Will Manchester United ever have an English manager again?

padzilla

Hipster
Joined
Oct 31, 2005
Messages
3,404
I know, I know - the rumours around Southgate are gathering pace but it will soon be 40 years since United had an English manager.

Is that a bad thing? Is it the case that the PL is too big now to allow homegrown coaches much of a chance to manage the top clubs?
 

devilish

Juventus fan who used to support United
Joined
Sep 5, 2002
Messages
61,702
With the managerial role being transformed into a head coach one then i can see it happening. potter would be a front runner
 

diarm

Full Member
Joined
Jul 13, 2014
Messages
16,797
Am I right in thinking we've only ever had one English manager who won a title? And he retired more than a century ago?
 

thisisnottaken1

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Dec 9, 2023
Messages
1,037
Location
Edinburgh
diarm said:
Am I right in thinking we've only ever had one English manager who won a title? And he retired more than a century ago?
Click to expand...
Ernest Magnall, yes. Him, Sir Matt, and SAF are the only three managers under whom we’ve won the league.
 

diarm

Full Member
Joined
Jul 13, 2014
Messages
16,797
thisisnottaken1 said:
Ernest Magnall, yes. Him, Sir Matt, and SAF are the only three managers under whom we’ve won the league.
Click to expand...
That's mad really when you think about it. More league titles than any other club and 3 men are responsible for all of them.
 

Moriarty

Full Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2008
Messages
19,091
Location
Reichenbach Falls
diarm said:
Am I right in thinking we've only ever had one English manager who won a title? And he retired more than a century ago?
Click to expand...
Big Ron won 2 FA Cups, which was a big deal for us in the 80s. Dave Sexton didn't win a trophy and neither did Wilf.
 

davidmichael

Full Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2015
Messages
3,418
Seeing as we’ve had more Scottish and Dutch managers over the past 40 years than English I don’t think it really matters and based on those available I’d be happy if it didn’t happen anytime soon either.
 

TheRedHearted

Full Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2016
Messages
2,671
Location
New York, NY
padzilla said:
I know, I know - the rumours around Southgate are gathering pace but it will soon be 40 years since United had an English manager.

Is that a bad thing? Is it the case that the PL is too big now to allow homegrown coaches much of a chance to manage the top clubs?
Click to expand...
Let’s all open our crystal balls within our mind and speculate about something we could never know.
 

hobbers

Full Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2013
Messages
28,313
When the best English managers are Howe and Potter it should be pretty obvious why not. And why we should never want one.

Maybe Carrick could break the mould and become Englands answer to Alonso. But he’s a long way off that and needs Prem experience with lower expectations.
 

Robbie Boy

Full Member
Joined
Jun 17, 2010
Messages
28,220
Location
Dublin
hobbers said:
When the best English managers are Howe and Potter it should be pretty obvious why not. And why we should never want one.

Maybe Carrick could break the mould and become Englands answer to Alonso. But he’s a long way off that and needs Prem experience with lower expectations.
Click to expand...
Pretty much.

The nationality of our manager doesn't matter whatsoever. There's a serious dearth of good English managers which is why none of them get the top gigs. Chelsea tried with Potter, and look how that went - admittedly, it was far from an ideal situation for him to thrive, though.

If one comes along who's good enough, and proves as much, then fantastic. But, as you said, when the likes of Howe and Potter are the best around, it's best to steer well clear.
 

NLunited

Full Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2015
Messages
3,766
Location
US
Yes. There a lots of good English manahers and some will be great one day.
 

Von Mistelroum

Full Member
Joined
May 21, 2015
Messages
4,056
With Sir Jim in charge it's very likely that we'll have an English manager next I think.
 

dave1956

Full Member
Joined
Apr 10, 2016
Messages
464
The last English manager discounting Michael Carrick ( caretaker from 21/11/2021 to 02/12/2021 ) was Ron Atkinson 1981 to 1986. Since 1889 to 1986 there have only been 12 English managers.
 

Vidyoyo

The bad "V"
Joined
Jun 12, 2014
Messages
21,360
Location
Not into locations = will not dwell
Not in the near future with the current media climate imo. English managers get too much scrutiny already and being United manager means getting even more scrutiny. Maybe thrice as much.

With all that scrutiny on their shoulders, it's likely that an English manager would explode if they were anointed United manager.

English managers only don't get scrutiny when they manage teams nobody cares about. Look at what happened when Lampard was at Chelsea compared to Everton.
 

didz

Full Member
Joined
May 17, 2014
Messages
1,749
Yes, there will be exactly three more in the club's history.

Graham Potter will join to a chorus of groans shortly after Ten Hag's strong six month spell under the new INEOS regime is cut short by a fall out with David Braillsford, the two gentlemen disagreeing strongly over their favourite brand of conditioner.

Potter will carry on Ten Hag's good start to the season by helping United to an incredible unbeaten run, stretching from January to June. He will, however be deemed lucky rather than good, with news outlets branding him as "The Emotionally Intelligent One" before realising that's a terrible name to fit into headlines. They will then churn out hit pieces in an attempt to sway fan opinion against him, with articles such as "5-0 Red Devils away win papers over Jonny Evans' crack" earning several billion reinstabooktweets to the embarrassment of United fans everywhere. A single tear will roll down Potter's cheek when his P45 and manager of the year award are handed to him on the same day.

It'll be Kieran McKenna's turn next aka 'The PE teacher's assistant.' He will lose his first three matches, leading to calls for him to be sacked and forced to give the club back every penny he'd been paid, along with his first born as apparently nobody would have shagged him if Ole hadn't given him a job all those years ago. But he'll turn it around by hiring Ole Gunnar in the role of 'Tactical Guru' which will be an appointment met with decidedly mixed reception by the fanbase. With United not wanting to face the embarrassment of having players claiming that they'd changed McKenna's nappies when he was a child, the club will be forced to focus their recruitment on youth and quickly kick any players approaching 30 (so basically anyone over 25) to the curb. It'll work, and Manchester United will have an enthusiastic young squad brimming with talent. A fantastic period of success will come to an end when McKenna's relationship with Ole (which was far more than a professional one) ends. "The magic is just ... gone," the Norwegian will tell Kieran one hazy morning. Weeks later, United fans up and down the country will say the same thing to each other.

Gareth Southgate will take over and the final seal will break, bringing forth Lillet from the void.
 

MyOnlySolskjaer

Creator of Player Performance threads
Joined
Nov 27, 2014
Messages
26,931
Location
Player Performance Threads
padzilla said:
I know, I know - the rumours around Southgate are gathering pace but it will soon be 40 years since United had an English manager.

Is that a bad thing? Is it the case that the PL is too big now to allow homegrown coaches much of a chance to manage the top clubs?
Click to expand...
No but maybe a Northern Irish coach, Kieran McKenna.
 

T00lsh3d

T00ly O' Sh3d
Joined
Mar 20, 2014
Messages
8,470
If they’re good enough for the job, then yes. It’s not a big deal though, and England has a very impressive recent history of producing underwhelming managers
 

padzilla

Hipster
Joined
Oct 31, 2005
Messages
3,404
didz said:
Yes, there will be exactly three more in the club's history.

Graham Potter will join to a chorus of groans shortly after Ten Hag's strong six month spell under the new INEOS regime is cut short by a fall out with David Braillsford, the two gentlemen disagreeing strongly over their favourite brand of conditioner.

Potter will carry on Ten Hag's good start to the season by helping United to an incredible unbeaten run, stretching from January to June. He will, however be deemed lucky rather than good, with news outlets branding him as "The Emotionally Intelligent One" before realising that's a terrible name to fit into headlines. They will then churn out hit pieces in an attempt to sway fan opinion against him, with articles such as "5-0 Red Devils away win papers over Jonny Evans' crack" earning several billion reinstabooktweets to the embarrassment of United fans everywhere. A single tear will roll down Potter's cheek when his P45 and manager of the year award are handed to him on the same day.

It'll be Kieran McKenna's turn next aka 'The PE teacher's assistant.' He will lose his first three matches, leading to calls for him to be sacked and forced to give the club back every penny he'd been paid, along with his first born as apparently nobody would have shagged him if Ole hadn't given him a job all those years ago. But he'll turn it around by hiring Ole Gunnar in the role of 'Tactical Guru' which will be an appointment met with decidedly mixed reception by the fanbase. With United not wanting to face the embarrassment of having players claiming that they'd changed McKenna's nappies when he was a child, the club will be forced to focus their recruitment on youth and quickly kick any players approaching 30 (so basically anyone over 25) to the curb. It'll work, and Manchester United will have an enthusiastic young squad brimming with talent. A fantastic period of success will come to an end when McKenna's relationship with Ole (which was far more than a professional one) ends. "The magic is just ... gone," the Norwegian will tell Kieran one hazy morning. Weeks later, United fans up and down the country will say the same thing to each other.

Gareth Southgate will take over and the final seal will break, bringing forth Lillet from the void.
Click to expand...
McKenna's not English.
 

sparx99

Full Member
Joined
May 22, 2016
Messages
3,951
Given the way younger fans are into stats and YouTube tactics videos it wouldn’t surprise me if a generation of coaches emerge in England who are at the cutting edge.

There does seem already to be an emerging group with the likes of Will Still, Carrick and a few others. Gary O’Neill has done very well so far too.
 

Chipper

Adulterer.
Joined
Oct 25, 2017
Messages
5,663
Ever? I'm sure we will but it is difficult to get there in the current climate for a team who has firm ambitions and expectations to be right up near the top in the wealthiest league in the world.

Success in other big leagues is what a lot of the clubs with our kind of profile in the PL will be looking at, and rightly so. Unless English managers start coaching abroad in big numbers it makes it less likely.

I know we went with Moyes and there's no reason an English manager couldn't have been in a similar situation to him. Seeing how that went it's understandably going to make teams like ourselves hesitant in the future.

There's the ex-player route in Solskjaer or Arteta at Arsenal and an English ex-player could come in under similar circumstances but even those appointments were made when both clubs were in a bit of a slump. I think the PL has more ex-players who aren't of the same nationality of the league than most other leagues anyway. So ex-Premier League players are more likely to be non-English than ex-La Liga players are likely to be non-Spanish, or ex-Bundesliga players are likely to be non-German etc.

Generally we and the other big English clubs are going to be looking at managers who have experience towards the very top in the best few leagues in Europe plus good runs in the Champions League and they're not very likely to be English or even British. If you can attract them you'd go for overseas coaches with that experience first.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.