Echoes of decline in another epoch

Liverpool v Manchester United: Dominic Fifield revisits Liverpool's 1990s decline and feels there may be some similarities in what is currently happening at Alex Ferguson's Manchester United.

If there was a skip to Alex Ferguson's step as he boarded the plane in Basle on Tuesday, back-to-back victories tickling his mood, it did not take long for grim reality to set in. Manchester United may have experienced the headiest week of their stop-start season, but the Old Trafford hierarchy were not fooled.

Within 24 hours the talk was of an urgent need to assess "the nucleus of a team that has been together for seven to nine years", particularly in the wake of renewed "ambition and desire" up the road at Liverpool. Despite the sumptuous victories over Newcastle and the Swiss champions, the suspicion remains that Ferguson is struggling to arrest a continuing decline, a slump that could yet see United stumble down the same ignominious descent as Liverpool did through the 90s.

That Ferguson vented his frustrations in the build-up to tomorrow's visit to Anfield was poignant. At first glance Liverpool's plummeting from Europe's best in the mid-80s to also-rans in the early days of the Premiership appeared to occur overnight but, in truth, the Merseyside empire had been crumbling even as the trophy glut continued.

There had been questionable signings and tactics, a lack of talent emerging from the youth ranks and a change in the atmosphere within the squad which only became discernible when a new manager took charge - the worry for Ferguson is that United may be experiencing a similar malaise.

This would become even more vivid should the Merseysiders stroll to a sixth successive victory over their bitter rivals by lunchtime tomorrow. The deposed champions have won only twice in their last six Premiership games, with the refreshing three points gleaned while Arsenal and Liverpool floundered last weekend, merely hoisting them to within a distant six of the summit. The team's form has even drawn criticism from former players on United's own in-house television channel.

Untimely injuries have left a once awesome squad looking relatively flimsy, with those wide-eyed graduates from the youth ranks hardly of the same calibre as the crop that yielded David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and the Neville brothers.

The manager's insistence on recruiting big-name signings has merely reinforced the belief that these are the death throes of a recently glorious era. Even so, too often the signs of decline rear up only in hindsight, a new-found fallibility permeating through the squad swept under the carpet and only grudgingly recognised when it is far too late.

"It wasn't a conscious thing," recalled John Barnes, a star name bought by Kenny Dalglish and thrust straight into the Liverpool side of the mid-80s when the club appeared at their peak. His big-money purchase went against the grain at Anfield, where signings were generally nurtured in the reserves until fully-versed in the Liverpool Way. Barnes proved a success, but ignoring the policy of progression ultimately left the manager with an ageing side well past their best.

"We felt as if we were able to still compete, but we just weren't as dominant as we had been," said Barnes. "It was just the case that players were coming and going, teams were beating us and we were now finishing third and fourth where once we'd been first or second. I would say that when I and other players came into the Liverpool team we fitted into a system and a way of playing. But as time went on we changed the system to suit the players."

Arguably, Ferguson has done much the same. His obsession in accommodating the £28.1 million Juan Sebastian Veron has disrupted a settled midfield. Rio Ferdinand may be worth his £30 million price tag, but United might have done better to invest that money in a handful of recruits rather than one.

That the Heysel and, in particular, Hillsborough disasters sped Liverpool's decline is clear. The lack of continental competition blunted a once razor-sharp edge, and the trauma of the 96 deaths at Hillsborough deeply affected Dalglish and his players.

"Kenny knew there was major surgery required to his team," said his eventual successor Graeme Souness, "but he could not say goodbye to those players. Even the fans must have known that half the team was past its sell-by date."

Liverpool's last championship success was sealed on April 28th, 1990, as Barnes slammed the decisive penalty against Queens Park Rangers. Yet, amid the celebrations of an 11th title in 17 years and a third in five under Dalglish, the Football Echo published a prophetic letter that night from a fan insisting the team was "hanging on for grim life". Similar views were expressed by disgruntled United shareholders at the recent annual general meeting.

After a decade of relative failure, only now under Gerard Houllier does it appear the cyclical nature of success and failure might be turning again in their favour.

As the most affluent club on the planet, United remain in a position to arrest their decline, but these remain worrying times. Theirs may not be an ageing side but Ferguson's suggestion that the heart of his team needs freshening up hints at radical overhaul ahead. The manager has two years to run on his contract: starting tomorrow, in a cauldron of hate at Anfield, he must try to start putting things right.