I don't see any obvious proven candidates. Zidane is pie in the sky for a number of reasons, and probably not even the type of manager the current executive team at United would go for anyway. On a personal level he just doesn't appeal to me either. Tuchel I can see going horribly wrong within a fairly short time frame. He just seems a combustible type, maybe too much of a maverick or self-important kind of person to really cooperate at length with most people. Doesn't seem like a good fit for taking a long term project which I still think we need at United.
Then there is Alonso. He would probably want to move next season, and if Slot, Kompany and Ancelotti are all still going strong...maybe it's possible he would consider us if we're on a better trajectory by then? It feels really unlikely, but if the executive team had tangible reasons to think it was possible, then obviously they should pursue it. I wonder if they might dislike the gamble of waiting for him since we would likely be dead in the water, if any of his old clubs were looking to make a change at the same time. But then again, nothing is impossible. Leny Yoro. Remember Leny Yoro.
The other managers with a buzz around them like Hoeness, Inzaghi, maybe Amorim who people here seem to like a lot. I haven't looked enough at them to know whether they would be a good fit. My gut is telling me no on both Inzaghi and Amorim though. I can't help but think like they might struggle to adapt and also would need to make sweeping changes. Which doesn't sound so bad at the moment but still
I think it could have value to get a manager, who has experience in the Premier League. Especially in this situation where we perhaps don't have any outstanding candidates elsewhere, but have to look deeper and identify someone who is ready to take that next step. That leads me to looking at managers like Frank, Iraiola, McKenna and perhaps...Marco Silva? Howe doesn't seem likely at all given the reported issues with Ashworth. I also don't want to see him here for personal reasons, though I'll allow Newcastles style of football appeals to me. So for the others I looked at some statistics to get an idea of their recent track records.
Frank has been at Brentford for a long time and build them from the ground up as far as I can tell. If you go by the Wikipedia page he had pretty impressive seasons in the Championship after getting them going. In the last two seasons of the Premier Leageue he managed to finish 9th in 22/23 scoring 58 goals (exactly the same amount United scored.......
) with almost no difference between their xPTS and actual points won. In the same season his team also managed to take 17 points off the leagues final top six teams. I think that's pretty impressive, but it could be an outlier.
Last season they dropped off massively, finishing 16th with only 39 points. However, their xPTS was actually still decent at almost 53, which would have seen them finishing 11th. Also they actually had an xG of 64 which was about 5 higher than their previous, highly succesful season. Obviously defending matters too, but that was still the 8th highest xG in the league. That's without Ivan Toney, which probably also goes some way to explaining their underperformance in terms of goal output. Also it should be said that they only managed 6 points againt the final top six teams, so maybe the 22/23 does not indicate a pattern of overperformance for him in this regard. In the cup competions Brentford haven't really done much in the past couple of seasons. Ideally for a United manager I would want someone who had shown something more here. Maybe not Fergie Aberdeen levels but something at least. So that counts against him.
Iraiola hasn't been at Bournemouth that long, but they had a pretty good season. Finishing 13th with 48 points from an expected 53,5 seems solid enough. They scored 54 goals with an xG of 63,76, which coincidentally puts them just below Brentford in that table at 9th, so a pretty succesful attacking team. Their xGA was actually almost 5 higher than Brentfords though, which seems to indicate that they might have been a bit lucky last year. Also they barely managed any points against the top six teams, only 2 in total, and again nothing of note in cup competions. He did get Rayo Vallecano to the semi-finals of the Spanish cup though before he left for Bournemouth, so that's perhaps something.
Then there is Silva. His Fulham team finished 10th and 14th the past couple of years. In 22/23 they overperformed quite a bit, winning 52 points from an expected 39, scoring 55 goals with an xG of 48. Their xGA was a massive 71,5....yikes, top of the league
That's prime De Gea levels of goalkeeping unless they just got extremely lucky. Last season their points differential compared to xPTS was much less noticeable, and their xG was 15th in the table. Not great on paper. They managed an improvement in their xGA, but it was still 14th in the table. Both seasons they took 7 points from the top six teams, and Silva managed to lead his team to some measure of cup succes in both seasons - a semifinal in the league cup last year and an FA cup quarter final in 22/23. That's something?
We have yet to see what McKenna can do (and chooses to do) in the Premier League, but his rise with Ipswich is something pretty special I think. 92 goals scored in the Championship, 96 points. Thats five goals more than Kompany's Burnley and only 5 points less in their first season with back to back promotions. Kompany's Bayern is looking pretty interesting so far, so...maybe United should consider going empowering someone like McKenna? Obviously, this is an extremely shallow argument. Bayern and United have very different squad profiles, the Premier League is a lot tougher and so on, but the romantic in me would be genuinely excited to him given the opportunity - especially given the historical and personal connections. Proper risk of course, but this is where the higher ups hopefully has not just the analytics but also the inside information to assess whether he is someone who is ready for that kind of challenge already.
Personally, I prefer the idea of going bold and getting a project manager like Frank or McKenna. I'll concede that might not be possible at United the way it was at Arsenal with Arteta for instance because of the added pressure. But I think if we went all in on a candidate like that, who had proper backing and patience, we could ride out short term issues as long as we could see an actual playstyle developing in the first year. Klopp and Arteta struggled in the beginning as well, but their ideas started shining through pretty quickly, and I think that would buy some time with both the fans, pundits and internally at United as well.
If I was to choose now, I would go with Thomas Frank. I think he brings some charisma, confidence and people skills to the job and he seems like a strong communicator as well. A bit like Klopp in that regard maybe? Brentford have been impressive given their ressource levels and he appears to have both tactical acumen and motivational skills too. I wouldn't have wanted him before, because I actually thought he would be the next Liverpool manager. Also his interviews after playing United have been pretty grating in the past. The lack of knockout tournament success is also not ideal, but I think we really need someone who can inject some energy into the squad, connect with the players and make us play some bold attacking football again. As an extra benefit, the financial risks of hiring Frank would probably be fairly low too. I doubt we would have to pay over the odds to get him, whereas I'm certain someone like Tuchel would require a massive contract to even consider taking the job.
