Alot of talk and discussion, about giving Ole the time and resources (rightly so) to build his own team like the previous managers have had a chance. Hes clearly been landed with a woeful squad which is a thin as it is weak. Many of them overpaid brats with questionable attitudes who think theyve made it already. He has some serious work to do to make it a feared top side again.. Wether under Woodward/Glazers he/anyone can do that, is another discussion completely..
It got me thinking though, about when SAF took over from Atkinson, and the team he inherited. About the state that team was in , how long it took the great man to finally get it right, and the difference between the initial and resulting successful team..
So, out of curiosity, i thought id have a quick look back at the lineups of:
a) Fergie's first game, away to Oxford, 8/11/86,
b) Fergie's first trophy winning team, vs Palace, FA cup, 17/5/90
c) Fergie's first League trophy team, vs Sheffield Wed, 10/4/93
Not really attempting to prove anything, just thought it would be interesting to see the squad progression SAF went through, that we are hoping to see Ole do the same.. Just some food for thought really
Ive highlighted the players that featured in the previous listed team
A - Oxford vs Mufc, First Division, 8/11/1986
Chris Turner, Mike Duxbury, Arthur Albiston, Kevin Moran, Paul McGrath, Graeme Hogg, Clayton Blackmore, Remi Moses, Frank Stapleton, Peter Davenport, Peter Barnes, Jesper Olsen.
(Although didnt play this day, Strachan, Whiteside, & Robson featured a fair bit in this season also)
roughly 3.5 years later -
B - mufc vs Crystal Palace, FA cup final, 17/5/90
Les Sealey, Paul Ince, Lee Martin, Steve Bruce, Mike Phelan, Gary Pallister, Bryan Robson, Brian McClair, Mark Hughes, Danny Wallace.
(Neil Webb, Jim Leighton, Clayton Blackmore, Russell Beardsmore, viv anderson & mike duxbury also played a fair bit this season)
almost 3 years later -
C - Mufc vs Sheffield Wed, Premier League, 10/4/93
Peter Schmeichel, Denis Irwin, Paul Parker, Steve Bruce, Gary Pallister, Lee Sharpe, Eric Cantona, Paul Ince, Brian McClair, Mark Hughes, Ryan Giggs, Bryan Robson
(Kanchelskis played a significant part in this squad also)
And i know this is over almost 7 years in total which is quite a long time, but we can see a clear effect within the first 2 seasons.
So we can see 3 seasons after SAF took over, his FA cup winning team was pretty far off from what he started with, on that list. Only a small handful of players remained from his initial team. And by the time he finally put together a team worthy of the PL 3 seasons again after that, the only player that remained from his first day was Captain Marvel himself, Robson. (no brainer) We can see by 93, quite a few of the 1990 cup winning squad were also still there, so he felt he was pretty much more than half way there in 90..
I suppose it all about keeping the right players best for the club about, and eradicating any toxic players/ deadwood, or simply players that although good, may be bad for the culture. (fergie def had this problem at the beginning trying to get rid of the drinking culture that was there. Made hard decisions and moved some good players on). I think Ole needs to do the same with the current squad. clear out anyone with the wrong attitude and has a bad influence on other members of the squad. As we know we dont have many fighters and grafters in the team, an majority of them just quit when the going gets tough, and are just happy to get paid.
All that said, it think this monumental effort on the current squad will fall to someone other than Ole in the near future. And I absolutely do not trust Woodward to do it right.
*One other thing i noticed looking through the matches of these seasons, the starting 11 very rarely changed throughout the season. with maybe one sub per game (usually same person).. no nonsense back then. no get rested, just get out and play every week