Beyond the hype and the hope, why is this time different?

[fastwalker]

If first impressions are anything to go by, Erik Ten Hag seems to be doing all the right things so far. Not only has he cancelled his holiday to start work early, if reports are to believed he has identified some of his transfer targets and given some indication of those who may not be part of his plans. All things considered ETH seems to be getting to grips with the task and my goodness he needs to, because this is going to be a gargantuan job. There is a genuine sense of optimism at the club and if the response of our rivals is anything to go by, we may have finally appointed the manager to turn this tanker around.

Whilst my optimism is within my gift I am also a logician. As it stands ETH has achieved absolutely nothing at United.

If the truth be told I remember exactly the same sense of excitement when Van Gaal and Mourinho were appointed. I was not initially as excited by Ole's appointment, but after his early record breaking run I was soon converted. Upon Ole's departure, I quickly drank the Ralf Rangnick Kool-Aid, believing that if we were appointing the gegenpress meister, the mentor of Klopp and Tuchel, what could possibly go wrong? Well the rest is history, because I have been wrong , wrong and wrong again. When it comes down to it, I have no idea why I am more optimistic this time, other than the fact, that the alternative is inconceivable.

So beyond the hype and the hope, why do you think that it will be different this time?

 

[IrishRedDevil]

Blind faith.

 

[DWelbz19]

Blind faith.

Don’t think Senior or Junior are joining this time around

 

[pratyush_utd]

So what other option do you have? Have faith and be in good spirits when new season start or be miserable till then because it hasn’t worked out till now?

Things have changed on paper when you look from outside but only time will tell if its good enough

 

[Tarrou]

It’s pretty clear there’s been a major change in direction

whether it works or not, only time will tell

 

[Fooza]

Think it's more of a hope that Richard Arnold will change the culture of the club for the better. If ETH had been appointed under Woodward with nothing else changing, I'd expect no difference.

 

[Crashoutcassius]

We should be heading in a better direction. Beyond that who knows

 

[EtH]

First manager we’ve hired with ideas in his pomp since Fergie. Club structure turned on its head as well.

 

[MrSingh2002]

An inflection point can only be when there's enough people in important positions making the correct decisions.

I'd suggest in Rangnick, Ten Hag and Murtough we're now the closest we've been since Fergie left.

IF those guys can outperform the Glazers bad decisions then we can improve.

Are we there yet? I don't know and time will tell.

 

[sullydnl]

The hope should be less to do with the manager and more to do with the idea that Arnold, Murtough, Fletcher, Rangnick, et al must surely be able to pull together a more coherent background structure than Woodward managed.

The way the club is run has been the problem since SAF left and now at least we have new people running the football side of the club and making some changes. For that reason ETH marks a new beginning as the first manager appointed under this regime, we just have to see if the changes they make are good enough.

 

[Tavern in the town]

First time we’ve appointed a manager with modern tactical ideas.

 

[elnorte]

Spoiler

It won't be

 

[clarkydaz]

No Woodward or Judge. Better than any signing

 

[calodo2003]

First time we’ve appointed a manager with modern tactical ideas.

No Woodward or Judge. Better than any signing

These.

 

[choccy77]

No Ed

No Judge

No Pogba

No Lingard

No Jones

That's a pretty good reason

 

[In Rainbows]

First time we’ve appointed a manager with modern tactical ideas.

I would add "good" before manager too because Ralf might have had the ideas, but wasn't a good manager.

All the others were dinosaurs in terms of ideas. ETH at least is a type of manager we haven't tried up to now.

 

[OleGunnar20]

First time we’ve appointed a manager with modern tactical ideas.

No Woodward or Judge. Better than any signing

These.

Yep, those, pretty much.

 

[Paul the Wolf]

For the first time since Fergie I have the impression that we may have a manager who is strong enough in character and determined to be a success plus the background seems to have changed. Not only Fergie left but David Gill left at the same time. Finally we seem to be putting that right.
Moyes was so far out of his depth, LVG panicked, Mourinho was only here for himself. Ole to begin with there was hope but he was too loyal, not hard enough, ran out of ideas and panicked. Rangnick was a stop gap but could never have the authority as the players knew it was only temporary. If that stop-gap meant sacrificing this season waiting for the right person, all well and good.

Nobody knows either way but if he can get us playing as a team instead of eleven individuals and has respect from the players then we'll have a chance of regaining our status. Any player who doesn't want it can go. And we don't have to sign vastly over-rated expensive players. We have plenty of very good players, just the wrong mentality. And it has to start from the back, our defence is a shambles.

 

[Bulldog United]

No Ed

No Judge

No Pogba

No Lingard

No Jones

That's a pretty good reason

Those are all good reasons why I'm optimistic good things are coming.

 

[Stobzilla]

No Woodward.
No Judge.
Workaholic head coach in their prime with a vision.

 

[The United]

I would wait until his second season to see if he can turn us around for sure. We all have been burnt before repeatedly.

I really don't get people getting too excited or defensive about managers in the first few months or even in their first season.

 

[Flying high]

I think we'll have a good idea before the season starts. If we blow our budget on 3 players then we'll just be back where we were.

Honestly, I'm not very optimistic at this point. Despite some promising signs.

 

[wolvored]

The change with the board the fact were going with a progressive manager. Everything thats happening is a new beginning and everyone should have a positive vibe, as surely the only way is up.

 

[Rozay]

It’s not different until it is in reality. But we are hopeful.

 

[Kill 'em all]

Realistically, results will be worse before they get better unless he has a very surprising start. His style of play is much harder to coach than any manager we've had so far. LVG tried to coach this kind of approach but it didn't work out in the end.

Things inside the club are changing at the moment. Key positions are being replaced and it seems that we have finally realised that the problem is not just the players or the manager.

Time will tell.

 

[glazed]

So beyond the hype and the hope, why do you think that it will be different this time?

Because this time if the club does not achieve on field success then the Glazer's will lose a lot of money. And they know it.

 

[hobbers]

Whilst my optimism is within my gift I am also a logician. As it stands ETH has achieved absolutely nothing at United.

If the truth be told I remember exactly the same sense of excitement when Van Gaal and Mourinho were appointed. I was not initially as excited by Ole's appointment, but after his early record breaking run I was soon converted. Upon Ole's departure, I quickly drank the Ralf Rangnick Kool-Aid, believing that if we were appointing the gegenpress meister, the mentor of Klopp and Tuchel, what could possibly go wrong? Well the rest is history, because I have been wrong , wrong and wrong again. When it comes down to it, I have no idea why I am more optimistic this time, other than the fact, that the alternative is inconceivable.

So beyond the hype and the hope, why do you think that it will be different this time?

Firstly no manager has ever achieved anything at the club they're going to before they go to them.

There were reasons to be excited about LVG and Mourinho but sensible people still saw the warning signs. LVG was old, retiring soon, coming from international management not club, and clearly past his best as a manager. Mourinho was coming from his worst ever season in management where he had an enormous meltdown. What offset that was the excitement over the galactico signings in their first summers.

Everyone with a shred of sense knew it was stupid to give Ole a permanent deal prematurely. Obviously all fans tend to delude themselves about things to different degrees. Most knew Ole had no coaching ability or tactical nous. We knew AWB and Maguire were awful signings for the fees and for a progressive brand of football. Some just kept quiet and hoped, and some actively deluded themselves.

And again with Rangnick, sensible people knew not to expect miracles from someone coming in who hadnt managed a club for ages and would have no real authority over the squad. If we wanted to save this season we had to hire Conte when we had the chance, and since we didnt this season was forfeit.

 

[caid]

We just seem to be going in a different direction generally. Its different people, with a different negotiating team in a semi rational football structure (10 years after we needed it).
It might not work out but doing more of the same clearly wouldn't so i'll take it.
Contracts ending and players being payed to play for other teams on loan should presumably force us to make a lot of squad changes this summer too which is a positive for much the same reason.

 

[NoPace]

Impossible to say if he'll succeed or not, but getting in a manager who wants us to have the ball and run and link up play will be good for clearing out the deadwood of the squad and bringing up and bringing in young players. And the club has a lot of money. So I'd say hype is probably a bit silly but hope is back on the menu, boys.

 

[Andersonson]

First manager we’ve hired with ideas in his pomp since Fergie. Club structure turned on its head as well.

Piss take this. Ideas every 3 years takes time. If dont let Mourinho buy his type of players why is it different with ETH?

LvG had his ideas so had Ole and so had Mourinho. ETH will be no more successful than the rest. Is it all down to him? No, we have the same owners and the same ambitions. Top 4

 

[dubplate warrior]

First manager we’ve hired with ideas in his pomp since Fergie. Club structure turned on its head as well.

This.

 

[Utuhu]

A clear cut modern football tactician of a young manager and a mini exits of some toxic figures in the dressing room.

 

[marktan]

Nobody knows. We'll see in about 6 months time.

 

[Yakuza_devils]

1) Finally we have world top 5 modern attacking coach: Pep, Klopp, Nagelsmann, Tuchel and ETH.

2) We have established a football structure in the club supporting the manager with Murtough, Rangnick and team. Jury is still out but at least we have some structure set up.

3) The club acknowledged player's power problems, player's discipline issues, psychology/motivation issues and fitness issues that need addressing to form a competent and cohesive team.

4) Modernising in many department scouting, youth, style of play, psychology, medicine, nutrition and fitness.

5) The big one has to be the fecking clown Ed is gone. This fecker alone ruined our club the most. It's negligence of the highest order to let a fecking banker running one of the world biggest club in the world with 600 mil fans worldwide. This guy has absolutely no clue at all in football.

Fingers crossed.

 

[edcunited1878]

EtH is a different manager United have hired since Fergie, the fact that he's experienced and he's been at a big club and is coming off consecutive seasons of winning and playing a "modern" way.

I'm addition, there's going to be a massive cull of players which will introduce a freshness to the first team, including EtH, van der Gaag, and McClaren.

Realistically, at least 10-15 players will be shifted this summer:

• Gk (2)
  • Grant, Henderson
• Defender (5)
  • Bailly
  • Jones
  • AwB
  • Williams
  • Tuanzebe
• Midfield (6)
  • Pogba
  • Matic
  • Mata
  • Lingard
  • Pereria
• Forward (2)
  • Cavani
  • Martial

About half are deadwood, but that's a substantial chunk of first team players being replaced by youth and incoming transfers. With the coaching staff that seems to be taking place and the mainstream efforts of Murtough from the scouting revamp and input from Rangnick and Fletcher, Ramsey for the current playing squad....shit is about to get very real.

 

[TsuWave]

No Pogba

No Lingard

No Jones

That's a pretty good reason

All these players barely featured/missed big chunks of the last two seasons and are hardly culpable for United being so shit. Singling them out just feels cheap and ill intentioned.

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

Like we are far from an impossible job. We got money to get good players if we scout well enough.

Our squad has ended 3, 2 and 6/7 recently. Not great, but compared to the squad Newcastle had to work with it is bloody good and look how well Newcastle have done recently with a good coach and some new playerIts.

To progress from our sitation to win the league is not a massive step. It is not like Leicester winning the league. Only issue is Liverpool and City barely dropping points, but if we can raise our level and do well in the head to head games
then we have the ability to do well vs the rest of the league. Given how low this season been we might need one season to improve before we can realistically win it.

 

[Tyrion]

No Woodward.

Plus we have an up and coming manager rather than someone who peaked in a previous decade (or not at all).

 

[Daengophile]

This time around we seems to be taking a view across the board with personnel changes in every field to put in place a style throughout the club

That's a much better approach to hiring the Messiah of the moment and deciding who to buy based on an overinflated price tag and his ability to sell shirts

 

[haru krentz]

It's different because this time the fans had finally woken up and see the real problems in our club: the board and the players. no more spacegoating the managers IF "x", "y" "z" didnt get minutes on the pitch, couldnt be transfered out of club, or given stupid long term new contract. ETH has privilege that both Jose and Ole couldnt afford.