When Potter was doing well at Brighton I thought he would fit well at Spurs, building a side with energy and young players and allowing him time. Chelsea didn't feel like a natural move. One of the most short terminists clubs around, "win now" culture instilled at every cell, big profile players on high wages. It's like a humble artisan who works patiently in detail now working for a rich fast food company.
Even if the new people at United want to be patient and allow managers time and a better structure around them, this is not going to be very different compared to Chelsea. At clubs like ours the short term is as important as whatever you plan for the future. Your credibility is based on results so you need to win games while building something. If you do one it doesn't feel like you're doing enough, and if you do neither (like ten Hag) it's game over. It's a difficult place and the new guys have to be realistic about what they want to do and how they do it.
To lift a dominant side under the constant pressures of this club not only the manager has to be a very good one, the culture and environement. The control of the market from the scouts and directors has to be extreme. They need to spot several players with the needed profiles for each position, not only to have alternatives if we fail at signing someone but allowing us a strong position in negotiations, making it clear we're not desperate so we stop getting fleeced everywhere.
Also closing deals quickly and so on. When we signed AWB, Maguire etc it took one month for the clowns at the club to close any deal, just to end up paying what the other club asked for. Maybe they saved 5 M or whatever but we still overpaid as we've been doing more times than not.
And last year I witnessed the biggest shit show I've ever seen at United, with a manager who doesn't even have a full picture of his new team, who has never managed in England but proudly calling the shots and leading us in the market. A club of our size and history being dominated by the phonebook of a crazy guy from the 6th or 7th best league of Europe. Wasting months chasing a player who doesn't even want to come, trying to sign the likes of Arnautovic, spending a huge fee on a player like Antony that shouldn't have been signed not even for free, etc. It has to be our lowest point ever in terms of planning and strategy, and the bar was really low before.
Start building the new house with Potter feels naive and it's not the most exciting presentation card either, but it's their work in the background what will determine our success in the long run and it has to be better than what we've seen until now. The mistakes we've been making for a decade have been so big and so obvious it should be easy for anyone to produce a remarkable improvement.
If that's the case we'll end up attracting the right manager at some point and he'll find the right platform to succeed. This has to be goal for Ratcliffe and co. middle-long term, and if the work is right behind the scenes then it's just a matter of time we get there. If they want to start with Potter so be it, after some time we'll judge their decisions.
