Next permanent manager | Poll updated

Who should be the next permanent manager?

  • Luis Enrique

    Votes: 113 7.4%
  • Erik ten Hag

    Votes: 1,300 84.7%
  • Julen Lopetegui

    Votes: 10 0.7%
  • Mauricio Pochettino

    Votes: 79 5.1%
  • None of the above

    Votes: 32 2.1%

  • Total voters
    1,534
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macheda14

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My biggest worry is the board replace Ole with Southgate. That would be an absolute disaster and we would be back to being served up the same brand of football.

Ole will be gone by the end of the season, for that I’m sure. But Southgate can’t be the man to come in.
Why would Southgate leave months before a world cup with a team that has the quality to win it?
 

11101

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Two points I'd make:

1) In the league so far this season we're second only to City in terms of possession. Last season less so, though still only the other three PL contenders and Leeds ahead of us. Ditto the season before that (with Leicester instead of Leeds) And I would think those season's possession stats are skewed by the very conservative way we approached big games, which wasn't reflective of how we play the majority of the time. Because if you are a top team then you will almost by default dominate possession in most of your games. We're not particularly good in possession, but then that's partly why we're speculating about getting a new manager. Whoever we hire would have to make us better in that regard.

2) We weren't particularly well suited to possession football when LVG arrived, but he quickly got us playing his brand of possession football nonetheless. Now his particular brand of possession football happens to be different to Ten Hag's in that it is so terrible I'd rather stab my eyes out than watch another season of it, and a lot of the signings made under him were awful on top of that, but the point is that you don't have to be obviously well suited to possession football to adapt to being coached that way. Hell, that was the best time of Mike Smalling's career with us and (given his limitations on the ball) he's the antithesis of the sort of CB you'd think would do well in a possession-based team. Coaching can do wonders, even if you're being coached to play tedious, joyless football.
In response to 1), agreed, but it's easy to keep possession in non dangerous parts of the pitch. How somebody like Rashford is going to be when he is pressed on the edge of the opposition box is a different thing. In congested areas we need some improvements.

Ten Hag or no Ten Hag, I'm glad most fans are finally coming to terms with Ole not being the solution long term. I don't know what Murtough & co do at the club but I hope it's moving some of the recruitment away from the manager's hands so we have continuation with the kind of players we buy.
 

RUCK4444

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There are far too many jokes, whispers and little mentions here and there about Southgate being our next manager, especially with there being uncertainty regarding him extending on as England manager.

That really scares me, because I genuinely believe our board are the only board (among the top clubs) stupid enough to actually hire Southgate. I really can imagine them doing that.

I would probably pack it in as well. Give me an amalgamation of all the worst aspects of Jose, Moyes, Vangle and Ole before you give me Sir Gareth.
It is genuinely fear inducing.

I’d even consider Moyes again before Southgate.
 

Xaviesta

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Seriously, what would possibly make the United hierarchy consider Gareth Southgate?
 
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Ajax fan here. This is factually not correct. Ten Hag took over from our previous manager Marcel Keizer halfway through the 2017/2018 season after our elimination in the Dutch cup. We had already failed to even qualify (!) for both the CL and Europe League months earlier under Keizer. Ten Hag had a tough second half of the season when he took over, but we actually managed to qualify under him on his first try the next summer when we got through all 3 CL qualifying rounds - which we had not done for many years prior - and then made that fairytale run in the CL.

I definitely agree that (especially) Real Madrid and Juventus were not the best that season, but you still have to play, and more importantly, beat what's in front of you and although we can play along nicely for a while with the big boys, we normally don't beat them over two legs and especially not in the manner that we did. Bar the team we had under Peter Bosz with whom we reached the EL final in 16/17, as much as a fan that I am I believe we would never have qualified or even come close to playing the way we did against even those Real Madrid or Juventus teams (I lost so much money on waging against us that season ugh) with the previous Ajax teams and THAT's exactly the difference between what Ten Hag (and Bosz) has achieved and what someone like De Boer or Jol has done.

I was initially a big sceptic when we got Ten Hag from Utrecht for the same reasons you doubt him. Did not really know the guy, only experience with a mid table team like FC Utrecht, little charisma, and seemed unremarkable. Just another uninspiring appointment from our DoF Overmars who is friends with him, but Overmars put a lot of faith in him and gave him the resources (we broke the wage and transfer ceiling in the 2018/2019 season which started when we signed Tadic and Blind) and Ten Hag proved him right on the pitch for which I give him a lot of credit. He got good players from the board, but he also executed and turned it into a good team. He plays attacking and dominant football, made us hard to beat, plays youngsters, and I also think he's a good people's manager while being much more comfortable in his presentation nowadays. Most of all, the players enjoy themselves on the pitch and it translates into results, not more that I can ask. Nowadays we can give any CL team a hard time while we seriously compete to make it past the CL group phase each season which I'd never expected a few years ago.

In my eyes he is therefore totally not comparable to Frank de Boer. In the years we played under Frank de Boer, we mostly played very very boring football. We won 4 league titles with him, but the football itself, the level of quality, and even the intention on the pitch is night and day. Very workmanship-like football with no joy on the pitch. Decent and unspectacular. If you look at the stats we scored 93, 83, 69, 81, 79 goals under Frank de Boer in his full seasons at Ajax. Under Ten Hag we scored 119 and 102 goals and we currently already have 30 after 8 games which is almost unprecedented even in the history of our "farmer" league. With Ten Hag we are dominant in the way that we should be given our huge budget compared to the other teams in the Eredivisie which is not a given if you look at history.

All in all, I personally hope that he will succeed wherever he goes to next. I do agree with your point that he has a very good structure around him and that he would not necessarily have that somewhere else so he has a lot to prove. Also he's still a bit of an unknown (most people can't even spell his name correctly) so would someone like Pogba respect a peasant like him from the farmers league who speaks English with a funny accent? Who knows. I'd be curious to see how he'd do in a bigger league and I can see a club like Bayern Munich go for him in an ideal situation should they look for a new one.
Excellent post. In his defence though I believe high end pros understand instantly a man with a solid plan and football understanding. that's how Sacchi easily won over the Ac Milan dressing room back in the day. Despite his previous humble coaching beginnings. I'll honestly be surprised if ETH struggled like De boer and Bosz did post Ajax.
 

Flytan

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In short its a negative germ to denote extreme difficulty. A round about way of implying something was fluked by the skin of the teeth
No? Maybe England has a different meaning to it or something but here it's used to denote "something that barely happened", the "fluked part", is implied by the context, not the word.
 

jamesjimmybyrondean

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For me the most important criteria for hiring a manager is that we will still be able to maintain or even better the quality of recruitment we've had under Ole. We should always have a squad that is one good manager away from competing for major trophies. If a new coach was to come in here and get sacked in the next two years, he must leave the club with a squad that is still capable of competing for major titles.

So apart from a tactically astute coach we also need a manager that will work with the recruitment team who have proven to be able to build a squad that can compete for major trophies. Ten Hag and Zidane are the only two coaches that suit this criteria. There are a few other coaches too but either the club won't realistically consider them or they are already occupied with international management and won't be available till after WC
 

Yakuza_devils

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Moyes, LVG, Jose, Ole and if next was Southgate. We are truly fecked.

Since SAF retire our football has been very dull and negative. Can we get a modern attacking manager?

This is not rocket science, couldn't Ed and the club top management make the right call for once?
 

Inezzi

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There's some absolutely ignorant posters on this forum but thankfully they're in the minority. I'd just like to say that anyone who thinks the likes of Murtough and McKenna got jobs at United because they're mates with Solskjaer is talking out of their back side.

If someone like Ten Hag was to arrive at United he would have a advantage over LVG, because unlike LVG, he would be working with a recruitment department that didn't exist at the time LVG was appointment. Ten Hag doesn't need to worry about the board but rather he will be working with the likes of Murtough, Bout and the rest of the football department. Ten Hag at Ajax doesn't deal with the Ajax board but rather their recruitment department which is headed by Marc Overmars. And it's the same Overmars who decided not to sign Virgil Van Dijk from Groningen after the Groningen Sporting Director asked him directly twice to make a bid but Overmars instead chose to sign Mike Van der Hoorn. It's also the same Overmars who forgot to register record signing Sebastian Haller for European competition. Can you imagine if our guys did this?

Also I find it extremely disrespectful towards the Dutch for anyone to say the likes of Koeman and De Boer are the same as Ten Hag because they're all Dutch. Ten Hag has a different concept of playing the game which is similar to Guardiola and Luis Enrique who are Spanish, than the likes of Koeman and De Boer.
I always felt that it was just as important for Man Utd to get a great DoF as a great manager. The reason why Ajax have done so well over the past years is not only because of ETH, but also because of his strong connection with Overmars. They are completely on the same line and form a strong unit internally but also for the outside world. This is why I can understand when some people question if ETH would be able to do it on his own at a different club and it's why I would rather see him at Bayern than at Barcelona for example. ETH always said in interviews that he and Overmars both have the same ideas on football and always decide together on signings and if one does not agree, then they simply don't sign the player. I think this has not always been the case at Man Utd (e.g. Van de Beek who I think Ole didn't really want). Hopefully things will be better at Man Utd under Murtough.

And although ETH-Overmars work well together, we too have made some questionable signings over the years (e.g. Labyad, Klaiber, Kristensen) albeit they were mostly not key signings, but so far they have nailed almost all the important ones (e.g. Tadic, Blind, Klaassen, Neres, Anthony, Martinez, Alvarez, Berghuis, etc.). Also, Overmars in general has been great at selling players and recuperating our misses on the transfer market. It's true that he did miss out on Van Dijk, but PSV, Feyenoord, and AZ also didn't go for him at that time. People saw the physical qualities, but had doubts if he could make the jump from Groningen to a top 3 side. And here they judge defenders very differently. Is he comfortable on the ball, composed, can he play out from the back, does he take initiative, step into the midfield? And at Ajax you normally always have more possession than the other team which makes these things even more important. It's why Blind can succeed at Ajax at CB or why we can now play with a CB duo of Martinez (1.75 cm) and Timber (1.79 cm) which works for our style but would be unthinkable in the EPL. It doesn't explain why they went for Vd Hoorn though which I also never understood. Btw, it was not Overmars who forget to register Haller. It was the team manager (ex-tennis pro Jan Siemerink) who forgot to tick the box next to Haller's name. A lot of fans still don't really rate the latter, but that's a different discussion ;)
 
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yamo123x

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I think most UTD fans would not want Southgate but i think Man Utd board would have him down on their top 3 list. Possibly as their number 1 choice.

He has the best England squad we have amassed for years, he has been lucky in that sense.
He certainly didnt inspire when managing at Club Level for Boro, so other than a nice guy what does he offer?

We should be looking at a manager who can inspire their teams, managers with personality and passion , one who's teams play great football, one who can handle big players and is not afraid to make tough decisions..AND one who doesnt have massive ego and is likely to fall out with people.... who fits this bill, well Naigelsman at Munich, Klopp at Liverpool, Guardiola at City......poss Tuchel although i think he is a bit of a pr1ck ! None are available, so who next......?

The next 3 on the list for me are Pochettino, Luis Enrique and Ten Haag who dont tick all of the above boxes but ones who could do well here playing attacking football.
 

Inezzi

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As I said I am sure that Ten Hag has potential. What I do debate is whether he's ready to move to a big club and SPECIFICALLY whether he can move to this club. Manchester United is a poorly run club with a board that has no idea about football. That means its inconsistent (they might totally support the manager this year and suddenly stop financially support him the next year) and it puts the manager into alot of pressure to perform in areas that he shouldn't even be messing in the first place. To make matters worse United had slowly but surely became a mate's club. The likes of Carricky, Mckennicky, Phelany, Murtoughy and Fletchery won't like seeing Ole losing the wheel, not to forget the first team which is basically Ole's team. The new manager would probably find himself being pressured from upstairs (Murtoughy, SAF) from within and from the outside (pundits like Rio, Gaz, Scholesky etc) by people who think that United is basically theirs.

I also under the impression that Dutch managers are stuck to their own ways and their own system. You have to look at the transfers of LVG, Koeman and De Boer who always tend to be strongly tinged with Dutch players. That wouldn't be an issue if the Dutch league is producing the likes of Rijkaard, Gullit and Van Basten or if the EPL is playing a very similar system to the Dutch league. Unfortunately its not the case on both case. Coupled to the fact that Ole had made sure to build a mate's club even at squad level then bringing in a Dutch contingency to challenge it might lead to some serious friction.

So in my opinion we should go for someone who is

a- tactically better then Ole (that's hardly a difficult task)
b- he plays with a similar system to his (4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1)
c- he's a manager who had previously worked in the EPL and understand the EPL well
d- whose got a certain reputation in the EPL, enough to be given some honeymoon period to make the much needed changes United need.

Ten Hag qualified in A and B but he lacks C and D

In my opinion we should be looking at the likes of Mancini or Zidane (he lacks C but our strong French contingency will protect him), people with enough reputation to go to the board and tell them that he doesn't want to work with coaches who had been part of two failed administrations. If United want an upstart with great potential then I'd rather see us sign Potter rather then Ten Hag. Don't take me wrong, the latter probably have a higher ceiling in terms of potential. However Potter is British, he knows the EPL and he will receive far less slack then Ten Hag would. The very fact that he might end up managing England in the future would make the Nevilles and co choose their words wisely when criticizing him
I definitely agree with you that he does not qualify for C and D, but then again it's never going to be a sure bet when you sign a manager who's never worked in the EPL before. Btw, I think D is very dependant on the conviction of the board/DoF. It would not be a reason for me to not sign a manager because some pundits would criticise him. ETH also had a lot of people including own fans who didn't fancy him and I remember a lot of fans already wanting him gone when we lost to PSV away 0-3 in his first months, but it takes time to build a good team and Overmars stuck by him and it proved to be a great decision over the long run. Potter would definitely be more experienced than him with regards to the EPL, but then you could also say that he has never managed a team in the top flight or in the CL so with most candidates there's going to be something that's missing on their CV.
 

Chairman Steve

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Southgate won’t be our next manager. Pundits will surely make that link with us and say ‘Gareth’ has done amazingly well with England and he should be our top target, even though the reality is he benefits from an amazing squad that he doesn’t know how to get the best out of.

Plus as a cynical reason, Southgate isn’t Utd alumni so I don’t think he’d be taken to heart by Utd fans like Solskjaer was and the board knows that. We’ve also got a good squad now and don’t need picking up when we’re feeling down, so we need to aim for people like ETH, Zidane, Conte etc. The club structure is more defined now than back in 2018 where it felt like Jose and Woodward were the double act… now it feels more modernised than it was. I’ve always wondered whether our antequated structure fecked us in the past when going for managers.

It’s conceivable that beyond the Disneyland pitch that Klopp didn’t like that we lacked the modern stuff we see at our European peers like a data analysis team and a footballing board structure back then. He probably thought Utd wanted him to fill that SAF shaped hole which no one else could have done and thought ‘feck that’
 

hobbers

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If Southgate ever was seriously linked whilst we were in the stages of hiring a new manager I would hope there'd be a similar reaction from United fans as Spurs fans when they were linked with Gattuso.
 
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Southgate won’t be our next manager. Pundits will surely make that link with us and say ‘Gareth’ has done amazingly well with England and he should be our top target, even though the reality is he benefits from an amazing squad that he doesn’t know how to get the best out of.

Plus as a cynical reason, Southgate isn’t Utd alumni so I don’t think he’d be taken to heart by Utd fans like Solskjaer was and the board knows that. We’ve also got a good squad now and don’t need picking up when we’re feeling down, so we need to aim for people like ETH, Zidane, Conte etc. The club structure is more defined now than back in 2018 where it felt like Jose and Woodward were the double act… now it feels more modernised than it was. I’ve always wondered whether our antequated structure fecked us in the past when going for managers.

It’s conceivable that beyond the Disneyland pitch that Klopp didn’t like that we lacked the modern stuff we see at our European peers like a data analysis team and a footballing board structure back then. He probably thought Utd wanted him to fill that SAF shaped hole which no one else could have done and thought ‘feck that’
Woodward sold our commercial power instead of our heart as a club. Klopp was right to not be impressed
 

devilish

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I definitely agree with you that he does not qualify for C and D, but then again it's never going to be a sure bet when you sign a manager who's never worked in the EPL before. Btw, I think D is very dependant on the conviction of the board/DoF. It would not be a reason for me to not sign a manager because some pundits would criticise him. ETH also had a lot of people including own fans who didn't fancy him and I remember a lot of fans already wanting him gone when we lost to PSV away 0-3 in his first months, but it takes time to build a good team and Overmars stuck by him and it proved to be a great decision over the long run. Potter would definitely be more experienced than him with regards to the EPL, but then you could also say that he has never managed a team in the top flight or in the CL so with most candidates there's going to be something that's missing on their CV.
Ajax is a very different club to Manchester United. The fact that it tends to be a stepping stone for players and managers allows people associated to Ajax (managers, players etc) to leave the nest relatively early in their career, experience different managerial and football styles only to return, with bags of experience and a rather detached view of how a club should be run. Take for example VDS. He played in 3 different leagues and was managed by the likes of LVG, Ancelotti, Tigana, Coleman and SAF at club level. At national level he was managed by the likes of Hiddink, Advocat and Rijkaard.

United is quite insular. Most ex players had the same manager for nearly 30 years. They tend to have a very insular and rather extreme of what football is all about and how their club should play. This has an impact on fans as well.. The fact that most of these people had spent a big chunk of their career at United, they had bled for the club and had won a horde of trophies in the process tend to make them very difficult to criticize as opposed to a player who gave 3-4 years to the club and then feck off to richer pastures as a typical top quality Dutch league player would do to Ajax/PSV etc. Which is why so many people keep backing the likes of Ole and his coaching stuff even though its evident that its not good enough.

Therefore lets say we sign Ten Hag and rightly so he wants his own people as coaches. Lets now assume that the board is ready to heed his advice rather then tell him that he hasn't really won anything substantial to disrespect these legends that way. Now he's taking Ole job and he's made Carricky redundant. That's before the ball has been kicked. I assure you that all Ole-Carricky friends in the media will be on him like hawks especially if Ten Hag decides to start giving United a more continental look rather then stick on the British core Ole had been implementing in the past few years. At that point every mistake will be scrutinized and every bad result will be enough to rip the manager a new one etc. You only have to see the different weights and measures used to judge the likes of Kane and Henderson as opposed to Pogba and DDG. It would only be a matter of time before fans would listen to them and star turning the heat on.
 

Florida Man

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I have a friend whose father is connected with the Glazers. She knows them and their kids. They actually go to her father for advice on things for Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I can forward her advice from the caf to forward to her dad, and he can advise them further. I already mentioned that we need a better manager and to sign a defensive midfielder. What else can be added?
 

Chesterlestreet

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I always felt that it was just as important for Man Utd to get a great DoF as a great manager.
Yes.

Bingo.

Exactly.

United should've looked on the transition from SAF to...not-SAF as a transition from Model A (where the manager was the alpha and the omega) to Model B (where a completely different structure should have emerged).

As it turned out, we did something incredibly stupid instead. We tried to replace the ultimate alpha and omega man with a number of vastly inferior substitutes.
 

jamesjimmybyrondean

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Ajax is a very different club to Manchester United. The fact that it tends to be a stepping stone for players and managers allows people associated to Ajax (managers, players etc) to leave the nest relatively early in their career, experience different managerial and football styles only to return, with bags of experience and a rather detached view of how a club should be run. Take for example VDS. He played in 3 different leagues and was managed by the likes of LVG, Ancelotti, Tigana, Coleman and SAF at club level. At national level he was managed by the likes of Hiddink, Advocat and Rijkaard.

United is quite insular. Most ex players had the same manager for nearly 30 years. They tend to have a very insular and rather extreme of what football is all about and how their club should play. This has an impact on fans as well.. The fact that most of these people had spent a big chunk of their career at United, they had bled for the club and had won a horde of trophies in the process tend to make them very difficult to criticize as opposed to a player who gave 3-4 years to the club and then feck off to richer pastures as a typical top quality Dutch league player would do to Ajax/PSV etc. Which is why so many people keep backing the likes of Ole and his coaching stuff even though its evident that its not good enough.

Therefore lets say we sign Ten Hag and rightly so he wants his own people as coaches. Lets now assume that the board is ready to heed his advice rather then tell him that he hasn't really won anything substantial to disrespect these legends that way. Now he's taking Ole job and he's made Carricky redundant. That's before the ball has been kicked. I assure you that all Ole-Carricky friends in the media will be on him like hawks especially if Ten Hag decides to start giving United a more continental look rather then stick on the British core Ole had been implementing in the past few years. At that point every mistake will be scrutinized and every bad result will be enough to rip the manager a new one etc. You only have to see the different weights and measures used to judge the likes of Kane and Henderson as opposed to Pogba and DDG. It would only be a matter of time before fans would listen to them and star turning the heat on.
Looks like you have some personal issues with Ten Hag because this is a whole lot of overthinking
 

Adnan

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I always felt that it was just as important for Man Utd to get a great DoF as a great manager. The reason why Ajax have done so well over the past years is not only because of ETH, but also because of his strong connection with Overmars. They are completely on the same line and form a strong unit internally but also for the outside world. This is why I can understand when some people question if ETH would be able to do it on his own at a different club and it's why I would rather see him at Bayern than at Barcelona for example. ETH always said in interviews that he and Overmars both have the same ideas on football and always decide together on signings and if one does not agree, then they simply don't sign the player. I think this has not always been the case at Man Utd (e.g. Van de Beek who I think Ole didn't really want). Hopefully things will be better at Man Utd under Murtough.

And although ETH-Overmars work well together, we too have made some questionable signings over the years (e.g. Labyad, Klaiber, Kristensen) albeit they were mostly not key signings, but so far they have nailed almost all the important ones (e.g. Tadic, Blind, Klaassen, Neres, Anthony, Martinez, Alvarez, Berghuis, etc.). Also, Overmars in general has been great at selling players and recuperating our misses on the transfer market. It's true that he did miss out on Van Dijk, but PSV, Feyenoord, and AZ also didn't go for him at that time. People saw the physical qualities, but had doubts if he could make the jump from Groningen to a top 3 side. And here they judge defenders very differently. Is he comfortable on the ball, composed, can he play out from the back, does he take initiative, step into the midfield? And at Ajax you normally always have more possession than the other team which makes these things even more important. It's why Blind can succeed at Ajax at CB or why we can now play with a CB duo of Martinez (1.75 cm) and Timber (1.79 cm) which works for our style but would be unthinkable in the EPL. It doesn't explain why they went for Vd Hoorn though which I also never understood. Btw, it was not Overmars who forget to register Haller. It was the team manager (ex-tennis pro Jan Siemerink) who forgot to tick the box next to Haller's name. A lot of fans still don't really rate the latter, but that's a different discussion ;)
Regarding the Sebastien Haller error, Ten Hag was quoted as saying “In the first instance [the technical director] Marc Overmars and I are responsible. Of course, people make mistakes, but this is a top sports organisation. This mistake should never have happened. Haller is of course also very disappointed. Although he also understands that this was not done on purpose.”
https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...rd-signing-sebastien-haller-for-europa-league

And regarding Virgil Van Dijk, I agree it was a collective failing at Ajax, Feyenoord and PSV. But it was made to look worse for Overmars due to the signing of Van de Hoorn and the comments of the Groningen Sporting director, who said that he approached Overmars on several occassions on the behalf of the player, who wanted to join Ajax but Overmars had no interest and instead had ear marked Van de Hoorn as a target instead. Now I'm not criticizing Overmars here because I completely understand mistakes happen and will happen. The reason I pointed the above out was because had the same happened at United with us failing to register our record signing for European competition and failing to sign a CB (who would go on to be the best in the world in his position) who was itching to join the club. Then the criticism on here would be off the charts as they say.

I do agree that there has to be a streamlined approached to recruitment. That's why it's for the best we allow the recruitment department to select the head coach who will come in to work with them. Michael Edwards at Liverpool was a laughing stock among Liverpool fans prior to the arrival of Klopp. According to reports from the Liverpool based media, Brendan Rodgers and Liverpool's recruitment department didn't see eye to eye when it came to recruitment. Rodgers was eventually fired and Klopp arrived and immediately embraced Edwards and his team and relied on their data driven approach which gave Edwards and his team the power to shape a recruitment plan that catered for Klopp's attacking brand of football which would culminate in the club winning both the league and Champions League. And had we brought in Michael Edwards to United, many of our fans would've been up in arms IMO and would've wrote him off before giving him a chance. It's what a number of Liverpool fans did.

I believe the strength of a club when it comes to the footballing department should be judged by the team and not a individual only. So the recruitment department as a whole should be looked at to form a opinion. For example, Luis Campos has said many times, that it's not just him, but the team working with him that has been the key to his success. Ralf Rangnick is also someone that relies on several people that have helped him achieve success at clubs where the job was to help make the next step in the footballing pyramid.

There's no question we have the experience and diversity in our recruitment department to take advantage of the different markets around the world. We have experienced men working as heads of department who have extensive experience of working in European football and for some of the most decorated coaches/clubs in the world. But what I don't believe we have is a manager/head coach who I believe has the ability or know how, on how best to take advantage of such a recruitment structure which started taking shape in around 2017. The site 'Training ground guru' have guests on their podcasts who work at top clubs around Europe from United, City, Liverpool etc to Roma, and a few German top flight clubs. And according to them, Man Utd's line up of scouts, was one of the most impressive line ups they'd reviewed.

I'm personally hoping we either go for Luis Enrique or Ten Hag. I can't say if they would succeed but if they did succeed, then the football would be fantastic and they'd leave a coaching imprint at the club which would run deep throughout the club IMO.
 
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Inezzi

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Therefore lets say we sign Ten Hag and rightly so he wants his own people as coaches. Lets now assume that the board is ready to heed his advice rather then tell him that he hasn't really won anything substantial to disrespect these legends that way. Now he's taking Ole job and he's made Carricky redundant. That's before the ball has been kicked. I assure you that all Ole-Carricky friends in the media will be on him like hawks especially if Ten Hag decides to start giving United a more continental look rather then stick on the British core Ole had been implementing in the past few years. At that point every mistake will be scrutinized and every bad result will be enough to rip the manager a new one etc. You only have to see the different weights and measures used to judge the likes of Kane and Henderson as opposed to Pogba and DDG. It would only be a matter of time before fans would listen to them and star turning the heat on.
Well, when ETH came to us he brought Alfred Schreuder (currently assistant manager at Barca) with him as his second man who was seen by many as the tactical mastermind and someone who was important as connection between the squad and ETH as he was good with the players (e.g. someone like Ziyech who was considered a difficult personality loved him). Currently, his assistants include people like Michael Reiziger, Richard Witschge, Winston Bogarde, and also Christian Poulsen before he left ... ALL ex-players from Ajax. And I also remember a funny story when ETH was linked with Spurs, so I don't think that Carrick would necessarily have to fear for his job if Man Utd would ever want to sign ETH if the following was true ;)

Valentijn Driessen, chief football writer for the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf has claimed that Tottenham were left surprised during their discussions with Ten Hag after he allegedly revealed that he had no plans to bring any of his current backroom staff with him to North London.

Driessen said as quoted by Voetbal Zone: “Which they found very strange at Spurs , and we think it is very normal in the Netherlands that if you get a trainer you only get one trainer, but with the English you get a whole staff: a physiotherapist, doctor, assistant trainer, goalkeeper coach.

“You just enter there with a whole group. So they also asked him: who are you taking with you? Yes, nobody. They don’t know that there. He wanted Sjors Ultee, that name had also been mentioned. But you normally go there with a whole group.”
 
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Inezzi

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Regarding the Sebastien Haller error, Ten Hag was quoted as saying “In the first instance [the technical director] Marc Overmars and I are responsible. Of course, people make mistakes, but this is a top sports organisation. This mistake should never have happened. Haller is of course also very disappointed. Although he also understands that this was not done on purpose.”
https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...rd-signing-sebastien-haller-for-europa-league

And regarding Virgil Van Dijk, I agree it was a collective failing at Ajax, Feyenoord and PSV. But it was made to look worse for Overmars due to the signing of Van de Hoorn and the comments of the Groningen Sporting director, who said that he approached Overmars on several occassions on the behalf of the player, who wanted to join Ajax but Overmars had no interest and instead had ear marked Van de Hoorn as a target instead. Now I'm not criticizing Overmars here because I completely understand mistakes happen and will happen. The reason I pointed the above out was because had the same happened at United with us failing to register our record signing for European competition and failing to sign a CB (who would go on to be the best in the world in his position) who was itching to join the club. Then the criticism on here would be off the charts as they say.

I do agree that there has to be a streamlined approached to recruitment. That's why it's for the best we allow the recruitment department to select the head coach who will come in to work with them. Michael Edwards at Liverpool was a laughing stock among Liverpool fans prior to the arrival of Klopp. According to reports from the Liverpool based media, Brendan Rodgers and Liverpool's recruitment department didn't see eye to eye when it came to recruitment. Rodgers was eventually fired and Klopp arrived and immediately embraced Edwards and his team and relied on their data driven approach which gave Edwards and his team the power to shape a recruitment plan that catered for Klopp's attacking brand of football which would culminate in the club winning both the league and Champions League. And had we brought in Michael Edwards to United, many of our fans would've been up in arms IMO and would've wrote him off before giving him a chance. It's what a number of Liverpool fans did.

I believe the strength of a club when it comes to the footballing department should be judged by the team and not a individual only. So the recruitment department as a whole should be looked at to form a opinion. For example, Luis Campos has said many times, that it's not just him, but the team working with him that has been the key to his success. Ralf Rangnick is also someone that relies on several people that have helped him achieve success at clubs where the job was to help make the next step in the footballing pyramid.

There's no question we have the experience and diversity in our recruitment department to take advantage of the different markets around the world. We have experienced men working as heads of department who have extensive experience of working in European football and for some of the most decorated coaches/clubs in the world. But what I don't believe we have is a manager/head coach who I believe has the ability or know how, on how best to take advantage of such a recruitment structure which started taking shape in around 2017. The site 'Training ground guru' have guests on their podcasts who work at top clubs around Europe from United, City, Liverpool etc to Roma, and a few German top flight clubs. And according to them, Man Utd's line up of scouts, was one of the most impressive line ups they'd reviewed.

I'm personally hoping we either go for Luis Enrique or Ten Hag. I can't say if they would succeed but if they did succeed, then the football would be fantastic and they'd leave a coaching imprint at the club which would run deep throughout the club IMO.
Yep, I totally agree that in the end it's the responsibility of the whole technical staff when a player is not registered. It should have been checked and double checked and something went wrong which should not be blamed on just one individual person.

Going for Van der Hoorn instead of Virgil is indeed one of the big mistakes under Overmars but that's of course in hindsight. We had an internal rapport come out later about that specific period which showed that some people did not rate Virgil at the club with Frank de Boer preferring Van der Hoorn with Overmars backing the manager, while Dennis Bergkamp and Wim Jonk at that time opted for Van Dijk both with whom Overmars was in conflict and they both later left the club as well in an unamicable way. The whole first period under Overmars was a bit of mess when it came to transfers as we had to keep a tight hand on the finances and chose to go on the cheap route signing players like Zimling, Sana or Sanogo. Only in the last years things have turned around completely when they decided to invest the money on the pitch instead of keeping it on the bank. But Virgil was not only overlooked at Groningen, but also at Celtic where he was playing very well with no big club coming in for him. It took a Dutch manager in Ronald Koeman who knew him to finally get his move to the EPL and "only" to Southampton as well.

Totally agree with the other points you made. I think ideally everything from recruitment to technical staff should be aligned with the DoF overseeing this process. For example, people always say that Pep wins because he can get who he wants, but I think him having someone like Txiki is absolute key. Also agree with you that Luis Enrique would be an interesting choice. He already worked in Italy and Spain and I'd be curious to see what he could do in the EPL.
 
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OpenIntrovert

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The competitive bit doesn't add up. We have won nothing. Not even a minor trophy.
Well if your only interpretation of the word competitive is trophies without paying any attention to the context, then its quite obvious that you have decided that Ole is the wrong choice based on your own emotions rather than facts. Its like you are waiting for him to fail terribly so that you can use the word "I told you so".

Even if Ole were to win trophies this season, i highly doubt you will be happy as your ego of making sure Ole fails, will not let you enjoy the club's achievements. Its useless to put forward any argument if all of you refuse to review how Ole has made the squad competitive.
 

Mainoldo

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Well if your only interpretation of the word competitive is trophies without paying any attention to the context, then its quite obvious that you have decided that Ole is the wrong choice based on your own emotions rather than facts. Its like you are waiting for him to fail terribly so that you can use the word "I told you so".

Even if Ole were to win trophies this season, i highly doubt you will be happy as your ego of making sure Ole fails, will not let you enjoy the club's achievements. Its useless to put forward any argument if all of you refuse to review how Ole has made the squad competitive.
I think he’s just using this thing called common sense.

Imagine someone trying to convince you Ian Dowe is better than Andy Cole.
 

LazyGoal

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I think he’s just using this thing called common sense.

Imagine someone trying to convince you Ian Dowe is better than Andy Cole.
Look at lineups from two years ago, and the mental state of the club. Now look at our bench, and how focused the club is, then look at results achived given the car crash Mourinho left.

Of course we want things to go faster. But, we where also top of the league in january last season. You dont win things normaly out of nowhere.
 

Ikon

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Seriously, what would possibly make the United hierarchy consider Gareth Southgate?
Because it will be an entirely "safe" and predictable appointment, Southgate & Pochettino both fit that billing, for an appointment made without a great deal of insight from the board.
 

OpenIntrovert

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I think he’s just using this thing called common sense.

Imagine someone trying to convince you Ian Dowe is better than Andy Cole.
Common sense can only be applied for obvious situations. If you think winning a trophy is only determined by the manager, then there is nothing else I can say regarding this.

Like I said, your lot have already decided that Ole is the wrong choice right from the start and based on your own emotions. It does not matter if he gets a trophy or not, nothing will change your opinion since you are fixated on Ole being sacked at all costs.
 

sullydnl

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Common sense can only be applied for obvious situations. If you think winning a trophy is only determined by the manager, then there is nothing else I can say regarding this.

Like I said, your lot have already decided that Ole is the wrong choice right from the start and based on your own emotions. It does not matter if he gets a trophy or not, nothing will change your opinion since you are fixated on Ole being sacked at all costs.
You said we have been very competitive under Ole's care. What do you think competitive means if not competing for trophies? Especially relative to pre-Ole given we were already "competetive" for top four and the EL during Mourinho's time. What else have we been doing very competitively?

It's absolutely fine to say that winning major trophies wasn't a realistic expectation under Ole thus far. But then making us "very competetive" is an odd thing to praise him for as opposed to, say, rebuilding the squad or whatever.
 

Bebestation

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I was watching replays of Tottenham Vs Arsenal and I was wondering how wonderful it would be to see Wenger coaching the England national team.

Making that Arsenal team look really fluid, players like Chamackh play above their level.

Then I thought just out of interest- to the people who so badly want Ole out - if the only option was Wenger in, would you take it as a way of getting Ole out?
 
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