Manchester United have been in a downward spiral ever since Sir Alex Ferguson retired. Gary Neville feared it would happen.
Legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson made the decision to retire in 2013, stepping back after an unprecedented era of success.
Appointed back in 1986, Ferguson won 13 Premier League titles and two Champions Leagues, alongside various other domestic and European trophies.
Manchester United have struggled since Ferguson’s retirement, leaving fans frustrated – but also thankful he did not follow up on his earlier plan to retire in 2002.
Ferguson thankfully made a famous U-turn on his retirement plans, going on to manage United for a further 11 years, winning many more trophies along the way.
Former player Gary Neville knew the trouble that could await United without Ferguson, and perfectly articulated his fears way back in 2001.
Neville: Sir Alex Ferguson retirement ‘frightening’
Gary Neville made his Manchester United debut for the first team as a teenager against Torpedo Moscow in 1992.
Along with his fellow ‘Class of ’92‘ group, Neville said in 2001 that he was struggling to process the idea of playing under another Manchester United manager.
Speaking in an interview at the time, he said the uncertainty of what lay ahead was worrying for the core group of the team who had never experienced any different.
He said: “It’s one of those things you think it’s not going to come like, 18 months away, but you know full well before you know it is here, and we’ll have a new manager, and that’ll be frightening for a lot of us who have been here 15 years some, some of the lads since they were 13-14 years of age by the time he leaves, over 15 years of playing under one manager.”
Neville then went onto talk about how any successor to Ferguson would be immediately compared to the great man, by the players.
“So for him to leave and having to answer to somebody else, having to listen to somebody else, having to take instructions of somebody else, and it’s gonna be difficult time for everybody.
“For the club and be a really difficult time for all the players to have to cope with, comparing probably, ‘yeah, but our manager would have done that’, and whoever comes in has got a really difficult task.”
While Ferguson delayed his retirement to 2013, Neville’s concerns rang true for the Red Devils squad.
A strong group of the likes of Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand, and Patrice Evra struggled under newly appointed manager David Moyes.
Even Wayne Rooney, who played under him at Everton, had become so used to Sir Alex Ferguson over the previous nine years that it was an immediate shock having a new Manchester United manager in charge.
The ‘frightening’ moment Neville described was not avoided, it was merely delayed.
Neville feared Manchester United rebuild
Gary Neville showed the cutting insight that made him such a well-regarded pundit during his 2001 interview, when he talked about another one of his fears.
Manchester United have not won the Premier League since 2013 and have not seriously challenged for the title either.
Neville expressed his fears that United could end up like Liverpool did in the 1990s, because a total rebuild would be required after Ferguson.
He explained: “Liverpool, a massive club, and haven’t won the championship for I don’t know how long, 10 years. And before you know it, you know, say for instance the manager leaves. Five or six of this team leaves, you’ve got to start all over again.
“And before you know it, you’re on that [path]. You try to create another team, and I don’t envy anybody else, to come in and follow this manager.”
David Moyes made only two signings, Marouane Fellaini and Juan Mata, and was fired just before the end of his first season as manager.
A more substantial rebuild was attempted under Louis van Gaal, and it was not executed well, led by Ed Woodward.
United sustained a double blow of chief executive David Gill retiring alongside Ferguson, which contributed to the club’s various failed rebuilds.
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