Ratcliffe Era - will we see the any fruits? If so when?

Pexbo

Winner of the 'I'm not reading that' medal.
Joined
Jun 2, 2009
Messages
68,722
Location
Brizzle
Supports
Big Days
So I’m pleased to say that it’s looking like I very much misjudged Ratcliffe. I was very skeptical of his intentions, very skeptical of the Glazer’s reluctance to give up meaningful power in the club and very much expected a continuation of the decay we’ve seen for the last decade and more.

Say it quietly but I’m beginning to believe that the level of talent being installed across the top levels of the club can only lead to good things. A year ago, if you asked me if I thought we would win the league in the next 10 years my honest answer would have been that I’d be surprised if we finished in the top four more than five times and be very surprised if we finished within 10 points of first even once.

So, I’m ready to change that prediction, I reckon we will win the league in or before the 27/28 season.
 

Massive Spanner

Give Mason Mount a chance!
Joined
Jul 2, 2014
Messages
28,176
Location
Tool shed
From what I’m reading we were so badly run that it would have been nigh on impossible to come in and not make changes that improve the club. Whether it’s enough to take us back to the top we will find out eventually. our squad is a long, long way away from a proper title challenge, and our current manager clearly isn’t up to it. The real test will be in the summer when they’ve to make those decisions, I think.

I still hope he can get the glazers out fully in the next 3 years, that’s what I care about most.
 

TheReligion

Abusive
Joined
Nov 22, 2006
Messages
51,465
Location
Manchester
Massive Spanner said:
From what I’m reading we were so badly run that it would have been nigh on impossible to come in and not make changes that improve the club. Whether it’s enough to take us back to the top we will find out eventually. our squad is a long, long way away from a proper title challenge, and our current manager clearly isn’t up to it. The real test will be in the summer when they’ve to make those decisions, I think.

I still hope he can get the glazers out fully in the next 3 years, that’s what I care about most.
Click to expand...
There is that view but it looks very much like JR isn’t coming in to ‘make do’ and just get by.

Don’t think he could have had a better start tbh. The appointment of Berrada is pretty amazing when you consider the circumstances.
 

leontas

Full Member
Joined
Jul 6, 2016
Messages
1,127
I like what I'm seeing so far. Let's see who they manage to get in for director of football.
 

Licha-Vidic

Last Man Standing 2 finalist 2023/24
Joined
Jan 9, 2023
Messages
1,372
Pexbo said:
So I’m pleased to say that it’s looking like I very much misjudged Ratcliffe. I was very skeptical of his intentions, very skeptical of the Glazer’s reluctance to give up meaningful power in the club and very much expected a continuation of the decay we’ve seen for the last decade and more.

Say it quietly but I’m beginning to believe that the level of talent being installed across the top levels of the club can only lead to good things. A year ago, if you asked me if I thought we would win the league in the next 10 years my honest answer would have been that I’d be surprised if we finished in the top four more than five times and be very surprised if we finished within 10 points of first even once.

So, I’m ready to change that prediction, I reckon we will win the league in or before the 27/28 season.
Click to expand...
We can win the league next season if ETH grows some balls and starts playing controlled football. Yes. Liverpool were dead last season, Klopp changed his midfield, he's top of the league now. It's the manager who plans the team and execute the team.


Reverse it, if ETH last season signed
Dominik Szoboszlai
Alexis Mac Allister
Ryan Gravenberch
Who he have turned United team from top 5 team to top 1 team?

We don't need a COO from City to win league titles but we need a team that can outscore the opponent, leak less goals and control more than 85% of the games it plays.

We will win the league in the next 3 years but not with ETH. That's my prediction. We need a better coach and manager or Pep and Klopp leave for the competition to even out.
 

The Mitcher

connoisseur of pot noodles and sandwiches
Joined
May 26, 2012
Messages
19,579
Location
Manchester
Licha-Vidic said:
We can win the league next season if ETH grows some balls and starts playing controlled football. Yes. Liverpool were dead last season, Klopp changed his midfield, he's top of the league now. It's the manager who plans the team and execute the team.


Reverse it, if ETH last season signed
Dominik Szoboszlai
Alexis Mac Allister
Ryan Gravenberch
Who he have turned United team from top 5 team to top 1 team?

We don't need a COO from City to win league titles but we need a team that can outscore the opponent, leak less goals and control more than 85% of the games it plays.

We will win the league in the next 3 years but not with ETH. That's my prediction. We need a better coach and manager or Pep and Klopp leave for the competition to even out.
Click to expand...
He didn't sign them so the hypothetical is pointless. Even just pondering on it a little bit, he's not Klopp so would have woefully mismanaged them like he has all his new signings.
 

VictoriaRed

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Mar 17, 2018
Messages
194
Have we ever had a player, especially a Captain, that is so polarizing? I wouldn’t bat an eye if we moved Bruno on. I like him, but he’s too inconsistent, be it by the minute in a game, or game to game!
 

stevoc

Full Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2011
Messages
20,398
Licha-Vidic said:
We can win the league next season if ETH grows some balls and starts playing controlled football. Yes. Liverpool were dead last season, Klopp changed his midfield, he's top of the league now. It's the manager who plans the team and execute the team.


Reverse it, if ETH last season signed
Dominik Szoboszlai
Alexis Mac Allister
Ryan Gravenberch
Who he have turned United team from top 5 team to top 1 team?

We don't need a COO from City to win league titles but we need a team that can outscore the opponent, leak less goals and control more than 85% of the games it plays.

We will win the league in the next 3 years but not with ETH. That's my prediction. We need a better coach and manager or Pep and Klopp leave for the competition to even out.
Click to expand...
No he'd have preferred Scott McTominay to all 3.
 

LordSpud

Full Member
Joined
May 22, 2017
Messages
2,422
I was under the impression SJR/INEOS had 2 spots on the Board? It looks like there's SJR, Brailsford, Blanc and now Berrada?
 

stu_1992

Full Member
Joined
May 8, 2013
Messages
4,886
Location
Ireland
LordSpud said:
I was under the impression SJR/INEOS had 2 spots on the Board? It looks like there's SJR, Brailsford, Blanc and now Berrada?
Click to expand...
Berrada is not INEOS though, he's being hired as the CEO of the club. Of course the CEO is going to have a spot on the board.
 

Suv666

Full Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2016
Messages
8,763
Until we’ve had a proper transfer window it’s hard to say.
At the end of the day, the thing that would change our stars is massive investment into the squad.

The next manager appointment would also be key, hopefully we’re able to recruit
staff asap and start the process of looking for a new manager.

Although its hard not be exited by new arrivals and more importantly departure of the crop who have overseen blunder after blunder.
 

Todd

Full Member
Joined
Mar 7, 2011
Messages
3,423
Location
Indiana, USA
Half of the first eleven needs to be replaced before we actually compete for the league. So, unless we take a very aggressive approach in the market, starting NOW, it's going to be a long time before we're in for the league or even get back to the Champions League.
 

bosnian_red

Worst scout to ever exist
Joined
Aug 13, 2011
Messages
58,057
Location
Canada
United simply performing on a normal standard relative to our revenues & spending would have us probably winning the title once in a while (normally, obviously up against Pep and klopp it's a bit different) and being a regularly CL quarter finalist. Remains to be seen how Ratcliffe will do, but I always had faith that anyone with simply the intention to improve us on the pitch would lead to drastic improvements as the previous people literally did not care to improve on field performance

It won't be instant though. Our squad has a lot of work to be done to actually be successful/turn into a top team. The keystones to being a top team will be developing guys like Mainoo, Hojlund and Garnacho as well, in which time we'll have to replace pretty much all the guys who are 28 years old + in our team (which is many of them). I can see next season being a lot of transition, a lot of ins and outs, some inconsistent play, especially depending on managerial appointment in the summer as it definitely won't (or shouldn't) be ten hag. I'd say 26/27 we'll start looking like a top team.
 

Teja

Full Member
Joined
Aug 17, 2014
Messages
5,836
Proof will be in their competence in getting good people in (so far passing with flying colors) and the first transfer window. As long as they do a decent job I'm all aboard.
 

Von Mistelroum

Full Member
Joined
May 21, 2015
Messages
4,050
I would guess minimal improvement, but some improvement is better than none. Don't think we'll be giving City or the Scouse any problems but we should be challenging for top 4 if we get the restructuring right. Shame we can't do much in the market though.
 

UnrelatedPsuedo

I pity the poor fool who stinks like I do!
Joined
Apr 15, 2015
Messages
10,252
Location
Blitztown
We still have no idea how much cash the Glazers are going to extract from the club. So no idea how successful he could be, even with a litany of new management figures installed.

If the common sense approach is : Introduce a new salary ceiling, sell Bruno, Sancho, Casemiro, Rashford and whoever else is earning north of £200k/week, then reset the whole thing by buying young players with potential, through a brand new & modern scouting and acquisition framework. With contracts that have baked in gearing mechanisms : seasons we play Champions League football earn £X, otherwise a lower base salary (which is as simple as paying massive Champions League match appearance fees). Then maybe he’ll change culture and half a decade would see some pay off.

Whats more likely… seeking to exploit additional revenues through closer alignment to the expanded club World Cup formats, Saudi, monetising preseason, attempting to break the PL structure, raising home match revenue via increased prices, and having a more adult approach to chasing revenue overseas by monetising non attending fans.

I think it’ll go wrong. Zero faith in him, and would bet on academy products being sold to meet FFP regulations in the next 5-10 years and piss everyone off in the process.
 

Leftback99

Might have a bedwetting fetish.
Joined
Jan 11, 2015
Messages
14,421
In the end it all comes down to player recruitment. Will be a few years if we get right, sooner if we get it spot on.

Teams like Villa and Spurs show a turnaround can be done without silly money signings (which we can no longer afford anyway).
 

RORY65

Full Member
Joined
May 28, 2009
Messages
4,535
It's fecking hard to win the league, we as the biggest club in the country haven't come close for over a decade and of the 2 closest in terms of size (Liverpool and Arsenal) one has won it once in the last 34 years and the other hasn't won it for 20. The reality is that even if they get things right the odds are against us winning the league anytime soon, the hope is that with being a competent football team being more of a priority now that we will see more consistency in performances and results in the coming years (more regularly in the top 4 and looking somewhat competitive in the CL knockouts) and if the people put in place succeed and the recruitment improves then maybe we can at least compete again once Guardiola and Klopp are gone. If they don't then we probably just end up in a similar situation than we are in now.
 

Demon Barber

Full Member
Joined
Nov 14, 2022
Messages
520
UnrelatedPsuedo said:
We still have no idea how much cash the Glazers are going to extract from the club.
Click to expand...
Apologies for not responding to the rest of your post, but my understanding is that no dividends will be paid for the first three years. Admittedly, I read that on here, so no idea if that is the case.

As for the original question - two years.
 

LordSpud

Full Member
Joined
May 22, 2017
Messages
2,422
I can't lie I'm getting excited. They seem to be getting the right people in place to sort the whole shit show out.

I know it's a long road but it's always felt that if it ever started being ran properly the club is too big and makes too much money to not get back to the top.
 

Dominos

Full Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2009
Messages
7,005
Location
Manchester
He's come in at a terrible time because we're about to miss out on CL football yet again which means less revenue and FFP to contend with, and barely any players in the squad are actually good enough, we need to start the squad from scratch with players who actually know how to keep possession of a football. It also means binning some of our big name players.

We're not winning the league any time soon unfortunately.
 

Castia

Full Member
Joined
Jun 18, 2011
Messages
18,408
It’s going to take time but the ‘road to the top’ could be really exciting in itself if we start doing the right things like buying exciting talents and watching them develop

Look at Arsenal they’ve progressed from 8th to challengers in a few years I don’t see why we can’t do similar
 

El Zoido

Full Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2013
Messages
12,358
Location
UK
It’ll take ages. 5-10 years minimum.

Hard with this fanbase because we’re still constantly in a “we’re back” mode, where even the slightest uptick in momentum has everyone creaming themselves that the problem has finally been solved. Bring in the CEO from City, and.. we’re back! Sir Jim has fixed it! Despite nothing actually having happened yet. It’s like we all feel we have a divine right to be a successful club and it’s only a matter of time before someone cracks the formula and we’re back at the top again. It’s a matter of when, not if, right? Frankly we may never get there again, despite Ineos having their best shot at it.

The expectation and anticipation is part of what makes this such a pressure cooker of a situation for everyone involved. I’m not even thinking about winning the league, but one thing Ineos can ensure, is a sensible and modern football structure/approach to the running of the club top to bottom. Whether that leads to trophies is another matter, but let’s stop being a complete fecking embarrassment of an operation first.
 

Yorkeontop

meonbottom
Joined
Aug 10, 2010
Messages
6,800
Location
Inside Fred the Red
El Zoido said:
It’ll take ages. 5-10 years minimum.
Click to expand...
Pretty much this. He still has to further marginalise the Glazers probably. Pep needs to leave Man City. The club still has to get over the manager saviour complex, which in fairness has served us well in the past but is not feasible anymore. We've only had just over a decade of pain, look at how long Liverpool had to wait for things to stabilise.
 

TrustInJanuzaj

'Liverpool are a proper club'
Joined
Mar 26, 2015
Messages
10,723
5-10 years is a lifetime in football. You’re only ever one or two transfer windows from sorting out a team and making a huge difference. One managerial appointment from striking gold and seeing an uptick in the performances of a whole team. Talk of 10 years as an expectation is ridiculous, if they can’t sort it (not to win the league but see an uptick in signings, performances, data etc) then they are just as incompetent as the Glaziers.
 

Teja

Full Member
Joined
Aug 17, 2014
Messages
5,836
TrustInJanuzaj said:
5-10 years is a lifetime in football. You’re only ever one or two transfer windows from sorting out a team and making a huge difference. One managerial appointment from striking gold and seeing an uptick in the performances of a whole team. Talk of 10 years as an expectation is ridiculous, if they can’t sort it (not to win the league but see an uptick in signings, performances, data etc) then they are just as incompetent as the Glaziers.
Click to expand...
Yeah I'm choosing to ignore the pessimists. I don't think we're that far away - we finished 3rd last year and will hopefully finish 5th / 6th this year. Our long term points average has been ~65 points per season or so with occasional bumps to 70s and one or two times in the 80 point range. A couple of good attacking signings should be enough to hit 70+ points consistently (almost a guarantee for CL football).

The only thing that's a bit iffy is that we're currently on course for a high 50s points finish (probably worse than the Ole / Ralf season) if we continue our current form. If Ten Hag manages to steady things a bit and delivers a decent finish that'd have me more optimistic for the scenario above.

Of course winning the title is hard but it's fine if that takes a long time. What we need is good attacking play, a team we can get behind and a clear sign of progress.
 

Denis79

Full Member
Joined
Nov 2, 2014
Messages
7,772
5 years to get our shit together behind the scenes and another 5 to build a team that can win the PL. So 34/35 is the season.
 

noodlehair

"It's like..."
Joined
Apr 1, 2004
Messages
16,344
Location
Flagg
He literally hasn't done anything yet except appoint a CEO who will very likely end up embroiled in the biggest scandal in the history of the PL in only a couple of months time, and who morally we should all absolutely definitely be entirely against the appintment of .

This forum is weird.
 

2 man midfield

Last Man Standing finalist 2021/22
Joined
Sep 4, 2012
Messages
46,054
Location
?
noodlehair said:
He literally hasn't done anything yet except appoint a CEO who will very likely end up embroiled in the biggest scandal in the history of the PL in only a couple of months time, and who morally we should all absolutely definitely be entirely against the appintment of .

This forum is weird.
Click to expand...
I did wonder what will happen to him if city are found guilty. He’s been there since the beginning, surely he’s going to be implicated in some way?
 

sunama

Baghdad Bob
Joined
Apr 26, 2014
Messages
16,839
Todd said:
Half of the first eleven needs to be replaced before we actually compete for the league. So, unless we take a very aggressive approach in the market, starting NOW, it's going to be a long time before we're in for the league or even get back to the Champions League.
Click to expand...
Open heart surgery needs to be conducted on this squad.
Unfortunately ETH's signings have pretty much been a disaster. To spend so much money and finish up with a squad that can't press, struggle to pass, struggle to create and score chances - imagine how bad a manager needs to be to oversee a team of players who struggle in so many areas.
 

Dike_Manc

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Jan 24, 2017
Messages
203
A good start to the new regime but I refuse to get excited. I have seen way to many people come to the club and just turn to shite.
I'll believe it when I see it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.