Oh, I didn't see this until just now. Former manager Louis Van Gaal dug his thumb in hard on the sorest point of the Manchester United psyche when he warned a fellow countryman away from taking the position because,

“Manchester United are a commercial club, so it’s a difficult choice for a coach. He would be better going to a football club.”

That is only a one-sixteenth turn of the kaleidoscope but it brings a new ordered view to the familiar jumbled picture. The aim of the Glazer regime each year is lucre, the Champions League, and a top-four finish in the Premier League gets you that. What do you get if you win the Premier League? A trophy. That does not improve the bottom line as Euros do. Manchester United are 23 points out of first place but only 4 away from Champions League qualification. 

The same damnation could, and has been, leveled at Arsenal under American Stan Kroenke. The owner sold player after player after player with Arsene Wenger in charge of football operations. The once "Invincibles," the only side in the history of the Premier League to never suffer defeat in a season, admitted that their goals all of those years were 1a) to pay for Emirates Stadium and 1b) to secure a Champions League place. There was no other goal and today years later Arsenal sit in their accustomed fourth place.

Contrast with the Manchester Revolution, begun by Thai Thaksin Shinawatra and accelerated into hyperdrive by the greatest owner in club sport, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayad Al Nahyan of the UAE. The bottom line is irrelevant to Sheikh Mansour. He wants, he demands, and he will pay for, only the best. Only championships matter.

Or contrast with the more frugal American John Henry and Liverpool. Comparatively small money ball delivered a first world championship in 2004 to the Boston Red Sox since 1918. Henry did not come to Liverpool to finish second, or fourth. He crossed the North Atlantic to win. He did it his way and he did win: a first Premier League in 30 years; a Champions League title for the first time in 14 years.

The truth hurts and there is too much truth in Louis Van Gaal's assessment of Manchester United, and it hurts a lot.