A look back at the 1989/90 season(when there were only 20 teams in the division). Firstly the equivalent weekend to now :
Date Pos P W D L F A GD Pts
22/10/89 14 9 3 2 4 17 16 +1 11Not a promising start to the season. Let us move forward a couple of months :
Date Pos P W D L F A GD Pts
10/01/90 17 22 6 6 10 27 31 -4 24At this stage just one place (and one point) above the relegation spots. Not good!
Now the end of that season
Date Pos P W D L F A GD Pts
Final 13 38 13 9 16 46 47 -1 48So at the end of the 1989/90 season there had been a recovery to 13th place, although this was only 5 points above the relegation positions.
This was from a manager in his fourth season at the club, and I consider he had more than adequate funds and facilities at his disposal at that time. The board stood by him, and gave him time.
Nigel Deeley and the rest of the backroom squad have had a little over three months, starting virtually from scratch, with very restricted funds, yet our current position is fairly similar to the October 1989 position referred to above. If he can guide us to an end of season position of safety then I for one will be satisfied, given the precarious situation the club was in before Nigel took over.
Of course it would be great to have a side that was playing fluent football and winning every week, but this does not happen overnight, in a few weeks, in a few months. It takes a long time, trying things out, making adjustments, building for the future. Surely no supporter, if they step back and try to look at the situation dispassionately, can argue with that. It is only natural to want success, and to want it quickly, if not instantly, but we have to be realistic.
I’ve referred to the 89/90 season above. I’m sure there would have been supporters, as there are now, calling for a change, but the manager was given more time to get things right (and remember he had already had three years to build a team).
Were the club right in sticking by the manager then? I’ll let you decide. Oh, by the way . . .
. . . the stats above refer to Manchester United; the manager, Alex Ferguson. He’s not done too badly since, has he?