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Odd
things are going on in the post-Chelsea Premiership landscape. All
that was once cast in stone are now just grains of sand, the golden
rules turned out to be made of tin. Nothing will ever be the same
again as we climb from the rubble of the rouble revolution.
Oddest of all is the fact that slowly, very slowly, Manchester United
are being rehabilitated in the public mind. Let’s not pretend
they’re loved by the majority, but they’re no longer the
most reviled club in the country. And that is a step forward for
the trophy gathering behemoth that laid waste to every club in the
league through most of the 1990s, a period which saw them go from
one caricature to another, from fresh faced conquerors to cynical
point harvesting ogres.
Neither picture was true of course, but why should we let the facts
get in the way of a good story?
And now, they begin a journey back in the opposite direction, largely
by virtue of the fact that they’re not Chelsea – though
Gary Neville probably won a few secret admirers for that impressive
sprint to give a friendly wave to Liverpool fans at Christmas.
A little bit of passion in a game that some would neuter is never
a bad thing and Neville has loads of it, whether he’s wearing
a United shirt or an England one. Neville is no robot. He’s
a leader, the kind of figure that no team can do without, which
is one of the key reasons why United have trailed Chelsea so badly
for so long.
For this has been the season where, one way or another, Manchester
United have lost leader after leader. Neville spent most of the
first four months on the sidelines, right at the very moment when
Roy Keane’s United career collapsed. Keane’s explosive
interview on MUTV was the catalyst for the earlier than expected
divorce, but the time for a changing of the guard had come and,
with typically ruthless efficiency, Sir Alex Ferguson seized the
moment.
Keane was critical of some of his colleagues, and who’s going
to argue with Roy? But there have been mitigating circumstances
for a season of under achievement at Old Trafford. Injuries have
ripped Ferguson’s squad to shreds through much of the campaign,
losing Neville and opposite full-back Heinze, a huge blow that left
the back four thoroughly unbalanced for a period as players adapted
to new demands.
Add to that the loss of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, of Paul Scholes for
a large chunk of the season, Ryan Giggs likewise and then the latest
horrific injury to Alan Smith and you wonder how it is that United
are doing quite as well as they actually are.
Truth to tell, United’s season foundered in Europe, everything
coloured by their failure to qualify for the last 16 of the Champions
League, though precious little good that qualification did Liverpool
and Chelsea, both humbled by Iberian opponents. Since going out
of Europe United have responded as you would expect, by winning
game after game.
The Carling Cup has been added to the trophy cabinet and nine Premiership
games out of fourteen won, only two lost. Gradually, Manchester
United are looking like serious title challengers again. Not this
season, not now. But next year could be much, much more interesting.
Why? Two words. Wayne and Rooney.
It’s still on the early side to say that Wayne Rooney will
go on to become the greatest footballer that England has ever produced.
As Le Roi Cantona pronounced just a few weeks ago, in terms a little
harsher than necessary perhaps, there are many pitfalls that could
claim him before he completely makes good on the rich promise that
he has, but as he demonstrated against Newcastle last weekend, as
long as injury spares him, the only thing that can stop him is Rooney
himself. Under the eye of Ferguson, the mentor that brought the
brilliance of Giggs and Beckham to full footballing maturity, the
evidence to date is that Rooney is growing in stature as player
and, more important for his long term aspirations, as a man.
If he needs advice from a younger figure than Fergie, Ryan Giggs
can offer it in spades. Hailed as the new George best at the age
of 17, Giggs knows as well as any the pressures of premature fame
and he’s handled them as well as anybody could ever expect
to.
Not only that, but Giggs, more than any player, more even than Cantona,
is the player that most roots the present day United in its great
traditions, takes them back to the days of Best, of Charlton’s
days as a youthful winger.
It’s
Giggs who has served up so much of the excitement that United have
generated in the last 15 years, he who has put his signature on
umpteen memorable goals, breathtaking runs, incisive dribbles. Now
in his thirties, the Welshman is used sparingly these days, but
almost always makes an impression.
After the Busby Babes and Fergie’s Fledglings, bringing players
through the ranks is something that United clearly believe in, however
hard a job it is for the youngsters involved. The last three years
have seen mixed reviews for the graduates, but John O’Shea
appeared to be nailing down a place until he too missed games with
injury. Rarely flustered, he’s played across the back and in
the middle, showing the value of a broad footballing education.
If anybody in the game has a harder job than Darren Fletcher, I’d
like to meet him. Robson, Ince, Keane, Butt. How do you follow that?
That’s Fletcher’s job and a thankless one it is, particularly
given the amount of flak he has to take on phone-in after phone-in.
But the one thing Robson, Ince, Keane and butt had in common was
guts and Fletcher’s not short on that either. The Scottish
international won’t hide, won’t stop looking for the ball,
nor trying to win tackles and make a telling contribution to his
side. To step into the shoes of a legend takes some doing and it
will take Fletcher time to grow into the role. If the United fans
won’t grant him that luxury, plenty of Premier League sides
would be only too pleased to give him the chance.
Chances aren’t something you want to be handing Ruud Van Nistelrooy.
While Thierry Henry may be the silkier of the two, to watch Van
Nistelrooy at work is to be in the presence of a consummate artist,
a goalscorer without equal in the modern game. Able to score great
goals or ugly goals, Van Nistelrooy is the embodiment of the poacher’s
art, reading the game and instinctively able to put himself in the
right place at the right moment, creating chances where there would
be none for any other centre-forward in the game at the moment.
Yet goals come in different ways to different players. Louis Saha
is a different kind of player, another victim of the United injury
curse who has returned refreshed and with something to prove. A
powerful athlete with pace to burn, Saha has somehow pushed himself
ahead of Van Nistelrooy in the United pecking order in the last
month, though it’s rumoured that United have toyed with playing
both of them and Wayne Rooney, a move that would make them the most
feared attacking combination in England, recapturing their great
attacking traditions once more.
Manchester United don’t stay down for long and this side is
on the way back. There’ll be no easy money to be made off Chelsea
in next year’s title race.
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