BBC: United hold talks with Mourinho

Would you be happy to see Jose Mourinho become next United manager?


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People could easily turn this 'deceiving themselves' against your claim about LvG playing kids not because of injuries. Above 10 players from the squad out, he simply didn't have a choice but to experiment just like season ago with McNair and Blackett.

Funny thing is Maureen didn't do one thing in United and more and more folks already condemning him for destroying the entire youth system. We'll never know until we'll let him take the steer in the first place... and I'm not even fan of that arrogant c*nt. :lol: Simeone all the way.
Selling all those players he did was taking a risk. He knew if a crisis happened he would clearly have to depend on the young players and that's what has happened.
We aren't going to employ Mourinho and tell him to change his management style. He's never been keen on promoting from within in over 15 years so it's reasonable to suggest nothing will change on that front.
I'm not against Mourinho but I prefer Pochettino. However if Mourinho comes, I would be happy but I won't be under the illusion he's going to start giving chances to players from the academy.
 
take Rashford

Rooney, Martial, Fellaini and even Will Keane would all have been picked ahead of him. We also tried to sign Lavezzi. Was Rashford in his thinking? no. We had no choice but fair play to the lad for making us sit up and take notice at such a young age.

Varela, Love etc. would they have got a sniff if we'd managed to sign Debuchy on loan? no, unless Debuchy got injured.

pure necessity forced his hand, but hes canny enough to ride that wave that people think its planned and will continue. We'll see what happens when all the players start coming back from injury.

We both know what'll happening.....

"My captain shall always play"
 
take Rashford

Rooney, Martial, Fellaini and even Will Keane would all have been picked ahead of him. We also tried to sign Lavezzi. Was Rashford in his thinking? no. We had no choice but fair play to the lad for making us sit up and take notice at such a young age.

Varela, Love etc. would they have got a sniff if we'd managed to sign Debuchy on loan? no, unless Debuchy got injured.

pure necessity forced his hand, but hes canny enough to ride that wave that people think its planned and will continue. We'll see what happens when all the players start coming back from injury.
Well said. Forgot about him trying to loan Debuchy
 
With this set of defenders, players who would be played in defence...

Shaw, Darmian, Blind, Smalling, Jones, Rojo, Valencia, Young, Carrick, McNair, I'd say that could easily cover a season

We've had times with about 8 of that 10 out at once. That is freaky, and it's been those times when suddenly we had to dip into the youth team.

This was no great planning, no "Giving the youth a chance"
We even tried to get Arsenal's Debuchy in on loan for goodness sake.

You'll be saying Van Gaak deserves another season next, a knee jerk idiocy statement.

However you want to spin it (for example including McNair) we went into the season with about 19 first team players.

2 first team injuries and young players are sitting on the bench.

Did he intend to use this many players? Of course not, no one would plan to do that, it would be insane. But over the course of a normal season it was always obvious kids would get games. Lingard became a first team feature long before this injury crisis, Rashford was in the squad before christmas, and kids were always filling up spots in the bench.

Of course, that was the intention, to give kids a few minutes here and there, with maybe one or two (like Lingard, and possibly Peirera who's had his chances curtailed by playing in the one position we've virtually been forced to play a senior player in) becoming more regular over the course of the season.

Whilst the 357 debuts weren't the intention, he could have kept squad fillers here, or signed more like many other managers have done, but chose not to. He deserves credit for that, imo.
 
If Rooney doesn't score goals, I assure you Rooney will be out of the first team so fast, he won't quite realise what just happened.
Where LVG will keep playing a non-scoring striker (Falcao last season, Rooney this season), Jose won't put up with it.

Thats what everyone said about Van Gaal but Rooney soon got him wrapped around his little finger just as he did with Moyes. I hope your right but Rooney seems to always get his own way.
 
Selling all those players he did was taking a risk. He knew if a crisis happened he would clearly have to depend on the young players and that's what has happened.
We aren't going to employ Mourinho and tell him to change his management style. He's never been keen on promoting from within in over 15 years so it's reasonable to suggest nothing will change on that front.
I'm not against Mourinho but I prefer Pochettino. However if Mourinho comes, I would be happy but I won't be under the illusion he's going to start giving chances to players from the academy.
...and you're absolutely right especially from measuring the risk standpoint. Can't deny almost claustrophobic feeling to his ego and manner which he controls whole aspects of entire club but the risk is on both sides. Letting LvG another entire year with his decision making in critical moments and archaic look on things can be also close to scary.

Simeone is totally unfamiliar with English culture, tempo and probably language which already pose some risk while Pochettino more and more becoming a natural choice for the distant future... perhaps maybe even not so distant if Mourinho will turn into typical Mourinho and left us in 2-3 seasons.
 
take Rashford

Rooney, Martial, Fellaini and even Will Keane would all have been picked ahead of him. We also tried to sign Lavezzi. Was Rashford in his thinking? no. We had no choice but fair play to the lad for making us sit up and take notice at such a young age.

Varela, Love etc. would they have got a sniff if we'd managed to sign Debuchy on loan? no, unless Debuchy got injured.

pure necessity forced his hand, but hes canny enough to ride that wave that people think its planned and will continue. We'll see what happens when all the players start coming back from injury.
I don't believe we tried to sign Lavezzi. Rashford only turned 18 in November so it's understandable if he wasn't high up in Van Gaal's thinking for the first team.

Varela asked to leave which probably explains why we tried to loan a RB, it didn't happen so Varela's request was turned down. He now has a chance and is beginning to take it.
 
Thing is as well. If we do not get CL football and win no trophies, we will need to sign players ready to come into the first team squad. We cannot afford to be unsuccessful. Therefore a lot fo the kids will go back to the U-21s, loans or be sold. I think only Rashford, CBJ and Varela will survive. Even Pereira and Januzaj might be at risk.
 
People could easily turn this 'deceiving themselves' against your claim about LvG playing kids not because of injuries. Above 10 players from the squad out, he simply didn't have a choice but to experiment just like season ago with McNair and Blackett.
It's really not that difficult, the choice to rely on academy players was made by not signing more players. If he'd done that, there would be no place for the youngsters in case of injury.

Funny thing is Maureen didn't do one thing in United and more and more folks already condemning him for destroying the entire youth system. We'll never know until we'll let him take the steer in the first place... and I'm not even fan of that arrogant c*nt. :lol: Simeone all the way.
He might chance all of a sudden, it's just not very likely. There's no better manager for academy players than Van Gaal, and Mourinho's record with youngsters is simply not good. The choice for Mourinho is choice for signings instead of academy players. Even if he wanted to give them a chance or was forced to, he wouldn't know how to make them succeed.
 
how did those youth players at Chelsea work out this season? supposedly had the best team around, with people like Neville saying it would be a complete failure if some of those players didn't break through
 
how did those youth players at Chelsea work out this season? supposedly had the best team around, with people like Neville saying it would be a complete failure if some of those players didn't break through
Gus has not exactly brought loads into the team. Pep will be under intense pressure to deliver trophies, he will use very few. Arsenal haven't produced loads of world class kids. It's the teams lower down that will bring through their own kids as up to this season they didn't have the money. Next season we will see the lower PL clubs spending on players, just like the big boys.
 
However you want to spin it (for example including McNair) we went into the season with about 19 first team players.

2 first team injuries and young players are sitting on the bench.

Did he intend to use this many players? Of course not, no one would plan to do that, it would be insane. But over the course of a normal season it was always obvious kids would get games. Lingard became a first team feature long before this injury crisis, Rashford was in the squad before christmas, and kids were always filling up spots in the bench.

Of course, that was the intention, to give kids a few minutes here and there, with maybe one or two (like Lingard, and possibly Peirera who's had his chances curtailed by playing in the one position we've virtually been forced to play a senior player in) becoming more regular over the course of the season.

Whilst the 357 debuts weren't the intention, he could have kept squad fillers here, or signed more like many other managers have done, but chose not to. He deserves credit for that, imo.

Kids get games every single season. Normally in the league cup, or with the occasional bench outing. He shifted a lot of players out, but brought a lot in.
I can't be doing with people trying to act like this is all some sort of planned genius, from a guy who has made an absolute balls up of this season.

Even if we magic into the top 4, it's the minimum achievement, we're Man Utd! We mocked Arsenal for their pathetic 4th place concentration for years, now we're begging for the same. It didn't have to be this way.
 
It's really not that difficult, the choice to rely on academy players was made by not signing more players. If he'd done that, there would be no place for the youngsters in case of injury.
If he'd done that our title chances could also rise but fair play to LvG for his constant trust in what he possess at his disposal. Maybe with long term planning we could achieve a similar effect what class 92 did but for that we would have to give him time and massive vote of confidence. At least two more years for him to develop youngsters further. I'm patient enough to wait but if his plan would fail it could be a massive waste of efforts and sign of inevitable stagnation plus lowering the standards, slowly but still more and more closer to FC Liverpool's state.

He might chance all of a sudden, it's just not very likely. There's no better manager for academy players than Van Gaal, and Mourinho's record with youngsters is simply not good. The choice for Mourinho is choice for signings instead of academy players. Even if he wanted to give them a chance or was forced to, he wouldn't know how to make them succeed.
Van Gaal signed a lot of players already but most of them are long term investments which is good. The problem is we're not looking like title wining team just yet... there has to be some kind of a compromise between Mou's hunger for quick success and LvG's vision. Entirely different choice of future manager perhaps ?
 
Kids get games every single season. Normally in the league cup, or with the occasional bench outing. He shifted a lot of players out, but brought a lot in.
I can't be doing with people trying to act like this is all some sort of planned genius, from a guy who has made an absolute balls up of this season.

Even if we magic into the top 4, it's the minimum achievement, we're Man Utd! We mocked Arsenal for their pathetic 4th place concentration for years, now we're begging for the same. It didn't have to be this way.

Of course it is not, it's been mentioned numerous times how he mismanaged Januzaj, Wilson, Pereira and probably couple of more but those who wish to follow that narrative that he's God knows how good with the youth will stay deaf to what's being said.
 
Kids get games every single season. Normally in the league cup, or with the occasional bench outing. He shifted a lot of players out, but brought a lot in.
I can't be doing with people trying to act like this is all some sort of planned genius, from a guy who has made an absolute balls up of this season.

Even if we magic into the top 4, it's the minimum achievement, we're Man Utd! We mocked Arsenal for their pathetic 4th place concentration for years, now we're begging for the same. It didn't have to be this way.

Except the squad is smaller now than it was when he took over. Its basic maths.

Look, whether you think it was a good idea or not, its undeniable that he trimmed the squad to the extent that it was inevitable that youth products have to fill the gaps.

Give credit to him for it or criticism him for it, thats your prerogative, but arguing against the fact it happened is bizarre.
 
Except the squad is smaller now than it was when he took over. Its basic maths.

Look, whether you think it was a good idea or not, its undeniable that he trimmed the squad to the extent that it was inevitable that youth products have to fill the gaps.

Give credit to him for it or criticism him for it, thats your prerogative, but arguing against the fact it happened is bizarre.
He's one very lucky man then, because that policy could have seriously landed us in trouble and if we don't finish in the Top 4 or win a trophy it has landed him in trouble.
 
Kids get games every single season. Normally in the league cup, or with the occasional bench outing. He shifted a lot of players out, but brought a lot in.
I can't be doing with people trying to act like this is all some sort of planned genius, from a guy who has made an absolute balls up of this season.

Even if we magic into the top 4, it's the minimum achievement, we're Man Utd! We mocked Arsenal for their pathetic 4th place concentration for years, now we're begging for the same. It didn't have to be this way.
Aye. Seems LvG has worked himself into a nice cosy little "win win" corner in the eyes of some.

When he came here, I'm pretty sure he said his targets were not to work with the youth but to bring success i.e. by improving season on season and winning the league in year 3.

Now the goalposts seem to have shifted a bit. If he doesn't get top 4 it'll be because of the injuries and because he was forced to play with kids (even though it was apparently his decision to keep the squad small to give the kids a chance).

If he somehow scrapes into the top 4, people will have you believe that he's achieved some sort of minor miracle. Even though there'd have been next to no improvement on last season - in fact, you could argue we've regressed.

I like the guy, no doubt. But memories around here are short. A few victories over mainly, with all respect, opponents we should be expected to beat (barring Arsenal) - and (once again) we've turned a corner. One needs to really take the entire 18-24 months of his reign in charge and for me, he's simply not been good enough.
 
Aye. Seems LvG has worked himself into a nice cosy little "win win" corner in the eyes of some.

When he came here, I'm pretty sure he said his targets were not to work with the youth but to bring success i.e. by improving season on season and winning the league in year 3.

Now the goalposts seem to have shifted a bit. If he doesn't get top 4 it'll be because of the injuries and because he was forced to play with kids (even though it was apparently his decision to keep the squad small to give the kids a chance).

If he somehow scrapes into the top 4, people will have you believe that he's achieved some sort of minor miracle. Even though there'd have been next to no improvement on last season - in fact, you could argue we've regressed.

I like the guy, no doubt. But memories around here are short. A few victories over mainly, with all respect, opponents we should be expected to beat (barring Arsenal) - and (once again) we've turned a corner. One needs to really take the entire 18-24 months of his reign in charge and for me, he's simply not been good enough.

I don't think anyones saying that, apart from the weirdos that think he's infallible.

But you can still think he should go without criticising absolutely everything he's done. He's obviously been proven right from the performances of the young players that they were ready for more first team football, and removing obstacles to their path into the first team has helped them showcase their talent.

Thats all anyones saying, just because you think the man should be let go at the end of the season, which I do, doesn't mean you should criticise him for things that he doesn't deserve criticism for.
 
Of course it is not, it's been mentioned numerous times how he mismanaged Januzaj, Wilson, Pereira and probably couple of more but those who wish to follow that narrative that he's God knows how good with the youth will stay deaf to what's being said.

Wonder why we didn't recall Wilson, before Rashford emerged. Might just not rate him, might have some odd loyalty to Brighton but that's an odd one.

Penny for Wilson's thoughts now though! A couple of years ago, he was similar to Rashford's position. Came in, scored a double, and looked a hot prospect.
Now he very much is up against it, with any new manager bound to bring a top striker in to compliment Rashford and Martial, irrespective of what we do with Rooney.
 
RB - Darmian, Valencia
CB - Smalling, Jones, Rojo, Blind
LB - Shaw, Young

I really don't think LVG expected them all to be injured at the same time like that and Varela, Riley, CBJ and Mensah to be in the team. He pretty much has no other option
I see three player in Blind, Young and Valencia who are not natural defenders, essentially three utility players. I then see three injury prone centre backs.

Looks like a poorly assembled set of defenders.
 
I don't think anyones saying that, apart from the weirdos that think he's infallible.

But you can still think he should go without criticising absolutely everything he's done. He's obviously been proven right from the performances of the young players that they were ready for more first team football, and removing obstacles to their path into the first team has helped them showcase their talent.

Thats all anyones saying, just because you think the man should be let go at the end of the season, which I do, doesn't mean you should criticise him for things that he doesn't deserve criticism for.
No arguments there, NF. I'm actually not criticising or disputing his record with the youth. I applaud it. I think our stances on LVG are similar. I was aiming that more at those who seemingly want to give LvG a 3rd year, no matter the outcome of this season.
 
No arguments there, NF. I'm actually not criticising or disputing his record with the youth. I applaud it. I think our stances on LVG are similar. I was aiming that more at those who seemingly want to give LvG a 3rd year, no matter the outcome of this season.

Luckily, there's seems to be enough people in the know who suggest Mourinho is already a done deal.

Would be madness to give VG another year, however the rest of this season goes.

For starters, who would come here, knowing the manager would definitely change in a year.
 
So, just to clarify:
We haven't won any trophies for 3 seasons.
We have been dire for the last 6 months and embarrassingly boring to watch. In fact, one of the worst teams in Europe to watch.
Until recently we have been scoring roughly 1 goal per game and created very few chances.
2 months back, we had relegation form (similar to that of Aston Villa).

You now want Jose to come in, use youth players on a regular basis, play attractive football and have us winning the league? And all in a very quick time period.
Have I got this right?

I think you need to lower your expectations.
No
 
Luckily, there's seems to be enough people in the know who suggest Mourinho is already a done deal.

Would be madness to give VG another year, however the rest of this season goes.

For starters, who would come here, knowing the manager would definitely change in a year.
Aye man. LvG has definitely been a lucky man imo. If the rest of the "top 4" wasn't as pathetic as us, I think he'd have been gone by now as we'd have been much further adrift from the top.
 
I don't think anyones saying that, apart from the weirdos that think he's infallible.

But you can still think he should go without criticising absolutely everything he's done. He's obviously been proven right from the performances of the young players that they were ready for more first team football, and removing obstacles to their path into the first team has helped them showcase their talent.

Thats all anyones saying, just because you think the man should be let go at the end of the season, which I do, doesn't mean you should criticise him for things that he doesn't deserve criticism for.
Spot on
 
I don't believe we tried to sign Lavezzi. Rashford only turned 18 in November so it's understandable if he wasn't high up in Van Gaal's thinking for the first team.

Varela asked to leave which probably explains why we tried to loan a RB, it didn't happen so Varela's request was turned down. He now has a chance and is beginning to take it.

I think we did try to buy lavezzi. Rashford was played because LVG had no choice. If he truly believed in the boy he would have played him earlier
 
LVG has NOT been lucky as mentioned earlier in the thread. If anything, he's been very unlucky with the injury situation and yes, a bit fortunate that the board don't want to become a firing club.

This facination with Jose is sickening. I hated him at chelsea and not JUST because he was manager of Chelsea... but because of style that he played, because of his demeanor on the sidelines and after the games and now he's gone, the team is tending to play better... it shows me that he had become stale in the team and the players enjoy a new perspective. That said, he burns bridges everywhere he goes and is a short term fix to a long term issue for us.

Manchester United want to be different, we want to have the next SAF for 20+ years, and in many fan's minds, that's Giggs (which I disagree), but no way to do that if we keep bringing in 3 year projects that last 1.5 years.

I guess what I'm saying is, give LVG the rest of the season. Do NOT hire Mourinho. Look for another coach in the ilk of Pochettino that will potentially be able to be here 10+ years and one that values the youth program. Have a conversation with Giggs and encourage him to go get experience. I think he needs to earn his stripes... Go win something elsewhere... Learn on someone else's dime... and come back as a seasoned coach in 10 yrs. (Yes, I think Real Madrid were idiots to hire Zidane)

IMHO, the perfect guy would've been Klopp. Love everything about this guy. Next in line???? Not sure yet... but LVG is slowly winning back the chance to finish the season.
 
However you want to spin it (for example including McNair) we went into the season with about 19 first team players.

2 first team injuries and young players are sitting on the bench.

Did he intend to use this many players? Of course not, no one would plan to do that, it would be insane. But over the course of a normal season it was always obvious kids would get games. Lingard became a first team feature long before this injury crisis, Rashford was in the squad before christmas, and kids were always filling up spots in the bench.

Of course, that was the intention, to give kids a few minutes here and there, with maybe one or two (like Lingard, and possibly Peirera who's had his chances curtailed by playing in the one position we've virtually been forced to play a senior player in) becoming more regular over the course of the season.

Whilst the 357 debuts weren't the intention, he could have kept squad fillers here, or signed more like many other managers have done, but chose not to. He deserves credit for that, imo.

We went with about 19 first team players because LVG kicked out or disillusioned anyone who didn't fit to his 'philosophy'. That included homegrown talent such as Rafael and players he just signed like ADM. In reality it should have been worse. For example Fellaini was close to sign for Napoli until the Italian club asked us to practically hand it out on free.

LVG thought he could have a high player turnover with players who doesn't fit his 'philosophy' shown the door and new players come in to replace them. Unfortunately United aren't that type of club and while we were more active in summer than our usual summers we couldn't keep up with the LVG's demands. Hence he had to start the league with a small unbalanced side which relied heavily on players playing out of position (ex Blind in defense). Once injuries started to crop up he was forced to play youths.
 
LVG has NOT been lucky as mentioned earlier in the thread. If anything, he's been very unlucky with the injury situation and yes, a bit fortunate that the board don't want to become a firing club.

This facination with Jose is sickening. I hated him at chelsea and not JUST because he was manager of Chelsea... but because of style that he played, because of his demeanor on the sidelines and after the games and now he's gone, the team is tending to play better... it shows me that he had become stale in the team and the players enjoy a new perspective. That said, he burns bridges everywhere he goes and is a short term fix to a long term issue for us.

Manchester United want to be different, we want to have the next SAF for 20+ years, and in many fan's minds, that's Giggs (which I disagree), but no way to do that if we keep bringing in 3 year projects that last 1.5 years.

I guess what I'm saying is, give LVG the rest of the season. Do NOT hire Mourinho. Look for another coach in the ilk of Pochettino that will potentially be able to be here 10+ years and one that values the youth program. Have a conversation with Giggs and encourage him to go get experience. I think he needs to earn his stripes... Go win something elsewhere... Learn on someone else's dime... and come back as a seasoned coach in 10 yrs. (Yes, I think Real Madrid were idiots to hire Zidane)

IMHO, the perfect guy would've been Klopp. Love everything about this guy. Next in line???? Not sure yet... but LVG is slowly winning back the chance to finish the season.

Luck has nothing to do with injuries. United always suffer from waves and waves of injuries and had been so since SAF. Someone with brains would have anticipated that by having a big side. That what SAF did

I respect and in someway share some of the concerns of those who do not want Mourinho. However let us not justify LVG's horrible man management and strategic decisions because we don't want Maureen. The Dutch man has no idea what he's doing and is reflected with his constant switching of tactics, players and his senile decisions (midfielders as CBs, CBs giving corners etc)

Also lets stop with this 20+ years. No one will ever give us that and most of the time we wouldn't want it in the first place. Take Clough, Wenger and even Sir Matt. At the end they were more of a burden to the club in need of change rather than a blessing and we're talking here about great managers of rare quality
 
Well, if I was in a list of people that didn't know something I'd probably like to be first too.

So that's a thumbs up from me, Jose.
 
I think the young player develop thing is a misnomer. If there was a bench full of experience players and he was brave enough to play Rashford in front of a out of form Rooney, then that's different than basically playing a young lad when they are no other options partly cause he went into the season with 2 recognised forwards.
The other is he's said he'll only do 3 years. I'd rather change now with potential a manager who can manage one of the most high profile season in the history of the Prem.
 
I share a lot of the concerns about Mourinho but can we stop with the "boring football" argument nonsense - it's a total fallacy.
 
If he'd done that our title chances could also rise but fair play to LvG for his constant trust in what he possess at his disposal. Maybe with long term planning we could achieve a similar effect what class 92 did but for that we would have to give him time and massive vote of confidence. At least two more years for him to develop youngsters further. I'm patient enough to wait but if his plan would fail it could be a massive waste of efforts and sign of inevitable stagnation plus lowering the standards, slowly but still more and more closer to FC Liverpool's state.
I acknowledge that danger, take Ferguson out of the equation and maybe that's the 'natural' state for the club at this point in time? The man who kept the standards up for more than 20 years is gone, and everybody agrees he was something special, so wouldn't it actually be the reasonable, rational thing to have lowered standards already?

My viewpoint is not that we should happily lower the standards and resign to that. The point is that you can't just pull high standards out of thin air. The past doesn't give us a right to high standards, Ferguson doesn't because he quit, the state the squad was in doesn't because it was past it. The only thing that could justifie high standards is spending power. But there's the problem, world class players aren't for sale, RM, Barca, Bayern, PSG, Chelsea and City won't sell their first choice players to us and some of them may even buy ours, while some of them have very productive academies to go with it.

The right to high standards has to be earned in a competitive environment, by hard work, smart work, good choices and sacrifices. It's not just Liverpool, all over Europe there are former great clubs, and their fans having high standards based on nothing but past glory aren't helping because impatience is the enemy of a good restoration job. Currently the hard work and the smart work is to learn a playing style that can give the players an edge, to sign young players before they are world class and develop them, the good choices are to invest in the academy and invest time in those youngsters because we need to find quality anywhere we can, and the sacrifices well.... they come along by themselves as you've noticed, it's your fun, your pulled hair, your boredom, your frustration.

Van Gaal signed a lot of players already but most of them are long term investments which is good. The problem is we're not looking like title wining team just yet... there has to be some kind of a compromise between Mou's hunger for quick success and LvG's vision. Entirely different choice of future manager perhaps ?
I don't think you can compromise on vision. A different future manager should be about youth too. There's a chance here, I've heard the Chinese language doesn't allow to make a distinction between crisis and chance, it might not be true but I like the thought. Within a few years the United academy could be the shortest way for young talents to the top, it could pull all the greatest local talent, but also talent from anywhere (English gives an edge over Spanish and German academies here). The class of 92 was a freak occurance, but a steady 4 former academy players in the starting line up is the greatest advertisement for an academy. The same with young players from elsewhere, they see Martial, Depay and Shaw getting lots of playing time, develop and shine and they will choose that over a place on the bench or in the stands at Stanford Bridge. A choice for youth is partly a selffullfilling prophecy, it will strengthen itself once you make the choice, because it will attract greater talents.

To justifie the high standards you have to gain an edge from somewhere. Anything wil do, United doesn't have the sun, the night life, the cuisine (although I've heard good things about 'Wing's'), but I think chances for youngsters is the best opportunity to compensate for that and get the best players that way. With Mourinho, that opportunity is gone, others will even have the youth edge on United. With a different compromise, it might not be gone but it's seriously endangered. I admit I'll hate to see Van Gaal fail, but I'm fine with any manager who is committed to youth as the way to compete with clubs which have other advantages. But it's hard to find one who is as good with youth as Van Gaal.

How so out of interest?
Are you still thinking about Ajax, in about 95?
Ajax from 91-97. The output of youth academies is irregular by nature, 95 was peak because of the two great talents Kluivert and Seedorf, but the uefacup was won years before with a lot of youngsters also. In Barcelona he promoted youth, at AZ he did (Dembele for example), at Bayern he did and with the Netherlands he also relied on very inexperienced and young defenders especially. If you consistently give youth a chance, the peaks will happen, the class of 92, the 'lichting van 94' at Ajax, they are the icing on the cake, you can have the cake without the icing in the other years, but you can't have the icing without baking a cake first.
 
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