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

Continuity. If the intentions behind David Moyes’ appointment in May could have been summed up in just one key word that was it. However, it now seems that Manchester United have only succeeded in placing themselves into some sort of stasis with their choice of successor.

In football, especially at the very top, if you’re not moving forward you’re falling behind, and by plumping for an unproven Sir Alex Ferguson tribute act, the empire that the treble-winner built is in danger of falling into terminal decline.

Such a stumble could not have come at a worse time. Manchester City, with their Etihad campus and limitless funds, are quickly growing into a genuine, existential threat, while Brendan Rodgers may have finally roused a sleeping giant from its complacent slumber at Anfield. Arsenal and Chelsea have also shown themselves to be authentic heavyweights of late, completing a top four now in lockdown, cutting United off from far more than just the title race.

In order to prosper against such intense competition — as Ferguson so often did against his rivals — is to act boldly, decisively and with intelligence in order to gain and hold ground.

Thrusting the job of manager upon a family friend, without so much as an interview to assess Moyes’ suitability for the role, was unbelievably sloppy and naive. Instead, United should have undertaken a thorough selection process back in May, following which it would have clear that only one man fully met the club’s needs and challenges.

Forget the high-cost, short-term glories of Jose Mourinho, Jurgen Klopp was and still is the rightful heir to Ferguson’s throne.

(Image: Mike Hewitt)

He is a proven winner. In his six years as manager of Borussia Dortmund, Klopp — or “Kloppo” as he’s known to his players — has won two consecutive Bundesliga titles, the DFB-Pokal Cup, and last year reached the final of the Champions League.

As was the case domestically last year, Klopp was only denied European glory due to a historically brilliant Bayern Munich team, whose excellence was more than partly born of a need to improve and reform in order to match and eventually overtake Dortmund.

These successes haven’t been won without struggle either. Since the sale of midfield kingpin Nuri Sahin in 2011, every season has brought new problems to solve as key players are bought up by wealthy suitors, just as United swooped for Shinji Kagawa in 2012.

Mario Gotze controversially joined Bayern in the summer while Robert Lewandowski is set to follow his former teammate to Bavaria at the end of this season. The demand for these players is also testament to Klopp’s faith in youth, having blooded and coached these emerging stars into becoming some of the most sought-after prospects in world football.

He also knows his way around the transfer market too, having secured replacements such as Ilkay Gundgoan, Marcus Reus and Henrikh Mkhitaryan for his departing players. Given the recent comments by Zlatan Ibrahimovic about playing under him, as well as the anecdotes of his former players such as Kagawa, it would also seem that players view Klopp as a special draw in his own right, much like the man previously in charge at Old Trafford.

(Image: Martin Rose)

It’s easy to see why other clubs have wanted to buy-in their own pieces of the Dortmund jigsaw. Since his arrival in 2008 from Mainz 05, Klopp has turned Die Schwarzgelben into arguably the most exciting team to watch in club football.

Never shackled by the suffocating dogma of the fetishised state of passing, his team are ruthless in the transitions between defence and attack, striking at their opponents with lightning speed and precision on the break. Their aggressive, attacking style is in many ways reminiscent of the best United had to offer under Ferguson during the 1990s, with their industry and physicality just as enjoyably watchable as their sharp, direct passing and single-mindedness going forward.

While the former United boss famously reneged on his attacking principles after tasting defeat to Real Madrid in 2000, Klopp represents a way to return to those heady days of excess in a manner compatible with the modern sophistications and mores of the game.

His “gegenpressing” style of closing down the weakest points in opposition teams in rapid-fire waves could be exactly what the Stretford End crave when they bemoan the lack of combative fizz in their team’s current midfield. Rather than attempting to replace Roy Keane for the nth time, why not try hiring a man able to turn his entire team into a ball-winning juggernaut?

(Image: Alexandre Simoes)

It’s true that this season hasn’t been a vintage year for Klopp and his team — Dortmund are some way off Pep Guardiola’s new-look Bayern in the league — but their recovery has been noteworthy, especially when compared to Moyes’ often incoherent attempts to right United’s wrongs. Beset by injuries to key men, especially in defence, Klopp has stuck to his principles and his system, focusing on building his players up and focusing them as a group on their identity and positive play.

While results have slid at times, their intensity has never seemed too out of reach, and they are now second in the table and well positioned to head into the latter stages of the Champions League. By contrast, United have at various points appeared disinterested, uninspired and one-dimensional. It’s hard to see, just by virtue of their sheer energy alone, how a Klopp coached team could be accused of holding similar traits.

Should United wish to correct the mistake they made in May, they will have to test the Dortmund manager’s principles and resolve. Having announced to the world that he has no intention of leaving the Westfalenstadion until 2018, the Old Trafford hierarchy would have to produce an exceptionally generous and long-sighted offer to turn Klopp’s head.

Yet at a time when European football is slipping out of reach and United’s rivals look set to sprint ahead of them, securing his services should not be a cost issue. Over the past few years, Dortmund’s tenacious, fast, attacking football has garnered various comparisons to the treble-winning swagger of the Ferguson’s 1999 treble-winners.

Now a director, should he hope to see the club reach such heights again — both in terms of trophies and style — he should make the call and replace the current incumbent with the manager most able to evolve United’s traditions rather than watch them wither in his absence.

Click here to follow all the latest on David Moyes' position at Manchester United in our live blog.

poll loading Who do you want as the next Man United boss? 33000+ VOTES SO FAR Louis van Gaal Carlos Queiroz Sir Alex Ferguson Jurgen Klopp Ryan Giggs Diego Simeone Antonio Conte Pep Guardiola Fabio Capello Frank de Boer

This article was originally published on March 19, 2014.