Are you confident of success in the INEOS era?

We need whoever Liverpool appoint to be awful and we need City done for the 115 charges.

Whilst that's happening we need to completely reinvent the wheel at OT.

So absolutely not.
 
If they really do their thing and make the unpopular decisions (sacking Ten Hag, selling Rashford, turning more academy players into regular firs team players instead of buying expensive mercenaries on their last legs or foreign players that are not good enough for the PL) then yes, absolutely.

If they try to sugercoat shit (We have to stick by the manager, Rashford is our local lad, Antony can still make it etc.) then they will fail miserably. It would just be a continuation of things under a new regime.

We will see in the next months and year. I'd say after the January 2025 transfer window we'll know what their intent really is and how big their balls are.
 
We have a lacked proper structure for so long that i do feel we're on the right track by recruiting proper football people to run the club.

With Klopp gone and many European clubs not at the top of their game, i feel like in 2-3 years we can return to being relative by constantly competing.

I do agree, however, that the first 2-3 years should be a transitional phase with most of the squad being overhauled, and potentially a managerial change too.

In conclusion, feck Paul Merson.
 
No, not confident in anything regarding the club. But they've done a good job so far and more than the Glazers have in the last decade and probably longer. I'm happy with their approach so far.
 
With Klopp leaving and Guardiola likely to leave in a couple of years, I think it gives us a great chance to get ourselves back in the mix.
 
Titles are never a guarantee, there is also an element of luck involved. I don't have any doubt that the club will now be run a million times better than it was before though and that at least gives us a chance which I don't think we've had the last few years.
 
The right answer to what? None of them, nor yourself, even attempted to answer the question

What Merson said wasn't the question
It kinda was. Your OP was framed as ‘Merson said this, do you agree?’
My answer was ‘No I don’t agree with the useless mouthy reprobate. I agree with these posters who are clear that Merson is a cnut.’

As for United - yes I believe Sir Jim is in a hurry and will do what it takes to make our appointments best in class. Therefore I am confident we will win the league in the next 5 years. I also expect Liverpool to flounder somewhat without Klopp. This will help.
 
Merson said we're a gillion miles off City. He's not exactly wrong :lol: City are so well run I don't see us catching them even if Pep leaves they'll hire someone amazing and just keep going. I'd bet my house that we don't win the league in the next 5 years.
 
With Klopp leaving and Guardiola likely to leave in a couple of years, I think it gives us a great chance to get ourselves back in the mix.
Will the club target that period in 3-4 years though and change the recruitment standards? Or will they throw cash at short term options hoping for a quick fix? The club is in a broken boom bust cycle.
 
I am more confident and optimistic for the future than at any other point since Fergie retired.
 
Merson said we're a gillion miles off City. He's not exactly wrong :lol: City are so well run I don't see us catching them even if Pep leaves they'll hire someone amazing and just keep going. I'd bet my house that we don't win the league in the next 5 years.
I wouldn’t put any stock in what Merson or any other person on Sky Sports says - they’re paid to make hyperbole statements, being realistic and making proper analysis would be boring viewing.

Look at Arsenal, until last season I actually thought we would win the title before Arsenal would, but it just shows how quickly football changes. A few good signings and the right manager appointment can make a huge difference. City won’t be great forever, we’re proof that having lots of money is not a panacea in football. Barca were well run for 15 years and now they’re a mess.
 
I wouldn’t put any stock in what Merson or any other person on Sky Sports says - they’re paid to make hyperbole statements, being realistic and making proper analysis would be boring viewing.

Look at Arsenal, until last season I actually thought we would win the title before Arsenal would, but it just shows how quickly football changes. A few good signings and the right manager appointment can make a huge difference. City won’t be great forever, we’re proof that having lots of money is not a panacea in football. Barca were well run for 15 years and now they’re a mess.
Well I hope me and Merse are wrong. Maybe we'll get as good as Arsenal currently are but even that's not enough to stop the City Machine. Everyone assuming Pep will leave too which might not even happen
 
I guess it's about expectations. If the Merson metric of league win in 5 years is the bar, then no, how can we be confident in that? We are at the very start of the project and there is a lot of work to be done. At the same time some very tough competitors exist and there's no guarantee they will weaken. City should be banned but probably won't be, and Pool if they don't screw up the appointment seem to have a good base coming through that Klopp is leaving them with. Arsenal look set for a good few years too and there's always the Saudi money and what it might do to Newcastle.

So, confident of league success in 5 years? Nope. What I am relatively confident of though is that we will be back on the road to recovery, we will be making decisions based on sporting criteria more than commercial and with a set of management in place that have experience of success in those positions (rather than accountants, marketing people and sycophants). Things will be getting better, but in the arbitrary 5 year limit I think it might be too soon. Possible, anything is, but not massively likely.
In 10 years though...
 
I’m confident we will be a competently run club again. Hopefully that leads to several transfer windows that in turn lead to a team I like again.
 
So far so good but the speed in which they sack ETH and then appoint a new coach, especially the right coach will determine whether we will succeed, the next coach has to succeed, it took the club 5 full time appointments after Sir Matt to get sir Alex, our next manager will be our 6th full time after Sir Alex, Ineos have to get it right ?
 
Leicester finished 17th then won the league. Chelsea finished 10th then won the league. Man City were taken over in 2008 and won their first title in 2011. Chelsea were taken over in 2003 and won the title the first year in 2004.

Anything is possible in football.
City first won the Premier League in 2012 and Chelsea first won the PL in 2005.
 
Despite everything in the past decade, Utd are still one of the biggest clubs in world football. Frankly I think it will be hard to manage Utd as badly as the Glaziers have managed to do and so I think Ineos will improve us significantly just by virtue of getting qualified people in. As for winning the league, there’s too many variables in play to say definitively, but I’d expect us to be closer to that goal within the next 5 years.
 
No, solely because the manager market is so bad that I see absolutely no one out there who can take us any farther than 3rd or 4th in the next 3-5 years. I'm sure they'll do better than the Glazers though.
I am confident for the opposite reason to this - I don't think the manager is that important as the game evolves. You can probably win things with an average manager and excellent recruitment versus the opposite in today's game.
 
I'm positive. We are apparently getting the right people in and getting a proper management structure. This is the most important thing.

We have some great prospects at the club. If get 7,8 signings right we will have a squad that can compete with everyone. And if EtH is not up to it, there are other managers, who might be. De Zerbi, Zidane, Alonso, Nagelsmann, etc

3 years seems a fair timeline to me. We'll have to get things right this time, but the early signs are good.
 
I have optimism but we need a clear out and a huge directional change. Even then we will likely struggle to win the league.
 
I am confident we will be competent and raise our current base significantly. Trophies wise it's so competitive it's hard to wager how that would turn out.
 
This summer will tell a lot, they could be brilliant in my opinion and get rid of Rashford, Bruno, McTominay, Greenwood etc
Ot they could keep the four above AND bring in Southgate as our next manager.
With the trauma of the last number of years, I’m expecting the worst. Hoping for the best, but expecting the worst
 
I guess it's about expectations. If the Merson metric of league win in 5 years is the bar, then no, how can we be confident in that? We are at the very start of the project and there is a lot of work to be done. At the same time some very tough competitors exist and there's no guarantee they will weaken. City should be banned but probably won't be, and Pool if they don't screw up the appointment seem to have a good base coming through that Klopp is leaving them with. Arsenal look set for a good few years too and there's always the Saudi money and what it might do to Newcastle.

So, confident of league success in 5 years? Nope. What I am relatively confident of though is that we will be back on the road to recovery, we will be making decisions based on sporting criteria more than commercial and with a set of management in place that have experience of success in those positions (rather than accountants, marketing people and sycophants). Things will be getting better, but in the arbitrary 5 year limit I think it might be too soon. Possible, anything is, but not massively likely.
In 10 years though...

Many of you are far overestimating how long it takes to completely turn a club around. It sure as feck isn't a 10 year project.
 
No one can ever see these turn arounds coming. In August 2022, how many thought Arsenal who had finished 8th 2 seasons running will be title contenders for the next two seasons?

The moment Pep goes, the title is open for everyone to win it again. And I dont see why we wouldn't be in that mix.

Exactly this. No-one envisaged the Arsenal turn around.

The right people managing the club and the team, and not getting 9 out of 10 transfers wrong, and it'd automatically be a big improvement.
 
I'll wait until after the honeymoon period is over. You can't judge anybody in their first few months. Your sorting stuff out, bedding yourself in. Give it an end of year review, see where we are.
 
I'm a bit sceptical in principle and reports of going after Zidane dont fill me with confidence.
If woodward was in charge I have no doubt zidane would be his top candidate and it'd be completely stupid to abandon yet another rebuild 18 months in to go in a completely different direction.
Ineos weren't here 18 months ago so its hard to hold them to that plan though. They have the pick the direction they think is best and stick to it and have confidence in it. But that potentially puts us back at square 1. Again. And they might think a more direct, off the cuff, individual inspired team can still be successful today. But I dont really.
I'm pretty supportive of ETH in general because he's trying to play the kind of football I think will bring us success. His time seems to be up and I doubt he can turn the momentum around from here but i'd like them to stick things like playing a high line and working the ball out from the back and pressing high up the pitch. Zidane is a great manager but would be a step backwards on that front in my opinion. And i think it'd probably take 18 months of excellent transfers for Zidane to have success and it'd probably be the same old shit in the mean time.
 
Many of you are far overestimating how long it takes to completely turn a club around. It sure as feck isn't a 10 year project.
I agree wholeheartedly, as poor as this squad is when putting ETH's vision into reality there is talent in it, a manager playing to the strengths of the squad and trying to mitigate the weaknesses would be getting a much better tune out of this squad, we have a better squad than the majority of teams in the PL but we play like one of the worst, relying on being rescued by individual brilliance .

Short term another manager would have this club pushing for top 4 this season, Conte, Ancelotti etc...

Medium term (1 transfer window) with the right manager signing a reliable centre mid to replace Casemiro, a reliable CB to shore up the defence and reliable LB to cover for Shaw (we have Bayindir so would be happy to see him play for Onana) would see us 4th

Long term (2 - 3 seasons) changing the team to a manager's style in order to push for 3rd and up

It is all about making the right choices (for me ETH has shown incapable of this)
 
Stranger things have happened, but I'd be shocked if we won the league any time soon.

Wholesale changes are needed- the majority of the squad overhauled in the next few seasons and a new manager. The ETH experiment should officially be considered failed at this point.

The first real goal isn't winning the league, but just getting back to old level of being a perennial Champions League club and always within shouting distance of the top.
 
Think we will know more by summer. I'll personally be really disappointed if we begin.this rebuild with ten hag. A bad start on this will add years to those numbers
 
We need to fill in the injury spaces. CM LB and CB. We need a back up striker. If we can work towards filling those places with intense hardworking players that actually improve us instead of padding the squad thats pretty much the squad sorted bar stumbling onto a few superior match winners in place of Bruno Rashford and Antony. For that I think we should take the Real route or do what we did with Rasmus. Grab a few of the best 18- 20 year olds in the game and develop them
 
Confident no. But they're making some moves that I like so far. I thought they'd do very little so at least there signs of something changing.
 
We can’t really do any worse than we have done. The previous management was as bad as it can get, so the only way is up.
 
I'm neutral, because it's too early to tell. This summer will be indicative. Talking the talk and walking the walk are two very different things. I don't think we are challenging anytime soon either way.
 
The early moves they’ve made have made me a bit confident. We’ve got a big summer coming up in terms of incomings, outgoings, recruitment staff, manager.
 
I'm neutral, because it's too early to tell. This summer will be indicative. Talking the talk and walking the walk are two very different things. I don't think we are challenging anytime soon either way.
It took city 2 years to consistently challenge with pep. However i think they already had a structure in place didn’t they. If we get the right team in this summer and the right manager if we are indeed looking to change, then I’d say 2/3 years should be when we’re back at our best.