It’s fair to say that Manchester United have quite a few problems of their own to deal with currently. With a new manager trying to implement his own style of play with a squad ill-suited to doing so, and results remaining patchy at best, helping another team out would be fairly low down on the club’s ‘to-do list’. Yet, somewhat inadvertently, this may have happened, mirroring a similar, albeit more deliberate, instance of Mancunian altruism.
Deadline day passed with few notable departures. Manchester City looked to address the gaping hole in their midfield with the signing of Nico Gonzalez, one of four purchases in a busy window for the ailing Premier League champions, but it was a relatively low-key window.
Tucked away amid the raft of loan deals struck on deadline day, however, were two youth prospects from Manchester United’s academy agreeing to temporary moves to Tranmere Rovers. Winger Sam Mather and centre back Louis Jackson both signed for Nigel Adkins’ side, who sit perilously close to the League Two drop zone. For a first introduction to league football, it is certainly akin to being thrown in at the deep end.
From now until the end of the season, Mather and Jackson will endeavour to keep Tranmere in the Football League, something that United have assisted with in the past.
In 1982, Rovers were facing a financial crisis. Efforts were made to stave off closure, including holding celebrity dinners, negotiating the club’s first ever shirt sponsor, and the inevitable sale of key players.
All of this activity seemed to have been for nothing when chairman Gerry Gould said that the club was three weeks away from closing. At this point, several big-name teams stepped in offering to play friendly matches to raise funds.
Thanks to fixtures against Liverpool, Everton, Wolves and Manchester United, £20,000 was raised, allowing Tranmere to stay in business. Somewhat in keeping with the chaos at the club at the time, the match between Tranmere and United was branded as the ‘centenary game’. Embarrassingly for Tranmere, they were celebrating their own 100-year anniversary two years early.
Survival eventually led to the club embarking on its greatest ever period during the late 1980s and early 1990s, when they came agonisingly close to becoming a Premier League team.
Returning to the present, United’s youngsters will have little time for acclimatisation. With just three points between them and the relegation zone, results need to pick up quickly.
Having taken one point from the last 15 on offer, the fear of a return to the National League is a real one, and the fanbase is gradually voicing their displeasure in growing numbers. After last Saturday’s 3-1 home defeat to Colchester, boos escorted the players off the pitch at full time.
Adkins gave the new recruits a watching brief as Tranmere again fell to defeat at Salford, but United’s latest assistance must hit the ground running, as matches begin to run out and the threat of the drop increases.
