If David Moyes turned United down in 2013, who would've been next on the list?

horsechoker

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Yes another what if thread @Bojan11

As I remember Pep had been asked, apparently there was interest in Ancelotti, Bobby Charlton wasn't keen on Mourinho (a bit ahead of his time there). I think there might have been more but it eventually meant that Moyes was offered the job. I think Klopp might have been asked too.

However, if he had decided to turn it down for whatever reason, who would have been next in line?

Too early for Poch to have even been considered, Roberto Martinez? Sam Allardyce has been praised by Fergie so he might have gone there. Otherwise in the Premier League at that time I don't think there was another manager who we would have gone for.

Outside the PL, there was Van Gaal who might've left the Holland job, Simeone might have been a strong contender, Bielsa might have been considered and I think it was too early for Emery.

You can then consider former United players, Lauren Blanc was considered when Mourinho left and might have been at that time too, perhaps Ole would have been offered but I think that it would have been too much for him at that time compared to now.
 

Bojan11

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It was 2013, that's what I said.
You said 2014.

We left it too late to hire any of the top managers at that time. Should have got to Pep before Bayern did. Ancelotti had already given his word to Madrid and the same with Mourinho/Chelsea. Roberto Martinez had been relegated with Wigan. You are having a laugh with Big Sam.

It's 2014/2015 that was the problem with me. Our board were giddy because we just about got in the champions league with LVG, when he should have been replaced as soon as Klopp said he is leaving Dortmund. All this Disney land talk from Klopp back is just to make Liverpool fans excited. He did probably reject us in 2014, which was more likely because he was loyal to Dortmund, but we should have been all over him in 2015 and now I hate the cnut.
 

stevoc

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Yes another what if thread @Bojan11

As I remember Pep had been asked, apparently there was interest in Ancelotti, Bobby Charlton wasn't keen on Mourinho (a bit ahead of his time there). I think there might have been more but it eventually meant that Moyes was offered the job. I think Klopp might have been asked too.

However, if he had decided to turn it down for whatever reason, who would have been next in line?

Too early for Poch to have even been considered, Roberto Martinez? Sam Allardyce has been praised by Fergie so he might have gone there. Otherwise in the Premier League at that time I don't think there was another manager who we would have gone for.

Outside the PL, there was Van Gaal who might've left the Holland job, Simeone might have been a strong contender, Bielsa might have been considered and I think it was too early for Emery.

You can then consider former United players, Lauren Blanc was considered when Mourinho left and might have been at that time too, perhaps Ole would have been offered but I think that it would have been too much for him at that time compared to now.
That's a myth brought about by headlines. In Fergies book he said he didn't even know he was retiring when he met Pep for lunch in NY. Pep also denies ever getting an offer.
 

horsechoker

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That's a myth brought about by headlines. In Fergies book he said he didn't even know he was retiring when he met Pep for lunch in NY. Pep also denies ever getting an offer.
I've never believed the "I couldn't understand Fergie's accent and therefore I didn't go to United" story.

If the club wanted Pep and Pep wanted to come to United, I'm sure it would've happened.
 

stevoc

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I've never believed the "I couldn't understand Fergie's accent and therefore I didn't go to United" story.

If the club wanted Pep and Pep wanted to come to United, I'm sure it would've happened.
You don't have to believe it though whether Pep understood him or not. Fergie said in his book he never offered Pep the job back in late 2012.
 

OleBoiii

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Probably a Caf poster. There's so much tactical knowledge in here, so the club would have an absolute smorgasbord of talent to pick from. 'Patterns of play' would never be an issue again and we'd always make exactly 2 substitutions at the 60 minute mark, because as we all know that is the only sensible thing to do.
 

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/22452082

Found the above via Google.

I think Jose would of handled the transition much better, and managed the older players in the squad a lot better.

Klopp - we would of needed a refresh. We didn't have the legs in the squad for how he would of wanted us to play.

I actually think assuming Jose/Klopp/Pep hadn't been available it might of went to Ole or Giggs, and Ferguson would of probably been a bit closer than he was to Moyes.
 

OleBoiii

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/22452082

Found the above via Google.

I think Jose would of handled the transition much better, and managed the older players in the squad a lot better.

Klopp - we would of needed a refresh. We didn't have the legs in the squad for how he would of wanted us to play.

I actually think assuming Jose/Klopp/Pep hadn't been available it might of went to Ole or Giggs, and Ferguson would of probably been a bit closer than he was to Moyes.
Excuse me while I claw my eyes out :p
 

Buster15

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Mine would have been José. At that time, I saw him as being the strongest person to take over from Sir Alex Ferguson as well as someone capable of dealing with the Glaziers.
I accept that many will disagree with this in hindsight. But at the time I believe that to be correct.
 

Delano

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At the time, I wouldn't have been against Ancelotti as a medium term appointment.

Steady pair of hands, experience managing major egos, liked by all and obviously incredibly successful. For that team and that stage, he'd of made sense.
 

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If Moyes of all people had turned United down, we'd probably have to shut down the club at that point.
 

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The way we mishandled Fergie's succession boils my blood to this day. It was the first real indication of how badly run a club we really are and the horrifying proof that Fergie was holding it all together by sheer force of will.

Given the options available at the time (i.e. Pep and Klopp were out of the picture) I wanted Jose, despite all his known flaws. I think he could have taken that Championship winning team and kept it ticking over, winning trophies, until we lined up a more long term solution. From all indications he wanted the job too. It would have inevitably ended in tears but I doubt it would have been the shit show that was Moyes.

I have no idea who else we could have gone for instead of Moyes. I'm pretty sure we were already scraping the barrel by choosing him.

As much as I hate to say it I partially blame Sir Alex for the messed up succession. He should have made his intentions clear well ahead of time so we could have a replacement in the wings ready to go. Instead he stepped down seemingly out of the blue and everything collapsed like a deck of cards. I wonder if he feared announcing it too early would derail our season and cost us the league that season. I remember when he first announced he was going to retire in the mid-2000s(?) the team's form collapsed. Only when he reversed his decision did we start to play well again.

I don't know if more details have come to light in the years since, but I'd love to know exactly what happened with the succession planning/decision making.
 

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I could never see Fergie at the time willingly handing the reins over to Jose, especially if others on the board were against it as well.
 

stevoc

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The way we mishandled Fergie's succession boils my blood to this day. It was the first real indication of how badly run a club we really are and the horrifying proof that Fergie was holding it all together by sheer force of will.

Given the options available at the time (i.e. Pep and Klopp were out of the picture) I wanted Jose, despite all his known flaws. I think he could have taken that Championship winning team and kept it ticking over, winning trophies, until we lined up a more long term solution. From all indications he wanted the job too. It would have inevitably ended in tears but I doubt it would have been the shit show that was Moyes.

I have no idea who else we could have gone for instead of Moyes. I'm pretty sure we were already scraping the barrel by choosing him.

As much as I hate to say it I partially blame Sir Alex for the messed up succession. He should have made his intentions clear well ahead of time so we could have a replacement in the wings ready to go. Instead he stepped down seemingly out of the blue and everything collapsed like a deck of cards. I wonder if he feared announcing it too early would derail our season and cost us the league that season. I remember when he first announced he was going to retire in the mid-2000s(?) the team's form collapsed. Only when he reversed his decision did we start to play well again.

I don't know if more details have come to light in the years since, but I'd love to know exactly what happened with the succession planning/decision making.

Yeah i think it was partly the fear of it becoming a distraction and partly that he didn't decide he was even retiring until around Christmas that year because of his wife's sister dying. He then decided not to tell even Gill until late February 2013 i think it was and by that stage his only real option was Moyes who he had advised not to renew his Everton contract around the same time. I agree it was all poorly handled, 27 years to plan and we ended up with Moyes.

Having said that though Ferguson did so much for the club that i think he was entitled to go out anyway he wished. The club shouldn't have allowed him to choose his own successor though in my opinion.
 

stevoc

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At the time, I wouldn't have been against Ancelotti as a medium term appointment.

Steady pair of hands, experience managing major egos, liked by all and obviously incredibly successful. For that team and that stage, he'd of made sense.
Ancelotti would have been my choice too. He would have been the anti Moyes would have came in and steadied the ship instead of making waves and then crashing the ship into a lighthouse.
 

Bebestation

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I absolutely detest Mourinho but SAF left such an ageing team that it would have suited him the most.

Going from LVG to Mourinho was such a poor decision because it's like asking Barcelona to play like stoke.

Going from Mourinho being the first manager to win titles with an ageing experienced squad before trying to refresh after with Van Gaal would have been a much better plan or pattern.

The biggest problem though is that after SAF has such a controlling ability of the club - giving it to any manager would only lead them to controlling the club more than they should or even capable of - we saw this at how LVG and Mourinho made the club the way they desired rather than being controlled by a DOF.
 

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I'd like to know the definitive list of managers who turned down the job (or an indication of being offered the job) prior to the club settling on Moyes.
 

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I wouldn’t have minded us tapping up Wenger for the lols. Just a year after poaching their captain.
 

stevoc

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I'd like to know the definitive list of managers who turned down the job (or an indication of being offered the job) prior to the club settling on Moyes.
Quite possible it was zero.

According to Fergie's book he didn't start asking around until April 2013 when he says he spoke to Klopp and Ancelotti. But even then there's no solid quotes from any manager to say they were offered the job and/or turned it down.

But Ferguson had told Moyes not to renew with Everton way back in February even before, around or shortly after he'd told the club he was retiring. So do the maths on that one.

I've though for a long time that Moyes was Ferguson's 1st choice or maybe 2nd choice once Guardiola wasn't an option.
 

always_hoping

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Alex McLeish. Sure Ferguson was recommending him the first time he wanted to retire. A clueless Woodward knowing no better would have given McLeish a 10 year deal.
 

el3mel

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Would have been Giggsy 'till the end of the season.
Said as a joke but won't surprise me if this would have actually happened. Most other top coaches had already gotten a job. We would have needed to find an option out of the box.
 

Zlatattack

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We should have gone with Mourinho. He had a team of champions, it'd have been easy for him. Then in 2 years time when he was going mad as per form - Klopp.
 

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That far down? Probably Paul Jewell.
 

Tom Van Persie

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Mourinho succeeding Fergie was never going to happen imo. Sir Bobby was strongly against it. Maybe Rene steps up?

If Madrid had lost the CL final in 2014 they would've sacked Carlo and I'm convinced we would've hired him instead of LvG.
 

LawCharltonBest

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Moyes and Martin O’Neill always got linked to the same job around that time

But I’m sure Van Gaal would have just come a year earlier
 

Gopher Brown

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I remember wanting Ancelotti at the time, but I felt positive about Moyes. We were all idiots once upon a time.
 

Manoucha09

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The way we mishandled Fergie's succession boils my blood to this day. It was the first real indication of how badly run a club we really are and the horrifying proof that Fergie was holding it all together by sheer force of will.

Given the options available at the time (i.e. Pep and Klopp were out of the picture) I wanted Jose, despite all his known flaws. I think he could have taken that Championship winning team and kept it ticking over, winning trophies, until we lined up a more long term solution. From all indications he wanted the job too. It would have inevitably ended in tears but I doubt it would have been the shit show that was Moyes.

I have no idea who else we could have gone for instead of Moyes. I'm pretty sure we were already scraping the barrel by choosing him.

As much as I hate to say it I partially blame Sir Alex for the messed up succession. He should have made his intentions clear well ahead of time so we could have a replacement in the wings ready to go. Instead he stepped down seemingly out of the blue and everything collapsed like a deck of cards. I wonder if he feared announcing it too early would derail our season and cost us the league that season. I remember when he first announced he was going to retire in the mid-2000s(?) the team's form collapsed. Only when he reversed his decision did we start to play well again.

I don't know if more details have come to light in the years since, but I'd love to know exactly what happened with the succession planning/decision making.
To be fair to Fergie, he left a team which, while ageing, had won 2 of the previous 3 league titles and only missed out on a third on goal difference. The squad needed a few tweaks and then would have been more than capable of challenging that season.

In hindsight, Moyes was nowhere near ready to take over. However, he was the master of his own downfall by trying to impose his own ideas on a team which just needed tweaking. As has been mentioned many times, getting rid of Sir Alex's coaching staff was a terrible mistake. We were already replacing a manager who had been in charge for 26 years as well as an experienced chief executive in David Gill. What we didn't need was a complete overhaul of the backroom staff.

I think Fergie's choice was probably influenced, ironically, by stability. He probably expected Moyes to provide a smooth transition from Fergie's last team to Moyes' own, an expectation which was quickly dashed. Van Gaal or Mourinho would have ripped that team apart as we saw first hand in later years. You could argue that they would have had the experience and authority to handle a squad of champions, but I have a feeling they'd have wanted to do it their 'own' way, particularly Van Gaal.
 

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Excuse me while I claw my eyes out :p
Thanks. I though it was just me who has a pet hate for 'would of'. I'm by no means a grammar freak but 'would of' really grinds my grears!

Back on topic.....Mike Phelan? We would have (not of) been better off with Mike instead of Moyes in my view. I'm certain we would have finished in the top 4 if Phelan had got the job and not Moyes in the first season post Fergie.