The United way

Greck

Full Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2016
Messages
7,099
Make some technical hires and stop hiring pals and yes men. Our whole coaching staff are the same profile
 

Zlatan 7

We've got bush!
Joined
May 26, 2016
Messages
11,531
Unfortunately this is an unpopular opinion these days. The social media banter brigade want and demand to win every game and every trophy. It’s not about enjoyment or watching your local team with your mates, it’s about winning and then going on Facebook to argue with equally gormless opposition fans.
I agree with most of what you’ve said in this thread and @King7Eric, nice to read to be honest.

United to me seems to have that family element and there’s ways to winning. Some here it seems would sell their soul for a trophy and nothing else matters. There’s thousands of football clubs with millions of fans, they can’t all win trophies.
 

King7Eric

Correctly predicted Italy to win Euro 2020
Joined
Sep 19, 2016
Messages
3,077
Location
Cardiff
I agree. I can't see how people can't see this.

Real's galactico policy works for them because they are in sunny spain and have a structure in which the club appoints presidents. This means that each president that comes in has a set period of time to create a successful era for the club, hence spending massive amounts of money, selling training grounds etc just to make sure they have short term success.

Barcelona's culture and policy are twofold. Off the pitch it has always been a brand that opposes oppression and commercialization ( even though they are very commercial). The fight for Catalan independence is part of the reason the club heavily values its youth system, wanting to promote and invest in as much Spanish and Catalan nationals as possible ( without going overboard like Bilbao with Basque nationals). Secondly, the possession based systems are heavily valued at it has proven to be consistently successful in La Liga. All of Barca's best teams in La Liga have all been possession based. La Liga is a slower paced league in which there is not as much direct play, hence dominating possession through the middle is more valuable in this league than anywhere else, which has allowed their tactical philosophy to be so successful domestically.

Juventus are a team that has always valued hard workers rather than technical ability across the 11. They try their best to make sure their system is rigid enough to protect their backline. Italian football is mostly dominated by the teams with the most discipline, as attacks are carried by players who tasked with displaying individual creativity rather than team based combinations. The Juventus belief is that if their midfield and defence are hard working and disciplined enough, they can withstand the individual threat of indivdual creators and attackers, their policy has proven successful over the years.

The United way is similar.
a. the club knows that manchester weather isn't for everyone and hence has always had a preference for British players, at least across most of the team.
b. United also understand that to be consistently succesful, you need players who are able and willing to play for a relatively long time for the club....hence we invest heavily in youth, hoping they can grow to become superstars, some like Bellion fail, others like Rooney and Ronaldo succeed.
c. We understand the physical and aggressive nature of the league so we have always signed players with particular characters and styles of play....usually fast, high work rate players that have the physical strengths and balance to impose themselves on the game. It's probably the reason we didn't sign Ozil in 2010 and would never have signed players like Mata, Blind and Lindelof. A premier league requires players with high work rate and tenacity first and foremost, before technical abilities come into play. Keane, Ince, Robson, Scholes, Fletcher, even Carrick . We would never have signed Pogba with Fergie around.
d. We always had creative wingers...why? because due to the pace and direct style of the premier league, playing through the flanks and stretching play has always been the best means of success in the premier league...its also the reason we always had strong centre forwards with a good first touch.

Point being, all these teams had philosophies that fit their situations. United have never been a superstar hub and has always focused more on team that individual. Real has always been a superstar hub, focusing on individually creative individuals and hiring managers that are better at managing their stars.
Great post. Unfortunately, most people don't recognise many of the points made here and have unreasonable expectations.
 

Mr. MUJAC

Manchester United Youth Historian
Joined
Sep 19, 2005
Messages
6,245
Location
Walter Crickmer started it all...
Its developing your own players, but its a bit of a cliche really and (largely) based on the class of 92, which was a once in a century occurence.

Of course we should focus on bringing through the very best in our academy, but unfortantly it wont be enough in this age of oil clubs
Once a century apart from

1948 Carey, Aston, Chilton, Anderson, Morris, Pearson, Mitten, McNulty
1956 Whitefoot, Byrne, Foulkes, Colman, Jones, Edwards, Blanchflower, Pegg, Whelan, Viollet, Charlton, Doherty, Scanlon, McGuinness
1961 Brennan, Stiles, Nicholson, Giles, Gaskell, Dawson, Pearson, Lawton
1967 Best, Kidd, Aston, Sadler, Noble, Burns, Fitzpatrick, James, Rimmer, Sartori
1975 Nicholl, Albiston, Greenhoff, McIlroy, McCreery, Young
1982 Whiteside, Hughes, Davies, Duxbury, Hogg, Garton, Blackmore
1992 Giggs, Butt, G. Neville, Beckham, Scholes, Thornley, P. Neville
2002 O'Shea, Brown, Fletcher, Chadwick, Richardson, Eagles
2010 Evans, Welbeck, Macheda, Cleverley, Lingard, Pogba
2019 Rashford, McTominay, Greenwood, Williams, Henderson, Tuanzebe

50% of all players since 1938 have come through the youth system.

127 internationals.

So, not so much of a cliche at all...instead a part of a sustained process of youth development for 80 years.
 

Mr. MUJAC

Manchester United Youth Historian
Joined
Sep 19, 2005
Messages
6,245
Location
Walter Crickmer started it all...
The United way doesn't really exist. I mean Manchester United have more often than not been unsuccessful than successful since their founding. So, you could say that recently we have returned to the United Way.

In terms of bringing youth through, I bet there are quite a lot of clubs that have brought through more players than we have. So, I'm not sure that is really the United Way rather than the way of most football clubs in England below the Premier League. Even in the PL, I bet there are quite a few clubs that do more in this aspect.

In terms of signings, we were actually one of the perpetrators for starting transfer price rises. Rooney - £25m; Ferdinand - £34m; Veron - £28.1m. These prices were huge in those days.

In the end, you could say the Premier League Era 'United Way' is to spend loads of money and bring through a few youth players. And hopefully have a manager who is really good.
Except there isn't.
 

Mr. MUJAC

Manchester United Youth Historian
Joined
Sep 19, 2005
Messages
6,245
Location
Walter Crickmer started it all...
Yea, agree with this statement. Most people forget Eric Cantona was the first non English captain in an FA Cup final. That says a lot. Prior to the Premier League English top flight football was dominated by players from Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales.
I think there's been a quite few non-English captains of Cup finals.

Even at United Johnny Carey (1948) and Noel Cantwell (1963) were Irish whilst Martin Buchan (1977) was Scottish.
 

Green_Red

New Member
Joined
May 29, 2013
Messages
10,296
I think there's been a quite few non-English captains of Cup finals.

Even at United Johnny Carey (1948) and Noel Cantwell (1963) were Irish whilst Martin Buchan (1977) was Scottish.
Yea there has, that should have been non Britush/Irish captain. Maybe continental captain would have been better.
 

Olecurls99

Full Member
Joined
Jan 6, 2021
Messages
2,168
Great thread so far. I believe a part of the United way involves showing patience. Patience for players and patience for managers.
A lot of what defines the United way is what it is not.
It's not Jose Mourinho
It's not Romelu Lukaku
It's not Marouane Fellaini.
There's a place for them in the game but not at Man United
 

KeanoMagicHat

Full Member
Joined
Mar 31, 2019
Messages
3,940
Youth development and a vague sense of fast attacking football.

The way the team is playing this season is a vague sense of it. United couldn't hit 70 goals in a season there for years after Ferguson. Ferguson's teams always did, often hit 80 to 90 goals a season. It's the way that Ferguson played, Busby played that way, even Docherty and Atkinson to an extent. Moyes, Mourinho and Van Gaal really didn't.

Ferguson was pragmatic at times in individual games but United always scored lots of goals in every era of his reign.
 

MU655

Full Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2020
Messages
1,258
Except there isn't.
Really? Have you checked the academy records for every single professional club in England? And then you can check Germany, France, Spain, Italy etc. whilst you're at it.


I don’t think anything is unique about where players come from. Football clubs are football clubs....what is unique is having academy players in every match day squad for 80plus years and generating players tiers above the players you mentioned.

aside from this I’m not convinced you’re a United fan. I think you’re a wum
Matchday squad would include matches where we only had a player on the bench; it isn't that impressive, to be honest. This was only considering English clubs. What happens when we bring Italian, Spanish, German professional clubs etc. into the matter?

You would have to be very naive to think that we are the only club to do that. It's just nobody really cares to actually trace it back. Who cares whether Liverpool had Ben Woodburn (I just looked at Liverpool's 16/17 team) on their bench in a PL match? He is a nobody, yet he would count towards such a pointless statistic.

The whole thing was about bringing through youth players, which clubs do all the time. I'm not interested if you had some nobody on the bench for one match who had no chance of playing, and was never really seen again.
 

Mr. MUJAC

Manchester United Youth Historian
Joined
Sep 19, 2005
Messages
6,245
Location
Walter Crickmer started it all...
Really? Have you checked the academy records for every single professional club in England? And then you can check Germany, France, Spain, Italy etc. whilst you're at it.




Matchday squad would include matches where we only had a player on the bench; it isn't that impressive, to be honest. This was only considering English clubs. What happens when we bring Italian, Spanish, German professional clubs etc. into the matter?

You would have to be very naive to think that we are the only club to do that. It's just nobody really cares to actually trace it back. Who cares whether Liverpool had Ben Woodburn (I just looked at Liverpool's 16/17 team) on their bench in a PL match? He is a nobody, yet he would count towards such a pointless statistic.

The whole thing was about bringing through youth players, which clubs do all the time. I'm not interested if you had some nobody on the bench for one match who had no chance of playing, and was never really seen again.
In actual fact I have...it's called research.

Ajax's record goes back to the 1970's and Barcelona's to the 1960's. Athletic Club de Bilbao have probably the closest record to United and there is a possibility that a team in Serbia could have a good record but there no historical records to check.

Everton go back about 1,000 games and Nottingham Forest not far behind but most English clubs are quite poor.

German teams have a poor record historically and I couldn't find one professional club in Italy who has a good youth policy at all.
 

Jeppers7

Pogfamily Mafia
Joined
Feb 25, 2014
Messages
7,287
Really? Have you checked the academy records for every single professional club in England? And then you can check Germany, France, Spain, Italy etc. whilst you're at it.




Matchday squad would include matches where we only had a player on the bench; it isn't that impressive, to be honest. This was only considering English clubs. What happens when we bring Italian, Spanish, German professional clubs etc. into the matter?

You would have to be very naive to think that we are the only club to do that. It's just nobody really cares to actually trace it back. Who cares whether Liverpool had Ben Woodburn (I just looked at Liverpool's 16/17 team) on their bench in a PL match? He is a nobody, yet he would count towards such a pointless statistic.

The whole thing was about bringing through youth players, which clubs do all the time. I'm not interested if you had some nobody on the bench for one match who had no chance of playing, and was never really seen again.
Not even a United fan. Do one. Ignored
 

Majima

Full Member
Joined
Jan 10, 2016
Messages
4,038
Location
Kami's Lookout
Supports
Ralf Rangnick.
I’d be a United fan if they were in the 3rd division, not sure who you would support, Madrid, Barca or Bayern take your pick. Would rather be a cult member than a glory hunter.
You clearly haven't understood my stance. We are one of the richest clubs in the world. Our once state of the art stadium's decrepit, neglected ever since the Glazers arrived, they've taken obscene amounts out, are still to put a £1 of their own into us. We're always reactive to events, never proactive. The list goes on forever. Does it make you a better fan to turn a blind eye?
 

simplyared

Full Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2017
Messages
4,349
Location
somewhere ouside the UK
Agree with another poster that the best definition of the united way is defining what isn't.
Jose Mourinho as the manager for example.
Looking at all our previous managers he certainly goes against the grain. There was a reason for Sir Bobby not wanting him!
Moyes was the right fit but just didn't work out. He went against the grain bringing in Fellaini which is certainly not the utd way.
Van Gaal lead us even further astray.
Ole has definately done things according to the united way. Having beeng associated with the club as a player under SAF has obviously contributed to that.
 

Tom Cato

Godt nyttår!
Joined
Jan 3, 2019
Messages
7,565
Everything the class of 92 did for the club from the day they joined the academy to the day Ryan Giggs retired is the United Way.
 

The Midnight Rambler

New Member
Newbie
Joined
May 19, 2017
Messages
74
This all depends on you look for with words like philosophy/way etc.

For a tactical identity, we do not have one beyond wanting to be attacking. We do not have an established pattern of play in the way that Barca or Ajax or River Plate do.

We absolutely have had success with the much quoted flying wingers but even Fergie wasn’t wedded to this during some of his best successes. Beckham wasn’t a flyer during the treble era and neither were Rooney/Ronaldo/Tevez during the 2008-2010 successes. Fergie was tactically pragmatic and constantly evolved to current flavours. Such as during the 2004-2006 transition years he went very negative and safety first when the likes of Mourinho and Benetiz were the current vogue.

Rio did a great interview with Graham Hunter recently where he chatted freely about his best United successes being a safety first low block team.

It’s clear to me there is no real tactical approach we can boast about. And that’s perfectly fine.

So the conversation shifts to other factors like embracing creative individuals (Best, Whiteside, Cantona, Ronaldo, Bruno) and academy pathways to the first team.

That, to me, is where any truly identifiable United characteristics are.
 

Grande

Full Member
Joined
Jun 22, 2007
Messages
6,204
Location
The Land of Do-What-You-Will
This all depends on you look for with words like philosophy/way etc.

For a tactical identity, we do not have one beyond wanting to be attacking. We do not have an established pattern of play in the way that Barca or Ajax or River Plate do.

We absolutely have had success with the much quoted flying wingers but even Fergie wasn’t wedded to this during some of his best successes. Beckham wasn’t a flyer during the treble era and neither were Rooney/Ronaldo/Tevez during the 2008-2010 successes. Fergie was tactically pragmatic and constantly evolved to current flavours. Such as during the 2004-2006 transition years he went very negative and safety first when the likes of Mourinho and Benetiz were the current vogue.

Rio did a great interview with Graham Hunter recently where he chatted freely about his best United successes being a safety first low block team.

It’s clear to me there is no real tactical approach we can boast about. And that’s perfectly fine.

So the conversation shifts to other factors like embracing creative individuals (Best, Whiteside, Cantona, Ronaldo, Bruno) and academy pathways to the first team.

That, to me, is where any truly identifiable United characteristics are.
True about the tactical diversity. Somethings all of Ernest Mangnall, Matt Busby and Alex Ferguson had in common, though, is the importance of entertaining, lifting spirits of the working class people etc. And this has ledto some things being hallmarks of popular teams and players through United history: speed, artistry and grit have always held special sway, and you can see it when looking at which managers and players have achieved special status and which ones who didn’t.
 

Luke1995

Full Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2016
Messages
3,444
Are we getting closer to seeing the club having a long term philosophy ? (At least as far as the manager is concerned). Ole seems to have a plan in a way that Van Gaal or Jose didn't really got.
 

dave1956

Full Member
Joined
Apr 10, 2016
Messages
463
Jimmy Murphy once said that Busby's team talk consisted of "Go out enjoy yourselves and play football ", perhaps in this day and age of win at all costs that has been forgotten.
On another part of the "Utd Way", which we have lost because of the commercial dealings etc., around the world is that the club no longer appears to support lower divisional clubs. Remember the days when pre season games consisted of Northwich Vics, Chester and Wrexham, giving them full grounds so that they started their season with a few pounds in the bank.
 

clean-sheet-culkin

Full Member
Joined
Dec 24, 2017
Messages
74
I know our fans want a team that is likable, playing attacking football, scoring goals, winning trophies and being humble — that can identify back with them.
After watching United for 30 years, Ole's note from the Roma press conference summarizes exactly what I mean when I say 'the United way'.

It sounds so simple, but that combination is quite unique, and hugely difficult to obtain in reality. It requires repeated tactics evolution, the right mentality players, real creativity, the right manager, the right behaviors across the club, relentless self accountability, the odd emotional roller coaster, and is a sign of a real 'club' serving more than financial ends, rather than a bunch of mercenaries in it for themselves.

That combination is the reason I think Bruno so rapidly became a fan favorite, why Pogba is so polarizing, why we let some players off the hook a little, and a big reason we all can't stand the Glazers, who IMO don't exhibit any of the qualities listed, nor do they seem to want to even pretend to.