Things get messy at Manchester United

Fans of the Premier League club, including many in China, are hoping for quick end to the recent mess

I've been a Manchester United fan ever since I was a kid, enthralled by stars such as Bobby Charlton, Denis Law, George Best, and countless others.

The 1958 Munich air crash, in which eight of the club's star players were killed, part of a generation of homegrown players known as the Busby Babes after their iconic manager, Matt Busby, still sticks in my mind.

I was 11 at the time, and the image of the mangled wreck of the British European Airways' turboprop plane, which crashed as it was taking off in a snowstorm, will stick in my mind forever.

The biggest loss was England forward Duncan Edwards, who'd risen through the ranks under Busby's tutelage, only to die days after the crash from horrendous injuries. Fans still visit his grave.

So to be a Man United fan, you have to have a sense of history.

The club has a massive following in China, as a 2012 poll by research specialists Kantar showed. Many football writers dismissed as "fantasy" their claim that 108 million people in China are fans of the club, but I think they forgot two things about Chinese supporters.

When they are serious, they are very serious. And from a population point of view, it's a huge country. So I don't doubt the club's following in China, especially since China Central Television resumed showing English Premier League matches this past season.

The club's history is full of glittering stars. Who can forget the talent of the goal-hungry Law, or the pure genius that was Best? More recently, the club, which at one stage was where everyone wanted to play, has attracted headline-grabbers such as Cristiano Ronaldo and the wonderfully mercurial Eric Cantona, who was given to bursts of extraordinary brilliance on the field and gnomic utterances off it.

I bet Chinese fans are still trying to figure out his quote after a Football Association disciplinary hearing in 1995: "When the seagulls follow the trawler, it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea." I know I am.

Being a Man United fan entails a lot of pain, too. The extraordinary takeover in 2005 by the US-based Glazer family continues to leave a bitter taste in the mouths of most fans.

Before Malcolm Glazer bought the club in 2005 for 790 million pounds, it was the most profitable in the world. However, by using the club's assets to back his bid, by the time the deal was complete Man United was 525 million pounds in debt. You work it out.

Glazer died in 2006, but his family still has a 90 percent stake in the club.

Alex Ferguson, a Scot who amassed 38 honors including 13 Premier League titles, five FA Cup trophies and two Champions League titles in his 27 years in charge at Old Trafford, is widely regarded as one of the most successful managers and tacticians of all time.

Which makes the latest managerial shenanigans at the club all the more hard to bear.

Ferguson personally handpicked his successor, the excellent David Moyes, who had worked wonders at Everton with little money to spend on players. It was Moyes who identified and nurtured the raw talent of Wayne Rooney at Everton before the Liverpool-born youngster moved to Man United.

But the Moyes magic failed to work at Old Trafford, and after his ugly dismissal, along came the taciturn Dutchman Louis van Gaal, who ultimately failed to get either the players, the fans or the media on his side, despite winning the FA Cup on May 21.

He was sacked hours after his FA Cup glory for the ultimate crime of failing to secure the club a place in next season's Champions League, the elite and lucrative European competition.

So another messy sacking; and, at the time of writing, all eyes are on the mercurial Portuguese manager Jose Morinho to take over.

We Man United fans are used to holding our breath and watching this space. Now is no different.

The author is managing editor of China Daily European Weekly, based in London.

Contact the writer at chris@mail.chinadailyuk.com