Will Ole be a success? Poll

[BigRon1985]

No chance. I really don't think so.

First off, he was a legendary Utd player for me, and he will always be a Utd legend.

But I don't think he's actually even a PL level manager - an opinion backed up by the fact that literally no other PL team has been in for him since his showing at Cardiff which lead to their relegation.

Managers of Benitez' level have to step down from Real to Newcastle in order to get a job in the PL, while Solksjaer has basically stumbled into the manager's job at the biggest club in the country - it's surreal, and it's wrong in my opinion.

I firmly believe he's nowhere near the level of Howe, Pellegrini, Hasenhuttl, Nuno, Benitez, Rodgers etc, let alone anywhere near Pochettino, Klopp or Guardiola.

I don't think he'll be a success here, and I think it's deeply negligent and irresponsible of the board to even put him in the position.

It pains me to say it but I agree with everything in this post. He’s hopelessly out of his depth and it’s all going to end in tears. At the time of his appointment I said it was as bad a decision as getting Moyes and I haven’t changed my mind. If he got 4th place after the start we had under Mourinho then he deserved a chance but that decision was preempted by the useless board and now the players can’t be arsed which is terrifying as he is plainly incapable of motivating them. He needs to have a clear out and start from scratch with young hungry players who want to play for the club not their pay packet. Sadly I’m not holding my breath.

 

[tonnas]

It will be a long term project but if he is backed we will be successfull

 

[buchansleftleg]

I think he will succeed if the club changes strategy on transfers.

No more big name signings, just buy lots of promising young players with the right attitude to mix in with our young academy players.

Build a team that will challenge for the title in 2 years and will continue to challenge for another 7 years.

If we buy Alderweireld, Bale, etc then he will fail because Woodward is still driving the transfer strategy that has failed time and again.

Dalot, Lindeloff etc are the signings that give me hope the club has realised this.

I know all these players won't make it to the top level, so we need to be prepared to make multiple transfers in similar positions. I prefer we buy lots off options, with the right attitude and sprinkle in the mercurial talent as needed.

I'm prepared to be patient if we are heading in the right direction. If we see big name signings then Ole will not be able to succeed.

 

[Keefy18]

Here is a thought.
If Ole walked out at the end of the season and said 'I came to this club to help get them into top 4. That was my objective, as i have not achieved My ambtion, i feel this club needs a more experienced manager who can get this club back to the top. Hopefully my time will come again when I'm more experienced'.
I think he would become a even bigger legend.

If we don't get top 4 its not of his doing. The fact we are even in with a chance is a miracle considering where Jose left us.

 

[waza7111]

This summer's transfer window will be a big indication. We need to sign a minimum of 5 players to go straight into the starting XI. And all 5 signings need to be immediate successes. We can't afford to sign any more flops. He also needs to be ruthless in getting rid of the deadwood and players who don't want to be here even if that means selling both Pogba and de Gea. It's not unrealistic to say we should get rid of 10 players this summer.

 

[Mcking]

Dunno, but he definitely looks out of his depth.

 

[TsuWave]

No. way out of his depth.

 

[AOAARON]

Success is hard to define.

If you define success as winning the league and/or champions league, sure thats definitive success but its also a very very long way away from where you guys are at. Sure it could happen, but it'd be by luck and it'd be short-lived.

I think success over the next 5 years should sadly be defined as consistently being in the champions league knockout stages and being in the top 4. The current football landscape is so different to what it was 10-15 years ago, and during the time SAF has been away, United have been on a downward spiral. Now in the league, we face two teams with debatably the best attacks in world football, playing the most aggressive attacking football the league has ever seen.

Its a huge task to be able to compete with those two clubs [unless they self implode due to poor transfer decisions or losing their respective managers]. Thats not to mention Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs whom are all vying for the top 4 places too; backed with great managers, some world class players and decent resources.

Ole also has to cull the dressing room of the mentality, primadonnas and poisons who were prepared to down tools under Jose. No top-class player at a top-class football club should EVER down-tools. We do see it, and those clubs and players normally go through periods of relative success and now relative medicority (see: Chelsea (Hazard, Fabregas et al)). Having top class personalities in a dressing room to curb poisonous influences is VERY important, and once they leave, results normally turn sour (see: Madrid pre and post Ronaldo).

Ole can be successful but expectations need to be in check. He has to be given one to two seasons to get rid of the deadwood. Otherwise you're just putting pressure on a manager to once again provide immediate results, and leave in his wake a poor squad (Mourinho, Van Gaal, Moyes).

If I were a United fan; personally I'd be more interested in just having my club function the United way rather than immediately thinking about trophies. Sure, short term thinking can get you the odd premier league title (see: Chelsea) but you're left with a hollow, unlikable, plastic, almost disgusting club which will not be able to sustain its success because you're left with a set of players who decide when they'll turn up. People seem to think these are new generations of players, but that only tells one side of the story. There has ALWAYS in the history of football, been players with ridiculous talent whom had motivation issues and therefore didn't have the personality to play at a huge massive club like Manchester United (Riquelme, Robinho, Di Canio etc.). I think if Ole has you playing exciting proper football and firmly in the top 4 spaces for the next 2 years, its a great foundation to then move forwards.

If the fans start questioning him every step of the way, it becomes too difficult to work under. Make no mistake, some of the players you have are somehow silently running the dressing room and it has to stop if you want to reach the top again. They got rid of Jose but getting rid of Ole will be much harder as long as the fans back him.

 

[Mcking]

For all those trying to hide behind backing, the board, transfer window etc, there is no amount of backing that would cover for not being good enough. There is a reason some football managers are managing in the lower leagues, there is levels to everything.
I would wait till the transfer window opens though and hope this does not go like his stint at Cardiff where he did have a transfer window.

 

[Patrick08]

I doubt that will be his decision either way. That will be Woody's call.

He's a permanent manager now, they all have to take the blame, if they are not good enough he has to freeze them out and sell ruthlessly and replace them.

 

[Bastian]

What is success? Winning an FA Cup like van Gaal? A League Cup and Europa League like Jose? Or the big titles?

 

[marktan]

I don't think so. He has no experience at this level, it'd require a miracle of sorts for him to compete with the likes of Pep, Klopp and Pochettino.

 

[#07]

This summer's transfer window will be a big indication. We need to sign a minimum of 5 players to go straight into the starting XI. And all 5 signings need to be immediate successes. We can't afford to sign any more flops. He also needs to be ruthless in getting rid of the deadwood and players who don't want to be here even if that means selling both Pogba and de Gea. It's not unrealistic to say we should get rid of 10 players this summer.

Its not going to happen. We've been trying to move Darmian on for years. It hasn't happened because the people in power at the club keep holding out for unrealistic money.

Lots of players that should be gone will still be here in August, and because they're still on the wage bill we won't go out and get better players. This pantomine will continue, Ole will get the blame, the players and the senior management will hide behind him. Just watch.

I don't want it to be true. I want us to cull all the mercenaries and deadwood and get in players who actually wanna bleed for the badge. It won't happen though. It just wont. We've seen this performance before.

It'll be a bigger surprise to me if the likes of Rojo aren't United players come September than if they are.

We're asking Ole to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. You'd need to be an alchemist to succeed at United as things stand. Nobody else can turn lumps into gold.

 

[Denis79]

I will never question his intention or his commitment. He will always put the club first, I have no doubt about that but I have little faith in our board, so I voted no. They won't back him fully and won't let him clear out or buy the players he really wants.

 

[McSauce FC]

Difficult question considering he is not solely responsible for our clubs success.

 

[MisterLupus]

Nobody is a guaranteed success but I believe he has the right drive and passion towards this club to at least give it his soulfelt all and I also believe he has the footballing brains and humility to make sound decisions and learn on the fly from any mistakes. Because he's a young promising manager and he will make mistakes - he's not the complete packet yet he's not an established name in the top tier - but the fact that we're even in consideration for a top four at this point means he's earned his spurs and deserves a fair chance because to be honest that's quite the miracle given where we was when he came in and the fact that we're still in with a shout despite our obvious drop in form lately also speaks his case. It all comes down to this off-season I think - which I believe will be our most important one in decades. Get the right signings (young potentially world-class talents hungry for success and with a professional die-hard attitude) then couple this with the ones already playing their hearts out plus our academy players and we'll start building our fortunes again I'm sure - go for big names who are just looking to inflate their bank accounts with no passion towards succeeding at this club whatsoever - just to sell shirts and create hype - and we'll see the same pattern as we've seen for years now. He also needs to offload the ones fitting the prementioned criteria who are already at this club - even the ones who are (on paper) pure class and has shown this for us in glimpses but failed to be consistent - or their influence will continue to breed poison.

Also I think all United supporters should hope for him to be successful even if some may not believe it. It seems to me there are certain fans of the club eager for him to fail just so they could say "I told you so". That's horrible from a supporter's perspective - our job is to cheer our crew onwards not drag them down. A lot of people loathed it when Mourinho was appointed - personally I've never been able to stomach the man despite acknowledging his obvious talents plus I also felt Van Gaal was dealt with dishonorably - but I believe most supporters still hoped for him to bring us success and if he had then I'm pretty sure even I would have grown to love him (eventually). This club needs it's supporters now more than ever to not drag morale down but to do what we can to lift it's spirits and act as good ambassadors. Players and staff alike needs to know we have their backs even when the going gets tough so they'll get that extra incentive only an encouraging cheer provides - and we need to be careful not to become the kind of spoiled, whining, petty and intimidating crowd no player would want to perform in front of.

And considering who wants Ole to fail - then that in itself should be incentive enough for most people to wish him the best and to inspire him onwards. Personally at least I'll find it very hard - to the point of choking - ever uttering the words "Paul Ince was right all along".

 

[Scholsey2004]

I think so. Success may be defined differently to how it has been in the past though. I don't see us dominating the league for years on end in the future. I think there's been too much damage to the club's image and continuity from the top down for that. If phelan gets DOF then perhaps we could rebuild and put together a good pressing side like spurs or Liverpool and consistently compete again. We've definitely lost control of the narrative though because of Ed Woodward's mismanagement. I don't think we'll get that back from city now.

 

[Big Ben Foster]

Think it's telling how much of the support tends to boil down to reasons like "he knows the club".

 

[JoaquinJoaquin]

Long term = Unfortunately not.

Player power and bad structure at the club is all set up for him to fail, even before we can judge him by his tactics, man management etc.

 

[JPRouve]

I don't have a clue but managers generally fail, so the odds are against him.

 

[Beanz]

Success is hard to define.

If you define success as winning the league and/or champions league, sure thats definitive success but its also a very very long way away from where you guys are at. Sure it could happen, but it'd be by luck and it'd be short-lived.

I think success over the next 5 years should sadly be defined as consistently being in the champions league knockout stages and being in the top 4. The current football landscape is so different to what it was 10-15 years ago, and during the time SAF has been away, United have been on a downward spiral. Now in the league, we face two teams with debatably the best attacks in world football, playing the most aggressive attacking football the league has ever seen.

Its a huge task to be able to compete with those two clubs [unless they self implode due to poor transfer decisions or losing their respective managers]. Thats not to mention Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs whom are all vying for the top 4 places too; backed with great managers, some world class players and decent resources.

Ole also has to cull the dressing room of the mentality, primadonnas and poisons who were prepared to down tools under Jose. No top-class player at a top-class football club should EVER down-tools. We do see it, and those clubs and players normally go through periods of relative success and now relative medicority (see: Chelsea (Hazard, Fabregas et al)). Having top class personalities in a dressing room to curb poisonous influences is VERY important, and once they leave, results normally turn sour (see: Madrid pre and post Ronaldo).

Ole can be successful but expectations need to be in check. He has to be given one to two seasons to get rid of the deadwood. Otherwise you're just putting pressure on a manager to once again provide immediate results, and leave in his wake a poor squad (Mourinho, Van Gaal, Moyes).

If I were a United fan; personally I'd be more interested in just having my club function the United way rather than immediately thinking about trophies. Sure, short term thinking can get you the odd premier league title (see: Chelsea) but you're left with a hollow, unlikable, plastic, almost disgusting club which will not be able to sustain its success because you're left with a set of players who decide when they'll turn up. People seem to think these are new generations of players, but that only tells one side of the story. There has ALWAYS in the history of football, been players with ridiculous talent whom had motivation issues and therefore didn't have the personality to play at a huge massive club like Manchester United (Riquelme, Robinho, Di Canio etc.). I think if Ole has you playing exciting proper football and firmly in the top 4 spaces for the next 2 years, its a great foundation to then move forwards.

If the fans start questioning him every step of the way, it becomes too difficult to work under. Make no mistake, some of the players you have are somehow silently running the dressing room and it has to stop if you want to reach the top again. They got rid of Jose but getting rid of Ole will be much harder as long as the fans back him.

I agree with you 10,000%

 

[ash_86]

I'll reserve judgement after i see how ruthless he is in the summer. His success also depends on how much say he gets in transfers. The players can never be above the manager and Ole should be given the power to oust anyone out if that situation arrives.

 

[FreakyJim]

Can he finally bring this club into the 21st century? Can he teach the players how to position themselves, how to press, how to attack? We still look the odd ones out of all top teams in Europe. We are always being dominated in games and not only by better sides.

So far I don't see any change other than "we have to run more". If that's his grand plan then he'll fail.

 

[USREDEVIL]

Yes i believe so. No "if this and if that." He has seen the lack of quality in the side, and has already explained we need to rebuild. The board have to be blind not to realize that this is a turning point in this club. We need to clear dead wood and make some expensive purchases. With Moyes, then VanGaal, then Mourinho not able to make this a really competitive side, and with everyone diagnosing our main problem as not having a squad capable of much, I will be shocked if we don't have a very different squad next season.

 

[MoskvaRed]

Ole will certainly give it everything he’s got - he genuinely cares about the club. Whether he has the skillset to tackle the mess he has walked into is impossible to say with any certainty. At the moment I am tending to see his appointment as a sentimental, rash reaction to the failed Mourinho experiment.

 

[rednotled]

It looks to me like there is a culture problem at the club where the players are unwilling/unable to accept individual responsibility for delivering high quality football on a consistent basis.

From experience, changing working culture is a tough job which needs buy-in/support from senior management all the way down to part time cleaners.
And time.
And patience.

Does Ole have the ability to implement this kind of change, where others have failed already?
He sounds like he's got the appetite and I'm willing to bet he'll get a lot more support from fans than the 3 previous managers did.
But I don't think that's where the issue is.

I think the key to (his) success will be whether or not he will be backed by senior execs and given time to implement a FIFO (fit in or feck off) policy, even if it means getting rid of his most talented players.

I really, really want him to succeed, but to be frank it's not all down to him and that's why I'm leaning towards NO.

 

[Canagel]

Maybe maybe not- it's difficult to predict.

 

[Alex99]

I've said no, but not because of anything he'll do. He'll be let down by the club persisting with that clown Woodward, and a continuation of the complete lack of direction we've shown ever since Ferguson retired. He'll have no support, and we'll once again find ourselves floundering in the transfer market, while continuing to keep hold of players that simply aren't good enough.

When it all inevitably continues to go wrong, he'll be offered the opportunity to step down (or be pushed), which he'll accept, while we'll be stuck watching the circus for a couple more years under yet another new manager having a go on Ed's Wild Ride.

 

[SAFMUTD]

Many people compare his lack of experience with Zidane and Guardiola who where extremely succesful with Madrid and Barca despite their short experience until then, but the circumstances are way different.

First Guardiola is a great manager and tactitian, as much as I dislike him no one can deny that he implements a very specific type of football that requires a very specific type of players, but once implemented the results are great. He had a Barcelona squad that had a lot of great players that where about to explode into world class, players like Messi, Iniesta, Xavi, to mention some.

Now Zidane is a different kind of manager, he doesn't have a brand of football or a really defined style but he managed to control Madrid dressing room, which was full of world class players like Ramos, Cristiano, Modric, Kross.

I think Ole is similar to Zidane, in the way that he is respected in the club and cares about it, in addition he hasn't proved until now to be a top tactician either, but the main difference is that we don't have any world class players, so motivation won't be enough to get the results. That combined with the disastrous way we have been handled by Woodward is just setting us up for failure.

Sooner than later the pressure will catch up with Ole and he'll get the boot.

 

[Cloud7]

I don’t think I’ll be able to answer this until the start of next season, and not in terms of transfers, which is of course important. It’s clear he wants us to play an aggressive game which as of now our current players aren’t conditioned to play.

After a full summer with no international tournament, where he has the time to get his ideas across and get them conditioned the way he wants, after I see what we look like at the start of next season then I’ll really be able to say if I think he’ll be a success or not.

 

[Schmeichel=God]

I now say no:

Primarily: No faith in those above him to get anything right that can affect the team on and off pitch. Contracts, transfers, management structure. Setup to fail

Secondarily: No longer seeing evidence of a thread through our tactical approach. Where has the high press, get bodies forward, get Pogba forward, "freedom" gone. Replaced by a sit deep "we're scared of everyone" approach. It's the same lack of tactical regularity which saw him castigated for his Cardiff time.

However he has got quite the shitstorm around him now. The De Gea Mata Herrera talk. The failure Sanchez. Lukaku/Pogba and their agents. Lingard/Martial and their being devoid of visible character on the pitch. Valencia, Darmian, Bailly likely unhappy and sticking about the place. Matic, Young past it. The need for upheaval is massive. He needs a chance to revolutionise the squad and turn over a new leaf. No one could succeed with the current state of play. Pochettino wouldn't. Guardiola wouldn't. No one would. Which one of those and more would actually have the balls to smash the current squad to bits and start a new. Who has the balls to do what is needed? Without that nothing is going to improve.

 

[Ixion]

I'm going to say probably not. I'd love to be proven wrong but I don't think he will command enough respect from the current set of players to really change anything, and the new contracts for Young, Smalling, Jones do not fill me with confidence he will do what needs to be done with the squad.

 

[WR10]

Yes. He’s facing the exact same problems as mourinho and you can see the difference. One guy almost breaks down in tears because it’s own home that these twats are fecking around in the other glorifies the misery as he tries to reassure people of his past successes.
One guy is using the misery to his own 20 million vacation payout while the other looks you dead in the eye and assures you it’s going to be sorted.

There are literally no ulterior motives by ole other than truly doing his best to get the club back to success.

All doubts about his tactical abilities are bullshit. It’s a team of 4-6 insanely intelligent brains cranking out flawless tactics in every one of our big games. When the players decide to show up we have been thoroughly successful with his tactics. Even in games with poor individual attitudes you could see that we were correctly set up.

The football we played when these twats had gas in their tank was exactly what we want to see week in week out. You couldn’t say the same about any previous manager (recent)

Ole WILL be successful because I think he is best equipped to piggyback the history and aura of this club to inspire the players and overcome the penny pinchers running it. If he truly gets Phelan pulling strings above him - then even better.

 

[Im red2]

I personally do not think he has the ability, but I feel sure that when he realises it he will quit the job because he is also a fan.

 

[red_de_pologne]

What does success mean? No manager in the world would bring immediate success to this team. Until there is a footballing structure and strategy at the club no manager will be a 'success'.

 

[Im red2]

What does success mean? No manager in the world would bring immediate success to this team. Until there is a footballing structure and strategy at the club no manager will be a 'success'.

TR
rue, the people running the club do not have trophy winning as high as profit making, and that is so obvious. No one should buy the new shirt, stick with the old one and let the owners eat dirt.

 

[C'est Moi Cantona]

Even under the perfect circumstances it'd be tough, but with the squad a blend of either unmotivated/wantaway 'stars', or not good enough players on big contracts, it's a nightmare situation for him, this backed up by a what is likely to be the most competitive transfer window for a long time, against teams with an established transfer set up, CL, and a big name manager.

No disrespect to Ole but he's going to be a hard sell to incoming players, and Phelan won't help that situation if given the job.

We also have this simple fact Ole is totally unproven, and is unlikely to be cut anymore slack than the managers that went before, forget the fans, if the sponsors getting twitchy then you're toast.

So no, but Ed might find a very different reaction from the fans this time around, he didn't have to give him the job, so he's made his bed now.

 

[reddevil80]

Yes. He knows the philosophy and what the fans ( wage payers! ) want from Man Utd. I feel, saying publicly, what he said was a show of strength and backbone. He hasn't done what the last butthole done and thrown players into the lions den one by one. He made a very clear statement that what he saw, again, was not what Utd are about and never have been. He has told them, in no uncertain terms, that that will not be tolerated and some of them are not in his future plans.

It is now down to the players to fight for their places and disgusting salaries, show that they want to get to the top and play for the biggest club in the world. I just hope, for his sake, that the board listen to him and show some balls and rid the club of our "japanese knotweed". Maybe the board are a part of the problem, which will create issues but, I feel, under Ole, the problems will come to the fore and the fans will see some of the issues and our voices can be heard. Sort the players' contracts and get the agents in order and we will start to show signs of recovery.

 

[Caliban]

Depends on how one measure success, as learned from within these pages everything should happened best already yesterday.

What happens during the summer will give an indication
What happens during pre-season will give an indication

At the early stages we will hopefully see contoures of something to build further on .. brick by brick

Ole has already said what he wants .. the most hardworking / athletic team in the league, and squad that wants to play for united, in the united way

If given time: Yes top four next season and maybe the season after that too then title challengers in season three (my prediction)

United needs to become attractive again for the best players, that is not done overnight

 

[reddevil80]

Another point I failed to mention is, fans are saying he isn't good enough and not enough experience; so what were your thoughts on his lack of quality and inexperience the first months he was in charge and went on an unbeaten run, took us up to making a challenge for 4th place spot, took us to PSG and won? We've hit a poor patch and players are to blame, not him. He got the best out of them for a while and now we're tired and leggy, I would say a manager or coach who isn't good enough or experienced enough would struggle to see that is where we are right now. Doesn't sound inept to me.