Dear INEOS: If we had a decent interim manager the last 5 weeks, we...

It's okay for some of you to admit you were wrong. Most clubs would have had an interim manager 5 or 6 weeks ago.
 
could have secured an EL spot and be playing some entertaining, solid football. Instead, we are likely going to finish 7th, will not be in the EL next season, and the football has been really poor. EL football is worth about $25 million to most clubs.

I am very unimpressed with your management of the club thus far.

Signed,

A frustrated fan

This isn't on INEOS really, they're hiring Dan Ashworth to make these decisions but, as we know, he isn't available to start until at least the Summer.

That's the thing about smart people like Sir Jim Ratcliffe. Dumb people with simple minds think that everything is so obvious and only they see it because their brains work in a binary "this good, that bad" way....and this is why we have things like the Dunning-Kreuger effect.

Folk like Sir Jim are smart enough to understand their limitations. They realise that they are not all knowing Oracles who can simply step into something like elite level football and start hiring and firing managers. They hire other smart people who are specialists in their field to do that for them.
 
I’m not happy with the decision makers so far , yes it’s great getting the guys in above the managers but we have a huge final coming up, there is time to get someone in and make a decent game plan for that game.

The managers position is untenable and he must be removed asap.

ETH has had multiple opportunities to beat City he won’t have a magical game plan to do that now.
 
As if they need a new executive to make the call. It’s clear that EtH needs to go.

People belittling fans for being rash are blinkered.
 
Missing out on CL football is an automatic end of contract. They've let ETH stay to give him a chance to win the FA Cup.

LVG was sacked after winning the FA Cup despite finishing level on points with 4th
 
Missing out on CL football is an automatic end of contract. They've let ETH stay to give him a chance to win the FA Cup.

LVG was sacked after winning the FA Cup despite finishing level on points with 4th

I was happy to see LvG go as his football was soooo boring (post-Leicester), but getting dunked on by relegation fodder is worse than being bored.
 
I think it made perfect sense to wait a bit, give the manager a chance to turn things around and continue the internal review and get bedded in before making that change

I couldn't give a feck about europa league qualification, personally
 
This isn't on INEOS really, they're hiring Dan Ashworth to make these decisions but, as we know, he isn't available to start until at least the Summer.

That's the thing about smart people like Sir Jim Ratcliffe. Dumb people with simple minds think that everything is so obvious and only they see it because their brains work in a binary "this good, that bad" way....and this is why we have things like the Dunning-Kreuger effect.

Folk like Sir Jim are smart enough to understand their limitations. They realise that they are not all knowing Oracles who can simply step into something like elite level football and start hiring and firing managers. They hire other smart people who are specialists in their field to do that for them.

The decision they need to make now though doesn’t require everyone to be in place. You keep him, write off the remaining games and European football. Or you sack him now and attempt not to write remaining games off. We all know he’s getting the boot at the end of the season anyway.

Ashworth and co are needed for hiring his replacement but not hiring a caretaker for few games. We’ll probably still be crap until the end of the season but you at least try something different whilst it has some potential upside.
 
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Would love to see lvg for the cup game, he deserves after the way we treated him and i would be fascinated to see lvg tactically against pep
 
I think it made perfect sense to wait a bit, give the manager a chance to turn things around and continue the internal review and get bedded in before making that change

I couldn't give a feck about europa league qualification, personally

Agreed.

Structure above the manager needs fixing first.
 
The decision they need to make now though doesn’t require everyone to be in place. You keep him, write off the remaining games and European football. Or you sack him now and attempt not to write remaining games off. We all know he’s getting the boot at the end of the season anyway.

Ashworth and co are needed for hiring his replacement but hiring a caretaker for few games. We’ll probably still be crap u til the end of the season but you at least try something different whilst it has some potential upside.

This.

I don't understand why so many people don't see things that way. When you know there is nothing left to milk from a cow, you better ditch her and try something else. It's just that simple.
 
No it doesn't. Everything needs fixing at the same time. We have a capacity to fix most things in conjunction. We don't have to queue the tasks.
It really does. I can point you to over a decade's worth of proof as to why.
 
The fact that ETH has been in place for the last 6 months, let alone last night, is a daming indictment on INEOS. Yes other things need fixing, but we are clearly the worst coached team in the league - that is on ETH every day on the training ground. Not the Glazers, not the structure - but on the manager and coaches.

We have been sleep walking into catatrophe for the last 6+ months, and no one did anything to try and fix things. The fact that we are now trying to 'save the season' by getting any type of european football is shocking.
 
Once again, typical behaviour in society these days, instead of appreciating this lad telling the truth and sticking together as common people aka the 'fans', people laugh at him and mock him.

You folks should direct your anger and frustration towards the real enemy, ETH, the former idiots in charge like Woodward, Arnold and Mourtogh and some of our spoiled brats making 300k a week, but not giving a shit....

I support gerdm07 100% on this.

F Ten Hag and f this squad.
 
What exactly do you think the structure are going to do that's going to stop the manager from doing what he's currently doing?

Exactly 'the structure' doesn't run the training and coaching sessions every day, that's firmly on the Manager and his assistants. And really, we are a terribly coached team under ETH.
 
You know they took over on 20th Feb 2024 (about 10 weeks ago) right?

And a daming indictment on the Glazer regime before them. Those 10 weeks however have been some of the very worst I've seen not only at United, but for any well manageed PL team. I can't think of any other club that would have allowed ETH to stay in place this long.
 
So if we spent £10m to fire him, paid a few million at least to another manager (As unemployed managers midway through a season probably aren't of the calibre required) De Zerbi is said to be around £10m for example then we could play entertaining football (Even though our injuries don't allow us to field a consistent XI or even defense) and we could finish 6th as you predict we will now finish 7th but we have every chance of still finishing 6th?

Nonsense.

Yea mate lets penny pinch with a genuine trophy on the line.

The state of modern Utd fans, zero ambition or passion
 
It boiled down to keeping ETH with a high probability of failure for end season goals vs interim with the possibility of reaching the minimum end season goals.
As soon as Ineos took over, first order of business should have been sacking ETH.
 
Not sure why people think it's so simple as "sack him for the last 5 games and get someone else in".

This isn't football manager, you have to have someone lined up who's willing, available and good enough to manage Manchester United for a 5 week period.

Why would any manager touch that? This only makes sense if you're going to bring in his long term replacement and we don't have the structure yet to pick a manager long term yet.

Who's going to want to come in do this job for a month or so? And what's more who's available to come and manage united for a few weeks? It's got to be an internal appointment.

You uproot your entire life, you get intense media focus, social media attention. The UK media are going to look into every aspect of your career, you're all over the news.
And what's more, who's available? Jose? He wouldn't come for that short a time. An interim for such a short period needs to be an assistant or someone within the club, e.g a Giggs, Carrick, Mckenna....soo who's the best fit? It's probably Steve McLaren, he's ass man and he's got more loyalty to United than ETH.
 
Not sure why people think it's so simple as "sack him for the last 5 games and get someone else in".

This isn't football manager, you have to have someone lined up who's willing, available and good enough to manage Manchester United for a 5 week period.

Why would any manager touch that? This only makes sense if you're going to bring in his long term replacement and we don't have the structure yet to pick a manager long term yet.

Who's going to want to come in do this job for a month or so? And what's more who's available to come and manage united for a few weeks? It's got to be an internal appointment.

You uproot your entire life, you get intense media focus, social media attention. The UK media are going to look into every aspect of your career, you're all over the news.
And what's more, who's available? Jose? He wouldn't come for that short a time. An interim for such a short period needs to be an assistant or someone within the club, e.g a Giggs, Carrick, Mckenna....soo who's the best fit? It's probably Steve McLaren, he's ass man and he's got more loyalty to United than ETH.

Promote Steve McLaren for the last 5 games as caretaker. Easy.
 
The decision they need to make now though doesn’t require everyone to be in place. You keep him, write off the remaining games and European football. Or you sack him now and attempt not to write remaining games off. We all know he’s getting the boot at the end of the season anyway.

There *might* even be a reaction from certain players who feel they let OGS down in how it all ended for him.

Ashworth and co are needed for hiring his replacement but not hiring a caretaker for few games. We’ll probably still be crap until the end of the season but you at least try something different whilst it has some potential upside.

Yeah I agree with that, I'd give it to OGS until the end of the season personally. He's available, it needs to be someone who knows the club/players well and he has a good record against Pep.

However...the initial post was expressing disappointment at INEOS for not acting 5 weeks ago. I can absolutely see why INEOS would have hoped to get to the end of the season with EtH. As it turns out, that's now looking impossible.
 
I'd sack him today, the trouble is what's the point.

Might as well see out last few games then they can sack him, he's gone anyway he knows that, players are going to get a wage drop for no European football .

They can sort this mess out in pre season .. if Tuchel wants the utd job give it to him , so far he the only guy who's sticking his hand up..
 
For all their pedigree INEOS seems as dumb as the glazers when it comes to decision making.

Our club is done now we have these two groups of dithering cowards as our owners
 
And funnily, our fanbase deserves it. Zero ambition from top to bottom (fans included)
 
Would love to see lvg for the cup game, he deserves after the way we treated him and i would be fascinated to see lvg tactically against pep
Only manager who deserved more time. It was clearly as day what he was trying to implement.

And people forget that Bayern was in the slump before Vangle "fixed them".
 
Yeah I agree with that, I'd give it to OGS until the end of the season personally. He's available, it needs to be someone who knows the club/players well and he has a good record against Pep.

However...the initial post was expressing disappointment at INEOS for not acting 5 weeks ago. I can absolutely see why INEOS would have hoped to get to the end of the season with EtH. As it turns out, that's now looking impossible.

Yeah it was a more complicated decision at that stage and we now have the benefit of hindsight. 5 or 6 weeks ago I thought sacking him would have made little difference as we were likely heading for Europa or Conference League either way. But now just do something and at least you can get on with the recruitment process and don’t have to conduct it in secrecy.

I understand logic regarding Ole but I think he just needs to be left out of it now, I don’t want to see him dragged back into this mess.
 
No it doesn't. Everything needs fixing at the same time. We have a capacity to fix most things in conjunction. We don't have to queue the tasks.

In an ideal world yes but personnel and senior recruitment doesnt work like that unfortunately, the new management team need to be involved in the selection process for the new manager.
 
Yea mate lets penny pinch with a genuine trophy on the line.

The state of modern Utd fans, zero ambition or passion

Like it or not, Man Utd is a business and throwing money about without a plan or strategy is how we've found ourself in this position.
 
What exactly do you think the structure are going to do that's going to stop the manager from doing what he's currently doing?
Think about the issues we have re timing.

Any good/proven manager isn't going to touch us with a barge poll until the CEO and DoF are in place and they can sit down with them and understand what the role is, what the budget actually is and, even then, there will be some hesitation until they see how we act in the transfer window.

So do you go for an interim? That would seem logical but for the cost and with FFP being a genuine thing we have to pay attention to these days it is worth, with 3 games left and no real chance of the top European places on offer, paying about £10m odd. The fact he's still here either means they fully back him (seems unlikely) or are waiting (seems likely) particularly given other managers supposedly had clauses re missing CL, missing EL etc.

Basically the key people who will run recruitment are not here, no one will join until they know what the broad plan is and, arguably, the better managers will wait a bit to see how we operate this summer. Structure needs to be put in place, we don't even have a planned style from what we know.

People need to calm down, we've been through the mill before and it's clear we will have a new manager by next season but there's no need for panic. We're expected to lose the FA cup final and we undoubtedly will to a big scoreline and it will signal a fitting end to the Glazer footballing control.
 
Probably best to post your open letter to a place where the intended recipient might read it.

This is akin to writing a postcard to your nan, and just throwing it in the sea.
 
Sure have, its that thing that sometimes happens, sometimes doesn't.
+1 and is very unlikely to happen with our lot who totally down the tools when they know a manager is interim and cannot sell them. See Ragnick period
 
I would be sacking him today and getting Ole in for the last few games tomorrow. He had a great record against City and would definitely get the players fired up for it.

Julian Nagelsmann after the Euros please.