Sir Alex Ferguson delivered a brutal joke when asked for his reaction to Manchester United’s latest defeat in an otherwise dismal season for the club.
The Red Devils are currently languished in 16th in the Premier League table with the team on track for the worst season in the division’s history.
They have already lost 17 times this season with a goal difference of minus eleven.
Ruben Amorim’s side are still yet to hit the 40 point mark (39 at present) which typically guarantees safety from relegation.
And with the final two games of the campaign coming against Chelsea and Aston Villa, with both sides still chasing Champions League qualification, even the most optimistic United fan would find it difficult to predict the team moving past 39 points.
Were it not for the three promoted sides – Ipswich Town, Leicester City and Southampton – all being far out of their depth then United could have faced the unimaginable prospect of a genuine relegation battle this season.
A season-defining Europa League final next against Tottenham Hotspur in Bilbao – a side United have already lost three times to this year – offers the club the last chance of salvaging success, as victory would grant automatic qualification into the Champions League.
But United’s progress on the continent has come at the expense of torpedoing their domestic form, much to the chagrin of Amorim who openly questioned his squad’s desire to not lose.
And this frustration was seemingly shared by Ferguson – the legendary manager who enjoyed unimaginable success with United from the seat the Portuguese coach currently resides.
The 83-year-old Scotsman was watching from the directors’ box at Old Trafford on Sunday as the Reds fell to an abject 0-2 defeat to West Ham, with Amorim resting many of his key players ahead of next week’s trip to Spain.
It was a truly awful performance and means United have not won a league game since March 16 – two months ago.
When Ferguson was asked for his thoughts after the defeat, he replied with one word, in a half-joking tone: “depressed.” A reaction shared by every other United fan in the stadium for the vast majority of this woeful campaign.
Featured image Gareth Copley via Getty Images
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Darragh Fox Darragh is a writer for The Peoples Person who spent three years as a history graduate slowly realising football was by far the most interesting thing to write about.
