Crap
Crap
Crap
Crap
and... crap
Crap
Crap
Crap
and... crap
Rate the post SAF managers
- Thread starter Bastian
- Start date
I wonder who advised Liverpool on Slote... might be worth asking their opinion!
Mourinho - 6.5/10
LVG - 6/10
Ole - 5.5/10
EtH - 4.5/10
Moyes - 3/10
LVG - 6/10
Ole - 5.5/10
EtH - 4.5/10
Moyes - 3/10
Agree. I liked watching during Ole's term, the others rarely got me excited about the next match.
Ole
Mou
Moyes
LVG
ETH
Rangnik
Where's the poll?
1. Mourinho
2. Solskjaer
3. Van Gaal
4. Ten Hag
5. Moyes
6. Rangnick
1. Mourinho
2. Solskjaer
3. Van Gaal
4. Ten Hag
5. Moyes
6. Rangnick
The Europa win didn't signal any real progress, it was saving our season after we dropped out of the running for the CL places in the league.
Pretty much any trophy we've had under any manager post Fergie has been tempered with a poor showing in the league, with the exception of our League Cup under ETH.
The only thing that's really safe to say is that none of the managers were good enough for the job, I don't think any left us in a better position than when they started (which is also the fault of the club management too).
Jose
Lvg
Erik
Moyes
Ragnick
Solskjaer
Lvg
Erik
Moyes
Ragnick
Solskjaer
I didn't say that. I said we deserved to beat them and were the better team on the day, not that we played them off the park. Also had a goal (correctly) disallowed and City had to have an Onana howler to even get back in the game (although Haaland did hit the bar at one point).
Also, Ole was no stranger to hammerings at home and lower table clubs but we're splitting hairs. At the end of the day one manager won trophies and another didn't. Neither were good enough but I already look back at those cup finals and i'm pleased we had some memories of winning them.
For as much as there were flaws there though Moyes came into a title winning team. 1st to 7th was a huge drop.
Agree LVG's 2nd season is often overlooked for how bad it was though, so many dull 0-0 draws.
Oh, for sure. The chosen one was completely chosen wrongly, based on some criterions that shouldn't have been part of the decision process, let alone be the main reasons. He was completely out of his depth, genuinely awful. Just that, so have been all other managers, except Jose, for a significant amount of time here. In particular EtH, he has been worse than Moyes from League Cup final to his sacking, that is over 18 months spell.
And yes, LVG's 2nd season was the time when I started sleeping while watching United. It was like watching a parody of Del Bosque's Spain, where the players keep the ball exclusively for the sake of keeping the ball, but somehow the other team threatens every time they want, while we do not even try to reach the opposition final third, let alone God forbid, try to shoot or get into their zone.
Ole 7
Jose 7
LvG 6
EtH 5
Moyes 3
Jose 7
LvG 6
EtH 5
Moyes 3
Well said
Jose
LVG
Ole
Ten Hag
Rangnik
Moyes
LVG
Ole
Ten Hag
Rangnik
Moyes
Trophies…
Mou
Eth
Van gaal
Moyes/ ole
Enjoyment…
Ole
Mou
Van gaal
Eth
Moyes
Mou
Eth
Van gaal
Moyes/ ole
Enjoyment…
Ole
Mou
Van gaal
Eth
Moyes
Ole
Mourinho
LVG
ETH/Moyes
I think if Ole was sacked in the summer of 2021(as he should have been), he'd run away with 1st.
Mourinho
LVG
ETH/Moyes
I think if Ole was sacked in the summer of 2021(as he should have been), he'd run away with 1st.
Ole
Mourinho
Ten Hag
Van Gaal
Moyes
Rangnick
Mourinho
Ten Hag
Van Gaal
Moyes
Rangnick
With the exception of LVG, all of our managers were fired off the back of terrible form. Yet ETH is perhaps our only manager to leave the squad in a better place than when he got it.
Is this down to him entirely? No. Does it infact make him seem all the more inept that he was able to do so badly with an ostensibly better squad? Yeah, kind of...
In spite of that, the squad building under ETH, his introduction of Garnacho and Mainoo, and his 2 trophies put him top of the list for me. I've never been this optimistic following a manager's sacking.
ETH: 5/10
Mourinho: 5/10
Ole: 4/10
LVG: 4/10
Moyes: 1/10
Is this down to him entirely? No. Does it infact make him seem all the more inept that he was able to do so badly with an ostensibly better squad? Yeah, kind of...
In spite of that, the squad building under ETH, his introduction of Garnacho and Mainoo, and his 2 trophies put him top of the list for me. I've never been this optimistic following a manager's sacking.
ETH: 5/10
Mourinho: 5/10
Ole: 4/10
LVG: 4/10
Moyes: 1/10
The only time I’ve really enjoyed watching us as a football team was under Ole, during the COVID period. The rest of it has been 10 years of crap.
Mou
Ole
LvG
EtH
Moyes
Ole
LvG
EtH
Moyes
Holy shit, when you see how managers are rated in here, we do deserve last 10 years and more 
Ole's time was the most enjoyable without doubt, but failing to get over the line on trophies was where it unraveled.
Jose was the best of rest, followed by EtH, LvG, Moyes, Rangnick.
Jose was the best of rest, followed by EtH, LvG, Moyes, Rangnick.
Mourinho
ten Hag
Ole
LvG
Moyes
Rangnick
ten Hag
Ole
LvG
Moyes
Rangnick
This is the correct order.
All of them have been bobbins. None of them had us make a dent in the Champions league, and none came close to winning the league. Football was largely woeful for most of their respective tenures too.
Over the hill -
Jose
LVG
Out of their depth but with some positives -
ETH
Ole
Completely hopeless -
Moyes
Jose
LVG
Out of their depth but with some positives -
ETH
Ole
Completely hopeless -
Moyes
Jose
Ole
Lvg
Ten hag
Moyes
Rag
Ole
Lvg
Ten hag
Moyes
Rag
Jose
Ole
LVG
Ten Hag
Moyes
Ole
LVG
Ten Hag
Moyes
Ten hag was worse than Moyes.
Jose
Ole
Lvg
Moyes
Ten hag
Rangnick
Jose
Ole
Lvg
Moyes
Ten hag
Rangnick
If we were forced (let's say by law) to accept one of them back, who would you lot take? For me, I guess it would be Jose
Long time lurker, but official post here, and what better way to begin that unwrapping our 11-year horror show?
Moyes 2/10
Still feels surreal. David Moyes, managing Manchester United. Replacing the single greatest manager in history. That would be bad enough by itself, but all the more unforgiveable when you consider that this was a summer where the likes of Pep Guardiola, Carlo Ancelotti and Jose Mourinho had all moved clubs and were likely available at some point (had we pushed harder), and we somehow ended up with Everton's bang average mid-table manager who hadn't really done anything special in 10 years.
Dithering Dave's transfers didn't help, but when you match him with the king of ineptitude Ed Woodward ("Watch this space"), well you know what to expect.
In the first of what would become several banter transfers over the years, we ended up with Fellaini as our only signing of the summer, paying MORE than what his release clause was just a month earlier. Not to mention the whole Herrera fiasco with the fake lawyers, and the last-second Coentrao deal that fell through.
Moyes' own tactical shortcomings and utter lack of charisma became evident soon enough, as we struggled to put together any half-decent run all season, regularly recording new lows every other week. If I had to be incredibly lenient and dig for positives, there were some good wins against Arsenal in the league, Liverpool in the League Cup, and of course, the UCL comeback against Olympiakos; but even those were really built on individual bits of magic from our star players like RVP, Rooney, Giggs etc.
The Mata signing in January was exciting at the time, but again, neither Moyes, nor the club truth be told, really had any idea how to use him best. There was of course the famous "We aspire to become like City" quote, soon after recording back-to-back losses against Liverpool and Man City at Old Trafford. The infamous 81 crosses against Fulham. Back to back home defeats against Everton and Newcastle. The FA Cup capitulation in the first round against Swansea. And for good added measure, he managed to also get eliminated from the League Cup at home, against Sunderland. On penalties. Yep, Phil Jones.
An utter shambles of a season where almost nothing went right, and gave us a taste of (worse) things to come, as a club of winners and champions were reduced to seventh, the laughing stock of the league. At least we got the Stevie G slip to make that summer slightly more bearable.
I suppose the biggest "positive" of his tenure was it lasted only a year, and there was the hope that it was just an off year for the club. That things would automatically get better once a better manager was brought in.
LVG - 4/10
Oh, what could've been? Yes, by the end, LVG was a walking, talking, sleep-inducing disaster of a manager responsible for some of the most dire, painful football I've ever witnessed. But there were signs, especially during his first season, of some really amazing stuff! I'm still of the opinion that the 5-3 capitulation against Leicester was a nexus point in his tenure, as that result seemed to spook him and forced him to set the team up more conservatively than we had expected. The results were okay in 2014-15, but nothing exceptional, although we did stumble upon that rich vein of form in March-April where we outplayed the likes of Spurs, Liverpool (Juanfield) and City in the space of a month. The Herrera-Carrick-Fellaini axis really seemed to be working, and it did, at least for a while, look like we were taking the steps towards transitioning to a more possession oriented dominant style of play, built on quick, intricate passes between the lines. That quickly fell through, and the team immediately reverted to the usual ineffective zombie football.
The less said about his second season, the better. The FA Cup win was sweet, but the football truly became a chore to watch. Our attack was basically carried by a 19-year-old Martial (only bright spot of the season), and unsurprisingly we struggled to even hit shots on target, let alone score goals. Proceeded to bottle top four to an extremely poor City side as well, otherwise Guardiola would've begun the following season in the Europa League, sliding door moments and all that.
But more than the football and results, it was LVG's squad building that ranks him so low. He gutted our squad of experienced names and home grown talent, letting the likes of Welbeck, Nani, Chicharito, Kagawa, Vidic all go, and his signings were pound for pound disasters - Di Maria, Bastian, Depay, Rojo, Schneiderlin, Darmian, Falaco on loan, etc.
Jose - 6.5/10
Maybe it's a case of time healing most wounds, or maybe it's our recent rock bottom-shittiness making me retrospectively view his time here in better light, but I believe Jose, while not great by any stretch, remains our only post-SAF manager not to be a complete disaster.
For the most part, I thought we played some really exciting stuff in 2016-17. Zlatan in a United jersey was a joy to watch, and Pogba, as infuriatingly inconsistent he was, provided quality and edge to our play. We finished sixth in the league, but I still believe we weren't a million miles away from the summit, as we regularly dominated games and found a way through defenses, only for extremely poor finishing to let us down. Remember the 0-0 at home against Burnley when Tom Heaton turned into prime Buffon? Our season was basically that game, x 38. We also regularly went on long winning/unbeaten streaks, and were generally difficult to break down; the 4-0 defeat against Chelsea was probably the lowest point of the first season.
We did kinda forego the league to focus on the Europa, which was a risky move, but it paid off in the end as we won the tournament and also qualified for UCL in one go. You can say what you want about his style of play, but that 2017 Europa Final against Ajax was peak Jose masterclass, and never once was I in doubt that we'd bring the trophy home. Till date, it remains one of our most comfortable cup final wins. The League Cup was also a nice bonus, although we did ride our luck a lot in that one and had to rely on trademark Zlatan magic and usual superhero antics from De Gea to bail us out.
The first part of 2017-18 was equally exciting. Matic, Lukaku and at the time, Lindelof, all seemed like solid buys that would help us take the next step. And it seemed to work too, as we began the season on fire, winning four of our first six games by 4-0 margins. We were comfortable in Europe too, easily topping our group and qualifying for the Round of 16. Unfortunately, there was just no way to keep up with THAT City team in 2017, who were a machine of their own, and Pogba's injury around September saw the wheels fall off a bit. We still kept grinding out wins, but that flair went missing, and after losing to City at home in December 2017, we were pretty much out of any semblance of a title race.
The Sanchez signing in 2018 was pretty much the writing on the wall, and the Sevilla exit, followed by his Heritage rant, only accelerated the inevitable toxicity, and truth be told, he should've been sacked then and there. But he stayed on, and we saw out the rest of the season, reaching another cup final (this time losing to Chelsea). The 3-2 comeback win at the Etihad was nice though, and we finished with 81 points (our highest total in a decade), having beaten every other team in the league at least once.
Everything from August 2018 to December 2018 was a complete disaster, as we made the baffling choice to retain Jose for a third season, but having decided to keep him, also decided NOT to back him in the summer. The likes of Fred and Dalot weren't going to do much to bridge the gap against City's 100-point team, and surprise, we fell apart immediately.
Ole 5/10
Nothing quite divides opinion on the Caf like Ole's time as manager here, so I'll play it safe and lie right in the middle. The good was great. The bad was awful. Even in my wildest imaginations, I couldn't have imagined the kind of start he made - nine wins on the bounce, eventually culminating in that magical night in Paris. A win that I maintain was a costly one, because for good or bad, it tied us long term to Ole.
While many speak fondly of his interim spell, what people tend to forget is just how badly the wheels came off that very season itself after the PSG miracle - we won just two games from the start of March to end of May, which included humiliating defeats to Everton, Barcelona and Cardiff at home. We finished a poor sixth, but most of it was chalked down to the poor shape of the squad left by Jose, and Ole was largely given a clean chit.
For me, 2019-20 and 2020-21 were two largely inconsistent seasons, even if the final league positions look favourable to us. Till January of 2020, top four seemed like a pipe dream. We struggled to break down compact defenses, but then could also go and stun City at the Etihad. To his credit, Ole set us up as a lethal counterattacking unit, but there was no plan B. That changed after Bruno arrived, and we played some of our best football at the back end of that season, especially during Project Restart, when we won four straight games by a three-goal margin, eventually getting a very creditable third - something that had seemed almost impossible just six months earlier. Greenwood (sigh), Martial and Rashford, for my money, were genuinely at one point the best front three in the league, even if it didn't last for very long. And with Bruno and Pogba also seemingly clicking, it really looked like we might just push on for a title charge in 2021.
Which we did... sort of. After a horror start (including a 6-1 defeat at home to Spurs), Ole did manage to turn things around, putting in a solid run of form to have us top of the table by January. But in typical post-SAF fashion, we tended to bottle it the minute things got tough, losing at home to bottom placed Sheffield, and after that never really got a sniff of City. The wins kept coming in the league but barring a few games - Tottenham away was a top, top performance - we never really looked THAT convincing, IMO, and it seemed like only a matter of time we'd get found out.
The less spoken about the cup competitions the better. The people who mention getting to the Europa League final as a positive conveniently forget to mention that we only ended up in that competition in the first place because we bottled the group stages of the CL, failing to get one point from our last two games, having lost to the likes of Basaksehir. And the Europa final itself should've been the final nail for Ole, putting up a whimper of a performance against a Villareal side we should've beaten in our sleep.
We all know about the disastrous 2021 Summer window with Varane, Sancho and Ronaldo, but the warning signs were there well before that IMO. It's just a shame we as usual had to wait till things truly hit rock bottom with the 5-0 Liverpool game, before we pulled the trigger.
Still though, for me, the biggest drawbacks of Ole's tenure were his signings (all busts IMO except Bruno), and just how badly he divided the fanbase. It made one thing certain to me, that as much as possible, we ought to avoid hiring anyone with past ties to the club (especially if they were a legend), because objectivity goes out the window, and emotions run high.
In the end, it was two-and-a-half years of decent but not great league results, floundering in cup competitions, and never really threatening to take the next step up that was required.
ETH 3/10
Almost tempted to say he was even worse than Moyes, but all memes aside, the cups do count for something, however small they were. But that's about as much positives I can muster for ETH, who somehow got worse and worse with each passing gameweek. Disastrous signings that could well set the club back years, awful football, zero accountability for his failings, and his complete lack of charisma makes him one of the worst managers we could've possibly gotten in the last two years.
Credit for booting out Ronaldo, delivering the two trophies (beating City and Liverpool in the process), and outplaying Barcelona across two legs. But he hasn't assembled anything close to a half-decent team in almost 18 months now, and should've been sacked at least 10 different times before he eventually was.
BONUS FRAUD
Ragnick
Came, spoke some big yet obvious words, and left. Inexplicably lauded for apparently "speaking the truth" and "being brave", but did little to actually improve the team or results (yes, the players being divas didn't help either). Was supposedly hired for a larger, long-term role behind the scenes, but as usual, our ineptness meant we didn't even do that, meaning we just wasted another six months of nothingness on another nothing manager who pretty much did or amounted to nothing.
Moyes 2/10
Still feels surreal. David Moyes, managing Manchester United. Replacing the single greatest manager in history. That would be bad enough by itself, but all the more unforgiveable when you consider that this was a summer where the likes of Pep Guardiola, Carlo Ancelotti and Jose Mourinho had all moved clubs and were likely available at some point (had we pushed harder), and we somehow ended up with Everton's bang average mid-table manager who hadn't really done anything special in 10 years.
Dithering Dave's transfers didn't help, but when you match him with the king of ineptitude Ed Woodward ("Watch this space"), well you know what to expect.
In the first of what would become several banter transfers over the years, we ended up with Fellaini as our only signing of the summer, paying MORE than what his release clause was just a month earlier. Not to mention the whole Herrera fiasco with the fake lawyers, and the last-second Coentrao deal that fell through.
Moyes' own tactical shortcomings and utter lack of charisma became evident soon enough, as we struggled to put together any half-decent run all season, regularly recording new lows every other week. If I had to be incredibly lenient and dig for positives, there were some good wins against Arsenal in the league, Liverpool in the League Cup, and of course, the UCL comeback against Olympiakos; but even those were really built on individual bits of magic from our star players like RVP, Rooney, Giggs etc.
The Mata signing in January was exciting at the time, but again, neither Moyes, nor the club truth be told, really had any idea how to use him best. There was of course the famous "We aspire to become like City" quote, soon after recording back-to-back losses against Liverpool and Man City at Old Trafford. The infamous 81 crosses against Fulham. Back to back home defeats against Everton and Newcastle. The FA Cup capitulation in the first round against Swansea. And for good added measure, he managed to also get eliminated from the League Cup at home, against Sunderland. On penalties. Yep, Phil Jones.
An utter shambles of a season where almost nothing went right, and gave us a taste of (worse) things to come, as a club of winners and champions were reduced to seventh, the laughing stock of the league. At least we got the Stevie G slip to make that summer slightly more bearable.
I suppose the biggest "positive" of his tenure was it lasted only a year, and there was the hope that it was just an off year for the club. That things would automatically get better once a better manager was brought in.
LVG - 4/10
Oh, what could've been? Yes, by the end, LVG was a walking, talking, sleep-inducing disaster of a manager responsible for some of the most dire, painful football I've ever witnessed. But there were signs, especially during his first season, of some really amazing stuff! I'm still of the opinion that the 5-3 capitulation against Leicester was a nexus point in his tenure, as that result seemed to spook him and forced him to set the team up more conservatively than we had expected. The results were okay in 2014-15, but nothing exceptional, although we did stumble upon that rich vein of form in March-April where we outplayed the likes of Spurs, Liverpool (Juanfield) and City in the space of a month. The Herrera-Carrick-Fellaini axis really seemed to be working, and it did, at least for a while, look like we were taking the steps towards transitioning to a more possession oriented dominant style of play, built on quick, intricate passes between the lines. That quickly fell through, and the team immediately reverted to the usual ineffective zombie football.
The less said about his second season, the better. The FA Cup win was sweet, but the football truly became a chore to watch. Our attack was basically carried by a 19-year-old Martial (only bright spot of the season), and unsurprisingly we struggled to even hit shots on target, let alone score goals. Proceeded to bottle top four to an extremely poor City side as well, otherwise Guardiola would've begun the following season in the Europa League, sliding door moments and all that.
But more than the football and results, it was LVG's squad building that ranks him so low. He gutted our squad of experienced names and home grown talent, letting the likes of Welbeck, Nani, Chicharito, Kagawa, Vidic all go, and his signings were pound for pound disasters - Di Maria, Bastian, Depay, Rojo, Schneiderlin, Darmian, Falaco on loan, etc.
Jose - 6.5/10
Maybe it's a case of time healing most wounds, or maybe it's our recent rock bottom-shittiness making me retrospectively view his time here in better light, but I believe Jose, while not great by any stretch, remains our only post-SAF manager not to be a complete disaster.
For the most part, I thought we played some really exciting stuff in 2016-17. Zlatan in a United jersey was a joy to watch, and Pogba, as infuriatingly inconsistent he was, provided quality and edge to our play. We finished sixth in the league, but I still believe we weren't a million miles away from the summit, as we regularly dominated games and found a way through defenses, only for extremely poor finishing to let us down. Remember the 0-0 at home against Burnley when Tom Heaton turned into prime Buffon? Our season was basically that game, x 38. We also regularly went on long winning/unbeaten streaks, and were generally difficult to break down; the 4-0 defeat against Chelsea was probably the lowest point of the first season.
We did kinda forego the league to focus on the Europa, which was a risky move, but it paid off in the end as we won the tournament and also qualified for UCL in one go. You can say what you want about his style of play, but that 2017 Europa Final against Ajax was peak Jose masterclass, and never once was I in doubt that we'd bring the trophy home. Till date, it remains one of our most comfortable cup final wins. The League Cup was also a nice bonus, although we did ride our luck a lot in that one and had to rely on trademark Zlatan magic and usual superhero antics from De Gea to bail us out.
The first part of 2017-18 was equally exciting. Matic, Lukaku and at the time, Lindelof, all seemed like solid buys that would help us take the next step. And it seemed to work too, as we began the season on fire, winning four of our first six games by 4-0 margins. We were comfortable in Europe too, easily topping our group and qualifying for the Round of 16. Unfortunately, there was just no way to keep up with THAT City team in 2017, who were a machine of their own, and Pogba's injury around September saw the wheels fall off a bit. We still kept grinding out wins, but that flair went missing, and after losing to City at home in December 2017, we were pretty much out of any semblance of a title race.
The Sanchez signing in 2018 was pretty much the writing on the wall, and the Sevilla exit, followed by his Heritage rant, only accelerated the inevitable toxicity, and truth be told, he should've been sacked then and there. But he stayed on, and we saw out the rest of the season, reaching another cup final (this time losing to Chelsea). The 3-2 comeback win at the Etihad was nice though, and we finished with 81 points (our highest total in a decade), having beaten every other team in the league at least once.
Everything from August 2018 to December 2018 was a complete disaster, as we made the baffling choice to retain Jose for a third season, but having decided to keep him, also decided NOT to back him in the summer. The likes of Fred and Dalot weren't going to do much to bridge the gap against City's 100-point team, and surprise, we fell apart immediately.
Ole 5/10
Nothing quite divides opinion on the Caf like Ole's time as manager here, so I'll play it safe and lie right in the middle. The good was great. The bad was awful. Even in my wildest imaginations, I couldn't have imagined the kind of start he made - nine wins on the bounce, eventually culminating in that magical night in Paris. A win that I maintain was a costly one, because for good or bad, it tied us long term to Ole.
While many speak fondly of his interim spell, what people tend to forget is just how badly the wheels came off that very season itself after the PSG miracle - we won just two games from the start of March to end of May, which included humiliating defeats to Everton, Barcelona and Cardiff at home. We finished a poor sixth, but most of it was chalked down to the poor shape of the squad left by Jose, and Ole was largely given a clean chit.
For me, 2019-20 and 2020-21 were two largely inconsistent seasons, even if the final league positions look favourable to us. Till January of 2020, top four seemed like a pipe dream. We struggled to break down compact defenses, but then could also go and stun City at the Etihad. To his credit, Ole set us up as a lethal counterattacking unit, but there was no plan B. That changed after Bruno arrived, and we played some of our best football at the back end of that season, especially during Project Restart, when we won four straight games by a three-goal margin, eventually getting a very creditable third - something that had seemed almost impossible just six months earlier. Greenwood (sigh), Martial and Rashford, for my money, were genuinely at one point the best front three in the league, even if it didn't last for very long. And with Bruno and Pogba also seemingly clicking, it really looked like we might just push on for a title charge in 2021.
Which we did... sort of. After a horror start (including a 6-1 defeat at home to Spurs), Ole did manage to turn things around, putting in a solid run of form to have us top of the table by January. But in typical post-SAF fashion, we tended to bottle it the minute things got tough, losing at home to bottom placed Sheffield, and after that never really got a sniff of City. The wins kept coming in the league but barring a few games - Tottenham away was a top, top performance - we never really looked THAT convincing, IMO, and it seemed like only a matter of time we'd get found out.
The less spoken about the cup competitions the better. The people who mention getting to the Europa League final as a positive conveniently forget to mention that we only ended up in that competition in the first place because we bottled the group stages of the CL, failing to get one point from our last two games, having lost to the likes of Basaksehir. And the Europa final itself should've been the final nail for Ole, putting up a whimper of a performance against a Villareal side we should've beaten in our sleep.
We all know about the disastrous 2021 Summer window with Varane, Sancho and Ronaldo, but the warning signs were there well before that IMO. It's just a shame we as usual had to wait till things truly hit rock bottom with the 5-0 Liverpool game, before we pulled the trigger.
Still though, for me, the biggest drawbacks of Ole's tenure were his signings (all busts IMO except Bruno), and just how badly he divided the fanbase. It made one thing certain to me, that as much as possible, we ought to avoid hiring anyone with past ties to the club (especially if they were a legend), because objectivity goes out the window, and emotions run high.
In the end, it was two-and-a-half years of decent but not great league results, floundering in cup competitions, and never really threatening to take the next step up that was required.
ETH 3/10
Almost tempted to say he was even worse than Moyes, but all memes aside, the cups do count for something, however small they were. But that's about as much positives I can muster for ETH, who somehow got worse and worse with each passing gameweek. Disastrous signings that could well set the club back years, awful football, zero accountability for his failings, and his complete lack of charisma makes him one of the worst managers we could've possibly gotten in the last two years.
Credit for booting out Ronaldo, delivering the two trophies (beating City and Liverpool in the process), and outplaying Barcelona across two legs. But he hasn't assembled anything close to a half-decent team in almost 18 months now, and should've been sacked at least 10 different times before he eventually was.
BONUS FRAUD
Ragnick
Came, spoke some big yet obvious words, and left. Inexplicably lauded for apparently "speaking the truth" and "being brave", but did little to actually improve the team or results (yes, the players being divas didn't help either). Was supposedly hired for a larger, long-term role behind the scenes, but as usual, our ineptness meant we didn't even do that, meaning we just wasted another six months of nothingness on another nothing manager who pretty much did or amounted to nothing.
1. Mourinho - 7/10
2. Van Gaal - 5/10
3. Ole - 4/10
4. Ten Hag - 2/10
5. Moyes - 1/10*
Wondered whether to put Ten Hag below Moyes, because Moyes was never really given the chance and the shoes he had to fill were the biggest ever. The summer he was appointed was awful, even more so relative to what Ten Hag was given. So, the two can be switched around easily. But Ten Hag won 2 cups, so I guess it counts for something.
2. Van Gaal - 5/10
3. Ole - 4/10
4. Ten Hag - 2/10
5. Moyes - 1/10*
Wondered whether to put Ten Hag below Moyes, because Moyes was never really given the chance and the shoes he had to fill were the biggest ever. The summer he was appointed was awful, even more so relative to what Ten Hag was given. So, the two can be switched around easily. But Ten Hag won 2 cups, so I guess it counts for something.
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Best - Moyes & Rangnick:
They did the least amount of damage to the club so they're the best for me post Sir Alex.
They did the least amount of damage to the club so they're the best for me post Sir Alex.
It would be Ole, especially with the new structure, Jose too much drama, LVG dull, Moyes might be an ok bet now I think he has improved since and would do "a job", Ole would have us back playing on the counter, the Ronaldo signing really did for Ole, not saying we would win anything under Ole, or that he is a great coach, but out of all of our post SAF coaches I enjoyed the football (when good) under Ole more than under any other
Jose : Decent run of results and a couple of trophies.
Ole: Didnt win any sliverware but for his 1st couple of season there was hope. Best attack we have had post Sir Alex with Martial, Rashy, Mason/James. Most enjoyable football for me post Sir Alex
LVG: He failed at it but he actually did try to implement a philosophy. Years after he is gone we are still horrible on the ball an aspect he wanted us to improve on.
Moyes: here for one season was terrible but he spent the least and his version of woodward was more incompetent than the following versions. Spent the least and had less of a damaging impact.
Eth: huge let down for me. Once Rashfords form fell off it became apparent that his goalscoring streak is what carried the attack in the 1st season. He has been unable to coach the attack and the defending is no better. He has fully backed in every window and the return on investment doesn't match up at all.
Ole: Didnt win any sliverware but for his 1st couple of season there was hope. Best attack we have had post Sir Alex with Martial, Rashy, Mason/James. Most enjoyable football for me post Sir Alex
LVG: He failed at it but he actually did try to implement a philosophy. Years after he is gone we are still horrible on the ball an aspect he wanted us to improve on.
Moyes: here for one season was terrible but he spent the least and his version of woodward was more incompetent than the following versions. Spent the least and had less of a damaging impact.
Eth: huge let down for me. Once Rashfords form fell off it became apparent that his goalscoring streak is what carried the attack in the 1st season. He has been unable to coach the attack and the defending is no better. He has fully backed in every window and the return on investment doesn't match up at all.
Moyes - 3/10 It was always going to be a disaster, i dont know any fan who thought it would work
LVG - 6/10 - steadied the ship and got Utd back in CL which was important at that time, season 2 turned to dross but the FA Cup was a nice end
Mourinho - 6.5/10 - again was better in the first season and won trophies but again turned to dross at the end
Ole - 5.5/10 - Started very well, should have won the Europa but turned to dross at the end. Should never have stayed beyond the caretaker phase.
Rangnick- 4/10 - A good 45 minutes in his first game, then turned to dross (a bit of a pattern that). He had no support though so i am not too harsh on him.
ETH - 6/10 - So disappointing. A positive first season but looking back the wheels really fell off after that League Cup win, i backed him to the end because of the injuries last season but ultimately the ETH outers were right. Gets an bonus point for the FA Cup run and win over city.
LVG - 6/10 - steadied the ship and got Utd back in CL which was important at that time, season 2 turned to dross but the FA Cup was a nice end
Mourinho - 6.5/10 - again was better in the first season and won trophies but again turned to dross at the end
Ole - 5.5/10 - Started very well, should have won the Europa but turned to dross at the end. Should never have stayed beyond the caretaker phase.
Rangnick- 4/10 - A good 45 minutes in his first game, then turned to dross (a bit of a pattern that). He had no support though so i am not too harsh on him.
ETH - 6/10 - So disappointing. A positive first season but looking back the wheels really fell off after that League Cup win, i backed him to the end because of the injuries last season but ultimately the ETH outers were right. Gets an bonus point for the FA Cup run and win over city.
Ole
ETH
LVG
moyes
Jose
ETH
LVG
moyes
Jose
Depends how you look at it. Trophy wise its Jose TH and VG with the rest nowhere, but looking at it overall , including the league, entertainment etc then for me if you were marking like they do at school
Mourinho c
Ole c-
Van Gaal d
Rangnick d
Ten Hag d-
Moyes e
Moyes had a title winning team, albeit an old one and wasnt backed in the market, neither was Rangnick and he also had the least chance to build.
All the others had fortunes spent on players.
Mourinho c
Ole c-
Van Gaal d
Rangnick d
Ten Hag d-
Moyes e
Moyes had a title winning team, albeit an old one and wasnt backed in the market, neither was Rangnick and he also had the least chance to build.
All the others had fortunes spent on players.
All of them are not what we wanted but we won some trophies at least. It’s the about of money wasted that bugs me the most.
Really had high hopes for Moyes, that Scottish work horse mentality, SAF pick, the “he did well at Everton with no money” logic. But he really dithered on signings, Fabregas being the top of that list, if he didn’t get sacked we could have had Kroos.
Mourinho was the best of the bunch, nice to have trophies but getting second in the league outs him at the top of my list, he just blew it up with his antics, (admittedly probably not all his fault).
Ole for counter attacking football but going nowhere but some headline results
LVG for possession based football which is the type I want us to play currently but it had no zip to it, just across and backwards to each other.
Rangnick had no time so won’t even mark him but his rant in that presser he gets big marks for as he was right in what he said.
ETH brought discipline and authority which again are characteristics we need in a manger but the lack of playing style, chaotic games among other things like signings just nailed his coffin.
Mourinho 8
Ole 7
ETH 5
LVG 4
Moyes 2
Rangnick 10 (for his open heart surgery comments only)
Mourinho was the best of the bunch, nice to have trophies but getting second in the league outs him at the top of my list, he just blew it up with his antics, (admittedly probably not all his fault).
Ole for counter attacking football but going nowhere but some headline results
LVG for possession based football which is the type I want us to play currently but it had no zip to it, just across and backwards to each other.
Rangnick had no time so won’t even mark him but his rant in that presser he gets big marks for as he was right in what he said.
ETH brought discipline and authority which again are characteristics we need in a manger but the lack of playing style, chaotic games among other things like signings just nailed his coffin.
Mourinho 8
Ole 7
ETH 5
LVG 4
Moyes 2
Rangnick 10 (for his open heart surgery comments only)
No he wasn't.
Let's not get it twisted, Ten Hag was poor. But he still won two trophies in two seasons. Moyes inherited the PL champions and made them catastrophically bad overnight, that takes some doing.