Manchester United director of football John Murtough and chief executive Richard Arnold spoke this week on a quarterly investor call to churn out more platitudes about the club’s plans for the future.
Murtough and Arnold probably said enough to satisfy the investors on the call, but his comments left United supporters feeling fairly uninspired.
Glazer-speak we have heard before
Murtough spoke about the club’s plans, with his comments reported by the club website that a ‘thorough process’ under underway to find a new manager, ‘with the objective to get us back to challenging for those domestic and European titles’.
Arnold commented that delivering titles and trophies was “our central objective as a football club and we are focused on building a winning culture to achieve it”.
On the face of it these bland comments seem inoffensive enough – but United supporters have heard all this before, multiple times.
Look at comments from now thankfully departed chief executive Ed Woodwood as recently last September in the annual earnings call, boasting: “While squad-building is a constant process, we are more confident than ever that we are on the right track.”
Six months on United have fired the manager, are months away from hiring a new one, look set to miss out on the top four, and the squad looks in need of a total rebuild.
While Woodward is out, it is going to take a lot more than just words to convince us that two of his ex-colleagues, Murtough and Arnold, have what it takes to turn this sinking ship around.
United’s ‘winning culture’ which Arnold speaks of is just a nostalgic myth at this point, and while it is admirable to want it back, no amount of words themselves can convince supporters the club is any closer to turning it around now, than at any other point since Sir Alex Ferguson retired.
Actions required not words
United fans do not need to hear about what the club are going to do to move forward. We want to see it.
Last summer co-owner Joel Glazer virtually attended a fan forum and spoke of his wishes to help the club improve, finally communicating with fans after 16 years of silence.
Since then, his promised changes are occurring at snail’s pace. No fan share scheme is in place, a fan advisory board has just recently been appointed, and planners are beginning to work on a new vision for the training ground, with a view to stadium improvement ideas later down the line.
As for the actual team, it’s a real mess right now. A new manager will give the club a sense of direction, and right now the sentiment is just ‘get on with it’.
Don’t tell us how you are going to transform our fortunes, we have heard it all before. Just do it, and when it comes to Murtough and Arnold, show some passion and conviction.
Nothing they had to say on the call resonated with supporters. Only when a permanent manager is appointed will we start to understand the club’s vision for what comes next. Anything which is said before then from the board is just filling time.
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