Club ownership | Senior management team talk

I think there's been some very worrying stuff in regards to the new ownership and I'm not just talking about the ETH situation.

First of all, I disagree that we've had a good transfer window. There's big question marks over the quality of Zirkzee & Ugarte, but that's not even what worries me. It's more to do with their profile. Ugarte is well known to be weak on the ball and his stats of the ball aren't even all that impressive. He's probably not suited for a team aiming to play attacking football. Zirkzee is not even an actual striker and is more of a no10, which we absolutely did not need. I do think Mazraoui and Yoro & De Ligt are players we needed, but when you consider we spent half our transfer budget on players with profiles we don't need, that is quite absurd.

Secondly, why on earth did we reward Bruno with a new contract on the back on an abysmal season, save for a small purple patch towards the end? This is the exact type of decision we would have slaughtered the glazers over. Also, considering there was a big possibility of sacking ETH this season that would just mean he becomes the new managers problem. If they didn't consider sacking ETH a big possibility, well then isn't that even more worrying?

Third of all was their u-turn on the decision to sack ETH in the summer due to fan pressure & lack of a 'better' alternative. Yes, they went manager shopping anyway but it was well reported that he was to be sacked regardless of the FA-cup final result. The lack of a better alternative in and of itself is a pretty poor excuse. Talks break down with Tuchel? There's many other managers out there. Wasn't Flick available?

Most damning of all is the fact ETH is still in charge. There's really no excuse for it whatsoever. Maybe he is sacked in the next couple of days but at this point, the only reliable media sources are reporting the opposite. He should have been sacked right after the Liverpool game, let alone after the Tottenham humilation. How many humilations have we endured now under him anyway?
 
I've lost any hope I had with them. EtH should no longer be manager of this club. They've set a lower standard than the Glazers ever did by accepting this start to the season.
 
I get the sense it’s deer in headlights for Ratcliffe et al. They probably didn’t realise how bad a state the club is in, and they’ve kept on the manager in the summer but now can’t believe how quickly it’s gone south. Experienced operators like Florentino Perez know exactly how to deal with these situations, but these guys are new to running a behemoth like Utd and can’t decide what to do.
 
redNATION said:
I get the sense it’s deer in headlights for Ratcliffe et al. They probably didn’t realise how bad a state the club is in, and they’ve kept on the manager in the summer but now can’t believe how quickly it’s gone south. Experienced operators like Florentino Perez know exactly how to deal with these situations, but these guys are new to running a behemoth like Utd and can’t decide what to do.
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Sack everyone, acknowledge nothing and blame everyone else!
 
Flying high said:
3. They only extended his contract a few months ago.
4. We're only 11 games into the season.
5. The pool of available managers is even smaller than in the summer.
6. Getting someone new in offers no guarantee of improvement.
7. The squad is full of players this manager has worked with before. Our budget means that the next guy will have to wait until next summer and even than will only be able to change a few of them.
8. As shit as it's been, the players appear to be trying.

ETH can have no complaints if he is sacked. I won't complain either. The faint signs of progress in the early games have disappeared completely now and we're scrapping for draws. The mood around the club is awful, and the easiest way to change that is a new manager. But if the new guy starts badly, what then? We'll be just as miserable and their only card will have been played.

So I won't be shocked if they give him this supposedly easier run of games as a last chance to show something positive.
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Then we fire that guy too, and the one after him if necessary. By pure chance alone we’ll get there eventually. And I’d say almost certainly a lot quicker than giving every lame duck manager 3 years, just to doubly make sure he isn’t Fergie reincarnated.
 
Did I just read it right in the Athletic that Ratcliffe sat down with Roy Hodgson and Frank Lampard in the summer....? Or have I miss understood.

Omg :lol:
 
glazed said:
It might be that of ETH's Ajax played in the EPL they would also be 14th.

Fundamentally Onana and Martinez seem like good buys. Mazraoui seems technically OK without being much of an upgrade on before and shows no leadership. And de Ligt just seems like another Maguire.

The problem is that nobody is so amazingly talented that they can't easily be handled by opponents. Our attacks look toothless and our defence error prone. Behind it lies an assumption that averagely decent players and young players can be turned into top four world beaters by our quality coaching. But that's not happening on a big enough scale to make us click.
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Firstly, at their peak, they beat Madrid and almost beat Spurs. Nothing about that side says that they would struggle in the premier league. We’re also talking about the key figures from that team bar De Jong.

I couldn’t disagree more. Brighton have Danny Welbeck upfront and score more goals than us. This isn’t just about player quality. We’ve seen us struggle against the like of Coventry, and there’s a complete lack of attacking quality regardless of the opponent.
 
Dan_F said:
Firstly, at their peak, they beat Madrid and almost beat Spurs. Nothing about that side says that they would struggle in the premier league. We’re also talking about the key figures from that team bar De Jong.

I couldn’t disagree more. Brighton have Danny Welbeck upfront and score more goals than us. This isn’t just about player quality. We’ve seen us struggle against the like of Coventry, and there’s a complete lack of attacking quality regardless of the opponent.
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Welbeck would be easily our best number 9 though.
 
Dan_F said:
Firstly, at their peak, they beat Madrid and almost beat Spurs.
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Almost beat Spurs you say? How terrifying.:)
Dan_F said:
This isn’t just about player quality. We’ve seen us struggle against the like of Coventry, and there’s a complete lack of attacking quality regardless of the opponent.
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Yes we variously have Hojlund, Zirkzee and Rashford playing centre forward. The common factor is that they are all rubbish at it. That is a huge problem. Makes us easy to defend against. Secondly we have no left back either. That makes us easy to score against. It's not a good situation.
 
I officially have no confidence in Ratcliffe, Brailsford, Berrada and Ashworth. These guys are actually ok sticking with a guy that has given us our worst start and will have us flirting with the relegation zone. A Zirkzee goal just out of a keeper's finger tips and an Onana penalty save from having no wins and being on 4 points thru 7 matches and in 16th, 1 point above the drop zone.

If I was a conspiracy whacko I might be tinfoiling about a Chelsea season ticket holder buying us just to send us into relegation as the days continue with them keeping ten hag.
 
JustinC00 said:
I officially have no confidence in Ratcliffe, Brailsford, Berrada and Ashworth. These guys are actually ok sticking with a guy that has given us our worst start and will have us flirting with the relegation zone. A Zirkzee goal just out of a keeper's finger tips and an Onana penalty save from having no wins and being on 4 points thru 7 matches and in 16th, 1 point above the drop zone.

If I was a conspiracy whacko I might be tinfoiling about a Chelsea season ticket holder buying us just to send us into relegation as the days continue with them keeping ten hag.
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Have they announced he’s staying?
 
JustinC00 said:
I officially have no confidence in Ratcliffe, Brailsford, Berrada and Ashworth. These guys are actually ok sticking with a guy that has given us our worst start and will have us flirting with the relegation zone. A Zirkzee goal just out of a keeper's finger tips and an Onana penalty save from having no wins and being on 4 points thru 7 matches and in 16th, 1 point above the drop zone.

If I was a conspiracy whacko I might be tinfoiling about a Chelsea season ticket holder buying us just to send us into relegation as the days continue with them keeping ten hag.
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You are officially losing your mind
 
Dan_F said:
Firstly, at their peak, they beat Madrid and almost beat Spurs. Nothing about that side says that they would struggle in the premier league. We’re also talking about the key figures from that team bar De Jong.

I couldn’t disagree more. Brighton have Danny Welbeck upfront and score more goals than us. This isn’t just about player quality. We’ve seen us struggle against the like of Coventry, and there’s a complete lack of attacking quality regardless of the opponent.
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It was a very poor Real season. They went through 3 managers that season and lost 18 games in all competitions. We lost 19 games last season. It was Solari who was in charge when Ajax beat them. The Spurs game ultimately goes down as a bottle job, just like Sevilla 2 seasons ago. We blew a 2-0 lead vs Porto only recently as well.
 
Leftback99 said:
Welbeck would be easily our best number 9 though.
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He hasn’t scored more than 6 Premier League goals in a season since he left United. Calm down.

glazed said:
Almost beat Spurs you say? How terrifying.:)

Yes we variously have Hojlund, Zirkzee and Rashford playing centre forward. The common factor is that they are all rubbish at it. That is a huge problem. Makes us easy to defend against. Secondly we have no left back either. That makes us easy to score against. It's not a good situation.
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Fallon d'Floor said:
It was a very poor Real season. They went through 3 managers that season and lost 18 games in all competitions. We lost 19 games last season. It was Solari who was in charge when Ajax beat them. The Spurs game ultimately goes down as a bottle job, just like Sevilla 2 seasons ago. We blew a 2-0 lead vs Porto only recently as well.
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Yeah okay. They also went undefeated against Bayern and knocked out Juve that year. The poster was trying to argue that they would finish 14th in the Premier League. I’m simply saying they’re not midtable players.

@glazed we’ve looked just as bad defensively with Shaw playing at times. Dalot is not exactly a mug at left back and isn’t the reason we have no midfield. Are you saying with a left back and another new striker, we’d be sorted under ten hag?
 
Football is just Sport Entertainment these days...the INEOS group have just added an extra layer of drama to the whole circus.

All the sports panels should be thanking United for providing them with enough bullshit to fill the international break yet again.
 
astracrazy said:
Did I just read it right in the Athletic that Ratcliffe sat down with Roy Hodgson and Frank Lampard in the summer....? Or have I miss understood.

Omg :lol:
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A dinner that also included Thomas Frank. I also read it and was a bit bemused by that get together :lol:
 
astracrazy said:
*May

Do you have a source of the rumour you refer to which is relevant to today, or is it just your rumour?
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That why I said it's a rumor. However, it's not baseless considering that it's been reported that he backed ETH in the summer, despite objections from our footballing people.
 
Malons said:
Nothing is being said as they've all agreed on an official statement that will be released at an agreed time.

They're not going to be giving it a Harry Redknapp, window wound down "To be honest with you Jeff, the geezer's done himself no favours...."
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:lol:
 
Leftback99 said:
Irrelevant. Still walks into our starting line up right now.
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You’re entitled to your own opinion, I’ll leave you to it. A striker would be laughed out of Old Trafford for scoring five Premier League goals. Hojlund scored double in a completely dysfunctional team.
 
Dan_F said:
You’re entitled to your own opinion, I’ll leave you to it. A striker would be laughed out of Old Trafford for scoring five Premier League goals. Hojlund scored double in a completely dysfunctional team.
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The only laughable thing is that he's scored only one less than our whole team this season.
 
Leftback99 said:
The only laughable thing is that he's scored only one less than our whole team this season.
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Yeah six games is a good sample size to make judgments like that. Much better than the other 338 Premier League games he’s played.

I’m just going to take a swing here, maybe it’s that he’s playing under a new manager in a functional team?
 
I have a ton of faith in Dan Ashworth but this indecisiveness is something I did not anticipate.
 
Wednesday at Stoke said:
I have a ton of faith in Dan Ashworth but this indecisiveness is something I did not anticipate.
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When you sit back and think about it, it would actually be remarkable if we've hired 3 best-in-class football-focused decision makers and they do come to the conclusion that they should stick with ten Hag. If that happens, I would need them to explain that to me.

Ten Hag performing this badly with the resources, power, backing and influence he has had and avoiding the sack is almost as impressive as winning the league title for him personally. He'd have been sacked months ago anywhere else.
 
Dan_F said:
Yeah six games is a good sample size to make judgments like that. Much better than the other 338 Premier League games he’s played.

I’m just going to take a swing here, maybe it’s that he’s playing under a new manager in a functional team?
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That and that he's just a better player than Hojlund and Zirkzee.
 
LawCharltonBest said:
When you sit back and think about it, it would actually be remarkable if we've hired 3 best-in-class football-focused decision makers and they do come to the conclusion that they should stick with ten Hag. If that happens, I would need them to explain that to me.

Ten Hag performing this badly with the resources, power, backing and influence he has had and avoiding the sack is almost as impressive as winning the league title for him personally. He'd have been sacked months ago anywhere else.
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One things that's been on my mind, apart from Berrada, what calibre of coaches have the rest actually worked with? Tony Mowbray? Gareth Southgate? Perhaps they geniunely do think Ten Hag is some football genius in comparison.
 
LawCharltonBest said:
When you sit back and think about it, it would actually be remarkable if we've hired 3 best-in-class football-focused decision makers and they do come to the conclusion that they should stick with ten Hag. If that happens, I would need them to explain that to me.

Ten Hag performing this badly with the resources, power, backing and influence he has had and avoiding the sack is almost as impressive as winning the league title for him personally. He'd have been sacked months ago anywhere else.
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My take is they want their first hire to be a good one. They dont to go for Tuchel, or whoever available, just because he is available knowing that they likely would end up in a similar situation in 24 months.

Second, they want to give their new hire the best possible chance of success from the start. They are more likely able to do that next summer.
 
Leftback99 said:
Welbeck would be easily our best number 9 though.
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Van Gaal has a lot to answer for. Easily did the most damage to the club in terms of transfers. He shredded the squad and nearly all his signings were absolute stinkers.

Let’s not forget he booted the great Jonny Evans!
 
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pocco said:
One things that's been on my mind, apart from Berrada, what calibre of coaches have the rest actually worked with? Tony Mowbray? Gareth Southgate? Perhaps they geniunely do think Ten Hag is some football genius in comparison.
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You don’t have any idea who Wilcox, Ashworth or Vivell have worked with or what they’ve done?
 
Dan_F said:
@glazed we’ve looked just as bad defensively with Shaw playing at times. Dalot is not exactly a mug at left back and isn’t the reason we have no midfield. Are you saying with a left back and another new striker, we’d be sorted under ten hag?
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I think we'd certainly look a lot better. But there are deeper problems of course. ETH wants to play short fast passes high up the pitch without losing possession. Mainoo is perfect for that. The rest, not so much.
 
pocco said:
One things that's been on my mind, apart from Berrada, what calibre of coaches have the rest actually worked with? Tony Mowbray? Gareth Southgate? Perhaps they geniunely do think Ten Hag is some football genius in comparison.
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They have eyes. Analysts. Coaches. Advisors. Consultants. Player input. Sons.

Someone will have told them.
 
Leftback99 said:
That and that he's just a better player than Hojlund and Zirkzee.
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Hojlund has scored almost half as many goals as welbeck’s whole career at the age of 21. Welbeck is more polished but he’s not helping us score more goals under Ten Hag’s management. Theres literally zero evidence you’re providing and just repeating your opinion as if it’s a fact. I’m out from this convo.
 
golden_blunder said:
So we should ban him then?

Bit harsh on the poster.
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He’s been awful this year, we can all see it. We’ve got a hand picked, best-in-class management team and yet he’s still here stinking the place up. The international break is the perfect opportunity to part company.
 
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