What will end up happening is that Mourinho will leave for another club and end up winning the league. We will get a new manager who will replace half the team like LVG and Mou have done, we won’t win the PL for another 3 seasons and everyone will be calling for that manager to be replaced. Rinse and repeat.
Spot on. A lot of the people here lack the depth of understanding to see that it's not just 'one big problem' that is causing our slow descend to destruction. There is no clear plan or connection between the board, upper management, Mourinho and the players. This has been quite clearly apparent to anyone with half a brain since the last few years of SAF, and it's not going to change by sacking managers. We have already gone through 3 managers and in 6 years we still look a mess with no direction as a club.
Obviously, the problem has been exacerbated by keeping (and signing) players that are just not up to the standard or lack the attitude required to see out this transition since SAF left. Much of SAF's system in the later years (2009ish-2013) was dependent on strong leaders (some of whom were also class players) on the pitch carrying the lesser ones. Ronaldo, Rooney, Vidic, Rio, Giggs, RVP etc. etc. were these players. The term "zombie football" didn't get coined for nothing, but these players made up for it. Even as we visibly declined as a team, we had enough individual strength on the pitch to eke out those final couple of league titles. Now we have lost SAF, and we also have none of these strong personalities, but our system (or lack thereof) still largely remains the same. Dependence on individual brilliance to make up for average players.
Pogba, Valencia, Di Maria, Schneiderlin, Fellaini, Lingard and co. were not, and are not these self-leading, self-motivating players we used to have. They are players that some on here rightly state, will thrive with direction and a system. Pogba at Juventus for example. Di Maria at Real. But they are never going to be the ones to grab lost games by the scruff of the neck or pull victory from the jaws of defeat, like RVP or Ronaldo could. This failure of a transfer policy with no future planning, manager appointments that were all either ill-timed or ill-advised, and just generally looking lost in terms of everything football-related, is what has left us in this hole that's going to take quite some digging to get out of.
If Mourinho goes and joins another big (or biggish) club, I have no doubt he would win a title or two in the 2-3 years he might spend there. Sure, he might do the usual 3rd year implosion trick, but Mourinho is not the one taking this club down. Granted, he is part of the problem, but that's like saying your toothache is a problem when you just broke your leg. In the same vein, bringing in another manager, even Guardiola, is not going to be an instant solve of anything. There is deadwood to clear out, there is a footballing plan to put in place, there is a need to focus more on the sport and club and less on the noodle sponsors and business profits. These things are all going to take time to sort out and it starts from the top.
We finished 6th with Herrera and 2nd with Matic.