You mention those players he was ruthless towards, but he also went out of his way to be accommodating towards players like Cantona and Ronaldo at times. He was very adept at treating different players in different ways to serve the team.
As for younger generations, they might (rightly imo) be less receptive to someone screaming at them as a primary motivational tool but SAF had already mellowed his approach a lot by the time he left, recognising that even the generation of players in his final team were different to the ones that had gone before.
As with the tactical side of the game (where he would also have to have evolved to keep up with current sides) the fact that he was such an adaptable manager makes it hard to say he wouldn't have adapted to the personalities in front of him. Managers like Pep and Klopp are able to keep discipline and motivation right with their younger players without seeming to overly cater to them.
I think the issue with the younger generation not taking too well to the hairdryer is largely correct but I think it does work so long as it's seen to be fairly administered and the recipient knows exactly what they've done to deserve it.
I doubt many players received it without provocation or a number of warnings about dangerous mistakes that led to it.
SAF was indeed very fluid in his ability to match the style to the player, a very tricky thing to do.
What he would need though, and this applies to any manager, is the support of his superiors, the trust that board members and shareholder representatives would listen to him before spending a lot of money.
I definitely think Klopp and Pep are ruthless, we saw how Klopp dealt with that defender (forget his name!) who was messing around on TV behind him.
You could tell Klopp was not impressed and he got binned off.
I think this lack of discipline is the effect of the huge rise in money in the game but the players ought to know that if a team goes on the pitch with 11 different agendas, nobody will benefit.
It does need a focus, a manager to dictate and explain their strategy and also take the rap if it all goes wrong.
I saw a thread the other day about players being unlikeable. This kind of thing feeds into that. Reading about for example, Anthony Martial, (but it could be anyone) he wants to leave, fair enough.
But allegedly doesn't want another English club and wants a loan or permanent move to Juve, Barca or Sevilla.
And then the wages are an issue.
It leaves me thinking 'and this is ManUtd's fault to solve?'?
He and his agent would have been more than happy when they signed the deal so to me, it's put up or shut up.
I don't begrudge anyone making the best deal they can but lots of this is veering into severe entitlement.
I know it can't happen but I would actually be impressed if any club actually took a stand and said we're getting rid of toxic situations and take a huge hit to write off contracts or stick them in reserve teams forever.
A pyrrhic victory I know but it's seriously unpleasant now when I saw that we'd spent £1.2bn since SAF.
We could have gone and just bought Wolves or Leicester or whatever and probably would have worked out better.
Maybe!
