As Manchester United slumped to yet another home defeat on Tuesday night, two pundits in different TV studios offered valuable insight into precisely what it is that ails the crumbling champions, as well as suggesting what needs to be done. In the Sky Sports’ studio, broadcasting to the domestic UK market, Paul Scholes made a rare TV appearance and identified key players who were not delivering. He also predicted the club would stick with manager David Moyes and would give him time to turn things around. In our studio, broadcasting to the word-wide audience, another former United midfielder offered a fascinating perspective on the club’s woes. Owen Hargreaves won a Premier League and Champions League Double in his first season at Old Trafford and even though his United career was cruelly cut short by injury, his obvious affection for the club left him shocked at the speed of its decline. He also identified a modern-day parallel to the United saga. On the night when Bayern Munich cruised to another remarkably early Bundesliga title triumph (won with seven matches still to go), the man who earned four league titles and a European Cup with the German giants before moving to United reminded us that even FC Hollywood had a spell when they were less than stellar. After winning the European Cup in 2001 (as 20- year-old Hargreaves partnered the immense Stefan Effenberg in midfield for the final against Valencia at the San Siro), Bayern and Hargreaves won four Bundesliga titles and three German Cups in seven years. Then, came the blip. Having moved to the magnificent Allianza Arena and enjoyed back-to-back titles under Felix Magath, Bayern suddenly went through a period of turbulence at odds with the progress being made off the pitch. Midway through a poor 2006/2007 season, Magath was sacked and Ottmar Hitzfeld returned, only to fail to qualify the club for the Champions League (sound familiar?). Shocked, Bayern made a raft of big signings (Franck Ribery, Miroslav Klose and Luca Toni among them) and went on to cruise to the title. Hitzfeld made way for Jurgen Klinsmann in early 2008 but he endured a short, trophy-less reign before former coach Jupp Heynckes was brought back in as caretaker. Louis van Gaal was the next permanent manager and the club gave him Arjen Robben and Mario Gomez to work with. The Dutchman duly delivered a league and cup Double but narrowly missed out on a Treble when Inter beat them in the Champions League final. Then the inconsistency returned: 2010-2011 was a forgettable season and van Gaal was fired. Heynckes returned, but Bayern were to finish a second straight season trophy-less despite pushing Dortmund domestically and Chelsea in Europe all the way. Then it finally clicked. In what was to be Heynckes’ last season, all the ingredients came together to deliver a record-breaking campaign in which Bayern became the first German club to do the Treble. Pep Guardiola then took charge and further developed the club, which now looks like one of the most formidable sides ever assembled in European football. When they meet in their Champions League quarterfinal on Tuesday, United will see first-hand just how formidable Bayern are, but Hargreaves reckons they could also learn a lesson about “transition” and how best to achieve it. “Even though four managers came and went during that spell from 2007, and even though the results were inconsistent, the club’s philosophy stayed the same,” he said. “Bayern always had an idea of what they wanted to achieve, of the club’s football philosophy. Top players steadily came in to strengthen the squad to make it the one we see today, playing the way Bayern want to play.” Hargreaves attributed that vision and clarity of focus to those who make Bayern’s decisions behind the scenes: former players are massively involved in guiding Bayern. Until his recent conviction for tax fraud, Uli Hoeness was the club’s president. Franz Beckenbauer was a former president and chairman of the advisory board after the club became a limited company. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge is chairman of the executive board. Adding to that clout, Bayern’s supervisory board mostly compromises top executives from Germany’s biggest corporations. Do Manchester United have the same kind of corporate structure and as powerful a footballing ethic to ensure the post-Sir Alex Ferguson transition produces nothing more than a little turbulence in terms of results? After all, Liverpool’s 20-plus-year barren spell in terms of the domestic title demonstrated that history and faith in the club’s unique identity can only carry you so far in top-flight football. Sir Alex found himself the subject of criticism from fans after Tuesday’s defeat to City, for his selection of “the Chosen One” David Moyes. That made life hard for the likes of chief executive Ed Woodward and owner Joel Glazer, who had rubber-stamped the Moyes appointment on Fergie’s say so. There were even suggestions in the UK media (partly prompted by Scholes’ rare TV appearance this week alongside former teammate Gary Neville) that members of the “Class of ‘92”, Ryan Giggs included, might somehow agitate for a “revolution” of sorts at Old Trafford. That might sound a little fanciful but it does echo the Bayern policy, whereby those who have won trophies for the club are relied upon to ensure continuity after they have hung up their boots. The Bayern “blip” I charted earlier also hints at another possible development at the club. “It’s worth noting,” said Owen Hargreaves, as he reflected on Bayern’s rebuilding process, “that the first of those four managers in four years, Jurgen Klinsmann, only lasted a year.” Owen was a superb guest on Tuesday. He has the football credentials and trophies to back up his opinions and they were certainly thought-provoking. Will United learn a lesson that goes beyond what happens on the pitch alone when they meet Bayern next month?
Posted on: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 04:32:53 +0000
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