NasirTimothy
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I’d actually push back against the bolded a little bit. LVG was a dinosaur who hadn’t managed in the club game for yonks and was thus out of touch (the club game and internationals are very different).The counter-argument to that is we have had the established managers before. LvG who was fresh off guiding what was at that point the worst Holland squad in recent memory (it's arguably worse now and since then, granted) to the semi finals of the World Cup, and Jose who won the title at a canter 18 months before he joined.
Both of those two were backed, and backed heavily (with £150m+ net summers) and ultimately didn't do enough to justify their jobs.
Ole meanwhile, has had much less support than either and his squad is still essentially comprised of academy players that Ole brought through like Greenwood and Williams, and players that Jose didn't rate (Shaw, Pogba, Martial), saw as squad players (McTominay, Rashford), or were borderline jokes (Fred). Of that Jose team who finished second the only regulars from it who are still playing an active role right now are DDG and Lindelof, and almost all of the main totems of it have either been sold or marginalised. He sold Lukaku, Fellaini, Sanchez, Smalling. He has also now marginalised Matic and Mata, while Jones is fully MIA and Lingard will most likely be gone in the summer. Ole's overseen and improved upon the players he had at his disposal. Something that LvG and Jose didn't really do much of in all their time here, or at least no examples of such are jumping out at me right now.
Added to all of that, Ole has had only three proper, first team signings in this squad (all of whom were purchased in his first full season - AWB, Maguire, and Bruno). That he's managed to get us punching where we are, is a testament to him and the players. And for me, he deserves proper backing now, to the extent that LvG and Jose got, to see where we can get to under his stewardship. It really wouldn't hurt to see where we end up with him considering he's more than proved he's deserving of that backing.
If after that, we're still at around 3rd or 4th, then by all means we should let him go and wish him all the best. But up until then, I frankly can't see how anyone can't at least give him the benefit of the doubt - not just because of his former status as a player (where he really and truly was a legend and always will be) but because of the strength of the job he has done. Two seasons of solid progress across that period, with all the constraints he's had with the board, is pretty damn good all things considered, IMO.
And Mourinho had been successful but he was never going to be accepted by the majority of United fans in the long run because his style of football was antithetical to their ideals.
However, it’s worth pointing out that both those guys, though unsuitable, won more trophies than Ole has up to this point.
I get the idea of choosing a manager who is younger and less established, but as I said before, it’s got to be someone who is exceptional for a club this size.
I don’t have a dog in this fight, so if Ole leads United to the league and the champions league in the next couple of years, I’ll happily hold my hands up and say ‘job well done sir.’ But I really can’t envisage that scenario and I don’t think it’s the most likely outcome. I’m just trying to be honest about what I see.