Greck
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- Dec 1, 2016
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Make some technical hires and stop hiring pals and yes men. Our whole coaching staff are the same profile
I agree with most of what you’ve said in this thread and @King7Eric, nice to read to be honest.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.
Great post. Unfortunately, most people don't recognise many of the points made here and have unreasonable expectations.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.
Once a century apart fromIts 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
Except there isn't.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.
I think there's been a quite few non-English captains of Cup finals.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.
Yea there has, that should have been non Britush/Irish captain. Maybe continental captain would have been better.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.
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.Except there isn't.
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?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
In actual fact I have...it's called research.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. IgnoredReally? 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.
Old Trafford falling apart, never ending rebuild for 8 years, Glazers cost us £1 billion so far... That picture makes me cringe.
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?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.
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.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.
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'.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.