Ex-Arsenal forward Paul Merson has blamed Manchester United’s hierarchy and their transfer strategy for the club’s ongoing struggles.
United have endured years of disappointing performances since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013 and now find themselves in the Premier League relegation zone after a terrible start to the current campaign.
However, Merson believes the responsibility for this lies with the Red Devils’ decision-makers rather than any manager.
Merson blames owners for poor results
Speaking on Sky Sports, Merson said of United’s continued struggles: “I just can’t blame the manager. They change managers left, right and centre all the time and it’s the same results.
“It doesn’t matter if you have Arsène Wenger, Sir Alex Ferguson, Pep Guardiola or José Mourinho sitting on the bench – the mistakes they are making are down to the players.
“If they weren’t running around for the manager, they’d have been ripped to shreds by Roma and Aston Villa.”
Asked about the club’s transfer strategy, Merson stated: “They [minority co-owners INEOS] got it the wrong way around with their transfer policy.
“The first window they went for buying forwards. The next window, they started bringing in midfield players. Now, at the end of the season, they’re probably going to go and buy defenders.
“They should have gone with defenders first. You can’t build a house on a puddle. You’ve got to have a strong defence and they haven’t done that.
“They’ve done it completely the wrong way around and it’s come back to bite them. They’ve got to look at themselves upstairs and think that they got this horribly wrong.”
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Man Utd now a mid-table team
Merson also warned of more difficult days ahead, saying: “Man United are not one of the biggest teams anymore, but they’ve still got one of the biggest expectations in football and that is the problem.
“I think Man United are, and this is no disrespect, a mid-table team.
“We keep on talking about Man United of 15 years ago, when they had Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and top-draw players. It’s not the case anymore.
“They’re into buying players in the market who are a flip of a coin. They might be good or they might not, and that’s not how you do it at Man United.
“With the financial rules now, it’s going to be difficult for them to get anywhere near back to where they were 15, 20 and 25 years ago.
“It’s a great club and a massive club, but the expectations of managing that type of club and where you’ve got to finish in the league are very, very high.”
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