Life after ETH — the next United manager

[MadDogg]

What I don't understand is what happened, and what keeps happening.

ETH was a hot prospect when we hired him. Now it's all turned out like this. Players do well for other clubs and sign here, and then inevitably fail.

Why is this club a graveyard for both players and managers? It's like everyone who comes here just turns to absolute crap.

Is it because we gave ETH such control of transfers and he's bought badly? Are our training and coaching methods rubbish? Is it still the hangover from the Glazer administration? Or is the universe just hell bent on paying us back for decades of success under Fergie, with interest?

All our previous managers between Fergie and ETH simply weren't good enough, so their failure shouldn't really come into the discussion.

ETH was the first time that we hired the right profile of manager, and unfortunately it hasn't worked out. But it's not some sign that all other up-and-coming managers who play good football will fail. Plenty of managers aren't able to take the step up, while some do. That doesn't stop top teams giving them a chance, but the key is that once it's obvious it's not going to work they then fire that manager and bring in another one (either another up-and-comer or a more established manager). That's where we have failed.

 

[sglowrider]

Let’s give Kieran McKenna a call.

He just signed a new long term contract. There is no way he will be worth the contract payout's risk.

 

[sglowrider]

We need a manager who knows how to put the absolute beating on City. Southgate is the man who did. And Southgate is the man who will do it again.

Based on that criteria, then why not Ole since he has a proven track record against Pep?!! Best of any of the United managers including Fergie.

 

[Nevilles.Wear.Prada]

Yeah mate, its Maguire that's the issue who's played 2 games so far and was motm in one of them, the physically declined Casemiro who's being chucked into a non existent midfield, and our two best attacking players of the last 5 years in Rashford and Bruno.

Do you think yesterday's result was because of Rashford and Bruno? Or Zirkzee and Garnacho maybe? It's the forward line made us look like Fleetwood Town vs Tottenham, right?

And you expect the third biggest club in the world not to "hand out big contracts" to players? But you also want to win the CL and PL, right?

If you don't see the issue with mcguire, rashford, bruno and casemiro my friend, its on you. How many managers these people have worked with so far? How many more managers will need to lose their job before we realize these players we kept on a pedestal need to take some responsibilities too?

 

[LawCharltonBest]

Zidane for me.

And there is no close second. Unless Klopp feels like making an explosive and controversial return to football.

Don’t care if he doesn’t speak English or hasn’t managed anyone in years. It’s Zidane. Support him in every way possible and he’ll sort it

 

[MadDogg]

Without a doubt one of them should have replaced Fergie in 2013 not fecking Moyes. Yes we got Mourinho in 2016 but he should have also been on the shortlist too. Was never the same manager after the second Chelsea sacking.

It was his last year at Real Madrid which broke Mourinho. He managed one last hurrah in one of the weakest PL seasons which had no truly top teams, but he was never the same after it all went bad at Real. He went from somebody who would deliberately draw the attention to him to protect the players to somebody who would throw the players under a bus to protect himself.

He still might have eked out another title if he had come directly after Fergie (and he certainly would have done better than Moyes), but I have no doubt it still would have ended the same way.

 

[sglowrider]

Zidane for me.

And there is no close second. Unless Klopp feels like making an explosive and controversial return to football.

Don’t care if he doesn’t speak English or hasn’t managed anyone in years. It’s Zidane. Support him in every way possible and he’ll sort it

Its a moot point. He doesnt want the United job.

 

[DJ_21]

He just signed a new long term contract. There is no way he will be worth the contract payout's risk.

Didn’t know that.

 

[Bojan11]

Tuchel - Has won the champions league, but his Bayern and Chelsea team were boring to watch.

Nagelsmann - He would be one of my first choices, but can we get him away from the German job?

Inzaghi - Has done a good job at Inter, but 5 at the back is his preferred formation and I am not sure that will work with us.

Xavi - Won the league with Barca, but I didn’t find them impressive under him albeit the squad was not great and they seemed to lose every big game including against us.

Potter - Had problems getting his Brighton and Chelsea teams to score.

Zidane - Won’t happen as he doesn’t want to move to England. Anyway as well as he did for Madrid, he had an amazing squad, which is the total opposite here.

Alonso - Madrid bound it seems.

Southgate - No thanks.

McKenna - Has done a great job at Ipswich, but it’s a big step up asking him to be our manager. Are we prepared to risk it like Arsenal did with Arteta?

De Zerbi - He was my choice in the summer, but sadly we let him go to Marseille.

Other outsiders that I don’t know much about are Marco Rose and Amorim.

 

[DJ_21]

Zidane for me.

And there is no close second. Unless Klopp feels like making an explosive and controversial return to football.

Don’t care if he doesn’t speak English or hasn’t managed anyone in years. It’s Zidane. Support him in every way possible and he’ll sort it

I don’t think he will. He’ll probably fail here. Madrid had all superstars. Did zidane even have to build a team there? Also I don’t think he has a specific style or a style that will suit us.

 

[DJ_21]

Tuchel - Has won the champions league, but his Bayern and Chelsea team were boring to watch.

Nagelsmann - He would be one of my first choices, but can we get him away from the German job?

Inzaghi - Has done a good job at Inter, but 5 at the back is his preferred formation and I am not sure that will work with us.

Xavi - Won the league with Barca, but I didn’t find them impressive under him albeit the squad was not great and they seemed to lose every big game including against us.

Potter - Had problems getting his Brighton and Chelsea teams to score.

Zidane - Won’t happen as he doesn’t want to move to England. Anyway as well as he did for Madrid, he had an amazing squad, which is the total opposite here.

Alonso - Madrid bound it seems.

Southgate - No thanks.

McKenna - Has done a great job at Ipswich, but it’s a big step up asking him to be our manager. Are we prepared to risk it like Arsenal did with Arteta?

De Zerbi - He was my choice in the summer, but sadly we let him go to Marseille.

Other outsiders that I don’t know much about are Marco Rose and Amorim.

Amorim would probably be the best and safest bet. He’ll be ready for the next step up. Could be an outside underdog… we need to find the next best manager if we can’t get an already established one. He’s a young up and coming manager. Question is would he leave mid season? I really don’t want an interim incase we do what we did with ole and give it them if we do well. I’d rather a full permanent manager and let them work on tactics and style of play whilst still being in a competitive season.

 

[MadDogg]

Bring in Tuchel. He can give you solid base and will make you fight for top 4 and will give a very good run in cup competitions. From there you can decide whether you will continue with him or not.

I'm not 100% on board with it, but I do think this is probably the most likely step we should take.

Tuchel just might be the best to instil the basics and general patterns of play into this team, which then makes it much easier for the next guy to build on. Or hell, maybe he might take us all the way himself.

 

[tenpoless]

We need a manager who knows how to put the absolute beating on City. Southgate is the man who did. And Southgate is the man who will do it again.

Won 8-1 and looks set to be dropping his pants. And who can blame him

 

[MadDogg]

Based on that criteria, then why not Ole since he has a proven track record against Pep?!! Best of any of the United managers including Fergie.

Ole actually has the second best record against Pep of all managers who have faced him at least five times (behind Conte and fractionally ahead of Klopp).

 

[MadDogg]

Zidane for me.

And there is no close second. Unless Klopp feels like making an explosive and controversial return to football.

Don’t care if he doesn’t speak English or hasn’t managed anyone in years. It’s Zidane. Support him in every way possible and he’ll sort it

Zidane has expressly said (when asked directly about the Utd job) that he doesn't have any interest in managing somewhere he doesn't speak the language. Some managers are fine with it and using translators, but he's not one of them.

 

[mardika]

Most posters here dont really get how modern football works. Every manager (bar pep) has had their own time limitation. You cant expect a manager to say for longer than 3 years and it happens to every club, let alone the big ones bar one or two exceptions, it's all part of the manager's cycle. This is why its important to have a correct structure working behind the scene to lay out the long term plan and the foundation. Forget about the next SAF etc etc, that era has long gone. The sooner our club get wiser about this, the better.

 

[HTG]

I'm not 100% on board with it, but I do think this is probably the most likely step we should take.

Tuchel just might be the best to instil the basics and general patterns of play into this team, which then makes it much easier for the next guy to build on. Or hell, maybe he might take us all the way himself.

He did nothing like that for Bayern. The basics actually deteriorated when he was with us. I’ve never seen a Bayernteam passing this badly.

 

[MadDogg]

He did nothing like that for Bayern. The basics actually deteriorated when he was with us. I’ve never seen a Bayernteam passing this badly.

I admit I never really watched Bayern at the time, so not sure what happened there. I guess the risk is that perhaps Tuchel is past his best and on the downward slide, in the same way that LVG and Mourinho were before we signed them. Alternatively perhaps it just didn't work out at Bayern but he's still fully capable of implementing the basics here.

It's a risk, but every manager that's realistically available carries a risk. Thankfully I'm not the one making the decision.

 

[Red_Aaron]

When it happens (it's definitely when now not if) I'm sure it'll be Ruud holding the fort until the end of season. He was clearly the contingency when he was brought in during the summer and so long as he can stabilise us somewhat the board will take that I reckon

I'd rather this wasn't the approach, I'd like to see them making big moves and doing everything to get their 1st choice now regardless of what club they're at or the contract they have. Continually writing off seasons just builds malaise when we need to start looking serious and building ambition.

 

[Hughie77]

I'm going to throw a name out there I don't think he's been mentioned but he may have. Russel Martin the Southampton Manager, he's young he's hungry and gets teams to play , imo he would be better with better players .
Getting a guy like that could take some geat off the players .

 

[sugar_kane]

My top criteria for the next manager has to be someone with gravitas, strong communication skills and a world class motivator.

Coaches can be brought in to work on the tactical details but we need someone who can handle the pressure of this job and keep the dressing room under control, and instil a winning mentality.

Basically Klopp was the guy and Woody fecked it up and let him go to our biggest rivals. We need the closest possible thing to him.

This is a job unlike any other and it needs someone special not just another highly rated tactician - Ten Hag was supposed to be that but he doesn’t have the right personality for the role.

 

[Roboc7]

I don’t think ETH offers any benefit at this stage, pretty much anyone should be better. We give teams their easiest game of the season way too often. Spurs and Liverpool won’t have any easier away games all season, teams don’t even have to play well or work particularly hard to outplay us.

There isn’t really an outstanding candidate for the next manager but when the current one looks like a complete clown it’s untenable.

 

[RiqCantona]

I would rather wait for the right manager to become available whoever that may be. But unfortunately, that means waiting for the end of the season because many of them would not want to leave mid-season. Unless the board have someone in mind already like Southgate or Tuchel.

I personally think, it would be best to sack him now and give Ruud the job until a better manager becomes available. Also gives Ruud a chance to prove himself.

 

[lex talionis]

Everyone here knows that we’re desperate and that very few top names will be banging on our door.

 

[IncyWincySpider]

A lot of the managers who are available now were already interviewed by INEOS, all except Klopp and Southgate who weren't available in the summer. Zero chance it will be Klopp but Southgate is a possibility.

Otherwise maybe they look at McKenna again? He's made a decent start in the first few games, certainly hasn't buckled under the pressure of the prem.

Or just appoint RVN on a contract until the end of the season and see how it goes.

 

[HTG]

I admit I never really watched Bayern at the time, so not sure what happened there. I guess the risk is that perhaps Tuchel is past his best and on the downward slide, in the same way that LVG and Mourinho were before we signed them. Alternatively perhaps it just didn't work out at Bayern but he's still fully capable of implementing the basics here.

It's a risk, but every manager that's realistically available carries a risk. Thankfully I'm not the one making the decision.

I think the comparison to Mourinho might be somewhat fitting. It’s not as bad yet and I wouldn’t be shocked to see him succeed again, but I wouldn’t want to be the one to give him that chance. His stint with us was quite disillusioning.

 

[SparkedIntoLife]

Come on pal.
You obviously took a minute or so writing that and that's more than enough time to realise it's very daft.

Yes probably. But it’s blockbuster though. It would be huge. Get Omar on the phone. Prepare a ridiculous salary, even if we have to go without any transfers next season. Pep would make the existing lot better. It’s less likely than me dating Ana de Armas but one can dream.

It also reflects a fairly uninspiring pool of managers that are possible for us to attain. There’s very few people that look like nailed on managerial geniuses. Maybe Alonso but he’s also unlikely to join us and favours 3 at the back, seemingly.

 

[LawCharltonBest]

Tuchel - Has won the champions league, but his Bayern and Chelsea team were boring to watch.

Nagelsmann - He would be one of my first choices, but can we get him away from the German job?

Inzaghi - Has done a good job at Inter, but 5 at the back is his preferred formation and I am not sure that will work with us.

Xavi - Won the league with Barca, but I didn’t find them impressive under him albeit the squad was not great and they seemed to lose every big game including against us.

Potter - Had problems getting his Brighton and Chelsea teams to score.

Zidane - Won’t happen as he doesn’t want to move to England. Anyway as well as he did for Madrid, he had an amazing squad, which is the total opposite here.

Alonso - Madrid bound it seems.

Southgate - No thanks.

McKenna - Has done a great job at Ipswich, but it’s a big step up asking him to be our manager. Are we prepared to risk it like Arsenal did with Arteta?

De Zerbi - He was my choice in the summer, but sadly we let him go to Marseille.

Other outsiders that I don’t know much about are Marco Rose and Amorim.

If Alonso is Madrid bound then we can give Ancelotti a return to North West England. Problem solved.

I'm going to throw a name out there I don't think he's been mentioned but he may have. Russel Martin the Southampton Manager, he's young he's hungry and gets teams to play , imo he would be better with better players .
Getting a guy like that could take some geat off the players .

He hasn’t won a single game this season. If we want losers, we may as well just stick, or get a caretaker, until a real manager becomes available.

 

[doubleohseven]

Zero chance it will be Klopp but Southgate is a possibility.

We need to remind Ineos hiring their mates (Southgate) when they are not qualified to manage us is not on.

 

[Escobar]

Zidane for me.

And there is no close second. Unless Klopp feels like making an explosive and controversial return to football.

Don’t care if he doesn’t speak English or hasn’t managed anyone in years. It’s Zidane. Support him in every way possible and he’ll sort it

Zidane was amazing and I like the idea. Question mark is whether he is successful outside of that RM circle.

 

[MadDogg]

If Alonso is Madrid bound then we can give Ancelotti a return to North West England. Problem solved.

Ancelotti has said he's planning on retiring after he leaves Real.

Obviously we can throw a huge amount of money at him to try to change his mind, but not sure how much his heart would be in it.

 

[LawCharltonBest]

Zidane was amazing and I like the idea. Question mark is whether he is successful outside of that RM circle.

What I’d put together is that INEOS apparently want a “head coach” who is effectively an International manager for a club team. Motivate, coach, pick the team. A very streamlined role.

Other than Klopp, Ancelotti or Guardiola, I can’t think of a manager who’d come in and have as much aura and motivate the players as much as Zidane.

It’s then up to Berrada, Ashworth and co to get the signings and everything else within the club right so that Zidane can be a success. As others have said though, Zidanes interest in the role is dubious at best.

 

[devilsadvoca8]

Amorim is becoming my favorite slowly. The guy is certified, Sporting for a long time were fighting Braga for third place and far away from Benfica and Porto but he's turned them into perennial contenders and they are a joy to watch. He's lost key players but new players come in and thrive because he has a system and that system works. He would be a great long term hire and I'm sure he'd jump at the chance to come here.

I have a soft spot for Xavi only because of how he managed Al-Sadd in Qatar, I was lucky to watch them live while is was in Doha and the patterns of play in that 3-4-3 were something else, they scored 5,6,7 almost every game. He wasn't allowed to replicate that at Barca and went safe which was disappointing. But he has the ideas. Would be a bigger risk than Amorim.

Tuchel is neither here nor there for me, he'd be a safe option, he could thrive and take on the challenge of managing United and his arrogance would suit us, we need someone who's willing to fight but then again that stubbornness can cause friction too but I wouldn't be overly happy not overly upset at this.

Zidane doesn't want to manage in England so no point here.

McKenna would be the romantic choice, young local manager with bright ideas, former coach here and him succeeding here would be amazing and could be another dear I say it Sir Alex but it's a risk, a big one. He would actually have to be given time and patience, not sure many fans have that but I wouldn't be against this, he at least has a style of play and it's clear to see.

Inzaghi would be great but he would need time to adapt to the EPL, he's very rigid in his 3-5-2 and the EPL isn't kind to that formation long term. It may work short term but every manager who's played that in this league long term has been found out. Conte for example. He had to switch to a 3-4-3 then eventually ditched that even. Great man manager though and motivates his players extremely well but in sceptical.

No to Southgate and Potter off the bat, I just don't see it with either roof them, one would be too pragmatic and the other too naive.

Out of the main contenders Amorim would be my choice, Tuchel, Xavi and McKenna thereafter in no particular order.

 

[crossy1686]

Move whatever mountains you have to move to get Alonso to sign. If it means waiting until the end of the season then so be it, Ruud or someone can fill in.

 

[Lewnited]

If you don't see the issue with mcguire, rashford, bruno and casemiro my friend, its on you. How many managers these people have worked with so far? How many more managers will need to lose their job before we realize these players we kept on a pedestal need to take some responsibilities too?

Is this satire? I can't believe this argument still gets put forward. Maguire didn't even play for starters, but lets look at the players from yesterday:

Onana - Bought by ETH
Dalot - Legacy Player
De Ligt - Bought by ETH
Martinez - Bought by ETH
Mazraoui - Bought by ETH
Mainoo - Debuted under ETH
Ugarte - Bought by ETH
Fernandes - Legacy player... but made captain by ETH
Garnacho - Started getting regular football under ETH
Zirkzee - Bought by ETH
Rashford - Legacy player

Mount - Bought by ETH
Hojlund - Bought by ETH
Casemiro - Bought by ETH
Eriksen - Bought by ETH
Amad - Started getting regular football under ETH

So out of the 16 players we saw yesterday, 13 either made their debut under ETH, or started getting regular first team football under him. To add to that, he made Bruno his undroppable captain.

This is his own expensively assembled squad, and the more we've indulged and provided him players, the worse we are for wear.

 

[Nevilles.Wear.Prada]

Is this satire? I can't believe this argument still gets put forward. Maguire didn't even play for starters, but lets look at the players from yesterday:

Onana - Bought by ETH
Dalot - Legacy Player
De Ligt - Bought by ETH
Martinez - Bought by ETH
Mazraoui - Bought by ETH
Mainoo - Debuted under ETH
Ugarte - Bought by ETH
Fernandes - Legacy player... but made captain by ETH
Garnacho - Started getting regular football under ETH
Zirkzee - Bought by ETH
Rashford - Legacy player

Mount - Bought by ETH
Hojlund - Bought by ETH
Casemiro - Bought by ETH
Eriksen - Bought by ETH
Amad - Started getting regular football under ETH

So out of the 16 players we saw yesterday, 13 either made their debut under ETH, or started getting regular first team football under him. To add to that, he made Bruno his undroppable captain.

This is his own expensively assembled squad, and the more we've indulged and provided him players, the worse we are for wear.

I understand, I have been the biggest ETH critique and I cant wait to see the back of him but i am trying to say that players need to take responsibilities too.

 

[Litch]

Southgate inward bound. Whilst it makes me want to throw up, the writing is on the wall.

 

[GoldanoGraham]

Southgate inward bound. Whilst it makes me want to throw up, the writing is on the wall.

Sir Jim must have seen what we all did at the Euro’s and the general feeling towards Southgate’s style of play and persona - no way he gets a big Prem job let alone the biggest of them all.

 

[soapythecat]

Folk need to stop wetting the bed thinking Southgate will be the next manager. If there was even a rumbling of it happening, there would be demonstrations outside OT. He’s not the style of football Ineos want neither.

We have the structure and coaching set up, we just need a better front man who is likeable and not a destructive, arrogant and anti-charisma like ETH.

 

[Someone]

What I don't understand is what happened, and what keeps happening.

ETH was a hot prospect when we hired him. Now it's all turned out like this. Players do well for other clubs and sign here, and then inevitably fail.

Why is this club a graveyard for both players and managers? It's like everyone who comes here just turns to absolute crap.

Is it because we gave ETH such control of transfers and he's bought badly? Are our training and coaching methods rubbish? Is it still the hangover from the Glazer administration? Or is the universe just hell bent on paying us back for decades of success under Fergie, with interest?

The truth is, plenty of managers succeed at easier leagues, but only few managers make it at that level. The premier league is incredibly competitive and if you aren't at the top of your game you'll get found out quickly.

He might be a good coach, and might go and make it somewhere else, but he failed here.

The problem with United is that when it comes to managers and players, it takes us so long to cut our losses which ends up making things much worse. I mean I don't even know what will be the expectations of the new manager, the bar is so low.