Manchester United lacks the true grit to turn it around

THE Red Empire is crumbling. I can still see the headline. Christmas 1981 and Liverpool languished 12th in the old First Division.

THE Red Empire is crumbling. I can still see the headline. Christmas 1981 and Liverpool languished 12th in the old First Division, nine points off the pace in the first season of three points for a win. Those waiting for our domination to end were quick off the mark. Too quick.

During this period Bob Paisley appointed me captain. We had lost five league games and drawn six going into 1982. Then we lost only two in the remainder of the season to claim our 13th title.

I'm not claiming the credit. Well, not all of it. We were simply a group of players, in their best years or approaching them, pulling themselves together. The point I am making with this walk down memory lane is that the potential was there for a transformation in our team. I'm not sure the current Manchester United team has that in them, though David Moyes will be delighted if his players prove me wrong.

During that Liverpool "crisis", Joe Fagan, one of Paisley's assistants, told us: "We are not having any more meetings, you sort it out yourself. We have given you all the help we can."

Moyes must feel like that right now. You can bet the lesser lights at United will be blaming anyone but themselves. This group needs a set of mirrors and each of them should take a long, hard look.

No one gives players any bad news today. Their agents, their families, even the press don't go after them. They go after the managers.

Players get off scot-free. Their mates tell them they are great, the manager tells them they are great. He can't be critical because he then risks losing them.

This is not just about Moyes. It is about standards slipping in the team which was the champion side last year. How did they win the title? On the current evidence, Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea must have cocked it up big style.

I am also left wondering who are United's strong characters these days. Previously, there was Ryan Giggs in his pomp or Paul Scholes in his, with Gary Neville and Roy Keane growling at people. That's not going to happen now because none of the senior players, other than Wayne Rooney, is playing well enough to growl at others.

You also have mainstays of Fergie's team, such as Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra, in the final year of contracts and looking battle weary. That's when the balancing act starts for any manager. The legs have gone a little bit, but, because they are such strong personalities, do you keep those players around the place? Until you have worked with them, until you know them, you can't answer that one.

Fergie did it with Scholes, Neville and Giggs. The standards they set behind the scenes every day were just as important as what they offered him on a Saturday afternoon. Yet how will senior players react to not being first-choice any more? That's another element you have to consider.

When I was a manager, one of the first things I'd say to the group was: "I'll only find out what I've got here when we lose two or three games." When you are winning, everyone is a big personality, everyone is a winner. Right now, Moyes is finding out exactly what he has inside that dressing room. There is no easy fix. It is the biggest test he has faced in management so far. He's having to rebuild a team who are used to winning trophies. He's at a club where success is demanded. Other than taking the Real Madrid or Barcelona jobs, it is the most difficult one he could have picked.

I faced something similar when I took over as manager at Liverpool in 1991. There were several senior players approaching their testimonials and others wanting to leave because they had one last chance to earn a few bob and somebody was waiting to offer them a three or four-year contract. My mistake was to let them go before I recruited replacements. I got angry because they wanted to leave. I couldn't get them out the door quickly enough. Liverpool used to buy players, then let them have a year to settle into the club. That's how Manchester United has been too, but it's not the case now.

The biggest concern is if they don't get into the Champions League next season. It's an evil cycle if you don't. United is slightly different because of its financial muscle and could still pay the going rate, but would the best players want to play for a team who are not in the Champions League? Not the big players, the ones who have a choice. This season, they are not even the most attractive team to play for in Manchester. City has a better group of players and can outdo United on every aspect other than history and tradition.

Players aren't interested in what clubs won yesterday -- it's what they are going to win tomorrow they care about.

The priority for top players is playing for a club who will win trophies. They ask themselves: "Where can I win the Champions League?"

United must pin their hopes on Rooney and Robin van Persie coming back, staying fit and having an incredible second half to the season. Both will miss today's (Sunday) match at Chelsea. Their teammates are nowhere near a good enough supporting act to those two. Without Rooney and Van Persie, we are talking about Adnan Januzaj, an 18-year-old, being the one who is making things happen for them. At Manchester United, the third-biggest club in the world in terms of revenue?

Januzaj will be a star, but a mark of how far off the pace they are is that he has been their best player.

THE SUNDAY TIMES