Which post-Fergie manager, given 5 years in charge, would have done the best?

AFC NimbleThumb

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The same one who DID DO the best - Mourinho.

Won 2 trophies, finished 2nd and wasn’t backed.

If your owners had backed him he’d have got rid of Pogba (for money), Martial and created a miserly, tough Utd that would’ve ground out a handful of trophies - possibly a CL imo.

Not that any of you will see it that way!
Which United fan hurt you bro? :lol:
 

Andersons Dietician

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Undoubtedly Louis Van Gaal. He’s the only manager that ever got close to playing in a manner of a modern team. Add in the summer before he was fired reports he wanted VDJ and Laporte it was a path that was eventually going to have us playing the football we all want.
 

anant

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I doubt you can make a case for any of them.

Ole's tenure had come to a natural end, Mou had lost the dressing room, like he usually does 2-2.5 years into a tenure, I doubt players were that happy with LVG, and you can't say that Moyes would have done better than what our subsequent 4 seasons provided - 2 top 4 finishes, 3 trophies. And the less said about RR, the better
 

KeanoMagicHat

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With 5 years I’d say Moyes. They called him dithering Dave but with those 5 years he’d have signed Toni Kroos and has a good eye for a player so he would have eventually probably got it right. At the same time I understand why he was sacked 100%.
 

UnitedFire

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The only ones who didn’t really get a fair crack were Moyes and Rangnick. The other three had long enough. Moyes made plenty of mistakes but I do wonder how he would’ve fared had he managed to settle into the role.
I agree Moyes needed time for him and as a Board you need to commit to what you sign up for, but every aspect of his time was a shambles.

Started off with a full back room staff destruction so absolutely no continuation from a winning formula. You live or die by the sword of such decisions. You do need the big balls to make the tough calls, but they have to work out.

The transfer market was then an embarrassment. Moyes arguably setup to fail, but also showing he didn't have the profile to make big deals happen. He shot for the Moon, but letting off fireworks in a fireworks warehouse was always going to end in the wrong kind of bang.

Then there is the tactics. Gung ho unorganised chaos. Almost a case of "we are Man United, attack attack attack and we will win, no structure necessary"

Then there is the cringy interviews. Completely out of his depth and all credibility gone.

7th after finishing 1st the year before and at least top 3 since the early 90s and there was no decision left to be made. He had to go.

Arguably the one after THEY ONE always had to fail, like the rebound after the end of a long relationship.

So could he have done better when finding his feet, of course, but he failed as badly as any manager was likely to fail.

If Moyes was the second or third manager after SAF it might just have worked out, but maybe it wouldn't have then either. He just has the feel of a manager who does well with underdogs rather than elite players.

As for Rangnick, he was setup to fail, but he would never have got the backing needed for him to succeed and his CV has nothing to suggest he would have deserved such deep backing.

Ole had to go, but on hindsight Rangnick was a waste of time. The board clearly didn't like his bluntness and frankly most boards wouldn't stand for it.

But Rangnick isn't really to blame either. He should have at least got a DM in Jan to give us a fighting chance. Had we done so there is a very real chance we would have got top 4 and the transfer would have been more than covered.

In fact if Ole was given a DM in the summer or any time in the 3 years that he was here when we clearly needed one there is a real chance he wouldn't have got sacked or at least not with us looking so entirely helpless.

But therein lies the problem. The managers have all in theory been backed, but often just without any coherence, like missing a key ingredients in a cake. The balance or quality has just not been there and its cost us more than any extra investment would have.
 

Sandikan

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How in the world of bloody norma can anyone say Moyes to this!?

The guy took over champions and did so badly with them everyone started pretending that squad was sh!te and everyone had dropped to rubbish overnight.

Jose straight after Fergie is the obvious answer.
 

Kopral Jono

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Van Gaal. Some of the football were terrible but I could see what he was trying to do with us.
 

bonothom

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The same one who DID DO the best - Mourinho.

Won 2 trophies, finished 2nd and wasn’t backed.

If your owners had backed him he’d have got rid of Pogba (for money), Martial and created a miserly, tough Utd that would’ve ground out a handful of trophies - possibly a CL imo.

Not that any of you will see it that way!
Actually agree with this. Football would have been shit but had he got backed after finishing second United would have challenged the following season. He was right about Martial and Pogba and should have been allowed to sell both.
 

Dannn411

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Definitely Van Gaal but we would have endured at least one bottom half finish before the corner got turned.
 

Teja

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The same one who DID DO the best - Mourinho.

Won 2 trophies, finished 2nd and wasn’t backed.

If your owners had backed him he’d have got rid of Pogba (for money), Martial and created a miserly, tough Utd that would’ve ground out a handful of trophies - possibly a CL imo.

Not that any of you will see it that way!
Agree with this. I think his best would've been similar to what Conte is serving up at Spurs. Don't think we would've seriously challenged City / Pool in the league but maybe he could've fluked the CL.
 

bonothom

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How in the world of bloody norma can anyone say Moyes to this!?

The guy took over champions and did so badly with them everyone started pretending that squad was sh!te and everyone had dropped to rubbish overnight.

Jose straight after Fergie is the obvious answer.
Agreed. Moyes took a team of Champions by 11 points and finished 7th. Even Van Gaal straight after Fergie would have had United top 4 that season. Moyes was a frigging disaster.
 

Tavern in the town

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The same one who DID DO the best - Mourinho.

Won 2 trophies, finished 2nd and wasn’t backed.

If your owners had backed him he’d have got rid of Pogba (for money), Martial and created a miserly, tough Utd that would’ve ground out a handful of trophies - possibly a CL imo.

Not that any of you will see it that way!
Christ in heaven.
 

mu4c_20le

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Actually agree with this. Football would have been shit but had he got backed after finishing second United would have challenged the following season. He was right about Martial and Pogba and should have been allowed to sell both.
Absolutely. Had we gotten him Maguire for 65m or whatever, he would have won the league.
 

roonster09

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Agree with this. I think his best would've been similar to what Conte is serving up at Spurs. Don't think we would've seriously challenged City / Pool in the league but maybe he could've fluked the CL.
If by CL you meant conference league we would have fluked one, no doubt.
 

UnitedFire

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LvG the man who signed Di Maria, Falcao, Rojo, Valdes, Martial, Schneiderlind, Schweinsteiger, Depay, Darmian.

Really? :lol:

He's the biggest reason we are in this mess.
If he is to be believed he was getting 5th choice options that were very likely board driven.

But of those
Di Maria should have worked, huge talent. Just didn't quite fit in or adapt to new surroundings.

Falcao was a loan gamble that we've repeated numerous times, rather than investing in a proper long term striker prospect for big money. Aguero was a perfect glazer example of screwing up. If we had spent another £5-10m he would have been ours and way more than made up for all the loan fees we have subsequently paid and lost success as a result.

Rojo was a relatively cheap prospect, good attributes. Not a bad signing, just not quite the level, but also hampered by injuries.

Values was a backup keeper, strange and almost forgettable

Martial was a perfect example of the fine margins of success and failure. He and Mbappe were rated as similar level talents, one has thrived in a farmers league. The other has had moments in a far better league. Mbappe clearly is far better, but he might not have gone that way if he went into the deep end first.

Schneiderlind should have been a no brainer. Reasonable price for the expected talent, prem proven. That failure will always be a level of mystery that is hard to understand. Completely dropped off a cliff as a player.

Schweinsteiger was a pure gamble. Again I'd suggest a board signing as we were linked for years and I think couldn't resist the chance for a bargain, but instead it was just a waste of time and money.

Depay has shown he is quite the talent, but wrong time and attitude. Character flaws that should have been managed better or avoided entirely.

Darmian was a quality option at the time, but like a lot that has come out of Italy in recent years it is obvious that league is just not at the same level any more. And so much like Rojo, Darmian was not to be.

The biggest problem for me with LVG was the coma inducing football. Incredibly boring, slow tempo and actually when you look at some of the failed players it is very likely because of LVGs tempo and tactics, rather than the ability of those players.

I think he failed to unlock the best of players like Di Maria and Depay.

So its probably a tail of two sides. Some gambles and cheaper options over buying that bit of extra quality, but then LVG not getting the best out of what he had.
 

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Of course it would have been Mourinho. However, whether we'd survive his toxicity is another question.
That's why I think he would have been a disaster. Has he ever been at a club for 5 years? We'd probably be fighting relegation by the end of it.
 

gerdm07

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Ole for me. I'll always wonder what last season would have been like if we didn't sign Ronaldo. Ronaldo has such a large personality and persona that he had a lot of influence with the other players, the front office and media. I think Ronaldo decided early that he didn't want Ole and that was that.

Having said that, I'm not sure Ole would have brought us the glory we want. He did, though, have us on a good trajectory until the Fall of 2021.

LvG: the most conservative and boring manager ever at United.
Mourinho: was never going to last more than 2 1/2 seasons no matter how much backing he got. He's a toxic manager in his old age.
Moyes: just not enough balls as the team needed a clear out and he was too afraid to rock the boat.
 

stevoc

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LVG I suppose probably would have been another 3 years of soul destroying football but I don't think would have declined.

Jose and Solskjaer by the time they left they'd lost the dressing room.

Moyes and Rangnick. Jesus, give either of them 5 years and things would have got gradually worse.
 

shamans

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I know this is hated but David Moyes.

He really didn't get a chance. The task was much bigger than anticipated and we kneejerked. He didn't get a proper summer either due to Woodwards first season and Gill leaving.
 

andersj

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The same one who DID DO the best - Mourinho.

Won 2 trophies, finished 2nd and wasn’t backed.

If your owners had backed him he’d have got rid of Pogba (for money), Martial and created a miserly, tough Utd that would’ve ground out a handful of trophies - possibly a CL imo.

Not that any of you will see it that way!
I always thought Mourinho was lucky to be replaced by Solskjaer. Watching Conte at Spurs, comparing «Contes Spurs» to «Mourinhos Spurs», it is quite evident exactly how far behind Mourinho trail the best coached.
 

Giggsyking

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Undoubtedly Louis Van Gaal. He’s the only manager that ever got close to playing in a manner of a modern team. Add in the summer before he was fired reports he wanted VDJ and Laporte it was a path that was eventually going to have us playing the football we all want.
and Mane in winter. Had we succeeded in securing Mane in January, we would have certainly finished 4th and he would still be at the club.
 

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I know this is hated but David Moyes.

He really didn't get a chance. The task was much bigger than anticipated and we kneejerked. He didn't get a proper summer either due to Woodwards first season and Gill leaving.
Moyes for me too. He walked into an empty shell of a club in many ways, Gill gone, backroom staff leaving at the end of an era (and not all sacked by him as usually said), a club that had been vey reliant on what SAF did personally, and a team not as good as it's previous points total suggested.

I'm not putting Moyes in the elite Guardiola/Klopp/SAF bracket, but would Moyes have been better than Mourinho, LvG etc over 5 years, yes, I think so.
 

Sandikan

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Agreed. Moyes took a team of Champions by 11 points and finished 7th. Even Van Gaal straight after Fergie would have had United top 4 that season. Moyes was a frigging disaster.
I genuinely don't think any other professional manager could have done worse than Moyes that season.
 

Sandikan

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Undoubtedly Louis Van Gaal. He’s the only manager that ever got close to playing in a manner of a modern team. Add in the summer before he was fired reports he wanted VDJ and Laporte it was a path that was eventually going to have us playing the football we all want.
It wasn't modern as such was it? It was painstaking possession with very little output.
But it was the only time in a decade we controlled games against almost every team we play.

As opposed to current versions where we may have more ball, but certainly aren't controlling anything, as seen by the likes of Norwich raiding through our centre mid like it's not there.
 

shamans

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Moyes for me too. He walked into an empty shell of a club in many ways, Gill gone, backroom staff leaving at the end of an era (and not all sacked by him as usually said), a club that had been vey reliant on what SAF did personally, and a team not as good as it's previous points total suggested.

I'm not putting Moyes in the elite Guardiola/Klopp/SAF bracket, but would Moyes have been better than Mourinho, LvG etc over 5 years, yes, I think so.
Yeah I think given then pool and city had those elite managers we would probably be itching for a change soon enough anyway but Moyes gets a lot of hate for some "myths" about him. Like showing Ferdinand videos of jagielka etc all nonesense that never happened.

It was a massive change Fergie was running the whole show. We didn't realize how big the task was and following managers sort of proved that.

We had an agreement for Kroos as well and that could have been revolutionary.
 

Will Singh

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Has to be Van Gaal, he’s the only manager imo that had us playing he’s own style (Boring at times). If he was given 5 years we would have been in a better position now then we are. Yes he made a couple of errors with signings but who hasn’t.
 

Man-United

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Has to be Van Gaal, he’s the only manager imo that had us playing he’s own style (Boring at times). If he was given 5 years we would have been in a better position now then we are. Yes he made a couple of errors with signings but who hasn’t.
A couple? More like every signing he made..

And he said no to Kroos. Wouldn't trust that guy at all. He would have us outside top 10.
 

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With the right support probably Carrick. Knew the squad and knew how to get them to perform.
 

matt10000

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The same one who DID DO the best - Mourinho.

Won 2 trophies, finished 2nd and wasn’t backed.

If your owners had backed him he’d have got rid of Pogba (for money), Martial and created a miserly, tough Utd that would’ve ground out a handful of trophies - possibly a CL imo.

Not that any of you will see it that way!
I see it that way and think you sre right.

Also think that LVG could have been successful if he had staywd and allowed to sogn a couple of world class creative players
 

roonster09

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Or it wasn't actually that difficult of a task. But the club didn't want a squad overhaul. I know what I think it was. We can agree to disagree.
Rangnick would have signed Nkunku, CDM, CM, RB, Prime minister, president, military tanks is just fan fiction and fantasy.

No matter which player Rangnick wanted to sign, there should be funds to sign them. If ETH says De Jong is the most important player for his system then that takes the priority, not any other CM.
 

fps

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I always thought Mourinho was lucky to be replaced by Solskjaer. Watching Conte at Spurs, comparing «Contes Spurs» to «Mourinhos Spurs», it is quite evident exactly how far behind Mourinho trail the best coached.
This is a fair point it's been night and day.
 

el3mel

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I feel it would have been Moyes, crazy but that's my feeling, even if I liked Mourinho the most of them, but he's not a guy who stays for 5 years.

I feel if Moyes was given another season with a proper transfer window, things wouldn't have went as shit as it did.

And even if he was sacked later, the team wouldn't have been left in such shit shape, probably.

Again, crazy, but that's my feeling.
 

Tap

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LVG, if there had been a proper DOF with a proper scout network to buy players that fit his possession football style.

Perhaps even Moyes. After all he was not really backed and had the shortest reign among the managers.