I'd like to see them fall further still. They're run abysmally but they've still been able to sign and retain big name players - partially on reputation but undoubtedly because they also pay top whack for transfer fees, wages and agent fees. Their lowest finish is still the 7th place under Moyes in 2014.
The longer they remain mediocre the more likely they are to fall that bit further and hopefully it snowballs. Less of a draw for big names, less of a commercial beast, less scope for making stupid mistakes and riding them out etc.
We're probably the yardstick for falling from our perch and it feels like we've spent more seasons outside of the Champions League than in it over the past 25 years. I want them to spend five consecutive years outside the top four and I think that's a real possibility if the bankrolled clubs go on to lock down three of those spots every season!
Petty and vindictive but whisky nose was a shadow over my childhood 
I'd also love to see them fall a lot further, in a slow, gradual process a bit like the movement of a glacier. You don't really see it in real time, but it's unstoppable.
I was pretty sure they'd collapse after Ferguson because you could see that United took on
his mantle, he never took on
theirs. There was no 'United Way', there was only a Ferguson Way, and take him out of the equation and the identity goes with him. It's also funny that the Ferguson Way was copied from the Liverpool Way.
The reason I never really thought they'd fall quite this far is because I thought they might have learned some valuable lessons. Why? Well, they had something great with Sir Matt, but they let that slide in spectacular fashion. Champions of Europe in 1968 but relegated to Div 2 just six years later in 1974. Also, by the time Ferguson narrowly escaped the sack and started getting it right with them, Liverpool were already in obvious decline. Now Liverpool were always their biggest rivals, and they'd seen us create a dynasty that many thought would never end. A dynasty they were intensely jealous of. Seeing even that starting to turn to relative dust must surely have been a lesson they'd take note of.
I think the problem has been their own arrogance and vanity. They were arrogant even when they were a laughing stock, so the warning signs were there I suppose, but to fall into the same trap after seeing what happened to themselves after '68 and us after '90 puts them into the supremely arrogant of the supremely stupid categories. Maybe it puts them in both? They had the financial wealth and they had those lessons to learn from, yet they still didn't. Now they are stuck in the mire of arrogance, living on past glories and old reputations and have also found themselves running through treacle due to over-sentimentality (hello Oleh).
Of course, all empires fall. I bet the Romans thought they had it sussed, but everything comes to an end at some point. Maybe Man United thought they were the exception though. I knew they'd fall, even when at times it seemed like it might go on forever. Like I said, people my age have seen it all with Liverpool and also knew that although they were having their time, the nature of life means it will fail eventually. I'm just glad to still be around to see them go from boom to bust yet again. Now they are right back to the 70s and 80s where they are like headless chickens trying to recreate past glories and trying to copy Liverpool once more.
I have to say, though, even I didn't think they would be so blinkered and so stupid to let it turn to this level of shite yet again. But, you either learn your lessons in life or you don't.
