Manchester United face another agonising 26-year wait to be champions – according to double title-winner Paul Parker.
The former Old Trafford defender insists the huge task facing new manager Erik Ten Hag is far bigger than that facing David Moyes when succeeding Sir Alex Ferguson.
United finished with a record-low Premier League points total this season – 35 behind champions and fierce rivals Manchester City, and 34 behind Liverpool.
Dutch coach Ten Hag has revitalised former European giants Ajax, winning three league titles in the Netherlands and taking them to the semi-finals of the Champions League.
There look to be huge problems at United, with Ten Hag inheriting a squad of vastly-paid and under-performing stars. And Parker, who remembers the joy of winning the league in 1993 and ending such a long drought, fears fans could face the same happening again.
It has already been nine years since the club last won the Premier League, and Parker, speaking at the Crucible as a guest of Betfred at the recent World Championship, said: “You have to be honest and admit you can’t put a time on it on how long it will take to bring success back at Man Utd – it is so far away.
“You look at it now and the points behind Man City, and if you could put a points value difference on performances it is probably another 20 points behind after that.
“And I think common sense should tell Manchester United fans that they could be in for another very, very long wait for the title.
“I think it will be tougher for Ten Hag than even when David Moyes took over from Sir Alex Ferguson. Everyone saw that as a poisoned chalice - but this is even more difficult.
“In life in general there is a lot of entitlement, and the present-day fans who were there at the tail-end only of when they had great success are the ones pushing because they want it back NOW.
“But it’s not that easy. You have to work hard to get there, and go through all the cr*p that goes with it.
“That is what needs to happen at United and the problem is that none of the current team are showing signs they want to work hard – they just expect it to happen.
“One of our sayings, especially away from home, was ‘win the battle to win the war’. If you can’t win the battles, you will never win the war.
“And yes, as a fan you would even be worried it could be another 26 years. It has already been nine and counting, and you wouldn’t say there is a clear end in sight yet.
“And you are most worried because of what you are seeing and maybe more what you are not seeing. And that should be in-built as a footballer – a work ethic.
“That is the biggest thing United are lacking, and it is so obvious when you compare the current team to Liverpool and City.”
Parker also thinks there has been too much interference in team and recruitment matters from elsewhere in the club, and hopes Ten Hag is allowed to get on with it unhindered. He also reckons that if United are to have any chance of landing Declan Rice or other A-Grade recruits, they must convince them with a long list of other top-class transfer targets.
He added: “I hope he is allowed to manage, because I think managing a team is a dying word in the game. You are a coach, and then directors of football and CEOs want to run it.
“The CEOs are not real football people but there is an ego thing of talking to agents and mixing with managers and being with players, it is great for them to talk about in every wine bar with their mates to say ‘I talk to so and so’.
“It needs football people to run football, and business people to do the business side. Let the football people bring players in they know they can work with.
“And for someone like Declan Rice right now, if he was offered the chance to go to United as opposed to City, Liverpool or Chelsea, he wants to know ‘who are you complimenting me with?’
“He and his agent will want to know who he is going to have around him in that team, they have to ask that question.”
