-Nate Hyatt
During an injury hit, barren stretch in the middle of the title winning 2012/13 season, Manchester United announced that Paul Scholes was coming out of his retirement from the previous summer. The news, kept highly secret at the club, was a shot in the arm to a tired United side and their frustrated manager, who had been riding on their goal scoring machine - Robin Van Persie. Their midfield was stretched too thin with United relying on Darren Fletcher and Tom Cleverley to step into Paul Scholes’ massive shoes in the Red Devils midfield and it was not going as planned. The former was struggling with a terrible bowel disease that would sideline him for over a year and a half, while the latter couldn’t seem to kick an ankle injury, or the hounding United boo boys. Instead of pulling a ready Paul Pogba from the youth squad, Sir Alex Ferguson turned to the Salford born, 37 year old midfielder. His shocking return, as well as addition to the team travelling across Manchester that day to face City in the FA Cup, had the desired effect. A Rooney double either side of a Danny Welbeck strike saw United run out winners, 3-2. Paul Scholes was back in the United midfield. This would turn out to be one of Ferguson’s poorer decisions as his own exit from United was already weighing heavy on his mind.
Every United fan is a Paul Scholes fan. His ability to spray passes around the pitch, score tons of goals from midfield, and put in a ruckus tackle or two made him a true footballing and United legend. But, with United’s team needing to transition appropriately, bringing back the effective yet aging Scholes, instead of promoting a future star, turned out to be the wrong choice. United would win the league that season, but their midfield was a disaster long after that trophy found it’s place among the many others in the famous trophy room at Old Trafford. Scholes went back into retirement while Pogba left that summer for free. The young Frenchman became a star for Juventus and France. The pain of losing the United youth product culminated by his winning of the Young Player of the Tournament at the 2014 World Cup. Scholes would later admit that his return probably forced Pogba’s United exit.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s own transition from long serving manager to retiree was its own sad disaster. When United lost the title in the dying moments of the 2011/12 season, Ferguson decided to return for one more year not wanting to leave on a losing note. Losing the title to his noisy neighbors was enough to push the legendary manger back into the saddle for one more season. His transfer convincing phone call to Arsene Wenger in London proved to be the difference in the Premier League race that season.
Fast forward 10 months and the announcement every United fan had been dreading for 10 years was released: this would be Ferguson’s final season. He was the greatest ever and we got to witness it. What we also got to witness was the idea and actual implementation that David Moyes was the correct man to take over. Having never won anything except the non-existent managerial longevity award, he was handed the reigns to an aging, title-winning team. Appropriately, he didn’t last a full season in charge. Ferguson had thrown his full weight behind his fellow Scotsman, pleading with fans at a packed Old Trafford to do their job and, “get behind our new manager.” Fans supported him, wanting him to do well, but he should have never been in that position. Possibly the biggest transition in club football had been botched. This was another transition Ferguson seemed to fire wide of the post. “No one is bigger than the club,” was his motto, often used to justify his selling of football star after football star with whom he clashed. As it turns out, Ferguson was bigger.
Football is filled with transitions. They are not easy, especially when you’ve grown to love the spotlight. They’re even harder when you believe your way is the only way. Louis Van Gaal falls perfectly into this category. Admittedly here only for a few seasons to help settle the ship (after David Moyes tried to steer it into the rocks by the powerful song of The Sirens), Louis van Gaal will soon have to deal with his own transition. That may possibly be sooner than he wants. He may also have to deal with the transition of United legend, Wayne Rooney. Transitions are never smooth and are misses more often than hits, but United could use a few transition wins right now.
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