Rio Ferdinand says Manchester United must write off the next two years in their latest rebuild. But is he being too optimistic?

fastwalker

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In an article in the Daily Mail Rio Ferdinand suggests that it could be another two years before United can compete for the Premier League trophy and the Champions League.

Worryingly in his article Rio suggests that the new manager will need a minimum of two years (without offering an upper limit). In the article Rio: "urges his old club to 'humble themselves' and take a leaf out of Liverpool's book when they appoint a successor to Ralf Rangnick." However, if I am not mistaken Klopp's rebuild from appointment to first major trophy took four and a half years? Not only that but Liverpool's transformation under Klopp, is not just about Klopp. It is also about having owners who invest transfer money wisely, having an outstanding recruitment operation, using data analytics intelligently, keeping players wages competitive (but not exorbitant) and building a strong team ethic where players are hungry for success.

Whilst I hate to sound pessimistic, is Rio being too optimistic at the lower end of his expectations?
 
I don't think anybody is expecting our new manager to win the title in the next two seasons. If we see some progress, identity then that will mean a lot more.
 
Right off another 2 years? We've written off most of the last 9 years.
 
Two years at least I'd have thought. We're as much in need of a rebuild now as we have been at any point since SAF left. Which is particularly annoying given this season was supposed to be the culmination of the last rebuild.
 
I don't really see a season in whch we don't win a big title as a write-off. If that was the case, most of United's seasons in history were write-offs.

A season can be very important even if we don't win the PL in it.
 
fastwalker said:
In an article in the Daily Mail Rio Ferdinand suggests that it could be another two years before United can compete for the Premier League trophy and the Champions League.

Worryingly in his article Rio suggests that the new manager will need a minimum of two years (without offering an upper limit). In the article Rio: "urges his old club to 'humble themselves' and take a leaf out of Liverpool's book when they appoint a successor to Ralf Rangnick." However, if I am not mistaken Klopp's rebuild from appointment to first major trophy took four and a half years? Not only that but Liverpool's transformation under Klopp, is not just about Klopp. It is also about having owners who invest transfer money wisely, having an outstanding recruitment operation, using data analytics intelligently, keeping players wages competitive (but not exorbitant) and building a strong team ethic where players are hungry for success.

Whilst I hate to sound pessimistic, is Rio being too optimistic at the lower end of his expectations?
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Yeah this squad is at least 7 players short, therefore will take another few windows to sort out those issues
 
No season should be a write off. That's ridiculous. Also, it doesn't take that long to see if a team is building something or just buying time/excuses like LVG/Ole
 
Just looking at the players in our squad who are either too old, definitely leaving in the summer or facing potential prison time I count eight? Maybe more?

And that's without getting into players who just aren't good enough. Or who are fine but don't fit whatever type of team the manager wants.

I don't see how this doesn't take years, even accepting that it normally shouldn't. We're in a particularly bad place right now.
 
I disagree with writing off seasons but I see where he's coming from. We need to appoint an elite manager in the summer and have a structure in place to support the manager. It's time to focus on the long term and turn United back into a club that aims for sustained success. feck off the Woodward method. As long as the club show clear signs of progression and the manager proves to be up to to the job then we should give it time. Basically, we should look at what Liverpool did with Klopp. It took him a few seasons to deliver silverware but the club was patient with him and believed in his vision.
 
No he's being realistic. if we get in the right manager and he's allowed to decide which player he wishes to retain or be moved on.
 
A season or two of implementing our new identity, bedding in the faces of our next great team and fighting for top 4 while trying to win cups is the best we can hope for at the moment.
 
AshRK said:
Exactly. Every 3 years we have the same conversation of how next year will be a rebuild.
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Because we keep fecking up the rebuild time after time with poor recruitment and poor manager choices. If you do that then you will of course still need to rebuild, no matter how many cycles you go through.
 
He must spend countless hours staring into space thinking of the next load of bollocks.
 
sullydnl said:
Because we keep fecking up the rebuild time after time with poor recruitment and poor manager choices. If you do that then you will of course still need to rebuild, no matter how many cycles you go through.
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Maybe we need to step out of 1990 and stop with this 3 year long rebuild plans. Good managers don't need 3 years. A season is enough to see if it's going somewhere.
 
Could be 2 years could be 70. Who knows what’s going to happen? Fact is if you get 4-5 signings in a row spot on and the right managerial appointment, could be in business within a year. If we once again choose the wrong manager and buy a load more deadwood, the cycle goes on.
 
You never 'write off' seasons but United are absolutely miles off being a PL contender without a chain of 'if statements'.
 
Is he saying 2 years because by then Pep and Klopp would be gone :)
unfortunately by that time most probably Newcastle too would be in mix. :(
 
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In two years a lot can happen. Players can turn on new manager in matter of months. No one knows where Disney Land brings us next year.
 
sullydnl said:
Because we keep fecking up the rebuild time after time with poor recruitment and poor manager choices. If you do that then you will of course still need to rebuild, no matter how many cycles you go through.
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Maybe we just give our managers free pass for too long. If you spend 200 million plus by your second summer, then you have to show some progress. All we have been doing is become a yo yo club between CL and europa.
 
UnofficialDevil said:
So what exactly was Ole rebuilding over the past three and a half years?
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Just what Jose was building before Ole and van gaal before that. Absolutely nothing. All we have done is appoint mediocre managers or past their peak managers and expect amazing results.
 
2 is best case scenario IMO, 3-4 more likely. Klopp took a few more years but iirc, his squad he took over was much "worse" (debatable?) and his owners also didn't invest as much as the Glazers (on a net basis anyway). I think these are all accurate but I could be mistaken as I am just talking from memory.

On a side note, if Rio and ex players/managers could stop pulling stunts like pressurizing the club to re-sign ex players (whether players or as part of the management team)...it would a good start to his "rebuilding" analysis. Yeah, i know, a professionally run club shouldn't cave in to that but we've had numpties run this club post SAF.
 
There's been three failed rebuilds already though :( and two of those managers (and also David Moyes) have heavily criticized the board for its ineptitude.
 
Rebuild. Write off. Rebuild. Rinse and repeat. This is the new The United Way.
 
AshRK said:
Just what Jose was building before Ole and van gaal before that. Absolutely nothing. All we have done is appoint mediocre managers or past their peak managers and expect amazing results.
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I think that if we get a proper manager for the first time since SAF retired in May, and he chooses and gets three players he wants this summer, we can challenge.
 
UnofficialDevil said:
I think that if we get a proper manager for the first time since SAF retired in May, and he chooses and gets three players he wants this summer, we can challenge.
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Poch or ETH and neither give me amazing confidence. But I can say either one of them would be the best manager that we have hired since SAF retired.
 
It'll take even longer if former players keep inserting themselves into the situation to try convince a 37 year old striker to sign for United as the best paid player in the league?
 
2 years??

Is he getting an unlimited transfer budget?
 
I think he’s right to some degree. I’d rather we ‘streamline’ a little, like LVG did a few years back. We don’t need loads of expensive squad players on huge wages like Mata, Lingard, Jones, Matic (although he’s still absolutely class on occasion and unique in his role) and so on. There should be more youngsters filling out the squad.

Also, we should try to sign more cheap but promising players than go crazy on one or two expensive signings like Rice. They might not be total class next season but both City and Liverpool signed players who didn’t really come good in the first year but ended up being tremendous.

As for 2 years… I don’t think that’s overly optimistic. Football can change very quickly. We need major squad surgery and more agile transfer strategy/negotiations but hopefully the new regime (if indeed it is truly new with Arnold in situ, Murtough given more autonomy and Rangnick’s influence) will succeed.

Also, the lack of CL football as I suspect might actually force us to consider more under the radar targets for cheaper so we can, counterintuitively, implement more squad changes than expected.
 
Meh. We have heard about this so many times. It won't happen. We already need a bunch of players, because almost everyone is underperforming. The players that need to be signed will only increase by next year.
 
Chelsea won it, came 10th the following year, and won it again the year after. I think things can turn around quick if we get right personnel in charge.
 
UnofficialDevil said:
I think that if we get a proper manager for the first time since SAF retired in May, and he chooses and gets three players he wants this summer, we can challenge.
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If the reports about Pochettino are right then this is just wishful thinking.
 
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