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Manchester United are currently undergoing one of the most trying times of their illustrious history, as fans of a club traditionally used to winning and looking down on others on the EPL table find themselves looking up in a bid to make the top four.
The club can no longer claim to be the best in the land, heck they are no longer even the premier club in Manchester - that honour belongs to Manchester City now, and the club faces barrages of criticisms over their dull brand of football, and the struggles experienced by their players.
A lot of fingers have been pointed at Jose Mourinho, and rightly so, because he is the manager, and when things go well, he receives the adulation, so it only makes sense that the buck of the blame should be laid at his feet.
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Other names constantly popping up in the blame game include Ed Woodward, who as chairman of the board has been accused of not backing the manager with funds in the transfer market.
Although in fairness to him, United currently have the most expensive player, striker, and highest paid player in Premier League history within their ranks, and it is foolhardy to continuously back a manager with new signings when has not shown signs of improving those who have been bought.
While these two men have a portion of the blame, in addition to the players for not stepping to the plate, the truth is that they do not have all the faults, and some faults can be traced back to a legendary figure who departed Old Trafford over five years ago.
Sir Alex Ferguson is the most revered man in Manchester United history, and rightly so, as he has arguably had the most impact on their history, and under his watchful eyes, he helped build the club into not just the best team in England, but also one of the biggest and most followed in the world.
With 38 trophies won during his 25-year stay at the club, he is by far the most successful manager in the history of the Red Devils, and he won widespread acclaim for bringing through numerous world class players including David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Cristiano Ronaldo, Eric Cantona, and Wayne Rooney, to name a few.
Fergie departed the managerial seat a bona fide Old Trafford legend of the highest cadre, but the truth is that the Scotsman is not without blame for the current malaise undergone by United.
In this piece, we take a look at five reasons why Sir Alex Ferguson is partly to blame for the struggles of United.
#5 The poor squad he left behind
In the last few years of Fergie's reign at Old Trafford, he arguably had the most successful spell of his very trophy-laden career, winning 4 Premier League titles in addition to the 2008 Champions League, and the core of his team was built around world class talent like Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney, Patrice Evra, Carlos Tevez, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Paul Scholes, to name a few.
However, most of this players were either advancing in age or set to leave the club, and upon his departure in 2013, a glance at United's team sheet shows that the squad was sorely lacking in quality, with some officials in the team admitting that the 2013 Premier League triumph shocked them, owing to the low quality of the squad (which is testament to Fergie's managerial brilliance).
Other than the established players (who were nearing retirement), a cursory look at the squad shows that youngsters like Adnan Januzaj, Nick Powell, Chris Smalling, David De Gea, Phil Jones, Tom Cleverly, Nani, Johnny Evans, Rafael, Alex Buttner, and Anderson were the players expected to lead the club into the future, and this was just not tenable.
Five years down the line, and only Chris Smalling and David de Gea can still lay claim to being a genuine part of the first team plans, with Phil Jones drifting in and out.
A key indicator to how poorly equipped the squad was would be the fact that the club struggled badly in the UCL within the last two years of Fergie's reign, and perhaps more pointedly - Paul Scholes was called out from retirement to help the team in its Premier League title tilt.
At the time of Fergie's departure, there was no discernible midfield, and a lack of star player power, apart from a declining Rooney and Van Persie. He left this poor squad behind, and this is one the reasons the club suffers today, as they have had to build and constantly chop and change, which would not have been the case had he left a stronger roster.
#4 His appointment of David Moyes
Very rarely do great men get to leave on their own terms (just ask Wenger) and even rarer do they get to pick their successor, but Sir Alex Ferguson was a lucky man in that he got to do both, winning the Premier League title in his last season, as well as appointing compatriot David Moyes to be his successor as 'The Chosen One'.
David Moyes had won steady acclaim for his 11 years work at Everton where he helped build the Merseyside outfit into a compact Premier League team, steady finishing as best of the rest without breaking the grip of the then hallowed 'big four'.
To state that David Moyes' reign as United boss was a disaster would be doing him favours, as under his watch, United went about breaking all manner of unwanted records, almost on a weekly basis, in a way not seen before (although they are on their way to those lows this season).
The club played dourly unattractive football (another similarity to the current bunch), and struggled woefully in the league, failing to make it to the top four for the first time in over 20 years at the end of the season.
In hindsight, Moyes' appointment was a disaster waiting to happen (one which still affects the club), as there is a distinct difference between managing an average side and one of the biggest clubs.
David Moyes' appointment set United back by years, as they fell further behind their rivals who had more sophisticated managers. Having solely taken the decision of hiring him, Ferguson deserves some of the blame for United's current struggles.
#3 His neglect of the midfield
The hallmark of most great teams is the functionality of its midfield - just ask Barcelona. And while many teams get by without an adequate midfield, more often than not, a team without a great midfield is set up for failure.
It is in this regard that Sir Alex Ferguson failed in preparing United for the future, as he totally neglected the middle of the park, failing to sign a central midfielder for the last six years of his tenure.
The best example of the dearth of midfielders at the club during this period would be that Paul Pogba left the club as a then inspiring youngster, having been on the bench when United needed a midfielder, with Fergie choosing to send on Rafael who is a full-back instead (this would not have happened had the club been stocked with midfielders).
Perhaps a better example would be the rather ludicrous return from retirement midway through the season for Paul Scholes which highlighted the lack of quality in midfield at the club that time.
Manchester United re-signed Paul Pogba for a then world record fee in 2016, and while he might be a quality player, United have been lacking in midfield dominance, as was the case during the days of Paul Scholes and Roy Keane, and SAF had a role to play in United's lack of midfield identity.
#2 His style of management
Sir Alex Ferguson was in every word the 'manager' at Manchester United, having that old fashioned model whereby every decision revolved around him from training methods, fitness regimes, to decisions on arriving players.
While the modern day coach still has the final say on most of these matters, their overbearing influence at clubs have been removed from some other mundane things, leaving the coach to focus on other task specific roles such as tactics and motivation of the players.
When Moyes arrived at Manchester United, he was said to be shocked at how outdated some of the club's methods were, considering the size of United, and considerable time was spent trying to modernise the club's methods, including scouting reports.
Ferguson was a great manager, and deserves all the accolades accorded him, but the greatness and unyielding power afforded him at the club was detrimental to United's fortunes.
#1 Not laying down a unique playing pattern
Right from his appointment in 1986 till his retirement in 2013, Sir Alex Ferguson dominated English football in a manner not seen before, but contrary to what many would believe, his dominance was not built on having much tactical prowess, but rather on excellent man management, and the ability to extract the best from his players on a weekly basis.
United were exciting to watch under Fergie no doubt, but the club only started to show tactical variation in the 2000's upon the appointment of Carlos Queiroz as assistant manager.
It is no hidden secret that English managers are tactically behind their European counterparts, and it is largely for this reason that United and Fergie bossed their way around the Premier League in the 1990's.
Their dominance began to quaver when a sophisticated Arsene Wenger with a tactically sound mind arrived the league, and it further reduced when Jose Mourinho came to Chelsea in 2004, with Ferguson struggling badly against the Portuguese (he has a very poor record against Mourinho).
Proof of Fergie's tactical shortcomings are perhaps best exemplified by his struggles in the Champions League, as United failed to translate their domestic dominance in the 1990s onto the continent (bar their 1999 triumph) until Queiroz came onto the scene in the latter part of the first decade of the millennium.
Perhaps the best sign of a great coach is the number of players who go on to achieve successful coaching careers after him, and it is in this regard that Johan Cruyff could be considered the greatest ever (just look at Pep Guardiola, Luis Enrique, and Ronald Koeman), and here also Fergie is fatally indicted, as none of his charges have gone on to achieve great feats as managers, with Roy Keane being the latest in a line which also includes Gary Neville, Mark Hughes, and Steve Bruce among others.
Most clubs have a unique playing pattern which they follow. Cruyff for example laid the foundation for possession based football at Barca & Ajax, and any incoming coach knows the template to follow, same with Wenger at Arsenal, and as such an ideal manager is already in mind before any new appointment is made.
Ferguson failed to lay down a distinct playing pattern at United, which is rather surprising considering how long he spent at the helm, and it is this lack of playing identity which means the club struggles in making appointments, as there is no template to work with, and this is something which could have been averted had Ferguson been more tactically astute.
