Football is all about money. It probably always has been, but since Roman Abramovich first parked his tanks on the Stamford Bridge lawn almost two decades ago, we can no longer pretend it isn’t.
Nowadays if your club isn’t owned by the sovereign wealth fund of an oil producing state it seems you’ve got no chance of winning a major trophy.
But in fact since the world money list league was first compiled in 1998, one English club has come out on top 10 times in terms of revenue.
Sun sign astrologers would nod sagely and note the leading light being in Taurus as an inevitable explanation for such things.
It might also be fair to point out that United only lost its pole position at the top of the English revenue league to Man City, when Uranus transited the United Sun.
But everyone would agree that in football terms the club has been left far behind its noisy neighbours.
Why would that be from an astrological perspective ?
The United chart contains a T Square based on the Uranus / Pluto opposition which focuses onto an apex Venus in Pisces.
The club have had two great managers, Matt Busby and Alex Ferguson.
Busby took over on 1st October 1945 on the club’s Uranus half return at 17.25 Gemini exactly conjunct its Pluto.
Ferguson became manager on 6th November 1986 on the full Uranus Return at 20.21 Sagittarius.
Busby took a while to get going but brought United their first league championship for 50 years in May 1952 when Jupiter was conjunct the club’s Sun.
A period of success followed with another two championships and a strong showing in the European Cup but that ended with the Munich Air Crash in February 1958 when Neptune was opposite the club’s Sun.
The rebuild was slow but the club reached a peak with their first European Cup in 1968, occurring when Jupiter was trine the United Mars.
Busby left the year after and United had a period of underachievement while Liverpool dominated the English League and Europe.
But then United turned to arguably the greatest ever football manager
Alex was a tough Glaswegian manager who dragged the club to its modern day prominence purely by force of character. He was more than happy to give his superstars a kick up the backside.
Maybe for a club of United’s size, this placement combined with that Capricorn Sun is perhaps what was required to turn them into ruthless serial winners.
For more details of Ferguson’s football career see – Alex Ferguson – The Astrology Of Football Management
Ferguson’s appointment chart shows that he was in it for the long term.
A Capricorn Moon is always a stayer and when sextile a Scorpio Sun / Venus / Pluto conjunction this is a combination that would dig deep for the long run.
And the close Sun / Venus trine Jupiter always was likely to knock Liverpool off their perch, but it took six seasons and Pluto’s conjunction with the club’s Moon to win the league.
From there United won the league 13 times in 20 years and the European Cup twice.
Alex Ferguson was a very hard act to follow. Even though it appears he chose his own successor.
On the face of it David Moyes was a reasonable pick as his replacement because he was Scottish ( like Busby and Ferguson ) and he had the Sun at 4 Taurus conjunct the United Sun.
Unfortunately that meant he was tied into the club’s transits at the time.
Inevitably these transits would be to do with Ferguson’s retirement with Saturn opposite United’s Sun.
An article I wrote at the time warned of Saturn’s opposition to both Moyes Sun and Moon and that for his appointment to be successful, United would have to show the same patience that they had with Fergie in his early years. See David Moyes – A Safe Pair Of Hands ?
The astrology of the day he took over was fascinating.
A Grand Trine between the Sun / Jupiter conjunction in Cancer with Saturn and Neptune looked very promising.
The Moon being right on United’s Mars seemed to be saying the right things but the whole chart was scuppered by the T square.
Sun opposite Pluto focused onto an apex Uranus meant Moyes was never likely to match Ferguson’s 27 years in the post. In fact he lasted barely more than 27 weeks of actual football and was sacked with United missing out on European football for the first time for ages.
The common view amongst the pundits was that the United job was just too big for David Moyes.
David Moyes Moon / Mercury was opposite the United Moon, so while he was appointed with Saturn conjunct both Taurean Suns he was sacked with it aspecting the Moons.
While it was clear that the Man United board were not taking my advice to give Moyes time they had certainly been reading my articles when it came to finding his replacement.
See – The Perfect Manager – Does He Exist ?
Maybe Louis Van Gaal had the perfect astrological chart to be a manager but not really for United as there is no strong synastry there. In fact the only connection is that Louis’ Venus is opposite the club’s Venus, and when you remember that she is the apex of a T square, Van Gaal and United are not a match made in heaven.
After choosing a Sun / Uranus / Pluto T Square for Moyes’ start, they went for a Mars / Uranus / Pluto one for Van Gaal’s.
Saturn was still playing a role and was conjunct the club Moon.
It was also square to Louis’ Sun / Pluto at the time so ultimately this was always likely to be another Moyes type appointment.
Van Gaal did manage to turn things around a bit and win the FA Cup but he was sacked two days later.
Next up was after the perfect one was the ” special ” one.
His Sun was square the club’s.
His Moon was exactly conjunct the United Jupiter.
His T Square was a close fit with United’s own with his Jupiter conjunct their apex Venus.
So really this was a good match and should have worked.
But the timing was crap.
A complex and chaotic time to be sure.
The strong synastry between club and manager worked to begin with as United claimed the Europa League and the League Cup in his first season and managed to finish 2nd in the league the following year.
But it didn’t last.
One very important thing to take into account with appointing a manager is what astrological phase of their career are they about to experience.
2018 saw Pluto conjunct his Ascendant.
For someone that had achieved as much as Mourinho had at the peak of his career, a transit like this is only likely to go one way.
Downwards.
And so it proved when he was sacked by United in December of that year with Pluto exactly on his Ascendant with United in 6th place.
It maybe that the achievements of his 1st season at Old Trafford counted against him as it couldn’t be sustained.
So after the Chosen One, the Perfect One and the Special One, United turned to Nostalgic One.
After the wealth of experience of Van Gaal and Mourinho, United employed a manager whose only achievements outside Norway had been to get relegated with Cardiff City.
However he was the guy that scored that extra time winning goal in the 1999 European Cup Final.
That was the turning point of Ole Gunnar Solksjaer’s life with Pluto square to his Sun.
Solksjaer’s Mars is closely conjunct Ferguson’s Sun so he was appointed temporary manager in order to try and reestablish some kind of connection with the good old days.
Unfortunately Ole has very little synastry with the United chart, and while a Pisces sun might be a reasonable pick as someone to be nice to their star players who had been wounded by some of Mourinho’s barbs, he was never likely to give their arses the kind of kicking that his old boss would have dished out on a daily basis.
A Sagittarius Sun square Mars is hopeful particularly as that Mars would be conjunct the United apex Venus.
A Mercury / Jupiter conjunction in Sag would also be an optimistic sign that there would be more ” Oles ” at Old Trafford under Ole.
So on the back of one unexpected victory over Paris St Germain – the kind of thing that happens every year, Solksjaer was given the job for life.
This time the Mars of the caretaker chart was replaced by a Mercury / Neptune conjunction right on the United apex Pisces Venus.
The United chart does have a hard baked strength through a Taurus Sun conjunct Aries Mars and a Scorpio Moon, but there is also a kind of fantasy going on there.
The T square apex Venus shows why Old Trafford is referred to as the Theatre of Dreams.
With Mercury / Neptune on that Venus, those dreams are likely to be delusional and with the Moon applying to a nasty Saturn / Pluto conjunction, its clear that they are soon likely to turn to nightmares.
So with Neptune probably square to his own Moon, Solksjaer went home to Norway in November 2021.
The feeling at United was that the problems were more about fundamental systems and philosophies rather than individual managers and since there wasn’t actually anyone available they chose someone who would then move upstairs into a consultancy role at the end of the season.
So the Temporary One
And his experience in Europe and his influence over successful managers like Jurgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel suggested that he was perfect for the job.
However his actual synastry with the United chart really just boiled down to his Neptune opposite the club’s Sun.
So firmly remaining in cloud cuckoo land then.
So what will the next one be ?
Will Erik be another Eric ( Cantona ) whose transfer from Leeds almost 30 years ago transformed United into serial champions ?
Mars in Aries opposite Uranus gives him the boot application to posterior requirements to get the most from this rag tag squad.
Ten Hag’s Moon is in the United T Square conjunct its Uranus.
The only problem is that his Saturn is on the United Sun.
Its difficult to know which chart to use for the start of Ten Hag’s management because he is going to take over once he finishes the season at Ajax.
It could be the announcement chart
But perhaps the most significant placement is that Venus in Pisces. Its bang on ( to 6 minutes ) conjunct the United apex Venus.
My sense is that June 1st is the most likely start date. If so the omens are very good.
Venus is also dignified conjunct the United Sun.
And a Cancer Moon is always handy.
So it looks like Erik Ten Hag will have a better chance to restore some of Man United’s pride at least.
And with their Suns conjunct each other as well as their respective Mars’ Ten Hag might be able to squeeze one more high end season out of Cristiano Ronaldo.
A quick look at the transits for the end of next season is interesting.
Jupiter will be conjunct the United Mars and Sun in May 2023.
Back in May 1968, Jupiter was trine the Man City Sun as they won the League for the first time for over 30 years.
But this phenomenal achievement for the team of Lee, Bell and Summerbee was eclipsed by the local rivals becoming the first English side to win the European Cup a few days later with Jupiter trine their Mars.
Its always possible that a similar thing could happen next season with City winning the league again but Erik the Red’s United taking a European trophy.
It could be the Champions League, the Europa League or the Europa Conference. That would depend on which one they manage to scrape into over the next month.
So no pressure Ralph but if you want to keep hold of that consultancy job offer…
Posted on April 26th 2022