Come on in and join the club! Get our daily Manchester United email newsletter Sign me up! Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

If Manchester United aren’t careful they are in very real danger of becoming the new Liverpool.

For far too long the Anfield club has been mired in its own mythology, strangling itself in nostalgia to the extent that any stumble in a forward direction was greeted with demands to revisit the past. They had their sacred cows in Dalglish and Benitez and their deified names were dutifully summoned in loud whispers whenever things went bad. It was unhealthy, destabilising and at worst toxic.

One of Brendan Rodgers’ greatest achievements in his still infant tenure at the club has been to embrace the Scouse propensity to venerate the past whilst at the same time dispelling the ghoulish haunt of managers-in-waiting. He has been able to assert his personal footballing philosophy whilst finding his own place in the hearts of the fans. What United must guard against and dispel is a culture of pedestal building in which logic goes out of the window and schmaltzy nonsense takes its place.

The club have yet to announce to the world what everyone has known for a week: that Louis van Gaal will be their new football manager.

The delay has something to do with the facade of due diligence and much to do with how exactly Ryan Giggs fits into the Dutchman’s plans. Giggs is seen as pivotal to the future of the club and a vital link to its recent glorious past. He is also a man with clear ambition and the savvy to leverage his prominent position.

Analysis:

The Class of ’92 are adored by the Old Trafford faithful and for good reason. They are group of young men whose education at the club began before the game turned into of shiny Gazprom-sponsored shell of glitzy nothingness and it shows. Born of the old Cliff in Broughton, Salford, before training was upped to the sterile fortress of Carrington, each of them fundamentally gets the ethos and spirit of the club. It is a connection that’s both authentic and rare.

That said there is nothing that sullies even the truest bonds like calamitous failure. Those who continue to call for Giggs to be installed as permanent manager, or at the very least be foist upon Van Gaal as an unwanted lieutenant do so at the threat of desecrating a yet unsullied reputation (personal misdemeanours apart). What is more, it risks destabilising the imminent managerial appointment before it’s even in place. Unless all parties are absolutely complicit, the merest difficulty will tear public unity asunder.

There is nothing wrong with the board suggesting to any prospective coach that they would very much like a talented and respected insider to be part of his inner circle. Van Gaal has after all gone on record as saying he always likes to keep at least one coach from the previous regime on his staff. However the final say must be that of the new man who is in charge, otherwise he is patently not. The club cannot force an arranged marriage and expect harmonious love to blossom.

(Image: Getty)

The very real dangers of imposing an artificial union are obvious. If as expected Van Gaal is given a very short two year contract, and when his bullish approach to management inevitably rubs certain players up the wrong way, the obvious ear the disgruntled will bend is that of Giggsy. And how is the Welshman to react when the man whose job he desperately covets faces bratty resentment from key personnel? Especially if he has an inkling of sympathy for a former teammate’s plight? I can’t end well.

Of course it needn’t be so Machiavellian on Giggs’ part; to suggest he would be anything but supportive of a new boss is a little presumptuous and somewhat unfair. But as David Moyes will attest, the modern day star footballer has far more job security than his immediate boss and can therefore be inclined to bide his time in the most unhelpful manner possible. With all this talk of Giggs’ almost certain succession to the throne, some may be tempted to simply ride out the storm.

Gary Neville recently praised Manchester United for ‘standing against the immediacy of modern life’, albeit before they sacked David Moyes. But far more dangerous than living for the now is focusing on the hypothetical future. Why aren’t the names of Robson, Keane, Bruce or even Solskjaer being tipped to succeed Moyes? Because the sands of time have shifted and the managerial stars of these potential candidates have waned. What makes the fantasy of Ryan Giggs immune to cruel reality?

(Image: Paul Simpson / MEN)

Gary Neville has latterly emerged as Ryan Giggs’ most vocal and public cheerleader, waving his metaphorical pompoms with nationalist glee. ‘I’d like United to appoint a British manager! Naming no names! Certainly not my mate and business partner who also happens to employ my brother!’ he hasn’t yet explicitly admitted. The impartial one is joined in the pro-Giggs camp by the shadowy spectre of Sir Alex Ferguson, who still seems to struggle with the concept of full retirement.

These are ghosts. They are legends from Manchester United’s past. Recent past granted but history nonetheless. What United must do now is plan ahead with pragmatism and sense, not pander to sentimental whim. There is no reason why the future may not include the likes of Giggs, Butt, Neville, Neville and Scholes, but such decisions must be rooted in logic and rationale, and be consistent with the new manager’s wishes. Manchester United cannot become the new Liverpool.