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Redprint: Overcoming Manchester United's Identity Crisis
When Sir Alex Ferguson announced his retirement from managing Manchester United, his successor was appointed with the intention of continuing the club's rich tradition. It could be argued that history did indeed repeat itself. Redprint explores the six-year period when the world’s biggest football club found itself in an identity crisis.
352 pages, Paperback
Published November 1, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 5, 2024
Man, as a United fan since the early 90s, this book is a rough read. Wayne Barton goes over the turmoil of the post-Ferguson years, starting slightly before the great man's retirement, and chronicling the multiple failures that followed. He gives brief histories and introductions to each manager, and then details their equally brief United careers, culminating in them getting the sack and the next guy getting brought in. Rinse and repeat.
The book is quite well written and draws heavily on quotes given by the people involved to media at the time, allowing every manager to personally run out the rope they're going to be hanged with. Some of the quotes could have been edited down a bit, because especially Jose Mourinho loves nothing like the sound of his own voice, and reading a multi-page quote about the latest dour United defeat does tend to grate after a while. But then, that was the experience of being a Manchester United supporter during his time at the club.
My biggest problem with the book is one Barton himself also admits in his brief closing section. The book was written over a period of six years, and kind of kept evolving and dragging on as the rotating door of managers at Old Trafford revolved. As a result there isn't really a strong central thesis. Yes, we go over the failures at the club, but to what end? What is the point the author is trying to make here? That United have been a godawful mess run by inept people who bumbled from one manager to the next in the blind hope that he'd be able to pull their asses out of the fire? I mean, that is the reality of what happened, but not so much the book's tone. And I'm not sure what is.
My second biggest problem with the book is that despite the lengthy writing period, it was released too soon. The book was finished and published towards the end of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's first half season, and while I do applaud Barton for having the foresight to call out many of the issues that cropped up later, it feels like the book only covers the first 2/3 of the story. Solskjaer's time at United ended in the same kind of failure as his predecessors, his successor was an even bigger disaster who was undermined at every turn by those above him, and at the time of THIS writing (March 2024) it appears as the pattern is repeating once again, and the successor to Ole's successor is also heading towards the door. So maybe it's time for a new book that takes the same material, plus the stuff that's gone down since its publication, and tries to point it all towards some kind of conclusion.
The book is quite well written and draws heavily on quotes given by the people involved to media at the time, allowing every manager to personally run out the rope they're going to be hanged with. Some of the quotes could have been edited down a bit, because especially Jose Mourinho loves nothing like the sound of his own voice, and reading a multi-page quote about the latest dour United defeat does tend to grate after a while. But then, that was the experience of being a Manchester United supporter during his time at the club.
My biggest problem with the book is one Barton himself also admits in his brief closing section. The book was written over a period of six years, and kind of kept evolving and dragging on as the rotating door of managers at Old Trafford revolved. As a result there isn't really a strong central thesis. Yes, we go over the failures at the club, but to what end? What is the point the author is trying to make here? That United have been a godawful mess run by inept people who bumbled from one manager to the next in the blind hope that he'd be able to pull their asses out of the fire? I mean, that is the reality of what happened, but not so much the book's tone. And I'm not sure what is.
My second biggest problem with the book is that despite the lengthy writing period, it was released too soon. The book was finished and published towards the end of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's first half season, and while I do applaud Barton for having the foresight to call out many of the issues that cropped up later, it feels like the book only covers the first 2/3 of the story. Solskjaer's time at United ended in the same kind of failure as his predecessors, his successor was an even bigger disaster who was undermined at every turn by those above him, and at the time of THIS writing (March 2024) it appears as the pattern is repeating once again, and the successor to Ole's successor is also heading towards the door. So maybe it's time for a new book that takes the same material, plus the stuff that's gone down since its publication, and tries to point it all towards some kind of conclusion.
July 9, 2023
An excellent book by Mr Barton,it started off well looking at David moyes ill fated tenure in charge,Mr Barton it would of been useful if the writer had compared all united managers since sir Alex retirement first press conferences and he did with moyes.the book is well written and all facts are correct.the writer could of went into more detail and comparison of united managers since sir Alex with details of their results and comparisons.the last chapter seems very rushed account of the start of ole gunnar solsjkaers Reign.all in all a good book that u would recommend to all united supporters.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews