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After a tough season that ended in a loss to Villarreal in the Europa League final, Manchester United fans are asking questions about the leadership at the club. United have played good football throughout the season, but have come up short in key moments, resulting in them having nothing to show for their efforts.
Dear Ole,
It’s been a while since I last wrote to you but I find it very necessary to pen this letter to you in the aftermath of our beloved club’s failure to win the Europa League.
Wednesday’s 11-10 defeat to Villarreal on penalties has hit everyone associated with Manchester United very hard, and I have no doubt that you gave your best.
What I really want to say is, congratulations on the improvement you’ve brought to the team and to our club. For the first time since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement, our club is very stable and seems to be headed in the right direction. The quality of football is electric, and the young players carry Manchester United's DNA with pride.
We’re back to competing for trophies and have also qualified for the UEFA Champions League for consecutive seasons. It’s unfortunate that you have no trophies to show for all the hard work you’ve put in since you became our manager two and a half years ago. But the United faithful have your back. We believe that you are the right person in charge to take the club back to the very top.
I think you have done tremendously well for yourself and for United, and very few managers could have achieved what you have with this squad.
That said, though, I am not here to just sing praises about you. I’m a huge fan of yours and I have no doubt that you will succeed at Old Trafford. However, there are a few things that still need to be worked on.
The honeymoon phase is over and, despite your past ties to the club, you must be subjected to every justifiable criticism when you fall short, just like any other manager at any top club. Those are the standards that you as a player were instrumental in setting for this club.
It’s now been four years – four good years – since we last won a trophy. We’ve come close several times during your tenure and yet ended up empty-handed on every occasion.
This is certainly not good enough and you know it. You’ve done fairly well for the club but your flaws are apparent. Your failure to make tough choices in key moments left us bereft when things got tough against Villarreal.
It’s okay if you don’t trust your bench, but you should’ve built up the confidence of some players like Donny van de Beek and Daniel James over the course of the season to prepare them to make an impact when needed.
Rather, you further eroded their already faltering confidence by constantly ignoring them and leaving them on the bench. Another shortfall is your lack of in-game management.
Your substitutions are sometimes questionable and that was the case during the Europa League final against Villarreal. Why wait 10 to 15 minutes and take the cautious route every time?
As a lifelong Manchester United fan, I honestly want you to succeed at the helm for a long time. But that is unlikely to happen if you continue to repeat the same mistakes, rather than learn from them.
I can consider this season a success because we finished second in the Premier League. However, it could and should have been better had we ended the campaign with a trophy.
We are all disappointed with how the season ended but you have the support of the Manchester United fans. Make it count and deliver us better results and, crucially, a trophy next season.
Yours faithfully,
A Manchester United fan.
