Soccer 360 - CA (2020-03 & 2020-04)

GOING UP

Everton’s rise since appointing Carlo

Ancelotti has been steep – and

shouldn’t have been unexpected. The

Italian has continued Duncan Ferguson’s

approach of reverting to the basics

and making sure they’re done well, first

and foremost, and then allowed his

more attacking players the freedom

to flourish – not least the thriving

Richarlison.

GOING DOWN

Aston Villa have spent a net total

of just over £110m since they were

promoted back to the Premier League

in the summer of 2019. And for that

they’ve got a relegation battle and a

real problem if they drop back to the

Championship. It appears they literally

can’t afford to go down.

GOING UP

GOING DOWN

Carlo Ancelotti

Dean Smith

in its place. He toiled at Manchester United,
did fairly well – but nothing more than that

• with Real Sociedad and took Sunderland
  out of the Premier League. Then came his
  first West Ham stint, in November 2017,
  with the club in the bottom three. He saved
  them from the drop, but his contract wasn’t
  renewed.
  So it was something of a surprise when he
  was re-appointed by the club ownership,
  David Gold, David Sullivan and Karen
  Brady. The man they had deemed not good
  enough 18 months earlier was the man
  they needed again. The supporters were
  underwhelmed and confused. They liked
  Moyes at the time and didn’t necessarily
  want to see him let go – but his return is a
  sign the club hasn’t progressed in almost
  two years.
  That’s the atmosphere into which Moyes
  walked. A club divided, a fan-base not
  entirely welcoming to him. He instantly
  made it worse. “I’ve got the biggest win-
  rate out of a certain number of managers,”
  he boasted. “That’s what I do. I win.” The
  Hammers duly won Moyes’ first game, and
  then lost three of the next five in the league.
  Unpopular owners, unhappy fans and a
  manager with delusions of his own recent
  success is the recipe for relegation.

THE UGLY
There won’t be many fans from around the
Premier League – or anywhere in English
football – for that matter shedding a tear
at Manchester United’s continuing struggle
to get back to their past glory. But that
doesn’t mean what is going on at Old
Trafford is any less of a disgrace.
English football’s most successful club
should not be clinging on to a small hope
of qualifying for the Champions League.
United have been decidedly mediocre all
season – indeed, for much of the post-Sir
Alex Ferguson era – but the ownership and
decision-makers appear happy to let the
status quo persist, because the club is still
wildly profitable.
Occasionally there will be splurges of
cash on new players – the most expensive
Band-Aids in world football. The problem

starts higher, where off-the-pitch the club is

thriving but those responsible for managing

what happens on it are in dereliction of

their duty. United needed a midfielder and a

striker before the January transfer window.

They needed one throughout the January

transfer window. And all-but a few days of

the window passed without United getting

one.

Eventually, on January 29, Bruno Fernandes

was signed for more than £67m. It was

suggested that United wanted to barter

Sporting down, an effort to save a few

million from an organisation routinely

ranked as the most valuable football club

in the entire world. That same approach

contributed to the loan signing of Odion

Ighalo, the striker tasked with replacing the

injured Marcus Rashford and firing United

back into the top four and whose last 19

Premier League games at Watford delivered

two goals.

Priorities at United need addressing. What’s

the point of being the most valuable club

in world football if you’re – at best – the

seventh best team in England? How much

longer will United’s status and prestige even

hold if they continue to slip down the table?

It’s an untenable situation, in more ways

than one.

OPPOSITE PAGE TOP:

James Milner

OPPOSITE PAGE

BOTTOM RIGHT:

David Moyes

ABOVE:

Odion Ighalo

DID (^) YOU KN
OW?
With (^17) goals and six assi
P sts^ in^ the^
remier League in (^) a struggli
s ng^ Watford^
ide, (^) Ighalo does know where
of^ the^ back^
the (^) net is. After all, he (^) finish
sco ed^ as^ top^
rer for Nigeria in last year’s
Africa Cup
of (^) Nations.