Decline Of The Country & Western Civilisation

Louise Taylor continues her comedy career today.  After the LOLz we got yesterday with her crap writing, she has another stab at the same topic today.  And it's actually worse.  First off she cites Alan Hansen to back up her opinions.  Alan Hansen. The she claims our "stodgy mid-season form, especially away from home, represented cause for concern."  Really?  Did it?  Odd that, because here's Kevin McCarra on the same subject:

It was United who discovered purpose and efficiency in the heart of the campaign. If it were possible for a club to thrive to order, United have done so. Between 13 November and 1 February, they accumulated 30 of a possible 36 points and were unbeaten.

That's certainly stodgy form.  And why mid-season for our woes away from home?  We've not shone, results wise, away from home all season.  Did she see us against Blackburn?  Then she gets all nostalgic for those heady days when journalists got misty-eyed over Ronaldo leaving:

United players spoke enthusiastically of a team spirit one or two claimed had improved since the departures of Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez.Such talk is cheap but had Rooney not converted an arguably soft penalty before Blackburn, perhaps not realising Blackpool and Wolves were winning, settled tamely for a draw, that pair would have been badly missed. Especially as Nani was at his irritating worst.Indeed, were a magic carpet to carry Ronaldo and Tevez back to United in time for the Champions League final there can be no doubt the former, at least, would walk straight back into Ferguson's side.

Let's party like it 2009/10... That really is beyond lazy journalism.  We're missing Ronaldo.  Really.  I mean really...

Sam Wallace, in The Independent, is better on similar terrain.  He starts by giving us a history lesson:

Ferguson was approaching his 400th Premier League game as United manager, his team were already trailing Arsenal by six points in the league and it had recently been suggested that winning the title that season – which he subsequently did – would be the greatest achievement of his career. What had irked him was that the person who had suggested it, or rather written it in his newspaper column, was the former Liverpool defender-turned-pundit Alan Hansen.

At the time, Hansen's point had been contentious but it had not been outlandish. United had won three titles between 1999 and 2001 but after Arsenal won the Premier League by ten points in 2002, suddenly the picture had changed. United had finished third behind Liverpool. Juan Sebastian Veron, Ferguson's record signing at £28m in the summer of 2001, had bombed. Things seemed to be changing.

...

When Walker put Hansen's theory to Ferguson, his exact published words were thus: "My greatest challenge was knocking Liverpool right off their fucking perch. And you can print that." Which is a rare instance of the original quotation being much fruitier than the one that has passed into folklore.

Before making more measured comment on the whole possible decline subject:

Now United occupy the perch, will displacing them be as difficult a job for the pretenders as Ferguson faced against Liverpool? With the bulwark of a huge stadium, a global following and unparalleled success it will be neither simple nor cheap to do it. But then empires crack in the most unexpected ways and sometimes on details that can seem relatively trivial.

Recognition that anything is possible, but the foundations are solid.

I wouldn't normally link to Mark Lawrenson, let alone suggest reading it.  I'm not going to go so far as to quote from it, but credit to him for not going for the "worst Man Utd team in history approach.

The Kevin McCarra piece I quoted earlier is worth a read, with a broad survey of the team and manager, and it includes my favourite line of the day:

Today there is only the continuous present of the Ferguson era

There is certainly a worry when that present ends, but now is the time to celebrate our title, not looking into the problems of the future.  If only the papers had thought so.

Rob Smyth on the Guardian blog ranks Sir Alex's titles in order of merit, putting this one slap bang in the middle - 

The fact that this is arguably the weakest of Ferguson's title sides makes this one of his worthier achievements – especially as it is United's record-breaking 19th title. The squad is a peculiar mix of youth and experience, humility and arrogance, flair and diligence. It's hard to imagine anyone but Ferguson getting so much out of them.

Standard.

The only thing worth noting about Alan Hansen's piece today is that he makes a ridiculous assertion in the opening which he refuses to back up in the rest of it:

Sooner or later, the balance of football power will shift in Manchester

Will it?  Will it really.  Where's your evidence?  I'll accept a simple consistent line of argument.  You don't even have that?  Well f*&k off then.

Finally, The Guardian collect a few player quotes together this from Rio:

 "This club will never sit and rest on its laurels, especially with the manager we've got. The manager is a winner and everything stems from him really. To win this league you have to be mentally strong. I think this season, more than any other that I've been involved in since I came here, we've dragged games back from the dead. That's the sign of a team with great resilience and character."