The history of Old Trafford works as a modern metaphor for what is happening on the pitch below the historic stands and the fading paintwork.
A stadium that once set the standard has stagnated and the rusting in the steel has spread to what is happening below, or vice versa.
For more than a decade this is a football club that has stood still. In the modern Premier League, standing still is the equivalent of going backwards, and going backwards pretty quickly.
That is what has happened to Manchester United. The best club stadium in the country isn't even the best stadium in the north west now.
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