Carling Cup No Catalyst For Success

The Ranter

Any trophy would have done but United's first in almost two long, hard years was the Carling Cup won with ease against an overawed Wigan side in their first major final. For United this should - would - have been 'just another piece of silverware' but for the disastrous slide in the team's recent fortunes.

Sir Alex Ferguson was desperate for the win and so were the fans; hunger truly is the breeding ground for triumph in football. But that victory should not give leeway to the rapidly fading view that the great Scotsman can turn destiny around for his club. 'Two more seasons to build a great side,' says Alex. 'Show us the evidence,' retort the Manchester United faithful. The truth is this: the Carling Cup is scant reward for the supporters and certainly no barometer of the future.

These are indeed worrying times for Manchester United, despite the 4-0 final victory in Cardiff. On the pitch United are at least two world class central midfield performers away from matching Chelsea's first eleven; probably at least five signings away from a squad of similar depth and strength. Moreover, should money be available - and there is no guarantee that it will be – there is ever diminishing the evidence that Ferguson will, or can, pull off two major transfer coups.

Certainly the last two years have brought more failure than success in the market. Even if Govan's finest is still able to spot a talent there is little that he can do to prevent the continent's major clubs out-muscling the Old Trafford outfit in a bidding war. There is a new reality in which Real Madrid and Chelsea dominate the transfer scene and everybody else must work faster, smarter and harder. Cynics would not be far wrong in suggesting that Sir Alex' nemesis Arsene Wenger understands this. Does Ferguson?

Certainly there is a dearth of world class talent available in central midfield areas and if rumoured targets are to be believed Ferguson is on the cusp of betting his stack of chips on yet more untested talents. Zokora and Diarra are both gifted players but someway short of being in Roy Keane's class.

Meanwhile Gattuso and Ballack are seemingly out of the Old Trafford's grasp. Javier Mascherano, the multi-talented Argentinean, could be an inspired purchase but doubts surround his long-term recovery from injury, the true ownership of his registration with Corinthians and his ability to adapt to the English game. An easy job this is not.

Doubts too remain about the quality of United's squad - Richardson, Fletcher and O'Shea have all been subject to heavy criticism from supporters this season and not without justification. Smith and Fortune, when each recovers from major injury trauma, will surely have been assessed as midfield failures.

Then there are still those who are unsure about the development of the mercurial talents of Ronaldo and Park Ji-Sung whom flatter to deceive too often for comfort. Even stalwarts such as Giggs and Scholes - both wonderful servants to the club over the past decade - have major question marks placed against their names due to the creeping ignominy of ageing limbs.

It is developments off-the-pitch, of course, that will determine whether United are able to buy their way out of trouble, for surely that is what they must do if the club wishes to challenge at the very top again. The debt mountain acquired alongside a family of new American owners will play the most significant part in the board's strategic thinking. Should questions arise over whether a new midfield purchase should be made, or the annual interest paid, it will be the banks that win out.

Despite Managing Director David Gill's assertion that the debt is - serviceable,” there is plainly little or no room for manoeuvre. Even if United do secure the rumoured £60m shirt sponsorship contract with internet-gambling firm Mansion, the £6m per season uplift in revenues is but a pebble in a very large pond of hedge-fund debt.

Even those hard-bitten United supporters of a brighter disposition who believe - somewhat blindly - that the Red half of Manchester's woes will be fixed this coming summer transfer window, recognise the challenges ahead for Sir Alex Ferguson. For most the future lies not in the manager's vision of a third great team but in the recent past of the old enemy down the East Lancs Road. Liverpool's slide was ignominious and has lasted more than 15 years.

The somewhat fortuitous European cup win aside, Liverpool have not been in a realistic position to challenge for their domestic league title since John Barnes and Ian Rush led the attack and The La's topped the charts. The point being - it is easy for the rot to set in and very difficult to reach the summit once again. United's foundations may not be disintegrating but the cracks have begun to widen and Ferguson has shown little stomach for anything more than papering them over.

Whereas Ferguson built one great team and refreshed it continually, he now needs to evaluate his entire squad and with Chelsea completely dominating the transfer market the challenge is even more difficult than the one he face on taking the job twenty years ago.

There is no doubt that Manchester United fans had a fantastic day out in Cardiff, noise reverberating under the Millennium Stadium's magnificent roof, but there is little guarantee that the game's major honours will be heading north to Old Trafford at any greater rate than they have in the past four years. Despite the cup win Ferguson's side will finish somewhere between 15 and 20 points adrift of title winners Chelsea.

This is the real barometer of United's current standing in the game. For that reason, among many others, this summer must surely be make-or-break for Ferguson. The Glazers have backed him with more than £12m for two new defenders in the January transfer window. Should they do so again and success not follow rapidly after not even the most myopic of Manchester United acolyte will be in a position to deny that Ferguson's time at the club has ended.

The Ranter

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