30 May 2024 18:02:36
Stories floating around that decision on eth is imminent and blanc wants him to stay and Brailsford on the opposite side.
If truth we have one of the best experienced football executive wanting to retain our manager and a one of the best cycling executives wanting to make a change. make what you want of it.
30 May 2024 19:09:21
I’m with Brailsford on this one. An FA Cup win doesn’t change the fact that an eighth place finish and a negative goal difference are not even close to being good enough.
By all accounts, the board had made up their mind about Ten Haag this time last week. If they change it now off the back of one good performance, I’ll have serious concerns about their decision making. One good performance doesn’t make up for 60+ abysmal ones. We’ve been terrible since the Carabao Cup final last season.
30 May 2024 19:35:51
It is all here say but the wording is that Brailsford is playing devil's advocate to ensure that they look at all aspects before the decision is made and not just be blinded by a trophy.
Again all here say and regardless of opinion I would definitely be listening to the experienced Blanc so long as it also ties to the whole leadership group.
30 May 2024 19:39:29
I think if in doubt you back the person with experience in football.
30 May 2024 19:46:30
Red7 i do understand your reasoning but just looking back a couple of seasons ago when liverpool where miles ahead of us in terms of team and manager they also had a lot of injuries and finished 5th with 67pts. Like I say miles ahead of us as a team and still had an abysmal season.
Yet there was no knee jerk reaction stuck with the manager who in the seasons since have done better with this season for a long time were in a title race.
Ten hag has had a season to forget except for the fa cup what with injuries, players not trying, past their best or chucking their toys out of the pram and then being let go or sent on loan coupled by the fact he's been hamstrung in the transfer market not getting the players he wants to get the team he has in mind. I read today AND Haven't checked the facts but apparently 42% of his signings have been loans. We are Manchester United supposedly the biggest team in the country yet scraping the bottom of a barrel.
My opinion but I'm willing to see ten hag remain for another year and see what he and ineos can do hopefully working in harmony. There certainly isn't a standout candidate to replace him for me.
30 May 2024 19:50:49
redseven
You have a seat on the board to make that statement or SJR on what's app. So if they decide he is the right guy their decision making is no good because it does not conform with yours.
Whatever they decide i am okay to see what happens going forward. we will only know in a few years either way.
30 May 2024 20:13:58
I hope they listen to what Blanc says and keep ETH seeing as he's actually ran a football club and Brailsfords number one candidate is Southgate.
30 May 2024 21:19:02
Brailsford went and endured the dross every game since their takeover so I can see why.
It’s obviously bs Ahmad said Benni McCarthy was leaving at the end of the season and that turned out false.
31 May 2024 01:21:04
G Nev,
Story in tomorrow’s papers that Benny Mccarthy will leave the club as he hasn’t been offered a new deal, maybe wait before you get on your high horse.
31 May 2024 04:27:57
I wouldn't give too much credit to what any newspaper reports regarding who thinks what about the fate of the manager or any thing else for that matter. It's all just clickbait.
31 May 2024 05:20:57
Ahmad. It has nothing to do with whether their opinion is in line with mine, more that they’d go back on their original decision based on a single performance.
By all accounts, they made up their mind about sacking Ten Haag weeks ago. Having spent around a decade working in the press before moving out to Asia, I can say with some level of certainty that the stories about Ten Haag leaving had a great deal of substance to them for them to have been reported on the way they were. Likewise, the fact that the club allowed them to continue circulating in the buildup to the biggest game of our season seems to indicate the the plan is (or at least was) to get rid. Otherwise, why not publicly back him and silence the rumors?
So yes. If Sir Jim and his team spent four or five months coming to a decision on Ten Haag’s future and then suddenly did a complete 180 after 90 minutes of good football, I’d consider that to be poor decision making on their part. They clearly didn’t think he was the right man for the job then, so what’s changed now? An FA Cup win is great, but an eighth place finish and a negative goal difference are absolutely abysmal.
As for the rest of your post, I find it a little rich. I don’t need to be on the board to have an opinion on the club that I’ve supported my whole life, and the only person dismissing other people’s opinions because they don’t line up with their own is you. Granted, my opinion likely means very little to the decision makers at Old Trafford (nor should it, really), but then neither does yours, despite whatever Dwight may have told you.
31 May 2024 07:40:56
I wouldn't pay too much attention to what is reported in the media. The same reporters that said Sheikh Jassim was winning the bid to buy the club are the same ones who apparently now have the inside information on what INEOS and the club are thinking apparently. One week they report that EtH will be sacked, the next that he'll stay, then he'll be sacked again.
Their story changes more often than the tides.
I highly doubt the very successful people who have been successful by making good, well thought-out decisions aren't suddenly flip-flopping with their choices.
I think it's far more likely a media outlet that has previously said he is nailed on to be sacked has far more to gain in terms of their credibility by saying that the club have changed their mind rather than what they previously reported was false/ wrong/ made up nonsense.
I'd imagine what has been happening is an ongoing review since they took over right up until now, with no definitive decision made as they will have wanted as much information as possible to base that decision on. They will have also probably hoped to have had key people in by now such as Berrada and Ashworth so they could lend their expertise and their opinions to the process.
It'd have been a mistake to have made and announced a definitive decision only for Berrada and Ashworth to walk in and say they would have made a different decision.
Listening to EtH in recent weeks he hasn't sounded like a man who was aware a decision had been made to remove him. Which means if it had then it must have been kept extremely close to their chest, which begs the question that if someone in a key role in the club is unaware of this big decision being made it's odd that half the media seem to know it has.
Whatever they decide, whenever it is announced it will be a good decision based on months of assessment and with all the planning around it done and put in place to move swiftly on with the club.
If they back him then great, we have to get behind that decision and back him as well. If they decide it's best to part ways and hire a new guy then we need to accept that decision and back the new guy.
These guys aren't the Glazers, they aren't clueless nubes bumbling around in the dark making decisions based on zero expertise, experience or understanding.
These are highly successful sports business people with a proven track record of making good decisions and they have hired the best in class to support making themselves decisions.
31 May 2024 08:42:40
The Glazers are clueless? I don’t think so. Astute business people who made £5 billion profit. That was always their purpose. Still is! Awful for us, the players and the roof!
31 May 2024 10:35:27
Right fellas, Liverpool fan here so obviously take that into consideration lol, but on ETH I honestly do not get it. Yes, he has won a couple of cups - is that honestly not what Utd fans should expect from a manager? - and he has spent an absolute fortune:
- Malacia - £15.7m
- Erikson - Free
- Martinez - £56.7m
- Casemiro - £52m
- Antony - £85.6m
- Dubravka - loan
- Wehorst - loan
- Butland - loan
- Sabitzer - loan
- Mount - £55m
- Onana - £44.1m
- Hojlund - £72.1m
- Evans - Free
- Bayindir - £4.3m
- Amrabat - loan
- Reguilon - loan
Out of those signings, how many have honestly been great signings?
Martinez very good for you, the others though? Time will tell I guess on Onana, Mount and Hojlund but massive money spent there.
Quite telling some of your best players have been youngsters coming through, Garnacho could be promising and Mainoo looks like he will be truly special.
Also, his management of Ronaldo - one of the greatest players we have seen - for basically telling the truth about the state of Utd under the Glazer's was wild, and as we have seen, it turns out Ronaldo was right all along.
Add onto that a horribly mismanaged Greenwood debacle (I'll not comment any further on that) and the public way Sancho was 'handled' further adds to the criticism levelled against him.
Also, he seems to enjoy being in the spotlight - the whole 'eras come to an end' when speaking about Klopp and Guardiola, come on dude, you're new to a club don't put that kind of pressure on yourself, you will be expected to deliver and perform like those two!
Football wise, does anyone honestly know what style of play etc he favours or wants Utd to play?
Yes he won 2 cups, but you honestly blow hot and cold to the degree that you honestly do not know if the side will turn up or not - the home record is nowhere near what it once was, you were far, far better away from home under Ole and finished on a negative goal difference for the season.
Then, a couple of decent results against Liverpool (who ended the season very poorly it must be said), a good final to be fair against City and he still has all this support from some fans?
Honestly, I don't get it but hey, I am happy for him to stay as long as he wants lol.
31 May 2024 12:29:24
Patrick, in terms of milking the club the Glazers have made some very astute decisions. In terms of running a football club they have made every mistake in the book.
Lots of different kinds of expertise is needed. The Glazers are (or daddy was) experts in investment and maximising return on that investment.
That doesn't mean they know how to run a football club, a supermarket chain, a manufacturing company or any other kind of business.
INEOS have spent many years investing, developing and running sport clubs. From cycling to two actual football clubs. They've made mistakes and they've learned from them. They have made connections and have looked to hire best in class and people that suit the project they are now embarking on with United.
Which is a very different approach to the Glazers who just hired people who helped them buy the club in the first place. David Gill saw what was happening and stepped aside, the club losing a great football CEO. Someone with years of experience and with all the connections. They replaced him with Woodward who had never worked in football, had no experience and no connections or links. Why Woodward? Well because he helped organise the loan they used to buy the club.
Woodward then went on to compound mistakes with more mistakes. Yet the Glazers never showed even the slightest interest in removing someone who was badly failing at his job.
Did they know he was making mistakes? Did they care?
Who knows, but with no footballs knowledge and limited interest in the club its likely both a lack of understanding and care.
Those poor decisions have led the club to spend over 1bn on rebuilding the squad, plus countless millions on settlements for regularly sacked managers. When Rangnick told them what was wrong, they sacked him and gave him the cold shoulder.
Was the truth too hard to take? Or did they just not want it bringing to their attention?
That has left the club struggling to qualify for the UCL on numerous occasions, costing the club money and eroding it's prestige.
While the ridiculous, wasteful spending has hampered the club as well as see good money after bad leak out of the club.
None of which can be considered good business decisions.
Yes they managed to buy the club and leverage the debt back on the club. Effectively buying it for zero cost to themselves. Smart investment. While a limited amount of kudos needs to be given for maximising sponsorship income. Although they only maximised it for a time and without success on the pitch the value to sponsors has dropped and that has left them struggling to now get the sort of industry leading sponsorship deals a club of our size and reputation should be getting.
While how much credit can be given for initially getting those big sponsorship deals must surely be weighed against the fact they were bargaining with one of the biggest and most famous sports brands in the world. Let's not pretend they were getting huge shirt deals for Dog and Duck. It was Manchester United, not exactly a hard sell at the time.
The club has been in decline for more than a decade, and they haven't managed to turn that around.
All round they have been terrible at running the club. Wasteful and stupid with decisions and money.
The bright spark now is that INEOS are pulling the strings and they know what they need to do and how to run a club. Which means we might start to turn this around and start heading in the right direction. But that's not thanks to the Glazers.
31 May 2024 12:43:00
Okay, Bill, I'll bite.
That's one cup more than Liverpool in the last 2 years under the great Klopp despite not having to deal with some aging prima donna (Ronaldo), the Greenwood distraction (nothing to do with ETH), the ungrateful Sancho (who never produced for us, and was mollycoddled by the manager), being forced to rely on loans because the club has been up against FFP, and inheriting a weak minded short on skills squad put together by an incompetent management structure.
Tell me, would Klopp or Guardiola stand for players dissing them on social media?
31 May 2024 13:10:29
Shappy, and yet they made £5 billion. Purely by chance? Go figure.
31 May 2024 13:38:43
Sorry Bill, I stopped reading at “he’s spent an absolute fortune”.
He hasn’t spent a penny. The club has.
31 May 2024 13:45:05
#Patrick
They are clueless about football. Commercial stuff, marketing, money making. That's their thing. But football, we have seen how incompetent they are.
31 May 2024 14:16:48
Redseven
You are making an assumption that the decision was made and one game has got them to change their mind or rethink it. just one mans assumption, that's all.
What does Yorkie have to do with anything. The reality is the club is fed up with all the pundits, Noise that's that has been around the place for years and view it disruptive and things are going to change, including not responding to all the bs that is written.
They pulled everyone's perks including neville, yorkie and others and hence many were not at the FA cup final. Yorkie and I disagree on 8/ 10 things including the manager.
31 May 2024 15:47:18
Great response Shawthing. Sent Bill all alone to walk :)
31 May 2024 16:59:47
The point is they were NEVER trying to be competent at running a football club! They were just in it to make a killing. At that they were highly successful. A leaky roof was never their concern.
31 May 2024 18:39:04
Patrick talking sense.
They had only one objective shappy that had nothing to do with running a football club. Their only objective was to make billions.
They have achieved that and still own 40% or so between them.
Very shrewd and certainly not dumb.
The issue that arises is when an owner and fans goals are not aligned.
They allowed over a billion of their money be spent on players but because they had no understanding or interest in the football they didn't know or care how badly it was being managed.
They've taken a huge chunk of change and still sit on a big shareholding.
They never wanted what you and all of us wanted it wasn't that important as long as the asset value increases.
It might as well have been a tyre making business for all they cared.
They didn't ever run the football club the were simply the majority shareholders.
31 May 2024 19:43:29
Ahmad.
Counting clearly isn’t your strong point, as I’m far from the only one who came to that conclusion. Ten Haag himself seemed pretty convinced of it too when he was saying goodbye to the fans and players after the final whistle last weekend.
Let’s play devil’s advocate, though, and assume that a decision hadn’t already been made. Why wouldn’t the club come out and say as much after the stories tarted to break last week? Obviously they couldn’t say that Ten Haag would be staying if they were giving serious consideration to giving him the boot, but surely they could have said that a decision on his future would be made at the end of the season; either officially, or through some of their pawns in the media.
Is it possible that they hadn’t cone to a final decision? Sure it is. However, their silence on the matter last week spoke volumes, especially when one considers that this was all taking place mere days ahead of the biggest game of our season. Truth be told, I felt a little bad for Ten Haag having to face those kind of questions, both before and after the final.
01 Jun 2024 07:39:15
Why the snipping lol. They are not going to respond to stuff and what people want to make out of rumours is their business. They have been consistent in their approach if anything.
I don't know anyone form the new leadership group but I do know quite a few people around the club current and past and no one knows and if they do, they are not talking.
All this stuff is just noise imo and we will know next week and if they stay with eth. IMO it has nothing to do with the FA cup win but I am sure it will be taken into consideration along many other things including one key thing they have asked of him to change which he has refused.
Contrary to what the media reports he is not begging for his job and has certain things he will not compromise on which came from someone within the coaching staff and I respect him for that. He has also made it clear he is not pleased for taking bullets for many things at the club that is not his doing.
Personally think they will make a change but not for the reasons most think and a lot more to it but the average joe likes to think poor season we should sack the manager. That's what we have been doing for 10 years and nothing has changed.
01 Jun 2024 17:09:16
Another bite Bill!
- Malacia - £15.7m
Looked good last year. Some rawness but added depth. On the merits of last year a good signing but injury has ruined this year for him. Hope he can recover.
- Erikson - Free
Really good stopgap signing for last year. Not good enough defensively unfortunately
- Martinez - £56.7m
Excellent signing
- Casemiro - £52m
Really good last year. Awful this year. Overall a disappointment but not the overwhelming one that's currently being described. He was a major reason for what went well last year
- Antony - £85.6m
Dreadful for that fee. Had the fee been 30M I'd have sympathy. If Ten Hag wanted him that's fine. If he gave the thumbs up knowing the transfer fee that does deserve to be held against him
- Dubravka - loan
Covered a bench position
- Weghorst - loan
Did ok
- Butland - loan
Again covered a bench position
- Sabitzer - loan
Had issues with an injury and don't think he hit the level he's capable of. Decent loan move but could've gone better
- Mount - £55m
Hard to gauge with his injuries. Not sure what he excels at. 7/ 10 in everything. Too early to judge
- Onana - £44.1m
Bad start but looks to have settled in now. He hasn't been helped by the injuries in front of him
- Hojlund - £72.1m
Looks the part. A risk and very much a signing for the future when ETH would probably have wanted someone more for now. Time is likely to look well on this one
- Evans - Free
Great pro
- Bayindir - £4.3m
Bench position. Meant Henderson out which was good
- Amrabat - loan
Expected more but he was great in FA Cup final
- Reguilon - loan
Did fine. Wish he'd been kept on
Clear negative is Antony. Disappointment is Casemiro. Unsure of Mount. Satisfied: Malacia, Onana, Hojlund. Excellent: Martinez. Others being loans or frees. So his record is mixed but not the unmitigated disaster that's being described. I think if he'd used the Mount fee on a more suitable CM he'd have been much better off, but that may we'll work out yet.
It's more proof to me that he should get the 3rd year as his signings involving fees have largely been medium to long term in nature (Casemiro being the outlier) . Short term evaluation of those players is wrong.