Whilst so far managing to hold onto that all important top-four spot this season, 2014/15 has somewhat unexpectedly been a campaign to forget for Manchester United and Louis van Gaal. Things just haven’t worked out as smoothly as many of the Old Trafford faithful were initially hoping for.

On the whole, the series of high-profile signings made throughout the summer have failed to live up to their potential thus far, the manager is still seemingly unaware of what his best XI really should consist of – and as has been well documented within the wider footballing community of late – the Red Devils are quickly being referred to as a ‘long-ball’ team, who are all too often relying on the somewhat tainted services of Marouane Fellaini.

With such a dramatic turn of events taking place this season, just what is 2015/16 ultimately going to hold for Manchester United in their course to regain their undisputed top-spot in the Premier League?

Are they a club on the verge of greatness with a solid plan that should see the team through this turbulent period of their history, or have Manchester United simply lost their ‘Midas touch’, and are now no more than a ticking time bomb waiting to implode? The future for the Red Devils looks tricky at best…

What must first be remembered within this whole debate however, is the fact that Old Trafford was never going to be the same place after Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure. His legacy at the club was one of the strongest English football has ever seen, yet as all things must come to pass eventually, something just had to give in the wake of his emotional end in the United dug-out.

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The Scot didn’t exactly leave the squad in the best shape possible, though. Despite winning the Premier League with many players who have since been deemed to be not good enough, Ferguson departed Manchester United with a great deal of dead wood in the ranks, several ageing stars who simply haven’t been able to do the business for their subsequent managers, and a general feeling of uncertainty as to which direction the club is actually heading in.

As a result of such a notion, Louis van Gaal – and David Moyes before him, for that matter – have been tasked to weave through the mess at Old Trafford with varying results. The club simply lack it's once untouchable and highly intimidating status that used to come so naturally.

Having said that however, Manchester United simply haven’t helped their own cause a great deal throughout this season either. OK, the experimental appointment of David Moyes was scrapped at the end of last year with a view to change it up for the 2014/15 campaign, but such a fairy-tale like turnaround in fortunes simply hasn’t happened whatsoever.

The boardroom staff at Old Trafford tried to turn their club into Europe’s next Galacticos big spender – and as a result of blowing and obscene amount of wages on a lack-lustre Radamel Falcao, watching Angel Di Maria fail to even come close to his £59million valuation, and spending nearly as much on Luke Shaw as what Arsenal managed to negotiate for a certain Alexis Sanchez – the results have simply been somewhat of an embarrassment so far.

Falcao's latest stint with the U21 squad highlights what a mess the club are really in. No one, from the fans, coaches, chairman and players themselves, seem to know what is really going on behind the scenes at this once formidable Premier League establishment. Those who stay put and those who are forcibly moved on from the club in the run up to next season simply remain anyone’s guess at the moment - and that degree of uncertainty really doesn’t shine Manchester United in the best possible light.

If the Red Devils can successfully land themselves safe passage to the ever illustrious Champions League next season though –Manchester United and Louis van Gaal may just about be able to cover their losses, and gloss over what has been a ultimately disappointing campaign throughout the course of this season – even if the club’s once untouchable reputation nevertheless takes a hit.

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