5 reasons why Sir Alex Ferguson is partly to blame for Manchester United's struggles

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.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 behindFerguson left a poor squad behindIn 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.

5 reasons why Sir Alex Ferguson is partly to blame for Manchester United's struggles

#2 His style of management