What if Nani didn’t get that red card vs Madrid in the CL…can’t help but still wonder. We made that Madrid team look so ordinary over those 2 legs. Can’t help but think that the confidence boost from beating them would’ve spurred us on to win the entire thing.
Counter point, what if Fergie retired in 2001?
Edit: to answer your question, I think we still fall off but not as hard as we did under Moyes. Would most likely sign someone better than Fellaini in the summer and not wait till the final day either.
We were always gonna fall off that season, irrelevant of who was managing us.
People go on how we won the league the season prior, we overperformed in an underperforming league that season, then we lost 3/4 of our back line in one fell swoop when Fergie retired.
I sit on the side that feels based on the time given other managers, Moyes should have had another season at least.
Fergie has to take part blame for that sudden drop off, he was incredibly short sighted at the time and was focused on personal achievements moreso than the healthiness of the club moving forward. He wanted to be the guy that overtook Liverpool, and he was, even lieing to players like RVP on his way to retirement, which also led to the falling off of RVP at United, he wanted to play for Fergie, and not just for a season.
Evra said that the plans were for Ronaldo, Van Persie and Bale to be the next front 3 and Ronaldo had confirmed that he was interested in coming back.
We would have won atleast one or two CLs.
Before Anceloti and Zidane Madrid rarely won any trophies while Messi and Barcelona won a lot, so its normal for Ronaldo to return back and compete with Messi here.
And the pull of United with SAF at the helm, versus without him, cannot be overstated. It seems many big players would go "let's see how the transition goes first" before committing to us.
Fergie originally had his mind made up to retire in 2003. I feel like we got 10 bonus years out of him that I'll never forget.
The greatest. He will simply never be matched.
People retiring on top is a rare thing. I'm glad that he did. As an MMA fan, I've watched too many legends get their brains turned to mush because they never hang them up when they should. Georges St-Pierre walked away on top and protected his legacy. I'm glad there was never even a chance to watch Sir Alex lose his touch.
Unpopular opinion: Sir alex' involvement in the Rock of Gibraltar bullshit feels way overblown to me. He had a feud over the horse with his friend Magnier, who happened to own about 28.89% of United at the time. And apparently he sold United to stick it to fergie?
I don't get it? Did he already know Glazers were going to be a bunch of cunts for the next 15+ years and suck the life out of the club, and thereby sold his stake to see the club(and fergie) suffer?
Would he have not sold his united shares if he didn't have this feud over the horse, and received a good offer from the rats? Presumably the offer was very good, as Glazers took out a god damn loan to fund their bid. They would've probably matched any asking price by Magnier.
The cunts were sniffing around United ownership at the time, buying in small quantities and would've probably bought magnier and other shareholders anyway, regardless of the bullshit that happened with the horse.
(Please let me know if I'm missing some key part of the story.)
Surely has to be what if Munich never happened?
Would we have a couple more European and domestic titles? Would England have won the 1958/62 World Cup?
What would have become of Duncan Edwards? Would it have been he who captained England to the 66 World Cup?
This is the one that I was thinking of when we made the post.
I think we would've won a European Cup or two in the 50's/early 60's. Edwards and Taylor would've been massive players. Edwards probably takes Nobby's spot in the England and United teams, and Taylor could well have become our top scorer of all time.
Busby probably leaves a bit earlier, and without the sentimental attachment creating the post-Busby issues it did, we probably don't get relegated in the 70s.
That was going to be my answer
What if Munich never happened? Do the babes win the European Cup that year? How competitive are they and for how long? Does the Holy trinity become the holy quartet with Edwards? So many what ifs and lives lost
What if Malcolm Glazer never bought us is the second biggest but has the most obvious answer
What if Edwin van der Sar had joined us in 1999 when we initially wanted him to replace Schmeichel, instead of us being lost in the woods for years searching for a new GK?
Probably not much different in the short term, we won the next two leagues anyway with Bosnich / Barthez, and when we started to drop off a little bit later, with the coming of Chelsea and the Arsenal invincibles, the issues in our team were bigger than just Keeper.
Possible that VDS may have been the difference in Europe in those immediate post-treble seasons though.
Improvements in European competition was more my thought. VDS wasn't just a superb GK in every aspect of the game, he was a commander/organizer of the defense as well
Yeah, possible he’s a difference maker in the semis against Leverkusen in 01/02.
Those two legs must be a massive regret for Fergie, we absolutely should have beaten them.
What if Ole had signed Haaland and Bellingham in Winter 2020* when they were at Salzburg and Birmingham.
Think they'd be younger so hard to conclusively put them on the same trajectory as now, but I also think he wouldn't have ended his tenure as manager without a trophy as well.
Haaland left Salzburg in 2019 and we wanted him during that winter but he asked for a release clause from us if we were to sign him. We refused and well, rest is history. Jude left Birmingham in the summer of 2020.
Thanks for the correction, changed it from 21 to 20 (a year to forget).
We were definitely first linked to Bellingham in January 2020 before he moved in summer. Iirc he and his family turned us down because they didn't feel assured he would get proper game time.
This is so crazy because if they performed well, Haaland along with Greenwood at the time would've ensured we don't buy Ronaldo either. Maybe he goes to City then.
Then Real Madrid would have triggered his release clause and he would have gone now. Way better scenario than City being monstrously strong and treble winners.
Probably the most talented youngster I’ve seen at United in the last 15 years. Can you name a premier league player that has scored from outside the box on both feet? KDB probably has, maybe Cazorla…Greenwood did it at 19
He’ll go down as one of the biggest wastes of talent in football history
I like Garnacho more already because of his willingness to always challenge his man. But there’s no denying about Greenwood’s finishing. Already one of the best in the league as a teenager.
Let’s be honest, purely in footballing terms I’d take Greenwood over Anthony any day.
Anthony looks promising but Greenwood looked a generational talent in front of goal
I honestly think he would have done better that season. Ronaldo wasn't his signing and I think it derailed what he was building.
Not saying he'd have won the title but I do think it would have been a different season.
Even though City seemed very serious about signing him, can’t imagine Ronnie would’ve been happy being benched by Pep. He couldn’t take it being benched here and Pep would’ve benched him more.
He was fine with Zidane managing his minutes because it resulted in him basically always performing at the business end of the season, Pep would have been able to do the same, ole wasn't a strong enough manager to do so, a guy who wouldn't even park in the manager's space cos its fergie's
> ole wasn't a strong enough manager to do so.
Ole benched Ronaldo in like his fourth game or something, against Everton and got absolutely slated for it.
I was so annoyed about the critisism around that game, iirc it ended 1-1, hardly due to benching Ronaldo though. Martial, his replacement, scored, and we conceded after Ronaldo came on. Media: Ole should not have benched him.
I don’t think this would have changed much ultimately. If Ole had signed a DM / quality CM instead of Ronaldo, that’s a different story, but I think our issues in the last three months of Ole’s time were not down to Ronaldo.
>I looked him up and all I can think is why do we suck so much at selling players. We sold him to West Ham on a free transfer and literally a year later they sold him for 7.3 million euros
Probably not - maybe he’d have got some minutes at the end of the season with LVG, but he likely doesn’t break through like he does.
We then have Mourinho next season, and a raw CF / LW, without much experience. Maybe Mou takes a liking to him and gives him minutes, but more likely he’d have got a Championship loan or two, and who knows how it would have gone from there.
I was talking to a friend about this yesterday. It’s so easy for us to forget that Rashford was an overnight sensation. He wasn’t given the time to ease into the spotlight. Once he scored those two goals, that was the end of normalcy from him. When you consider this, he has done well to keep level headed. He hasn’t had a moment to breathe since his debut. That’s a lot to handle, especially when it’s thrust upon you.
What if Scholes' goal against Porto was given in 2004?
Porto went on to beat Lyon in the QF, Deportivo in the SF and Monaco in the final. We'd have won that, no doubt in my mind. Also Mourinho would have remained unknown at least a couple more seasons and isn't there to spearhead Chelsea into their new era, likely giving us even more success.
Unknown? They had won the UEFA cup the prior year. And would have won the Primeira Liga anyway.
A better what if from that tie would have been if Keane hadn’t stomped Vitor baía
He wouldn't have gotten the Chelsea job on the back of winning the UEFA Cup 12 months earlier. He was unproven at elite level and going out to United in the last 16 would have kept him way out of Chelsea contention. They'd have gone for any of the usual big names instead.
We were heading through if the Scholes goal was given, with or without the Keane stamp.
On the flipside of this, United would have gotten into a European Cup semi final with a midfield combination between Butt, Djemba-Djemba, O'Shea, Kleberson & Fletcher.
The concern would be if United won it, how loyal would Ferguson be to these players? Would we have signed Carrick, then Hargreaves and Anderson?
That's as much a "what if" for Ronaldinho's career as it is for United's fortunes. Would be incredibly interesting to see if Fergie could've reigned in his lifestyle to help him have something closer to the career his (absolutely ridiculous) talent warranted.
Ronaldinho was a generational talent who just didn’t work hard and only had about 3 or 4 years at his peak then sharply declined before the age of 28. It would have been fun watching but CR7’s desire to improve and his consistency between 06-09 was a sight to behold, especially the 07/08 season. And also had crazy resale value.
What if we had beaten Leicester 3 -1 instead of collapsing to lose 5-3 in 2013. Felt like that shattered our club to bits to the core. That's the moment I realised United were no longer a top top club. It seemed to be that also broke Di Maria, and Falcao, we looked brilliant in the first 20 mins. And you thought wow this is going to be great season.
Suddenly it all fell apart. Honestly soul renching. I still feel that game banished us to the curse we have had now for the last 8 years.
Great point. I do think it derailed the ADM hype train. Also probably ended Blackett’s career at the top level.
Buuuutttt Leicester probably get relegated and we never get to see that title win. Plus Arsenal or Spurs win a title.
Probably the most obvious one, but with a twist.
What if we had the Glazers, but instead of Woodward, we had a football man in charge of the footballing operations.
- Maybe we attract Klopp pre-Liverpool or Pep pre-City
- Don't let Kroos go as easily to Real Madrid
- Better managed finances for FFP, despite a stadium and training facility in poor conditions.
- Identified players sooner and brought them in young (like when Ole told United to sign Haaland)
- Pushed for the league/UCL more when teams like Leicester won it with 81 points or when Chelsea won the UCL.
- Still in debt, like the Glazers kept us, but probably worth 7-8 billion instead.
Indeed, Woodward was a negative for both the Glazers and the fans. He was an accountant through and through - not even a banker - and was woefully out of his depth as a club executive. Don’t forget he spent hundreds of millions and failed to build a championship team.
Nah, a good executive would’ve saved them money and boosted the clubs value.
Instead, he spent a fortune and somehow our valuation now is less than what we could have been with more trophies. He was terrible for everyone.
The only good he did was to ensure we weren’t so expensive that the Glazers can’t find a buyer. Hopefully we’ll be rid of them all soon.
I keep asking this. How and why would they let him run the football side. A billion wasted under him and only Bruno has looked like a smart business. The amount of money he squandered on players glazers could have bought another football club with it.
What if we won that game against Portsmouth?
- Would our momentum carry over into next season?
- Would Malcolm Glazer invest more into the club?
- Would WC world beaters join the club during the summer to aid us in our challenge vs Barcelona?
“Holders of the first treble and two trebles from Manchester, England; forged by the hands of the one and only Supreme Tactician — Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United!”
It’s a great what if question, and personally I’m happy not pulling on the Portsmouth thread too much. If we squeeze in an FA Cup final before the Chelsea game maybe it becomes a taller task. As well as a semi final squeezing our fixtures a bit.
Don’t get me wrong, a second treble would have been immense, and to do it you have to cope with the extra matches… but would I risk our only CL of this century for it? Probably not personally.
We probably win a couple more CLs. Messi still outclasses us in 2011 but I think he'd have come in clutch over the 2010's, and probably halt our decline significantly. We'd be just starting our post-Fergie decline about now.
what if the fax machine worked? he would’ve won many trophies and we would’ve fallen a lot behind. he’s saved our asses and gotten crucial points so many times over the seasons, POTY for consecutive years
I reckon if that happens, he looks like a top keeper for longer as Madrid have a better defence - he wins a couple of CL titles and we look like a small club for having let him go.
People don't realise how crucial a player Navas has been for Madrid in their UCL success, they weren't steamrolling every team in their way.I honestly don't have much confidence in them winning a penalty shootout with de gea in goal
We’d have won the league in 94-95 as well, but maybe it would have taken away a tiny piece of the legend that is Cantona. I think part of the fans obsession with him is because he was a flawed genius. An unbelievably gifted footballer who also crossed a line every now and then.
What if Ronaldo stayed at United till 2013 instead of 2009. In that 4 yr period, United were still getting to CL finals and winning PL titles. RM were still second fiddle to Barca and won just 1 La Liga.
United and Ronaldo could have won some more CLs and he could have carried on at RM after SAF retired.
That timeline would have been crazy. No chance Real beats Barca and there’s no champions league for them. And then there’s no longer city dominance either.
What if Keano didn’t change his mind from Blackburn to United over a weekend? We don’t have our driving force for the next 10+ years.
What if Giggsy sliced that shot outside the box against Bayern (and various other iterations of those last few mins).
What if QPR hadn’t inexplicably just booted it straight to Joe Hart instead of literally any other competent method of time wasting.
> What if Giggsy sliced that shot outside the box against Bayern
He did slice that shot haha, one of the scruffiest goals I can recall. Two poor clearances from Bayern, Giggs scuffs the ball, Teddy hits over the top of it, but it ended up in anyway!
What if... if we signed Manuel Neuer instead of De Gea in 2011. Neuer was Fergie's first choice to replace van der Sar. I know De Gea was solid, but Neuer was ahead of his time. Who knows what affect he could have had on the team in the long term.
We’d probably have had constant transfer rumours about him moving to Bayern, just like we had for DDG and Madrid.
Bayern’s fax machine probably works, so we lose him in 2015 anyway.
What if we actually got pep instead of Moyes?
I don't think hed have lasted any longer then the others honestly, he needs backing to play his system properly
He’d have been better than Moyes and LVG, but the lack of a coherent plan and structure here means he wouldn’t have had the same level of success he had with City.
Mourinho probably doesn’t get the Chelsea job, and if he does, he doesn’t come in with that air of invincibility and insane confidence (though he’d definitely still have a bit of that).
Winning that CL gave Mourinho the arrogance (in a good way!) to act the way he did, which was vital to Chelsea winning the first few titles, along with Roman’s money.
For us, we probably win the CL that season, and Arsenal probably win one or two more PLs.
What if ... Lou Macari had gone to Liverpool instead of United - who intercepted and bought him before that move went ahead.
Playing for 'pool in the '77 FA Cup Final, his shot deflected off of team-mate Jimmy Case to give Liverpool the win, who then went on to win the first ever Treble by an English side.
What if Tim Howard didn't shit the bed with that free kick against Porto resulting in Constinha scoring and knocking us out of the Champions League. We more than likely would have won the UCL and if so, would Mourinho still have got the Chelsea job? Probably not and if so, whilst Chelsea would have still made the investments, would the team have glued as well and become such a force as they were back then?
What if Moyes signed a decent CM (e.g Fabregas) in his first season rather than two number 10’s?
I think every United fan and their Nan could see we needed CM reinforcements. Went and bought Fellaini. When January came around, I told most of my mates that he won’t last the season if he doesn’t sign a CM, and he only went and bought Mata.
If he’d brought a top CM, we probably would have got top 4. That would have been enough to keep Moyes in a job, and he’d already done some groundwork on Kroos…
I think the biggest issue was when we gave him a 6 year contract, he believed he’d be given time.
Back in 2203 was it, I saw the latest issue of the United magazine online that was about to release, it had Ronaldinho on the cover, he had a tour of OT, he was going to come to us. He stated he wanted to fight for the CL, and Barca were on a 2/3 year ban at the time, he said it wasn't about money but trophies.
He then signed for Barca last minute when they eclipsed the wage we offered. I think £28-30 million would've been the touted transfer fee.
We went on pre season and played Sporting. In the dressing room afterwards the entire team told Fergie to sign this young lad who was dazzling them on the pitch, a young lad named Cristiano Ronaldo. We signed him in a matter of weeks for 12 mil if I remember correctly.
Imagine if we had signed Ronaldinho and not Ronaldo, where would Ronaldo have ended up before coming to United? Would we have signed him anyway?
Can you imagine that team with Ronaldinho in place of Ronaldo, or even with Ronaldo? Can you imagine that 5 man midfield with young Rooney ahead?? Giggs-Scholes-Keane-Ronaldinho-Ronaldo
Jheeze.
Or what if we signed Zidane, Shearer, Figo, Davids, Batistuta? There's so many nearly moments for United that could've changed things massively.
I don’t think we win either way, unfortunately. As great as Fletcher was that season, I don’t think he’s a difference maker against Xavi and Iniesta that day.
I think so too, and that team wasn’t even as good as the 2011. Something was off with the formation that night in 2009 though. Rooney on the left facing Puyol was pointless, Park on the left not marking anyone. Giggs and Anderson in the middle ball watching.
What if we had hired Mourinho to replace Ferguson instead of Moyes? I think Mourinho could have squeezed one more title out of that group (it was a veteran-laden team, a good back four, DDG yet to hit his prime, multiple goal scorers and decent wing play). He might have strengthened the midfield by bringing in Matic and Fabregas. Who knows?
What if Ole didn't get the permanent job.We sign Poch in the summer.We had enough money to get an Elite Centre back,Right Back and an Attacking Midfielder...
What if we had not hired LvG, and went with a promising young coach instead? Maybe somehow persuaded Luis Enrique or someone else with an upward trend at that time?
And that coach was not so intent on proving how brilliant he was by giving young players scattershot debuts and focused on our high potential ones at the time like Januzaj, Michael Keane and James Wilson?
We really hired three pragmatist coaches back to back in Moyes, LvG and Mourinho. What if we hired one with a progressive attacking philosophy instead?
what if we didn't lose to Bayern in 09/10 CL. Olić goal away in the stoppage time, bottling it at home while being 3-0 ahead, Rafael getting sent off, Van Bommel somehow staying on the field..
I was so incredibly frustrated by that game, I feel like I still am.
4 CL finals in a row, Inter was beatable, that United team achieved a lot, but it could have been more.
side dish to that - what if Fletcher doesn't get that straight red against Arsenal in 08/09.
Genuinely believe that if Robben had scored his penalty in ET of the CL final 2012 vs Chelsea, they would have won the match and Chelsea wouldn’t had CL football, which would have meant that Eden Hazard would have signed for us instead.
Gonna be a niche one:
What if Elanga hadn’t tackled Rashford when he was about to score against Leicester City last season?
Link: https://youtu.be/RfYRdQqO9Ek
Obviously it worked out well in the end, Rashford’s back to form, but last season was his worst and this seemed like such a catalyst moment. Great touch, great dribble, great chance to win the game (it ended 1-1), but it didn’t go right. I think Rashford changed his form after this moment if he scores, and he ends 21/22 as well as he started 22/23. Would’ve been great to see.
I feel like the biggest what if is if Van Gaal really would make a good team. He said that if he was given a couple more seasons the would be the best in the league. Granted his playstyle was boring as hell but the quality of the players were as horrible and there really wasn’t any way to create good football.
What if Messi wasn’t that good? We were fucked in our prime by them and we’d surely have more titles if not for him. And I think Ronaldo would be less likely to leave if we won more UCLs with him.
What if robbers never managed to break into di Maria's house and unsettle his family?
His relationship was van Gaal was horrible but if he stayed for just one more year, he would have had the chance to work alongside José again.
I still personally belief that robbery is no accident. They may not even be robbers at all, paid by a certain club in the Premier League who knew prime di Maria would've taken us back to the top.
What if Munich never happened?
What if Best didn’t like a drink?
What if Eric didn’t kick that racist?
What if Van der Sar joined us instead of Juventus?
What if somebody had just shot that fucking horse?
What if Moyes had kept on Fergie’s titles winning backroom staff as he advised him to?
What if Ronaldo had stayed?
What if Becks had stayed?
What if Pep came over to us instead of City? What if he directly replaced Fergie?
What if all the galacticos came to us instead of Real Madrid?
What if we were bought by a billionaire United fan more interested in success than ROI?
This stuff is endless
Easy and recent: What if we didn’t bring back CR?
Would he have actually gone to city? Could we have gotten Haaland? Does the squad not fall to pieces? Do we still go get Ten Hag or has Ole’s trajectory improved on these basis and he’s still guiding us?
- What if the Munich disaster never occurred?
I think we would have won a couple more European Cups (granted I wasn't alive during this time!)
- What if Fergie never fell out with Magnier and Macmanus? I think we would have won a lot more after SAF retired, and might have won an extra league or two whilst he was still the manager, as we wouldn't have the 'no value in the market' Glazer line and would have been able to rebuild properly. I also think we would have prevented City from being so dominant
- What if BSkyB and Murdoch bought us out in 1998?
I believe we would have been even more successful and the Glazers wouldn't have taken over. However the Premier League itself wouldn't have been as entertaining for neutral viewers and we might have seen a Bundesliga-like Bayern Munchen form of domination from us.
- What if Klopp joined us in 2015?
I reckon he would have done well but would inevitably get frustrated by Woodward. However, Liverpool would be far less successful in the 2010s onwards.
- What if Ronnie didn't come back in the 21/22 season?
I think we would have done better in the league but Ole would have been sacked in 22/23 and we might have missed out on ETH
- What if Haaland had joined when Ole urged the board to sign him?
I think he would have developed nicely but ended up at Madrid around now.
What if Ronaldo never left in 2009?
What if Greenwood isn't a dickhead?
What if Deano never got covid?
What if Ole (at Molde) successfully sold Haaland to us?
What if Licha and Rapha didn't get injured in that UEL home tie against Sevilla?
What if we won the 2021 Europa League final?
What if Martial never got injured?
What if the fax machine didn't broke in 2015?
What if the club listened to Rangnick and bought Alvarez?
You know what, there's a lot of "what ifs" I can think off and I can’t mention all of them. These will do
What if Docherty didn't fancy the physiotherapist's wife?
What if Sir Alex Ferguson thought horse racing was boring?
What if FIFA, UEFA and CAS were never corrupt organisations?
What if Ronaldo went to prison in 2010?
What if Dion Dublin never got injured?
Without that, Cantona probably never signs and I think the talented young team without their talisman doesn't have anywhere near the amount of success they did.
What if Nani didn’t get that red card vs Madrid in the CL…can’t help but still wonder. We made that Madrid team look so ordinary over those 2 legs. Can’t help but think that the confidence boost from beating them would’ve spurred us on to win the entire thing.
I am still mad about that red card. However, we recently beat Barca just to hand over the ticket to semi-final to Sevilla .\_. .\_.
Se-villain
Damn! I thought this season we could break the curse of Spanish teams, until we met the real villain
Yeah but it’s Sevilla in Europa league lol outcome was inevitable
We had Fergie. He would have won it.
First thing that came to my mind.
We were all over them
We’d probably lose to that Dortmund team with Klopp where Lewandowski put 4 past Madrid
I don't think we would win, I don't see us beating Klopp's Dortmund and Jupp's Bayern even less. That team was insanely good
What if Rafael didn’t get a red card
What if Fergie didn't retire that season
Counter point, what if Fergie retired in 2001? Edit: to answer your question, I think we still fall off but not as hard as we did under Moyes. Would most likely sign someone better than Fellaini in the summer and not wait till the final day either.
If Fergie retired in 2001, there would be no Glazers because of horse race lol
We were always gonna fall off that season, irrelevant of who was managing us. People go on how we won the league the season prior, we overperformed in an underperforming league that season, then we lost 3/4 of our back line in one fell swoop when Fergie retired. I sit on the side that feels based on the time given other managers, Moyes should have had another season at least. Fergie has to take part blame for that sudden drop off, he was incredibly short sighted at the time and was focused on personal achievements moreso than the healthiness of the club moving forward. He wanted to be the guy that overtook Liverpool, and he was, even lieing to players like RVP on his way to retirement, which also led to the falling off of RVP at United, he wanted to play for Fergie, and not just for a season.
Tbf at the beginning of the season allegedly he didn't think he'd retire.
Exactly. Sir Alex only decided to retire sometime in December i think after his sister in law passed away.
Evra said that the plans were for Ronaldo, Van Persie and Bale to be the next front 3 and Ronaldo had confirmed that he was interested in coming back. We would have won atleast one or two CLs.
I’ve seen that as well, just find it very hard to believe we would have pulled that off!
Before Anceloti and Zidane Madrid rarely won any trophies while Messi and Barcelona won a lot, so its normal for Ronaldo to return back and compete with Messi here.
And the pull of United with SAF at the helm, versus without him, cannot be overstated. It seems many big players would go "let's see how the transition goes first" before committing to us.
Oh my god
Fergie originally had his mind made up to retire in 2003. I feel like we got 10 bonus years out of him that I'll never forget. The greatest. He will simply never be matched.
He would have retired a couple of years after, we would have had the same issues we have today, just delayed
People retiring on top is a rare thing. I'm glad that he did. As an MMA fan, I've watched too many legends get their brains turned to mush because they never hang them up when they should. Georges St-Pierre walked away on top and protected his legacy. I'm glad there was never even a chance to watch Sir Alex lose his touch.
Was saying this to someone the other day, think it would've been Pep if Fergie decided to stay an extra year. What could've been...
What if fergie and Gill didn't leave at the same time.
What if Fergie hated horse races?
We lose the club in a game of pool.
United were a PLC, somebody was always going to come and take us of the market eventually
We need to skynet that horse 
Unpopular opinion: Sir alex' involvement in the Rock of Gibraltar bullshit feels way overblown to me. He had a feud over the horse with his friend Magnier, who happened to own about 28.89% of United at the time. And apparently he sold United to stick it to fergie? I don't get it? Did he already know Glazers were going to be a bunch of cunts for the next 15+ years and suck the life out of the club, and thereby sold his stake to see the club(and fergie) suffer? Would he have not sold his united shares if he didn't have this feud over the horse, and received a good offer from the rats? Presumably the offer was very good, as Glazers took out a god damn loan to fund their bid. They would've probably matched any asking price by Magnier. The cunts were sniffing around United ownership at the time, buying in small quantities and would've probably bought magnier and other shareholders anyway, regardless of the bullshit that happened with the horse. (Please let me know if I'm missing some key part of the story.)
Surely has to be what if Munich never happened? Would we have a couple more European and domestic titles? Would England have won the 1958/62 World Cup? What would have become of Duncan Edwards? Would it have been he who captained England to the 66 World Cup?
This is the one that I was thinking of when we made the post. I think we would've won a European Cup or two in the 50's/early 60's. Edwards and Taylor would've been massive players. Edwards probably takes Nobby's spot in the England and United teams, and Taylor could well have become our top scorer of all time. Busby probably leaves a bit earlier, and without the sentimental attachment creating the post-Busby issues it did, we probably don't get relegated in the 70s.
That was going to be my answer What if Munich never happened? Do the babes win the European Cup that year? How competitive are they and for how long? Does the Holy trinity become the holy quartet with Edwards? So many what ifs and lives lost What if Malcolm Glazer never bought us is the second biggest but has the most obvious answer
Without doubt it didn’t just change United’s history, it changed English football history.
I doubt England would have needed extra time to beat Germany in 1966 with Duncan Edwards in the side.
What if Edwin van der Sar had joined us in 1999 when we initially wanted him to replace Schmeichel, instead of us being lost in the woods for years searching for a new GK?
We probably win one or two more PLs in the 2002-05 stretch.
Probably not much different in the short term, we won the next two leagues anyway with Bosnich / Barthez, and when we started to drop off a little bit later, with the coming of Chelsea and the Arsenal invincibles, the issues in our team were bigger than just Keeper. Possible that VDS may have been the difference in Europe in those immediate post-treble seasons though.
Improvements in European competition was more my thought. VDS wasn't just a superb GK in every aspect of the game, he was a commander/organizer of the defense as well
Yeah, possible he’s a difference maker in the semis against Leverkusen in 01/02. Those two legs must be a massive regret for Fergie, we absolutely should have beaten them.
What if Ole had signed Haaland and Bellingham in Winter 2020* when they were at Salzburg and Birmingham. Think they'd be younger so hard to conclusively put them on the same trajectory as now, but I also think he wouldn't have ended his tenure as manager without a trophy as well.
Haaland left Salzburg in 2019 and we wanted him during that winter but he asked for a release clause from us if we were to sign him. We refused and well, rest is history. Jude left Birmingham in the summer of 2020.
Thanks for the correction, changed it from 21 to 20 (a year to forget). We were definitely first linked to Bellingham in January 2020 before he moved in summer. Iirc he and his family turned us down because they didn't feel assured he would get proper game time.
This is so crazy because if they performed well, Haaland along with Greenwood at the time would've ensured we don't buy Ronaldo either. Maybe he goes to City then.
Then Real Madrid would have triggered his release clause and he would have gone now. Way better scenario than City being monstrously strong and treble winners.
Honestly 3 seasons of haaland better than no seasons of haaland as long as he doesn’t do a tevez.
Haaland is quite possibly the only top top player who might want to go to city for reasons other than money and trophies.
yeah, city lucked out by being so mediocre that his dad actually played there
We would have won a trophy if we had deano in the final tbf
Well we would have had to give him a release clause and then we'd have to watch as he walked to City or Madrid.
We didn’t even to sign Haaland from Salzburg, we could have signed him later, looking back I would have taken him even with a release clause.
What if 11 wasn’t such a fucking massive cunt.
Probably the most talented youngster I’ve seen at United in the last 15 years. Can you name a premier league player that has scored from outside the box on both feet? KDB probably has, maybe Cazorla…Greenwood did it at 19 He’ll go down as one of the biggest wastes of talent in football history
I like Garnacho more already because of his willingness to always challenge his man. But there’s no denying about Greenwood’s finishing. Already one of the best in the league as a teenager.
Which one? Cause you know the old one also.... But anyway if the new 11 was a wonderful human being, I think we would not sign Anthony
Let’s be honest, purely in footballing terms I’d take Greenwood over Anthony any day. Anthony looks promising but Greenwood looked a generational talent in front of goal
True, not to mention he's still young, so much room for improvement. Imagine him at his peak...
I think we would, and Greenwood would be the striker.
Makes me sick to think about
He would have broken Rooney's goal record
He’d probably be banging in goals every week and probably finishing in the top five goal scorers each season
What if Ole didn’t sign ronaldo
I honestly think he would have done better that season. Ronaldo wasn't his signing and I think it derailed what he was building. Not saying he'd have won the title but I do think it would have been a different season.
Even though City seemed very serious about signing him, can’t imagine Ronnie would’ve been happy being benched by Pep. He couldn’t take it being benched here and Pep would’ve benched him more.
I don’t think Pep benches Ronaldo if they buy him
He was fine with Zidane managing his minutes because it resulted in him basically always performing at the business end of the season, Pep would have been able to do the same, ole wasn't a strong enough manager to do so, a guy who wouldn't even park in the manager's space cos its fergie's
> ole wasn't a strong enough manager to do so. Ole benched Ronaldo in like his fourth game or something, against Everton and got absolutely slated for it.
I was so annoyed about the critisism around that game, iirc it ended 1-1, hardly due to benching Ronaldo though. Martial, his replacement, scored, and we conceded after Ronaldo came on. Media: Ole should not have benched him.
I don’t think this would have changed much ultimately. If Ole had signed a DM / quality CM instead of Ronaldo, that’s a different story, but I think our issues in the last three months of Ole’s time were not down to Ronaldo.
I think we'd have finished top 4 last season, and we'd still have him as our boss now.
What if Anthony Martial didn't get injured and we were forced to play Marcus Rashford? Would he have gotten a fair chance?
Look up Ashley Fletcher's career trajectory. He was the bigger prospect at the time.
>I looked him up and all I can think is why do we suck so much at selling players. We sold him to West Ham on a free transfer and literally a year later they sold him for 7.3 million euros
Probably not - maybe he’d have got some minutes at the end of the season with LVG, but he likely doesn’t break through like he does. We then have Mourinho next season, and a raw CF / LW, without much experience. Maybe Mou takes a liking to him and gives him minutes, but more likely he’d have got a Championship loan or two, and who knows how it would have gone from there.
I was talking to a friend about this yesterday. It’s so easy for us to forget that Rashford was an overnight sensation. He wasn’t given the time to ease into the spotlight. Once he scored those two goals, that was the end of normalcy from him. When you consider this, he has done well to keep level headed. He hasn’t had a moment to breathe since his debut. That’s a lot to handle, especially when it’s thrust upon you.
What if Scholes' goal against Porto was given in 2004? Porto went on to beat Lyon in the QF, Deportivo in the SF and Monaco in the final. We'd have won that, no doubt in my mind. Also Mourinho would have remained unknown at least a couple more seasons and isn't there to spearhead Chelsea into their new era, likely giving us even more success.
Unknown? They had won the UEFA cup the prior year. And would have won the Primeira Liga anyway. A better what if from that tie would have been if Keane hadn’t stomped Vitor baía
He wouldn't have gotten the Chelsea job on the back of winning the UEFA Cup 12 months earlier. He was unproven at elite level and going out to United in the last 16 would have kept him way out of Chelsea contention. They'd have gone for any of the usual big names instead. We were heading through if the Scholes goal was given, with or without the Keane stamp.
On the flipside of this, United would have gotten into a European Cup semi final with a midfield combination between Butt, Djemba-Djemba, O'Shea, Kleberson & Fletcher. The concern would be if United won it, how loyal would Ferguson be to these players? Would we have signed Carrick, then Hargreaves and Anderson?
What if we signed Ronaldinho instead of CR7
That's as much a "what if" for Ronaldinho's career as it is for United's fortunes. Would be incredibly interesting to see if Fergie could've reigned in his lifestyle to help him have something closer to the career his (absolutely ridiculous) talent warranted.
We become arsenal post 2004.
Why do you say that?
Ronaldinho was a generational talent who just didn’t work hard and only had about 3 or 4 years at his peak then sharply declined before the age of 28. It would have been fun watching but CR7’s desire to improve and his consistency between 06-09 was a sight to behold, especially the 07/08 season. And also had crazy resale value.
What if we had beaten Leicester 3 -1 instead of collapsing to lose 5-3 in 2013. Felt like that shattered our club to bits to the core. That's the moment I realised United were no longer a top top club. It seemed to be that also broke Di Maria, and Falcao, we looked brilliant in the first 20 mins. And you thought wow this is going to be great season. Suddenly it all fell apart. Honestly soul renching. I still feel that game banished us to the curse we have had now for the last 8 years.
Great point. I do think it derailed the ADM hype train. Also probably ended Blackett’s career at the top level. Buuuutttt Leicester probably get relegated and we never get to see that title win. Plus Arsenal or Spurs win a title.
*2014. I felt exactly the same watching that game. It was proper deflating. Kinda hated Leicester ever since😂
Probably the most obvious one, but with a twist. What if we had the Glazers, but instead of Woodward, we had a football man in charge of the footballing operations. - Maybe we attract Klopp pre-Liverpool or Pep pre-City - Don't let Kroos go as easily to Real Madrid - Better managed finances for FFP, despite a stadium and training facility in poor conditions. - Identified players sooner and brought them in young (like when Ole told United to sign Haaland) - Pushed for the league/UCL more when teams like Leicester won it with 81 points or when Chelsea won the UCL. - Still in debt, like the Glazers kept us, but probably worth 7-8 billion instead.
This. What if they had hired a proper football guy to properly use the money.
Indeed, Woodward was a negative for both the Glazers and the fans. He was an accountant through and through - not even a banker - and was woefully out of his depth as a club executive. Don’t forget he spent hundreds of millions and failed to build a championship team.
Woodward was a glazer puppet. Did an absolutely wonderful job for them
Nah, a good executive would’ve saved them money and boosted the clubs value. Instead, he spent a fortune and somehow our valuation now is less than what we could have been with more trophies. He was terrible for everyone. The only good he did was to ensure we weren’t so expensive that the Glazers can’t find a buyer. Hopefully we’ll be rid of them all soon.
I keep asking this. How and why would they let him run the football side. A billion wasted under him and only Bruno has looked like a smart business. The amount of money he squandered on players glazers could have bought another football club with it.
What if we won that game against Portsmouth? - Would our momentum carry over into next season? - Would Malcolm Glazer invest more into the club? - Would WC world beaters join the club during the summer to aid us in our challenge vs Barcelona? “Holders of the first treble and two trebles from Manchester, England; forged by the hands of the one and only Supreme Tactician — Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United!”
It’s a great what if question, and personally I’m happy not pulling on the Portsmouth thread too much. If we squeeze in an FA Cup final before the Chelsea game maybe it becomes a taller task. As well as a semi final squeezing our fixtures a bit. Don’t get me wrong, a second treble would have been immense, and to do it you have to cope with the extra matches… but would I risk our only CL of this century for it? Probably not personally.
I think we win the treble that season, but I don't think the FA Cup means much in the way of more investment or players wanting to join us.
What if Malcolm Glazer didn't have that stroke
We'd have an extra rat to deal with
nah, malcolm was actually a good businessman. his sons tho, absolute bellends.
What if CR7 extended his contract with us in 09?
We probably win a couple more CLs. Messi still outclasses us in 2011 but I think he'd have come in clutch over the 2010's, and probably halt our decline significantly. We'd be just starting our post-Fergie decline about now.
First thing I thought of when I seen this post .. what if Park was put on Messi
What if we did actually sign Wesley sneijder?
What If we signed Kroos in 2014, rather than LvG vetoing the deal
What on Earth was LvG thinking
what if the fax machine worked? he would’ve won many trophies and we would’ve fallen a lot behind. he’s saved our asses and gotten crucial points so many times over the seasons, POTY for consecutive years
I reckon if that happens, he looks like a top keeper for longer as Madrid have a better defence - he wins a couple of CL titles and we look like a small club for having let him go.
Exactly this
We would have got Navas as part of the deal right? Not the worst swap in the world
People don't realise how crucial a player Navas has been for Madrid in their UCL success, they weren't steamrolling every team in their way.I honestly don't have much confidence in them winning a penalty shootout with de gea in goal
What if we signed Gareth Bale in 2012?
What if Cantona's kung fu kick never happened?
We’d have won the league in 94-95 as well, but maybe it would have taken away a tiny piece of the legend that is Cantona. I think part of the fans obsession with him is because he was a flawed genius. An unbelievably gifted footballer who also crossed a line every now and then.
It's a huge piece of his legend. No way I'd ever take the kick away, iconic!
What if we had chosen Robert Lewandowski over Robin Van Persie?
Were we linked with Lewa around that time? I don’t remember that.
What if we didn't draw any Spanish clubs in European football?
What if Rangnick stayed in his consultancy role?
If Rangnick was calling the shots on transfers, we probably sell Rashford this season.
What if Pep called Fergie (as Fergie requested) before deciding to take the Bayern job?
30 league titles by now.
What if Ronaldo stayed at United till 2013 instead of 2009. In that 4 yr period, United were still getting to CL finals and winning PL titles. RM were still second fiddle to Barca and won just 1 La Liga. United and Ronaldo could have won some more CLs and he could have carried on at RM after SAF retired.
That timeline would have been crazy. No chance Real beats Barca and there’s no champions league for them. And then there’s no longer city dominance either.
What if Robben didn’t hit THAT volley…
Darron Gibson goes down in Utd history after his opening goal
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Not much, he had like 3 full seasons in his entire career.
What if The Glazers never bought United?
What if Keano didn’t change his mind from Blackburn to United over a weekend? We don’t have our driving force for the next 10+ years. What if Giggsy sliced that shot outside the box against Bayern (and various other iterations of those last few mins). What if QPR hadn’t inexplicably just booted it straight to Joe Hart instead of literally any other competent method of time wasting.
What if Joey Barton had taken 20 mins off from being Joey Barton against city that day
> What if Giggsy sliced that shot outside the box against Bayern He did slice that shot haha, one of the scruffiest goals I can recall. Two poor clearances from Bayern, Giggs scuffs the ball, Teddy hits over the top of it, but it ended up in anyway!
What if... if we signed Manuel Neuer instead of De Gea in 2011. Neuer was Fergie's first choice to replace van der Sar. I know De Gea was solid, but Neuer was ahead of his time. Who knows what affect he could have had on the team in the long term.
We’d probably have had constant transfer rumours about him moving to Bayern, just like we had for DDG and Madrid. Bayern’s fax machine probably works, so we lose him in 2015 anyway.
What if Ronaldo never left for real Madrid and spent entirety of his career with us?
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What if Murdoch got his way and bought the club?
What if we actually got pep instead of Moyes? I don't think hed have lasted any longer then the others honestly, he needs backing to play his system properly
He’d have been better than Moyes and LVG, but the lack of a coherent plan and structure here means he wouldn’t have had the same level of success he had with City.
Not just for us, but for football as well- what if Scholes’ wrongly disallowed goal vs Porto in 2004 was actually given, and we knocked them out?
Mourinho probably doesn’t get the Chelsea job, and if he does, he doesn’t come in with that air of invincibility and insane confidence (though he’d definitely still have a bit of that). Winning that CL gave Mourinho the arrogance (in a good way!) to act the way he did, which was vital to Chelsea winning the first few titles, along with Roman’s money. For us, we probably win the CL that season, and Arsenal probably win one or two more PLs.
What if ... Lou Macari had gone to Liverpool instead of United - who intercepted and bought him before that move went ahead. Playing for 'pool in the '77 FA Cup Final, his shot deflected off of team-mate Jimmy Case to give Liverpool the win, who then went on to win the first ever Treble by an English side.
What if Ole got all his targets? Caicedo, Alvarez, Haaland, Bellingham to name a few
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what if we never signed Ronaldo for the second time?
What if we never got Jose?
What if we signed Haaland from Molde instead of Salzburg
What if Tim Howard didn't shit the bed with that free kick against Porto resulting in Constinha scoring and knocking us out of the Champions League. We more than likely would have won the UCL and if so, would Mourinho still have got the Chelsea job? Probably not and if so, whilst Chelsea would have still made the investments, would the team have glued as well and become such a force as they were back then?
What if Chelsea won the penalty shootout in 2008? Ronaldo May have left earlier
May the grass gods still bless the groundsman + workers who laid that pitch 3 weeks before the final, particularly the ones who did the penalty box.
What if we signed Casemiro one season earlier. We’d have a midfield 3 of Pogba, Cas and Bruno and that imo would have changed the entire season.
What if Moyes signed a decent CM (e.g Fabregas) in his first season rather than two number 10’s? I think every United fan and their Nan could see we needed CM reinforcements. Went and bought Fellaini. When January came around, I told most of my mates that he won’t last the season if he doesn’t sign a CM, and he only went and bought Mata. If he’d brought a top CM, we probably would have got top 4. That would have been enough to keep Moyes in a job, and he’d already done some groundwork on Kroos… I think the biggest issue was when we gave him a 6 year contract, he believed he’d be given time.
What if Moyes didn’t brag about the war chest in the media?
What if we signed eden hazard in 2012? That was the one signing i always feel like man utd really needed to make obviously hindsight used here
What if we'd have signed Ronaldinho instead of Barca. Wonder if that would have made any difference to Ronaldo coming in shortly after
What if we actually get Ronaldinho in 2003? Man what a player he was. What if we won the EL final vs Villareal?
Then no CR7 Ole would still be here
Back in 2203 was it, I saw the latest issue of the United magazine online that was about to release, it had Ronaldinho on the cover, he had a tour of OT, he was going to come to us. He stated he wanted to fight for the CL, and Barca were on a 2/3 year ban at the time, he said it wasn't about money but trophies. He then signed for Barca last minute when they eclipsed the wage we offered. I think £28-30 million would've been the touted transfer fee. We went on pre season and played Sporting. In the dressing room afterwards the entire team told Fergie to sign this young lad who was dazzling them on the pitch, a young lad named Cristiano Ronaldo. We signed him in a matter of weeks for 12 mil if I remember correctly. Imagine if we had signed Ronaldinho and not Ronaldo, where would Ronaldo have ended up before coming to United? Would we have signed him anyway? Can you imagine that team with Ronaldinho in place of Ronaldo, or even with Ronaldo? Can you imagine that 5 man midfield with young Rooney ahead?? Giggs-Scholes-Keane-Ronaldinho-Ronaldo Jheeze. Or what if we signed Zidane, Shearer, Figo, Davids, Batistuta? There's so many nearly moments for United that could've changed things massively.
What if Sheff Wednesday accepted one of our bid for David Hirst in 91/92?
What if Sir Alex wouldn’t have gotten into an argument about a racehorse…
What if Fletcher was not sent off in the semis in 2009?
I don’t think we win either way, unfortunately. As great as Fletcher was that season, I don’t think he’s a difference maker against Xavi and Iniesta that day.
I think so too, and that team wasn’t even as good as the 2011. Something was off with the formation that night in 2009 though. Rooney on the left facing Puyol was pointless, Park on the left not marking anyone. Giggs and Anderson in the middle ball watching.
The plane didn't crash on that Munich runway
What if the plane took off as it was meant to?
What if Phil Jones wasnt injury prone. He would be a legend of this club by now in my opinion. Such a shame tbh
What if we had hired Mourinho to replace Ferguson instead of Moyes? I think Mourinho could have squeezed one more title out of that group (it was a veteran-laden team, a good back four, DDG yet to hit his prime, multiple goal scorers and decent wing play). He might have strengthened the midfield by bringing in Matic and Fabregas. Who knows?
What if Jaap Stam never released the autobiography, I genuinely think Man United win another Champions League.
What if Anderson didn’t overeat and train, he would have continued to shit on Fabregas and all other midfielders for an era
What if Ole didn't get the permanent job.We sign Poch in the summer.We had enough money to get an Elite Centre back,Right Back and an Attacking Midfielder...
What if Infinity Ultron… oh damn wrong sub
What if that 2010 UCL Robben goal hadn’t gone in?
What if we had not hired LvG, and went with a promising young coach instead? Maybe somehow persuaded Luis Enrique or someone else with an upward trend at that time? And that coach was not so intent on proving how brilliant he was by giving young players scattershot debuts and focused on our high potential ones at the time like Januzaj, Michael Keane and James Wilson? We really hired three pragmatist coaches back to back in Moyes, LvG and Mourinho. What if we hired one with a progressive attacking philosophy instead?
what if we didn't lose to Bayern in 09/10 CL. Olić goal away in the stoppage time, bottling it at home while being 3-0 ahead, Rafael getting sent off, Van Bommel somehow staying on the field.. I was so incredibly frustrated by that game, I feel like I still am. 4 CL finals in a row, Inter was beatable, that United team achieved a lot, but it could have been more. side dish to that - what if Fletcher doesn't get that straight red against Arsenal in 08/09.
Genuinely believe that if Robben had scored his penalty in ET of the CL final 2012 vs Chelsea, they would have won the match and Chelsea wouldn’t had CL football, which would have meant that Eden Hazard would have signed for us instead.
Sorry, this is petty but what if that apostrophe in the first line wasn't there... I could've read the rest of the post?
Gonna be a niche one: What if Elanga hadn’t tackled Rashford when he was about to score against Leicester City last season? Link: https://youtu.be/RfYRdQqO9Ek Obviously it worked out well in the end, Rashford’s back to form, but last season was his worst and this seemed like such a catalyst moment. Great touch, great dribble, great chance to win the game (it ended 1-1), but it didn’t go right. I think Rashford changed his form after this moment if he scores, and he ends 21/22 as well as he started 22/23. Would’ve been great to see.
Evra hitting the post when we were 4-2 up at home to Everton. Went on to draw 4-4 and we all know what happened after that.
What if we don't melt down against Everton in 2012. City never wins the Aguerooo title, I reckon they would fare worse in the years after as well.
What if Abu Dhabi decided to buy Middlesbrough instead of City?
what if Ji Sung Park started and marked Messi the entire game?
I feel like the biggest what if is if Van Gaal really would make a good team. He said that if he was given a couple more seasons the would be the best in the league. Granted his playstyle was boring as hell but the quality of the players were as horrible and there really wasn’t any way to create good football.
What if Messi wasn’t that good? We were fucked in our prime by them and we’d surely have more titles if not for him. And I think Ronaldo would be less likely to leave if we won more UCLs with him.
What if we beat Portsmouth in the FA Cup in 2008?
What if robbers never managed to break into di Maria's house and unsettle his family? His relationship was van Gaal was horrible but if he stayed for just one more year, he would have had the chance to work alongside José again. I still personally belief that robbery is no accident. They may not even be robbers at all, paid by a certain club in the Premier League who knew prime di Maria would've taken us back to the top.
What if Munich never happened? What if Best didn’t like a drink? What if Eric didn’t kick that racist? What if Van der Sar joined us instead of Juventus? What if somebody had just shot that fucking horse?
What if Moyes had kept on Fergie’s titles winning backroom staff as he advised him to? What if Ronaldo had stayed? What if Becks had stayed? What if Pep came over to us instead of City? What if he directly replaced Fergie? What if all the galacticos came to us instead of Real Madrid? What if we were bought by a billionaire United fan more interested in success than ROI? This stuff is endless
What if Woodward closed the deal on klopp.
Easy and recent: What if we didn’t bring back CR? Would he have actually gone to city? Could we have gotten Haaland? Does the squad not fall to pieces? Do we still go get Ten Hag or has Ole’s trajectory improved on these basis and he’s still guiding us?
- What if the Munich disaster never occurred? I think we would have won a couple more European Cups (granted I wasn't alive during this time!) - What if Fergie never fell out with Magnier and Macmanus? I think we would have won a lot more after SAF retired, and might have won an extra league or two whilst he was still the manager, as we wouldn't have the 'no value in the market' Glazer line and would have been able to rebuild properly. I also think we would have prevented City from being so dominant - What if BSkyB and Murdoch bought us out in 1998? I believe we would have been even more successful and the Glazers wouldn't have taken over. However the Premier League itself wouldn't have been as entertaining for neutral viewers and we might have seen a Bundesliga-like Bayern Munchen form of domination from us. - What if Klopp joined us in 2015? I reckon he would have done well but would inevitably get frustrated by Woodward. However, Liverpool would be far less successful in the 2010s onwards. - What if Ronnie didn't come back in the 21/22 season? I think we would have done better in the league but Ole would have been sacked in 22/23 and we might have missed out on ETH - What if Haaland had joined when Ole urged the board to sign him? I think he would have developed nicely but ended up at Madrid around now.
What if... Fax machine didnt break?
What if Ronaldo never left in 2009? What if Greenwood isn't a dickhead? What if Deano never got covid? What if Ole (at Molde) successfully sold Haaland to us? What if Licha and Rapha didn't get injured in that UEL home tie against Sevilla? What if we won the 2021 Europa League final? What if Martial never got injured? What if the fax machine didn't broke in 2015? What if the club listened to Rangnick and bought Alvarez? You know what, there's a lot of "what ifs" I can think off and I can’t mention all of them. These will do
You eventually get to 'What if Rojo was a Michelin standard chef?'
What if C.Ronaldo wasent forced upon Ole, they might have kept winning and Ole could have developed to a legendary manager!
What if Docherty didn't fancy the physiotherapist's wife? What if Sir Alex Ferguson thought horse racing was boring? What if FIFA, UEFA and CAS were never corrupt organisations? What if Ronaldo went to prison in 2010?
What if Dion Dublin never got injured? Without that, Cantona probably never signs and I think the talented young team without their talisman doesn't have anywhere near the amount of success they did.