the Europa
League, they would have had the profit in in hundredfold getting
(13:45):
the money to qualify for the Champions League and having that
finance too. So by wanting to cut costs, you
end up not making the Europa League anyway and you've already
lost that money to begin with. So if you were able to put a
small sacrifice that could potentially help your team.
If you're not looking at any perspective of wanting to win a
trophy or wanting the fans to behappy, but simply to put money
in your pockets, that would havebeen a good tactic for an
(14:07):
ownership group to actually allow and pay for staff and and
family to attend the match. So in saying that, ridiculous.
The fact that you let Ameren play, pay for the tickets,
absolutely ridiculous. And it just looks stupid.
Like it honestly looks freaking stupid that you are gonna are
gonna let a coach pay for the staff that you pay for and and
(14:29):
you're already cutting staff to begin with.
You're already doing all that like outlandish stuff.
And before Europa League final, when there is a chance to
salvage your season, when there's a chance to to hide and
put paper over the cracks, you just add fuel to the fire by
doing this. And then we get out what we
deserve. We lose the Europa League, fans
are more caught, no Champions League football.
And yeah, it's just it's just crazy.
(14:51):
And like, this is probably the first time as a United fan where
maybe five years ago, if we had this conversation, I would have
been able to say what what wouldhelp fix the club.
Definitely would have said the owners have to leave.
Definitely would have said that bringing in a coach and actually
keeping them from more than two seasons and not throwing in
money to just random players, improvements in recruitment and
(15:11):
all that. But now looking at the
situation, the fact that we're we're cutting budgets, we've
lost so much money as a footballclub, our value has gone down
significantly. I actually don't see a path
besides backing Amarin and hoping that he can turn this
around, where this club goes back to where it needs to be.
And the craziest part is you've got Liverpool, who just won
(15:34):
their 20th title. Liverpool Football Club is now
20 times char Premier League champions or Football League
champions if you want to count past Premier League.
The chant that we were so happy singing for so many years has no
significance and has no substance anymore.
And you don't think Liverpool will not try to win the title
(15:54):
next year? They're not slowing down.
They're looking at getting worse.
They're looking at getting Fringpong from B from buying Labour
cues and they are not slowing down.
So if you think that their yearsare done, then you got a whole
lot coming. So United we're we're way
behind. We are years behind the big
clubs, and unless Ruben Amarim has a miracle or the owners
(16:17):
leave, then this is what's gonnabe for a very, very, a very long
time. So in saying that, we're gonna
go into basically how this all started.
So essentially when the club wasbought, it was through a
leveraged buyer, so it was usingthe club's own revenue to
finance the debt. So before the Glazers came in,
there was no debt after 600 million from the first day.
(16:42):
And since then we've had 1.1 billion gone into interest
payments and dividends. They didn't buy the club with
love, they bought out with loansand then they've been paying
that price since. So all the money that is taken
out of the club is used to pay for the debt.
So every single ticket sale, every single merchandise sale,
(17:03):
everything that comes from our club, from our fans, our money
that we put like I'm in Australia, I go and pay 400
Australian dollars to go watch two games at Old Trafford, which
was fantastic. But that money goes to them to
pay off our debts. It doesn't go into the club, it
doesn't invest into anything andit's only going to get worse.
The Ineos group came in and basically we thought that this
(17:26):
was going to be fixed up, but assoon as they've come, they've
just made things worse. So pretty much we've spent over
a billion dollars in transfers, a billion dollars.
So whoever's in charge of playerrecruitment or transfers is
obviously doing something incorrect because from those
billions of dollars that we've spent, I could probably name you
two or three signings that were worth it, and one was Bruno
(17:47):
Fernandez. We started signing players that
were already developed. That was never United's DNA with
Fergie. Fergie always used to sign
players that were in for either in form in the Premier League
and would come to a bigger club to elevate their levels, which
is what Liverpool have been doing.
And I think that's the best way to to improve your team is to
actually get league proven players that are good enough to
(18:09):
play in that league and and takeit to the next level or just
develop from their youth. And our youth, as good as it
looks, is getting forced to playminutes ahead of their time.
The players that were back in the class of 92, they were able
to rest, They were able to have motivation from from players
that were older. I'd be mentored, be coached well
and and there's no leaders at the club anymore.
(18:30):
And that goes down to the recruitment of players that have
come in. And with those players that have
come in, you've paid them some obscure overpriced salaries like
players like Casimir, who for credits, he is making a lot of
money. He is being very professional
however. But there's a lot of players
like Rashford, like Sancho that are on so much money and are not
(18:52):
giving that return as players. And that just kills our wage
structure. Any player that wants to come in
will look at players like Sanchoand be like, I want to be on the
same money and it just, it just kills everything.
And I know that the Ineos group are trying to fix that, which is
1 positive I'll take. But that's something that's
going to take so long, so long to do.
So in saying that, yeah, the, the the transfers have been a
(19:16):
mess. What else is the training
facilities? Ronaldo has said it, the
training facilities were the same from when he left and when
he came back. No investment in those.
The stadium, Old Trafford, it's a beautiful stadium.
It's historic. It's given us so much joy.
But let me tell you, when I wentthere and for the first time and
got my ticket, I, I was shocked to see that basically when you
(19:38):
go into the stadium, there is concrete slabs of stairs going
all the way to the top level. No elevators.
I think there is maybe like those old school elevators, I
can't remember which has like the barbed wire fencing and you
just go up but nothing of any modern.
Like it was not modern at all. There was actually barbed wired
fencing across the whole thing, concrete slabs upstairs.
(19:59):
It took me like 5 minutes to getup.
The outside area was just old and rusted.
The roof kind of hangs down likethis.
So if you're at the back where Iwas, you barely see the opposite
side of the of the field. It was just extremely old and
and we all know about the rat infested in the sewage issues
that are done at the club. You've seen when when the
stadium is like pissing down rain.
(20:21):
The, the, the stadium finds out leaks, it leaks, sorry, starts
leaking and just so many issues with with that as well.
And now they've decided to obviously knock the stadium down
and build a brand new one, which, OK, I'm happy that they
are making a new stadium. I would have preferred them to
restructure and refurbish the old one to keep kind of the
(20:42):
traditions there, but they are creating a new stadium and
that's going to be at the cost of pretty much the fans, the
team's revenue as well. So from that, the, the, the
Ineos group have put that plan in place and they have lost
pretty much all the jobs. People have lost their jobs.
The club value has gone down like 2 point.
(21:03):
I'm pretty sure it's like 2.8 billion dollars, $2.67 billion
since February 2024. And that's pretty much when they
took an took, took over and hopefully they're able to get
some revenue there. But it's at the expense of staff
getting lost. Obviously what happened with the
Europa League and even the retirement fund where players
(21:24):
that have passed and present or past United players that have
retired have been getting fundedthrough this programme, They've
just stripped that off. And it's literally only 40,000
lbs. And if you think about it in in,
in perspective, Sancho is makinglike 5 times that money a week,
a week. It it, it's just, it's just
crazy. Before that we had Edward Wood
(21:46):
who was a banker. He wasn't even a club owner.
Thank God he's gone. He was one of the worst owners
I've ever seen in my life. This bloke had no clue
whatsoever. He's gone.
So we don't have to worry about him.
But he did a lot of really dumb shit when he was there.
A lot of opportunities to obviously get bought out by
Qatar, who obviously there is some issues there politically
(22:08):
and culturally, but I can guarantee you that the Qatari
owners would have definitely cleared out the debt, would have
improved the structure around the stadium as well and still
been able to have enough money for transfers.
They refused that. Radcliffe ended up just jumping
in trying to save the club, owning only 25%, and now the
Glazers who are at the core of all these problems are not
(22:31):
taking any hits at the moment. They're just sitting there
collecting their cheques, collecting our profits while all
the the fall goes on on Sir Jim Radcliffe.
So I'm not sure what deal they've put in place, but pretty
much Jim Radcliffe is there taking all the heat for this.
And he's supposed to be a Unitedfan, but I don't think he's a
United fan for the stuff he's doing, cutting out costs and
ruining everything that the clubwas built about.
(22:55):
There just doesn't seem to be any direction moving forward.
It just seems to really just cutoff the Glazers accountability,
which is which is shocking to me, which is like something
where I think the Glazers shouldbe standing up and addressing
the fans and they never do. They never do.
They never come out and and say anything.
They're just collecting money intheir pockets.
These greedy American owners. They have multiple franchises,
(23:17):
they have the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
They do not care about this club.
They're literally there to make profit.
And when a club is making profit, that's where the issues
go on because they don't care about the football club.
They're not as passionate as youand I are.
People that get up at 4:00 AM inAustralia to watch the team,
they don't understand those things.
All they understand is business and how they can make money and
(23:39):
as, as as soon just as like the club continues to, to grow and
as long as you have the biggest fan base in the world, it's top
3IN fan bases in the world, you're going to make profit and
you're going to make money. But how long realistically is
that going to last when there's no success?
Because I can tell you now, it was very hard for me to watch
games this year. I would in all honesty, in all
(24:01):
perspective, I would wake up to watch the game and as soon as I
put it on, I just, I just fall asleep, maybe cop a goal in the
1st 10 minutes. The way we're playing football,
just just put me to sleep there.There was no excitement anymore.
Like I couldn't wake up and and be excited for a game thinking,
oh, we're going to win this game.
Most of the games that I would watch, I would think that we're
going to lose. Like how as a fan for a club
(24:25):
that is Manchester United go into a a football game expecting
to lose most of their games likeI can at a time I obviously
expected to lose to top six teams, but I never would have
thought that every single game we went into, we were going to
lose. There was a time where we were
literally unstoppable at Old Trafford.
You would go to an Old Trafford game and you would watch that
(24:46):
and it would be pretty much a guaranteed victory.
The amount of records that I've seen broken first time this
club's won an Old Trafford in this year, most goals conceded
in in Old Trafford ever, most losses.
We've broken so many bad news records and there's literally a
list that I couldn't even count on the top of my head.
But the only one that's intact, and I'm guarantee you it's going
(25:08):
to happen is that when we're at Old Trafford leading a game at
half time, we never lose. And that's gonna happen.
Mark my words, that will happen next season where we will be one
nil up at Old Trafford and we will lose.
That's just the only record right now that we have intact,
which is which is extremely which is extremely sad.
So yeah, going on about post Fergie's, I guess departure 8
(25:33):
managers, no direction as mentioned, 1.5 billion spent
nothing there. I mentioned basically Jim
Radcliffe cutting all the staff perks, basically calling our
players as well, calling them overpaid and not good enough,
which it shouldn't come from your ownership group.
So that's also extremely disappointed and basically
they're at big fault for for what's happening at this club.
(25:55):
And it's, it's really sad and I,I want them to go.
I, I wish they could leave because I, I can guarantee if
they weren't part of this club, we would be so much in a better
place. But we're stuck with them for
now. And we're gonna have to, we're
gonna have to deal with that moving forward regarding the
players. So the players, obviously we can
(26:16):
sit there, blame ownership groups, we can blame fans, we
can blame anything we want to blame.
But ultimately it is up to the players.
The players are the only people that have control of the outcome
and the result. What I will say about the
players in a critical in a critical point is that there
(26:37):
isn't enough heart at the moment.
There isn't enough leadership. There isn't enough players there
that are winnable and good enough.
There's a lot of attitude issuesthat had a lot of issues with
managers in the past and it feels as though they have never
taken accountability or blame. I'm not going to sit there and
say that a player deservedly or or or purposely wants to lose a
(26:57):
football match. I feel like they're all
extremely competitive. But then when it comes to a
point where you're getting a high quality wage and you think
you're better than what you are because of that, egos come
through. It definitely does impact our
performance as well. So I can sit there and talk
about the players, but I'm not going to do that because it the
ultimately it is up to them to perform on the pitch, but they
have to be put in situations where they can do that.
(27:20):
And with a club that doesn't have good facilities, with a
club that doesn't have a good management upper, it's really
hard to really kind of judge them that much.
But again, they still have a lotof accountability.
Don't get me wrong, especially ones that have been overpaid and
I'm not putting their 100% on the pitch.
What I will say though, and whatirks me is the fans and
(27:40):
especially especially the pundits that are on that are on
these Sky Sports and whatnot. I'll first start off with the
fans. Every fan is great.
Not all fans are like this. I will say that, but there are
so many United fans that are extremely toxic, that extremely
are negative that just go out there to put their opinions on.
(28:01):
That does not help anything whatsoever.
Yes, the players have bad performances, yes there's times
where they're underperform, but when you abuse them online and
when you criticise them, it is atoxic, toxic environment.
If I look at Liverpool as a football club, Darwin Nunez has
been no good. If Darwin Nunez was doing what
he's doing at Liverpool at Manchester United right now, he
(28:22):
would have copped so much abuse and hate at Liverpool.
There are the few that do dislike him and cop that hate,
but most of those fans are always backing him up and
sticking up for for him and that's our club.
Is is not that. When we had Xerxy, who just
signed for three months, we had fans cheering him, cheering when
he came off at half time. Is that a message you want to
(28:44):
send to players that are coming into the club that sign that if
you're not performing, we're notgoing to support you, we're not
going to back you? I totally disagree.
If a new player comes to the club, they're wearing our shirt,
they're part of us, they're partof our family and we need to
bloody support them. Look at all the abuse that Harry
Maguire got. Did he deserve that?
Hell no. He was put in a tough position,
(29:05):
$80 million, did not ask, had nocontrol of the transfer fee that
was given, and he copped abuse. He copped abuse and he continued
to cop abuse. That's the fans.
I'll say that my issue and the biggest issue are the bloody
pundits. The Rio Kings, the Gary Nevels,
the Rio Ferdinands, the Paul Scores, every single one of
those pundits, although they do support United and I truly
(29:27):
believe that they do want what want what's best for the club
are not proving that they are going on these big media outlets
and berating the players and criticising the performances
week in, week out to fill up their pockets.
If they truly cared for the club, if they really gave a shit
about Manchester United, do you think they'd be talking about
them that way? They're getting paid to talk
(29:49):
like that and act like they've been there, they've been,
they've seen the success and they have every right to speak
on the criticism. Anthony said it perfectly.
He signed for 100 million. Obviously he hasn't been
performing well but you can see what he's doing at Betis, he
said the PLA, the fan that the pundits always are quick to
criticise us and criticise my performance but never do they
reach out and tell me what I need to do to be better in this
(30:11):
club. I don't see any of those pundits
supporting our players. The only ones that they support
is England and you know why and you can understand why because
there's the national team. They are the players of that
nation and I don't want to berate them.
Ridiculous. Absolute hypocrites, those
pundits, as all of them. Gary Neville was another big
example. He was quick to berate the
(30:32):
Glazers nonstop, nonstop, until his mate Jim Radcliffe came in,
said nothing about him. There are agendas, there are
biases and there are just notions that they pick and
choose who they want to abuse and who they want to say.
A United play out, A fan does not do that.
You don't see any Liverpool pundits or barely any Manchester
City pundits that are on there criticising the club.
(30:53):
Even Arsenal's pundits are not like that.
You see Ian Ryan and Terry Henryalways sticking up for Arsenal
on a regular basis but when it comes to United, they love it.
Sky Sports loves putting on pundits that are Manchester
United ex players so that they can get the views and get their
criticism and all that. And to me that is not someone
(31:13):
that actually wants to to help aclub.
There's no solution provided from these pundits.
They're just out there putting their opinions out and just
saying the worst things about this club.
And to me that just frustrates me a lot because they're
supposed to be the guys that know what it's like to be at
this club and understand and they don't do anything about it.
They were there when like Fergiewas there.
(31:35):
They they don't have any, any raw and and honest footage as
well. It's always double stance.
It's always contradictions. They're just creating division
because obviously United fans are going to stick up and, and
and and stick up with the the explayers because they're the ones
that are supposed to be the stars and the ones that have won
trophies. But instead of really coming up
(31:56):
with solutions or something to unite the club, they are making
more toxicity and creating more divide than ever.
And it's ridiculous. They have a platform where
people love to watch post game analysis, post game preview and
all that they see, all United fans see is how bad the players
are, how bad this is, how bad that is, because why they want
(32:17):
to get views, they want to get clicks and they won't get money
and it's just absolutely ridiculous.
It just frustrates me. The last thing I want to talk
about before I kind of summarisewhat we're going to do and kind
of move on in the future is address basically Sir Alex
Ferguson. So this is going to be something
that it's quite controversial and I don't like to do this on
(32:38):
my podcast, but I feel like it'smy own opinion and it has to be
said, it has to be mentioned. Sir Alex Ferguson, when he left
the club, obviously the club went down, we skied down.
We haven't won a Premier League title since all that.
When Fergie left the club, I don't truly believe he prepared
us for what was coming up. The team that he left us, once
(33:00):
we won the title and everyone says Moyes took a title winning
team, that team was done. That was probably the last
Goodyear they had. We still had gigs, we had
skulls, we had Carrick, Ferdinand, vintage Evra Dahea
was obviously still new Rooney, Van Persie, who were all in
their 30s, in their 30s. They were the best.
They would have had maybe one more year.
(33:20):
Fergie could have got another title out of them because it's
unbelievable. But the fact that Fergie left
that team in that state really didn't help our club.
And I'm not sitting there and blaming Fergie for all this
because there's obviously a lot more issues than Fergie there.
But I would have loved Alex Ferguson to leave in a way where
it allowed our club to be in a position where we could rebuild
(33:41):
and and for Moyes to take on a team that was more prepared for
what was going to happen. Before I say that though, Fergie
did mention to the fans to back the manager and stick with the
manager no matter what, so he must have knew that this was
going to be some rough times once he left.
When he did get started, he almost got sacked.
They waited four years and the rest was history.
(34:03):
The success that we got was unbelievable and I'm not saying
that Moyes could have given us the same success, but I
definitely think if Moyes had more time to rebuild that team,
you don't know what would have happened to the club.
The club could have been in a whole different situation.
We don't know, but I don't thinkwe had the chance to do it and I
don't think Fergie gave Moyes the tools to to succeed.
And the reason why I say this, if you look at the most recent
(34:25):
example, Jurgen Klopp left a Liverpool team and they had some
legendary players, but at the same time they also had players
that were rebuilt as well. Once Manet, once Firmino left,
once Henderson left, they were able to replace the midfield and
replace the attacking players seamlessly.
And as Arnis slot came in, he didn't even need to change the
(34:47):
team. The only player he bore was
Federica Kaiser for 14 mil who barely even touched the pitch.
So you're gonna tell me that if the team was more set up
correctly we wouldn't have been more successful?
100% think that would be the case.
The only players that came in from that the season was Kagawa
and Van Persie. Van Persie was 30 years old.
(35:08):
He only came there to win the title.
He would have expected obviouslyFergie to stay longer but he
came and done what he needed to do.
Kagawa was the future and was the only signing and Alex
Butner, who wasn't going to play, came in.
And then when Moisey did sign two players, which was Mata and
Fellaini, they were good playersfor United, they were
serviceable players. And I don't think that Moisey
(35:30):
really had the time he deserved from then.
Yes, he had a terrible season. But do we really think a team
that at club or players that were coached with Fergie's whole
season would have been able to adapt to a manager like David
Moyes? I don't think so.
And the egos would have came into play.
The, the, the, the, the ages and, and, and the fact that the
players are past their primes would have also came into play.
(35:52):
And ultimately they were impatient and they sucked.
Moyes and it's been torture since because Van Hal came in,
won US an FA Cup, didn't do much.
Jose Mourinho, as he said, had his best ever season, finishing
second but didn't really do much.
Van Hal Solsha came in and he got the ball rolling, got us a
bit excited. And I think that was the first
time we felt that will Manchester United couldn't
(36:14):
continue, lost the dressing room.
So maybe if Fergie didn't do that, we could have potentially
been better. I don't know.
I'm not saying that I'm not putting it out there, but it's
just something to think about when the team was going there.
I think people were too harsh onDavid Moyes when he came in.
I think that he could have used a lot of time, especially the
fact that he won a Conference league with West Ham.
He was pretty solid with them and he's doing pretty decent
(36:35):
stuff with with Everton as well.I see a decent manager in him.
Back then I wouldn't have said that because I was a kid and
then just spoiled with with AlexFerguson.
But again, just something to think about there just and
again, something that was was really frustrating as well, not
really considered as well. I really did wish that we will,
we had the tools in place for for a decent rebuild.
(36:57):
If you look at what Pep Guardiola's doing right now,
he's going through that rebuild as well and he hasn't got a
permanent contract available. But let me tell you, if he does
this rebuild, the next next manager that comes in will be
able to take this team and do right things.
If he left last season with the issues that they've had and all
their ageing players, they wouldbe struggling just like us.
But that's how I think it shouldhave went.
(37:19):
We should have had a team that was ready to go.
Fergie's is notorious for havingmultiple rebuilds.
He's had three different types of teams and one trophy is in
every single one. If he was able to just create a
fourth team for us and if and ifand if David Moyes didn't do a
good job, then I'd sit here and say I'm wrong.
But we will never know. And that would have been
something that I would have loved, loved to know as well.
And obviously the ownership, as we mentioned, didn't help with
(37:40):
this either. So in saying all this, where do
we go from here? It's a great question.
I told you I have no idea. I tried to do a bit of research.
The first thing I can say is back the manager, which I've
already mentioned, but I think the main thing is just to to to
get a big clearance here. I think players, a lot of
(38:01):
players that are over paid have got to go.
The players that are that are put out on loan, they've got to
stay in their clubs. I don't see them coming in and
ruining our wage structure. We've already got Matthias Cunha
signed, which is great and I'm happy that they signed him.
I'm very excited for the player he can become.
I just really hope that, you know, it doesn't ruin him.
So that needs to be in place. We need to sign similar players
(38:23):
to his ability. Definitely need another
midfielder, definitely need another left back, definitely
need another centre back. Definitely need two or three
more attacking players. Attacking players is probably
the biggest issue we have at themoment.
Definitely need that and definitely need, yeah, it's a
clean house as well. In terms of kind of signs of
hope, we've got menu, we've got Ganacho.
(38:46):
They're kind of a set against the future of the club at the
moment. We need to continue to invest in
those. It does seem unfortunately that
Ganacho is leaving. So if he does, trying to get as
much money we can from him as possible.
And then obviously just continuing to develop players
like Obi to players like Amos and and et cetera.
And hopefully them Obi can be ready to play some first team
(39:08):
football moving forward because he seems like a a really good
player. We also need the leaders to step
up and really mentor these players.
If Bruno is tired, if he's had enough, let him leave, let him
be successful somewhere else. But I do think Bruno is can
serve us a lot going forward as well in terms of fans.
We still need to be together andand just support each other.
(39:29):
I think the environment is too negative across Manchester
United. We're too critical of too many
things where we create the vibe,we create separation.
We need to unite as fans and we need to stick by the process.
This is going to test our characters, this is going to
test our abilities. But for Australians, if we
continue to show up at 4:00 AM, go to bars and continue
supporting, we have something tolook forward to at least.
(39:51):
At least we have people togethergoing into communities, uniting
with people. Having someone to cry on as well
also helps. So continuing to be loyal fans
and supporters is probably the most important thing for us as
well. We do need to acknowledge the
pain, but we need to maintain that unity as well.
And as a United fan myself, I'lltry to continue to go to as many
(40:13):
games as possible as bars and next year.
Really, really, really try watchas many games as possible
because I didn't do the best jobat that last year.
And that also doesn't help. It gives me more engagement into
my club and and continues to support our stuff over there as
well. But yeah, that's pretty much my
breakdown of, of Manchester United and issues there and
(40:34):
basically capping off the EuropaLeague loss and our end of
season finish. It wasn't the big rant that I
expected in terms of just swearing and stuff.
And to be honest, the reason whyis because I'm, I'm actually not
angry. I, I, I can't be surprised with
where my club is. I can be shocked, I can be
disappointed, but ultimately there's nothing I can do.
But I really wanted to get some content out regarding Manchester
(40:56):
United. Obviously, as mentioned, thank
you to all those fans that that did have the chat and went on
the interview as well. I really appreciate you guys
getting on there and I really hope you guys tune into this
episode and kind of enjoy my breakdown.
If you still want to continue talking about Manchester United,
feel free to hit me up on on allmy social medias.
And for those that are obviouslyjust sporting fans in general
and not United fans, I do hope you still enjoyed this content
(41:19):
as well. I would love to get your
feedback on what you want to talk about too moving forward.
I've got some few guests plannedup for some future episodes,
which I'm really excited to do and continuing to to interview
umm, ex players, fans and, and, and and people that are involved
in sport altogether. But umm yeah, another episode of
(41:40):
the huddle within. Thank you very much for for
tuning in to this one and I willcatch you guys next week.
Cheers. So that's a wrap for this week's
episode of the huddle within podcast.
I appreciate you for tuning in and being part of this community
where we go beyond the game and into what really matters.
If this episode resonated with you, make sure to subscribe,
(42:01):
leave a review, and share it with someone who sees sports
just the way that we do. And hey, I'd love to hear from
you. Connect with me on my social
medias, which will be linked below, send in your thoughts and
even be part of a future episode.
Until next time, keep that passion alive, stay in the
huddle, and remember it's alwaysdeeper than the game.
Cheers.
Welcome to the Huddle Within podcast, where we go beyond the
surface to uncover the real impact of sports on our lives.
Whether it's lessons of resilience, the passion that
fuels us, or the stories that connect us all, This is where
the game gets personal. I am Daniel, a regular sports
fan just like you, and together we'll explore what sports truly
means beyond the surface. So step right into the Huddle
and let's get into it. What is going on, everybody?
(00:40):
And welcome to this week's episode of The Huddle Within
podcast. As you can tell from the title,
the day has come. I did mention two weeks ago
after my little wizard's emotional rant with the Draught
lottery, that if United were to lose the Europa League, I would
come back for some more emotional rants.
So here I am today, basically breaking down the United season
(01:03):
overall, which also includes theEuropa League Cup final results
and also the issues that are deeply rooted inside the
Manchester United Football Club.These are obviously researches
that I've done, but also my opinion as to why we are the
mess that we are. And yeah, it's, it's, it's
bizarre what I've what I've seenin this club the last 13 years,
(01:27):
but especially, especially this year.
So obviously, you know, I'm a United fan, been passionate
United fan pretty much my whole life.
And I've never, ever seen any ofmy sporting clubs look and, and
run this badly. And, and I go for a lot of teams
that besides this mob over here that are in a mess.
So we're gonna basically jump into that.
(01:49):
But before we do, if it is your first time listening, feel free
to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
And if you could leave a five star review, that would be great
as well. For the first time, sort of like
in this in this podcast scene and and kind of content creation
scene, I went and did a bit of acontent piece at the CQ bar in
(02:09):
Melbourne interviewing fans postand pre Europa League final
match, most of them being obviously United fans.
So to those that I did interviewthat had the had the audacity to
come on, thank you so much for that.
Thank you for giving me your thoughts and your takes.
It was the first time thing for me.
It didn't really come as prepared.
(02:30):
Do you want to shout out my friend Matt with his own page
that runs basically sign Memorialia?
It's called sign by goats on Instagram.
I might drop a a link in the description below, but he
essentially invited me to this event ran by Dan, who also I'm
going to shout out is the the leader of the Manchester United
Melbourne community fan page where he's running events on a
(02:52):
regular basis for United games and potentially future sporting
events moving forward. They've partnered up with CQ Bar
Melbourne who are also getting involved as well.
So I got there, I managed to meet the guys and moving
forward, I'm going to potentially do a few more events
coming up as well, hopefully fora wide range of sporting events
and also for football as well. Basically, yeah, went there and
(03:17):
given that it was 4:00 AM in themorning on a Thursday, people
have obviously work and school or university after the match.
It was just great to see so manyUnited fans present at the at
the bar, 350 of them to be exact.
And just having that opportunityto give Australian fans a voice.
There are a lot of footballing fans in this country that do
(03:38):
wake up at crazy times of the night to watch their team play.
And that's what it's about It's about that sport fandom.
It's about the loyalty. And in this podcast we kind of
dive into that as as you probably all know that have
listened to a few episodes. So being able to kind of share
that on, on my platform and alsokind of transfer that into this
podcast is kind of what I'm going on about as well.
(04:00):
So for those that have come through the the content that I
created, welcome as well. And yeah, it's finally my time
to give my opinion on on Manchester United as well.
Didn't really have the chance totalk about it with fans, but
yeah, we're gonna we're gonna break it down.
And I think the first thing we'll do is pretty much break
down the season. So it's a tough one.
(04:22):
I've got the table here. We finished 15th on the table.
So we did get a a win against Aston Villa, beating them two
nil. I think the only reason why we
won the game is because of the red card.
So ended up finishing on 42 points.
So we managed to just be above the top three or the bottom
three teams that relegated and also on top of Tottenham, but
(04:43):
not really. And then Wolves as well.
So finishing on 42 points. We lost 18 games.
That is that is a club record. So that's the first time in the
club's history, I think in the Premier League that we've ever
lost 18 games. So that that's already a crazy
start in itself. We only scored 44 goals.
(05:03):
And comparing to Liverpool, Liverpool scored in the 80s.
So that we they pretty much almost doubled the amount of
goals they scored compared to us.
And I got the sniffles. I'm a bit sick.
We also conceded 54. And in the landscape of things,
looking at the table, West Ham, Wolves, Tottenham all conceded
(05:24):
over 60 goals. So from a defensive standpoint,
1 wasn't too bad. Obviously 54 goals is a lot, but
comparing to the teams that are around us at the bottom, not the
not the most goals conceded, butdefinitely 5th in in goals
scored. So that that is, that was a
major, major concern. We've obviously got out of cups
(05:44):
early, terrible performances allaround the season.
And we did lose that, that Europa League final, which we'll
talk about as well. Obviously when Ruben Amarim came
in, he did expect things to happen badly, but I don't think
he was prepared for for what wasgoing to happen towards the end
(06:04):
of this season. And yeah, just a terrible,
terrible season. Like, I can sit here and be
angry like I was when the Wizards got the 6th pick, but
that genuinely surprised me, if I'm honest.
I'm not surprised at all. Like, yes, I'm surprised that we
finished 15th, but I'm not surprised that we had a losing
season and a terrible season, especially with how the club has
(06:28):
been over the past five years, Iwould say.
But most recently, ever since Jim Radcliffe have come in and
he was supposed to be someone that was going to help the club
and push the club forward in a good direction, but it just
seems like he's making stuff a whole whole lot worse.
And yeah, it's it's scary. Like I'm going to obviously go
(06:48):
on to that as well. But yeah, again, finishing 15th
on the table is just is just embarrassing.
And we thought that there was going to be an opportunity for
us to finish in this place, win Europa League and qualify
ourselves into the Champions League, which would have gave us
a a big salvage or saved our season.
(07:08):
But we all know what happened. United end up losing 1 nil to
Tottenham. Brendan Johnson getting a goal
in the 42 minute, 42nd minute, definitely an own goal.
I don't think that was his goal himself.
And pretty much from then on Tottenham decided to hold the
lead the whole game. And fair play to Ange Pasta
(07:29):
Koglu, he is a fellow Australianlike myself, managed the game
perfectly, deserved the the result in the end, if I'm honest
and I'll get into that. But he did say in one of the
coldest lines in football that he always wins trophy in his
second season and he proved thatthat to be right.
It's Tottenham's first trophy in17 years and I'm so glad he was
(07:51):
a fellow Australian that that did it as well.
When he did get picked up from Tottenham, I was really excited
for them himself. I've always wanted him to be a
United manager, but again, he's still coaching a Premier League
club and he's just proven wherever he goes he wins
trophies. And they've got Mila Yadonak
there as well, who was also an Australian, a former player of
Crystal Palace. He's also on the management
(08:12):
board, so hopefully he might lend an opportunity in the
future. But Angie's success at the
moment is definitely opening thedoors and pathways for
Australian football to grow and also for aspiring football
managers in Australia to potentially grow and seek top
flight management in in in big leagues in Europe.
So awesome play to Ang. But this podcast is about
(08:35):
United. So looking at the game itself,
if there was any team to sit back against it would be United
because when we move the ball itis terrible.
We're not a team that is good playing with possession and
build up play and that was proven in this week's this
year's Europa League final. And as a fan watching, I just
felt we weren't going to score. It just didn't seem like we were
(08:57):
going to score the way we were moving the ball, so slow, so
passive, attempted switches which we couldn't execute.
We had a few chances that you could think that we could have
scored the header obviously in the 90th minute and the goal
line clearance from Van Toven, but other than that we didn't
look convincing. A lot of our star players such
as Bruno didn't show up unfortunately and we just we
(09:20):
just couldn't get the result. And as I spoke about Amaram, I
do generally feel like he did get out coached this game.
As much as I am a big believer in Reuben Amaram, I think he got
this one wrong in terms of the substitutions.
The substitutions were way too late and now you can see the
consequences of that with Garnacho going out on on our X
and pretty much saying and interviewing saying that he only
(09:42):
got 20 minutes. So not good things for the
locker room. But again, I think that the
wrong decisions were made there.In saying that, do I think
Ameren should get sacked? 100% no.
Reason being is because he came into this season not prepared,
not wanting to take the job. He wanted to take the job after
this season so he was able to have a full transfer window and
(10:05):
a preseason where he's able to get his systems in place.
He basically got forced by IneosGroup and the Glazers to take
the job or else he'd never get it again.
And if Man United comes knockingon the door or these days you
can say no, but for the stature of the club, you really can't
say no. So he took the job, warned us
that the worst days are yet to come and again, he may have not
(10:27):
expected us to finish 15th abouta trophy, but that happened and
I think Ameren needs a lot more time here.
We're going to have to go through this, this struggle and
it starts with the new signing of Kunya, which which is
exciting, but again, that's not going to be able to to fix our
problems. So in terms of Reuben Abraham, I
don't think you should get sacked.
(10:47):
I think we should be backing themanager here.
The problems are not with the management.
The problems are above. If you look at all the coaches
we've had post Fergie, we've hadMourinho, we've had Van Hal,
we've had Eric 10 Haag and we'vealso had Olegonic Solsha and I
forget the last one, but pretty much we've had some well, 10
Haag and pretty much some world class managers and they still
(11:10):
weren't able to win US a title or make us consistently qualify
for Champions League every season.
Yes, we won Europa League, an FACup here and there, but nothing
of any significance or nothing as to how big the, the club of
United is. And I think, and we're going to
talk about the owners. I, I will mention the owners
100% will, but the club is in shambles in terms of the
(11:33):
atmosphere of the game itself. Honestly, like it was really
good to see a lot of United fansthere are passionate and, and in
hopes for, for a result. But yeah, the fan, the, the fans
let us down in terms of the result itself as a club 100%
deserve the loss. And the reason why is because of
(11:55):
the issues that happened before the game, the ticket
controversies. Players were only allowed to
have two tickets, yeah, per player.
They're only allowed to give outtwo tickets to fans.
And also the staff got none. So no staff were actually
supported with free tickets to the game.
And if you look at a club like PSG, they've got their Champions
League final coming up. The club is going to be paying
(12:17):
for every single staff member. And if a club wants to do well
in Europa League, wants to succeed and you're not giving
players tickets to their families and friends who they're
excited to watch to, for them towatch and, and have that extra
motivation. And then you don't give staff
and you force your manager to pay for about 30 staff members
tickets, then that that is that is ridiculous ownership.
(12:39):
That is an ownership that to me feels as though they don't
really care about the fans. They don't really care about
people that are working in the club that are, that are
sacrificing that are that are the key reasons as to why the
team is in the Europa League final to begin with.
It's just ridiculous in my opinion.
And then if you look at that, you really think that we don't
deserve it as a club like that. The reward we get is not that.
(13:01):
And what frustrates me is how the club will use the budgets
and and the high charges as an excuse.
But the end of the day, one, they're obviously gonna still be
making profit, the owners and whatnot.
But two, if you were able to have more support from your
staff and for for the players families, don't you think that
they would be a little bit more motivated to win the game?
(13:23):
I'm not saying that that is the ultimate factor and I'm not
saying that if the players, fans, family and friends were
there they would win, but it would most definitely have given
them a higher motivation to win the game and they would have
felt the support coming from their closest peers.
In saying that if they did win the the guy of the Europa
League, they would have had the profit in in hundredfold getting
(13:45):
the money to qualify for the Champions League and having that
finance too. So by wanting to cut costs, you
end up not making the Europa League anyway and you've already
lost that money to begin with. So if you were able to put a
small sacrifice that could potentially help your team.
If you're not looking at any perspective of wanting to win a
trophy or wanting the fans to behappy, but simply to put money
in your pockets, that would havebeen a good tactic for an
(14:07):
ownership group to actually allow and pay for staff and and
family to attend the match. So in saying that, ridiculous.
The fact that you let Ameren play, pay for the tickets,
absolutely ridiculous. And it just looks stupid.
Like it honestly looks freaking stupid that you are gonna are
gonna let a coach pay for the staff that you pay for and and
(14:29):
you're already cutting staff to begin with.
You're already doing all that like outlandish stuff.
And before Europa League final, when there is a chance to
salvage your season, when there's a chance to to hide and
put paper over the cracks, you just add fuel to the fire by
doing this. And then we get out what we
deserve. We lose the Europa League, fans
are more caught, no Champions League football.
And yeah, it's just it's just crazy.
(14:51):
And like, this is probably the first time as a United fan where
maybe five years ago, if we had this conversation, I would have
been able to say what what wouldhelp fix the club.
Definitely would have said the owners have to leave.
Definitely would have said that bringing in a coach and actually
keeping them from more than two seasons and not throwing in
money to just random players, improvements in recruitment and
(15:11):
all that. But now looking at the
situation, the fact that we're we're cutting budgets, we've
lost so much money as a footballclub, our value has gone down
significantly. I actually don't see a path
besides backing Amarin and hoping that he can turn this
around, where this club goes back to where it needs to be.
And the craziest part is you've got Liverpool, who just won
(15:34):
their 20th title. Liverpool Football Club is now
20 times char Premier League champions or Football League
champions if you want to count past Premier League.
The chant that we were so happy singing for so many years has no
significance and has no substance anymore.
And you don't think Liverpool will not try to win the title
(15:54):
next year? They're not slowing down.
They're looking at getting worse.
They're looking at getting Fringpong from B from buying Labour
cues and they are not slowing down.
So if you think that their yearsare done, then you got a whole
lot coming. So United we're we're way
behind. We are years behind the big
clubs, and unless Ruben Amarim has a miracle or the owners
(16:17):
leave, then this is what's gonnabe for a very, very, a very long
time. So in saying that, we're gonna
go into basically how this all started.
So essentially when the club wasbought, it was through a
leveraged buyer, so it was usingthe club's own revenue to
finance the debt. So before the Glazers came in,
there was no debt after 600 million from the first day.
(16:42):
And since then we've had 1.1 billion gone into interest
payments and dividends. They didn't buy the club with
love, they bought out with loansand then they've been paying
that price since. So all the money that is taken
out of the club is used to pay for the debt.
So every single ticket sale, every single merchandise sale,
(17:03):
everything that comes from our club, from our fans, our money
that we put like I'm in Australia, I go and pay 400
Australian dollars to go watch two games at Old Trafford, which
was fantastic. But that money goes to them to
pay off our debts. It doesn't go into the club, it
doesn't invest into anything andit's only going to get worse.
The Ineos group came in and basically we thought that this
(17:26):
was going to be fixed up, but assoon as they've come, they've
just made things worse. So pretty much we've spent over
a billion dollars in transfers, a billion dollars.
So whoever's in charge of playerrecruitment or transfers is
obviously doing something incorrect because from those
billions of dollars that we've spent, I could probably name you
two or three signings that were worth it, and one was Bruno
(17:47):
Fernandez. We started signing players that
were already developed. That was never United's DNA with
Fergie. Fergie always used to sign
players that were in for either in form in the Premier League
and would come to a bigger club to elevate their levels, which
is what Liverpool have been doing.
And I think that's the best way to to improve your team is to
actually get league proven players that are good enough to
(18:09):
play in that league and and takeit to the next level or just
develop from their youth. And our youth, as good as it
looks, is getting forced to playminutes ahead of their time.
The players that were back in the class of 92, they were able
to rest, They were able to have motivation from from players
that were older. I'd be mentored, be coached well
and and there's no leaders at the club anymore.
(18:30):
And that goes down to the recruitment of players that have
come in. And with those players that have
come in, you've paid them some obscure overpriced salaries like
players like Casimir, who for credits, he is making a lot of
money. He is being very professional
however. But there's a lot of players
like Rashford, like Sancho that are on so much money and are not
(18:52):
giving that return as players. And that just kills our wage
structure. Any player that wants to come in
will look at players like Sanchoand be like, I want to be on the
same money and it just, it just kills everything.
And I know that the Ineos group are trying to fix that, which is
1 positive I'll take. But that's something that's
going to take so long, so long to do.
So in saying that, yeah, the, the the transfers have been a
(19:16):
mess. What else is the training
facilities? Ronaldo has said it, the
training facilities were the same from when he left and when
he came back. No investment in those.
The stadium, Old Trafford, it's a beautiful stadium.
It's historic. It's given us so much joy.
But let me tell you, when I wentthere and for the first time and
got my ticket, I, I was shocked to see that basically when you
(19:38):
go into the stadium, there is concrete slabs of stairs going
all the way to the top level. No elevators.
I think there is maybe like those old school elevators, I
can't remember which has like the barbed wire fencing and you
just go up but nothing of any modern.
Like it was not modern at all. There was actually barbed wired
fencing across the whole thing, concrete slabs upstairs.
(19:59):
It took me like 5 minutes to getup.
The outside area was just old and rusted.
The roof kind of hangs down likethis.
So if you're at the back where Iwas, you barely see the opposite
side of the of the field. It was just extremely old and
and we all know about the rat infested in the sewage issues
that are done at the club. You've seen when when the
stadium is like pissing down rain.
(20:21):
The, the, the stadium finds out leaks, it leaks, sorry, starts
leaking and just so many issues with with that as well.
And now they've decided to obviously knock the stadium down
and build a brand new one, which, OK, I'm happy that they
are making a new stadium. I would have preferred them to
restructure and refurbish the old one to keep kind of the
(20:42):
traditions there, but they are creating a new stadium and
that's going to be at the cost of pretty much the fans, the
team's revenue as well. So from that, the, the, the
Ineos group have put that plan in place and they have lost
pretty much all the jobs. People have lost their jobs.
The club value has gone down like 2 point.
(21:03):
I'm pretty sure it's like 2.8 billion dollars, $2.67 billion
since February 2024. And that's pretty much when they
took an took, took over and hopefully they're able to get
some revenue there. But it's at the expense of staff
getting lost. Obviously what happened with the
Europa League and even the retirement fund where players
(21:24):
that have passed and present or past United players that have
retired have been getting fundedthrough this programme, They've
just stripped that off. And it's literally only 40,000
lbs. And if you think about it in in,
in perspective, Sancho is makinglike 5 times that money a week,
a week. It it, it's just, it's just
crazy. Before that we had Edward Wood
(21:46):
who was a banker. He wasn't even a club owner.
Thank God he's gone. He was one of the worst owners
I've ever seen in my life. This bloke had no clue
whatsoever. He's gone.
So we don't have to worry about him.
But he did a lot of really dumb shit when he was there.
A lot of opportunities to obviously get bought out by
Qatar, who obviously there is some issues there politically
(22:08):
and culturally, but I can guarantee you that the Qatari
owners would have definitely cleared out the debt, would have
improved the structure around the stadium as well and still
been able to have enough money for transfers.
They refused that. Radcliffe ended up just jumping
in trying to save the club, owning only 25%, and now the
Glazers who are at the core of all these problems are not
(22:31):
taking any hits at the moment. They're just sitting there
collecting their cheques, collecting our profits while all
the the fall goes on on Sir Jim Radcliffe.
So I'm not sure what deal they've put in place, but pretty
much Jim Radcliffe is there taking all the heat for this.
And he's supposed to be a Unitedfan, but I don't think he's a
United fan for the stuff he's doing, cutting out costs and
ruining everything that the clubwas built about.
(22:55):
There just doesn't seem to be any direction moving forward.
It just seems to really just cutoff the Glazers accountability,
which is which is shocking to me, which is like something
where I think the Glazers shouldbe standing up and addressing
the fans and they never do. They never do.
They never come out and and say anything.
They're just collecting money intheir pockets.
These greedy American owners. They have multiple franchises,
(23:17):
they have the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
They do not care about this club.
They're literally there to make profit.
And when a club is making profit, that's where the issues
go on because they don't care about the football club.
They're not as passionate as youand I are.
People that get up at 4:00 AM inAustralia to watch the team,
they don't understand those things.
All they understand is business and how they can make money and
(23:39):
as, as as soon just as like the club continues to, to grow and
as long as you have the biggest fan base in the world, it's top
3IN fan bases in the world, you're going to make profit and
you're going to make money. But how long realistically is
that going to last when there's no success?
Because I can tell you now, it was very hard for me to watch
games this year. I would in all honesty, in all
(24:01):
perspective, I would wake up to watch the game and as soon as I
put it on, I just, I just fall asleep, maybe cop a goal in the
1st 10 minutes. The way we're playing football,
just just put me to sleep there.There was no excitement anymore.
Like I couldn't wake up and and be excited for a game thinking,
oh, we're going to win this game.
Most of the games that I would watch, I would think that we're
going to lose. Like how as a fan for a club
(24:25):
that is Manchester United go into a a football game expecting
to lose most of their games likeI can at a time I obviously
expected to lose to top six teams, but I never would have
thought that every single game we went into, we were going to
lose. There was a time where we were
literally unstoppable at Old Trafford.
You would go to an Old Trafford game and you would watch that
(24:46):
and it would be pretty much a guaranteed victory.
The amount of records that I've seen broken first time this
club's won an Old Trafford in this year, most goals conceded
in in Old Trafford ever, most losses.
We've broken so many bad news records and there's literally a
list that I couldn't even count on the top of my head.
But the only one that's intact, and I'm guarantee you it's going
(25:08):
to happen is that when we're at Old Trafford leading a game at
half time, we never lose. And that's gonna happen.
Mark my words, that will happen next season where we will be one
nil up at Old Trafford and we will lose.
That's just the only record right now that we have intact,
which is which is extremely which is extremely sad.
So yeah, going on about post Fergie's, I guess departure 8
(25:33):
managers, no direction as mentioned, 1.5 billion spent
nothing there. I mentioned basically Jim
Radcliffe cutting all the staff perks, basically calling our
players as well, calling them overpaid and not good enough,
which it shouldn't come from your ownership group.
So that's also extremely disappointed and basically
they're at big fault for for what's happening at this club.
(25:55):
And it's, it's really sad and I,I want them to go.
I, I wish they could leave because I, I can guarantee if
they weren't part of this club, we would be so much in a better
place. But we're stuck with them for
now. And we're gonna have to, we're
gonna have to deal with that moving forward regarding the
players. So the players, obviously we can
(26:16):
sit there, blame ownership groups, we can blame fans, we
can blame anything we want to blame.
But ultimately it is up to the players.
The players are the only people that have control of the outcome
and the result. What I will say about the
players in a critical in a critical point is that there
(26:37):
isn't enough heart at the moment.
There isn't enough leadership. There isn't enough players there
that are winnable and good enough.
There's a lot of attitude issuesthat had a lot of issues with
managers in the past and it feels as though they have never
taken accountability or blame. I'm not going to sit there and
say that a player deservedly or or or purposely wants to lose a
(26:57):
football match. I feel like they're all
extremely competitive. But then when it comes to a
point where you're getting a high quality wage and you think
you're better than what you are because of that, egos come
through. It definitely does impact our
performance as well. So I can sit there and talk
about the players, but I'm not going to do that because it the
ultimately it is up to them to perform on the pitch, but they
have to be put in situations where they can do that.
(27:20):
And with a club that doesn't have good facilities, with a
club that doesn't have a good management upper, it's really
hard to really kind of judge them that much.
But again, they still have a lotof accountability.
Don't get me wrong, especially ones that have been overpaid and
I'm not putting their 100% on the pitch.
What I will say though, and whatirks me is the fans and
(27:40):
especially especially the pundits that are on that are on
these Sky Sports and whatnot. I'll first start off with the
fans. Every fan is great.
Not all fans are like this. I will say that, but there are
so many United fans that are extremely toxic, that extremely
are negative that just go out there to put their opinions on.
(28:01):
That does not help anything whatsoever.
Yes, the players have bad performances, yes there's times
where they're underperform, but when you abuse them online and
when you criticise them, it is atoxic, toxic environment.
If I look at Liverpool as a football club, Darwin Nunez has
been no good. If Darwin Nunez was doing what
he's doing at Liverpool at Manchester United right now, he
(28:22):
would have copped so much abuse and hate at Liverpool.
There are the few that do dislike him and cop that hate,
but most of those fans are always backing him up and
sticking up for for him and that's our club.
Is is not that. When we had Xerxy, who just
signed for three months, we had fans cheering him, cheering when
he came off at half time. Is that a message you want to
(28:44):
send to players that are coming into the club that sign that if
you're not performing, we're notgoing to support you, we're not
going to back you? I totally disagree.
If a new player comes to the club, they're wearing our shirt,
they're part of us, they're partof our family and we need to
bloody support them. Look at all the abuse that Harry
Maguire got. Did he deserve that?
Hell no. He was put in a tough position,
(29:05):
$80 million, did not ask, had nocontrol of the transfer fee that
was given, and he copped abuse. He copped abuse and he continued
to cop abuse. That's the fans.
I'll say that my issue and the biggest issue are the bloody
pundits. The Rio Kings, the Gary Nevels,
the Rio Ferdinands, the Paul Scores, every single one of
those pundits, although they do support United and I truly
(29:27):
believe that they do want what want what's best for the club
are not proving that they are going on these big media outlets
and berating the players and criticising the performances
week in, week out to fill up their pockets.
If they truly cared for the club, if they really gave a shit
about Manchester United, do you think they'd be talking about
them that way? They're getting paid to talk
(29:49):
like that and act like they've been there, they've been,
they've seen the success and they have every right to speak
on the criticism. Anthony said it perfectly.
He signed for 100 million. Obviously he hasn't been
performing well but you can see what he's doing at Betis, he
said the PLA, the fan that the pundits always are quick to
criticise us and criticise my performance but never do they
reach out and tell me what I need to do to be better in this
(30:11):
club. I don't see any of those pundits
supporting our players. The only ones that they support
is England and you know why and you can understand why because
there's the national team. They are the players of that
nation and I don't want to berate them.
Ridiculous. Absolute hypocrites, those
pundits, as all of them. Gary Neville was another big
example. He was quick to berate the
(30:32):
Glazers nonstop, nonstop, until his mate Jim Radcliffe came in,
said nothing about him. There are agendas, there are
biases and there are just notions that they pick and
choose who they want to abuse and who they want to say.
A United play out, A fan does not do that.
You don't see any Liverpool pundits or barely any Manchester
City pundits that are on there criticising the club.
(30:53):
Even Arsenal's pundits are not like that.
You see Ian Ryan and Terry Henryalways sticking up for Arsenal
on a regular basis but when it comes to United, they love it.
Sky Sports loves putting on pundits that are Manchester
United ex players so that they can get the views and get their
criticism and all that. And to me that is not someone
(31:13):
that actually wants to to help aclub.
There's no solution provided from these pundits.
They're just out there putting their opinions out and just
saying the worst things about this club.
And to me that just frustrates me a lot because they're
supposed to be the guys that know what it's like to be at
this club and understand and they don't do anything about it.
They were there when like Fergiewas there.
(31:35):
They they don't have any, any raw and and honest footage as
well. It's always double stance.
It's always contradictions. They're just creating division
because obviously United fans are going to stick up and, and
and and stick up with the the explayers because they're the ones
that are supposed to be the stars and the ones that have won
trophies. But instead of really coming up
(31:56):
with solutions or something to unite the club, they are making
more toxicity and creating more divide than ever.
And it's ridiculous. They have a platform where
people love to watch post game analysis, post game preview and
all that they see, all United fans see is how bad the players
are, how bad this is, how bad that is, because why they want
(32:17):
to get views, they want to get clicks and they won't get money
and it's just absolutely ridiculous.
It just frustrates me. The last thing I want to talk
about before I kind of summarisewhat we're going to do and kind
of move on in the future is address basically Sir Alex
Ferguson. So this is going to be something
that it's quite controversial and I don't like to do this on
(32:38):
my podcast, but I feel like it'smy own opinion and it has to be
said, it has to be mentioned. Sir Alex Ferguson, when he left
the club, obviously the club went down, we skied down.
We haven't won a Premier League title since all that.
When Fergie left the club, I don't truly believe he prepared
us for what was coming up. The team that he left us, once
(33:00):
we won the title and everyone says Moyes took a title winning
team, that team was done. That was probably the last
Goodyear they had. We still had gigs, we had
skulls, we had Carrick, Ferdinand, vintage Evra Dahea
was obviously still new Rooney, Van Persie, who were all in
their 30s, in their 30s. They were the best.
They would have had maybe one more year.
(33:20):
Fergie could have got another title out of them because it's
unbelievable. But the fact that Fergie left
that team in that state really didn't help our club.
And I'm not sitting there and blaming Fergie for all this
because there's obviously a lot more issues than Fergie there.
But I would have loved Alex Ferguson to leave in a way where
it allowed our club to be in a position where we could rebuild
(33:41):
and and for Moyes to take on a team that was more prepared for
what was going to happen. Before I say that though, Fergie
did mention to the fans to back the manager and stick with the
manager no matter what, so he must have knew that this was
going to be some rough times once he left.
When he did get started, he almost got sacked.
They waited four years and the rest was history.
(34:03):
The success that we got was unbelievable and I'm not saying
that Moyes could have given us the same success, but I
definitely think if Moyes had more time to rebuild that team,
you don't know what would have happened to the club.
The club could have been in a whole different situation.
We don't know, but I don't thinkwe had the chance to do it and I
don't think Fergie gave Moyes the tools to to succeed.
And the reason why I say this, if you look at the most recent
(34:25):
example, Jurgen Klopp left a Liverpool team and they had some
legendary players, but at the same time they also had players
that were rebuilt as well. Once Manet, once Firmino left,
once Henderson left, they were able to replace the midfield and
replace the attacking players seamlessly.
And as Arnis slot came in, he didn't even need to change the
(34:47):
team. The only player he bore was
Federica Kaiser for 14 mil who barely even touched the pitch.
So you're gonna tell me that if the team was more set up
correctly we wouldn't have been more successful?
100% think that would be the case.
The only players that came in from that the season was Kagawa
and Van Persie. Van Persie was 30 years old.
(35:08):
He only came there to win the title.
He would have expected obviouslyFergie to stay longer but he
came and done what he needed to do.
Kagawa was the future and was the only signing and Alex
Butner, who wasn't going to play, came in.
And then when Moisey did sign two players, which was Mata and
Fellaini, they were good playersfor United, they were
serviceable players. And I don't think that Moisey
(35:30):
really had the time he deserved from then.
Yes, he had a terrible season. But do we really think a team
that at club or players that were coached with Fergie's whole
season would have been able to adapt to a manager like David
Moyes? I don't think so.
And the egos would have came into play.
The, the, the, the, the ages and, and, and the fact that the
players are past their primes would have also came into play.
(35:52):
And ultimately they were impatient and they sucked.
Moyes and it's been torture since because Van Hal came in,
won US an FA Cup, didn't do much.
Jose Mourinho, as he said, had his best ever season, finishing
second but didn't really do much.
Van Hal Solsha came in and he got the ball rolling, got us a
bit excited. And I think that was the first
time we felt that will Manchester United couldn't
(36:14):
continue, lost the dressing room.
So maybe if Fergie didn't do that, we could have potentially
been better. I don't know.
I'm not saying that I'm not putting it out there, but it's
just something to think about when the team was going there.
I think people were too harsh onDavid Moyes when he came in.
I think that he could have used a lot of time, especially the
fact that he won a Conference league with West Ham.
He was pretty solid with them and he's doing pretty decent
(36:35):
stuff with with Everton as well.I see a decent manager in him.
Back then I wouldn't have said that because I was a kid and
then just spoiled with with AlexFerguson.
But again, just something to think about there just and
again, something that was was really frustrating as well, not
really considered as well. I really did wish that we will,
we had the tools in place for for a decent rebuild.
(36:57):
If you look at what Pep Guardiola's doing right now,
he's going through that rebuild as well and he hasn't got a
permanent contract available. But let me tell you, if he does
this rebuild, the next next manager that comes in will be
able to take this team and do right things.
If he left last season with the issues that they've had and all
their ageing players, they wouldbe struggling just like us.
But that's how I think it shouldhave went.
(37:19):
We should have had a team that was ready to go.
Fergie's is notorious for havingmultiple rebuilds.
He's had three different types of teams and one trophy is in
every single one. If he was able to just create a
fourth team for us and if and ifand if David Moyes didn't do a
good job, then I'd sit here and say I'm wrong.
But we will never know. And that would have been
something that I would have loved, loved to know as well.
And obviously the ownership, as we mentioned, didn't help with
(37:40):
this either. So in saying all this, where do
we go from here? It's a great question.
I told you I have no idea. I tried to do a bit of research.
The first thing I can say is back the manager, which I've
already mentioned, but I think the main thing is just to to to
get a big clearance here. I think players, a lot of
(38:01):
players that are over paid have got to go.
The players that are that are put out on loan, they've got to
stay in their clubs. I don't see them coming in and
ruining our wage structure. We've already got Matthias Cunha
signed, which is great and I'm happy that they signed him.
I'm very excited for the player he can become.
I just really hope that, you know, it doesn't ruin him.
So that needs to be in place. We need to sign similar players
(38:23):
to his ability. Definitely need another
midfielder, definitely need another left back, definitely
need another centre back. Definitely need two or three
more attacking players. Attacking players is probably
the biggest issue we have at themoment.
Definitely need that and definitely need, yeah, it's a
clean house as well. In terms of kind of signs of
hope, we've got menu, we've got Ganacho.
(38:46):
They're kind of a set against the future of the club at the
moment. We need to continue to invest in
those. It does seem unfortunately that
Ganacho is leaving. So if he does, trying to get as
much money we can from him as possible.
And then obviously just continuing to develop players
like Obi to players like Amos and and et cetera.
And hopefully them Obi can be ready to play some first team
(39:08):
football moving forward because he seems like a a really good
player. We also need the leaders to step
up and really mentor these players.
If Bruno is tired, if he's had enough, let him leave, let him
be successful somewhere else. But I do think Bruno is can
serve us a lot going forward as well in terms of fans.
We still need to be together andand just support each other.
(39:29):
I think the environment is too negative across Manchester
United. We're too critical of too many
things where we create the vibe,we create separation.
We need to unite as fans and we need to stick by the process.
This is going to test our characters, this is going to
test our abilities. But for Australians, if we
continue to show up at 4:00 AM, go to bars and continue
supporting, we have something tolook forward to at least.
(39:51):
At least we have people togethergoing into communities, uniting
with people. Having someone to cry on as well
also helps. So continuing to be loyal fans
and supporters is probably the most important thing for us as
well. We do need to acknowledge the
pain, but we need to maintain that unity as well.
And as a United fan myself, I'lltry to continue to go to as many
(40:13):
games as possible as bars and next year.
Really, really, really try watchas many games as possible
because I didn't do the best jobat that last year.
And that also doesn't help. It gives me more engagement into
my club and and continues to support our stuff over there as
well. But yeah, that's pretty much my
breakdown of, of Manchester United and issues there and
(40:34):
basically capping off the EuropaLeague loss and our end of
season finish. It wasn't the big rant that I
expected in terms of just swearing and stuff.
And to be honest, the reason whyis because I'm, I'm actually not
angry. I, I, I can't be surprised with
where my club is. I can be shocked, I can be
disappointed, but ultimately there's nothing I can do.
But I really wanted to get some content out regarding Manchester
(40:56):
United. Obviously, as mentioned, thank
you to all those fans that that did have the chat and went on
the interview as well. I really appreciate you guys
getting on there and I really hope you guys tune into this
episode and kind of enjoy my breakdown.
If you still want to continue talking about Manchester United,
feel free to hit me up on on allmy social medias.
And for those that are obviouslyjust sporting fans in general
and not United fans, I do hope you still enjoyed this content
(41:19):
as well. I would love to get your
feedback on what you want to talk about too moving forward.
I've got some few guests plannedup for some future episodes,
which I'm really excited to do and continuing to to interview
umm, ex players, fans and, and, and and people that are involved
in sport altogether. But umm yeah, another episode of
(41:40):
the huddle within. Thank you very much for for
tuning in to this one and I willcatch you guys next week.
Cheers. So that's a wrap for this week's
episode of the huddle within podcast.
I appreciate you for tuning in and being part of this community
where we go beyond the game and into what really matters.
If this episode resonated with you, make sure to subscribe,
(42:01):
leave a review, and share it with someone who sees sports
just the way that we do. And hey, I'd love to hear from
you. Connect with me on my social
medias, which will be linked below, send in your thoughts and
even be part of a future episode.
Until next time, keep that passion alive, stay in the
huddle, and remember it's alwaysdeeper than the game.
Cheers.
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