Is Ole's vision his or a vision based on restrictions from the ownership?

Alabaster Codify7

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Both.

He has a true vision that he believes in (rightly or wrongly), but its a vision that also suits the board right down to the ground in that it means they can save money where possible. As long as he makes top 4, he'll be safe (he won't, he's fired by January).
 

JPRouve

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If you can't see that there are restrictions in the background then it's useless discussing.
It's useless discussion because you can't explain what are these restrictions but yet you keep mentioning and comparing them to other club's.
 

christinaa

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It's useless discussion because you can't explain what are these restrictions but yet you keep mentioning and comparing them to other club's.
The restrictions are the Glazers and Ed - understood now ?
 

Ikon

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I know that many of us are concerned about the net spend, but truthfully, Solskjaer has managed to persuade the board to release £50m for a RB and break the World record for a CB that they refused to sign for Mourinho at £60m.

So I think behind the scenes, Ole is fighting the cause, but clearly there are constraints, and he has to fight them.
Hopefully, Solskjaer's willingness to sell players and recoup decent funds will go in his favour when it comes to the board releasing funds in future transfer windows.

My concern is the amount of quality players that have been available this window, and we have apparently not even been interested in them, that's my worry, that we are very blinkered in the players that we are considering.
 

devilish

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So we can conclude that ole's comment about players being sold will need to be replaced is BS like the one regarding the survival of the fittest
 

devilish

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I know that many of us are concerned about the net spend, but truthfully, Solskjaer has managed to persuade the board to release £50m for a RB and break the World record for a CB that they refused to sign for Mourinho at £60m.

So I think behind the scenes, Ole is fighting the cause, but clearly there are constraints, and he has to fight them.
Hopefully, Solskjaer's willingness to sell players and recoup decent funds will go in his favour when it comes to the board releasing funds in future transfer windows.

My concern is the amount of quality players that have been available this window, and we have apparently not even been interested in them, that's my worry, that we are very blinkered in the players that we are considering.
Ole will be managing a club of his level by next season. I can't see him making it to top 4 with this team
 

Fahad Jawaid

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I am honestly fuming right now. This was suppose to be a window, where we should have plugged the gaps and showed that we are a top club, whereas all it showed was that we are no longer a club, where top players want to play and its becoming increasily difficult to attract players for us. Our only method appears to be offering more money and hoping they will choose us.

Furthermore, it must be said that alot of high profile movements were made during this window so all it required was planning and moving for targets early on and securing them not waiting till the last week to try and secure Dybala and then Eriksen, these caliber of players are sounded out in early april and discussion are continued and their interest into moving is established only then offer is made and negotiations with selling clun stars.

City had a near perfect squad but still managed to improve their team, Arsenal and Spurs who both used to be a laughing stock have significantly improved their teams.

We had to make four signings (Cb, Rb, Cm, Rw) and a striker if Lukaku moved which he did. So 5 in total. We have failed to improve our midfield and attack completely. Infact we are worse off than last season in terms of options. We are now heavily dependent on Martial and Rashford who are both inconsistent as forwards, whereas we have to rely on Mctominay whose a newbie himself, Fred whose erratic and ill-disciplined, Matic who is long past his sell by date and Perriera which was not even considered by Valencia and he is like a poor mans Herrera.

The players which we could have acquired that moved during the window.

Dombele
Lo Celso
Bruno
Barella
Rabbiot
Gueye
Pepe
Felix
Dybala (if we tried earlier)
Jovic
Brandt
Tielmans
Sarabia
Haller
Cabellos

And thats all on top of my head. Ed must go and it must be ensured by match going fans to hound him and glazers out. This is no longer acceptable. Because instead of closing the gap on City and Liverpool we have allowed ourselves to be overtaken by Arsenal and Spurs aswell. Be honest to urself would anyone take our front 6 over spurs and arsenal.

Arsenal

Auba Lacazette Pepe
Cabellos Guendouzi Torreira

Spurs

Son Kane Alli
Dombele Lo Celso Eriksen

I think Ole is to be blamed aswell, he should have fought more for his signings, as it appears there is only one way this season will go towards and will result in Ed sacking Ole when we finish 6th again. Ole has the fan following and backing, which would have caused glazers and Ed to spend more money on our targets. Now we have a lower net spend then Villa which is going to go even lower with sale of Rojo. What a shambles this club is honestly.
 
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2 man midfield

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It’s almost as if the club don’t realise we’ve finished in the top 4 just twice in the past 6 years. It was always going to be a tall order, so we needed reinforcements. Instead we’ve gone backwards. How can they possibly think we’re going into such a crucial season in anything like good shape?
 

Denis79

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So we can conclude that ole's comment about players being sold will need to be replaced is BS like the one regarding the survival of the fittest
I think he wanted to make bigger changes, he isn't the one pulling the strings.
 

Alemar

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Contrary to many seasoned managers, OGS is a very young manager without much experience. He can’t resign and hope for another big club to come to him - he simply must work for his managerial CV now. So whatever the board says, he accepts - for the time being
 

Ralph1386

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I guess we will find out this season. I don’t expect miracles, but if we don’t see progress then we will have our answer.
The writing’s pretty much on the wall. We didn’t get a DOF and weakened our midfield. The attack is up in the air. We already have our answer. There’s nothing to find out.
 
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Sterling Archer

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Youth. Courage. Success.
Ashley Young
Juan Mata
Nemanja Matic
Chris Smalling
Jesse Lingard
Matteo Darmian
Marcos Rojo

I think you can spell youth, courage and success from those first team player names
 

Ralph1386

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It's useless discussion because you can't explain what are these restrictions but yet you keep mentioning and comparing them to other club's.
Budget restrictions. Tightening the purse strings. Having no long term vision.

Not hiring the right football people to make the football decisions rather than an airhead finance guy making them ( and thinking he understands anything that goes on in a football field).

Makes sense?
 

dove

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Ashley Young
Juan Mata
Nemanja Matic
Chris Smalling
Jesse Lingard
Matteo Darmian
Marcos Rojo

I think you can spell youth, courage and success from those first team player names
Exactly. JLingz will show the world that even though he is still very young, he can be a crucial part of our successful campaign.
 

Stacks

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I think the plan is to finish 5th/6th this season. sell Pogba next year and buy Maddison and Longstaff with the Pogba money. Bid for Sancho and get turned down by the player due to lack of champions league football
 

JPRouve

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Budget restrictions. Tightening the purse strings. Having no long term vision.

Not hiring the right football people to make the football decisions rather than an airhead finance guy making them ( and thinking he understands anything that goes on in a football field).

Makes sense?
The first two aren't a thing for United, the last one would be a valid point but it's not an isolated situation, Bayern are yet to fix their attack despite knowing for years that their oldies would be out.
 

Abhinav

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I think the players we have brought in are aligned to Ole’s vision but are nowhere near enough what Ole would have wanted. Unfortunately, he has to do his job to the best of his ability in pure media spotlight while bearing responsibility for the incompetence of those above him. I have read enough to know that by December end, this place will be clamouring for Ole’s head for no fault of his.

Hoping to see some good football on display even if it doesn’t translate into good results.
 

Tarrou

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he is obviously being hamstrung somewhat by his budget and Ed's dithering over fees, there is no way he's happy with no midfield reinforcements this summer

but thats football management, its never going to be perfect and you have to make the best with what you've got
 

JPRouve

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They aren’t a thing for United IN YOUR OPINION. Not based on any facts.

Bayern is not the right example at all. They are winning the league and consistently go deep in the CL year in and year out. They don’t have years of mismanagement under their belt, and their midfield is not a shambles, so they can overlook one weakness (if you wanna call it that).

Anyway, no need to waste time trying to change your mind like the other member did.
Which are these facts? Because we have one of the biggest wage bill in the world at around 290m per year and we are one of the clubs that spends the most on players registrations too. In 2018, we spent 95% of our revenue on the football club and then we had a massive tax bill.
 

Sparky Rhiwabon

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The great thing about Ole is that he won't kick up a fuss, he's just happy to be in this job, can't believe his luck!

A 4/10 transfer window and still Ole's beaming and "happy with the squad".

Brilliant.
 

Revan

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Which are these facts? Because we have one of the biggest wage bill in the world at around 290m per year and we are one of the clubs that spends the most on players registrations too. In 2018, we spent 95% of our revenue on the football club and then we had a massive tax bill.
Link?

Between 2008 and 2017 we paid a combined 14m in taxes (which is less than 1.5m for year). This is mostly because of our debt.

No idea how much we paid last season, but I would be surprised if it was a lot.
 

sokol11

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There is a lot of doom and gloom here currenty. Observer would think we lost all our preseason games playing horrible football. Sentiments aside as I see it Ole is unproven and management is reluctant to hand over vast sums of money for a revamp. On the other side we don't know what Ole asked for. From what we see he wants hungry young players who want to play for united. Wan Bissaka, James, Maguire fit that bill and we didn't hold back and paid fair price for both CB and RB positions. Ole wanted Longstaff for mid but Newcastle don't want to sell and it is to big of a risk to pay enormous sums for such unproven player. Dybala didn't want to come, Bruno probably wasn't even on the radar seriously. Greenwood emergence and maybe Sancho plan for next year put hold on RW aquisitions. McTomminay will be one of the first names of the teamsheet the way he is playing in midfield along with Pogba. Basically if all goes to plan we can wait 6 months or until next summer with MC and RW aquisitions. If we get an experienced backup striker that would be fine but buying midfielder for the sake of it right now no. If our top targets are unavailable rather trim the squad of deadwood, give lads until january and take it from there. We tried buying names for the sake of it and it got us nowhere.
 

AJ10

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The great thing about Ole is that he won't kick up a fuss, he's just happy to be in this job, can't believe his luck!

A 4/10 transfer window and still Ole's beaming and "happy with the squad".

Brilliant.
Yeah, he should ridicule our club in media, throw young players under the bus and to prove a point play a under 7 player in midfield, give up and pretend he cares about fans (preferably holding united scarf ) rather than getting on with his job.

Brilliant.
 
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golden_blunder

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We just need dismantling. Woodward's 7 year work experience has regressed the club whilst letting others clubs steer ahead. It's amazing how Raul transformed Arsenal in one transfer window.

Honestly, if we come 5th or worse then do not blame Ole even if he is partly at fault. It's too easy. You put pressure on Woodward to leave.

I am just hoping a Saudi oligarchy just comes and sweeps us off our feet.

*Edit: whatever oligarchy, it could be Swedish for all I care.
Ah now let’s not be losing our heads
 

Revan

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There is a lot of doom and gloom here currenty. Observer would think we lost all our preseason games playing horrible football. Sentiments aside as I see it Ole is unproven and management is reluctant to hand over vast sums of money for a revamp. On the other side we don't know what Ole asked for. From what we see he wants hungry young players who want to play for united. Wan Bissaka, James, Maguire fit that bill and we didn't hold back and paid fair price for both CB and RB positions. Ole wanted Longstaff for mid but Newcastle don't want to sell and it is to big of a risk to pay enormous sums for such unproven player. Dybala didn't want to come, Bruno probably wasn't even on the radar seriously. Greenwood emergence and maybe Sancho plan for next year put hold on RW aquisitions. McTomminay will be one of the first names of the teamsheet the way he is playing in midfield along with Pogba. Basically if all goes to plan we can wait 6 months or until next summer with MC and RW aquisitions. If we get an experienced backup striker that would be fine but buying midfielder for the sake of it right now no. If our top targets are unavailable rather trim the squad of deadwood, give lads until january and take it from there. We tried buying names for the sake of it and it got us nowhere.
Exactly. People just post random names in transfer threads, but there is no point on buying for the sake of buying. Probably 6 months later, the same posters will complain about the same players and call them deadwood.

We should either sign really good players who have been intensively scouted and want to come here, or give a chance to our very promising youngsters.
 

Beaucoup

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The great thing about Ole is that he won't kick up a fuss, he's just happy to be in this job, can't believe his luck!

A 4/10 transfer window and still Ole's beaming and "happy with the squad".

Brilliant.
until he inevitably get's sacked.
 

JPRouve

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Link?

Between 2008 and 2017 we paid a combined 14m in taxes (which is less than 1.5m for year). This is mostly because of our debt.

No idea how much we paid last season, but I would be surprised if it was a lot.
same place, the financial report. Our taxes have increased in the 2014-2018 period, 2018 is a bit special because there is a write-off for the period before December 2017 due to a US tax reform. The period that you are refererring to was pretty good in the first half with even tax credits while the second part isn't as good.
 

Mr Anderson

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Mixed. Ole has gotten targets he wanted and are hungry to play for us.

The players he wanted out were not actively pushed to be sold until late in the window - but on the flip side Ole also brought them on tour anyway, if they weren't in his plans, they should have been binned to the side and left back in Carrington.

We've failed to sign a midfielder or 2, despite our shortcomings there, the fact we lost Herrera and sold Fellaini. That falls on both Ole and Woodies head. Woodie for being so slow to act and Ole for not pushing Woodie harder.

you get the feeling Ole is potentially too nice for the role. You need to be a cnut to some degree to make it as a manager at a club in our position.
 

Red Keane

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Ole is generally doing the right thing with the players that he was allowed to sign (Maguire + AWB are good signings, James I am not so sure on) and the way he is managing the club*, but as long as the Glazers/Woodwood refuse to give the money needed to buy the players this club still needs (Another LB, Another CB, Another DM, Another CM, Another CAM and Another Striker as a bare minimum), there is only much he can do. Which goes to show that the real problems do not like in whoever is in the dugout, but those who own & run this club.

*My only issue is his lack of willingness to force (Lukaku being the exception) the likes of Smalling, Jones, Rojo, Darmian, Young, Matic & Fred out of the club.
 

suhaylah

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Ole wants to sign mainly british players. I think that's his main vision. And we all know that quality british players are unavailable.
 

Red Keane

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Ole wants to sign mainly british players. I think that's his main vision. And we all know that quality british players are unavailable.
The problem is not that they are unavailable, the problem is that the Glazers are unwilling to buy them and have not done beyond Maguire & AWB.

I mean sure from Alexander-Arnold, Robinson, Gomez, Stones, Walker, Foden & Sterling are unavailable to us. But there is nothing stopping us from buying any of Tierney, Chilwell, R.James, Tarkowski, Keane, Tomori, Rice, Choudhury, Gibbs-White, Ward-Prowse, Ramsey, Loftus-Cheek, Maddison, Alli, Barkley, Mount, Brooks, Sessegnon, Sancho, Nelson, Gray, Hudson-Odoi, Abraham & Kane. All of wholm would add something to the squad that we simply do not have and thus improve it.

So it is all well and good having a "British First" buying policy (Especially considering the fooballing talent this country has), but it means very little if they are not getting said players in the first place.

And by the way, if the club had a board/ownership that was willing to get those players signed up, the end result would not be too bad either...

De Gea/Henderson
AWB/Dalot - Lindelof/Tomori - Maguire/Tarkowski - Chilwell/Tierney
Ramsey/Maddison - Rice/McTominay - Pogba/Barkley
Sancho/Nelson - Kane/Rashford - Martial/Hudson-Odoi

Additional Players: Romero (GK), Shaw (LB), James (RB), Tuanzebe (CB), Keane (CB), Choudhury (DM), Gibbs-White (CM), Loftus-Cheek (CM), Alli (CAM), Mount (CAM), Brooks (CAM), Nelson (Wing), Gray (Wing), James (Wing), Abraham (ST), Greenwood (ST)
Would this be enough to beat the likes of City & Barcelona? Maybe maybe not, but it would be a lot better than what we current have at the moment...
 
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Champagne Football

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You simply can't build a team in one window. Getting Lukaku out and Maguire in was not as easy as it sounds.

Sancho and Longstaff were not for sale at any price, and they were 2 main targets for Ole.

If Greenwood and Fred are first team stars a year from now, Ed and Ole will be hailed as genius'.
 

Bullhitter

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I'm yet to be convinced he has any philosophy at all, right now it still seems like he is just doing the exact opposite of Mourinho with regard to everything. Saying all the right things, toeing the company line and being overly positive about everything.

Some have bought it and lapped it up.

Watching Mourinho implode so publicly and the outrage it caused among media and fans was like being handed the biggest "cheat sheet" in history. Like a guy going on a first date with a girl and having gotten the full lowdown on her from her best friend without her knowing. The girl thinks the guy just gets her and they're just an amazing fit. He'll only be able to keep it up for so long until she sees through him.