What I Want

Andycoleno9 · Oct 7, 2020

I want Ole out. That is it. More than anything. To again wait in excitement weekend games, to enjoy in saturday's afternoon with my team and to have desire to read about United whole week.

Failed Cardiff manager killed any joy in watching United and PL in general.

Hound Dog · Oct 7, 2020

I want the club to be able to spend the money it generates, the way Real, Bayern or Barcelona do.

#07 · Oct 7, 2020

BR7 said:
What a great read, thanks for taking the time to write it. Okay, you’ve swayed me a bit towards being a bit less of an ole out fan as you say this squad can’t play much differently and I agree. But, if Ole Ian given the players and the backing do you as the CEO believe he has it in him to change tactics mid game and turn draws in to wins?

Who would you have as DoF/SD?

With the right players you’ve brought in as CEO with your SD, the manager has a good chance to succeed. What formation/system would you want to see Utd play?

If Ole is given different players he can change tactics. Part of the reason we are getting opened up like a tomato can is because he is trying to change tactics with the wrong players.

We build up with Ajax's 3-3-1-3 shape, with the defensive midfielder dropping between the centre backs, the full backs advancing to the midfield line and the #10 ready to receive the ball to play in the forwards. Sadly, however, our players are far below the technical level of an Ajax team. The ball gets stuck in defence most of the time, then the centre backs get pressed, turnovers happen as they shift the ball in panic to the full backs and we ship tons of chances.

Its obvious to me what Ole wants to do. I just think its a wildly optimistic (slightly crazy) expecting players with the technique of Wan-Bissaka or the lack of composure of Lindelof to do it. This team is not built to play out from the back. I'm guessing Telles has been brought in to help bring the ball out of defence. However, this still depends on the centre backs or defensive midfielder being able to play through the press to him. Honestly, I'm sceptical. I just don't rate the ball skills of our defenders. Harry Maguire is decent at a raking diagonal, do I trust him to dribble a pressing attacker and open up space for our build up? Frankly, no.

Do I trust Ole to make in game adjustments? Again, yes. Partly because he has done it a fair deal. For example, in our penultimate match against Spurs he made changes that led to us regaining the momentum in the match, drawing the game. Then you look at our penultimate game against Palace, in which the introduction of Matic changed the flow of the match markedly.

The issue Solskjaer has is he does not trust the quality of our squad. He is right not to IMO. Whenever this team opens up it concedes goals. Even going back to lockdown when we were playing well, we conceded very cheap goals against the likes of Bournemouth. Our attack ultimately made that not matter a lot of the time. However, if it wasn't for Greenwood's ability to score from ridiculous angles that game, for instance, could've gone a lot differently. Whenever we don't play a low block, with our team compact, we ship loads of chances. We also create more, and when we convert those chances we can demoralise our opponents to the point where they give up. When we don't take our chances though we often end up letting the opposition back into the game.

Who would I want as Sporting Director? The obvious answer would be Monchi wouldn't it? Gary Neville always goes on about best in class and I think you'd be hard pressed to look beyond him. However, I would be open to bringing back Javier Ribalta. We never really got the story of why he left United. However, I think it would give him a rolling start. He knows the setup more or less, so he knows where the gaps are. Of course, if Van der Sar was open to a demotion I think he would be a snug fit.

In terms of system, I have long admired the Ajax way so 4-3-3/4-2-3-1/3-3-1-3, whatever you want to call it - its the same system the players positions just change depending on whether you are attacking or defending. As I said I think Ole is broadly right in what he's trying to do. I just don't think he has the players. Too many of the key pieces of the puzzle are missing. Just get a picture of Ajax's first XI in 2018-19 and overlay it onto our first XI today, then ask how many players we have can execute the same tactical roles. The gaps become obvious.

ROFLUTION · Oct 7, 2020

#07 said:
What do I want @BR7?

I think the club needs a re-set on the football side in the way its run.

For a start there should be someone at United who is in charge of sporting affairs. Call it a Director of Football, Sporting Director, Technical Director, whatever.

This individual should be in charge of the footballing side of the club. This person should know when players have two years left on their contract and, in consultation with the first team coaching staff, at that point be making plans about what happens next. We should not be allowing players to get into the final two years of their contracts without a clear pathway for them e.g. either a new deal or sell them. If the player refuses to sign a new deal, sell and replace. If the player is not good enough do not renew their contract and make them a wage sink.

This individual should also be in charge of cultivating the right relationships in the footballing world. Intermediaries and agents should be treated as external stakeholders, not people to be relied on. Evra said United trust the wrong people. That seems to be the case if Honingstein is right that we were at a poker table playing alone. I imagine the people at the club got duff information and believed it. However, there should be someone at the club with independent contacts and networks that can verify the information. Why is there nobody at Man Utd who knows Michael Zorc, on a personal level, who could say to Ed Wooodward 'Ed, I know this guy. He's a good chat over a drink but he's got a massive ego. If he's acting like this now he won't change his mind in a month's time. Lets tell Ole we can't get the player and go for another target'?

This individual should also be in charge of doing deals with other clubs. Matt Judge's remit is taking care of the club's debt. Obviously, first team costs are part of that. However, they are just a part of the overall whole despite being time consuming. Someone else should be dealing with those issues within the envelope that is set by the club. Judge should only be getting involved if first team affairs are putting such upward financial pressure on the club that they start to threaten its financial position.

The turnover of players must massively accelerate. When Jurgen Klopp took over at Liverpool he had players like Mingolet, Clyne, Sahko, Skrtel, Joe Allen, Lucas etc. Pretty much his whole squad has been recycled out. United by contrast have pruned around the edges. If you don't get rid of the players you cannot change the style. Its no surprise that LVG, Mourinho and Ole have all resorted to a low block with a double pivot in midfield at various times. With the players we have you cannot play any other way. Trying to push up and play on the front foot is a recipe for disaster with the slow, immobile players we have in our squad. Instead of constantly renewing contracts the club should be cutting the fat. Even if that means relying on more youth players and supplementing that where possible with buys. You will not be able to play front foot, high line football if you're relying on Lindelof and Maguire etc.

Which brings me to the least important person: The first team coach. Should Ole stay? Yes in my opinion. Why? Because unless there's a massive turnover of playing staff a new manager will not be able to achieve much with this set of players. Accepting the limitations of this squad, pretty much all you can do to avoid being ripped on the counter is sit deep and break. Therefore it doesn't really matter who the manager is. That is why Pep kicked out Kolarov, Clichy, DeMichelis etc at City. Pep is a fantastic systems coach but the players have to have the capacity to play his system. Any manager worth his salt is going to come in, look at our squad and decide to do more or less what LVG, Mou and Ole have done: 4-2-3-1, 2 defensive midfielders to protect our slow defence and no space in behind. You don't need a genius coach for that. Ole can do it while continuing to carry out renovations to the squad so its more equipped to play a more Man Utd style of football. Once he has that type of quick, front foot squad then you judge him. If he fails then you get rid of him. However, if you have a chocolate teapot it doesn't matter who the waiter is. So why change?

Very well written post. It's the inner-workings we fail by, and that makes us (Ed) slow in action on the market, which he has been year after year after year. We haggle over Maguire fees yet to pay the same fee next year. It's probably mostly about getting the right head in the right position with the right amount of power, but also a capacity question, so that DoF type has people he can trust and delegate to, so actions in the market can be made faster and more on the front-foot.

Rarely have we acted early in the market. It's always left late, and always left to circumstances, that could have been avoided by maintaining and poaching players over a long period, to build trust, connection, etc.

Ed and Judge seems to do none of this right, and mostly on a superficial and a very naive binary level.

We're dealing with humans, and connections with humans. Van der Sar seems the obvious choice - Who knows, maybe Ed is waiting for him, which is why we haven't moved yet.

Jezpeza · Oct 7, 2020

A) director of football. Sole job signing players and scouting. Where is our fecking scouting recently? I’ll take a £50 side salary every month to provide lists of the biggest most obvious expensive players like we seem to. Also dof can get his hand in the youth teams planning which ones could get in the squad and trying to push them through or base recruitment and squad planning around what is coming through. I.e mengi looks good we’ll feck Rojo off at the end of his contract and give his squad place to Mengi or whoever. Dont understand why we spent so much money on squad players over last 6/7 years

B) new owners. Owners interested in running it for fun. Not interested in dividends because they earn money elsewhere. No one seems to realise the Glazers own loads of sports franchises. The club is income for them.

C) old trafford refurb. It seats a lot but tired round the edges.

I think those 3 would sort the rest of the issues. Changing manager isnt such an issue when a dof makes sure they dont get to do a destructive trolley dash the first summer window they get

Arka_BleedingRed · Oct 8, 2020

BR7 said:
Thanks for that any names on DoF and if you as CEO do back the manager with the players he wants, what style of football would you want us to play? Which players would you get shot of immediately?

Ha ha, I'm as clueless as others regarding DOF choices, but I like the likes of Ralf Ragnik, Marotta, Txiki, Zorc etc. because they have been very efficient at getting quality players in, and moving players out, basic things which our club currently finds it difficult to do. I would prefer to find someone close to the club, Rio's name has come up, but for me, Rio is too passionate to be an efficient and calculative DOF. Maybe, Berta(Ath. Madrid).
Regarding managers, I would go for Nagelsmann, as for me he is the best upcoming manager. Back up options would be, Marco Rose, Poch, Gallardo, Jardim even Villas-Boas, who after his horrible spell at Spurs, has been quite good.

But for me, the first change realistically has to be Glazers leaving/selling with Ed removed or only handling the business matters of the club. Their collective dithering, inefficiency, lack of understanding of football in general have turned Man United into an absolute farce of a club.

Sky1981 · Oct 8, 2020

USREDEVIL said:
I'm a bit of an Ole sympathizer if you will. He might not be the manager we need for ultimate success but he's the manager and should be backed. Had he failed to get us top four last season I could sort of understand putting the brakes on his picks but he did. He should have at least obtained one of his picks but according to reports he got none.

Ultimately I want new owners, Ed out, a DOF, and some proper purchases of top talent like Sancho, Upemecano, and a DM. Also stop giving these geezers new contracts. If we lose them on a free so be it.

He shouldn't be backed just because he's the manager. He should be backed if he's the right man for the job.

Harping about them good ol'days doesn't make him one.

Jibbs · Oct 8, 2020

I would want immediate success... by immediate I mean within next 2 years. Also I will inculcate a cut throat culture, no player will be awarded a bumper contract if they have not performed well recently irrespective of their past achievements.
I will bring in a DoF, a new CEO and a proven manger along with his coaching and scouting staff.
And they will be instructed no player will be signed for more than 70m. An exception will be made only in the case of proven once in a generation talent.
As a policy First team will have most players between age group of 20 to 29. Exceptions will be made if manager thinks highly of a talent.

I will appoint Berta or Paul Mitchell as sporting director, Poch as manager and let him bring his coaching staff.

Tincanalley · Oct 8, 2020

BR7 said:
Afternoon fellow united lovers hope you’re all keeping well and healthy.

I’m an outter (I’ll say it now) but this thread isn’t solely about Ole but the club as a whole.

you’re the chairman, you now have to decide what the future plans for the club are. I’d really be grateful if we could try and understand each others’ opinions rather than just talking about ole, he’s had plenty of bashing (not just from me) , but more what does the club need to do now and for the next couple of years to get us back on track.

So in essence what do you want?

WtF? That’s ludicrous. Who the feck wants to be the plaything of that bunch of leeches? If in some delirious nightmare I did find myself sitting alone in empty stands with a two day beard and a stupid expression while I pretended to enjoy football what would I want?
Well, I would have some interesting choices. Jerk off graphically and publicly and force the GlazerSlime to fire me?
Appoint myself manager? Then say Ole can stay being manager too, why can’t we have more than one of them? Paint “GlazersOut” in Green and Gold on my forehead?

flappyjay · Oct 8, 2020

The holy trinity 68 said:
I wanna really, really, really wanna zig-a-zig ah.

UpWithRivers · Oct 8, 2020

I just want a United club that has a system and plays to its capacity. Im sick and tired of all the negativity. Im sick of players that dont live up to their ability. Im sick of players making howlers week in week out. Something like Leicester or Wolves. Some really good players but not the best. But what they have is a happy camp. They have a system and the perform week in week out. Sure ups and downs but not huge swings and generally play to thier ability level. Im not saying I want to be Leicester or Wolves. Im saying lets be a United happy camp playing to our ability. If we give our all and get beat by Liverpool or City or any top 7 then we dust ourselves down and go again. As long as its because they just had a better day than us and we were outplayed. But we gave our all. We shouldnt be getting beaten by the lower 12 teams regularly. We shouldnt be getting hammered 6-1. We shouldnt be losing because our CB has been nutmegged. We shouldnt have to keep waiting for Pogba to turn good. For Maguire to stand up and be Captain. For De Gea to stop making mistakes. And on and on. Just have a good season and play to your ability. Do what we know you can do. Its not to much to ask is it? If we do this then no matter what position we come then Im happy. ( It should be top 4 because if not it negates what Im saying and we havent been playing to our ability.)

Loon · Oct 8, 2020

I want the impossible: the Glazers gone. All the rot, hiding behind briefs or whatever, will be found out and disposed of if we lose them.

I only wish someone inside the club was able to speak out, but they obviously have too much to lose.

Jinn · Oct 8, 2020

We all have wants. It's good to dream. The fact is that the powers that be, DO NOT WANT A TECHNICAL DIRECTOR or whatever you want to call it. They have had PLENTY of opportunity over the last few years to appoint one. There is no other reason other than the fact that they don't want to get a person like this.

It's sad, I know...

As for what I want, lets start with world peace, it's a far easier task than getting the Glazers/Woodward out of the club.

Krits · Oct 8, 2020

#07 said:
What do I want @BR7?

I think the club needs a re-set on the football side in the way its run.

For a start there should be someone at United who is in charge of sporting affairs. Call it a Director of Football, Sporting Director, Technical Director, whatever.

This individual should be in charge of the footballing side of the club. This person should know when players have two years left on their contract and, in consultation with the first team coaching staff, at that point be making plans about what happens next. We should not be allowing players to get into the final two years of their contracts without a clear pathway for them e.g. either a new deal or sell them. If the player refuses to sign a new deal, sell and replace. If the player is not good enough do not renew their contract and make them a wage sink.

This individual should also be in charge of cultivating the right relationships in the footballing world. Intermediaries and agents should be treated as external stakeholders, not people to be relied on. Evra said United trust the wrong people. That seems to be the case if Honingstein is right that we were at a poker table playing alone. I imagine the people at the club got duff information and believed it. However, there should be someone at the club with independent contacts and networks that can verify the information. Why is there nobody at Man Utd who knows Michael Zorc, on a personal level, who could say to Ed Wooodward 'Ed, I know this guy. He's a good chat over a drink but he's got a massive ego. If he's acting like this now he won't change his mind in a month's time. Lets tell Ole we can't get the player and go for another target'?

This individual should also be in charge of doing deals with other clubs. Matt Judge's remit is taking care of the club's debt. Obviously, first team costs are part of that. However, they are just a part of the overall whole despite being time consuming. Someone else should be dealing with those issues within the envelope that is set by the club. Judge should only be getting involved if first team affairs are putting such upward financial pressure on the club that they start to threaten its financial position.

The turnover of players must massively accelerate. When Jurgen Klopp took over at Liverpool he had players like Mingolet, Clyne, Sahko, Skrtel, Joe Allen, Lucas etc. Pretty much his whole squad has been recycled out. United by contrast have pruned around the edges. If you don't get rid of the players you cannot change the style. Its no surprise that LVG, Mourinho and Ole have all resorted to a low block with a double pivot in midfield at various times. With the players we have you cannot play any other way. Trying to push up and play on the front foot is a recipe for disaster with the slow, immobile players we have in our squad. Instead of constantly renewing contracts the club should be cutting the fat. Even if that means relying on more youth players and supplementing that where possible with buys. You will not be able to play front foot, high line football if you're relying on Lindelof and Maguire etc.

Which brings me to the least important person: The first team coach. Should Ole stay? Yes in my opinion. Why? Because unless there's a massive turnover of playing staff a new manager will not be able to achieve much with this set of players. Accepting the limitations of this squad, pretty much all you can do to avoid being ripped on the counter is sit deep and break. Therefore it doesn't really matter who the manager is. That is why Pep kicked out Kolarov, Clichy, DeMichelis etc at City. Pep is a fantastic systems coach but the players have to have the capacity to play his system. Any manager worth his salt is going to come in, look at our squad and decide to do more or less what LVG, Mou and Ole have done: 4-2-3-1, 2 defensive midfielders to protect our slow defence and no space in behind. You don't need a genius coach for that. Ole can do it while continuing to carry out renovations to the squad so its more equipped to play a more Man Utd style of football. Once he has that type of quick, front foot squad then you judge him. If he fails then you get rid of him. However, if you have a chocolate teapot it doesn't matter who the waiter is. So why change?

great post, well thought out.

devilish · Oct 8, 2020

Fans need to decide what they want as owners. If we want to spend ridiculous amount of money year in year out then the club needs to be bought by a state (Saudi?) or at least an oligarch. If the club is owned by business men then expect business men to take dividends and put business ahead of football.

The second thing they need to agree upon is whether they want the manager to have complete control on football matters or not. That's because if we get in a CEO who understand football + a top DOF then there's no chance in hell that Ole would be allowed to spend 130m on average players. Feck there's no way United would hire some failed manager with no experience unless they make sure they control every move he makes. A DOF would take some control away from Woodward and might push Judge out but he'll also take away control over Ole as well.

If you ask me I want

a- Owners who can afford the club who are enthusiastic and want to keep us were we belong. That means no debts, the financial means to re modernise OT and probably the ability to inject some money into the club if needed.
b- A football CEO, a top head of recruitment and a top DOF.
c- A manager that knows his stuff. We can't and we shouldn't sort each of our problems at 50m-100m a pop
d- A top fitness and coaching team. Players performances shouldn't nosedive after few months and its embarrassing having former players coming out saying that they saved their career by leaving United or that they wanted out after 1 training session.

Zen86 · Oct 8, 2020

Hound Dog said:
I want the club to be able to spend the money it generates, the way Real, Bayern or Barcelona do.

Maybe not so much Barcelona

Solius · Oct 8, 2020

Where do I even start?

I want new owners that actually care about the club and put money into it rather than leech off of it.

I want Woodward and Judge removed completely from transfer negotations. Woodward can carry on working on sponsorships. Judge can do whatever/leave.

I want us to bring in a recognised skilled negotiator in the transfer market to work alongside a DoF. Both of those can partner with the manager and share the same vision.

I want us to actually sign our targets and combine promotion of youth/young signings with marquee ones that aren't bloated (price-wise) and ageing (Cavani/Sanchez/Schweinsteiger).

Thinking with my head and not my heart, I want a tactically astute manager who is seen as one of the most promising in the game. Nagelsmann comes to mind.

I also want a review of the coaching team, especially in the way we press. It is so unorganised.

owlo · Oct 8, 2020

Owned by somebody rich enough to treat it as a pr project or at least not to take money from the club. Say Jeff Bezos. Not saudis Putin or any of that malarkey. The owner to give clear direction of how much money is available each year.

The club split into 3 tranches, each with a board member in control. Football, finance/marketing, and operations (including club staffing and stadium upkeep). For the board to decide the limitations and expectations at all times. For them to decide at board level the priorities of each, and how much money it will cost. For each tranche to maintain their own management structure, with representation from the others at all key meetings.

The manager on the football side to have clear responsibility to his director over performance. The manager in finance to have clear responsibility to his director over player wages and contracts. And the manager of the operations side to have clear responsibility over how the club is run, the stadium upkeep, and communication to the fans.

On the football side, to identify players that improve our current crop, and aggressively pursue them early. To identify why our youth procurement has been so good lately, yet our seniors so bad.

For OGS to be immediately sacked. Never to hire any ex players for the sake of nostalgia or culture. For all players to be put on notice that unless they fancy playing golf with gareth balein Manchester, that expectations must be met. For Daniel James and Lindelof to have their contracts terminated to set an example. To have a clear 1st team pathway which protects players like greenwood as well as exposes them to 1st team football.

For Liverpool fans to hate and fear us again, instead of feel sorry for us.

owlo · Oct 8, 2020

Solius said:
I also want a review of the coaching team, especially in the way we press. It is so unorganised.

A new manager would generally bring in a coaching team no? His department

Solius · Oct 8, 2020

owlo said:
A new manager would generally bring in a coaching team no? His department

Yeah. I guess short-term it needs looking at.

wolvored · Oct 8, 2020

At the very least a simplistic way to try and sign players. Ideally and this is just an example glazers say to Woody 'Ed this summer you have £100 mill plus any money you rake from selling players. Remember to keep the first team squad around 24-25 players and then he lets them get on with it.
Ed then says to the manager (Ole or whoever is in at the time) Ole this is what glazers have said. Now how many players do we need which positions and who is your first second third and fourth choices for these positions.
The manager gives them Ed and he tries the first one etc He spends £70 mill on the first choice signing and Ed says you now only have £30 mill unless we unload players and the manager would tell Ed who to unload etc etc.
At the end of the transfer window then this could be mentioned We signed the 2 players in our budget and let go x and y as he wasnt in Oles plans.
If this happened regular and fans could see a pattern I think there would be better understanding from them when we dont go after players pretend hoping their prices drop when we had no intention of signing them in the first place.

Nou_Camp99 · Oct 8, 2020

I don't think there's any doubt that if we brought in Poch we'd be playing better football within a few months. However, and this is going to sound repetitive, but if we keep changing the manager and doing nothing about Woodward n Judge all it's doing is just putting a plaster on a gaping knife wound.

People who think replacing Ole with somebody more qualified and better tactics is going to miraculously save this club couldn't be more wrong. Football clubs think Woodward n Judge are a total joke. They are readily ridiculed by agents, former players and current CEO's of other clubs.

I'm fine with Ole being replaced but only if those absolute gobsh1tes are sacked with him. If they aren't I simply don't care who the manager is.

RedBanker · Oct 8, 2020

A proven manager with a coaching staff to inculcate some sort of tactical discipline and style of play.

Old Trafford renovation. Rats and leaky roofs are not ok for us.

Skills · Oct 8, 2020

I want my football club to be more of a football club than a managerial cult.

McGrathsipan · Oct 8, 2020

Baneofthegame said:
New owners, Sporting Director, clear recruitment vision, Old Trafford refurb and some trophies.

Not alot to ask then!

BR7 · Oct 8, 2020

Andycoleno9 said:
I want Ole out. That is it. More than anything. To again wait in excitement weekend games, to enjoy in saturday's afternoon with my team and to have desire to read about United whole week.

Failed Cardiff manager killed any joy in watching United and PL in general.

That is true but as one of the previous posters put it, until we sort out ‘upstairs’ every manager will face similar issues. I’m an outter as well but the poster is right, the place is run poorly regardless of who the manager is.

BR7 · Oct 8, 2020

#07 said:
If Ole is given different players he can change tactics. Part of the reason we are getting opened up like a tomato can is because he is trying to change tactics with the wrong players.

We build up with Ajax's 3-3-1-3 shape, with the defensive midfielder dropping between the centre backs, the full backs advancing to the midfield line and the #10 ready to receive the ball to play in the forwards. Sadly, however, our players are far below the technical level of an Ajax team. The ball gets stuck in defence most of the time, then the centre backs get pressed, turnovers happen as they shift the ball in panic to the full backs and we ship tons of chances.

Its obvious to me what Ole wants to do. I just think its a wildly optimistic (slightly crazy) expecting players with the technique of Wan-Bissaka or the lack of composure of Lindelof to do it. This team is not built to play out from the back. I'm guessing Telles has been brought in to help bring the ball out of defence. However, this still depends on the centre backs or defensive midfielder being able to play through the press to him. Honestly, I'm sceptical. I just don't rate the ball skills of our defenders. Harry Maguire is decent at a raking diagonal, do I trust him to dribble a pressing attacker and open up space for our build up? Frankly, no.

Do I trust Ole to make in game adjustments? Again, yes. Partly because he has done it a fair deal. For example, in our penultimate match against Spurs he made changes that led to us regaining the momentum in the match, drawing the game. Then you look at our penultimate game against Palace, in which the introduction of Matic changed the flow of the match markedly.

The issue Solskjaer has is he does not trust the quality of our squad. He is right not to IMO. Whenever this team opens up it concedes goals. Even going back to lockdown when we were playing well, we conceded very cheap goals against the likes of Bournemouth. Our attack ultimately made that not matter a lot of the time. However, if it wasn't for Greenwood's ability to score from ridiculous angles that game, for instance, could've gone a lot differently. Whenever we don't play a low block, with our team compact, we ship loads of chances. We also create more, and when we convert those chances we can demoralise our opponents to the point where they give up. When we don't take our chances though we often end up letting the opposition back into the game.

Who would I want as Sporting Director? The obvious answer would be Monchi wouldn't it? Gary Neville always goes on about best in class and I think you'd be hard pressed to look beyond him. However, I would be open to bringing back Javier Ribalta. We never really got the story of why he left United. However, I think it would give him a rolling start. He knows the setup more or less, so he knows where the gaps are. Of course, if Van der Sar was open to a demotion I think he would be a snug fit.

In terms of system, I have long admired the Ajax way so 4-3-3/4-2-3-1/3-3-1-3, whatever you want to call it - its the same system the players positions just change depending on whether you are attacking or defending. As I said I think Ole is broadly right in what he's trying to do. I just don't think he has the players. Too many of the key pieces of the puzzle are missing. Just get a picture of Ajax's first XI in 2018-19 and overlay it onto our first XI today, then ask how many players we have can execute the same tactical roles. The gaps become obvious.

Great post and great read. Thanks. If more ole inners could express themselves like this we’d have better discussions

BR7 · Oct 8, 2020

Arka_BleedingRed said:
Ha ha, I'm as clueless as others regarding DOF choices, but I like the likes of Ralf Ragnik, Marotta, Txiki, Zorc etc. because they have been very efficient at getting quality players in, and moving players out, basic things which our club currently finds it difficult to do. I would prefer to find someone close to the club, Rio's name has come up, but for me, Rio is too passionate to be an efficient and calculative DOF. Maybe, Berta(Ath. Madrid).
Regarding managers, I would go for Nagelsmann, as for me he is the best upcoming manager. Back up options would be, Marco Rose, Poch, Gallardo, Jardim even Villas-Boas, who after his horrible spell at Spurs, has been quite good.

But for me, the first change realistically has to be Glazers leaving/selling with Ed removed or only handling the business matters of the club. Their collective dithering, inefficiency, lack of understanding of football in general have turned Man United into an absolute farce of a club.

Great post, I think the glazers are the main problem and I would relieve Woodward from all football duties

BR7 · Oct 8, 2020

Tincanalley said:
WtF? That’s ludicrous. Who the feck wants to be the plaything of that bunch of leeches? If in some delirious nightmare I did find myself sitting alone in empty stands with a two day beard and a stupid expression while I pretended to enjoy football what would I want?
Well, I would have some interesting choices. Jerk off graphically and publicly and force the GlazerSlime to fire me?
Appoint myself manager? Then say Ole can stay being manager too, why can’t we have more than one of them? Paint “GlazersOut” in Green and Gold on my forehead?

Quite funny, I’d keep ya on for entertainment value reading the above

BR7 · Oct 8, 2020

Flying high said:
Sign the players we need to improve the team.

This summer, 5 would have been enough. RW, CD, FB, CM and CF. Not really too much to ask for a club like ours. Out of those we could have managed with 1 being 33 and another being a raw, but talented youngster. As long as the other 3 were top class starters. Yet again though, we've done half the job.

By this time next year, because of the pressure at this club, we will lose more of the decent players that we do have simply through complete loss of confidence.

If our finances are so tight that we genuinely can't afford 5 players after letting so many leave in the last 18 months, then perhaps the Glazers position in more vulnerable than we thought.......

Can anyone afford us at the moment? Very few individuals can afford to buy us that’s the problem.

BR7 · Oct 8, 2020

ROFLUTION said:
Very well written post. It's the inner-workings we fail by, and that makes us (Ed) slow in action on the market, which he has been year after year after year. We haggle over Maguire fees yet to pay the same fee next year. It's probably mostly about getting the right head in the right position with the right amount of power, but also a capacity question, so that DoF type has people he can trust and delegate to, so actions in the market can be made faster and more on the front-foot.
Rarely have we acted early in the market. It's always left late, and always left to circumstances, that could have been avoided by maintaining and poaching players over a long period, to build trust, connection, etc.

Ed and Judge seems to do none of this right, and mostly on a superficial and a very naive binary level.

We're dealing with humans, and connections with humans. Van der Sar seems the obvious choice - Who knows, maybe Ed is waiting for him, which is why we haven't moved yet.

Have to agree, since Woodward turned up our transfers seem to seriously drag ... but is this because Woodward is under glazer constraints? They seem to be involved in the decisions of some transfers ultimately.

Denis' cuff · Oct 8, 2020

Get Poch in. Give him 250 m to spend, as long as we get 40 m for Jones, 40m fo Rojo, and 40 m for Lingard. If we don’t get rid, give him 120 m over 2 seasons and extend Pogbas contract by 5 years and Shaw by 4 years with a nice pay rise. Then don’t back Poch. Sack Poch.

club is fecked.

Looking forward to some bright spots but no lasting improvement. At all.

Refs (and var) who are even 50% competent. State of refs etc.. the game is a fecking mess.. the club is a fecking mess.

BR7 · Oct 8, 2020

Jezpeza said:
A) director of football. Sole job signing players and scouting. Where is our fecking scouting recently? I’ll take a £50 side salary every month to provide lists of the biggest most obvious expensive players like we seem to. Also dof can get his hand in the youth teams planning which ones could get in the squad and trying to push them through or base recruitment and squad planning around what is coming through. I.e mengi looks good we’ll feck Rojo off at the end of his contract and give his squad place to Mengi or whoever. Dont understand why we spent so much money on squad players over last 6/7 years

B) new owners. Owners interested in running it for fun. Not interested in dividends because they earn money elsewhere. No one seems to realise the Glazers own loads of sports franchises. The club is income for them.

C) old trafford refurb. It seats a lot but tired round the edges.

I think those 3 would sort the rest of the issues. Changing manager isnt such an issue when a dof makes sure they dont get to do a destructive trolley dash the first summer window they get

I do like me so NFL, and the glazers own Tampa Bay Buccs. They have just spent a boat load on getting Brady and brought gronkowski out of retirement and making a push for the super bowl this year. While they have salary caps in the nfl, the owners are not taking any money out of the Buccs now so we’ll be sustaining the glazers lavish lifestyles for a bit

BR7 · Oct 8, 2020

Jibbs said:
I would want immediate success... by immediate I mean within next 2 years. Also I will inculcate a cut throat culture, no player will be awarded a bumper contract if they have not performed well recently irrespective of their past achievements.
I will bring in a DoF, a new CEO and a proven manger along with his coaching and scouting staff.
And they will be instructed no player will be signed for more than 70m. An exception will be made only in the case of proven once in a generation talent.
As a policy First team will have most players between age group of 20 to 29. Exceptions will be made if manager thinks highly of a talent.

I will appoint Berta or Paul Mitchell as sporting director, Poch as manager and let him bring his coaching staff.

I totally agree about the cut throat we are being too nice to some of the players who aren’t trying for ole. The problem is not trying for ole means not trying for the club. It also means that we’re in danger of becoming a club run by player power. Pogba is a casing point. Great talent but a problem in the dressing room

BR7 · Oct 8, 2020

Jinn said:
We all have wants. It's good to dream. The fact is that the powers that be, DO NOT WANT A TECHNICAL DIRECTOR or whatever you want to call it. They have had PLENTY of opportunity over the last few years to appoint one. There is no other reason other than the fact that they don't want to get a person like this.

It's sad, I know...

As for what I want, lets start with world peace, it's a far easier task than getting the Glazers/Woodward out of the club.

:-)

BR7 · Oct 8, 2020

devilish said:
Fans need to decide what they want as owners. If we want to spend ridiculous amount of money year in year out then the club needs to be bought by a state (Saudi?) or at least an oligarch. If the club is owned by business men then expect business men to take dividends and put business ahead of football.

The second thing they need to agree upon is whether they want the manager to have complete control on football matters or not. That's because if we get in a CEO who understand football + a top DOF then there's no chance in hell that Ole would be allowed to spend 130m on average players. Feck there's no way United would hire some failed manager with no experience unless they make sure they control every move he makes. A DOF would take some control away from Woodward and might push Judge out but he'll also take away control over Ole as well.

If you ask me I want

a- Owners who can afford the club who are enthusiastic and want to keep us were we belong. That means no debts, the financial means to re modernise OT and probably the ability to inject some money into the club if needed.
b- A football CEO, a top head of recruitment and a top DOF.
c- A manager that knows his stuff. We can't and we shouldn't sort each of our problems at 50m-100m a pop
d- A top fitness and coaching team. Players performances shouldn't nosedive after few months and its embarrassing having former players coming out saying that they saved their career by leaving United or that they wanted out after 1 training session.

I think the fact that we’ve become a juggernaut hasnt helped us. No one can really afford us

BR7 · Oct 8, 2020

Solius said:
Where do I even start?

I want new owners that actually care about the club and put money into it rather than leech off of it.

I want Woodward and Judge removed completely from transfer negotations. Woodward can carry on working on sponsorships. Judge can do whatever/leave.

I want us to bring in a recognised skilled negotiator in the transfer market to work alongside a DoF. Both of those can partner with the manager and share the same vision.

I want us to actually sign our targets and combine promotion of youth/young signings with marquee ones that aren't bloated (price-wise) and ageing (Cavani/Sanchez/Schweinsteiger).

Thinking with my head and not my heart, I want a tactically astute manager who is seen as one of the most promising in the game. Nagelsmann comes to mind.

I also want a review of the coaching team, especially in the way we press. It is so unorganised.

Any players you’d get rid of because of attitude/ability regardless of the managers’ opinion. There is one player I think is a real problem he is class but I would get rid for the sake of the dressing room and to hand it back to the manager.

BR7 · Oct 8, 2020

Nou_Camp99 said:
I don't think there's any doubt that if we brought in Poch we'd be playing better football within a few months. However, and this is going to sound repetitive, but if we keep changing the manager and doing nothing about Woodward n Judge all it's doing is just putting a plaster on a gaping knife wound.

People who think replacing Ole with somebody more qualified and better tactics is going to miraculously save this club couldn't be more wrong. Football clubs think Woodward n Judge are a total joke. They are readily ridiculed by agents, former players and current CEO's of other clubs.

I'm fine with Ole being replaced but only if those absolute gobsh1tes are sacked with him. If they aren't I simply don't care who the manager is.

I have to say one poster on this thread has got me thinking about my ole out position. Regardless of who we get they have to deal with Woodward and his lack of understanding of football in general. Not many can succeed with that handicap

Havak · Oct 8, 2020

What I wanted is basically already gone. I wanted the board to deliver:

Sancho
Van de Beek or Grealish
Reguilon or Telles
Upamecano

If they had delivered this, with Cavani or the young players we actually have signed, I'd have been very happy.

I would then expect Ole to get top 4, but come to an agreement (however unfair it may sound) that we would be replacing him at the end of the season regardless of if he finished in the top 4 (obviously, you don't tell him that until late on....). Assuming we sold the right players we'd look in a strong position. A top class manager would then be required to come and take over what would look like a very strong squad. We sell the surplus to requirement players again and add some more depth. Expect to challenge for the title after the first year of the new manager taking over such a squad.

Now, I am basically assuming Ole will be sacked and we're practically starting again from a staggered position of the process. We might as well pull the plug soon though so the new manager can assess the squad and decide who to sign instead since Sancho felt like a make-or-break signing.

BR7 · Oct 8, 2020

McGrathsipan said:
Not alot to ask then!

I think this just proves how far away we are from getting back to what we were as a club. We have serious problems and these posts are all highlighting that fact. Ole out alone is clearly not an answer from reading these posts. All these post are not just coincidental.

What I Want

matchday malcontent

Full Member

makes new threads with tweets in the OP

Full Member

Full Member

Full Member

Fending off the urge

New Member

Turns player names into a crappy conversation

Full Member

Full Member

:lol:

Full Member

Full Member

Juventus fan who used to support United

Full Member

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Full Member

Full Member

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Full Member

what would Souness do?

I love you Ole

Snitch

Dawn’s less famous husband

Full Member

Full Member

Full Member

Full Member

Full Member

Full Member

Full Member

Full Member

Full Member

Full Member

Full Member

Full Member

Full Member

Pokemon master

Full Member