Solskjaer told to block ‘absurd’ Neville and ignore shadow of Sir Alex…
The past is Man Utd’s biggest problem with ex-players and ex-managers dominating the narrative. They should all be blocked.
Send your mails to theeditor@football365.com
You don’t want Xavi?
Are the people who are saying United should stay clear of hiring Xavi also the same people, who, much like the board, previously thought that Luis Enrique wouldn’t be up to the task?
Sanjit (How’d that one work out, eh?) Randhawa, Kuala Lumpur
The big Scottish shadow over Man Utd
SrAlex still the issue then
Amongst Darren ‘Fletch’ Fletcher’s first words in his first interview.. “I phoned SrAlex to get his opinion”
I mean f*** me sideways.
Don’t know why I am so annoyed, as its still HIM hold them back and I do love it but Christ it’s insane.
Ole will be back shortly not parking in ‘the gaffers’ sport as it lacks respect.
They will still be 4th by the weekend!
We are getting humped by Arsenal tomorrow if they try (we only lose to teams that try….)
So no shocks anywhere for me sadly
Al – LFC – Centre back and Right winger please (What?You had Quansah and Harvey Elliot you say?..)
Ole should block Neville and co
If Olé Gunnar Solskjaer becomes (interim) United Manager, the first thing he should do is block Gary Neville (and probably Paul Scholes and Roy Keane as well) from all his socials.
It seems GNev and co continue to wield a disproportionate amount of influence over their former club, as seen by their continued criticisms of former manager head coach Ruben Amorim, which affected him to the point that he claimed one of the reasons he didn’t bin his 3-4-3 system was “I cannot change because the players will understand that I am changing because of [media pressure]”.
United seem quite unique in having a large contingent of club legends dominating the mainstream media, and even more unique that said contingent is so persistently negative about the club, typically under the banner of “that’s not how it was done in our day” (Carra, by contrast, is usually sycophantically praising of Liverpool, even during their recent dafter moments of player management).
Amorim is not the first post-Sir Alex Man U manager GNev, Keane and Scholes have gone after – Solskjaer himself is basically the only one who escaped their more acerbic assertions, largely because “he is one of us”.
It hasn’t seemed to dawn on them that “their day” has long been consigned to history, and that Modern Football, and indeed modern Manchester United, are unrecognisable from the swashbuckling-winger era that Sir Alex Ferguson presided over, with the kind of impunity that modern managers can only dream about. One can leave to their own imagination what the fall out would have been if, say, Jason Wilcox had told Ferguson in 2012 “we are not signing Robin van Persie for you because he is over 25”.
One could also point out the absurdity of Neville and Keane in particular having such little sympathy for modern managers given how they both failed abysmally as managers themselves. Neville’s entire managerial career lasted less than six months with a win percentage almost as low as Amorim’s, while Roy Keane torched bridges with the same aplomb he perfected in the back-end of his playing days. Club legends they may be, but experts on football management they are not.
It may be time for Man United players, fans and management alike to let go of the continued romanticism of the past; of the misguided belief, possibly at the root of Ratcliffe’s “under 25” policy, that another “class of 92” will come along and repeat the miracles of the 90s – Chelsea fans can tell you how realistic that is.
There is much that still needs to take root in the INEOS era, and doubtless more mistakes will be made. But it might be in the best interests of everyone at the club if the new manager can be given some space to distance himself from the incessant noise of yesterday’s heroes, whose ongoing verbiage is their last means to staying relevant today.
Guy, Cape Town
The Masked Man Utd Manager
As far as I can tell there are just a couple of flaws in SC’s suggestion that Manchester United should try something different and emulate the Masked Singer in their search for a new manager: in a lot of cases the participants have minimal relevant experience, and it is the least capable who provide the most entertainment to the viewing public. This hardly constitutes a different approach for Manchester United.
On top of that, the overwhelming majority (Macy Gray aside) of unmasked contestants tell Joel Dommett they’ve really enjoyed themselves, something no one is ever going to say about a spell managing Manchester United.
Ed Quoththeraven
A series of romantic revivals
It is fair to say that the world, technically speaking, has completely gone to sh*t. America has gone rogue at an alarming pace and world peace feels more fragile than it’s been for several generations. Every day brings us fresh hell.
Therefore, in these troubled times all we can do is cling to the comfort blanket of nostalgia and fond memories of happier days. Our football clubs are no different, it would appear.
With Ole ‘Good times’ Solskjaer the strong favourite for an interim return to my beloved United and Mauricio Pochettino touted to return to Spurs after the World Cup this summer, we are in the season of the Romantic Return.
But which former managers would be the most romantic return for each of the Premier League clubs? Let’s assess!
Arsenal – Arsene Wenger: Obvious one to begin with, but the Gooners are understandably pretty happy with the Basque Simeone right now.
Aston Villa – Like the Gunners, the Villa faithful wouldn’t trade their manager for anyone, I suspect. Martin O’Neill was quite fun though, I recall.
Bournemouth – Eddie Howe: Just feels right.
Brentford – Thomas Frank: As with Bournemouth, the man who brought them up to the Premier League from the lower leagues Just Feels Right. Could be available soon, too.
Brighton – Graham Potter? Roberto de Zerbi? Feels like Brighton strike gold every time.
Burnley – Sean Dyche: Dyche is Burnley, Burnley is Dyche.
Chelsea – Jose Mourinho: The Special One. He is Made for Chelsea. of course it’d all blow up and end in tears, but it does for every Chelsea manager anyway.
Crystal Palace – Roy Hodgson: Fits Palace like a comfy old pair of slippers.
Everton – N/A. They already did this a year ago by bringing back the Moyesiah. Though maybe Evertonians would prefer to bring back Ancelotti?
Fulham – Roy Hodgson? They did amazing things together the first time around and again, he just fits the club like comfy slippers.
Leeds – Marcelo Bielsa: Surely?
Liverpool – Jurgen Klopp: Obviously.
Manchester City – City fans would not swap Pep for anyone. But it’s my call and I’m a United fan, so for squits and giggles I’ll go for Stuart Pearce.
Manchester United – Sir Alex Ferguson: Obviously. The motherlode. He already goes to every game, so he may as well take charge of first team affairs again, no?
Newcastle – Kevin Keegan: The ultimate “unfinished business”. Wor Kev can take us all back to a permanent 1996, when everything was just…alright.
Nottingham Forest – Nuno Espirito Santo: Forest’s best boss since Cloughie, who sadly can’t be considered, for fairly obvious reasons.
Sunderland – I’m sure Mackems are content with Regis Le Bris, but I’d love a romantic return for Peter “Reidy” Reid – his new Cointreau and Cillit Bang daiquiris are on the house!
Tottenham – Mauricio Pochettino: A no-brainer. Spurs fans love him and will accept no other manager, it seems.
Wolves – Another with designs on Nuno, who excelled the first time around and could be available again soon.
West Ham – Harry Redknapp: Bring back ‘arry! Make it ‘appen, ‘appy ‘ammers! Right now! Just Feels Right.
Yours truly,
Lee, Nostalgist and Romantic
Amorim was worse than Ten Hag
Whatever chaotic nonsense goes on behind the scenes at United, let’s not get something twisted: Ruben Amorim absolutely, 100% deserved the sack. He should’ve been sacked earlier. He was afforded more slack than any manager I’ve ever seen before. He took us to 15th in the league. 15th FFS! Think about that for one second. Ten Haag, who, let’s be clear, was dogshit, has a record far better than Amorim’s. That’s how bad he was.
And, unforgivably, he was a complete coward. Need a goal with ten minutes to go, losing one nil at home to ten man Everton, put on another forward or two? Really go for it? Nah, just take off Maguire and bring on Yoro. That’ll do it. I get it, he hoodwinked me for a while too, he does have a surface level charisma and gift of the gab, but ultimately he had absolutely no substance. Good riddance.
Ben
Real Man Utd fans know that joint-fifth is about right
Aman in the mailbox states “Some of these so-called United supporters are truly an embarrassment to the club as a whole”. With the greatest of respect, who are you to call anyone an embarrassment?
Football is a game of opinions and results (which I’ll get to). Here’s an opinion from Aman from December 2024 – “Amorim, Amad, Yoro, Hojlund, Garnacho & Bruno should stay, the rest of them need to be offloaded to whoever is willing to take them. There are 0 world class players at United and barely 5 above-average players at United”. Now, let’s ignore the Hojlund and Garnacho elephant in the room, that leaves 3 above-average players at United according to Aman.
Since then we signed Lammens, Cunha, Mbeumo, Dorgu and Sesko. I’m guessing Aman doesn’t rate Dorgu or Sesko (because he comes across as that type of impatient supporter) and perhaps rates the others on a par with Bruno (remember “above-average”). That means that he doesn’t think most of our defence or midfield is good enough to be playing for United. Yet here he is, harping on about how good managers should be able to get players to perform their best, and suggesting this squad (remember, only a handful are “above-average”) should be doing better.
In terms of results, we are joint 5th in the league, our attack is 3rd best. There are 5 teams above us who are at least a couple of years ahead in terms of squad building. How much better should we be doing? By your own admission the squad isn’t ready to compete. Money has been spent on the attack and it was working, in a season or two our MF and Defence would be stronger. Before this season started, had any Utd supporter been offered 5th, 3 points off 4th, with the 3rd best attack, at the halfway point they would have bitten your hand off.
Embarrassing isn’t a supporter having an opinion that the club was wrong to sack a manager off the back of boardroom politics, when there are clear signs of progress on the pitch. Embarrassing is a “supporter” throwing around statistics such as a poor win rate, whilst also previously suggesting that the team needs a major overhaul and only a handful are “above-average” at best. Bruno only above-average? (Rolls his eyes in dismay)
Anyway, it’s done and dusted. Good luck Fletch, let’s pick up 3 points and go into the Brighton game with some confidence!
Garey Vance, MUFC
Transition, my arse
Two mails from Liverpool fans stating it’s a transition year.
That’s only because you’ve been crap. It wasn’t a transition year when you’d spent £400M, and claimed the league was wrapped up before it’d even started. It’s a transition year because your new players are toss, and you’ve build your team around 33/34 year olds.
Simon S, NUFC, Cheshire
Welcome Liam…
I’ll steer clear of the DEI comments, This guy has spent nearly 6 years learning his craft. He’s a thinker, literate, a good manager, coach who seems to be able to build good relationships with his squad. He’s earned his right to manage the club.
Just to call out Neil, LFC. Yes he has a long contract that has review/break points throughout. You may ask why 6 1/2 contract then, well it seems that the board believe in the guy. But I get the comeback that they had belief in
Potter
Lampard
Maresca
Pochettino.
Hopefully they have stumbled on the answer. Rosenior looks a good person and life should reward good people.
P Didn’t
