WE’RE MAN UNITED AND WE’RE NEVER GONNA TO STOP!!!

A hapless second half against Newcastle United reminded even the most red-spectacled fan how far the Red Devils are from the Glory Days.

We’ve seen it all

We’ve won the lot

…so the chant goes.

The Stretford faithful were in full swing at St. James’ Park as Newcastle cantered to a 4-1 victory. It is a credit to those travelling fans who maintained such strong support despite having to endure a second half where United couldn’t string together three passes together. United have only managed three successive victories once all season - Rangers at home, Fulham away, and FCSB away at the end of January (We promptly lost to Crystal Palace at Old Trafford in our first game in February).

Fans, pundits, ex-professionals all have an opinion. Let’s blame the Glazers. Let’s blame Ed Woodward. Let’s blame Sir Ratcliffe. Let’s blame the manager. Let’s blame Sir Alex. Let’s blame this player or that one (Onana today, Casemiro, Rashford, Anthony, or Maguire yesterday).

Indeed, we’ve seen it all:

We’ve seen the euphoria of the Chosen One – only to see us fail to make the cut for Champions League and think we should choose someone else.

We’ve witnessed the genius of Van Gaal win us our first major trophy after Sir Alex - only for him to be promptly sacked because of his playing style we saw.

We’ve welcomed the Special One who brought us our first cup double since Sir Alex, only to be sacked because of the atmosphere within the club making players feel ordinary.

We’ve had Ole at the wheel who brought back the feel-good factor around Old Trafford, only to be sacked after appearing to lose the Midas Touch.

We brought the master tactician that is Ralf Rangnick out from the managerial cold, only for him to lose his job because he failed to translate theory into practice.

We’ve experienced Erik ten Hag, who appeared destined to bring the right players to play the modern game of football, only to see us play without direction or purpose.

And now we’ve got Ruben Amorim, who was meant to be the grandmaster leading the charge in the next generation of managers. Instead, we find ourselves seeing 11 pawns who don’t seem to know what anyone is meant to be doing.

United have tried every kind of manager possible since 2013. None of them have been the answer.

We’ve also bought every kind of player imaginable –

• The youth player to join the academy until breaking into the first team

• The teenager who has their entire career ahead of them

• The quality player entering the prime of their career

• The established professionals who have experience

• The senior players who have been there and done it

We’ve not been able to build a squad that could match even the weaker squads Sir Alex had in the Premier League era.

We’ve even brought in a new (part) owner and changed the executive structure in the club. Yet, fans don’t have confidence in the direction we’re travelling in.

Let’s be honest: we don’t know who or what is to blame. It’s unlikely to be just one factor. But because we don’t really know what the problem is, it’s seems impossible to find the solution. A £2 billion new stadium isn’t going to solve the problems. A £200 million war chest this summer won’t buy us a title charge. Resolving all our debt isn’t going to convert more of our chances created into goals scored.

It is important to note that most clubs would be delighted with the additions we’ve had to the trophy cabinet since 2013 – just look at our opponents this past weekend, Newcastle, and how the city celebrated their recent Carabao Cup victory.

But we’re Man United. We’re never gonna stop.

Perhaps that’s one of the problems. We have stopped. We’ve stopped winning games by entertaining our fans. We’re not the club most clubs envy. The most intimidating thing for teams visiting Old Trafford is our leaky roof on a rainy day.

Perhaps the first thing we need to do then, is recognise that we’re not the Man United we used to be. We haven’t been for a very long time. These days, it seems the only thing ‘we’re never gonna stop’ is the other teams’ attack.

Maybe that’s what we need to embrace – that we’re not the Man United we think we are. The days where we could be a couple of goals down at half-time and still win the game through sheer force of will are long gone. The Treble was over a quarter of century ago. The Class of ’92 are all middle-aged. Fergie Time no longer exists. None of those things are relevant to most of the squad nor anyone other than the fans.

Let’s get back to basics. Maybe being out of Europe next season is exactly what we need. That way, there’s no pressure of trying to compete for the signature of the biggest players by offering them an astronomical salary. We won’t have as many games and we can operate with a slimmer squad, focusing on the basics of scoring goals and winning games.

Rather than telling ourselves how great we once were, let’s have an honest chat with ourselves about how good (or not) we really are right now. Let’s build a squad full of players who aren’t here because our past, but our present.

Rather than being a team in transition, let’s recognise that we need to forget everything that we’ve done to get here, and start from scratch yet again.

Because after the Munich Air Disaster in 1958, that’s exactly what Sir Matt Busby did.

After relegation and the dark days of the early 80’s, that’s exactly what Sir Alex Ferguson did.

After all…

We’re Man United…

…and we’re never gonna stop