Ole’s farewell interview

[RUCK4444]

I'd say that it's a nice touch from Ole, not from the club. He's the one doing the (emotionally) heavy lifting as well as making sure that the club looks as good as possible coming out of this whole ordeal.

Agree and I think it’s a class touch from him to go out with his own statement to the fans.

Somehow I fully expected for Ole to address the fans, not so soon after, but I expected it because of his connection with the fans has always been brilliant and the type of honest and caring guy he is I knew he wouldn’t want to sneak out the back door in silence.

Thinking about it, it’s quite an unusual way to go but it’s fitting for the man and his connection to the club which is why I expected to hear from him in some capacity.

 

[Dr. Dwayne]

Ole Ole I love you.

 

[Chicharo]

A legend...
Shame on yoy

 

[0161_UNITED]

Agree and I think it’s a class touch from him to go out with his own statement to the fans.

Somehow I fully expected for Ole to address the fans, not so soon after, but I expected it because of his connection with the fans has always been brilliant and the type of honest and caring guy he is I knew he wouldn’t want to sneak out the back door in silence.

Thinking about it, it’s quite an unusual way to go but it’s fitting for the man and his connection to the club which is why I expected to hear from him in some capacity.

Aye, couldn't agree more. Excellent post.

 

[ExoduS]

He wanted the best but turned into big, big mess. F it. Life goes on. I hope Ole finds a new gig soon enough but I believe he needs a break and perhaps a coaching mentor. Maybe SAF himself can teach him thing or two. It appears Ole's good nature was abused by many at the club, not just players. A lot of people needed to be mediocre at their job for us to be this bad this season, not just Ole.

Thank you Ole for handling yourself with class. It must have not been easy.

 

[youmeletsfly]

I didn't like him as a manager but he's a class person, that was obvious from the beginning.
Hope he finds a club with less pressure and can bounce back.

 

[Ralph1386]

Ole is a nice guy but I can’t help but feel that this is another staged PR stunt by the club. This and the ‘fan photo’.

 

[BlueHaze]

Fair play and absolutely agree. Bit tough to sit and watch that video though, and then see some of the responses - and not have an aggressive response. Maybe just that's me, but I highly doubt I was alone. There's been some proper nutters posting toxicity for months on end on here, and I feel thoroughly vindicated in finally speaking my mind. He's not the manager anymore, if anyone wants to carry on with that now and twist the knife, it's beyond the pale, beyond annoying, and deserves to be called out. I only wish I could've posted more honestly about what I think of those posts, but we all know that'd be my last post.

There was a time when people like Weaste used to kick the door open in a thread, and call people out for being bang out of out of order. We can't do that anymore, and I understand why, times have changed - but don't bloody expect me to just stand idly by. If they want me to go, I'll take it gladly - but some people on here need a proper sorting out - and honestly, I feel really sad for them.

Completely agree. He's gone. It's over. Anyone still clinging to only posting negatives and how bad he was and whatever needs to move on and let it go. Quite clearly though many are not capable of this. I don't know how people find the energy to keep on whining even after he's gone...

 

[Who's Kissing Cameras?]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

the way he talks about Carrick

Regardless of his ability as a manager, you can see why the players like him as a person

Wow. That got me emotional.

 

[Florida Man]

Our online fanbase is genuinely pathetic, as evidenced by some of the posts in this thread. Undeserving of success.

It ain’t just us; it’s most sports fans. Still pathetic nonetheless. Guy was way out of his depth but people take it like it’s personal to them.

 

[anant]

To people saying Ole was just as bad as other managers, putting himself before the club, I think the interview quashes that.

If he wanted, he could have done a Mou. Let the journos close to him do the talking - blaming players and board and all that. By doing the interview, he's ensured there is no shit-slinging by a portion of the fanbase like we still see from Mou-defenders.

Took all the blame (probably more than what was justified), defended the players till the very end and straight up acknowledged that the board backed him

 

[Skills]

Nice guy. Hope he goes onto prove loads of us wrong that think he's a poor manager, by having a prosperous career in football.

 

[city-puma]

I have not watched it and plan not to watch it forever. It’s one of the saddest for fans to watch I imagine. Ole has my uttermost respect for what he has done to this club. Not everything can go along well in life. Still, it’s so hard to think how he will go through this unfinished dream.

 

[lemmiwink]

Why does the club continue to humiliate him? He is clearly on the brink of tears in the interview.

Just let him go home and remove himself from all of this, don’t drag him through the mud on his way out.

Geez….

 

[hellhunter]

Why does the club continue to humiliate him? He is clearly on the brink of tears in the interview.

Just let him go home and remove himself from all of this, don’t drag him through the mud on his way out.

Geez….

It was his wish to give the interview

 

[PoTMS]

What a nice bloke this guy is. Such a shame it didn't work out and I really hope he does well at his next job. Must say it's a bit odd to have a camera shoved in his face after he's been sacked unless it was his choice.

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

Why does the club continue to humiliate him? He is clearly on the brink of tears in the interview.

Just let him go home and remove himself from all of this, don’t drag him through the mud on his way out.

Geez….

He clearly wants closure with the fans, that’s what it was about, not the club or anyone else. United handled a lot of sackings or contract terminations poorly in the past but this was done in the right spirit even if a couple of weeks late.

 

[The Cat]

What a nice bloke this guy is. Such a shame it didn't work out. Must say it's a bit odd to have a camera shoved in his face after he's been sacked unless he wanted to.

I think he did want to - to go out the front door as he put it.

 

[Jim Beam]

What a nice bloke this guy is. Such a shame it didn't work out. Must say it's a bit odd to have a camera shoved in his face after he's been sacked unless he wanted to.

It was his wish to do it.

 

[Denis79]

Classy way to say goodbye, wish him luck in his future endeavours.

 

[bond19821982]

He clearly wants closure with the fans, that’s what it was about, not the club or anyone else. United handled a lot of sackings or contract terminations poorly in the past but this was done in the right spirit even if a couple of weeks late.

Exactly. I'm proud how this was handled by my club. Ole is a legend. His manager tenure shouldn't undermine his contributions as a player. Love him !

 

[PoTMS]

Also if anyone should be Director of Football, it should be him, not Fletcher or Carrick. He's not a very good coach but I could see him being a good football director.

 

[Chesterlestreet]

I genuinely don’t get why you follow United if you don’t have an emotional connection with the club. It baffles me.

As touched on in another thread, we have a segment of fans who are the very opposite of RAWKish - but not in a good way (even though they probably think so themselves). They seem to think that having a "ruthless" mentality makes sense for fans - which is bizarre to say the least.

As you say, it's baffling. I don't understand what it is they get out of the whole...experience.

Incessant moaning unless everything is 100% perfect - either overt whining or (which is even more irritating) passive aggressive sulking.

Or what we're seeing plenty of today - mocking other fans for being sentimental, irrational or - God forbid - romantic.

'Cause spending a ridiculous amount of time (and/or money) on what is essentially an entirely pointless, frivolous pursuit should never be about romanticism - or about anything other than...ambition. I swear, some of these characters genuinely believe they're doing us all a favour by upholding some kind of imaginary "standard" (as though they were out there on the pitch themselves).

It's an odd mixture of anti-sentimentality (utterly misplaced) and extreme delusion (they actually believe other fans, who don't share their joyless stance, are harmful - again, as if these too were performing on the pitch or otherwise had a direct impact on the fortunes of the club).

In short, I don't understand them at all - but then I'm sure they don't understand me either.

 

[anant]

Also if anyone should be Director of Football, it should be him, not Fletcher or Carrick. He's not a very good coach but I could see him being a good football director.

Have a feeling he'd be back in future in some capacity. Ending the interview on "See you soon" and saying a couple of times in the interview that he'd be here watching games seemed a bit odd unless they're considering offering him some role - might be ambassadorial at the least but pretty sure this isn't the last we're seeing of him here

 

[Carl]

A legend...
Shame on yoy

Who's that?

 

[Andersons Dietician]

Feck me the bit where he breaks down talking about Carrick taking over. That’s a hard watch.
Love that he got to say his peace. Think it’s a great touch and he’ll always be a legend in my eyes. It’s just a shame that probably at his dream job it didn’t work out.

 

[Andersons Dietician]

Also if anyone should be Director of Football, it should be him, not Fletcher or Carrick. He's not a very good coach but I could see him being a good football director.

I don’t know if many have seen Fletcher talking about football but he comes across a lot more knowledgable than pretty much all the pundits. He’s not some clogger. Certainly seems like he knows a bit about football and has some good ideas.

 

[balaks]

Bizarre to see an interview from a sacked manager like this - I think this is the biggest problem your club needs to overcome - nostalgia and trying to recreate the past is getting you absolutely nowhere.

 

[Biggins]

He really cares deeply about the club. Really sad that he couldn’t live up to this role. This season turned out to be disastrous and he should have been let go after Liverpool game. However, the abuse he got and (in some instances) still getting is just unwarranted. It clearly wasn’t about money for him and the reason why he didn’t resign was that he was unable to give up his dream.

 

[ROFLUTION]

Do fans generally agree that he has left the club in a better position than when he took over?

Won less, but most would argue the squad the next manager inherits is miles from what Ole started out with after Mourinho.

The next manager can basically field Ronaldo, Sancho, Bruno, Cavani, Greenwood, Rashford, Martial, Pogba

Ole had to field and rely on (a crap) Lingard, Martial, Pereira, Rashford, Mata to begin with

 

[Jim Beam]

That was a pretty hard watch (although, I did watch it a few times in the end), but am happy he did the interview.

Hopefully, people can move on now and remember him again as he deserves. A club legend and a man who deeply loves this club. Also, that they can see the positives he brought to the club while being here.

 

[Jim Beam]

Bizarre to see an interview from a sacked manager like this - I think this is the biggest problem your club needs to overcome - nostalgia and trying to recreate the past is getting you absolutely nowhere.

Nah, this was class. He deserved to say goodbye.

 

[vivaronaldo]

an exit interview....really .....may as well have asked him how did spending the most by a united manager post fergie go so wrong and do you regret benching Donny for 18 months

ole reputation as a player is in tact , and will never be questioned , he is soley being judged as a manager which unfortunately was done on emotion after past players began acting all silly

my fear is carrick will now be groomed given these Muppets in charge dont know what their doing

 

[balaks]

Nah, this was class. He deserved to say goodbye.

It's very odd mate. This just shows that him staying in the job for so long was mostly because he is a 'club legend' rather than him being good enough to turn it around. If that doesn't really worry you as a Utd fan it should.

 

[DeGea]

All the best Ole. Thanks for giving us moments like that night in Paris.

 

[Tom Van Persie]

Have a feeling he'd be back in future in some capacity. Ending the interview on "See you soon" and saying a couple of times in the interview that he'd be here watching games seemed a bit odd unless they're considering offering him some role - might be ambassadorial at the least but pretty sure this isn't the last we're seeing of him here

I'm pretty sure he will get an ambassador role in the future.

 

[Oranges038]

He always seemed like he had the best interest of the club at heart until those last few weeks where it became more about self preservation.

No denying he's signed some good players and has made the squad overall better and more balanced. He got the money and the players he wanted. Some of them I still don't think are good enough. Massive issue for him was not sorting out that central midfield area, it's been a glaring problem for years.

He also made some really baffling decisions on certain players. His use of his squad and management of his players, especially those playing poorly was very questionable. Game management was very poor for the most part, making subs and all that, you were really wondering if he was looking at a different game most of the time.

At the end he was looking for players who he hadn't shown any faith in beforehand to come in and dig him out of a hole. When it was the players he trusted all along that had him in it. It was never going to work.

Will always be a club legend, it hasn't worked out, he can have no complaints about how it's ended. Ultimately he just didn't have what it took to take the club on to the next level.

 

[Forevergiggs1]

Exactly. Football is about emotion for the fans. Always has been. If you don't feel sad that a manager who happens to be a legend is getting sacked and are mocking him, something is not right with you

We all wish Ole all the best for the future, why wouldn't we but why exactly should I feel sad about his sacking? I wouldn't go as far as to mock him but at the end of the day he wasn't good enough and we need to move on. His interview does show he is a class person but give me a choice between a class person who loves the club and a winner I'm going for the latter everytime unless they coincide which is very doubtful considering how well/bad SAFs ex players have done in managerial roles.

 

[OrcaFat]

This is so sad, because I don't know a real United supporter who didn't want him to succeed. It really sucks and hurts to see him gone. No two ways about it. That said, there is nobody who he can blame. He isn't even a bad manager, but his stubbornness in refusing to replace a clearly inadequate coaching staff and sticking with McFred, Shaw + Maguire even when those were playing horribly was the level of favoritism and weak leadership that couldn't have ended differently. Ole is the nicest person but his "loyalty" to friends and favorites ruined the chance of the lifetime he got. Pretty insane that he would allow this.

He made some mistakes for sure and the appointments of his staff were the biggest mistakes. Between them they made selection and tactical mistakes but all managers do that.

He wanted to bring back a family atmosphere. He succeeded there but he was not ruthless enough, which I think was your point. It’s probably the hardest balancing act to inspire love and fear simultaneously. They all love him but none of them feared his judgement.

A lovely human being but not quite the right personality profile to make it as an elite coach / manager.

He remains a legend. I wish him happiness and good health and I’m grateful for the memories.

 

[AndySmith1990]

It's very odd mate. This just shows that him staying in the job for so long was mostly because he is a 'club legend' rather than him being good enough to turn it around. If that doesn't really worry you as a Utd fan it should.

It's difficult to argue with this tbh, as it does show the overly sentimental nature of the club and fan base that led us to this sad situation in the first place.

But personally I'd rather not dwell on it and instead say whatever, he's gone, it's over, and its just a harmless goodbye video that provides him with closure. Let's all move on and hope we don't repeat the same mistake again.