Disunited in decline.

Byline: BRIAN READE 

FOR anyone who has watched a great team slide into decline the signs at Old Trafford are ominous.

The older players keep saying "last season wasn't good enough for a club of this size" while doing little to fend off a repeat performance.

Dissent is forcing class players like Ruud van Nistelrooy out, frustration is making the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo believe he's out-grown the place, and big transfer targets like Michael Ballack treat their overtures with indifference.

Paul Scholes pins hopes on a home-grown golden generation coming through to emulate the class of '92, yet when you read the names: Kieron Richardson, Phil Bardsley and David Jones, it sounds more like fools' gold.

They have spent two years trying to replace the heart of the team (Roy Keane), with their main targets either disinterested or unaffordable. The talk now is of an untested Michael Carrick, who is surely more Neil Webb than Keane, and an almost geriatric Patrick Vieira, which is surely making Arsene Wenger's heart dance.

So little quality has been bought in the last few transfer windows, and such is the inaction in this one, desperate reshuffles are on the cards. We now hear Alan Smith will revert to being a striker. Yet last season when Ole Gunnar Solksjaer and Louis Saha were injured, Fergie didn't deem him good enough to play up-front. Now the New Keane is the New van Nistelrooy.

As I say, it reminds me of a once-great club in decline, right down to the search for a "big name striker" to excite the fans. Where's Stan Collymore when you need him?

CAPTION(S):

KEANE was the United heartbeat