"A quagmire of mediocrity" - anonymous member of staff at United

AneRu

Full Member
Joined
Jul 28, 2019
Messages
3,065
Nah, 95% of the fan base won’t even know who Judge is and what he does, besides that they’re mates. Only way Ed could sell it is by replacing him with a genuine DoF - don’t hold your breath.
I certainly won't be but I think bringing in a DOF could sort of help him get away with the Ole debacle. If the new DOF comes in he is most likely to want to get rid of Ole, if he is any good at what he does. Woodward can then brief the media clearing himself as only giving the new man the latitude to implement his own plan. Anything less could see the fans revolting against the Glazers and under enough pressure they will cut him loose.
 

George The Best

Full Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2013
Messages
2,059
Location
Nut Megging
I certainly won't be but I think bringing in a DOF could sort of help him get away with the Ole debacle. If the new DOF comes in he is most likely to want to get rid of Ole, if he is any good at what he does. Woodward can then brief the media clearing himself as only giving the new man the latitude to implement his own plan. Anything less could see the fans revolting against the Glazers and under enough pressure they will cut him loose.
I’m with you mate. Just been no sign that Ed wants to relinquish any control, therefore the responsibility for our demise sits firmly with him imo.
 

mariachi-19

Full Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Messages
18,595
Location
I may be the devil, but i'm not a monster
I still think it was Woodward and the line throwing Judge under the bus confirms this for me. It's basically Woodward saying Ole wanted more players, the money for new players was there but Judge messed up the negotiations. I think Woodward recognizes that throwing Ole under the bus won't work this time, the fans love him and the club beneath the executive support him. Woodward won't emerge from fecking Ole over unscathed, stupid as the Glazers maybe I think this will be step too far.
Should this be the case, Judge should be sacked before Ole. In fact, he should no longer be in a job.
 

Jaqen H'ghar

I can't drive...55
Joined
Aug 26, 2015
Messages
1,409
100%. Only reason i can see for why Woodward to continue in his job and meddling (which we assume he does) in football related activities is that unless the new EPL TV-deal doubles in value the club will seriously struggle to increase its revenues and become less profitable. And the longer this continues the more likely the Glazers are to sell the club.
Manchester united is the most supported English team outside of England. A weak Manchester United devalues the EPL, so I don't think the TV deal doubling soon.
 

Jaqen H'ghar

I can't drive...55
Joined
Aug 26, 2015
Messages
1,409
I want us to get rid of Ole because he has no idea or any clue to coach our team, he is out of his depth, why should we continue with him when he's never going to get better? Even a broken clock is right twice a day, may be our board will finally get lucky and get a decent coach in, I'd be far happy knowing the new manager may get things right than supporting a manager who I know is never going to get better.
I get what you're saying, but you're going after the symptom, not the disease. You can't just get rid of Ole and pray for the best. Whatever happens next should be part of a plan.

If the conditions that allow for random appointment of managers and mediocre players are not changed any manager that comes is going to look out of depth.
 

Jaqen H'ghar

I can't drive...55
Joined
Aug 26, 2015
Messages
1,409
It might increase with Netflix and Amazon prime etc wanting to get in on the streaming market.
I hadn't thought of those.

Edit: off topic, but I'm in the middle east, and bein sport who own the TV rights also own streaming rights. Streaming subscription is much cheaper than TV, but not very popular

I think if streaming rights are going to be separate from TV rights, then TV rights would be worth less.
 
Last edited:

Fosu-Mens

Full Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2016
Messages
4,101
Location
Fred | 2019/20 Performances
I hadn't thought of those.

Edit: off topic, but I'm in the middle east, and bein sport who own the TV rights also own streaming rights. Streaming subscription is much cheaper than TV, but not very popular

I think if streaming rights are going to be separate from TV rights, then TV rights would be worth less.
Don't think they will be separate. And with Smart TVs becoming more and more mainstream there is not long before streaming will take over for regular TV channels and networks.
 

nainaisson

Full Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2016
Messages
1,511
Location
Phantom Zone
I know Ole has not done a great job up till now, but seeing Ed Woodward, a man who has brought nothing but disaster to this club, throw a genuine legend under the bus in this way, is rather aggravating.

Is there no level to which Ed won't stoop to save his own neck. He is a cowardly dickhead.
This is nothing compared to what will come out after Ole is sacked. Wait for the character assassination pieces that always accompany a manager's sacking. That's when Woodward really shines as the shamelessly cynical scumbag that he is.
 

dwd

Saturday Night Spies
Joined
Jan 16, 2012
Messages
16,293
Location
Under soil heating.
When you go looking for a striker with 3 days left in a window, of couse you are going to be quoted unreasonable prices. The board was actively talking to Inter Milan for months and they decided to sell him with 1 week left in the window. The incompetence of the board here surpasses that of the manager.
Yep they held out for a few extra million which is all they care about.
 

Jaqen H'ghar

I can't drive...55
Joined
Aug 26, 2015
Messages
1,409
He leaked this stuff after the season got fecked and after he said on multiple occasions it was his decision and he's happy with the squad etc. It just looks like since things went bad it's time to save our face. These leaks should have been present earlier. He should have expressed his discontent with the market in subtle way to show things didn't go as he liked if that was the truth.
We don't know who leaked the story, so any attempts to infer motive is just speculation.

I honestly never agreed with the "toxic" complains about Mourinho quotes. I liked his honesty, and that at the end he had enough balls to go against the board. Maybe he overdid it but at the end he made his point clear and wasn't lying to the fans. I prefer this to positive delusional comments in the media that grew old very fast when the results are terrible. Not saying Mourinho didn't do any mistakes or shouldn't have left btw
I wasn't thrilled about it, and thought Mourinho undermining everyone was counterproductive. He's a good coach, but public confrontation is rarely the best option. But that's justcclassical Mourinho.

Each manager has his methods, and temperament. I think it's unfair to hold it against Ole that he tried to keep a United front.

Regarding second point, I don't both sacked asap. Both should leave on the same time or so. Ole should be sacked and Woodward should be either totally sacked or relieved of his duties of overseeing the football side of the club. I agree that he should never be in position to choose the next manager.
I just think that until Woodward, Judge, et al are gone anything else is lipstick on a pig.
 

Jaqen H'ghar

I can't drive...55
Joined
Aug 26, 2015
Messages
1,409
"A quagmire of mediocrity" doesn't sound like something a football source would say. "Indeed, sir, it is a veritable maelstrom of inadequacy!"
No way. You'll never convince me that journalists embellish and make things up. Least of all sports journalists.
 

Paolo Di Canio

"we have to realise it's a doggy dog market"
Joined
Jun 5, 2010
Messages
6,966
Location
Sliema, Malta
I do feel our coaching department is full of too many novices, Carrick, Mckenna..the only one with a bit of experiance is Phealen.

We are not in a phase where we can have apprentices so to speak.
 

roseguy64

Full Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2010
Messages
12,172
Location
Jamaica
Thanks very much for that. Puts it all in perspective, doesn`t it? Interesting about the faceless Matt Judge. Clearly people like that in our club shouldn`t be making footballing decisions.

I know Ole`s limitations but I think it would be just another unstable episode to sack him before he has had at least two transfer windows to bring in better players. I don`t understand the logic of the Pochettino pushers declaring he needs some years to build a team but won`t give Ole less time.

Especially good point there from LVG about a Football Director and the expertise they need including networks. That should rule out people like Rio etc. It`s the same issue with the coaches - can somebody please answer my question as to how Michael Carrick can be coaching much as I like him?
I'm not sure how we can judge the quality of Carrick's coaching when the squad is playing badly with 3 more experienced coaches ahead of him in the pecking order, Solskjaer, McKenna and Phelan. All three have had some level of success and should be the ones doing the majority of the work. So why the focus on Carrick?

It's similar to something I saw recently when someone was casting Lee Grant in with Matic and Young as symbols of the malaise. How is the 3rd choice goalie anything to do with the performance of the team? He never plays and is there as HG spot and to allow the talented young goalies to go out on loan instead of hanging around waiting for injuries to Romero and De Gea to get developmental minutes.
 

roseguy64

Full Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2010
Messages
12,172
Location
Jamaica
The Woodward fanboys on the forum really need to read what LVG has said, this underlines that the structure is out of line with what is needed in the current EPL, and is a negative to success. LVG has given an honest appraisal of the obvious issues that have a negative impact at United, the indication that Judge and Woodwqrd have the final say in recruitment is mind boggling, as with no football experince they are undoubtedly the football gurus of the club.

Things need to change and quickly, a successful football brain like LVG has set out the problems, will the Glazers and their lackey acknowledge them and act.
Woodward is clearly sticking too closely to what he saw from Gill and Ferguson. That was the situation he came into the club and saw and isn't willing to bite the bullet and try what everybody else is doing.
 

roseguy64

Full Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2010
Messages
12,172
Location
Jamaica
Incompetence is present from CEO level right to players level. We have a CEO and a recruitment guy who have no idea about football, possibly the least experienced manager and assistant manager (Carrick) in the EPL +an extremely shit side which is boosted by the most hyped kids in United's history

We need some very serious restructuring. The club need to be able to do more then 3 signings per summer, the scouting team need to be competent enough to find an alternative to longstaff, the manager need to know the basics of tactics and nepotism need to be kept to jobs within the United cafeteria
Carrick is not the assistant manager. The vastly experienced Phelan is. We definitely had alternatives to Longstaff. The manager just didn't like them.
 

el3mel

Full Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2016
Messages
43,735
Location
Egypt
We don't know who leaked the story, so any attempts to infer motive is just speculation.


I wasn't thrilled about it, and thought Mourinho undermining everyone was counterproductive. He's a good coach, but public confrontation is rarely the best option. But that's justcclassical Mourinho.

Each manager has his methods, and temperament. I think it's unfair to hold it against Ole that he tried to keep a United front.


I just think that until Woodward, Judge, et al are gone anything else is lipstick on a pig.
My point is it simply makes no sense to defend the manager by blaming the board fully for it when that said manager defends this in public and says he's happy with it either because :

1) he actually agrees to the board strategy
or
2)he was forced to this but didn't complain and is just happy to stick around to not lost a job he never dreamt to get even the board is fecking up the team for him.

Both situations don't deserve any defense for the manager as he didn't help his case and he's as to blame for the end result as the board. I think that's kinda logical.
 

Dr. Dwayne

Self proclaimed tagline king.
Joined
May 9, 2006
Messages
97,251
Location
Nearer my Cas, to thee
We're not going to shift any mediocre players with Woodward in charge. His ego is too big to accept taking a loss on all of his ignorant purchases.
 

devilish

Juventus fan who used to support United
Joined
Sep 5, 2002
Messages
61,519
.

Exactly, but considering this and the state of our squad, there is no doubt too much responsibility is placed on Ole. Of course he (Ole) is partly at fault for our awful form, but putting all the blame square on him is unfair and naive. Any other manager would still have to contend with a lacking structure and a shite squad.

If this was 2014 i would have wanted Ole gone yesterday, but the truth is we have been awful for years now, we have been chopping and changing managers and it has not magically fixed us. And by the way, i would have said the same if we had literally any other manager with the same results. I wanted Moyes gone because he took the league champions and made them into a joke, i was ambivalent to LvG being sacked because i think he did fine even though our football was dull as feck, i really did not want Jose gone, but there was really not any choice since he was in full meltdown

Now though? We have burned through decorated coaches for fun, yet the underlying problems are still there and i firmly believe that changing managers wont do much unless there are profound changes both in club structure and in the squad



Yeah this is where i am at as well. I just find it baffling that Woody and co are going to outlast their 4th manager in 6 years by the looks of it, yet it is the manager yet again who has to take the fall. If we were a well run club with a competent squad there would be no excuses, but there are so many other problems besides the manager that needs solving. Woody has played us all and if he can just keep blaming and sacking managers with impunity then we will go nowhere



The difference was that Moyes took over a squad that had just walked the league and had multiple PL and CL winners in it. Ole took over a squad in full meltdown, had a miraculous winning streak, before it went back to full meltdown. Imo, there is something seriously wrong with the mentality of many of our current players. Of course they should beat Astana and Rochdale comfortably, but is the responsibility on those pathetic performances on coaching alone?

You dont go on a 12 game winning streak on luck alone, and during that period it was all smiles and joy and it seemed everyone in the squad had something to say about how great it was to play under Ole. Then we went from that to this. What the feck happned? Did Ole tell them to start playing like fannies? Did he tell them to blast every long range effort into row z? Did he tell them to misplace simple 10 yard passes or spend an eternity trapping a simple ball? Did he tell them to miss penalties and sitter after sitter while we concede soft goals because they are to busy scratching their arses?

The fact is that we have had good control in the majority of the matches this season, but have failed badly in key moments again and again.
I am not putting the blame squarely on Ole. No one is. However don't tell me that even with the present squad we should be in such a mess. Don't tell me that we should be struggling to beat Newcastle, Rochdale and Astana.

Ole is simply out of depth. His tactics are nearly non existent, he has no plan b and his reluctance to watch outside the EPL means that the massive rebuild we need is going to be extremely expensive if not impossible . This guy couldn't hack it at Cardiff. Its evident that United is far too big to him.

So let's do the necessary restructuring by starting in appointing Mou's successor. 18 months of non management is simply too much
 

devilish

Juventus fan who used to support United
Joined
Sep 5, 2002
Messages
61,519
Carrick is not the assistant manager. The vastly experienced Phelan is. We definitely had alternatives to Longstaff. The manager just didn't like them.
So the manager couldn't come out with an alternative to the great longstaff? It was either him or no one sort of thing?

Also what was this vastly experienced assistant doing prior to United's appointment. Cause if he was rotting in some small club in let's say Australia then rather then an experience he is more of a dinasour
 

Hawks2008

Full Member
Joined
Mar 11, 2015
Messages
4,912
Location
Melbz
It may not have been Ole who leaked it. If anything Ole has been willing to own up to his poor decisions even when fans are willing to give him an easy way out and put it on the board. Was more likely someone else on his team. Even Phelan would be a bigger suspect. Who else but him and Carrick are up for the sack? It's not really a long suspect list
These leaks have happened with every coach since Sir Alex retired and Carrick has been a constant throughout this time. Always felt it was a very senior player leaking during LVG tenure and now it comes from a member of the coaching staff allegedly. Not hard to believe he has a few friends in the media either.
 

redIndianDevil

Full Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2017
Messages
3,633
I get what you're saying, but you're going after the symptom, not the disease. You can't just get rid of Ole and pray for the best. Whatever happens next should be part of a plan.

If the conditions that allow for random appointment of managers and mediocre players are not changed any manager that comes is going to look out of depth.
The only mistake that the board/Woodward does from my point of view is not appointing decent managers and a DoF, they have spent money(not crazily like the middle east owners), if by luck they manage to get a good manager, I'm pretty sure they'd back them if the said manager shows some improvement.
 

Bobcat

Full Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2014
Messages
6,365
Location
Behind the curtains, leering at the neighbors
Not all blame should be on Ole but most of it should go on the manager. He is the one setting up the team, he's the on training the team day in day out.

Yes the 12 game streak was blind luck and the "new manager bounce", all managers take some time to coach a squad(Neither Guardiola not Klopp magically coached their teams to play like they do now overnight), how come Ole alone can transform a squad overnight?

Do you know why City's team pass quickly like they do without making mistakes, it's because they train and practise rondos in every training session, you can look at many of Guardiola's interviews, training rondos is one of the most important routines for his style of football, that is why City are so good at walking the ball into the net. Again look at Liverpool's pressing, their pressing is very well organized, that again comes from daily training, that pressing is Klopp's trademark, he trains all of his team to play that way. Does Ole do any of this? What type of football are we playing?

Also the "good control" that you say we had in our games is not correct, we had possession that's because that's exactly what the opposition want us to do, also no we are not missing "sitter after sitters", we miss one/two chances at best in the entire 90 minutes, most good teams, even City need to create 10-12 to score 2-3 goals. The fact that our team is capable of creating 1-2 chances the entire game is down to Ole's coaching or the lack of it.
  • Klopp and Guardiola are proably the best modern managers in this age. Any manager will look poor in comparison
  • The difference between the squads and club structure between us and them is massive. Granted the squad Klopp inherited was not full of world beaters, but at least it was functioning and had decent cover in most positions
  • I never said Ole transformed the squad overnight, but i just think its incredibly strange we went from complete shit (Jose's last run), to amazing, to complete shit again in the span of a couple of months. Why? Did Ole tell them to stop doing what was working and start doing something that was not?
  • His tactics is something like this:
  • And no, we dont create loads, we really struggle to create, but that does not change the fact that we seem to miss at least one or two huge chances every single game. Most of this imo is down to Pogba and Martial being out, but also Rashford being utterly gash for pretty much the whole season.

I am not putting the blame squarely on Ole. No one is. However don't tell me that even with the present squad we should be in such a mess. Don't tell me that we should be struggling to beat Newcastle, Rochdale and Astana.

Ole is simply out of depth. His tactics are nearly non existent, he has no plan b and his reluctance to watch outside the EPL means that the massive rebuild we need is going to be extremely expensive if not impossible . This guy couldn't hack it at Cardiff. Its evident that United is far too big to him.

So let's do the necessary restructuring by starting in appointing Mou's successor. 18 months of non management is simply too much
No we should not, but the manager coaches the players, picks the squad and sets them up, but once the ref blows the whistle, there is really not much he can do other than bark orders at them and make subs. Of course armchair managers with the power of hindsight can sit and say that "x player should have played when y was terrible", but what i saw in all those games were players who were hiding, fecked up basic stuff, took zero responsibility (with the exception of McTomminay) and displayed a shocking lack of ability considering the wages we pay them. For reference, James has looked like our best attacker this season and he played in the Championship last year. That is pretty damning for our supposed "star players" if you ask me

And the plan B stuff that gets thrown around is not really a big deal imo. Klopp and Pep are purists, they dont have a plan B. Most plan B's are really just putting a big guy up front and playing long/high, but we dont have the personnel for that since only Pogba can hit those passes and we dont have a big, bulky CF (we had, but he was awful at that)

To be perfectly honest, i dont oppose a change in managers as long as we get someone with a long term vision, but considering our last 6 years i honestly dont think a change in managers will do us much good in the long term. This season we have conceded only 0.60 goals pr game on average, which is one of the best defensive records in Europe. Once we get Martial/Pogba back and Rashford remembers to play football i am confident many of those 0-1 losses and 0-0 draws will turn into wins

I want to see what we do in the January window. If we get no one and still look as dire as we do now, then he has to go, but until then my torch and pitchfork stays in my shed
 

devilish

Juventus fan who used to support United
Joined
Sep 5, 2002
Messages
61,519
  • Klopp and Guardiola are proably the best modern managers in this age. Any manager will look poor in comparison
  • The difference between the squads and club structure between us and them is massive. Granted the squad Klopp inherited was not full of world beaters, but at least it was functioning and had decent cover in most positions
  • I never said Ole transformed the squad overnight, but i just think its incredibly strange we went from complete shit (Jose's last run), to amazing, to complete shit again in the span of a couple of months. Why? Did Ole tell them to stop doing what was working and start doing something that was not?
  • His tactics is something like this:
  • And no, we dont create loads, we really struggle to create, but that does not change the fact that we seem to miss at least one or two huge chances every single game. Most of this imo is down to Pogba and Martial being out, but also Rashford being utterly gash for pretty much the whole season.


No we should not, but the manager coaches the players, picks the squad and sets them up, but once the ref blows the whistle, there is really not much he can do other than bark orders at them and make subs. Of course armchair managers with the power of hindsight can sit and say that "x player should have played when y was terrible", but what i saw in all those games were players who were hiding, fecked up basic stuff, took zero responsibility (with the exception of McTomminay) and displayed a shocking lack of ability considering the wages we pay them. For reference, James has looked like our best attacker this season and he played in the Championship last year. That is pretty damning for our supposed "star players" if you ask me

And the plan B stuff that gets thrown around is not really a big deal imo. Klopp and Pep are purists, they dont have a plan B. Most plan B's are really just putting a big guy up front and playing long/high, but we dont have the personnel for that since only Pogba can hit those passes and we dont have a big, bulky CF (we had, but he was awful at that)

To be perfectly honest, i dont oppose a change in managers as long as we get someone with a long term vision, but considering our last 6 years i honestly dont think a change in managers will do us much good in the long term. This season we have conceded only 0.60 goals pr game on average, which is one of the best defensive records in Europe. Once we get Martial/Pogba back and Rashford remembers to play football i am confident many of those 0-1 losses and 0-0 draws will turn into wins

I want to see what we do in the January window. If we get no one and still look as dire as we do now, then he has to go, but until then my torch and pitchfork stays in my shed
We all know what a top manager can do to a side. We had Sir Alex for more than 2 decades. So let's cut the BS shall we?

There is nothing to be ashamed of not being united level. 99.9% of people are on that sama boat. With football being modernised and roles being fragmented that rate is going higher by the minute. I dare to say that there is no one in football who is able to do the job sir Alex did. Its a 2-3 man job now

Which makes it silly to give it to an amateur manager who was out of depth even at cardiff
 

Jaqen H'ghar

I can't drive...55
Joined
Aug 26, 2015
Messages
1,409
My point is it simply makes no sense to defend the manager by blaming the board fully for it when that said manager defends this in public and says he's happy with it either because :

1) he actually agrees to the board strategy
or
2)he was forced to this but didn't complain and is just happy to stick around to not lost a job he never dreamt to get even the board is fecking up the team for him.

Both situations don't deserve any defense for the manager as he didn't help his case and he's as to blame for the end result as the board. I think that's kinda logical.
You agree, if I understood your points correctly, that it's mainly the board at fault and Ole guilty at worst by association.

We gain nothing if a manager comes in and publicly butts heads with the board, the board will win every time.

Serious question:, say Ole was sacked today, What next?

By the way, how should I pronounce your username, is it العميل or العامل?
 

Jaqen H'ghar

I can't drive...55
Joined
Aug 26, 2015
Messages
1,409
The only mistake that the board/Woodward does from my point of view is not appointing decent managers and a DoF, they have spent money(not crazily like the middle east owners), if by luck they manage to get a good manager, I'm pretty sure they'd back them if the said manager shows some improvement.
David Moyes got only Fellini in the transfer window, then Mata in winter. There's another thread around here from an interview where LvG is complaining he wasn't fully backed. Mourinho voiced his grievances while he was still manager. This board hasn't backed the managers.


They've spent money but very unwisely. Fellini for more than his release clause, Herrera, it took them 2 windows to pay a release clause. Now he leaves on a free. Almost every player we've bought they've paid more than market value, high wages, and so struggle to move on useless players. They're even paying Sanchez to play somewhere else. This board is a joke.
 

devilish

Juventus fan who used to support United
Joined
Sep 5, 2002
Messages
61,519
So Longstaff was the only midfielder in the world that Ole could identify. After that we had to walk away when finding out that the asking price was too much and gave up trying for anyone else.

Poor Ole my heart bleeds!
Ole is surely longstaffing united badly
 

Greck

Full Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2016
Messages
7,099
David Moyes got only Fellini in the transfer window, then Mata in winter. There's another thread around here from an interview where LvG is complaining he wasn't fully backed. Mourinho voiced his grievances while he was still manager. This board hasn't backed the managers.


They've spent money but very unwisely. Fellini for more than his release clause, Herrera, it took them 2 windows to pay a release clause. Now he leaves on a free. Almost every player we've bought they've paid more than market value, high wages, and so struggle to move on useless players. They're even paying Sanchez to play somewhere else. This board is a joke.
What does 'wasn't backed' mean in LVG's case? Let's talk specifics instead of using that buzz phrase. LVG said he thought we could sign any player which anyone who had been supporting United knew was never true even under Fergie. Players rejected us under SAF in huge numbers. We've never really been a sexy destination for continental footballers. Di Maria was the highest profile galactico we ever bought and he still found a way to complain about that. So what exactly did he want?

Jose I maintain to this day had to go. He wanted to employ a transfer policy no European club can continue to support. Even Madrid and City don't buy aging players. It's bonkers in the current market. The man is now on skysports for a reason and will be there for the foreseeable future. The football community knows his failings were his and his unemployment is their way of telling him that
 
Last edited:

Jaqen H'ghar

I can't drive...55
Joined
Aug 26, 2015
Messages
1,409
What does 'wasn't backed' mean in LVG's case? Let's talk specifics instead of using that buzz phrase. LVG said he thought we could sign any player which anyone who had been supporting United knew was never true even under Fergie. Players rejected us under SAF in huge numbers. We've never really been a sexy destination for continental footballers. Di Maria was the highest profile galactico we ever bought and he still found a way to complain about that. So what exactly did he want?

Jose I maintain to this day had to go. He wanted to employ a transfer policy no European club can continue to support. Even Madrid and City don't buy aging players. It's bonkers in the current market. The man is now on skysports for a reason and will be there for the foreseeable future. The football community knows his failings were his and his unemployment is their way of telling him that
That's not what they were promised. Ed has made ridiculous claims such as "We can do things in the market others can only dream about" and has continously claimed money is available if the right players became available.
 

Greck

Full Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2016
Messages
7,099
That's not what they were promised. Ed has made ridiculous claims such as "We can do things in the market others can only dream about" and has continously claimed money is available if the right players became available.
Honestly don't care what Ed says in investor calls. (Those were all said in investor calls). It's an opportunity to market the club to new investors and reassure the current ones of the club's welfare. Many people don't know this and think he's just calling some journos to his office to brag
 

Jaqen H'ghar

I can't drive...55
Joined
Aug 26, 2015
Messages
1,409
Honestly don't care what Ed says in investor calls. (Those were all said in investor calls). It's an opportunity to market the club to new investors and reassure the current ones of the club's welfare. Many people don't know this and think he's just calling some journos to his office to brag
The club markets itself through achievement and fan base. It was a European powerhouse and the richest club in the world before he came here. It's neither now.

I'm not all that interested in the finances of the club. He and the Glazers can go do their thing, but I just want to see them appoint some competent football people to take care of football stuff.
 

roseguy64

Full Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2010
Messages
12,172
Location
Jamaica
So the manager couldn't come out with an alternative to the great longstaff? It was either him or no one sort of thing?

Also what was this vastly experienced assistant doing prior to United's appointment. Cause if he was rotting in some small club in let's say Australia then rather then an experience he is more of a dinasour
I'm sure you can use Google or another search engine to find out what Phelan was doing.
 

redshaw

Full Member
Joined
Jul 17, 2015
Messages
9,586
That's not what they were promised. Ed has made ridiculous claims such as "We can do things in the market others can only dream about" and has continously claimed money is available if the right players became available.
In reality it was "We can do things in the transfer market others would have nightmares about".

Imagine you're running a PL club and you have a dream you spent 50 million pounds sterling on Fred from the Ukrainian league or you buy Rojo instead of Toby or Vertonghen or zillion other better players. Or you pay Bastian 200-250k a week who is overweight injured and past it before you even sign him.
 

redIndianDevil

Full Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2017
Messages
3,633
  • Klopp and Guardiola are proably the best modern managers in this age. Any manager will look poor in comparison
  • The difference between the squads and club structure between us and them is massive. Granted the squad Klopp inherited was not full of world beaters, but at least it was functioning and had decent cover in most positions
  • I never said Ole transformed the squad overnight, but i just think its incredibly strange we went from complete shit (Jose's last run), to amazing, to complete shit again in the span of a couple of months. Why? Did Ole tell them to stop doing what was working and start doing something that was not?
  • His tactics is something like this:
  • And no, we dont create loads, we really struggle to create, but that does not change the fact that we seem to miss at least one or two huge chances every single game. Most of this imo is down to Pogba and Martial being out, but also Rashford being utterly gash for pretty much the whole season
I'm not comparing Ole with Guardiola or Klopp, I'm saying even those managers took some time to implement their tactics, the initial run we had was never due to Ole because he never had the time to do any coaching, the good run was because the players finally felt unshackled from the negative atmosphere Mourinho created, it happens all the time with relegation fighting clubs - new crap manager comes in, suddenly the team plays well, escapes relegation and next year it's back to relegation fighting.

If you watch City or any other top team, you would see that their players miss so many good chances but still score goals because they create so many chances through good tactics, we create at best 1 or 2 chances and when our players fluffs that chance it looks like huge miss because that one or two are the only chances that we create the entire game.
 

redIndianDevil

Full Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2017
Messages
3,633
David Moyes got only Fellini in the transfer window, then Mata in winter. There's another thread around here from an interview where LvG is complaining he wasn't fully backed. Mourinho voiced his grievances while he was still manager. This board hasn't backed the managers.


They've spent money but very unwisely. Fellini for more than his release clause, Herrera, it took them 2 windows to pay a release clause. Now he leaves on a free. Almost every player we've bought they've paid more than market value, high wages, and so struggle to move on useless players. They're even paying Sanchez to play somewhere else. This board is a joke.
Moyes fecked up the transfer window because he was busy chasing Kroos and Fabregas for most of the transfer window and finally panicked and decided to buy Fellaini for more money. That car crash of a window was due to Moyes.

LvG was backed completely, we bought a bunch of players that he wanted and he simply couldn't coach the team properly or choose proper players.

Mourinho is an absolute cnut and has only time to voice his "grievances", he spent shitloads of money, he was the reason we bought in the useless Sanchez. He was rightly not backed in his last year, the only mistake the board made was not firing him after the Sevilla post match interview.