WHY SAY ANYTHING?

What is happening in Manchester? United, if they are not very careful, will continue on their downward slope into total mediocrity, (in some people’s eyes, they are already there)!

City, on the other hand, can afford to throw away the FA Cup in order to be able to win in the Ukraine three days later. Many people think they could have achieved the Champion’s League win without sacrificing the other trophy but, what the heck? This is City. Who cares what the fans want?

What was particularly annoying was that they had been on a very good run in this competition with some good away wins and there was a very real possibility that a stronger City team would have beaten Chelsea.

So, at least if City win the treble, it will not include the FA Cup so wouldn’t be quite the achievement of United in 1999.

In fairness, they haven’t been that concerned over the fan’s wishes for quite a while. The holy grail for the club and it’s management would appear to be the Champion’s League, a competition that, no doubt, the supporters would welcome, but they are not overly dependant on it. They much prefer winning the Premier League and the FA Cup/Capital One Cup.

Strange really as, obviously, winning the league keeps gaining them entry to the Champion’s League, so they may as well embrace it.

Not content with still chasing three trophies, City have also confirmed the appointment of the “best coach in the world” for next season. Pep Guardiola will take over from Manuel Pellegrini to try and win the Champion’s League and raise the standing of Manchester City a little higher. Yes, that is the same Champion’s League that the fans aren’t really bothered about!

So it is probably fair to say that the Blue Moon is rising.

What, on the other hand, is happening with the Red Devils?

Outside of the top four and relegated to the Europa League with the rest of Europe’s also-rans, the only way this season will be seen as any form of success would be to win the FA Cup, the Europa League or, preferably, both.

Nowadays these competitions are secondary to most others so winning either of them would not be an invitation to climb on the roof and start shouting about it. In fact, after last year’s fourth placed finish and Champion’s League qualification, one of these trophies would be a failure compared with last season.

In truth, Louis van Gaal has taken United two steps forward in his first season, then five steps backward in his second. The overwhelming desire of the supporters is for him to leave, preferably now, but definitely no later than the end of the season, and to employ Jose Mourinho as a knee-jerk reaction to City’s new manager.

As knee-jerk reactions go, it wouldn’t be a bad one. Serial winner Jose is just the type of character needed to get United back on track. Let’s just hope the reports today of him agreeing a three year deal are not wide of the mark.

With his track record of winning, and winning early in his new roles, he is probably the only manager, currently, who could go head-to-head with Guardiola and come out on top half of the time.

So City have their house in order for next season and United, because of Ed Woodward, don’t. Hopefully he won’t be dithering too much longer because I can’t imagine Mourinho being very patient with his transfer dealings.

The rumour that another businessman is being considered as an appointment to help Woodward is also quite scary and shows how little the Glazers have learned about football during their ownership of United.

Still, there is time for that one to remain a rumour and the rest of us can hope that a knowledgeable Director of Football is brought in to help Mourinho, not Woodward.

It could be interesting in Manchester next season, it usually is anyway!