There was this friend of mine who kept on losing heavily on the weekly national lotto and he would always console himself by saying, “it needs a lot of courage to stay in the game”. He died recently, may he rest in peace.

As an ardent admirer of Manchester United, I must admit it needs a lot of courage to support the team these days. Since that 6-1 annihilation by close neighbours Man City, the Old Trafford wizards have never found their rhythm.

They have however managed to score some vital victories albeit not convincing enough but their show against FC Basel of Switzerland on Wednesday night was, in my estimation, the poorest output I have seen from United in decades.

Hardly can you see United players collectively fail so miserably. They uncharacteristically lacked ideas and stuck to the unproductive tactics of trying to walk the ball into the net when Basel had packed their defence.

They were so predictable that you wondered whether they had lost interest in the competition.United’s approach to the game was so unusually casual that if it were in my part of the world the suspicion would be that either someone had cast a spell on the team or the players have been bribed to embarrass Alex Ferguson “for keeping too long on the throne”.

Sir Alex Ferguson

I won’t be surprised if FC Basel were surprised at the surprisingly low opposition offered by United.  Hear their excited coach Heiko Vogel, “tactically, mentally, physically, everything just worked right”.

I would say this is a perfect summary of the 90 minutes nightmare for United. Tactically, mentally and physically they were poles apart from the home team and if they continue to play like this some of us would need a lot of courage to continue to support them.

The good news is that Sir Alex “the strongman” with a quarter of a century tutorship at Old Trafford has pledged to use the shocking exit from the champions’ league as a motivation for future success.

You can say his attitude is the hallmark of a good leader but sincerely I have the feeling that his magic is gradually fading away and it is time he planned to wind up his reign at Old Trafford.

He is universally acknowledged as the greatest manager in history and he has nothing more to prove. Do you agree with this assertion?

Cheers everybody and keep loving sports