Which manager left the team in the worst state?

Which manager left the team in a worse state?

  • Total voters
    729
  • Poll closed .
Anustart89 said:
On paper I’d agree with you and I was one of those that thought that we’d improve a lot under a new manager. I just didn’t realise (which was impossible to do until after Ole had left, IMO) was how coddled this group of players were, on top of being incredibly unfit which we already knew. I mean, they gave Rangnick 30 minutes against Palace but as soon as anything’s gone wrong for a large group of players in this squad they’ve immediately resorted to leaking stuff in the media and shown that they give zero fecks about what happens on the pitch. It’s pretty obvious that the lack of discontent from the same unmotivated group of players under Ole boils down to their egos being stroked and them basically having got their way all the time, to the detriment of their abilities as actual football players.
Click to expand...
Agree with this 100%. I thought myself that Ralf would take this squad to the next level without realising the damage that was done by the previous regime. When players are never held accountable for their performances and worse still, when they're playing week in week out no matter their form then something eventually has to break. Unfortunately for Ralf it looks like it's going to be him.

Never seen such a gutless squad put together at championship level never mind at United. There's maybe 2 or 3 players I would keep hoping that the next manager has the know how to unlock the lack of utter belief every single one (less De Gea) of our players seems to possess. After 3 years and 400m spent the answer to the OP is pretty obvious.
 
Blood Mage said:
Ole didn't just leave behind a shit squad, he left behind a culture of laziness and entitlement that has basically created an impossible job for Rangnick and an incredibly difficult job ahead for Ten Hag also.
Click to expand...
This is a point that cannot be stressed enough.
 
Solskjaer in 2019 after the 4-0 loss vs Everton : “I’m gunna be succesful here, but some of these players they won’t be here”

Today, 6 of the 11 from that day played. With another 2 on the bench. Only Lukaku and Smalling from that day have been let go.

I’d argue if we were more competent at getting rid of players we’d have seen more backing for Solskjaer with better players.
 
Ralph1386 said:
This is a point that cannot be stressed enough.
Click to expand...
He also left behind Maguire and AWB for a total of 130m which not only was a waste it makes it hard to just get rid of both even though it be the right thing.

The mad thing at the time was people wanted Ole upstairs to make transfer decisions. He signed Ronaldo because it was Ronaldo while obvious we needed a CDM
 
432JuanMata said:
He also left behind Maguire and AWB for a total of 130m which not only was a waste it makes it hard to just get rid of both even though it be the right thing.

The mad thing at the time was people wanted Ole upstairs to make transfer decisions. He signed Ronaldo because it was Ronaldo while obvious we needed a CDM
Click to expand...

This was one of the longest gags here "Make Ole a DOF because his signings are so good", except it wasn't really a gag and people were actually serious.
 
An underperforming team and a subpar team are not mutually exclusive. That is nonsense. You can have it both ways - the team can be subpar and can be underperforming at the same time.

Solskjaer did assemble a squad that is not fitting for a club that should be challenging for the Premier League title - it was poor planning. The team, currently, is just about good enough to get top four, though, but that is not the aim after 3 years in charge and over £300m expenditure. We should have a team that can challenge for the Premier League title. That shows poor management and is nowhere near a good enough return. We never looked close to challenging.

And, also, don't mention that second place finish. Everyone knows that was because Liverpool had their whole defence out and needed to to play their midfielders there. As soon as they got fit, look what has happened this season? Yes, they blew us away. You can say the same about Chelsea, but for them it was the manager: bring in Tuchel and they also go way above us. That position was flattering to deceive. It was also the lowest second-place finish, in terms of points, since 15/16 when the league was incredibly weak and ended with Leicester winning. That season was always going to be an anomaly and didn't give a true reflection of the club's position.

Solskjaer has overloaded the team with overpaid and overpriced players. He brought in players suitable for sitting back and defending, which is for teams that finish lower down the table. Maguire and Wan Bissaka are not suitable for a modern top team. Old strikers like Ronaldo and Cavani are not suitable either. The only midfielder he bought never played. We are going to make massive losses on these players as they are nowhere near worth the expenditure of transfer fees and wages. The next manager will not be able to have any additional funds raised because these players will be incredibly hard to sell.

This team is not good enough and is in a complete mess, but Solskjaer has also ruined some of the more promising players with his coddling man management. He failed to create a suitable atmosphere during an important time of their development, and those players have turned lazy as they think it is okay to be that way. I think he has contributed to what Rashford has become; I do not think he was good for that development whatsoever. I think Solskjaer managed to create the most toxic atmosphere at the club through pandering, which Ragnick has been expected to deal with; Solkjaer also failed to challenge for the top four this season with 'his' team.
 
Last edited:
Idxomer said:
This was one of the longest gags here "Make Ole a DOF because his signings are so good", except it wasn't really a gag and people were actually serious.
Click to expand...
I remember it well and poster we’re definitely serious. We signed the two I mentioned for 130m neither are good enough. We signed James and while we made a profit it was obvious he wasn’t good enough. Cavani is a walking injury, Ronaldo while it’s Ronaldo was the wrong signing as we needed to fix elsewhere
 
10 more years to go. Football is cyclical.
Here’s to the hope that Poch or ETH can fix it sooner.
 
Ole and it's not even close

The others knew exactly what they wanted but couldn't change as much as they needed. Ole just let players run riot
 
The answer is Woodward, by hiring managers with such wildly different styles. From Moyes to Van Gaal to Mourinho to Ole, you probably couldn't zig-zag more, even if you tried. Can't fault managers for bringing in players that suit their own style, especially when the squad is so full of players that are completely unsuited.

Of the options listed I'd have to go with LVG, though. None of the players he brought in contributed with anything during Mourinho and Solskjær's tenures. There's at least a chance that Ole's signings and academy graduates will play a part for us yet.
 
Reminiscences, back slapping and happy clapping are killing this club. All that has been a constant over the last nine years and if that doesn't stop this club will be left behind for a very long long time.
 
Ole, and it's not even close.

"No matter what happens, Ole will leave us in a better place than where he found us"

"He's laying the foundations for the next manager"

Under his watch, we've been left with two strikers closer to 40 than they are 30. Our midfield is non-existent, we spent 2 seasons and £75 million chasing a right winger only to find out his best position is on the left (not before considering playing him as a wing-back, of course), and £130 million tied up in Maguire and AWB.

I suppose that's what happens when you put someone in charge that wasn't good enough for Cardiff City. Why are we at all surprised?
 
Last edited:
Bit of a weird poll this. Rangnick hasn't signed anyone so not sure why he's on the list. Moyes also only signed Fellaini and Mata one of them is gone and if I'm not mistaken all of LVG signings except Shaw are also gone. I guesd the only relevant one to discuss right now is Ole which IMO made the biggest mistake ever splashing £130m on Maguire and AWB.
 
Ole. He left a squad full of issues and completely eroded any semblance of high standards at the club towards the end.

The fact he was allowed to remain manager after the 5-0 loss to Liverpool is the most embarrassing thing in the club's recent history.
 
BlueHaze said:
Bit of a weird poll this. Rangnick hasn't signed anyone so not sure why he's on the list. Moyes also only signed Fellaini and Mata one of them is gone and if I'm not mistaken all of LVG signings except Shaw are also gone. I guesd the only relevant one to discuss right now is Ole which IMO made the biggest mistake ever splashing £130m on Maguire and AWB.
Click to expand...
It's basically another who to blame thread, like the 3 others.
 
Ole, no doubts. Ragnick and Moyes shouldn’t even be in this poll. Jose and LVG obviously didn’t do an amazing job but we can’t compare it with the total disaster of a job that Ole did here. How has he survived for 3 years is just unbelievable.
 
Moyes. Back then, we were on the top and he destroyed our winning soul in every possible way. We are still trying to heal from that disaster. We will overcome Moyes only when we win another Championship... till then we will live with the fear that the reason for our dominance was SAF and only SAF. Top teams can win with different managers and players, they do not depend on a single person, so this fear that without SAF we are just another mid table team is really soul crushing. At least for me.
 
People voting Moyes :lol:

He left us pretty much how we were. He bought 2 players and one still plays for us. His spending was minimal.

Moyes season opened the cubs and supporters eyes to the true level of spending needed on our ageing squad. LVG reaped the rewards of that.

I voted Ole though because he saw the mistakes of those that came before him. He was backed financially to sort it out. Yet he got it massively wrong again and his "cultural reboot" actually left us with a culture of zero passion, zero fight, zero responsibility. This is the team that needs the most work to cobble together something that even resembles a competitive team.
 
It's not an issue with managers. It is the clubs desire to make big name signings that sell shirts, regardless of whether they fit into the team. Look at Liverpool signing Jota for £41m. They consistently sign good, hardworking players that fit into their system. They don't take a punt on Cavani, Pogba, Sanchez, Di Maria...they buy players that they need for positions where they are weak. Players that run and have self pride. Not consumed by their social media presence. We are currently an example of everything that is wrong with football.
 
Wheato said:
It's not an issue with managers. It is the clubs desire to make big name signings that sell shirts, regardless of whether they fit into the team. Look at Liverpool signing Jota for £41m. They consistently sign good, hardworking players that fit into their system. They don't take a punt on Cavani, Pogba, Sanchez, Di Maria...they buy players that they need for positions where they are weak. Players that run and have self pride. Not consumed by their social media presence. We are currently an example of everything that is wrong with football.
Click to expand...

Which player was signed that the club forced upon a manager then?
 
pocco said:
People voting Moyes :lol:

He left us pretty much how we were. He bought 2 players and one still plays for us. His spending was minimal.
Click to expand...

You underestimate human inertia.

Here is the dictionary definition. Inertia: a property of matter by which it continues in its existing state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line, unless that state is changed by an external force.

This is also true for humans. Winners keep winning. Losers keep losing. Moyes took a team full of winners, and destroyed it. Yes, he left the same players, but they were not winners any more. Moyes was the dark force that turned winners into losers!
 
Ole. Some of his signings are a joke..
Some don't seem to want him to take any accountability whatsoever. Because he's a legend of a player..

Tbh the rot set in under Jose too in regards to players not trying and it's gotten worse

Ole is the most tactically clueless though
 
Regulus Arcturus Black said:
If squad bad - how the feck did you take over a team that finished on 80+ points, spend 300 million quid, increase the wage bill by 60 million quid /year and only manage a 74 point season at best, and even at the tail end of that season, running into your final car crash season, have a run of form for 22 games that included 10 losses.

How you say? You do it by being a bit crap.

You have two problems there especially when you dare to call our inconsistency :lol:, you say good squad = well done Ole, bad squad = poor recruitment team. Which is it?

The squad is shite, no two ways about that.
Click to expand...
Ole disnokay with a shite squad then. Had a hand in building the squad though, although I don't think even you would claim he did all that by himself... Or maybe you would haha
 
I feel like Rangnick has had a massive pass, and all the blame is being put onto Ole. Hiring Rangnick looks to be one of the worse decisions the club could have made and wrote off the season. He hasn’t changed a thing other than playing Elanga over a dire Rashford. He’s reverted the formation back to the failed system under Ole. Still trying to play the same players who have failed time and time again. Get some of the youngsters on, at least try and do something different. My biggest issue with the club is how slow player turnover is. When you look at our bench options - Mata, Matic, Jones, Lingard, Pogba. These are all players from previously failed seasons. Get them gone ffs.
 
phelans shorts said:
It’s Mourinho and it isn’t close.
Click to expand...

The correct answer, but if course the ridiculous Ole hate on here continues

There is no logic to it either because if Ole left a shite squad then it means he did an incredible job to get 2nd, 3rd and a European final
 
Rood said:
The correct answer, but if course the ridiculous Ole hate on here continues

There is no logic to it either because if Ole left a shite squad then it means he did an incredible job to get 2nd, 3rd and a European final
Click to expand...
Makes me laugh but also annoyed to see this level of idiocy. Mourinho wins said European final, gets to 2nd place thats 7 points higher than Oles, but is somehow marked as worse :lol:

Ole was absolutely wank, he zapped winning mentality from the club and even when big rivals had their own crisis, they were able to recover and beat his accolades in quick time.

I have never seen such ineptitude from a manager.
 
This may sound controversial and counter-intuitive, but I always maintain that it was Ferguson that left the team in a bad state. The succession following Ferguson was the most important decision the club had to make in years, and they flunked it by allowing Ferguson to make the hubristic decision of appointing a mini-me, David Moyes. Ferguson wrongly imagined that lightning would strike twice in the same place and we all know how that went. Had Ferguson given the club enough notice and time to plan and research properly, we would not be in this state.
 
VP89 said:
Makes me laugh but also annoyed to see this level of idiocy. Mourinho wins said European final, gets to 2nd place thats 7 points higher than Oles, but is somehow marked as worse :lol:

Ole was absolutely wank, he zapped winning mentality from the club and even when big rivals had their own crisis, they were able to recover and beat his accolades in quick time.

I have never seen such ineptitude from a manager.
Click to expand...

Not surprising that someone with this kind of view can't even understand what the thread is actually about
 
The squad was hugely mismanaged last summer and we've paid for it in a big way this season. That happened with Solskjaer in charge, though I will say that I don't think he's fully responsible for that.

I'm sure he would've wanted to sign a midfielder, for example. And I'm sure the club were just as keen to bring Ronaldo back as he was.

He should've insisted on a few more outgoings though. The squad was too bloated and I think that had a detriment effect on morale - there were loads of rumblings of discontent even early in the season.
 
Rood said:
Not surprising that someone with this kind of view can't even understand what the thread is actually about
Click to expand...
Im adressing your own logic that pointed to Oles league finishes and a European final.

We can also discuss how he left the next manager with AWB, Maguire who can't be shifted. VDB and never played him, Ronaldo who wasn't even needed, etc etc.

We can also discuss how he by his own admission doesn't even value tactics. It was lunacy. He had no CV to fall back on, he was an absolute liability as a manager.
 
frostbite said:
You underestimate human inertia.

Here is the dictionary definition. Inertia: a property of matter by which it continues in its existing state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line, unless that state is changed by an external force.

This is also true for humans. Winners keep winning. Losers keep losing. Moyes took a team full of winners, and destroyed it. Yes, he left the same players, but they were not winners any more. Moyes was the dark force that turned winners into losers!
Click to expand...
You can't be serious with this. No other manager in the history of the game would of won the PL title in SAFs last season but on the negative side he also left a squad on it's very last knees which was a fact because that squad was dismantled by LVG in sharp time.

Did Moyes have his faults? Of course he did. His biggest was getting rid of of the old background staff but he was the manager with the least effect leading to the shit show we're still seeing today. 7 months is hardly enough time to bring down a dynasty.
 
Rood said:
The correct answer, but if course the ridiculous Ole hate on here continues

There is no logic to it either because if Ole left a shite squad then it means he did an incredible job to get 2nd, 3rd and a European final
Click to expand...

So what exactly did Solskjaer do better than Mourinho? The results were worse under him and it appears that he hasn't even built a good squad for the next manager to utilize. The only thing I can think of is that he had the team playing slightly more attractive football though it was still a long way short of the standard that United should be aiming for.
 
Crashoutcassius said:
Ole disnokay with a shite squad then. Had a hand in building the squad though, although I don't think even you would claim he did all that by himself... Or maybe you would haha
Click to expand...

Did he? He did fecking shite with this squad actually.
Last season though, which his best by far, he took a different shit squad to 74 points. That’s 1.95 points per game, his best ever haul after managing and coaching these players for a few years.
Ragnick has come in and taken 1.74 per game despite not knowing the players, having no pre-season and not a single say in a player of his liking. That over 38 games would be a 66 point season, the same fecking haul managed in his two other full seasons.

So no, Ole didn’t do okay with a shite squad, he helped build a shite squad, took 66 points, 66 points, 74 points and then went into freefall.

He did fecking wank.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.