Richard Buxton: Man United risk becoming also-rans by joining European Super League
Joining a European Super League could result in the 20-time English champions becoming also-rans
Manchester United may soon discover why you should be careful what you wish for.
Yearning for a triumphant return to the pinnacle of football motivated the Old Trafford hierarchy to push for meaningful changes that will alter the game's landscape.
| MANCHESTER UNITED | BURNLEY |
| 3 | 1 |
| (Mason Greenwood 48, 84, Edinson Cavani 90+3) | (James Tarkowski 50) |
But the Red Devils' desperation to recapture a paradise lost, since Sir Alex Ferguson's 2013 retirement sparked a rapid decline, has driven them to a move which they could ultimately live to regret with the planned breakaway European Super League.
Later today, a cabal of continental big-hitters are set to engineer the long-anticipated defection, which will free them from Uefa's arbitration of the Champions League.
European football's governing body has bent to the will of United and their fellow superpowers to the point of agreeing to sweeping reforms of its flagship competition.
Remarkably, acceding to the excessive demands of a reformatted Champions League is seemingly not enough for gluttonous owners hell-bent on clawing even more money.
If the 3-1 win over Burnley this morning (Singapore time) is a reliable barometer, however, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side will be starting life in the prospective Super League from less than zero.
Barely beating a team still looking over their shoulder in the battle for English Premier League survival, with a goalkeeper making only his third top-flight appearance, hardly bodes well for weekly encounters against the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus, among others.
Within 30 seconds, Chris Wood fired an early warning shot as he beat the advancing Dean Henderson in the air to head into an empty net, before the offside flag intervened.
A player costing less than one-fifth of Paul Pogba's once world-record £89.3 million (S$165m) fee continued to create more chances in the first half than his well-heeled adversary.
He found a pocket of space between Victor Lindelof and Harry Maguire to head narrowly off target from a Matthew Lowton free-kick, before later flashing a shot wide of Henderson's near post, courtesy of another set-piece from his fullback.
Solskjaer's response after the break was to send on Edinson Cavani in place of an ineffectual Fred. He reaped a reward within three minutes of the restart as Mason Greenwood lashed home after Bruno Fernandes dummied Marcus Rashford's low cross.
Less than two minutes later, James Tarkowski's ability to get the better of Maguire restored the balance of power for the visitors at the Theatre of Dreams.
United snatched victory in the closing stages as a deflection off Jack Cork took Greenwood's shot away from Burnley goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell, before Cavani gave them a flattering third goal in injury time.
Those who conspired with the fallen 20-time English champions to hatch the Super League plan will still relish facing them regularly on the strength of this overall display.
The Times reported that besides United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur have agreed to join the new competition.
In a star-studded league, some big clubs will have to become also-rans.
Current evidence suggests United could fall into that trap.
How the mighty have truly fallen.
United were perfectly poised to take advantage of another game-changing concept with the EPL's inception just shy of three decades ago to become its most successful club.
Yet they are prepared to give it all up just to run the risk of being caught cold in a sea teeming with bigger sharks than themselves.
Leading the Super League charge will compound, not cure, their ongoing inadequacies.
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