BBC: United hold talks with Mourinho

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

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RedPnutz said:
As a fan, I get what you are saying. I have been bored of our matches many times this season. That doesn't mean I think it is ok.

AS for scraping 4th and winning the FA cup, my point is fans will still want him to go but the board may let him stay if it is within the targets. The point is statistics could be painted in any fashion to support a narrative.

I happen to think we are pretty fair as a club.
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Yes they can. But there are some statistics that cannot be argued with. 1st place for Backwards passes. 2nd for sideways passes. 18th for chances created. 16th for total shots made. 15th for shots on target. 14th for passes into the final third. 11th for number of goals.

I don't need statistics to paint a narrative for me. They speak for themselves. Which is why I also said Look at our performances. In this case the statistics damn our performances, and are not some "arguable" factor that can be twisted to say he's doing well. The board would be monumentally stupid to ignore that.
 
RedPnutz said:
Because I believe that we are quite well-run and our board will act.

Even now, my opinion is that we know exactly what we are doing. We are not firing LVG yet because he's probably still within his targets. Even if top 3 is really his contractual requirement for the second season, I think the club has enough class not to fire him before the FA Cup final. Some fans argue it will galvanise the players but similarly it could disrupt. Such abrupt events have impacts that cannot be predicted.

Moyes was appointed very likely on SAF's recommendation. We were "romantic" enough to employ a supposed manager for longevity giving him a 6-year contract, "respectful" enough of the authority that was SAF's judgment, but wise enough to set a hard target that gave us an immediate out-clause on the six-year term.

I happened to think it is the same with LVG. Obviously the board is clear about what LVG needs to achieve. I have no doubt that if his targets are not met, he will be axed. But his failure probably wasn't so apparent so early. So if you believe those rumours about Mourinho's pre-contract, Ed hedged his bets. If LVG failed he would have a ready manager, if LVG didn't fail to meet targets, he would pay Mourinho off. Or maybe if you believe the reports, maybe he pays Mourinho a year's wages to take a sabbatical so that he can be appointed in 2017.

Even in transfers, I think Ed has done well.
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What transfers do you think he's done well in? I suppose with managers his ultimate decision to hire guys who have led us to 7th, 4th and 5th place finishes speaks for itself. If we are well-run then it's being spectacularly hidden in on-field results.
 
Raoul said:
The problem is completely structural which is quite ominous in terms of the future. The Glazers are completely hands off and have allowed the likes of Fergie, Bobby and friends make all the wrong decisions including appointing David Moyes to manage Manchester United, appointing Ed Woodward - an inexperienced investment banker, to be chairman of Manchester United, appointing Louis van Gaal who has been complete crap. So obviously it's not just about buying player A or B, the problem is fundamentally structural and starts at the very top and permeates its way all the way down to the players.
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Wait, true we appointed Moyes but don't forget we fired him pretty quickly too. That's where I actually think that we have a balance of ruthlessness and romanticism. Using the fact that Ed is an investment banker is quite irrelevant, did Abramovich ever play serious football professionally or earn his coaching badges? The fact Ed is an investment banker is probably a good thing in that there's someone in the club that will look at things objectively and probably can negotiate good deals.
 
RedPnutz said:
Yea, as a fan I do dread some of the matches we play. But I respect the club for being fair and willing to uphold the contract they signed (if that is truly what it is). I will despair the day we become like Real and fire our manager one man's whim.

No one knows for sure what's happening of course, but if rumours about Mourinho's pre-contract is true I actually like what the board is doing. We are covering our bases essentially. No one really loses out, except maybe many fans' health!
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Yes I agree with that, I have no complaints about the way Woodward has handled this as long as he is decisive after the cup. In retrospect it might have been better to act sooner and bring Mourinho in in January but we didnt for whatever reason and I thought at the time it was fair to give Van Gaal the chance to put things right. He didnt, but he got the chance.
 
Raoul said:
The problem is completely structural which is quite ominous in terms of the future. The Glazers are completely hands off and have allowed the likes of Fergie, Bobby and friends make all the wrong decisions including appointing David Moyes to manage Manchester United, appointing Ed Woodward - an inexperienced investment banker, to be chairman of Manchester United, appointing Louis van Gaal who has been complete crap. So obviously it's not just about buying player A or B, the problem is fundamentally structural and starts at the very top and permeates its way all the way down to the players.
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If Van Gaal had succeeded then you probably wouldn't be making this point, to be honest.

Bad decisions isn't necessarily sign of structural incompetence. On paper, allowing Ferguson and Charlton the chance to make decisions made sense. Football men, great experience, knowledgeable etc, etc. I don't necessarily agree with that premise myself, but it's a worthy point. It works at Bayern, for example.

Appointing Van Gaal made sense at the time, too. It simply hasn't worked out under him because the football hasn't been good enough, not because of the Glazers or Ed Woodward. The noises around the club seem to indicate a lot of structural change within the club, anyway. Academy, scouting network, a possible sporting director of some sort? I think we'll be quite alright.
 
Adebesi said:
I think the difference is we still have something to play for - even if it probably isnt something that is contractually relevant, shall we say. And I agree with what you said earlier that sacking the manager before the game is just an unnecessary risk in terms of morale. As well as being pretty lacking in class.

Also, if it is a contractual thing, a KPI, to get 4th, then the fact that we are mathematically still capable of getting 4th probably is relevant. These things have to be black and white. If it states in his contract he gets X if we fail to qualify for the CL, and he gets Y if we do qualify, then the fact we could theoretically win 18-0 against Bournemouth and qualify for the CL is relevant.
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It would be great for morale. Playing shackles against a team much inferior to ours in a dip.
 
What the hell is If LVG leaves supposed to mean ?

That he may think he's too good for us ? Or that he will resign out of shame ?
 
LeftyBlaster said:
Yes they can. But there are some statistics that cannot be argued with. 1st place for Backwards passes. 2nd for sideways passes. 18th for chances created. 16th for total shots made. 15th for shots on target. 14th for passes into the final third. 11th for number of goals.

I don't need statistics to paint a narrative for me. They speak for themselves. Which is why I also said Look at our performances. In this case the statistics damn our performances, and are not some "arguable" factor that can be twisted to say he's doing well. The board would be monumentally stupid to ignore that.
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Which team was it that scored more goals than us but still got relegated?

The funny thing is, when you put it like that - my question is if we are so freaking terrible in the stats game why are we still in the top 5? the stats are implying we should be bottom half but we are not. Just for the fun of it, the narrative can be twisted to say that despite us showing poor statistical performance we are still in the (remote) running for top 4.

You and I as fans will look at our performances. Those are subjective.

Anyway, I am not even sure what we are arguing about actually.
 
The guy on SSN says he thinks its 'more likely than not' for LVG to be manager next season....how is that possible

Says inside old trafford LVG is still well liked and admired by the big hitters
 
RedPnutz said:
Which team was it that scored more goals than us but still got relegated?

The funny thing is, when you put it like that - my question is if we are so freaking terrible in the stats game why are we still in the top 5? the stats are implying we should be bottom half but we are not. Just for the fun of it, the narrative can be twisted to say that despite us showing poor statistical performance we are still in the (remote) running for top 4.

You and I as fans will look at our performances. Those are subjective.

Anyway, I am not even sure what we are arguing about actually.
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I'm arguing that Louis shouldn't be allowed, for any reason to be allowed to stay whether he meets targets or not.
 
Can't possibly see van gaal surviving this, specially when next season is going to be his last anyway.
 
They also tweeted that they understand that LvG is still likely to remain manager this summer. Not to put a dampener on it or anything. :(
 
RedPnutz said:
Wait, true we appointed Moyes but don't forget we fired him pretty quickly too. That's where I actually think that we have a balance of ruthlessness and romanticism. Using the fact that Ed is an investment banker is quite irrelevant, did Abramovich ever play serious football professionally or earn his coaching badges? The fact Ed is an investment banker is probably a good thing in that there's someone in the club that will look at things objectively and probably can negotiate good deals.
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Sacking Moyes after the calamitously criminal mistake of appointing him in the first can't possibly be viewed as a some sort of achievement. Once that happens, whoever made the original choice has to be removed from making future decisions. As for Woodward, it is obviously extremely relevant since he had feck all football experience. Abramovich didn't need any since he managed to appoint fecking Mourinho to advance his cause. I don't know anyone who actually thinks Woodwards investment banking background is good for how we perform on the football field. At best, he would be adequate to work on sponsorship deals alongside a proper director of football who actually has a clue on how to get transfers done.
 
endless_wheelies said:
What transfers do you think he's done well in? I suppose with managers his ultimate decision to hire guys who have led us to 7th, 4th and 5th place finishes speaks for itself. If we are well-run then it's being spectacularly hidden in on-field results.
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I don't think that Ed scouts the players does he? So maybe the fault lies in our scouting?

By well-run, I also meant our club infrastructure. You might even say that only our on-field results have not been up to par. Some will argue that is most important.
 
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