Why do we only go for out-of-contract managers under Woodward?

[padzilla]

Maybe it's just a coincidence but since Fergie left all three of our managers have been out-of-contract at the time of joining, or allowed their contracts to run down in LVG's case.
Maybe I am looking at things that aren't actually there but it strikes me as a strange coincidence.

 

[Kostur]

What's even more crazy, if we actually got Guardiola after LVG he'd also fit this strange coincidence.

 

[red devil whitey]

Our biggest mistake was to ignore Guardiola and let him go to City.

 

[OldSchoolManc]

Pep was NEVER available to United. City had his appointment set up for years with some of the backroom and players installed before he went there.
United also didn’t have the bottomless pit of money that he needs to succeed.

 

[AndyJ1985]

Because there's no long term plan in place?

 

[M Bison]

Coincidence, nothing more to it.

 

[Ducklegs]

Pep was NEVER available to United. City had his appointment set up for years with some of the backroom and players installed before he went there.
United also didn’t have the bottomless pit of money that he needs to succeed.

I cant see him doing much better with what Jose inherited.

Pep isnt the wizard of oz, he isnt going to be be able to give Smalling a brain or Valencia the ability to play full back properly, or turn Fellaini into something other than a human washing machine full of broom handles when he plays.

We would be sat here now wondering how we lost 6-7 to Brighton in the FA cup if we had him.

 

[Santoryo]

Appointment of managers is where Woodwards seems to irk me. I won't blame him for Moyes given the was SAF personal pick but Van Gaal and Mourinho were on him and choose poorly.

Van Gaal was already shown to be a fading power as a top manager in world football and shouldn't have called for his services.

Mourinho just came out of 2 consecutive meltdowns at his 2 clubs and had to be let go due to losing dressing rooms and players. The signs were already there yet we still went ahead and appointed the man.

Instead of looking at certain profiles, highly rated managers whom games and philosophies are actually having an impact in the modern game we went for 2 clearly fading powers whose years of glories were starting to look more further distant.

It's not about appointing big names but fitting profiles, ones that would get with the times whether they've got busy CVs or not. The likes of Barca and Real have proven that.

Ignoring the likes of Pochettino for what are now outdated dinausors like Mourinho or Van Gaal were mistakes from the beginning. People will say Posh hasn't won anything but give him the same financial backing and top team as the likes of Mourinho or Van Gaal have had throughout their career and he'd most likely win trophies while playing good football.

Heck the likes of Posh aren't even that much a gamble at this point. He's garrantied good football and with our financial backing he's bound to win trophies.

 

[RORY65]

I cant see him doing much better with what Jose inherited.

Pep isnt the wizard of oz, he isnt going to be be able to give Smalling a brain or Valencia the ability to play full back properly, or turn Fellaini into something other than a human washing machine full of broom handles when he plays.

We would be sat here now wondering how we lost 6-7 to Brighton in the FA cup if we had him.

No he would have cleared them out because they wouldn't fit his style but a defender who is terrible in possession, a physically powerful full back who is usually solid but gives nothing forward and a player who is very dangerous from long balls do fit into Mourinho's vision.

To be fair to Woodward (which sometimes I am loathe to be) he did try to get Klopp in 2014 albeit the supposed pitch of the job was nonsensical. The Mourinho one was arguably worse (although he is a better manager than Van Gaal) because it seemed like ideally they wanted Guardiola, despite it being clear for ages he was going to City, and then felt that they had to respond by getting the biggest name they could who happened to available.

 

[ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg]

The grass is always greener isn't it? On the assumption the Pep was never an option, who on earth was available 18 months ago other that Jose? Of course it a coincidence that we haven’t paid a compensation fee for a manager. We would be more than happy to pay for the right man if needed.

Thank goodness forums weren’t around when Fergie was hired.

 

[Zlatattack]

I think the mistake we made was not getting Klopp when he was available. LvG was terrible at the time.

 

[Nick7]

Coincidence.

 

[Josep Dowling]

Appointment of managers is where Woodwards seems to irk me. I won't blame him for Moyes given the was SAF personal pick but Van Gaal and Mourinho were on him and choose poorly.

Van Gaal was already shown to be a fading power as a top manager in world football and shouldn't have called for his services.

Mourinho just came out of 2 consecutive meltdowns at his 2 clubs and had to be let go due to losing dressing rooms and players. The signs were already there yet we still went ahead and appointed the man.

Instead of looking at certain profiles, highly rated managers whom games and philosophies are actually having an impact in the modern game we went for 2 clearly fading powers whose years of glories were starting to look more further distant.

It's not about appointing big names but fitting profiles, ones that would get with the times whether they've got busy CVs or not. The likes of Barca and Real have proven that.

Ignoring the likes of Pochettino for what are now outdated dinausors like Mourinho or Van Gaal were mistakes from the beginning. People will say Posh hasn't won anything but give him the same financial backing and top team as the likes of Mourinho or Van Gaal have had throughout their career and he'd most likely win trophies while playing good football.

Heck the likes of Posh aren't even that much a gamble at this point. He's garrantied good football and with our financial backing he's bound to win trophies.

Seriously give it up, so you thought two years ago that Pochettinno would be a good choice even though he had one good season at Southampton and Spurs at that point? Not exactly the credentials to be the manager at Manchester United.

Hindsights a wonderful thing but I don't think anyone would have expected Poch to have done the job he had at Spurs.

 

[golden_blunder]

I wonder if the job was even advertised or did we go straight to Mourinho. Did he get interviewed and if so what was his vision for the club?

 

[IRELANDUNITED]

I've a serious question, assuming Mourinho wont be here much longer and assuming Pochettino is our #1 man to replace him, will it be difficult to get him away from Spurs and would he even want the job?

 

[Classical Mechanic]

Ed's in the Freemasons (probably), times to start calling some favours in.

 

[Mercurial]

Our biggest mistake was to ignore Guardiola and let him go to City.

Pep to City was carefully planned for a very long time, Txiki_Begiristain formerly of Barca has basically remodeled the club for possession football and the infrastructure of the club is as Barcelona as it can get in the EPL. Doubt he would have come to United in a real world scenario.

 

[Pexbo]

Because there's no long term plan in place?

How does a manager’s employment status have any relevance to whether there is a long term plan in place?

 

[Acole9]

It's definitely a coincidence.

 

[Sky1981]

Oh dear.. do you even have to stoop this low thinking we'd bargain hunting managers?

 

[Marcky411]

I cant see him doing much better with what Jose inherited.

Pep isnt the wizard of oz, he isnt going to be be able to give Smalling a brain or Valencia the ability to play full back properly, or turn Fellaini into something other than a human washing machine full of broom handles when he plays.

We would be sat here now wondering how we lost 6-7 to Brighton in the FA cup if we had him.

Very true except he would’ve replaced them by now instead of buying Sanchez, most probably got the best out of Mihki, Martial, Rashford and Mata.

 

[Web of Bissaka]

Coincidental.

Also, going for and "negotiating" with managers who are still under contract (long time) with other clubs, may have "repercussions" eg. falling out with their clubs, "unprofessional" stigma, etc.

If they're out-of-contract or running down their clock, easier to negotiate.

That said, it's possible Woodward have been in contact with LVG earlier, as does with a number of managers, to express his interest and to ask for update or something, direct or through agency. We just don't have privy to it.

 

[Dec9003]

We've only had three managers post Fergie, its an incredibly small sample size. Which managers would we have gone for that were contracted to a club when we would have approached them?

 

[Raoul]

What's even more crazy, if we actually got Guardiola after LVG he'd also fit this strange coincidence.

 

[Skills]

This has to be one of the weirdest criticisms I've ever seen. The answer is simply, most managers leave when they're out of contract?

 

[P-Nut]

Very true except he would’ve replaced them by now instead of buying Sanchez, most probably got the best out of Mihki, Martial, Rashford and Mata.

Except he wanted Sanchez

 

[Antisocial]

Coincidence, largely.

I’m sure we would’ve paid-out Moyes’ Everton contract if he had had any years remaining - such was our idiocy in appointing him. But since we didn’t need to, we just let him go on holiday for over a month until his contract expired. Unfortunately for us, he seemingly didn’t use the time to do any prep for the task he had before him.

LVG seemed a desperation move - no other good options available that summer to take-over the dumpster fire that Moyes left behind. The fact (it seems) that we went for Klopp at least suggestions that we had the right idea of who we should get, but we made a mess of the appointment and were unlucky that he wasn’t looking to leave Dortmund that season. Had Moyes stayed for a second season then maybe we could’ve got Klopp after his Dortmund meltdown; who knows.

Jose I agree was a move motivated by him being available - in the sense that I doubt we’d have tried to buy him out of Chelsea. But like with LVG I think moving for him was largely due to his profile rather than any satisfaction of a selection criteria that we as a club should have had in place for choosing managers.

 

[Marcky411]

Except he wanted Sanchez

Very true to strengthen in depth but at Utd he wouldn’t have bought Sanchez when there are so many other positions that needed addressing or would’ve told him from the start he needs him as a right winger. I doubt he would’ve said, pick any position you like, we will reshuffle the team and players to accommodate your wishes.

 

[P-Nut]

Very true to strengthen in depth but at Utd he wouldn’t have bought Sanchez when there are so many other positions that needed addressing or would’ve told him from the start he needs him as a right winger. I doubt he would’ve said, pick any position you like, we will reshuffle the team and players to accommodate your wishes.

He'd have played on the left at City as well despite the fact that Sané has been electric this season. There's uproar here that he shunted Martial out of position. He'd have been replacing a player in much better form at City.

 

[sunama]

Pep was NEVER available to United. City had his appointment set up for years with some of the backroom and players installed before he went there.
United also didn’t have the bottomless pit of money that he needs to succeed.

Correct.
Also, Pep simply would not have joined us as the job was/is too difficult. Before Jose came in, we were a team finishing in 7th, 4th & 5th place. The work to get us to the top is too difficult.
I think we got the right man, as Jose will fight to take us back to the top, if only so he can tell everybody that he made MUFC great, again.

 

[sunama]

I’m sure we would’ve paid-out Moyes’ Everton contract if he had had any years remaining - such was our idiocy in appointing him. But since we didn’t need to, we just let him go on holiday for over a month until his contract expired. Unfortunately for us, he seemingly didn’t use the time to do any prep for the task he had before him.

Moyes probably thought that he had 6 years (and a lot of transfer cash) to win a title, so there was no rush to start work. He probably also thought that he could contact any player he pleased and that player would sign for us.
What he should've done is kept his holiday short and started work soon after (he could work from home and put together a transfer plan).
What ended up happening is that we bought nobody, except Fellaini (from Moyes' old club).

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

Our biggest mistake was to ignore Guardiola and let him go to City.

City were always going to get him after the work they did in the years prior. They planned for Pep to go there.

I wanted Pep here too, but we did no planning akin to what City did.

They changed their entire structure to fit Pep in.

 

[Marcky411]

Correct.
Also, Pep simply would not have joined us as the job was/is too difficult. Before Jose came in, we were a team finishing in 7th, 4th & 5th place. The work to get us to the top is too difficult.
I think we got the right man, as Jose will fight to take us back to the top, if only so he can tell everybody that he made MUFC great, again.

Lets hope you are right, and some part of me really hopes so, but I expect him to alienate the players and everyone around him well before he takes Utd back to the top. If you look at the football being shovelled out every week and the outbursts in the press he has been doing the past week, of course he himself is blameless for the mess, everyone else is and you take into account the last press conference after the Brighton game, he can count his lucky stars we have got an International break now because it could've easily boiled over in the coming week/s.
I keep reading in the press how we are going to have a major clear out this summer and that at least 4 players will come in maybe more. Firstly we couldn't get four last season(after chasing Perišić the whole summer, as if he was the only winger in the world) and have you ever seen a club clear out half a team instead of the manager?

 

[Marcky411]

He'd have played on the left at City as well despite the fact that Sané has been electric this season. There's uproar here that he shunted Martial out of position. He'd have been replacing a player in much better form at City.

That is all an assumption you are making, you don't know what Pep would've done, you are going by what Jose has done, obviously the wrong decision. Secondly looking at the performances Sane and Sterling are putting in week in week out, do you really think he would replace one of them with Sanchez?

 

[Roboc7]

I think it is due to a lack of planning and too much faith in the current manager, the club should already be thinking who they would want to replace Mourinho, and the type of manager they would want etc.

But if Mourinho was to leave for whatever reason they would probably just hire Ancelotti, he is available and high profile so that would be enough.

 

[Crashoutcassius]

Our biggest mistake was to ignore Guardiola and let him go to City.

They spent 10 years building a club around him that was never gonna happen. Will hopefully bite them in arse when he leaves

 

[AR87]

Personally I think Poch is the manager we'll target if and when we move on from Mourinho.

 

[arthurka]

I think it is due to a lack of planning and too much faith in the current manager, the club should already be thinking who they would want to replace Mourinho, and the type of manager they would want etc.

But if Mourinho was to leave for whatever reason they would probably just hire Ancelotti, he is available and high profile so that would be enough.

Please no... He just sucked the life out of Bayern..

 

[red devil whitey]

I would like to see Poch at United. He's done great at Spurs and maybe if he leaves, some of their best players will follow.

 

[Minimalist]

N = 3.

I’m not a statistician but...