We shouldn’t be equating Ole with Moyes or with Mourinho. Or with any others.
And whether the Norwegian league is ranked 23rd or 5th is rather irrelevant. A 23rd-ranked league will have its own constraints like budgets and players etc and you can only work within those boundaries. The fact remains that Ole broke Rosenberg’s hold many times and helped Molde win their first title in history. This shouldn’t be belittled.
Now of course extrapolating that to the PL may be too far a stretch. So I am not going to say that he will definitely be able to do it at United. His stint at Cardiff was a blemish but it has been said many times the circumstances around Cardiff then were terrible but judge Ole all you want on that.
To me what matters is now.
On this forum, it seems like a growing consensus that our board/Ed is inept at transfers, hiring managers and creating a general structure at the club. These could determine the long term success or demise of the club but none of these are Ole’s fault.
They will become his problems but they are not his fault.
Ole is the manager for now so let’s see what he can bring. New manager bounce or not the way the team played when Ole joined was so different from Mourinho’s time and the recent weeks that it has to be questioned what changed. I don’t think Ole suddenly thought we were too exciting and the boring toothless footy would be better. There are factors we can’t see that forced Ole’s hand. There are many variables which I believe all have validity, such as fitness, distractions from contracts and form.
Out of his depth or not, you can’t deny Ole had a great start and in many matches he had good tactics and made some good substitutions. I am more inclined to think it was not luck because otherwise why can’t we attribute the recent bad run to luck? Ole’s been know to be a smart student of the game and some will argue that Man United is not a place for a good student of the game but a master of the game. Perhaps that is true, but Ole has been appointed and I don’t see the benefit is always looking at the negative end of things simply because Ole has shown glimpses that he has the capacity to achieve good outcomes.
Let’s also not forget that ultimately this isn’t Ole’s team. The players bought were according to other manager’s visions and it is unfair to expect Ole to get them fully on his side. The players themselves will constantly be doubting if this manager “needs” them or not, hence Ole is always assuring them for now. I have no doubt Ole can be ruthless if need be. People get too concerned about the interviews and press conferences. There is very little benefit in criticising players in public and showing your hand in the media. It doesn’t mean Ole is not giving them a bollocking in private.
It will only be truly Ole’s team after 2-3 transfer windows. That’s how and when we should be judging him. That’s unfortunately an eternity for fans who judge game by game but that’s only right. If we fire Ole without offering the opportunity to rebuild, then the club is truly screwed. It will be undeniable then that our club is clueless.
This forum has become so toxic. I really wonder what it means for some of our fans to support the club. This is not a top red argument but I am puzzled at fans being so unreasonable and unwilling to broaden their perspectives and exercise patience.
Now I don’t know if Ole will be successful or not. I hope he will be but he will need some ingredients outside his control, like time and support from the board. What’s sad is that some of the fans are already crucifying and writing Ole off before he’s got a real chance to build his team.
Agree 100%
I read this site and it's starting to dawn on me how fickle a lot of fans are.
When he came in everyone was singing his praises. The very second things turn to **** and people are calling for his sacking. How farcical.
A few things that I'd like to address:
1). Being ruthless: There's no doubt in my mind that Ole is ruthless, he's said to the press something along the lines of "I'm going to be a success here and there's some players there that won't be here" and yesterday "Maybe you've seen the last of some of these players" - that's in public and pretty scathing too. Who's to say that he's not giving them a right telling off in private?
2) Not playing youth. - Before huddersfield, United were still mathematically within a chance of getting top 4. If he played the kids (who do you guys have in mind realistically to do a job) and missed out on top 4 (as other results went our way) he'd get stick for not playing the first team. He simply cannot win.
3) Not dropping Young, Jones, Matic, Rashford - Who does he have that can replace them with? No one! Our squad isn't good enough. Simple as is. There's no one else available.
The way that some people on here has turned on Ole is crazy. Mind-boggling in fact. Been here 6 months. I'd like to re-iterate that. 6 months! He can do nothing in 6months. Look at what patience got Liverpool. Now everyone is talking about how the other 4 of the big 6 should be looking up to Liverpool. They'd never achieve what they've achieved (as it pains me to say) without some sort of patience and belief in the manager. This a manager who is a constant loser at the big stage. Gets to a final and then crumbles. Which I'd say is worse than someone who never gets to the competition in the first place!
A lot of you are so desperate to get to where we once were that you're happy to just dismantle the thing and rebuild it until you get what you want. Sounds a lot like Real Madrid doesn't it?
In my opinion the Glazers aren't the problem either. 744M on transfers in 7years. That's 3/4 of a BILLION pounds and look what it's got us. Nothing.
Can't keep pointing the finger when you're losing. If I were the Glazers, I'd too start asking where my money is actually going. Hence why we're getting a DoF.
But hey. Let's all blame Ole. It clearly isn't the players fault. Clearly they cannot perform under 2-4 different managers.
You can't just wave a magic wand at something and expect them to be world beaters. A large proportion of our squad simply isn't good enough. Yet Ole is the one who should go?!?!!?
Glazers, Woodward and Ole can all stay in a job as far as I'm concered. We need Woodward for the commercial side and Glazers have always given us money when we've asked for it (I can understand their reluctance to pump money when Jose was in though, something wasn't right) what we need and what will start fixing the issue here is a DoF and a 2-3 transfer windows for Ole. Then we'll see if Ole is good enough as then he has no more excuses.
What we need is patience and what a lot of fans need to understand is our place in the realm of the Big 6 and how good we actually are nowadays. Ask yourself this, is our squad actually good enough/on a par with a lot of the top 6. I don't think it is in all honesty.
. We have always had a history of bringing through young players and getting the best out of what we have. It will be embarrassing for United economically and professionally if we have outspend our rivals and continue to struggle to get top four while also playing shite football.
