Club ownership | Senior management team talk

[croadyman]

I'll admit, I wasn't Amorim out during the summer at all.

But, when you look at Spurs sacking Ange (after beating us in a final) vs us keeping Amorim and his record, you really do have to question the ambition of the club.

It feels the ambition is as low as they feel the fans will accept, rather than driving the club onward towards being the best.

Sir Jim said that football is the primary focus now... that was a lie.

If football results were the focus:

• You don't start a season with a midfield roster that saw you finish just above relegation with the expectation of doing better.
• You don't start a season without a solid GK option. Then sign a player who has one season in the Belgium league when experienced options are available.
• You don't reject £90m for your captain who is about to be 31 and will be played out of position.
• You don't keep Amorim purely based on results. There HAS to be a minimum standard, even during a "rebuild".

Yeah I only turned after his point blank refusal yesterday to ever change and adapt. I feel very sorry for Ashworth who was proven to be right all along and is laughing at us.

 

[giggs-beckham]

I think we get 3 points from Sunderland but that is hardly enough. I hope the decision has already been made while they try to get someone lined up and in place before Brentford.

LLW the next 3 and he'll probably get another 5 games after Liverpool as he gets a bye against them

 

[Rudi Skacel]

It's actually mental to see that, after nearly two decades of startling mismanagement by the Glazers, they've managed to get into bed with someone just as bad in Ratcliffe.

 

[golden_blunder]

When I'm talking about pace and power along with the technical requirements, I'm mainly focusing on the central midfield and the CBs. I think these are the areas that absolutely require players with specific profiles due to the vulnerabilities that the aforementioned players will face within a system that looks to sacrifice defensive stability for goals in a higher defensive line.

Signing players like Ugarte is the reason we can't play a more expansive game. When you keep buying players who aren't suited to defending on the front foot, along with being weak with their forward passing, then you end up ceding possession and playing in transition.

Whilst I agree with your points, the issue is that Amorim doesn’t seem to be able to get the attack functioning. It acts too slowly and recycles possession too often making it easy for the opponent to defend. He needs to find a solution to this because the ‘win possession high up the pitch and hit them fast’ will not create enough goals in the PL

 

[Martinez4midfield]

Who wants to bet they haven't fired Amorim yet because they don't t want to give Ashford a "win". I'm sorry but Berrada and whoever was behind the Amorim decision should be shown the door.

It's not that complicated, just put the current squad in Ruben's one and only way of playing and ask yourself if you think it's going to work it out well. Everyone saw Casemiro struggling in 3 man midfield so play him in a 2 next to Bruno? Really? Wingbacks? Hello?

Christ just follow Liverpool's lead. There was a guy on their own payroll who was telling them it was a bad idea ffs. It's just such gross incompetence. It's not just a mistake, it's really going out of your way to make a stupid decision. The kicker is they are always crying poverty, so they go with the manager that would need the most squad investment by far.

 

[Adnan]

Whilst I agree with your points, the issue is that Amorim doesn’t seem to be able to get the attack functioning. It acts too slowly and recycles possession too often making it easy for the opponent to defend. He needs to find a solution to this because the ‘win possession high up the pitch and hit them fast’ will not create enough goals in the PL

Tbh with you GB, I think the writing is on the wall as things stand. I can't see how he survives unless he can win some games back to back pretty quickly which might give him a bit of a reprieve in the short-term.

 

[davidmichael]

Tbh with you GB, I think the writing is on the wall as things stand. I can't see how he survives unless he can win some games back to back pretty quickly which might give him a bit of a reprieve in the short-term.

Problem with that mate is that Amorim has never once won back to back games in the league and only 4 wins against non relegated teams from 31 games as a whole, suddenly winning back to back games on a consistent basis quickly unfortunately is highly unlikely especially seeing as he publicly flat out refuses to change anything on the pitch and made it clear it’s his system or nothing.

 

[Bastian]

The squad is obviously better than what we're seeing at the moment. But this is not a CL qualifying squad. If that's what Berrada and Wilcox think, with Bruno in midfield and not one top class centre midfielder in the whole team, playing 343 with very little attacking potency at wing back, they are completely clueless.

The revamp needs revamping.

 

[dinostar77]

The squad is obviously better than what we're seeing at the moment. But this is not a CL qualifying squad. If that's what Berrada and Wilcox think, with Bruno in midfield and not one top class centre midfielder in the whole team, playing 343 with very little attacking potency at wing back, they are completely clueless.

The revamp needs revamping.

Ratcliffe should call Amorim out. Tell him to play 433 for a few games or he's fired

 

[Uncle Mainoo]

The squad is obviously better than what we're seeing at the moment. But this is not a CL qualifying squad. If that's what Berrada and Wilcox think, with Bruno in midfield and not one top class centre midfielder in the whole team, playing 343 with very little attacking potency at wing back, they are completely clueless.

The revamp needs revamping.

Switch the formation it works. Keep the formation it doesn’t work. McFred and Bruno got us top 4 two seasons in a row. The league is weaker than it was then or the top teams are a lot more even shall I say.

So it’s not a crazy ask.. the craziest ask is believe the man in charge can do it with the tools you’ve provided him. Maybe give him players for his system to work.

 

[lilcurt]

Yeah I only turned after his point blank refusal yesterday to ever change and adapt. I feel very sorry for Ashworth who was proven to be right all along and is laughing at us.

I wouldn't go that far. Ashworth wanted Southgate.

I don't think Amorim was the wrong choice by the board. His body of work justified he may be able to transition and bring success here. Sometimes things just don't work out though.

Whenever we do replace Amorim, its vital we get a manager with solid Premier League experience.

 

[Bastian]

Ratcliffe should call Amorim out. Tell him to play 433 for a few games or he's fired

If Amorim starts playing 4231/433 after piling up that hill on which to die on with his 343, he's lost face. He's in too deep. He's said too many times that he won't change. I know he had a complete meltdown after Grimsby and had to walk that back, but if that's a recurring theme with the head coach then nothing he says will have any meaning, which is crazy.

The obvious thing to do here is sort out the new guy to lead the team and bring in competency around him, i.e. go back to square 1 albeit having shed some players that is good to be rid of and having acquired some who look the part, so slightly better positioned.

 

[Bastian]

I wouldn't go that far. Ashworth wanted Southgate.

I don't think Amorim was the wrong choice by the board. His body of work justified he may be able to transition and bring success here. Sometimes things just don't work out though.

Whenever we do replace Amorim, its vital we get a manager with solid Premier League experience.

This gets said a lot and I believed it back when Ashworth was sacked, but since there's more reporting on him actually wanting Howe or Frank. It was the PED guru who wanted Southgate.

 

[Adnan]

Problem with that mate is that Amorim has never once won back to back games in the league and only 4 wins against non relegated teams from 31 games as a whole, suddenly winning back to back games on a consistent basis quickly unfortunately is highly unlikely especially seeing as he publicly flat out refuses to change anything on the pitch and made it clear it’s his system or nothing.

It's not looking good mate.

Even he doesn’t want to change formation, I think if he tried a midfield two of Mainoo and Casemiro it might yield better results in the short-term. Mainoo is a young midfielder who can receive the ball under pressure.

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

I wouldn't go that far. Ashworth wanted Southgate.

I don't think Amorim was the wrong choice by the board. His body of work justified he may be able to transition and bring success here. Sometimes things just don't work out though.

Whenever we do replace Amorim, its vital we get a manager with solid Premier League experience.

I mean I'm a Chelsea supporter for feck's sake and I know that this is nonsense. Why is this misinformation so pervasive within the United fanbase?

 

[Telsim]

The Berrada-Wilcox axis isn't it. I just wish for once United have a football man with experience in charge. Like Ashworth, Campos, or Rangnick. No businessesmen, economists, or newly-promoted learning on the job types. This is supposed to be the high end for feck's sake! Not a place you go to learn your craft. Clearly not going to happen.

 

[Bastian]

I mean I'm a Chelsea supporter for feck's sake and I know that this is nonsense. Why is this misinformation so pervasive within the United fanbase?

As is often the case, it takes other club's supporters to set the record straight. Thank you.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

The squad is obviously better than what we're seeing at the moment. But this is not a CL qualifying squad. If that's what Berrada and Wilcox think, with Bruno in midfield and not one top class centre midfielder in the whole team, playing 343 with very little attacking potency at wing back, they are completely clueless.

The revamp needs revamping.

Would love to know why he currently thinks we're on course for Champions League football!

 

[Bastian]

Would love to know why he currently thinks we're on course for Champions League football!

Probably because he doesn't understand football and thinks having spent money on three expensive players means that the gap has been bridged and that Amorim is supposed to provide his magic dust any minute.

Ratcliffe needs someone by his side to explain these things to him.

 

[Blood Mage]

Our squad isn't good enough for European qualification with or without Amorim but that doesn't mean we shouldn't sack him.

 

[Big Ben Foster]

The Ashworth / Southgate rumor has been debunked here so many times that at this point, it's not even worth engaging with those who still bring it up

 

[Devil_forever]

The squad is obviously better than what we're seeing at the moment. But this is not a CL qualifying squad. If that's what Berrada and Wilcox think, with Bruno in midfield and not one top class centre midfielder in the whole team, playing 343 with very little attacking potency at wing back, they are completely clueless.

The revamp needs revamping.

The team isn’t on course to qualify you dick. Waiting until the chances are slim to none is totally brain dead.

 

[Martinez4midfield]

More evidence of what an idiot he is and shouldn't be near making football decisions. Miles off Arsenal, city, and pool and not much closer to Chelsea, Tottenham and Newcastle. No evidence yet they're much better then any of the teams that finished above them last season quite frankly.

Maybe he's putting those underlying stats that would probably say Dorgu is the most effective attacker in the league because of all his touches in the box or attempted crosses in his pipe and smoking them.

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

As is often the case, it takes other club's supporters to set the record straight. Thank you.

Glad to be of service! The scapegoating and smearing of Ashworth after he left was absurd; frankly I'd have been a lot more worried about United as a prospect had he been allowed to implement his plans.

 

[holdsteady]

INEOS have been a fecking calamity, just like Nice supporters said they would be.

Their takeover was a fecking farce and probably had everyone in the club's head turned for months.
They spent 6 months evaluating Ten Hag to eventually give him an extra year, then sold McT from under him when he said he didn't want him sold for Ugarte who isn't good enough and Ten Hag didn't want and then brought in Zirkzee who can't score.
The Ashworth debacle is a disgrace. Spend 8 months in talks to sign the man and then don't listen to him when he wants time to evaluate the club top to bottom. He stands up to management by saying he doesn't want wholesale firings of the football dept. Jim gets a hard on when Berrada and Wilcox knife Ashworth like it's a middle of the season episode of Succession.
They bring in a manager who needs 20 new players for his system to work.
They fire half the fecking company and say they're skint but then spend 200m on attacking players but decide Bruno/Casemiro is a good midfield pairing.
The new stadium is a literal circus tent.

It's been abominable.

 

[Kush]

We are in a significantly worse position under them than Glazers when they were running footballing operations. That in itself is a shocking statement. I was vehemently against INEOS when they came into the picture and them buying 1/4th of the club was the worst possible scenario for us fans, because it'd keep Glazers intact and take away any heat from them (which is exactly what has happened)

Not only is manager completely out of his depth, so is our DoF and CEO. So, we are looking at the three sackings (and probably multitude of other firings related to them) which is going to be expensive. Hence, this desperation from Ratcliffe that underlying stats such as xG and xPts will translate into wins soon. However, we all have been in here, Amorim has no motivation qualities and it wouldn't be surprising to me if last Sunday has meant he has completely lost the dressing room. Most frustrating aspect is the delay in all of this, it'll cost us another season when it could've been salvaged if we were tiny bit proactive.

I don't see us returning back to the top unless and until we get completely new owners. It is what it is.

 

[Yakuza_devils]

We are in a significantly worse position under them than Glazers when they were running footballing operations. That in itself is a shocking statement. I was vehemently against INEOS when they came into the picture and them buying 1/4th of the club was the worst possible scenario for us fans, because it'd keep Glazers intact and take away any heat from them (which is exactly what has happened)

Not only is manager completely out of his depth, so is our DoF and CEO. So, we are looking at the three sackings (and probably multitude of other firings related to them) which is going to be expensive. Hence, this desperation from Ratcliffe that underlying stats such as xG and xPts will translate into wins soon. However, we all have been in here, Amorim has no motivation qualities and it wouldn't be surprising to me if last Sunday has meant he has completely lost the dressing room. Most frustrating aspect is the delay in all of this, it'll cost us another season when it could've been salvaged if we were tiny bit proactive.

I don't see us returning back to the top unless and until we get completely new owners. It is what it is.

As bad as Woodward, Arnold and Murtough were, they never had us finished 15th!

Ineos was doing the same thing to Nice too.

Where is the best in class DOF? We don't want a CEO and an inexperienced Wilcox to revamp the football structure. The inexperienced really show. We need proper best in class with good track records

 

[Yagami]

The squad is obviously better than what we're seeing at the moment. But this is not a CL qualifying squad. If that's what Berrada and Wilcox think, with Bruno in midfield and not one top class centre midfielder in the whole team, playing 343 with very little attacking potency at wing back, they are completely clueless.

The revamp needs revamping.

I said the same thing in the Amorim thread.

So, they still think Amorim is the man for the job and they think the squad is already good enough for champions league football? It's hard to have any faith in the upper management at this point if this is true.

You're not going anywhere if your play has zero composure to it. Even City recognised this in 2010 where, in successive transfer windows, they brought in press resistant players such as Touré, Silva, Nasri to help control games. Our upper management are in for a shock if they think we're going to magically improve without sorting things out behind the attack.

 

[peller]

Sacking DoF and CEO happens all the time but TBH we seem unable to grasp the right formula after SAF retired. Under Woodward we had a CEO who intervened with managers, blocking players from getting sold and absolutely crappy with signings, then we had Richard Arnold who said he'd let the football men to do the dealing but the results were even bigger disaster.

Berrada came and started acting like billy big bollocks. Overreaching his own job desk and went on to fight Ashworth over Amorim appointment. Thats 2 mistakes already in a very short period. The room of chance should be narrowing for him, another mistake should see him exiting the door.

The squad is obviously better than what we're seeing at the moment. But this is not a CL qualifying squad. If that's what Berrada and Wilcox think, with Bruno in midfield and not one top class centre midfielder in the whole team, playing 343 with very little attacking potency at wing back, they are completely clueless.

Im with Brexit Jim here. Aint no way our squad is worse than Spurs who are our direct rival to finish 5th. problem is the system which is ill-suited to personel we have in our disposal.

Bayindir/Lemmens

Maz Yoro De Ligt Shaw

Ugarte Casemiro

Mbeumo Bruno Cunha

Sesko

How is that team not a CL spot worthy? No european comps, out of League Cup, and the FA Cup only starts in January we basically can field strongest XI every week except for injuries worry.

 

[davidmichael]

I wouldn't go that far. Ashworth wanted Southgate.

I don't think Amorim was the wrong choice by the board. His body of work justified he may be able to transition and bring success here. Sometimes things just don't work out though.

Whenever we do replace Amorim, its vital we get a manager with solid Premier League experience.

No Ashworth fecking didn’t and it’s been shown so many times on here by myself and countless others that Brailsford wanted Southgate whilst Ashworth wanted Howe or Frank or if they couldn’t be gotten then Silva from Fulham, I think mods should put bans on people still spouting that fecking nonsense about Ashworth and Southgate as it’s simply fecking ridiculous that it’s still said.

It's not looking good mate.

Even he doesn’t want to change formation, I think if he tried a midfield two of Mainoo and Casemiro it might yield better results in the short-term. Mainoo is a young midfielder who can receive the ball under pressure.

I think of what we’ve got as midfield options you’re right but the thought of Casemiro in a midfield two is still horrible to imagine, Mainoo as one of the midfielders with Bruno further forward though is simply the best option whilst Amorim is currebtky here.

I mean I'm a Chelsea supporter for feck's sake and I know that this is nonsense. Why is this misinformation so pervasive within the United fanbase?

Well said that man

INEOS have been a fecking calamity, just like Nice supporters said they would be.

Their takeover was a fecking farce and probably had everyone in the club's head turned for months.
They spent 6 months evaluating Ten Hag to eventually give him an extra year, then sold McT from under him when he said he didn't want him sold for Ugarte who isn't good enough and Ten Hag didn't want and then brought in Zirkzee who can't score.
The Ashworth debacle is a disgrace. Spend 8 months in talks to sign the man and then don't listen to him when he wants time to evaluate the club top to bottom. He stands up to management by saying he doesn't want wholesale firings of the football dept. Jim gets a hard on when Berrada and Wilcox knife Ashworth like it's a middle of the season episode of Succession.
They bring in a manager who needs 20 new players for his system to work.
They fire half the fecking company and say they're skint but then spend 200m on attacking players but decide Bruno/Casemiro is a good midfield pairing.
The new stadium is a literal circus tent.

It's been abominable.

Absolutely spot on mate, people don’t seem to see the parallels between Berrada and Woodward or that Ineos are no better than the parasitic yanks with footballing decisions whilst the one person who was qualified to make footballing decisions in Ashworth was let go because he stood up to Ineos over bringing Amorim in as well as the footballing department changes until he’d been able to evaluate first which was his job.

 

[Big Ron’s Coat]

Amazing that, even with a brand new structure in place - we still accept standards that would be way below pretty much any other club and give a manger way more time the should be reasonably expected.

Think every manager since Fergie has lasted at least one month or two after its obvious to everyone that they should go

What structure ? We are Berrada FC.

 

[Chumpsbechumps]

It's actually mental to see that, after nearly two decades of startling mismanagement by the Glazers, they've managed to get into bed with someone just as bad in Ratcliffe.

It actually tracks perfectly with the glazers. Priority for them wasn’t getting somebody who could run it better, it was holding onto the rains , getting other peoples money invested (cause they wouldn’t piss on the club if it was on fire) , selling club later at inflated value and having a fallguy to take all the blame. They are the very definition of parasites.

SJR has and will make mistakes. Maybe he will be as bad or worse than glazers in terms of running the football side. But you don’t undo decades of damage quickly , especially when you need to purge alot of poison and are financially restricted in trying to reach the levels expected. And the fact he has invested more money in few weeks then glazers have done in over 2 decades should be considered.

I get United should be doing better with this squad , but I think the pressure the squad/managers are on, make even getting relatively lower targets harder. Swap this squad into Everton and id say that they’d be top half no bother.

Liverpool spent double United spent and Slot inherited the league winners. Pep always has stronger Squads and city will spend at least what United does. Chelsea spent over a billion in the guts of a year a few seasons ago. Why do people think throwing 200mil at a squad on fire (that aint that much at upper levels) should equate to instant improvement when everyone else around is starting in a stronger position (nobody else has a 5 man bomb squad of over paid players to offload) and don’t usually have some sort of disaster waiting for their manager?

 

[ZorinGorilla]

I wouldn't go that far. Ashworth wanted Southgate.

Not sure if that is true, bud.

The Ashworth debacle is a disgrace. Spend 8 months in talks to sign the man and then don't listen to him when he wants time to evaluate the club top to bottom. He stands up to management by saying he doesn't want wholesale firings of the football dept.

Absolutely spot on mate, people don’t seem to see the parallels between Berrada and Woodward or that Ineos are no better than the parasitic yanks with footballing decisions whilst the one person who was qualified to make footballing decisions in Ashworth was let go because he stood up to Ineos over bringing Amorim in as well as the footballing department changes until he’d been able to evaluate first which was his job.

As galling as the Ashworth debacle is or was, his apotheosis in the face in worsening results is itself jarring.

We hear a lot about Ashworth's 'ideas' but nobody seems to know what they actually constituted and how they'd return us to glory.

He just seems a hot scoop to batter Jim with.

It's actually mental to see that, after nearly two decades of startling mismanagement by the Glazers, they've managed to get into bed with someone just as bad in Ratcliffe.

In a begrudging manner, I doff my cap off to those Glazers. I really do.

Once the Qatari state delegation stupidly telegraphed their local area consent money, it was all advantage Glazers. They used Jimbo as plan b and gamed the system accordingly.

If only such foresight and cunning was used in the actual running of the club.

 

[Rudi Skacel]

It actually tracks perfectly with the glazers. Priority for them wasn’t getting somebody who could run it better, it was holding onto the rains , getting other peoples money invested (cause they wouldn’t piss on the club if it was on fire) , selling club later at inflated value and having a fallguy to take all the blame. They are the very definition of parasites.

SJR has and will make mistakes. Maybe he will be as bad or worse than glazers in terms of running the football side. But you don’t undo decades of damage quickly , especially when you need to purge alot of poison and are financially restricted in trying to reach the levels expected. And the fact he has invested more money in few weeks then glazers have done in over 2 decades should be considered.

I get United should be doing better with this squad , but I think the pressure the squad/managers are on, make even getting relatively lower targets harder. Swap this squad into Everton and id say that they’d be top half no bother.

Liverpool spent double United spent and Slot inherited the league winners. Pep always has stronger Squads and city will spend at least what United does. Chelsea spent over a billion in the guts of a year a few seasons ago. Why do people think throwing 200mil at a squad on fire (that aint that much at upper levels) should equate to instant improvement when everyone else around is starting in a stronger position (nobody else has a 5 man bomb squad of over paid players to offload) and don’t usually have some sort of disaster waiting for their manager?

Swap the managers and you'd get the same result. Allowing the current manager to continue in his role despite all evidence that he's out of his depth is criminal negligence.

I remember when the Nice fans forewarned of what United were getting into bed with and, as of yet, they haven't been proved wrong.

 

[MaMa given red]

Sacking DoF and CEO happens all the time but TBH we seem unable to grasp the right formula after SAF retired. Under Woodward we had a CEO who intervened with managers, blocking players from getting sold and absolutely crappy with signings, then we had Richard Arnold who said he'd let the football men to do the dealing but the results were even bigger disaster.

Berrada came and started acting like billy big bollocks. Overreaching his own job desk and went on to fight Ashworth over Amorim appointment. Thats 2 mistakes already in a very short period. The room of chance should be narrowing for him, another mistake should see him exiting the door.



Im with Brexit Jim here. Aint no way our squad is worse than Spurs who are our direct rival to finish 5th. problem is the system which is ill-suited to personel we have in our disposal.

Bayindir/Lemmens

Maz Yoro De Ligt Shaw

Ugarte Casemiro

Mbeumo Bruno Cunha

Sesko

How is that team not a CL spot worthy? No european comps, out of League Cup, and the FA Cup only starts in January we basically can field strongest XI every week except for injuries worry.

That team you have selected is barely even a top ten team, let alone a top four/five team!

You mentioned Spurs, they are better than us in almost every area.

 

[peller]

That team you have selected is barely even a top ten team, let alone a top four/five team!

You mentioned Spurs, they are better than us in almost every area.

Spurs team who finished lower than us last season and only won EL trophy because our manager being stubborn in the final (i'm yet to forgive Amorim for that!)
Sure they have better manager in Thomas Frank who will make do with personel he had in his disposal instead of belitting his own players but personel wise we can go toe to toe with theirs, and no european comp should allow us to play our strongest XI week in week out. Again the key is manager and Amorim is hopeless.

 

[MaMa given red]

Spurs team who finished lower than us last season and only won EL trophy because our manager being stubborn in the final (i'm yet to forgive Amorim for that!)
Sure they have better manager in Thomas Frank who will make do with personel he had in his disposal instead of belitting his own players but personel wise we can go toe to toe with theirs, and no european comp should allow us to play our strongest XI week in week out. Again the key is manager and Amorim is hopeless.

Spurs have better Goalkeepers, better defenders, better midfielders and better attackers!

They went away to Man City a few weeks ago and won 2-0, whereas we have just been absolutely battered by them!

 

[peller]

Spurs have better Goalkeepers, better defenders, better midfielders and better attackers!

They went away to Man City a few weeks ago and won 2-0, whereas we have just been absolutely battered by them!

The so called better goalkeepers, better defenders, better midfielders, and better attackers FINISHED 17th last season. They beat City because their senior management were sane enough to make managerial change while ours burried their heads in to the sand. Change the manager who understand the strength and the weakness of this team and you will see results getting remarkably better. Seriously some of you here got succesfully duped by Amorim or what??

 

[davidmichael]

As galling as the Ashworth debacle is or was, his apotheosis in the face in worsening results is itself jarring.

We hear a lot about Ashworth's 'ideas' but nobody seems to know what they actually constituted and how they'd return us to glory.

He just seems a hot scoop to batter Jim with.

There’s no guarantee Ashworth would have led us back to the very top BUT he was the only one in the room with experience in running a football department, was seen long before being at United as one of the best around in that role, largely credited in turning England around behind the scenes and heralded by Ratcliffe publicly as best in class therefore should have been the only voice Ineos listened too in regard to the football structure and footballing decisions.

We’ll never know for sure what all of his ideas were BUT we do know that Ashworth wanted to implement a long term club identity and playing style so we didn’t switch from system to system with each coach change, moving from a manager to head coach set up, overhaul the scouting and data departments and not make wholesale changes to the footballing department until he could fully assess things then streamline from there and most importantly made it clear there was no quick fix whilst pushing for a PL proven coach.

The reality is that what is needed is a top quality experienced DOF to run the footballing department as they see fit with zero interference from CEO’s and boardroom directors which has been the problem from Woodward to Arnold and now Berrada, Ratcliffe and Ineos have to grow the bollocks to firstly admit their massive mistake in allowing a non footballing CEO make footballing decisions over an experienced DOF then have the bollocks to let a new DOF run things with zero interference then let them implement a genuine and modern structure.

 

[Bastian]

Whatever two out of the four or five they have got - Casemiro, Bruno, [Kobbie] Mainoo - whatever combination he seems to try doesn't seem to work.

That's a big issue. I thought all summer the absolute priority was a centre midfield player with legs, who can play and can control a game.

Goalkeeper was [also] a major issue. Did they really need to get to the Grimsby game to realise Onana is not good enough?

Scholes quote

This was all obvious to everyone on here throughout summer. Instead we've got Ratcliffe thinking this squad is good enough to qualify for the CL, and I'm not defending Amorim in the slightest, he's clearly not up to the job.