If Mourinho's authority and ideology were given more backing, would we be challenging?

Ish

Lights on for Luke
Joined
Mar 10, 2010
Messages
32,053
Location
Voted the best city in the world
1. As much as I blame Ed for a big part of where we are today post SAF, I don’t actually have to have him leave to be happy. I just need a good balance of power and structure in place where a finance/business person like Ed can work on his end of expertise leaving the footballing aspects to someone else more capable.
2. there is a difference between not backed and not fully backed. I strongly believe in not fully backed. It means not getting the players Jose asked for and not backing him in a player power situation. Was he backed, sure, he was backed partially in the transfer market. He wasn’t fully backed because a finance/banker/business person made footballing decisions that went against what he felt he needed. Did Ed break a promise? Based on what I have seen, very likely.
3. Why should he act professionally and walk when his boss didn’t act professionally towards him. He deserved in that situation to get his payout. If Ed went to him and said you will get the payout/severance if you walked, i’m sure he would have walked away instead of pushing to get sacked. It’s poor management on Ed’s part IMO.

edit: and yes. I agree. We’re all just going around in circles.
Yeah I don’t disagree with you. Like I said, argument from both sides have some facts, some assumptions and a bit of personal bias.

1 & 2) it seems like Jose was backed and supported in years 1 & 2 - or to the midway point of season 2 anyway. It’s that last summer it seems that Ed pulled the plug (after giving him a contract extension :houllier:). Obviously no one knows exactly what happened or what was agreed at the contract extension but at that point we have signed a crap load of players and we spent quite a bit of money. And yeah, again, most if not all of the Caf agrees - structural changes (like a DoF who knows his stuff) are needed.

3) in my post I even said as much - it’s not exactly “surprising” that Jose didn’t walk considering his payout. But some on here (and not you btw) act as if he was doing the club a favor by doing what he did in that last season - not giving it his best and acting professionally. That’s on him and he has “priors” at his previous clubs for doing similar things. So zero sympathy for him. Personally, glad we got rid. We don’t owe him a jot, in the same way he doesn’t owe us anything.

But like we both agree, no one is going to convince anyone else otherwise. And all the points have been raised 1000’s of times.
 

Andycoleno9

matchday malcontent
Joined
Mar 4, 2017
Messages
28,576
Location
Croatia
Again making the same mistake, just because we hated Jose time doesn't mean we are loving Ole's time. Both were bad, so was Van Gaal's and Moyes.

We didn't challenge for PL title, shat on the club, blamed everyone and created such a toxic environment. He was superb manager elsewhere but for ManUtd he didn't achieve much (please don't tell me he finished in 2nd position, that's a meme material just like Jose's 3 finger salute).

Obviously he isn't the only one to blame but just like other managers, he played big role along with Woodward.
Yeah, i think this is major issue between me and you. I think that he was more success than not for us. You don't. I have different view on his first two seasons than you. And not because i am in love in Jose or his fanboy or cultist or something like that
 

JPRouve

can't stop thinking about balls - NOT deflategate
Scout
Joined
Jan 31, 2014
Messages
65,341
Location
France
I can agree with that, but tell that to the weirdos who are still fuming about Mourinho almost a year later.

It goes without saying you don't hire Jose Mourinho unless you are prepared to back him 100% and do whatever it takes to win NOW.
Your last sentence is the thing that I don't get. Financially the club gave him everything it had at the exception of 40m of dividends. I don't understand why you and others keep making that nebulous point when you all know that we increased our wage bill by around 40% and spent around 300m in two seasons, that's an awful lot of backing. Where you can and should blame the club is in hiring him at all, because that hire was based on the assumption that he would adapt to a completely different project something that he never did before. And in my opinion while it was fair to try it, it's also fair to accept that it's difficult for a manager to completely change after almost 20 years.
 

SirAF

Ageist
Joined
Sep 28, 2003
Messages
37,563
Location
Your last sentence is the thing that I don't get. Financially the club gave him everything it had at the exception of 40m of dividends. I don't understand why you and others keep making that nebulous point when you all know that we increased our wage bill by around 40% and spent around 300m in two seasons, that's an awful lot of backing. Where you can and should blame the club is in hiring him at all, because that hire was based on the assumption that he would adapt to a completely different project something that he never did before. And in my opinion while it was fair to try it, it's also fair to accept that it's difficult for a manager to completely change after almost 20 years.
This has been discussed so many times that I REALLY don't want to go there again. However, he WAS backed for his first two seasons (two seasons which brought progress) but when the summer of 2018 and the time to really push on for the title came the board dropped a bollock.

Fred (which is now rumoured Mourinho never wanted), Dalot and Lee Grant is a pathetic summer window for a club like United. Especially if the ambition is to challenge for the title.
 

roonster09

Hercule Poirot of the scouting world
Scout
Joined
May 10, 2009
Messages
36,514
Yeah, i think this is major issue between me and you. I think that he was more success than not for us. You don't. I have different view on his first two seasons than you. And not because i am in love in Jose or his fanboy or cultist or something like that
You are asking everyone to love Jose, or to be specific you said you don’t understand why he is not loved here. It’s so easy to see why. There are 1000s of posts on why.
 

Andycoleno9

matchday malcontent
Joined
Mar 4, 2017
Messages
28,576
Location
Croatia
You are asking everyone to love Jose, or to be specific you said you don’t understand why he is not loved here. It’s so easy to see why. There are 1000s of posts on why.
Not loved. I don't understand hate. Big difference. You are the first who is against abuse. Look at the names how people call Jose.
 

In Rainbows

Full Member
Joined
Apr 17, 2014
Messages
6,730
Yeah, i think this is major issue between me and you. I think that he was more success than not for us. You don't. I have different view on his first two seasons than you. And not because i am in love in Jose or his fanboy or cultist or something like that
The reason why we see things differently is that Mourinho was supposed to get United competing for the biggest titles again. He failed. He's always been viewed as a short term manager and he couldn't get United to compete in the season where he historically peaks.

I think the only reason why people view him as a success is because we've been surrounded by so many bad managers. Thing is, there are those of us who realize that those other failed managers have no bearing on Mourinho. All of our appointed managers were a failure. The fact that Mourinho was the best of that terrible lot doesn't contradict with the fact that he was a failure as well.
 

Andycoleno9

matchday malcontent
Joined
Mar 4, 2017
Messages
28,576
Location
Croatia
The reason why we see things differently is that Mourinho was supposed to get United competing for the biggest titles again. He failed. He's always been viewed as a short term manager and he couldn't get United to compete in the season where he historically peaks.

I think the only reason why people view him as a success is because we've been surrounded by so many bad managers. Thing is, there are those of us who realize that those other failed managers have no bearing on Mourinho. All of our appointed managers were a failure. The fact that Mourinho was the best of that terrible lot doesn't contradict with the fact that he was a failure as well.
I look at it like this. He inherited not so good squad. Lots of average players with low morale after finishing 5th.
Plus:
1) Won one minor cup and EL. Only trophy which United didn't have. Played good football in that first season. We had a lot of draws but remember thst draws? We had 20 shots and full domination in those games.
2) Second season finished second and was in cup final. Finishing 2nd behind that City was good result. Not some huge success and we were not in title challenge but again we finished in front of other rivals. Football wasn't bad. It was mix of ugly games and some dominant nice wins.
3) both seasons secured LP.
4) Some good transfers( Pogba, Zlatan, Lindelof).
Minus:
1) Disaster in third season in all areas. From pitch to general mood.
2) Some bad transfers(Alexis, Mikhi and Fred).

I just can't label that as bad reign.
 

JPRouve

can't stop thinking about balls - NOT deflategate
Scout
Joined
Jan 31, 2014
Messages
65,341
Location
France
This has been discussed so many times that I REALLY don't want to go there again. However, he WAS backed for his first two seasons (two seasons which brought progress) but when the summer of 2018 and the time to really push on for the title came the board dropped a bollock.

Fred (which is now rumoured Mourinho never wanted), Dalot and Lee Grant is a pathetic summer window for a club like United. Especially if the ambition is to challenge for the title.
But we needed to sell players in order to "back" him during that third summer. We can't spend linearly, we can't continuously add to the wage bill and spend big on transfer fees every summers, we will have up and downs when you isolate each summers. That's the part that I don't get, some of you seem to think that money just magically appears. To make it simple, the +130m increase in wage expense over two seasons is where our transfer money went, that's what some of you call "not backed" in the third summer.
 

SirAF

Ageist
Joined
Sep 28, 2003
Messages
37,563
Location
It's just somewhat weird to counter with Inter, given how it's 10 years ago and they've been a disaster ever since, but they got what they wanted at the time.
That’s downplaying it a bit... winning The Treble is a defining achievement and Inter being a «disaster» after Mourinho is not relevant in any way. That is on the Inter leadership and their managers.
 

UncleBob

New Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2014
Messages
6,330
I look at it like this. He inherited not so good squad. Lots of average players with low morale after finishing 5th.
Plus:
1) Won one minor cup and EL. Only trophy which United didn't have. Played good football in that first season. We had a lot of draws but remember thst draws? We had 20 shots and full domination in those games.
2) Second season finished second and was in cup final. Finishing 2nd behind that City was good result. Not some huge success and we were not in title challenge but again we finished in front of other rivals. Football wasn't bad. It was mix of ugly games and some dominant nice wins.
3) both seasons secured LP.
4) Some good transfers( Pogba, Zlatan, Lindelof).
Minus:
1) Disaster in third season in all areas. From pitch to general mood.
2) Some bad transfers(Alexis, Mikhi and Fred).

I just can't label that as bad reign.
Tottenham and Liverpool focused on the Champions League as there was no chance of winning the PL, just as we shifted focus to the Europa League in his first season once it became unrealistic to compete for top 4. Unless you're competing for the title it doesn't really matter if you finish 2nd, 3rd or 4th.

His downfall started after the transfer window when we brought in Sanchez, it affected Rashford and Martial badly, the Champions League match where our entire strategy was to sit back and hopefully steal a goal, followed by his comments about Uniteds situation, underlined just how big the gap was between his mentality and the likes of Klopp and Pep. Then there was the world cup, his Perisic comments, Pogba comments, the desire to go after Willian. It was pretty clear where we were heading and why.
 

UncleBob

New Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2014
Messages
6,330
That’s downplaying it a bit... winning The Treble is a defining achievement and Inter being a «disaster» after Mourinho is not relevant in any way. That is on the Inter leadership and their managers.
The achievement was the Champions League.

Ofcourse it's relevant to see what happens afterwards :lol: It's part of the price you pay. Inter took advantage of the void after the Calciopoli and they went all in to do well in Europe after winning the league 3 years in a row.
 

SirAF

Ageist
Joined
Sep 28, 2003
Messages
37,563
Location
The achievement was the Champions League.

Ofcourse it's relevant to see what happens afterwards :lol: It's part of the price you pay. Inter took advantage of the void after the Calciopoli and they went all in to do well in Europe after winning the league 3 years in a row.
No, it’s not. Better planning and executing a proper strategy post-Mourinho would have left them in a better place. That’s not on him, but the board. He would have been told to win and that’s what he did.
 

UncleBob

New Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2014
Messages
6,330
No, it’s not. Better planning and executing a proper strategy post-Mourinho would have left them in a better place. That’s not on him, but the board. He would have been told to win and that’s what he did.
Nobody is arguing that he didn't win. The point is the cost of it, you can't separate the two and pretend the long term consequences aren't related. Unless you have a bottomless pit of money you can't fully back one strategy and at the same time prepare for another one that, more or less, involves dismantling the old one. It's bad enough having Sanchez on the wage bill, and he's not going anywhere anytime soon, imagine losing younger talents while giving the likes of Perisic, Bale and Willian their last big contracts for a short term gain, mint. Your not getting along with your record signing, sure lets get rid and spend another fortune on replacing another failed signing. City are City, bottomless pit of money, but Liverpools foundations were laid years ago, back when people on here were mocking them for their transfer committee and Edwards. Competing with City and Liverpool requires a completely different mentality.

My hope was that it would be something ala his first stint at Chelsea, where he'd leave us with a solid squad that could potentially flourish under a more progressive manager.
 

singhters

New Member
Newbie
Joined
May 6, 2012
Messages
247
Was LVG that bad, his record against the top 6 was brilliant, hammering city 4-2, liverpool 2-1 and 3 1, but his record against the lower teams and the stubborn ways and to not go on the attack is what cost him.
 

mitchmouse

loves to hate United.
Joined
Oct 8, 2014
Messages
17,361
I wonder if City weren't in for both Fred and Sanchez would they have been signed for United? You can just imagine Ed saying "Pep wants both of them, I'm gonna feck him up and show him who's boss." Pep is probably laughing his tats off at us now. If I was Pep I'd start spreading rumours about some shite player that City are (not) desperate to sign and watch Ed jump in and offer £20m more.
I'm sure City must be in for the Longstaffs already :0)
 

el3mel

Full Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2016
Messages
43,735
Location
Egypt
Was LVG that bad, his record against the top 6 was brilliant, hammering city 4-2, liverpool 2-1 and 3 1, but his record against the lower teams and the stubborn ways and to not go on the attack is what cost him.
His first season was flawed a bit but it had some obvious progress for me. We were improving. He destroyed everything in the second season unfortunately and for no reasonable reason. Fecked up the squad and played coward possession football. I don't know why he decided to shift everything like this over this summer instead of simply building on the positives of the previous season.
 

steffyr2

Full Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2005
Messages
1,772
But we needed to sell players in order to "back" him during that third summer. We can't spend linearly, we can't continuously add to the wage bill and spend big on transfer fees every summers, we will have up and downs when you isolate each summers. That's the part that I don't get, some of you seem to think that money just magically appears. To make it simple, the +130m increase in wage expense over two seasons is where our transfer money went, that's what some of you call "not backed" in the third summer.
This has been said before...Utd is the richest club, or one of the top 3. Woodward said he had 100M to spend on Varane, when everyone knew (maybe except him) that Varane wasn't and wouldn't be for sale. Jose wanted a central defender and not a 100M one, wanted Utd to spend money to shore up the defense. One year later they bought that defender.
No one thinks (again except maybe Woodward) that Utd handles their money well, but how much money did they lose by not buying that defender and then falling out with Jose and falling out of the CL? (The defender was 50M, paying off Jose was 25M?, what's being top 4 and in the CL worth?)
Maybe it a board of incompetent bankers, cause that math is pretty simple.
 

sammsky1

Pochettino's #1 fan
Joined
Feb 10, 2008
Messages
32,841
Location
London
Was finishing 2nd with that team (plus Europa League) such a bad thing you have to shat on it? Against the 100 pts City finishind 2nd best was a success in my eyes. You can't really stop another team who's having their All time record pts in the EPL. Sure it's not a trophy, but instead of supporting him we shat on him, looking for every single mistake he made and can't wait to stick the knife in.

the environment only become toxic because we had players that thinks they're bigger then the club, and Jose was the manager big enough to stand toe to toe with them. Now that he's gone the players didn't do much to vindicate themselves.

The club sided with the player, and now we're seeing the fruit of it.
This is a very good explanation on what went down.
 

JPRouve

can't stop thinking about balls - NOT deflategate
Scout
Joined
Jan 31, 2014
Messages
65,341
Location
France
This has been said before...Utd is the richest club, or one of the top 3. Woodward said he had 100M to spend on Varane, when everyone knew (maybe except him) that Varane wasn't and wouldn't be for sale. Jose wanted a central defender and not a 100M one, wanted Utd to spend money to shore up the defense. One year later they bought that defender.
No one thinks (again except maybe Woodward) that Utd handles their money well, but how much money did they lose by not buying that defender and then falling out with Jose and falling out of the CL? (The defender was 50M, paying off Jose was 25M?, what's being top 4 and in the CL worth?)
Maybe it a board of incompetent bankers, cause that math is pretty simple.
None of that makes a lot of sense. First being the richest club doesn't mean that you are an endless pit of money, it's a simple comparison to other clubs and it's also a fallacious point because some clubs have their means extended by state funds like PSG or City. United have also been one of the top spenders in football and had a top 3 wage bill, so your point is moot anyway, there is a limit and we reached it during the first two seasons under Mourinho.

And yes our money isn't handled properly because for some reason we think that simply handing money to a manager will fix our issues.
 

Withnail

Full Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2019
Messages
29,327
Location
The Arena of the Unwell
My last response to you:
https://www.redcafe.net/threads/if-...e-be-challenging.447238/page-28#post-24799717
I literally responded to all your points with quotes from Mourinho himself.

What was your response?


You're having a mare in this thread. You follow the same pattern thinking nobody will notice: 1) You ask someone for facts 2) You are given facts 3) You pretend you don't see them 4) Allow some time to pass 5) Repeat the same schtik with another poster.
Noticed the same thing myself. He's clearly wumming at this point. I'd ignore him.
 

Jezpeza

Full Member
Joined
Apr 20, 2018
Messages
1,997
Yes we would if he had been backed by the club and board and given more control and say in things.

Yes if we had players who had a reaction to his criticism rather than cry like little babies and could show him that he was wrong to criticise.
Its a funny one isnt it - if you got criticised at work by your manager you’d either have to buck your ideas up or be sacked. You dont get the option to just down tools until the owners sack your manager. Footballers do
 

Withnail

Full Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2019
Messages
29,327
Location
The Arena of the Unwell
Its a funny one isnt it - if you got criticised at work by your manager you’d either have to buck your ideas up or be sacked. You dont get the option to just down tools until the owners sack your manager. Footballers do
Apart from the fact that we can get just go out, get another job and feck off whenever we feel like it. Footballers don't have that luxury.
 

steffyr2

Full Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2005
Messages
1,772
None of that makes a lot of sense. First being the richest club doesn't mean that you are an endless pit of money, it's a simple comparison to other clubs and it's also a fallacious point because some clubs have their means extended by state funds like PSG or City. United have also been one of the top spenders in football and had a top 3 wage bill, so your point is moot anyway, there is a limit and we reached it during the first two seasons under Mourinho.

And yes our money isn't handled properly because for some reason we think that simply handing money to a manager will fix our issues.
Well, we are a soccer team, so who would you expect to make personnel decisions besides the manager?
Apparently, Mourinho was right that buying a central defender would improve our defense. Such a surprise that a manager known for his defense would know that kind of thing.
 

JPRouve

can't stop thinking about balls - NOT deflategate
Scout
Joined
Jan 31, 2014
Messages
65,341
Location
France
Well, we are a soccer team, so who would you expect to make personnel decisions besides the manager?
Apparently, Mourinho was right that buying a central defender would improve our defense. Such a surprise that a manager known for his defense would know that kind of thing.
I wasn't talking about who makes the personnel decisions and most clubs follow the DOF/Head coach model anyway. The head coaches should be expected to develop and elevate individual and collective levels of the players at his disposal whoever they are, that's what is supposed to make them elite. Our issues are that we failed to build a team and also failed to develop players, this is a dig at the club not Mourinho.
 

filibuster

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Aug 3, 2018
Messages
82
Supports
Chelsea FC
The way I see it, based on Chelsea's experience with Jose, and pretty much seeing all his pre and post-match interviews, he was set up to fail in his third season. And it was more Jose's fault for what happened at Chelsea in his last season (where he was overconfident after winning the PL), in comparison to what happened at United. So here is how I see it:

He got an extension on his contract in his 2nd season (end of January 2018) meaning everyone understood there was progress. But at that point, there were some political games unfolding in the shadows.
His relationship with Pogba started to be a bit tensioned, and in my opinion, Jose was right to question Pogba's attitude after defending him in the media for every poor game in the previous season.

There is a nice timeline with quotes, where you can see how the tension was building up:
https://www.planetfootball.com/quic...ba-and-jose-mourinhos-turbulent-relationship/

September 2017: After a bright start to his second season, Pogba suffers a hamstring injury which leads to a prolonged period on the sidelines. According to The Sun, Mourinho is unhappy that the player flew to Miami to recover rather than stay in Manchester.

Here and there, Mourinho started to question Pogba's professionalism, and I'm pretty sure they talked about it privately because publically he always defended Pogba.

January/February 2018: Pogba is hauled off just over an hour into defeats at Tottenham – where he also has a heated debate with Mourinho on the touchline.

The boiling point had arrived and Jose just had enough. How can you keep the "status-quo" when a team's performance relies on Pogba turning up for that night or not. According to redcafe, Pogba was the 2nd worst performer on the night, only behind Phil Jones (who scored an own-goal). If you only watch the highlights of that game, you'll see that for every Spurs attack, Pogba was completely out of position, casually jogging back, it was a disastrous performance.

Jose just had to do something about it, and the rest is history with the board clearly (and wrongly in my view) siding with Pogba, encouraging such behaviour, and undermining the manager in the process.

The "war" was on, and unfortunately for you guys, it came at the worst of times, your clash with Sevilla. That exit and the infamous rant was the turning point for the majority of the fans, which in my opinion, lacks a bit of perspective. For me, the turning point was when Mourinho understood that he can't trust Pogba.

Now yes, you can argue Mourinho was at fault, for going against your star player, your marketing phenomenon, and in consequence, getting the sack. But I think every manager will fail at United while building a team around Pogba, who I consider a talent, but only that.
 

sugar_kane

Full Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2013
Messages
3,424
Sick of seeing this thread on the front page.

His first season on paper was good but the football was never great over two and a half years

He spent a feck ton of money and now has the cheek to criticise the squad and disown involvement in certain signings.

He went to war with our players, the fans, the board and the press when things weren’t going his way.

He dragged this club through the mud just like he did Real and Chelsea previously.

if Woodward had any guts he would have sacked him after the Seville press conference when he tried to shred our legacy while bigging himself up.

He certainly should have been gone the following summer break when he took the piss out of the paying fans in America for wanting to watch his (in his view)terrible squad.

Things are awful right now but Mourinho was never going to work out. We’d be just as bad now but with Perisic/Willian instead of Martial.
 

hn4manunited

Full Member
Joined
Aug 23, 2016
Messages
931
The way I see it, based on Chelsea's experience with Jose, and pretty much seeing all his pre and post-match interviews, he was set up to fail in his third season. And it was more Jose's fault for what happened at Chelsea in his last season (where he was overconfident after winning the PL), in comparison to what happened at United. So here is how I see it:

He got an extension on his contract in his 2nd season (end of January 2018) meaning everyone understood there was progress. But at that point, there were some political games unfolding in the shadows.
His relationship with Pogba started to be a bit tensioned, and in my opinion, Jose was right to question Pogba's attitude after defending him in the media for every poor game in the previous season.

There is a nice timeline with quotes, where you can see how the tension was building up:
https://www.planetfootball.com/quic...ba-and-jose-mourinhos-turbulent-relationship/

September 2017: After a bright start to his second season, Pogba suffers a hamstring injury which leads to a prolonged period on the sidelines. According to The Sun, Mourinho is unhappy that the player flew to Miami to recover rather than stay in Manchester.

Here and there, Mourinho started to question Pogba's professionalism, and I'm pretty sure they talked about it privately because publically he always defended Pogba.

January/February 2018: Pogba is hauled off just over an hour into defeats at Tottenham – where he also has a heated debate with Mourinho on the touchline.

The boiling point had arrived and Jose just had enough. How can you keep the "status-quo" when a team's performance relies on Pogba turning up for that night or not. According to redcafe, Pogba was the 2nd worst performer on the night, only behind Phil Jones (who scored an own-goal). If you only watch the highlights of that game, you'll see that for every Spurs attack, Pogba was completely out of position, casually jogging back, it was a disastrous performance.

Jose just had to do something about it, and the rest is history with the board clearly (and wrongly in my view) siding with Pogba, encouraging such behaviour, and undermining the manager in the process.

The "war" was on, and unfortunately for you guys, it came at the worst of times, your clash with Sevilla. That exit and the infamous rant was the turning point for the majority of the fans, which in my opinion, lacks a bit of perspective. For me, the turning point was when Mourinho understood that he can't trust Pogba.

Now yes, you can argue Mourinho was at fault, for going against your star player, your marketing phenomenon, and in consequence, getting the sack. But I think every manager will fail at United while building a team around Pogba, who I consider a talent, but only that.
can’t disagree with anything you’ve posted except for the first part about Jose’s last season on his second stint at Chelsea. As I remember, the players had a poor preseason and many came back way too out of shape. They have even come out and admitted it since then. I think Jose also asked for additional investments in the squad that he didn’t get. The star players got upset with Jose for being mad with them coming back out of shape. They have all since then admitted that they were too badly out of shape and weren’t good enough.
 

hn4manunited

Full Member
Joined
Aug 23, 2016
Messages
931
Was finishing 2nd with that team (plus Europa League) such a bad thing you have to shat on it? Against the 100 pts City finishind 2nd best was a success in my eyes. You can't really stop another team who's having their All time record pts in the EPL. Sure it's not a trophy, but instead of supporting him we shat on him, looking for every single mistake he made and can't wait to stick the knife in.

the environment only become toxic because we had players that thinks they're bigger then the club, and Jose was the manager big enough to stand toe to toe with them. Now that he's gone the players didn't do much to vindicate themselves.

The club sided with the player, and now we're seeing the fruit of it.
Good post. Thumbs up.
 

hn4manunited

Full Member
Joined
Aug 23, 2016
Messages
931
Sick of seeing this thread on the front page.

His first season on paper was good but the football was never great over two and a half years

He spent a feck ton of money and now has the cheek to criticise the squad and disown involvement in certain signings.

He went to war with our players, the fans, the board and the press when things weren’t going his way.

He dragged this club through the mud just like he did Real and Chelsea previously.

if Woodward had any guts he would have sacked him after the Seville press conference when he tried to shred our legacy while bigging himself up.

He certainly should have been gone the following summer break when he took the piss out of the paying fans in America for wanting to watch his (in his view)terrible squad.

Things are awful right now but Mourinho was never going to work out. We’d be just as bad now but with Perisic/Willian instead of Martial.
I would argue that Perisic and Willian would improve this team.
 

steffyr2

Full Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2005
Messages
1,772
If He was fully backed, which means to let him purchase older players, We'd be in a better position. But those players won't last long.
But we'd be in a better position.


And our young players would have people to guide them along.