10 years ago it would have been weird to praise the Glazer family for planning a management scenario that very well could fall on its face. I'm not talking about Moyes, I'm talking about what the Glazers made plain when they signed Louis Van Gaal- Ryan Giggs will be his assistant manager and LVG will be mentoring him as he teaches Giggsy how to be the manager of a club like Manchester United. How to cope with the pressure. How to deal with the players, when they're well-behaved and when they're not. How to bring youth players through and how to keep expectations down (or at least attempt to) in press conferences with the media. How to deal with the press. How to deal with family crises and how to sign players and find those players like Martial- that are mostly ignored by the media thus far but have real talent. How to deal with young talent and the various egos in the team.
It's a tall order to do in 3 years. Ever since his arrival the media and fans have been trying to sign Van Gaal's death certificate as manager of Manchester United. The Glazers and Ed Woodward have remained silent about his position; always the best course when dealing with media speculation. But between slamming LVG and guessing who his replacement will be (Klopp? Pep? Mourinho? Everyone who's ever managed a football team?) the media (and many fans) have missed just who is standing on the sidelines next to LVG. Absorbing. Learning. And preparing for his chance. A chance that seems to have been guaranteed by the Glazers almost two years ago when LVG was appointed manager and that they have never once said wouldn't happen or wasn't still the plan.
The fact is, we all know who United's next manager is. And what is incredibly apparent is that the Glazers (who fans targeted when they bought the club for, among other things, ignoring the club's history) are going to honor the club's history of hiring another long-term manager. That manager will be Ryan Giggs. The Glazers' plan was even given a vote of approval and confidence from the legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson when Sir Alex said that he though Giggs would be a good manager and if he'd known when he was manager that that was the direction Giggs wanted to go in he'd have trained him himself.
Maybe it would physically hurt the headline writers to give praise to the Glazers about sticking with their plan. Already there have been headlines that they should have gone for Pep instead of keeping LVG or going for Giggs. That Giggs should be put on the backburner for the Mourinho Tornado to blow through town. Some have suggested that Giggs should look at a smaller club to manage before even thinking about United. But isn't it simply amazing that in a period where Arsene Wenger looks to be the last long-serving manager before management becomes a 3-5 year circus of rotating doors the Glazers have looked at it and said, "Nope, we're sticking with Giggs."
According to United insiders, LVG has directed things at the club from afar to some degree, instructing those who will be there after he's gone in how to do things, how to build for the future and maintain that level of quality. To prevent what happened when Sir Alex retired from happening again but also to leave United on a steadier course. LVG gets plenty of stick for things happening on the pitch but if Ryan Giggs succeeds as manager of Manchester United as City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and more import their managers from Europe then there can be no denying that LVG's reign at United will have been a success. In a time where football fans and the media only care about the here and now, the Glazers and United have been looking to the future. Plotting out a future.
It's all against Giggs to succeed. How many players will come to United because of his name? Especially with Pep and Klopp already in the PL and Luis Enrique building a dynasty of his own in Barcelona? How many papers, pundits, and more will lambast him the minute United lose and if they lose 2 in a row, how many will say it was a mistake for them to pick Giggs? How will he cope being the boss of players he once played with? Yet if he succeeds how much noise will the media be making about the courage and foresight of the Glazers? I have the feeling that it will be quiet on that front.
Fans these days are as fickle as the papers. Will they give Giggs the respect that they have denied LVG from the start? Will Giggs be blamed for everything that goes wrong just as LVG is? Perhaps that is the real question awaiting Giggs' ascendance. Sir Alex asked for Moyes to be given time and patience from the fans; Moyes got neither. LVG is in the same position, though the Glazers have a changed game plan set in place. That, thus far, shows no signs of wavering.
I'm glad it hasn't. United fans have been incredibly spoilt and were due a reality check and a helping of humble pie. Every club needs that every so often, lest the fans become as conceited as the media allege Zlatan and CR7 are. United won't drop as far as Liverpool have. Certainly not as far as Chelsea did this past season. Fans might want to be winning trophies but creating a new project as United is, that seems a bit too optimistic even for me the perpetual optimist. I think for fans it's easy to forget that throwing money at the club doesn't actually help it. Otherwise City and Chelsea would be winning trebles or maybe even the quadruple every year given how much their owners have invested.
The other clubs are building teams for the year; United is looking to build a dynasty with Ryan Giggs at the helm. That takes bravery in this day and age of football. But it also takes patience. Everyone would do well to remember that. Would anything be worse than watching Ryan Giggs crucified by the papers and the fans simply because the Premier League lives up to its billing as one of the most unpredictable leagues in football today?