Manchester United are facing the greatest crisis in the Premier League club’s history.
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United → face → history
Their worst start to a league season in 40 years was extended with a 3-0 defeat to Bournemouth on Sunday.
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start → extend → Sunday
It threw not only the manager’s future into doubt, but every member of the ownership, senior management and playing squad as a whole.
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It → throw → whole
United fans do not turn on their managers or players.
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fans → turn → managers
That changed on Sunday when fans cheered off Michael Carrick and then booed off the players.
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fans → change → players
The message is clear: United fans are not prepared to take any more – and that goes from the top to the bottom of the first-team set-up and those who recruited them.
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who → take → them
Al Jazeera Sport takes a look at the problems plaguing the club:
Do Man United need a striker more than a new manager?
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United → take → manager
Since Cristiano Ronaldo left United in November 2022 after his second stint at Old Trafford, the side has struggled for a regular goalscorer.
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side → leave → goalscorer
Zlatan Ibrahimovic was a short-term fix before Ronaldo’s return, while Romelu Lukaku was unable to turn a reputation into returns.
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Lukaku → turn → returns
Danish striker Rasmus Hojlund was recruited as United’s answer to Manchester City’s Erling Haaland, but a lack of goals saw the youngster shipped back to Italy.
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youngster → recruit → Italy
The 23-year-old has impressed in patches, but injuries have also taken their toll, and his absence in United’s woeful start to the season has been glaring.
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absence → impress → season
United have tried Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo as strikers, but both are naturally wide players who thrive on running at defenders.
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who → try → defenders
Then came the false nine, with Bruno Fernandes handed a role perfected by Lionel Messi at Barcelona.
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Fernandes → come → Barcelona
Too often in Fernandes’s case, however, the Portuguese playmaker found himself with his back to goal and unable to pull the strings of the runners around him.
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playmaker → find → him
Having won the Professional Footballers’ Association’s Player of the Year award on the back of breaking the Premier League record for the number of assists in a season, the role took his greatest ability away from him.
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role → win → him
Eight players sit above United’s leading scorer – Mbeumo, with four goals – in the Premier League’s scoring chart this season; all of them would walk into the United side.
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all → sit → side
United’s top brass: The Glazers, Jason Wilcox and Omar Berrada
The Glazer family bought into Manchester United in 2005, long before Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013.
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family → buy → 2013
However, it is now believed that English football’s most successful manager and then-CEO David Gill were masking the problems brought by the US family’s ownership.
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manager → believe → ownership
Fernandes is perhaps the only player who would come close to breaking into one of the Ferguson sides during the spell between his first league title in 1993 and his last, when he finally hung up his hairdryer.
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he → come → hairdryer
Ed Woodward was the Glazers’ appointed CEO until 2022, and was lambasted by fans for the endless run of failed signings and sacked managers.
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Woodward → appoint → signings
The duo currently responsible for player recruitment, CEO Omar Berrada and the technical director, are the latest pairing to receive the wrath of the Old Trafford support, and, it seems, the dressing room.
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it → receive → support
Defender Lisandro Martinez, who helped Argentina reach the 2026 World Cup final, took aim at Wilcox in particular after United’s defeat at Atletico Madrid when he criticised the lack of investment in the squad in the summer.
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he → help → summer
Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s INEOS Group invested heavily in United two years ago.
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Group → invest → United
The move led to controversial off-field cuts, and with them came grand plans for the club’s training ground and proposals to rebuild Old Trafford.
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plans → lead → Trafford
The return so far has been minimal, and Ratcliffe and INEOS are regarded in the same light as the Glazers – an unwanted relative at each family gathering.
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Ratcliffe → regard → gathering
Manager vs star player: Carrick vs Fernandes
Whoever is in charge of United through the end of the season and beyond will have one big question to answer: Does Fernandes have a future at the club after openly criticising Carrick?
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Fernandes → have → Carrick
The Portuguese was booed off after the defeat by Bournemouth on Sunday, even though he did not set foot on the field, punishment for his decision to call out Carrick’s tactics after Wednesday’s defeat in Como.
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he → boo → Como
At 32, Fernandes is closer to the end of his career than to the start, but he remains United’s standout performer.
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he → remain → start
When he ticks, so do United.
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United → tick → ?
When he does not, United appear to be relegation fodder.
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United → do → ?
His esteem among the fans is based on the belief that he has shouldered the club since his 2020 arrival; even with the brief return of Ronaldo, Fernandes was still the star of the show.
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Fernandes → base → show
They have, however, considered cashing in on the Portuguese playmaker, with the Saudi Pro League prepared to break the bank to lure him away.
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League → consider → him
Galatasaray were also known to be another suitor this summer.
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Galatasaray → know → ?
Fernandes, in response, made no secret of his disappointment in the club’s openness to selling him – something both parties may now consider inevitable.
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parties → make → him
To buy a left-back – or be left behind the rest?
One of the biggest surprises in the summer, alongside failing to reinforce their options alongside Sesko in attack, was the failure to bring in a left-back.
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One → buy → back
Indeed, it is believed the lack of depth in that position in particular is what led to Martinez blasting the club hierarchy.
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Martinez → believe → hierarchy
Lewis Hall of Newcastle United was heavily linked with a move throughout the summer, and on the final day of the transfer window it was assumed the deal would be done, given no other player was acquired in that role.
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player → link → role
It undoubtedly led to their rise to become the world’s number one club – under Matt Busby with his babes in the 1950s, then his rebuilt giants led by George Best and Bobby Charlton, then the hallmark of Ferguson’s team to the very last kick of so many games.
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It → lead → games
Fernandes slammed Carrick for not pressing Como in the Champions League and allowing a relative minnow at that level to dictate the play.
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minnow → slam → play
Sitting deep has never been the United way, and Jose Mourinho – now revelling again in his second stint at Real Madrid – faced a player revolt even though the United fans remained faithful.
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fans → sit → revolt
…and 8 more, not listed.
The Aporia
