People forget Ron Atkinson's first five years at United.
Finished:
3rd
3rd
4th
4th
4th
In year 6 we sacked him and the next manager won 38 trophies, including 13 Premier League titles, five FA Cups, and two UEFA Champions League titles.
(My point isn't that we should sack or keep ETH, it's that it's daft to say we should give ETH more time because of what happened with Fergie, when the same logic would mean we wouldn't have hired Fergie when we did.)
I think Atkinson was sacked after two 4th places, not three.
I don’t think many operate on the logic that we should give any manager at least six years, regardless of results. Pointing to Ferguson’s five first season should’nt be seen as some kind of blueprint.
I think what they show is rather that, behind mediocre results and abysmal performances on the pitch, there might happen a lot of stuff that we can’t see or analyze just watching the games and reading the interview and press speculation. We may not see it, so we’re
in a bad position to judge. Those who saw what changes Ferguson brought about regarding training culture, off the pitch culture, getting rid of players with the wrong mentality, overcoming injury issues and reshapimg the use of the academy system for first team purposes, they put that above lost points and placid performances, not for one season, or two seasons, but for five seasons. And they were proven right, we, the fans, wrong.
Atkinson not only had better results and more trophies, but the football was also a lot more entertaining than in Fergie’s first five years. I understand us for wanting him sacked. But it’s easy to see why we were wrong and the board etc were right. They weren’t masterminds, nor idiots, but they saw all the stuff we disn’t see, and made the unpopular decision but the decision they thought were right, looking at all the evidence.
Now I don’t trust the Glazer more than I’d trust a three year old with a marshmallow, but I trust the people getting hired these days at Utd to be able to make a good enough decision (better than mine) because they know infinitely more.
That said, if they fire Ten Hag in january to hire Gareth Southgate, all bets are off.