- Joined
- Oct 22, 2010
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- 62,851
That's not how I remember it. Wilf McGuiness got 18 months and his players (including people like Charlton) basically ignored him. The mistake was appointing him, not sacking him.
O'Farrell was another 18 monther, again he lost his job because he lost control of his team. If they'd given him another couple of years would he have done better? Not with that squad and not with the atmosphere in the ground either. Decent manager, decent bloke, wrong club.
The great question of the era was why didn't we try to hire Brian Clough. A man big enough for the job and a man when partnered with Taylor good enough for the job. But we didn't. We went for a string of managers who hadn't win anything of note when they came and who couldn't get us back to the top when they were with us.
Actually I take that back, Sexton had won a Cup and a CWC with Chelsea, but got relegated a couple of years later.
And this is exactly the problem with British football & Manchester United too - its parochial attitude and approach. Similarly to the England national team, the powers-that-be will gladly appoint 'diplomacy' over talent, passion or hard work over ability, time after time. Add to this a media which casts non-UK coaches as either tech-obsessed weirdos or infallible near-geniuses then you're left with evidence of an insular, unprogressive and reactionary mindset at all levels - even the appointment of dear ol' sit-on-the-sidelines, meekly smiling ambassador Sven was viewed as something revolutionary and innovative...
In short, I applaud the notion that the likes of David Moyes can attain such a high-profile managerial position, as he's surely paid his dues, but...for the self-proclaimed 'biggest club in the world' we, and other big British concerns like us, sorely lack cosmopolitanism, imagination and ambition. Not uncoincidentally, it's cheaper that way (for owners, I mean). This is not only emblematic of a 'little Englander' state of mind; it's also striking in its similarity to modern business' short-term thinking (which, ironically, recognises few cultural & international barriers in prejudices or attitudes): "never mind if the consumer is dissatisfied as long as their money keeps rolling in" is the credo.