What was the plan after sacking Mourinho?

Alex99

Rehab's Pete Doherty
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The club sacked Jose on 18.12.18 and hired Ole as caretaker a day later.

Who were we looking at as our next permanent manager before Ole went on a mad run of 14 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss and got given the job himself?

Or did the club simply not have a replacement in mind and Ole's vibes fc saved them the hassle of finding one?
 
crossy1686 said:
There was a plan?
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Exactly this. The past decade shows there's never really been any plan.

They may have thought/hoped that Ole could stabilise things enough to give them time to find a new coach.

But this lot never had any clue about what type of football they wanted to play, which coach could make that happen, what players would be needed for it etc.

Even the so-called 'football people' at United haven't got that kind of plan. You see it every time we sack a coach. All the briefs are about attacking football, bringing through youth. Literally meaningless phrases that basically every single football club on earth could claim. It's not like most clubs set out to play defensive football that revolves around veterans and nobody from their youth system. :rolleyes:

The people who run United don't have a scooby about what they should want or why. We are all hoping getting a proper, experienced Sporting Director will change that. Let's see. If we end up with the wrong person in the job again, it'll just be more BS.
 
I believe the plan was Ole until the end of the season then we were going after Pochettino but Ole convinced Woodward to make him permanent manager.
 
hobbers said:
Pochettino
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Wouldn’t know where to find it now but I read from (Mitten, I think) that this was indeed the plan at the time and Pochettino was angry when he didn't get offered it as he felt the agreement was in place for that Summer

Then he went back in after Ole was sacked to get rejected again for Ten Hag
 
Just shows what a reactionary moron Woodward was giving Ole the job.

I’m pretty sure in the statement when we appointed him, we said how we would “thoroughly” search for a long term manager in the Summer. Few wins and Ole gets the job. Anybody who knows football knows the new manager bounce phenomenon. Woodward did not have a clue, just thought “well he’s winning games let’s give him the job and hope for the best”
 
i doubt there was any plan. At the same time, there was a master plan by oppositions and media to exaggerate the "ole's at the wheel" so we can be baited to appoint him.
 
The plan was to think about it later, which the club actually admitted to. ‘Ole as caretaker, while the club searches for a successor’ was the official statement.

Then Ole won something like 12 out of his first 15 and the club realised they could save themselves the time and effort so we decided not to look any further. I imagine we’d have tried for Poch though, that was the rumour at the time.
 
hobbers said:
Pochettino
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Skills said:
Probably Pochettino.
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Tom Van Persie said:
I believe the plan was Ole until the end of the season then we were going after Pochettino but Ole convinced Woodward to make him permanent manager.
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LawCharltonBest said:
Wouldn’t know where to find it now but I read from (Mitten, I think) that this was indeed the plan at the time and Pochettino was angry when he didn't get offered it as he felt the agreement was in place for that Summer

Then he went back in after Ole was sacked to get rejected again for Ten Hag
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Pochettino was riding high at Spurs that season. He'd just got them to the CL final and achieved their fourth successive top four finish.

Was he really attainable or interested at that stage?
 
I think the plan basically get in a legend it was bring a bit of romance get the fans back on side bit of a feel good atmosphere at the ground then get someone in summer but ole done well and the plans changed. Ole didn’t do as bad as people say, he had a good record against the big teams and away but like Keane warned when he came in eventually the players will through him under the bus.

there is a horrible horrible culture at the club at the minute and until that’s changed even Pep would struggle.
 
Alex99 said:
Pochettino was riding high at Spurs that season. He'd just got them to the CL final and achieved their fourth successive top four finish.

Was he really attainable or interested at that stage?
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He wanted to leave that summer. His relationship with Levy and the club was deteriorating.
 
It was very hard not to offer solskjaer the contract after the run of form. Its easy looking back but I remember at the time, there being an argument that not giving it to him was just undermining him at a time when things were finally going well. Even so, we shouldn't have done it mid season. Things tailed off not long after. The funny thing with solskjaer is that he didn't actually do that bad, even if people won't admit it.

We finshed 3rd in his first full season, finishing the season very strongly. We then finished 2nd, only losing 3 times after the opening 6 games with a strong run of form again, and some great results, beating big teams and putting away smaller teams as expected with the odd big win too, even a 9 nil against southampton. We got to the europa league final and again showed our failings, but all in all looked on a fair trajectory 2,5 years into his reign.

His final season was a car crash, arguably not a whole lot worse than now, but I do have to wonder how things might have looked had we not signed ronaldo. That's not to 'blame' ronaldo, but it did change how we were playing. Even then we were on 13 points from 15 at the start of the season and we just absolutely fell off a cliff. My own feeling is that he buckled under the pressure of being expected to play a much more dominant style, rather than sticking with what he was more comfortable with and we ended up being terribly exposed by likes of leicester and liverpool. Morale must have nosedived when it became clear we were out of title race by november, after starting the season with such high hopes.

That was a detour, but I expect the plan was solskjaer to steady a ship and look at options for the summer, but he overperformed initially.
 
I don't believe there was a great plan in place, since the overarching strategy in the post-SAF era seems to be for the club to be in CL positions, stay relevant (a cup here and there) and... basically take it from there. It is something that has allowed the current ownership to keep milking their cash cow, with a potential sale always in the cards should the club's commercial lustre takes a hit after several years in the wilderness.

I believe they were more than happy with Mourinho (first United manager to win a trophy in his first season at the club, CL qualification never in doubt in his second year) to ignore all the red flags that usually come with the Portuguese the longer he stays at a club and offer him a contract extension back in January 2018. That, and a bit of United "exceptionalism", the idea that United could offer him the platform to change his ways and be the long-term manager he had failed to become when he held the most prestigious managerial seat in the world or when he was managing the only club he can still call "his own".

In this sense, when Mourinho threw his toys out of the pram, i don't believe they saw the squad or the playing style (focused on counter-attacks) as the problem. On the contrary, i think they were relatively quick with his sacking because he had been open about the team's ceiling (yes, i know, he should also be held accountable for it). They had already decided that a massive overhaul, like the one LvG's attempted, was out of the question, so they wanted someone to build on Mou's first two seasons. I agree that Poch was the "obvious" candidate on the horizon (end of season), but Solskjaer came in and, during his interim run, he (unwillingly) confirmed all their preconceived biases about the team, its direction and its abilities. It was a mistake that Solskjaer paid in the end. That, and a bit of United "exceptionalism" again. Not so much the idea to make a great manager out of an old legend (the dream scenario at every club) as much as the idea that we can turn an ex-legend with very little to show over a decade of managing, into a managerial great.
 
If we've learned nothing else from the Glazer's ownership, surely we've learned that there's no plan other than the money plan.
 
Always amazes me you didn't go after Ancelotti at any point in 2019. He was doing alright at Napoli but no more than that (compared to what they've achieved after he left). Everton appointed him in December 2019. Since then he's gone back to winning CL at Real Madrid.

That felt an ideal time to appoint a CL winning calibre manager rather than now where he fancies taking up an international job like Brazil which has been pretty much agreed.

Perhaps you were tapping up Poch but was the wrong season considering he was taking them to the CL final.
 
The club bottled it. Their eyes lit up when it looked like they had to put zero effort into finding a new manager.

They took the easy option at a time where almost everybody knew it was the wrong decision deep down.

That PSG victory ended up setting us back years (or probably not, considering we never really learn our lesson anyway).
 
The plan was there was no plan.

After three years of high-paced, counter-attacking football wielding less than Jose, they accepted the plan wasn't working and came up with another plan they later abandoned because it conflicted with another plan they'd planned without fully factoring their previous plan.

To say I'm glad they're likely going to be replaced is an overstatement of an understatement.
 
There was no plan there never has been a plan. As long as The Glazers are making money out of the club they don’t care. Thats problem right there. Ole was getting reasonable finishes without costing them a fortune in salary was win win for those scum bags
 
Fell apart for Jose after he didn't get any or get rid of the players he wanted and he probably knew then it was time to go. Think he only get Fred & Dalot that summer and wanted rid of Martial but Woodward/Joel Glazer said no. He started fighting with everyone and was promptly paid off.

Agree with others in saying Pochettino was probably the main candidate to come in the following summer but that run of Ole's and the PSG win probably convinced Woodward to sign him permanently. But after that PSG game we only won 2 more games that season. The following season didn't start to well either it was only after Bruno signed and the 1st lockdown break we started to play well and get some really good results. Yes, we had that away record but for me with no fans it doesn't mean to much and when the fans came back we saw it didn't last too long.

The Woodward signing of Ronaldo scuppered the way Ole wanted to play, pretty sure he wanted a fluid front 3 of Sancho/Greenwood/Rashford with Martial there too. Ronaldo signing also heavily increased expectation and the players crumbled under that pressure and ended with Ole getting the sack unfortunately.
 
Woodzy said:
The club bottled it. Their eyes lit up when it looked like they had to put zero effort into finding a new manager.

They took the easy option at a time where almost everybody knew it was the wrong decision deep down.

That PSG victory ended up setting us back years (or probably not, considering we never really learn our lesson anyway).
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This is correct
 
Revaulx said:
The stated plan was to install Ole as interim and appoint a Director of Football prior to appointing a permanent successor.

What actually transpired was somewhat different.
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What happened is the Ole did a way better job that anyone thought possible
 
Red in STL said:
What happened is the Ole did a way better job that anyone thought possible
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Indeed. He wasn’t involved with signing players during that great stint as interim though; his lack of experience at that level made it even more imperative that he had some heavyweight help with recruitment. His stated vision was that he wanted us playing front footed proactive football; paying £80m for Maguire didn’t exactly seem compatible with that vision.
 
It was probably pochettino. We’ve been after him since his Southampton days I believe. Didn’t poch join PSG not long after Solskjær was sacked?
 
Woodzy said:
The club bottled it. Their eyes lit up when it looked like they had to put zero effort into finding a new manager.

They took the easy option at a time where almost everybody knew it was the wrong decision deep down.

That PSG victory ended up setting us back years (or probably not, considering we never really learn our lesson anyway).
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Yep. Maybe the original plan really was to hire a DOF and let him choose the next manager. But Solskjaer's string of wins made it easier for them to change nothing as they thought they finally found their saviour.
 
crossy1686 said:
There was a plan?
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This. If there was a plan, they wouldn't make Ole interim into permanent manager after Paris where there was plenty to play for when as great as the form then, the team hadn't achieved nothing (not even season objective).
 
DJ_21 said:
It was probably pochettino. We’ve been after him since his Southampton days I believe. Didn’t poch join PSG not long after Solskjær was sacked?
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You got your timeline all mixed up. Poch succeeded Tuchel who went to Chelsea and won CL when Ole's still here in his second full season. There was talk about Poch joining us because we crashed out of CL into EL which raised questions about Ole's future, but we're picking up result in the league and then finishing quite comfortably in second place.
 
MrMarcello said:
How much would Poch have cost? (Presuming he was still under contract and Levy would have demanded compensation.)
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It's insignificant in comparison to player transfer. It's almost impossible to keep a manager that want out if manager force his way out because manager can easily influence team performance and result.

Nagelsmann to Bayern was under $30mil. So at most, that should be what Levy could squeeze out of us.
Amir said:
Yep. Maybe the original plan really was to hire a DOF and let him choose the next manager. But Solskjaer's string of wins made it easier for them to change nothing as they thought they finally found their saviour.
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I don't believe it's the case at the time. Woodward didn't entertain of restructuring at the time.
 
Amir said:
Maybe not, but it was the message the club sent through the media.
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The message is they took time to consider new manager, whereas the DOF was not seriously considered until Woodward was prompted to step down after the ESL debacle.
 
Yes, that's right folks, the hinge point was not hiring Pochettino! Forget that he failed miserably at PSG and is now struggling with a £1.2 billion squad consisting of all the transfer muppet binkies of the last 2 seasons, if he had signed here in February of 2019 instead we'd surely have won the treble by now!
 
Valencia Shin Crosses said:
Yep this was it I think
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I think that this ‘plan’ was a back of the envelope job. In terms of real planning with strategic objectives and the personnel to realise them clearly identified, there was likely none. Apart from the bankers’ fantasies.
 
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