Fans are so blind or don't get it. Fergie was already a serial winner who turned a smallish club into Scottish champions (when Scottish football was decent) and won a major European trophy before coming to OT. That earnt him lots of credit, as well as work he was doing on youth side. Klopp earnt time with his consistent achievements at Dortmund, two league wins and 2 runners up, and clarity on what he was doing and direction they were going. ETH is or has none of these attributes. The average fan stuck with Ole far too long, we should have laughed Moyes out of OT, and Mou for that matter.
Spot on.
Another thing to remember is how Sir Alex bought time while progress was not linear or chronological.
His first 22 signings before a league win were generally spot on and played a crucial part in the team.
This included: Choccy, Sparky, Pally, Brucey, Incey, Kanchelskis, Schmeichel, Dennis Irwin, Sharpey, Mick Phelan… they became the spine of the team. Then there were also good and dependable players he signed that were sold before we won the league: Danny Wallace, Neil Webb, Viv Anderson and Mal Donaghy.
It was for these reasons that Sir Alex’s talent ID was trusted when he was getting rid of big names such as Whiteside and McGrath in a war against the drinking culture at the club (but, crucially, he was a pragmatist in that he knew he had to keep his captain Robson because he compensated for his drinking habits with his performances on the pitch and his wider influence with regards to raising standards).
It was this same kind of flexibility which enabled Sir Alex to harness the potential of Eric Cantona to enable him to be the focal point of our dominance in the 90s. He adapted to Cantona’s personality and gave him the freedom to work his magic, and this meant squad morale remained high as they understood the rationale for one rule for Eric, and another rule for everyone else.
Sir Alex also sought to rejuvenate the scouting system and the academy. He had an impact across the whole club, which showed that he had a process, and this constantly bought him time even as results on the pitch were inconsistent. Even so, we still challenged for the league in his second season.
As for Ten Hag… he says he’s trying to change the culture but the players he is bringing in are not a cut above the ones we are losing, which suggests he is not having an impact on the scouting system
While Sir Alex was securing players like a young Lee Sharpe from Torquay, Ten Hag is heavily reliant on either players he formally worked with, players in the agency his son works at or players he previously watched in the Eredivisie. Sir Alex was not a nepotist like this.
Firstly, he was happy to get rid of Gordon Strachan despite working with him at Aberdeen. Secondly, when Ralph Milne flopped (a devestating winger in Scotland at the time) he focused on English First Division proven players and veered away from Scottish talents.
I can’t see how Ten Hag is impacting the academy either. For example, under LvG, he had them playing the same 3-5-2 the first team were playing, even adopting the Dutch number system such as having left-back wear the number 5.
Beyond the fact that Sir Alex is a football genius who won a European trophy with Aberdeen, he also has far more charisma and personal influence than Ten Hag. You just have to listen to Ten Hag in the press conferences. Does he inspire you? Does he seem like a man with a plan and a process? Can you trust him? I can’t. He contradicts himself too much. Earlier in the season he said the squad is good. A few games later after Bournemouth pammed us at home he said they aren’t.
Last summer he signed us players suited a posession-based system. This summer he signs a posession goalkeeper and two transition players and tells us we will be a transition team. Then he tells us we can’t play the Ajax way because he doesn’t have the right players for it (he did not sign them) yet he is idealogically wedded to the same 3-1-6 tactic despite its repeated failures. The players are not stupid. They are probably confused and have likely lost faith in him.
To compare Ten Hag to Sir Alex is ridiculous. Sir Alex came with a track record of minor miracles at Aberdeen and showed that he had a process that might bear fruit. Ten Hag’s decisions have been too baffling and contradictory for us to ascertain what his process or vision looks like. It is confusing, and given how regularly he gets tactically outmastered by weaker teams, his competency is seriously questionable. Sir Alex was earning the right to be a disciplinarian and shape the club in his image. Ten Hag has not earned that right because we do not even know what he is working towards!
