The media are reporting that Manchester United are about to appoint yet another manager.

Looking back over their history since they joined the league in 1889, you can pretty much divide it up into five eras:

⚽ Era 1: Pre-WWI
26 seasons
0 managers (teams were picked by committee)
3 major trophies including 2 league titles
average trophies per season: 0.12

⚽ Era 2: Inter-war period
20 seasons
7 managers
0 major trophies
average trophies per season: 0

⚽ Era 3: Post-WWII, before Alex Ferguson
41 seasons
6 managers
11 major trophies including 5 league titles
average trophies per season: 0.27

⚽ Era 4: Alex Ferguson
27 seasons
1 manager
28 major trophies including 13 league titles
average trophies per season: 1.04

⚽ Era 5: After Alex Ferguson
13 seasons
8 managers
5 major trophies
average trophies per season: 0.61

(I’ve excluded caretaker managers, but included interim managers. Major trophies means the league, both domestic cups and any European trophy, but not the Charity Shield or the second division)

The key takeaway from that is that Alex Ferguson is on a different planet. He won more major titles than all the rest put together. Oddly enough, his win percentage isn’t massively bigger than anyone else’s (59.67% compared to José Mourinho’s 58.33%), it’s just that he managed to make the wins count in the games that mattered the most.

The other to note is that just two managers – the other being Matt Busby – have been responsible for the vast majority of their trophies. Excluding their pre-WWI titles, which were won in the era before managers, Busby and Ferguson have won all of their league titles. Compare that with Liverpool, whose 20 league titles have been won by 10 different managers, and Arsenal, whose 14 titles have been won by 8 different managers. Even Manchester City, Everton and Chelsea have had more different league winning managers than Man U. And City are still in that list even if you take out Pep.

What that basically boils down to is that overall, Man U are a fairly mediocre club that just happens to have struck lucky twice in the manager’s office. They don’t have a track record of consistently appointing winning managers.

If I was a Manchester United fan, therefore, I would not be getting too excited at the imminent arrival of Poch. Maybe he’ll prove me wrong, but I wouldn’t bank on it.