The saddest thing about our current situation...

The saddest thing is not Ole possibly tarnishing his legacy, I've been one of his biggest supporters up until things totally collapsed this season, but in taking the job he risked how he was viewed by the fanbase (or should I say particularly the younger aged fans.)

The saddest thing is that after all the money spent and the slow progress he started with we are now again (3 years later) losing ground in the league and getting hammered by our biggest rivals. The club comes first, it has to, so by default our current position and the continual slide of this great football club is by far the saddest thing about our current situation. You have to put the club first when you can see things have gone backwards.
 
croadyman said:
My quiz mate is a big Everton fan and said I could understand this acceptance at our club but this is Utd and you should not be accepting any lowering of standards at a club as big as yours that's for sure
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It's crazy to hear fans/players of other clubs, many of whom have traditionally hated United in utter disbelief at how low our standards have sunk. It's bringing into question everything everyone has known about our standing as a big club.
 
KeanoMagicHat said:
But isn't that not really Ole's fault if they don't sack him? I think Ole has kept his integrity and didn't slag off the club's football heritage or make it all about him like when Mourinho was sacked.

Ole has only hit the point recently. We finished 2nd in the league last year. It's only in a few months it has gone from "hmm not sure" for a lot of people to "get him out". That's what I've heard from all my United supporting friends anyway and that's how I've felt. I thought maybe we could better long-term but that Ole was fine until maybe around the Aston Villa game, since then it's been pure freefall. I don't remember much "Get Ole out!" when Ronaldo scored 2 goals on his debut against Newcastle. It may seem like a long time, but that was only two months ago
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Yes, that's why it's sad for me. Ole is faultless in that he's done nothing 'wrong' but time is now doing the dirty work and it seems irreversible. He will forever be a legend but the longer we limp on the worse this will get, particulalry for younger fans who only know of 99 through replays and stories.

For me there have been a few windows now where it's been apparent something is wrong, obviously hindsight is everything but when you don't win trophies it's a ticking time bomb at a huge club.
  1. The end of his first season when we were absolutely dire (we missed top four because we took 2 points from 15 including loss to Cardiff and draw with Huddersfield). We also lost to Wolves in the cup.
  2. Start to 19/20 - from memory we were yo-yoing around from 9th-5th until Bruno came & then covid hit which allowed a few injuries to return and we finished well (albeit it went to the last game of the season vs Leicester).
    1. That's not even going into the Sevilla debacle and losses to good teams in cups (Chelsea, City).
  3. 2nd full season we were steady domestically but lost every KO game we went into against full strength good teams (Chelsea, City domestic cups), must win game versus RBL, Villarreal in the final.
  4. Present day, don't need to go into detail here.
As with all of this, it's just a sad situation now but I am confident whenever he does leave, we'll get a wave of positive articles/media about him and the anger will subside quickly, I still blame Woodward the most for his appointment as he simply was never qualified and the risk was always too high.
 
lefty_jakobz said:
Any pay off will be paid by the club not the Glazers. The Glazer havent put in any thing since they took over all monies out have come from the club.

Ole wont hand in his resignation, the people he is surrounded by all blow smoke up his arse. Not one will turn around and say Ole youre out your depth here. He himself believes hes an elite manager, as do his fans and the Glazers. Been absolutely destroyed by Leicester, City and Liverpool yet he’s still here.
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I know what you mean but I was seeing it as one in the same - they take money out of the club, so however many millions of a pay off going to Ole is money not there for the Glazers.
 
It won’t ruin it for me, although I am not resentful towards him like many online fans. I want him gone, this squad is too good to be this poorly coached but he will always be a legend.
 
It won't ruin it for me - at least not in the long term. Right now I can't stand the sight of him, but I'm sure I'll get over that after a while when he's finally gone. But for people who didn't really see him as a player but only as a manager... There's a limit to how much they'll be swayed thanks to the stories of his great past.
 
Whats sad is that he said its about the club, and not him. He said he would leave if he thought he cant progress us. Whats sad is that he was anti glazer previously but now is their PR machine. Whats sad is that he cant accept the truth of our position and is out of his depth but still dragging the club down just so that he can prove hes the one to take us further.

Its not him... its us.
 
We who supported United when he was playing won't think any less of him as a player and will remember those days fondly but the younger fans who never saw him play will ofcourse not regard him highly.

His status at the club is diminishing no doubt, you'll have a whole generation of fans who will remember him as the manager who failed badly.
 
Ole has just been a bit shit that is all. It's not like he took over right after SAF and made us rubbish, we've been quite poor for nearly a decade now so Ole in some respects has only carried on tradition post Fergie.

The younger fans might look at him different but then again the younger fans will have no clue what any of the 99 batch meant so who cares. My opinion on the Busby babes means sweet FA because I never got to watch them.

Ole will always be a legend here and I say that right after typing Ole out in another thread.
 
Moby said:
Do you think Argentine people changed their views on Maradona after he crashed their national team as a manager?

It's pretty easy to distinguish for most.
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Totally different levels
 
I actually look forward to the day he returns as just a guest or fan after being replaced as manager as he will get a thunderous reception. We could get relegated and he will always be a hero at OT, he's just out of his depth as a manager here and the board's inability to act is doing him no favours.
 
Ixion said:
I actually look forward to the day he returns as just a guest or fan after being replaced as manager as he will get a thunderous reception. We could get relegated and he will always be a hero at OT, he's just out of his depth as a manager here and the board's inability to act is doing him no favours.
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Yeah couldn't agree more
 
His legacy isn't going to be damaged by this, he's struggling 100% but he will still believe in his own ability to turn the situation around.

He won't turn it around but why are we ridiculing him for giving it a go. We should appreciate where he's got us from the position we were in when he arrived.

Then we should give him a proper send off when he's made to stand down from his role.

The guy gave me the best moment of my life other than the birth of my children, I won't ever disrespect him.
 
No I don't think so. He hasn't been good enough in the end and was promoted above his level but he wasn't going to say no was he?

Again the fault lies with the board who'll probably make the wrong choice again on the next man.
 
bosnian_red said:
His legacy is of course being tarnished. If he overstays his welcome then of course it takes a bigger hit than it already has. He has a responsibility to do what's best for Man United as well. In every line of work, people should have some self respect to know when they are fecking incompetent and to find yourself something that suits you more. Trying hard isn't enough to make it acceptable, he's not a fecking child we're trying to make happy.
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I don't know the specifics of Ole's contract, but he's on ~ £7.5 million per annum till the end of 2024.

Which person in his/her right frame of mind would forego the last big paycheck of his/her life just for the sake of what MUFC fans think?

Ole has zero managerial pedigree and no half-decent club will offer him a job anytime soon. Worse still, he may never get another top job in his lifetime.

The onus is on the club to fire him and compensate him appropriately. Why should he resign?
 
With all due respect Ole's reputation and legacy means feck when compared to the football club itself. He's just one of the many great players we've had and we've had much better. The saddest thing about this situation is the situation the club finds itself in. Spending a 100 million a year every year for nearly a decade post SAF and getting absolutely toyed with by our two biggest rivals at OT. A disastrous decade that now sees us backing a manager who is getting hammered every week and has won no trophies in 4 years. That is the saddest part about this. Ole's reputation means feck all in the grand scheme of things.
 
lefty_jakobz said:
Said this before. The more he shows how inept he is the more his legend status is eroded, it will be a sad day when the fans turn on him. He is our Lampard, loved by fans due to his past playing glories.
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Disrespectful to Lampard. Even if Lampard was a bum as a manager he was still Chelsea's all time top scorer and arguably the best player in the clubs history. Ole was a sideman. Just happy to be at the club and collect his cheque while being a sub player in his whole career .
 
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I know fans are saying his legendary status will stay, I am one that thinks it will take a hit. If he called it a day and moved on, it would be different.

Him staying on, thinking he is doing good for the club is not just damaging the club but his reputation as well.

Its begging to feel like he actually doesn't care, this talk about United way, United DNA is crap, what United DNA is to let teams come to OT and play us off the park.

Get out this club.
 
Canagel said:
Disrespectful to Lampard. Even if Lampard was a bum as a manager he was still Chelsea's all time top scorer and arguably the best player in the clubs history. Ole was a sideman. Just happy to be at the club and collect his cheque while being a sub player in his whole career .
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What an idiotic take.
 
croadyman said:
My quiz mate is a big Everton fan and said I could understand this acceptance at our club but this is Utd and you should not be accepting any lowering of standards at a club as big as yours that's for sure
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Perhaps that ship has sailed rather unfortunately. Nothing suggests we are a big club now looking from the outside in, at least on the commercial front we still are a force to reckon with. Hopefully one day UTD will return to those standards. In the meantime one can only hope.
 
I’m old enough to remember ole as a player. Watched his debut goal and of course “that goal.”
I’ve managed to split the 2 aspects in my mind- ole the coach and ole the player.
what he did and how he was as a player are secure in my mind.

the coach has to go, no tactics, no coaching, players who played well in a European final 4 months ago are now apparently inept at marking, defending and passing

please go now
 
The saddest thing right now is that there doesn’t seem to be much hope of change. The manager can go but the idiotic board seem to never get anything right. Dithering around and leading us into another decade of mediocrity.

Ole will always be the man who won a champions league final for Manchester United. However the things he’s been saying lately are doing himself no favours with the aforementioned ‘new generation’ of fans.
 
The saddest thing is that there are now at least three different destinations in England alone that are more attractive than United for playing or managing!
 
Skills said:
But remember that vitriol is towards the manager Ole nor the player. You just need to distinguish that when you're reading it
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Well most of it seems to be directed at the man.
 
The saddest thing is that talented squads get maybe 2-3 years together and that we had a new unfecked sancho, Greenwood, rashford, diallo, Ronaldo, cavani, pogba, fernandes together for a limited time and used it with absolutely no sense of how to maximise it
 
Maybe Ronaldo can do a Beefy against Watford? Just like Botham kippered Boycott who was taking his own time in a limited over match. Beefy ran him out deliberately so another batsman can take his place and push the run rate high.
 
Noc-Z said:
I know what you mean but I was seeing it as one in the same - they take money out of the club, so however many millions of a pay off going to Ole is money not there for the Glazers.
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I think thats kind of the problem. Since the money doesn’t come directly out of their pockets, they are happy to pay as the money wont affect them taking those dividends.
Any new owner funding the club would be thinking 10 times before offering new contracts especially if theres a chance that person will likely fail.
 
JB7 said:
I don't think the Souness comparison holds up to be honest. Because while he was a brilliant footballer (much better than Ole was for example) in a quite brilliant team, he hasn't got his name all over the greatest moment in his clubs history. Nobody will ever take that away from Ole, it is impossible to talk about the greatest single moment in our history without mentioning him.
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Now that's debatable!
 
simplyared said:
Now that's debatable!
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How is it? Even if you prefer the 68 win, it didn't have a "single moment" like the 99 win. 68 may well be our greatest moment as a club in a lot of peoples eyes, I tried to put context of "single moment" as in the literal second of winning the European Cup final in the 93rd minute but if people want to try and be pedantic that's fine.
 
All this nonsense about legacy in an attempt to guilt trip a hired employee of the club into walking away from his deserved compensation should be directed at the inept management of said club.
 
JB7 said:
How is it? Even if you prefer the 68 win, it didn't have a "single moment" like the 99 win. 68 may well be our greatest moment as a club in a lot of peoples eyes, I tried to put context of "single moment" as in the literal second of winning the European Cup final in the 93rd minute but if people want to try and be pedantic that's fine.
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Single moment!
 
When Roy took Sunderland from the bottom of the Championship to the Premier League I genuinely thought he'd be the manager that would take us on from Ferguson. I thought the appointment of Ole as interim was a chronic appointment, a couple of months later I thought it was genius. It's impossible to know.
My biggest fear it that my auld fella (77) wont see United win the league again. He's the biggest United fan I know, he loves them. I remember listening to matches on 5 live in the 90's with him. I remember going to the local pub to watch the '91 ECWC run (didnt have it on TV at home). I remember him putting the car lights on the garden so we could re-create Sparky's goal from the angle. His heart is giving up (medically), Mum wont let him watch games anymore.... I'd love another title for him......
 
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I think no less of him. His status as a legend of the club is quite safe in my opinion even if (as seems likely) he goes down as a failure at management.

He’s going through a terrible time of it. The buck stops with him and he seems unable to get the players to do the basics any more. Barring a miracle, his time is up.

He’s still doing his best, still loves the club, is still fighting and will probably never give up.

He was a better player than he is a manager on the evidence available but nothing can undo the great things he did and that one moment in 99 may never be surpassed.

For anyone who didn’t see his whole playing career with us, he was much better than a lot of people are making out. He did come off the bench a fair bit but he started over 200 games for us, despite some bad injuries and having some tough competition in his positions. He scored a lot of goals and some beauties among them.

For me, none of those memories can be erased or eroded even if he drops a deuce in the centre circle at OT.
 
wolvored said:
3 years ago we would think of the song 'who put the ball in the german net' and think fondly of Ole
Now to the older generation we will still remember that, but it will be tarnished by his managerial incompetance and every set of away fans singing 'Ole's at the wheel', as they take us to the cleaners.
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And that's the problem.

The newer generation of fans have no recollection of what happened in 1999 are now just looking at the manager who seems to have no idea what he's doing, so that's all he will be remembered for.
 
padzilla said:
Is that Ole is going to be remembered by a generation of fans, maybe more, as the poster boy for ineptitude when he should be remembered as an absolute legend of a player for the club.
I spoke about this with a Liverpool supporting mate and he said that's how Graeme Souness is seen by most fans. If Ole was to leave in the coming weeks is his legacy ruined?
Apologies for starting another thread, I just thought it might be worth a separate discussion about at which point do club legends run out of currency in terms of good will with supporters.
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Imagine this scenario: its 2042, Man City have struggled for a bit after Pep Guardialo's 20 year amazing reign, ending with a quintuplet....

They turn to Aguroe as their new manager and things go a bit 'tits up'.

Would the Man City fans suddenly forget about Agurrooooooooooo (2012) and turn on the guy?

Of course not. They would say thanks for giving it a go, you were a great striker but a mediocre manager, cheers and you are welcome at the Etihad (as a fan) anytime you like....

If Man Utd. fans keep turning on their current manager in the ways I have seen recently on here, it doesn't reflect badly on OGS but it does make the Utd. supporters look a bit churlish.
 
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Not for me. Ole the manager and Ole the player are completely different entities. His failure as a manager won't take away from his achievements as a player.

When the dust settles on the end of Ole's tenure he'll still be that legendary player. And let's face it, us fans haven't been happy with the football for a while, and the post SAF era won't be defined by this season.

If we get the next managerial appointment right, Ole could even go down as the man that set us up for success. He didn't have the tactical knowhow, but he built the squad that went on to win the treble in 2024!
 
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