Kieran McKenna as our next assistant manager| Simon Stone confirms the promotion

Tarrou

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Interesting @ash_86 , thanks. And apologies for missing that first time.

Would be an incredible appointment really, to go from under 18s to assistant at 32, and speaks volumes for how highly rated McKenna is within the club (if true).
 

Oscie

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Getting ridiculously ahead of ourselves but if he's rated so highly to go from U18's coach to assistant (if rumours are true) then surely has to be in with a shout of the hot seat when Jose goes, if successful. Would make more sense in terms of an accession than 'GiveItGiggsy.com' did.
 

edgar allan

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Getting ridiculously ahead of ourselves but if he's rated so highly to go from U18's coach to assistant (if rumours are true) then surely has to be in with a shout of the hot seat when Jose goes, if successful. Would make more sense in terms of an accession than 'GiveItGiggsy.com' did.
There is never going to be promotion to a manager from within the club so at some stage he is going to have to leave and gain experience as a manager elsewhere.
 

edgar allan

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Surely continuing to be responsible for a youth team is better experience for him at the moment than being the assistant to Jose.
 

SirAF

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Surely continuing to be responsible for a youth team is better experience for him at the moment than being the assistant to Jose.
Depends on his ambitions. If he wants to become a manager it would be valuable to work closely with JM for a few years, and to have the experience of dealing with top players at the age of 32.
 

edgar allan

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Depends on his ambitions. If he wants to become a manager it would be valuable to work closely with JM for a few years, and to have the experience of dealing with top players at the age of 32.
Depends on what influence an assistant manager has. I get the sense that Jose likes yes men only around him.
 

VancouverUtdFan

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Yes please.

U18’s Manager. Won the League by a mile and his teams score 4+ goals a game.

Surely we could use that sort of attack minded philosophy with our players.
 

SirAF

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Depends on what influence an assistant manager has. I get the sense that Jose likes yes men only around him.
I don’t think that’s right, you are not successful for 20 years by surrounding yourself only with «yes men». I also seem to recall an interview with Mou where he mentioned that he likes his assistants to challenge him and speak up, but I can’t find it atm.
 

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I actually don't like this idea and would prefer for Jose to do something similar to what SAF did in hiring Carlos Queiroz; which bore long term fruit in this case even if it wasn't initially as successful on the pitch as we would have liked (hopefully in Jose case it would be).

Jose looks to me like a coach who has been overtaken in terms of his general tactical approach and coaching methods much like SAF was at one point in terms of his approach to European football.

Therefore for me it would be a good idea to hire a young up and coming innovative manager to act as assistant(we are big enough as a club to attract this type) and for Jose's duties to be more as a manger/overseer and less as a coach.

I really think we need a fresh approach to both tactical setup and coaching which looks currently to be beyond Jose and his current staff.
 
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Paxi

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Now this is exciting news. If this does happen, who will be the one taking his place in the academy, he did some real good work there.
Paddy Evra. He'd run about in a giant panda suit telling our kids he loves this game. Enough motivation for anyone to make it to the top.
 

Jonnymufc

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I actually don't like this idea and would prefer for Jose to do something similar to what SAF did in hiring Carlos Queiroz; which bore long term fruit in this case even if it wasn't initially as successful on the pitch as we would have liked (hopefully in Jose case it would be).

Jose looks to me like a coach who has been overtaken in terms of his general tactical approach and coaching methods much like SAF was at one point in terms of his approach to European football.

Therefore for me it would be a good idea to hire a young up and coming innovative manager to act as assistant(we are big enough as a club to attract this type) and for Jose's duties to be more as a manger/overseer and less as a coach.

I really think we need a fresh approach to both tactical setup and coaching which looks currently to be beyond Jose and his current staff.
I agree with this. Jose has done almost everything right since being with us: champions league qualification both seasons, won trophies, best league position for 5 years, has blooded youngsters, made largely good signings etc. That stuff is not easily replicable.

However, I have to say that I have been uninspired by many of our performances and our lack of attacking guile has ultimately been the reason we failed to challenge for the title.

Therefore to preserve all Jose has built but also to make progress on the attack and style, it makes sense to bring in a coach with real pedigree a la Queiroz.

Whilst McKenna may be great, I'm afraid u18s to United first team is a massive step. Why not being him into the setup just not as the assistant?
 

Marcky411

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There was an article shared on RedCafe, possibly in the build up to the Tottenham game, where Mourinho said he'd been trying a different approach in attack and they'd been focusing on it in training which didn't end up working properly (might have been from a presser). I think Mourinho is willing to learn and change up his style although that might be an unpopular theory at the moment, he's mentioned it a few times this season that he's been trying new things and I don't think we'd be appointing someone attack minded unless Mourinho was willing to take their advice.
Well Jose has always said he takes peoples advices but at the end of the day the decision making is his and he determines what happens and how the team must play. So it doesn't really matter who becomes his number 2.
 

RedTillI'mDead

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This could be perfect. Give Mourinho some attacking influence and youth and conversely prep him on Mourinhos experience and defensive superiority. It could help him to go on to be quite a special manager in the future.
 

automaticflare

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Jose is a smart guy. He knows our limitations have been in attack, if he likes what he sees here then he is smart enough to embrace it if it can make us better. Don’t expect to see a massive change no matter who comes in but if someone can improve our interchange and turnover it could gain us an extra 9 points next season IMo and the 18s team do seem to be quite good at that (I know it’s only 18s)
 

ash_86

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Excellent news if true. If Kieran McKenna could help us work the attacking side of our football, with Jose's tactics and defense, we would be unstoppable.
 

MikeKing

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Paddy Evra. He'd run about in a giant panda suit telling our kids he loves this game. Enough motivation for anyone to make it to the top.
:lol: Thats a great comment

On topic: Didn't José just now say he isn't going to have an assistant? I guess that doesn't change this rumour tho and McKenna still might move up into his staff, or?
 

Hojoon

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I have a hard time seeing McKenna or the club allow him to be part of Mou's staff just to be a yes man and put cones during training sessions after the highly rated work he's done with U18. Think he'll have a significant influence, whether that's in tactics or being groomed for a manager role in the future.
 

Drz

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Mou's comments on the topic picked up from the official UTD site :http://www.manutd.com/en/News-And-F...-assistant-following-Rui-Faria-departure.aspx

“[There will be] no number two,” the boss said. “Moving forward, I will organise my coaching staff in a way where the assistant manager figure doesn’t exist.
“I’m going to have coaches, assistant coaches, fitness coaches and a structure where we have specialists in different areas, connected to the performance by analysts. I’m not going to have an assistant manager in the sense of the word.”
But it could only be a temporary departure from the normal management set up.

“The particular reason is that I think it will be Michael Carrick in the future, when he has his badges and his pro licence, when he makes the bridge from a player to an assistant,” added Mourinho.
“People think it’s just like ‘one day I am a player, the next day I am a coach’ and it’s not like that. The brain can be ready for that but then you need the practice, the decision-making, the control, the leadership, the work in groups.”

“So I prefer to educate people, to structure my staff in a way where there is space for their education, for their improvement, and I think naturally, when Michael has the coaching and pro licence badges, normally, with the personality he has, with the friendship, with our honesty, I think it will be for him.

“At the moment, he is my assistant and he participates in the process. Participating in the process means participating in every aspect.

“Of course I have to make the decisions but my assistants have an opinion and he has. Obviously, he will have a different opinion to those you can get from any other scout, or any analysis department.

He added: “I am going to improve my staffing in the performance level in relation to the fitness and the relation with the tactical work. So I’m going to bring some people in.”

The bolded part is where my hope resides for next season, if anything this takes more importance than any player signing. And we know the importance first-hand of having to challenge yourself and evolve when you spend more than a decade in the industry thanks to SAF.