Ridsdale's sighs struck his assistant as peculiar, carrying less the weight of burden than the tone of petulant complaint.
"What a pointless thing to moan about,"
After all, without good players, any club was destined to drift into irrelevance. Success on the pitch was the lifeblood of everything else—the gate receipts, the sponsorships, the trophies that filled the cabinets and the pride of the supporters.
Consider Manchester United: without the gifted Class of '92, without figures of stature like Schmeichel in goal, Keane in midfield, or Stam at the back, what would have remained?
Certainly not the dominance of the '90s, nor the commercial empire that followed. Without great players, even giants could stumble, their fortunes shrinking to nothing.
The most important thing was the name of Manchester United.
