He's presenting an opinion that's up for discussion. Not for calling names and telling him to feck off. If people don't agree with his opinion, that's fair game but being rude and hostile isn't.
Ole's Resume | An overview of Molde's 1st ever title-winning manager
- Thread starter Sterling Archer
- Start date
I mean he said he wanted the press to pickup on his post in order to heap pressure on the manager.
He’s getting what he should have expected, I massively toned down my original reply to the OP
I'm at work now so I don't have time for a big post but I like the topic so Ill probably get around to it later.
But I will just reply to the bolded real quick. The reason Molde was able to run away with it this year was a lot down to the recruitment done before the season started, and Rosenborg, the usually dominant team in the league (both by players, infrastructure and finances) had their worst league start in club history. For the first third of the season they were a relegation candidate rather than a championship team. In 2015, Molde scored 62 on the season when they ended in 6th place, while allowing only 31 goals. That' the 2nd best goal difference and 2nd bet GA stat in the league that season. The whole year was incredibly weird. with a lot of outlier results that combined into a 6th place, with a goal for/against differential that will normally win you the league title or place 2nd in Norway. In 2018 they scored 12 more goals than the league winners and still lost the title.
The Norwegian league is so uneven and almost random that new teams emerge every year as top3 candidates.
If you're going to judge a manager in Norway, look to results in Europe. The Norwegian league is in such a sorry state its embarrassing.
But even so. Ole was never hired because of his previous experience. Ole was hired as a interim manager to oversee the kids while the club found their new manager. Unfortunately for the Poch-in gang, Ole and the team went on the best: New Manager winning streak in league history, Best MUFC away win streak in history while doing what everyone at the time actually enjoyed: No press conferences where the manager complaints about players, the board or recruitment.
So after somehow managing to beat PSG in Paris, while creating yet another MUFC legendary night, the demand to sign Ole was so great from the fans that there was no way around hiring him. It's easy to say "new manager effect", but no one here knows what the hell that actually is. Yes it's a new guy, but what does he do? What IS the "new manager effect" in tangible measurable results? Sure one thing is not having to be afraid of José looking at you the wrong way, but that lasts so long. You don't travel to Paris who plays a hungry Mbappé with injuries on your most important players, and knock them out of the Champion League simply because Ole told the players to have fun like "anyone could have done".
So the club saw that there was real work being done here. The results were literally piling in left and right, everyone from pundits to fans were singing Ole at the Wheel, and Ole himself must have made one hell of a job interview. All that combined and here we are.
I'll also say this: Ole is a big game manager, we have proven that by now. We have played the big six 15 times since he took over. We've won 9. Drawn 2. And lost 2. That's outrageous stats against teams that good.
We got some work to do with the lesser teams, I'll admit that, but that is down to lacking those creative players that can break down a busparking team by sheer skill with the ball. You can't manage that. And that is why we are shopping in January. The squad is very thin a we've seen. Alexis Sanchez is injured, again. - Romelu Lukaku flat out went to Ole and asked permission to leave. The manager did not want that negative headspace around the playergroup that there was someone there that wanted out. It's simply good man management. It's a shame we did not manage to sign Dybala in Lukakus stead, but it is what it is.
We are in for Haaland now. And who know who else the club will target, but exciting days ahead for sure.
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You aren't basing that on much. It would just as easy to interpret it as Ole having them in an upward trajectory when he left and his predecessor benefiting from it. The one time he returned he took over a team in 7th and finished 6th then 5th and then two 2nd place finishes. So they were improving under him before he left for United and then the next guy won the league.
This is a fair post - particularly agree with the last line. I've been very tempted to stop visiting this forum in recent weeks because the avalanche of hate and negativity towards Ole was just leaving a bad taste. Its why its so refreshing to currently be able to view this forum without seeing all of that - no doubt it will come again soon when we next lose a match.
The guy who started this thread has been one of the front-runners in that negativity by the way, which is people are viewing this as an agenda driven post designed to spread abuse rather than a sincere desire to analyse Ole's managerial history. Someone without that agenda would likely have worded it very differently had they wanted to start a discussion about this.
I laughed way too hard at this comment.Sounds like a breath of fresh air. Personally, I'd look into Another Dude too. Not to mention this dude:
Imagine having that fecker in the dugout, pointing to his wristwatch, Fergie style:
This. The OP is on a job of point scoring at this point, he is on my list of potentially ignored posters for the amount of absolute BS he loves to spout and the fact he seems to want to be right all the time, so enjoys it when the club does bad.
That goes without saying.
But the point remains this: he isn't looking into Ole's managerial history at Molde because he's genuinely interested in it, wishing to - potentially - learn something from researching it, and then coming on here to present his finds in an objective manner.
Or, to put it slightly differently, if you think that's what he's doing, you're being very naive.
For me, progress on the pitch is being done, irrespective of what was done in Molde. We're 3-4 top players away from being a competitive team. Just look at Liverpool, they brought in Van Dijk, Fabinho and Allisson and are now world-beaters.
The important thing is that the players love him, they're playing for him and they believe in him. His first 3 signings were a success and his next signings will hopefully be as well. We lack a creative midfielder, another striking option (in the form of a traditional centre forward - I think that's why Mandzukic will reportedly be brought in as a Plan B) and a backup for Mctominay.
Just give some time, be patient. Patience is what he at least deserves after the circus we had the past 6 years. Something is being built - the foundations have already been laid it's clear to see.
The important thing is that the players love him, they're playing for him and they believe in him. His first 3 signings were a success and his next signings will hopefully be as well. We lack a creative midfielder, another striking option (in the form of a traditional centre forward - I think that's why Mandzukic will reportedly be brought in as a Plan B) and a backup for Mctominay.
Just give some time, be patient. Patience is what he at least deserves after the circus we had the past 6 years. Something is being built - the foundations have already been laid it's clear to see.
1. What a completely dishonest OP. The Sun would be proud. Presenting it as an overview and summary, yet systematically selects facts and overlooks others in propagandic fashion. Claims to look at context (in alleged contrast to what the United board and followers of the Norwegian league did), yet has no context and instead speculates wildly. Claims to not want to pollute with personal opinions, yet is completely one-sided in all presentation, selection and speculation, and presents the discussion as between posters asking fair questions vs a blind mob stigmatizing their opponents. Bad results are spoken of as reality and seeing the whole, good results are connoted with blind optimism. It’s how Trump readsthe Bible, and so opinionated Vladimir Putin would be proud.
2. I wasn’t going to dignify it with an answer, but as a Norwegian follower, I actually have context, and seeing such good work put into misrepresentation, I fear even intelligent readers may get swayed by the facetious factitiousness of it all. Here is some actual context:
2009-2011: Molde were mostly an elevator team until 1998. They had two runners up positions and a cup win in all their history, the latter two feats acheived by now National coach for Denmark, Åge Hareide, who has since won the Double in both Norway (with Rosenborg) Sweden and Denmark. In 1998, billionaires Røkke and Gjelsten went in with a lot of money, with ambitions of winning the league. (This was the same duo that bought and wrecked Wimbledon FC). After that, Molde made four runner up spots and two relegations, the last one in 2006. Another big spree saw recent Swedish Double winner Kjell Jonevret take a strong squad back up in 2007, and after a ninth place in 08, reached 2nd in 09. After that they combusted, like most Norwegian teams do after a good season, and was in danger of relagation again when Jonevret was fired and Uwe Rösler stepped in to save the place. So Solskjær took over a good team with a shaky morale, and Røkke/Gjelsten boosted that with another spree. Solskjær implemented a possession style football inspired moatly by Guardiola/Barca, and fairly consistent with Jonevret. Jonevret and R/G must have some of the credit for that first title, while at the same time, R/B had pumped money into the team for 12 years without a league win, so Solskjær definitely breached a barrier.
2012-15: What is notable in Norwegian football, is that only a few teams in the league history has managed back to back league wins. It’s to do probably with the professionality level, the fine economical margins and the best players constantly being picked off by bigger leagues. But also the small societies influences the squads, where players level of motivation varies a lot and motivational factors play a bigger part than in bigger leagues. Winning the league back-to-back was really seen as something special in Norway. My team Vålerenga did it once, in the early eighties, and I still live off it. For Molde to do it was seen as a proof to most that Solskjær was too good for the Norwegian league.
2013: The normal backlash, players now older, more satisfied, suffered a backlash in the league, before they turned it around towards the end, and also won the cup (In a 30-game league, a spell of bad form is often enough to cement you in the relegation zone.) part of the background was also that Solskjær (and the players) were deemed to be affected by the approaches from bigger clubs (like Aston Villa), and was ready to move on to bigger challenges. Upon Solskjær leaving for Vincent Tan, Solskjær’s assistant Moe continued with coaching prodigy Skullerud, playing much the same way as Solskjær. A squad of yet again hungry ‘stars’ got one more great season out of them, for which Solskjær must have some of the credit. The subsequent season, the club dipped towards relegation again under Skullerud, who never since have acheived anything similar.
2014-2018: By the time Solskjær got back, Røkke/Gjelsten had adopted an Abramovich-like approach of letting the club finance itself, and there was a huge squad overhaul imminent. Solskjær had to build from scratch, having to build on mainly young players (though without an academy of the level of Chelsea’s or United’s). He now opted for a more direct football, having studied Klopp among others. This took time and was a hilly road, but the trajectory was squarely upwards. 6th, 2nd and 2nd, having made some very impressive resuluts against superior European teams along the way. Yet again Solskjær left his assistant Moe after him, now as head coach, and the now more matured team this season won the league comfortably. But note that already the second half of last season, they appeared invincible in the league games, and it seems reasonable to give Solskjær quite a lot of the credit for building yet another league winning team.
The whole picture? Solskjær’s stints in Norway has shown tactical capasity to take good team to be consistently best, and repeatedly to punch above their weight against better teams. He has also shown the strategical capasity to build a team based on young players to consistently improve over several seasons. In Norway, under our conditions, there are hardly any coaches bar a couple of legends who have produced this kind of consistency.
Is this transferable to the big leagues? Who knows, and that was of course not the question in this thread. Has Woodward done his due diligence? Well’ I am entirely sure he and his cronies have done more than finding a table at wikipedia and do the rest by guesswork. Their agenda was probably also different.
The point I'm making is that some managers find their spiritual home as a manager after failures and painful experiences elsewhere first.
Secondly I think it's daft to dismiss Phelan. He's clearly a top top No.2 who worked with Fergie at the very end, meaning when Fergie was most experienced so all that Jedi knowledge was passed onto him. Kidd was in the class of 92 era where we were miles out on our own as the best in the league. Quieroz was in the Cristiano era, an era when we cherry picked the biggest names in Europe. By the time Phelan arrived, Chelsea, PSG, Man City etc had all emerged and we no longer cherry picked the best players, so Fergie became more of a risk taker back then, taking wild punts on Bebe, Obertan etc and hoping for the best. Phelan is clearly a top top No.2. To suggest otherwise is foolish
It definitely happens with players we’re linked to, their names are never brought up then all of a sudden everyone knows every last detail about them down to whether they prefer mayo or ketchup,
That's entirely untrue. And ironically without context. That was said facetiously in reply to @SteveW coming in with the trite remark that this belongs hidden inside another thread.
I really appreciate your giving me the benefit of the doubt here as well as the effort to tone down some of the more vitriolic responses.
Said it to another poster in one of my earlier responses that this all stems from my own personal lapse in not knowing more about Ole's managerial career. I took it for granted that he was quite a promising young manager having won Molde's first title, breaking the dominance of Rosenberg. Most of the Norwegians on here have talked of that time fondly even if the team got significant investment. So quite honestly, even the most basic information here is worth putting up. I'm sure there are other posters that didn't look this up before either. But when we're considering whether the decision to hire Ole was made rashly or not, you have to compare here against the likes of Allegri and Poch. It's not saying we shouldn't back Ole now, it's more that the hiring was another example of Woodward's ineffectiveness. It's more a gamble than a well informed decision.
There are also plenty of really informative posts about the Norwegian league as a whole adding more context. It all tends to be positive and aimed at "disproving" something, though. And that's part of the issue I had before - I'd only seen this positive unquestionable story of success from Norway. But even with more context, with the table and history in front, looking through the ebbs and flows of each of the teams, the picture isn't as clear as it's made out to me. But this isn't a troll post and it's meant to encourage more information. I was cautious to even put my spin on it (I think I used the phrase pollute with my opinion) because we've seen this very vicious response for not already being convinced that the gamble of an appointment was the right way to go.
Thank you for the detailed post, I have no idea how much of this true but the general point is something that many Norway posters/league watchers have said it before, so I'm assuming most of this accurate.
Bold part is hilarious and glad you pointed that out. Too much of victim mentality.
Fantastic post and tyvm for taking the time to write it up
Ole was clearly successful in Norway
Taking the Cardiff job was a mistake but I’m sure he learned a lot from that experience
Information for what? To play it down as 'too positive post in favor of Ole and posted just to disprove something?
Interesting read. Fits quite well with the Solskjaer we've seen so far here. Building through youth and gradual sustainable improvement.
I still find it bizarre that we are spending time talking about his time in Molde when we've plenty of United games to discuss but it's at least nice to get some context from someone who actually watches the Norweigan league as opposed to some weird Wikipedia summary.
This is a great summary. Some of my qualms still exist but you've covered a lot of the pockets of time that stood out to me. Thank you for posting it.
Now here's my question to you: where does someone find this level of analysis and explanation about that time sitting over in yankee town? All I've got is all I've got. I searched the cafe briefly and by memory, I don't recall ever coming across more than a short stanza of support from your countrymen in support of Ole when he was hired. We were required to just believe you.
As for my agenda, there's an assumption that I want Ole out. As I've said before I would love nothing more than to see him succeed. If you go back through my posts, I was so blind in my love for United and keeping up with Sir Alex's request to support the manager that I even lingered too long in supporting Moyes, and then again with LVG and again with Jose. You could say Jose's the straw that broke the camel's back. There's a deep fear of how much we may be set back here. Call it PTSD if you like. So yes, instead of blindly backing the managers for too long as I've done in the past I've started to try and question things more now. But this isn't even an Ole out view. I was Ole out and openly flipped my opinion after the last two matches very impressed with the mentality of the team. But the one thing that hasn't flipped is my opinion of the board and Ed Woodward. And I implore anyone that feels the need to spit curses at me for having an opinion go back and look at my posts over the summer. I was consistently pointing out that Ole asked for a striker if Lukaku or Sanchez left. He didnt get one. He was adamant that most of the players after Everton wouldn't be here that we needed quite a few new players. Yet many were not sold and only three came in. That was on Ed Woodward and the fear again was that he would not successfully back the manager. At some point the fault does shift on Ole for going into the season threadbare. But the real culprit to me has always been Ed. So looking back here only having the information at my disposal until you and a few others add some more, you can't say there was enough reason to not spend more time last season before hiring a.permament manager. no other manager was even seriously considered. And that's the issue overall here.
As I've said again and again now, I'd love nothing more than to eat my previous words and doubt with Ole being a great United manager. But mark my words if Woodward gets the credit for what I still call a hail Mary gamble appointment, I'll be the first to bump this to say so.
What you need to understand is that OGS rebuilt Molde from the ground up, causing them to win their first league trophies ever, all the while earning the club approx 22.5m (a *huge* amt in Norwegian football) in transfer fees.
The rebuild with success on and off the pitch is his claim to fame. He didn't win the league *every* year, what he did was transform the club inside out, rewards which are still being reaped.
The rebuild with success on and off the pitch is his claim to fame. He didn't win the league *every* year, what he did was transform the club inside out, rewards which are still being reaped.
And a very fair, constructive reply too - thanks.
I didn't know that regarding the OP. If that is true, I understand the vitriol more, though he seemed fairly moderate in this thread.
While I have some doubts still about Ole as manager, I certainly have so much affection still for him and always will. It'd be a heavy heart to see him get sacked. I'm rooting for him. I'm just rooting for United more.
I mean it though - info about Ole's time at Molde shared here has encouraged me more so ultimately it's probably not been an entirely fruitless post.
That's possibly dishonest as well.
Loads of people who follow or followed the Norwegian league has commented on him being a success in Norway, time and time again. I refuse to believe that anyone who was genuinely interested in knowing how Ole did didn't check up on what was happening with the most dominant team in the leagues history. Searching for Rosenborg alone will have had people discussing Solskjærs time at Molde at the first page before this thread was made. That's before we look at any other key-words for efficient searching.
It's not an assumption, people have been quoting you on it from multiple times spread over multiple threads. It's a fact.
That alone isn't a reason to discredit your potential points, but when you try to act as if it isn't the case then taking your comments that 'look for balance and fairness' seriously becomes impossible.
Being skeptical about Ole's abilities is fine. I don't believe he has the ability to lead one of the biggest clubs in the world myself, but there is absolutely nothing to be gained from making new threads with the same negative half-baked information regurgitated all too many times on the forum, and not just by you.
Ole can be lacking in abilities without having to make something up about his time in Norway, and he might end up being the worst manager ever, the next Fergie or anything in-between. The recent results and the players backing him and saying they love him should make us fans be a bit more hopeful.
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Indeed. Regardless of what my opinion on it, I'm surprised there wasn't more of a detailed analysis as I'm seeing here in the Poch vs Ole debates. It really deserved more attention
That was very apparent and surprising going through. I also didn't realize that it's a thirty game season all crammed into nine months of a single calendar year.
This is a really telling issue for me. The appointment was made because of Ole's short time as interim manager and the growing voice of former players close to the club to hire him. After being briefed that we would have a thorough search in full to then not consider other candidates seriously and hire Ole Midway through an interim stint is beyond ridiculous.
My original post here is quite straight forward:
When you look at Molde's recent history, there's a lot of detail behind the numbers and big picture. The only narrative I've ever heard on it are:
1) Ole broke up the dominance of Rosenberg, he's loved there, very promising tactical guy
2) it's the Norwegian League. It doesn't matter. Cardiff is more telling.
As someone without a lot of resources to really analyze more than what's out there from some - as ive admitted are very simplistic searches - how can I form a wholly encompassing opinion that's not either 1 or 2. That's really the endgame here. Understand what happened better. And indeed finally posters are so enraged by what I've suggested that they are finallu putting in the time and effort to hold my hand and walk me through the years.
Unless you educate the misinformed, he can only form his opinions based on what he sees in front of him. When you do take the time to pass on more knowledge and insight in a non judgemental way as you have, then there's a great opportunity to learn and change an opinion. If I'm fair and thoughtful here, based on the posters taking time to explain instead of hurling insults, it seems maybe there's more positive and potential from the Molde years than the United interim one.
I sure hope so. But we need Woodward to change.
No mention of Ole’s record in Europe?
Nice burn
I'm a straight shooter. I'll speak my mind, even when impulsive. But then I've got the balls to own up to it when I'm mistaken or misinformed. That threads a great example of that.
Better that than the sheep too scared to say what they mean, especially here a place where personal attacks and petty internet trolling have become the standard.
Shocking thread, absolutely shocking. So disrespectful. And selfish.
What on earth was OP thinking?
What on earth was OP thinking?
That there are not enough threads to moan about Ole.
It's almost a burgeoning cottage industry by now.
Disagree. Being the first Molde manager to win the league, winning it 4 times over a decade isn't too shabby.
Unless the argument is about the quality of the league, in which case the stats are irrelevant.
Edit: won it twice. Point still stands
I mean, we hired David fecking Moyes so I don't see why anyone is suprised that Woodward didn't complete any due diligence or why they would waste so much of their time researching this.
But I know you all want Ole to succeed.
But I know you all want Ole to succeed.
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Ok but what is the point of this thread. Ole will be judged here on the basis of the job he does at this club and not what he achieved or not achieved with previous clubs.
Ole was actually not appointed on the basis of the results as an interim alone. A quote from this article suggests that the job interview is what got him his job.
"‘The way he’s conducted himself and connected to the culture of the club, his man-management, his whole approach, it was a unique job interview’, a source told the newspaper."
Other articles quote Solskjær on how he showed up in Woodwards office with a plan for how the team would look in two years and how to get there (in norwegian).
He would obviously never gotten that interview without his results as an interim, though..
"‘The way he’s conducted himself and connected to the culture of the club, his man-management, his whole approach, it was a unique job interview’, a source told the newspaper."
Other articles quote Solskjær on how he showed up in Woodwards office with a plan for how the team would look in two years and how to get there (in norwegian).
He would obviously never gotten that interview without his results as an interim, though..
I've said this before, but there was an early warning sign with regard to precisely this: as per Moyes himself, Fergie called him up one night and invited him over - told him the job was his.
And that was that, pretty much. No interview, no questions asked, hired on Fergie's recommendation. "Here - it's yours, get on with it".
Fergie clearly expected Moyes to retain the services of Meulensteen and Phelan - but the first thing Moyes did was to let both of 'em go, to Fergie's surprise.
As far as I'm concerned it wouldn't have changed much at all if Moyes had kept the so-called backroom staff (they worked well under Fergie, there's no reason whatsoever to think they would've worked well under Moyes - who is pretty feckin' far from being Fergie) - but that isn't the point: the point is that the club just went and hired someone on Fergie's say-so with zero fecks given about that person's actual, specific ideas about how he was going to handle things. If the idea was that Fergie's replacement should just carry on in the same vein (I think that was the idea), the very least you'd expect is that Moyes was hired on the explicit premise that he was to keep Fergie's staff (and "just" step into the Fergie role, if you will - which sounds absurd enough, but there you go).
Anyway - the whole debacle started with the above: From Gill's seemingly reassuring comments about having a succession plan in place - and a target in mind who was experienced both domestically and in the CL - to letting Fergie make that call to Moyes...and, again, "hey, Dave - the gig is yours, good luck, son".
Moyes doesn't seem to have had much interaction with Woodward at all. Signed the contract, went about his business (we all know how that went), and was fired some months later - by text message, like as not.
"Shambolic" doesn't really do it justice.
I can't find it back, but someone said Ole got the job based on a presentation he did to the board that blew their mind about the vision, the plan, or something like that... of course, could be fake news but I kind of like the idea.
The sooner people get into their skulls that there is no reliable indicator in a manager's resume visible to the casual fan, that correlates strongly with future success, the better.
Does he have his coaching badges? Did he pass the interview? If yes to both, he's qualified.
If you have your own preference for what experience you'd like a potential United manager to have then that's all well and good, but it really has no bearing on how said manager will actually perform.
There were candidates more "qualified" than Lampard, Zidane, Guardiola, Rodgers... When they got their initial breaks. Qualifications as listed by a caf member don't mean shit.
Does he have his coaching badges? Did he pass the interview? If yes to both, he's qualified.
If you have your own preference for what experience you'd like a potential United manager to have then that's all well and good, but it really has no bearing on how said manager will actually perform.
There were candidates more "qualified" than Lampard, Zidane, Guardiola, Rodgers... When they got their initial breaks. Qualifications as listed by a caf member don't mean shit.
Great post. Which also makes me think that we can beat the low level teams, it's the top teams that are always hard to beat and we have ways to do so. In this case, we have a way out from our difficult time. And up to Ole to see if he needs players or staff to help him with the lower level teams.
Correct.
The fact of the matter is that none of the managers you mention would've been good enough per that Caf member at one point. It's 100% hindsight in every case.
Statistically, hiring a manager with top credentials is safer than taking a punt on someone who "gets" the club. Nobody presumably denies this. But hiring someone who "gets" it (a former player) has actually worked - tremendously well - in several high-profile cases. To completely ignore this is foolish. In fact, taking a punt and reaping the rewards is common enough in football: statistically, it clearly isn't the go-to option, but the evidence shows that it does work often enough to make it something more than a ridiculous, "romantic" choice.
Great post. Agree about the need for quality players who can break down teams. This has been an issue for a long time, both LvG and Mourinho have complained about it, but we still haven't signed that type of player. Fingers crossed Ole can get it right
Also great post @Grande.
Haven't you realized Olle got the job based on him being a utd legend, the fact he trained our juniors and that he has SAF as a roll model. What he's done with Molde means feck all. What better way to learn his trade? Right now in the PL with one of the biggest clubs on the planet! Yes Im being ironic!
I mean, it's not true. At all. I have a strong opinion and voice it. But I admit when I'm wrong and change my opinion as things play out and evidence stacks up to convince me.
I did start a thread after we lost to Astana because I thought it was ridiculous to send a youth team out there without securing the group. I also didn't expect much from City and Spurs and wanted to build some winning momentum for the team prior to those games. But I also put my hands up and accepted that my reaction was a bit much after realizing that most of the squad was actually official first team members, albeit really young.
And as for seeing the Molde results and wanting to know more, I had first started wondering back before the Villa game I think. At that point I even posted about it in the other threads, feeling like it needed to be addressed considering the poor run. But it went mostly ignored. After the wins against City and Spurs you can see my posts about how I hoped this to be a turning point. That I want to be wrong about my doubts.
I ironically called Ole Smeagul earlier in response to a poster referring to Jose as Maureen. My point was that whether former or current, a bit more respect might be in order when debating about Manchester United managers. That was of course taken out of context and labeled as my true colors showing.
But then you go back to the summer and I was vehemently defending Ole for the lack of a replacement striker coming in. Kept reminding people that he had been openly asking for a replacement only to be let down by Woodward. At some point that turned to criticism because I'd have wanted the manager to put a little more pressure on his boss to get these deals done.
All said, I'm posting my opinions on things as they are in front of me. I genuinely have seen more detailed explanation from our Norway contingent now that I've questioned the actual seasons. Prior to this all I heard was sunshine and flowers about Ole at Molde, comparisons of breaking Rosenberg dominance with Sir Alex and the Old Firm. And I believed it without thought then. But now I'm revisiting and feeling it was not a complete picture.
With the momentum and positivity around the last two games, isn't this a better time to visit a testy issue? Because the point isn't to try and dig the nail deeper...if that were the case it could have been said weeks ago.
And all that aside, isn't the point to be able to freely express opinions and ask questions? Even if it's an unpopular opinion or an ill educated question. Why is it okay to be met with vitriol? Why is anyone questioning Ole met with such animosity? Isn't the end game to find the best manager for United? Is it fair to crucify someone for voicing their opinion on what they think is best for the club?
I'm embarrassed to see the type of responses on here. Opinions become agendas. Discordance makes you a bad fan. Wanting more information makes you ignorant. I'm not going to walk on eggshells because the mob can't handle it.