tjb
Full Member
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- Sep 6, 2013
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- 3,519
Absolutely.
But Ole probably did have an idea about creating a core at United consisting of British (and preferably local) players. Why? Because it's pretty obvious who Ole's managerial role model is. And that kind of core was - undoubtedly - a central feature of the highly successful teams he (Ole) witnessed first-hand as a player and (later) coach.
It's not a silly idea in itself.
You build a foundation of players you can rely on - and who are happy to remain at the club/will not be tempted to move. British players - and even better, local lads - are obvious choices in this model.
In theory, if you buy Maguire at a record fee and make him your captain, you have a rock at the heart of the team you can rely on for years. Sort of what Fergie did with Rio.
The obvious problem is that Maguire simply is nowhere near as good as Rio, and - as such - you should abandon the model until a player of the right, undoubted quality is available. But the model itself isn't insane or unsound (it has been proven to work in the past - and not just for Fergie).
Fergie didn't actually build that model. We had good young players in our academy that came through around the same time. Fergie would not have brought Savage through or the likes of what we have done. In terms of transfers, Rooney and Rio were the only two high profile British players he signed ( Keane is Irish)