Laurent Blanc as manager?

It's obvious that people don't know Blanc, he has a huge personality, he is very intelligent, very manipulative and he is genuinely a good coach, but he is antipathic.
He did great with a shit Bordeaux team and he easily improved PSG, the french team was a mess and in spite of it he managed to make them achieve reasonably well.

The English press would hate him because he will show them infinitely less respect than LVG does.
 
Northstand said:
Pathetic, isn't it?

Giggs certainly wouldn't be among my preferred options for the job, but the lack of respect (from a footballing point of view) for one of our truly great players, is bewildering. This forum incessantly ridicules RAWK, but you'd never see posters over there treating one of their former greats in such a manner.
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I don't think it's a disrespect for Giggs so much as it is a feeling that our squad still severely lacks in quality and therefore Giggs will have a mountain to climb.

From what i understand, there are two kinds of fans who dread the day Giggs sits on the edge of the United bench. Firstly, there are those who believe that the task he'll face will require of him to do things and make decisions only a world class manager would have the experience and the personality to do and make. And from that point on if he doesn't do well, there's a concern that the board will give him not only a second but also a third, fourth and many other chances simply because he's a club legend.

Secondly, there are those who, after Ferguson's time here, believe that the manager is some kind of a magician able to always pull a rabbit out of the hat even at times when there's not a rabbit in the hat in the first place. There was this sense, especially towards the later years of Fergie's time at the club and it was magnified after Moyes' catastrophic season. The same thing could be said about older fans and Busby. After all, United is a club whose two most iconic figures were both managers.

There are many ex players, some of them legends at their clubs, who are appointed managers with Zidane being the latest example. Some do well and others don't but the if we look for a pattern behind these appointments (which have become many in the last decade) we'll see that it's the belief among the board members that the current players will benefit from having a manager who can be described as "one of their own", someone who will understand their needs on and off the pitch and therefore they will play well for him that leads them to make these appointments.

The skills and the ideas of the ex-player come second in such appointments and this is why these experiments are successful when there's already enough talent in the first team to challenge for all the major titles. Now, there are fans who believe that the plan we had was for LvG to stay here for three seasons and rebuild the squad and then hand the keys over to Giggs. But near 2/3 of LvG's contract have passed and we still look like a mess with no identity and still miles off the big boys in quality, identity and depth.

Despite all that, there's a feeling that we deliberately avoiding this summer's managerial ricochet just to give the gig to Giggs. That's why people are so upset in my opinion. If LvG was a success, there'd be far less complaints about Giggs getting the job.
 
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for people to qajestion the footballing knowledge of a man that has won everything there is to win as a player ec,uding the champions league and also top achievements as a maanager is fecking crazy.

From readkng the comments on here about potential managers you'd think there was about 3 managers in the world good enough to manage United. Its getfing beyond ridiculous
 
Green_Red said:
for people to qajestion the footballing knowledge of a man that has won everything there is to win as a player ec,uding the champions league and also top achievements as a maanager is fecking crazy.

From readkng the comments on here about potential managers you'd think there was about 3 managers in the world good enough to manage United. Its getfing beyond ridiculous
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I'm not sure what thread you were reading there mate, but I hardly saw 3 posts that said No to Blanc. Most would welcome him and I actually didn't read anything questioning his footballing knowledge.
 
Ijazz17 said:
1) Pep
2) Klopp (Obviously won't happen now)
3) Ancelloti (Shame really)
4) Blanc
5) Poch
6) Giggs
7) Simeone
8) Conte
9) Jose

That would be my list. I think Blanc has done a decent job. Yes, I know he has endless resources,but he gets them to play good football and has done reasonably well in the UCL.
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Simeone should top every list.
 
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I cant believe hes 50, i know he was ancient when he was here as a player, but 50..... I feel old now, nice way to start the Saturday :(
 
NoPace said:
(The bolding is mine)

You think so? I haven't found that when I watch Atletico, which is mostly against the EL sort of teams like Valencia, Sevilla and Bilbao. They've only scored 25 goals (tied for 6th in the league) and are top because of their incredible defensive record. Simeone doesn't move Koke inside and try to beat lower teams with skill, from what I've seen. Just tries to beat teams with a set piece or counter attack like normal, but with more crosses and maybe the fullbacks a bit higher up.

I don't watch them every week. I know this isn't the thread for it, but any Atletico fans around?
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Mainoldo said:
I watched them beat a team 7-0 back when they had David Villa. It was one of the most boring high score games I've ever seen. He is a boring manager and his team has no flair.. That goes from when he took over tell now. So don't act like he plays good attacking football. Athletico plays with aggression and grit. He is just mini Mourinho.
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Their style of play isn't the prettiest one around, I'll admit, but compared to our brand of (non) attacking football in the recent past, theirs looks rather good. We've had barely a few performances here and there which have had me grinning over the quality of football we were putting up. The way Atletico play always has me interested simply because of how efficiently their team functions and how everyone is involved in their buildup play, even the strikers.
 
Wouldn't mind having him at all.
 
It seems that people here have little to no knowledge of football outside PL and the big teams.

Bordeaux
Blanc finished second with Bordeaux during his first season as a manager, and won the Ligue 1 title in the following year. He stopped Lyon's from adding to their seven league win streak. He was on his way to win his second league title with Bordeaux before his team crumbling like a pack of cards in the latter part of the season. Topped their CL group that has Bayern, Juventus and Maccabi Haifa in it with 5 wins and 1 draw. Got eliminated in the quarter-finals. Nevertheless, he still did impressively well there, and his winning percentage of 60% proves it (to put numbers into perspective, SAF with us has 59.2% while Wenger with Arsenal 57.6%, Klopp with Dortmund 56.3%).

France
Blanc took over a team that had its dressing room destroyed during Domenech's reign, and at that time had all 23 of their players in the World Cup squad suspended. A few players that started Domenech's boycott got suspended further. Blanc managed to calm everyone down though and qualified for Euro 2012 by topping their group (2 years ago they barely got into World Cup via Henry's infamous handball incident). They lost in the quarter-finals to the eventual winners - Spain and he resigned. Yes, he did not achieve something incredible with them, but given the circumstances he did pretty well and stabilized the national team. Remember, the national team back then was in a huge turmoil with Evra, Nasri, Anelka etc splitting the dressing room while Benzema & Ribery were having fun with some underage girls. Win percentage is at a respectable 59.3%.

PSG
2 straight league titles without much hassle. Reached CL quarter-finals twice. Further improved PSG. Fully established PSG as one of the top teams in the world and has a team that everyone should be afraid of. Winning percentage thus far is 70.8%. In comparison, Ancelotti's time in PSG has a winning percentage of 63.4%.

Trophies as a manager
- 3 Ligue 1 titles
- 1 Coup de France (French FA Cup)
- 3 Coup de la Ligue (French League Cup)

And this is only his 7th year as a manager. Not Mourinho or Pep, but he is a very capable manager in his own rights. Reading some of the comments here makes me feel bad - how ignorant some people here can be? Klopp only has like what, 2 league titles and a DFB Pokal and is rated as a top top manager on here (before he joined the scousers), but Blanc is simply a unproven manager? He is certainly more than good enough to manage us, end of story.
 
Created a thread about this if i recall correctly. He is more of a lay back manager who likes to delegate. Wouldnt be the first manager to do that. In my opinion he should be considered atleast in the list of available managers.,
 
dasty said:
It seems that people here have little to no knowledge of football outside PL and the big teams.

Bordeaux
Blanc finished second with Bordeaux during his first season as a manager, and won the Ligue 1 title in the following year. He stopped Lyon's from adding to their seven league win streak. He was on his way to win his second league title with Bordeaux before his team crumbling like a pack of cards in the latter part of the season. Topped their CL group that has Bayern, Juventus and Maccabi Haifa in it with 5 wins and 1 draw. Got eliminated in the quarter-finals. Nevertheless, he still did impressively well there, and his winning percentage of 60% proves it (to put numbers into perspective, SAF with us has 59.2% while Wenger with Arsenal 57.6%, Klopp with Dortmund 56.3%).

France
Blanc took over a team that had its dressing room destroyed during Domenech's reign, and at that time had all 23 of their players in the World Cup squad suspended. A few players that started Domenech's boycott got suspended further. Blanc managed to calm everyone down though and qualified for Euro 2012 by topping their group (2 years ago they barely got into World Cup via Henry's infamous handball incident). They lost in the quarter-finals to the eventual winners - Spain and he resigned. Yes, he did not achieve something incredible with them, but given the circumstances he did pretty well and stabilized the national team. Remember, the national team back then was in a huge turmoil with Evra, Nasri, Anelka etc splitting the dressing room while Benzema & Ribery were having fun with some underage girls. Win percentage is at a respectable 59.3%.

PSG
2 straight league titles without much hassle. Reached CL quarter-finals twice. Further improved PSG. Fully established PSG as one of the top teams in the world and has a team that everyone should be afraid of. Winning percentage thus far is 70.8%. In comparison, Ancelotti's time in PSG has a winning percentage of 63.4%.

Trophies as a manager
- 3 Ligue 1 titles
- 1 Coup de France (French FA Cup)
- 3 Coup de la Ligue (French League Cup)

And this is only his 7th year as a manager. Not Mourinho or Pep, but he is a very capable manager in his own rights. Reading some of the comments here makes me feel bad - how ignorant some people here can be? Klopp only has like what, 2 league titles and a DFB Pokal and is rated as a top top manager on here (before he joined the scousers), but Blanc is simply a unproven manager? He is certainly more than good enough to manage us, end of story.
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I'm sorry but I didn't read that many posters who said No to Blanc. Most just said "Anyone is better than Giggs". Not to dismiss the great work you did on his Bio, but I'm just telling what I noted.
 
Did well with bordeaux no question

Hasn't done anything of note in a while. Will be interested to see how they shape up in latter stages of champions league this year. Like City, with the money they ave spent they should be challenging.

Were good vs chelsea last year tho. Enviable young players... wish we could get a taste of that
 
Was good at Bordeaux wasn't he? Then failed with France. I'd rather Giggs tbh
 
Inigo Montoya said:
Quite a few have underachieved
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He didn't even undearchieved, France reached the QF which was the aim and have been eliminated by Spain. He took the national team at the worst moment, the team was hated and he had a lot of pressure.
 
JPRouve said:
He didn't even undearchieved, France reached the QF which was the aim and have been eliminated by Spain. He took the national team at the worst moment, the team was hated and he had a lot of pressure.
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Relax, I think with the talent available they should have done far better. Hence the underachievement comment. But if your satisfied with what they've done, I'm not going to argue. I couldn't care less, I personally love seeing the French rugby and football teams lose.
 
Inigo Montoya said:
Relax, I think with the talent available they should have done far better. Hence the underachievement comment. But if your satisfied with what they've done, I'm not going to argue. I couldn't care less, I personally love seeing the French rugby and football teams lose.
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:lol: I'm relaxed, I don't care about the french team but I see a lot of overrating.
 
Wonder what chance Sampaoli has for being picked by a top team. Guy is basically begging to leave Chile. If someone buys his contract he can go.
I doubt Woodward knows who he is.
 
dasty said:
It seems that people here have little to no knowledge of football outside PL and the big teams.

Bordeaux
Blanc finished second with Bordeaux during his first season as a manager, and won the Ligue 1 title in the following year. He stopped Lyon's from adding to their seven league win streak. He was on his way to win his second league title with Bordeaux before his team crumbling like a pack of cards in the latter part of the season. Topped their CL group that has Bayern, Juventus and Maccabi Haifa in it with 5 wins and 1 draw. Got eliminated in the quarter-finals. Nevertheless, he still did impressively well there, and his winning percentage of 60% proves it (to put numbers into perspective, SAF with us has 59.2% while Wenger with Arsenal 57.6%, Klopp with Dortmund 56.3%).

France
Blanc took over a team that had its dressing room destroyed during Domenech's reign, and at that time had all 23 of their players in the World Cup squad suspended. A few players that started Domenech's boycott got suspended further. Blanc managed to calm everyone down though and qualified for Euro 2012 by topping their group (2 years ago they barely got into World Cup via Henry's infamous handball incident). They lost in the quarter-finals to the eventual winners - Spain and he resigned. Yes, he did not achieve something incredible with them, but given the circumstances he did pretty well and stabilized the national team. Remember, the national team back then was in a huge turmoil with Evra, Nasri, Anelka etc splitting the dressing room while Benzema & Ribery were having fun with some underage girls. Win percentage is at a respectable 59.3%.

PSG
2 straight league titles without much hassle. Reached CL quarter-finals twice. Further improved PSG. Fully established PSG as one of the top teams in the world and has a team that everyone should be afraid of. Winning percentage thus far is 70.8%. In comparison, Ancelotti's time in PSG has a winning percentage of 63.4%.

Trophies as a manager
- 3 Ligue 1 titles
- 1 Coup de France (French FA Cup)
- 3 Coup de la Ligue (French League Cup)

And this is only his 7th year as a manager. Not Mourinho or Pep, but he is a very capable manager in his own rights. Reading some of the comments here makes me feel bad - how ignorant some people here can be? Klopp only has like what, 2 league titles and a DFB Pokal and is rated as a top top manager on here (before he joined the scousers), but Blanc is simply a unproven manager? He is certainly more than good enough to manage us, end of story.
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Had no idea about this,

Why the feck aren't we all over him to be our next manager ?
 
If he has any ambition to manage outside of France then he'd be a great contender for us. He has won league titles and domestic cups with both Bordeaux and PSG and shown he can maintain his success.

Yes Ligue 1 is a different prospect than the PL but he has turned things around at both clubs. PSG are in the 'Bayern' position now in France as a dominant force so whether he wants to leave the PSG gravy train is unknown and they're currently more likely to challenge in the CL than us so he may think they have a shot at that before he goes.

The fact that he has also played for us is a big plus as well. I'd welcome him, although I'd welcome most managers over LVG's drivvle at the minute!
 
I would rather Allegri over Blanc. Weren't there reports out of France that PSG are keen on an extension? If he leaves, Mourinho will definitely replace him IMO.
 
Not sure of all the weird negative comments towards Blanc. The France argument seems pretty moot to me, as it appears the problem with France is the players themselves loving a mutiny mid tournament. Sure he may have an easy hand dealt with PSG, but he always does well in the CL with them.

I would love him here and if he shuts down the press more than LVG, I'd drive him here myself!
 
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