In what way did the takeover negatively affect performances and results do you think?
If im an ambitious footballer, I Will understand what it takes to get to the top of the sport. I’m probably not particularly excited about squeezing into the top 4 of the league. Footballers in general can be very fickle creatures and if a managers position is looking dodgy, they can mentally struggle to work for that manager. ETH position has looked dodgy since the club was put up for sale barely 5 months into his contract.
You have all this and then the biggest name player at the club goes and does an interview berating the manager. Another player is in a very public, horrible partner abuse scandal. Another big cost signing. Another player who was our top scorer seems to be going off the rails and starts going on the piss. The captain has to be stripped of the position cause he has his own issues with the police in Greece and is booed by his own fans. And another big name signing gets a season off to find themselves and isn’t arsed doing training right so ends up equalling Undermining manager.
United played as many games as pool the season before with a World Cup squeezed in uniteds season, pool struggle the next season, many say fatigue probably a huge issue. United don’t seem to have that luxury and people just say it’s the managers fault.
Sale of coin drags out for a year, unclear of direction of club, future of manager and what ambitions plans will be. As a player, particularly ones older like Varane and Casemiro, this couldn’t of been easy and it’s no coincidence Cas form fell off a cliff as he saw exactly what sort of ambitions he could really have at United.
Blooding in a new keeper any time for United has been shaky, but doing it in a season where you defence is decimated by injuries is even harder, no place to hide. Having no fit striker or striker alternative and no experienced striker to call on makes it difficult. Having to rely on 3 players all
Unproven in the EPL starting and having no rotational options.
lastly, you can see how badly United are at getting targets/signings , how they overpay and make last gasp signings (cause they are so poorly organised), which wouldn’t fill your boots with confidence that United will be standing at the top of the table at the end of the season.
That’s what I can think of the top of my head. Don’t recall pep or klopp or Arteta having all these things going on from the summer they took over but sure isn’t it easy to just talk about their results cause that tells you everything , right ?
How a club is run affects how a team plays. It really is that simple. Does it mean a manager can’t setup teams a certain way or can’t adapt? Of course not, but it means you can’t compare what’s happening at a well run club to what’s happening at United based on spending and results.
There is a culture of excellence and professionalism at those clubs. There is also a clear pedigree proven , moreso at Pool, city and Chelsea (under Roman) that gives players confidence that success is usually no more then two seasons away.
So yes, a player playing for Liverpool /city/ Madrid/barca / Bayern , knows that they are seldom gonna be more then a season away from
Some good stuff. Those clubs consistently find a way back to the to and it’s not just by replacing managers.
We’ve seen it a lot that quality players join United and we might get a few months of good stuff and then their form falls off a cliff. They see what we see, that they have joined a patchwork fawlty towers club that spends big but that masks gross negligence and dysfunction that is not at successful clubs. They also know they and whatever manager we have are on a hiding to nothing.
Take Jose , getting second and Woodward basically not helping him build on that. Some said “Woodward was right to only buy Fred/dalot”. Well how did the senior ambitious players feel ? That’s something a lot of you don’t really think about. Players can tell when they have a chance at success and when they’ve been hamstrung like Woodward did that summer.
So I feel everybody has been unsettled since ETH took over for multiple reasons. I also feel that this is part of what INEOs are trying to do is basically allow managers to manage/coach. Not have to get involved in transfers (and take flack for that), player dramas (club handles this better) and uncertainty about their role the whole time.
