Gary Neville

[RuudTom83]

Woody loves the limelight, so I’m glad Gary is giving it to him.

If I was Ole I’d do the same, all be it in a far less forceful way...just point out Woody signs the players and contracts, Ole just works with the players he’s given.

7 years of failure far outweighs any bad spell the managers have had, but the fool is still in charge!

 

[matt10000]

I am just so tired of this "Mourinho wasnt backed" narrative being pushed again and again.

One of the reasons were struggling is becusse of all the overpriced dead weight Mourinho bought. The guy spent millions pushing us further back as a club leaving us with severe problems to deal with.

Woodward did a great job blocking his transfers because enough was enough. What is the argument here, we should have further given Mourinho the chance to set the club further back with fail transfers?

The other stuff I can agree with but not backing Mourinho being a bad thing is dumb

So Mourinho comes in wins Europa and gets us to second place in the league (in previous seasons could have been champions with points tally and without City money cheats would have been champions), identifies an area of weakness in the side and isn't backed and you think that is a good thing?!?

I agree that after not being backed Mourinho toys came out of the pram and the way things went he had to go BUT if he had been backed we could have been right up there. SAF was given time and signed a lot of players in first few seasons because it was recognised that it was a rebuild yet all we have done over the last few seasons is sack, sack sack. LVG was not too far away from achieving something, we controlled games but needed some quality to added so that we could take more risks to score more goals. Mourinho came in and then not backed following a season of second place and Europa!!??!??? Now we have Ole and already there is a thread asking what he must achieve to avoid the sack!

Honestly this job is becoming like the England job!

 

[shamans]

This is the joke narrative Mourinho haters want to hide behind

Woodward did not do a single thing smart. If he had no intention of backing JM any longer he should have:

a) not extended his contract

b) replaced him before the transfer window opened.

Instead he glibly turned down transfers. Refused to strengthen a problematic and imbalanced squad that was over achieved to finish 2nd. Then worse kept JM in as a lame duck manager, who had an Axe to grain and was willing to take the house down with him, as far as December. Literally burying United in a hole too deep for Solksjaer's valiant efforts to raise us out of.

And JM was proved correct. The squad is not good enough and it was never his fault. He simply was never allowed to fully upgrade it. Which is all Woodward's fault

Just answer this. How can you say the squad wasnt good enough when this was Jose's own squad. How can you say he wasnt allowed to upgrade it.

Are you denying the fact Jose spent money to buy pogba, matic, lukaku, mkhitaryan, Sanchez, bailey, fred? How could you possible back a manager who is constantly wasting your money.

Mou was backed for multiple transfer windows. Woodward did a brilliant job stopping him and we should be thankful.

 

[shamans]

Is anyone still claiming that he wasn't backed?

Yes and its just sad.

 

[shamans]

So Mourinho comes in wins Europa and gets us to second place in the league (in previous seasons could have been champions with points tally and without City money cheats would have been champions), identifies an area of weakness in the side and isn't backed and you think that is a good thing?!?

I agree that after not being backed Mourinho toys came out of the pram and the way things went he had to go BUT if he had been backed we could have been right up there. SAF was given time and signed a lot of players in first few seasons because it was recognised that it was a rebuild yet all we have done over the last few seasons is sack, sack sack. LVG was not too far away from achieving something, we controlled games but needed some quality to added so that we could take more risks to score more goals. Mourinho came in and then not backed following a season of second place and Europa!!??!??? Now we have Ole and already there is a thread asking what he must achieve to avoid the sack!

Honestly this job is becoming like the England job!

Quit twisting the narrative.

He was backed even before he won anything. Check out his transfers. Then after the fluke of a Europa league win he was further backed. More transfer and more waste of money duds signed by him.

Heck even until January before we even finished second he was backed with the Sanchez deal.

Please look at the net spend. A single top 2 finish means nothing. Mourinho can fool fans by saying this was his big achievement with these players - HIS players.

 

[matt10000]

Quit twisting the narrative.

He was backed even before he won anything. Check out his transfers. Then after the fluke of a Europa league win he was further backed. More transfer and more waste of money duds signed by him.

Heck even until January before we even finished second he was backed with the Sanchez deal.

Please look at the net spend. A single top 2 finish means nothing. Mourinho can fool fans by saying this was his big achievement with these players - HIS players.

'Fluke of a Europa league?' We have been more flukey in other European campaigns in the past but you make your own luck. That is what you do in sport, you prepare in a way to try and tip the balance further in your favour in as many aspects of the game as possible thus giving yourself the best chance to win. This is called management.

'A single top 2 finish means nothing' - try saying that to a Liverpool fan on a Tuesday or Wednesday night next season.

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

Just answer this. How can you say the squad wasnt good enough when this was Jose's own squad.

Jose's OWN Squad?

Did he buy De Gea or Romero?

What of Valencia, Darmian, Young and Shaw

What of Jones, Rojo Blind (whom he sold) and Smalling?

What of Carrick, Fellaini, Herrera and Mata in midfield

Or Rashford, Lingard and Martial upfront

How can you say he wasnt allowed to upgrade it.

Because it was rather apparent. He was refused to upgrade on his fullbacks. Refused to upgrade his senior fullbacks. Refused to upgrade on his wingers. Allowed to sell people, yet not allowed to replace them properly. (Schweinstieger, Schneiderlin, Delay, Blind).

Only being allowed to replace directly literally retiring guys (i.e Carrick, Zlatan)

Are you denying the fact Jose spent money to buy pogba, matic, lukaku, mkhitaryan, Sanchez, bailey, fred? How could you possible back a manager who is constantly wasting your money.

Wasting? Apart from Alexis, Lindeloff plus new arrivals Grant and Dalot. All those players heavily contributed to United winning a league cup, The Europa league and a 2nd place finished ahead of the far better balanced Spurs and Liverpool teams. So much for 'wasting money'.

Mou was backed for multiple transfer windows. Woodward did a brilliant job stopping him and we should be thankful.

Lies. Utter and totally lies.

If spending on a not necessary and old 3rd choice keeper, an inexperienced right back and an untested in England Carrick replacement, after finishing 2nd = backing. The term has totally lost meaning

 

[Di Maria's angel]

Well we're on our 4th manager and it doesn't seem to be working (although Ole should be given the summer). After changing the manager 4 times without success then you have to look at where else the problems lie.

Look at the managers we've hired:

Moyes - Everton were the 6th or 7th best team in England. Hardly good enough to be the United manager.
van Gaal - Hadn't managed a club side in 3 years when we appointed him. Wasn't that impressive with Bayern. He was decent with Netherlands but still there was always a question mark given his greatest period of success was 20 years prior.
Mourinho - Completely different philosophy and the manager we should have hired to replace SAF. However, at the time, there was a real worry he may have lost his appetite.
Solskjaer - managed Cardiff and Molde - definitely not shown enough to be the United manager. Last PL team he managed were horrendous and he led them to relegation.

Why hasn't Manchester United hired a managed in the last 6 years who is in the middle of his peak and clearly not on the decline? There's a reason our fan base has never collectively felt confident about an appointment.

I'd say our problems aren't the players. We've chopped and changed consistently over the last few years and the same problems are still asked of the man in charge - what the feck is our plan?

 

[Random Task]

Because it was rather apparent. He was refused to upgrade on his fullbacks. Refused to upgrade his senior fullbacks. Refused to upgrade on his wingers. Allowed to sell people, yet not allowed to replace them properly. (Schweinstieger, Schneiderlin, Delay, Blind).

Only being allowed to replace directly literally retiring guys (i.e Carrick, Zlatan)

I don't buy any of this. Why would a club chairman refuse his manager the option to sell or replace his own players? There is no logic in it.

Is this just your opinion and can you provide evidence supporting your claim?

Wasting? Apart from Alexis, Lindeloff plus new arrivals Grant and Dalot. All those players heavily contributed to United winning a league cup, The Europa league and a 2nd place finished ahead of the far better balanced Spurs and Liverpool teams. So much for 'wasting money'.

Of all the signings made by Jose, only Lindelof has managed to establish himself as a first team regular, and we only started to see improvements in his game after Jose left. The likes of Sanchez, Matic, Lukaku, Bailly, Fred, Dalot, Mkhitaryan, Grant, Dalot and even Pogba have proven either inconsistent or not good enough.

1 good signing out of 11 is shockingly bad judgement, particularly for a manager such as Jose who is renowned for his transfer market prowess.

Lies. Utter and totally lies.

If spending on a not necessary and old 3rd choice keeper, an inexperienced right back and an untested in England Carrick replacement, after finishing 2nd = backing. The term has totally lost meaning

Yes, the board held back the funds' last summer (somewhat) but that was after Jose spent north of £400 million of the clubs money on largely useless footballers. The only real mistake the board made last summer was not sacking Jose after they lost faith in his transfer market ability, how he was allowed to continue beyond that point speaks volumes for how poorly the club has been run post-SAF. Gary Neville alluded to this point in his interview posted above and he is absolutely right, Jose should have gone at the beginning of last summer.

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

I don't buy any of this. Why would a club chairman refuse his manager the option to sell or replace his own players? There is no logic in it.

Woodward is famously quoted as staying Alderwereld was 'no better than Phil Jones' whilst filling him out as one Mourinho's transfer targets last summer. He also repeatedly failed to sell Darmian. In spite of ample market.

Is this just your opinion and can you provide evidence supporting your claim?

Why should I bother? If you are not already aware of what Gary Neville ranted about yesterday, or what I've repeatedly posted on here since the summer. Why on earth would it suddenly 'move you' if you saw it again?

Of all the signings made by Jose, only Lindelof has managed to establish himself as a first team regular, and we only started to see improvements in his game after Jose left.

What a pack of lies. First Lindeloff from the back end of last season till now has been steadily improving. So much so he was actually Mourinho's most reliable cb through out this disaster campaign before he got sacked.

Second Zlatan, Magic, Pogba and Lukaku were all establish starters under JM. Bailly was too in his first session before chronic injury struck. Yet he wasn't even bought to be an immediate starter....

The likes of Sanchez, Matic, Lukaku, Bailly, Fred, Dalot, Mkhitaryan, Grant, Dalot and even Pogba have proven either inconsistent or not good enough.

Oh please. Pogba has been directly responsible for any good thing we have done since he arrived. From the two cup wins to finishing Second last season. Matic too. Mihkitaryan for all his issues delivered for us a Europa trophy. Lukaku for all the stick he gets is still the only other goal getter we have outside Pogba. In a side hampered by chronic under investment in key areas...

1 good signing out of 11 is shockingly ...

Anyone who claims all JM made was 1 good signing in 11 merely demonstrates they absolutely haven't the slightest clue what they are talking about. Period!

Yes, the board held back the funds' last summer (somewhat) but that was after Jose spent north of £400 million of the clubs money on largely useless footballers.

You'd have to be pretty far gone mentally to actually believe the likes of Zlatan, Pogba, Matic, Lindeloff or Lukaku are 'largely useless footballers...."

 

[shamans]

Jose's OWN Squad?

Did he buy De Gea or Romero?

What of Valencia, Darmian, Young and Shaw

What of Jones, Rojo Blind (whom he sold) and Smalling?

What of Carrick, Fellaini, Herrera and Mata in midfield

Or Rashford, Lingard and Martial upfront


Because it was rather apparent. He was refused to upgrade on his fullbacks. Refused to upgrade his senior fullbacks. Refused to upgrade on his wingers. Allowed to sell people, yet not allowed to replace them properly. (Schweinstieger, Schneiderlin, Delay, Blind).

Only being allowed to replace directly literally retiring guys (i.e Carrick, Zlatan)

Wasting? Apart from Alexis, Lindeloff plus new arrivals Grant and Dalot. All those players heavily contributed to United winning a league cup, The Europa league and a 2nd place finished ahead of the far better balanced Spurs and Liverpool teams. So much for 'wasting money'.


Lies. Utter and totally lies.

If spending on a not necessary and old 3rd choice keeper, an inexperienced right back and an untested in England Carrick replacement, after finishing 2nd = backing. The term has totally lost meaning

It seems like you're just going to defend Mourinho at all costs no matter what anyone says. I'm going to try and help you open your eyes one last time because I know it's difficult with the likes of Garry Neville, Youtube comments and Facebook propelling this ridiculous notion of Jose not being backed.

So you're complaining about De Gea, Young, Valencia etc. He didn't buy them, but who forced him to play them? What was his solution to our defense of Rojo, Jones and Smalling? Sell Daily Blind and get Lindelof and Bailey. Lindelof was a good buy, but Bailey? Also, why did he ship out Blind instead of Jones?

Same for midfielders and attackers. This guy had many transfer windows fully backed. It was up to him to change the squad which he did to an extent and he failed.

Do you have any instances (apart from the last summer) where he was actually refused? This guy came out multiple times during his first two seasons saying we should be competing for the title. So explain this logic to me when Jose first arrives he says we can compete for the title, but years later we suddenly cant?

Yes, so much for "wasting money". Please look at our net spend. Lukaku, Matic, Bailey, Alexis, Mikhitaryan and Fred. All garbage we have to deal with because of Mourinho.


Mourinho helped us win a Europa League which was a good achievement and he played to his strengths there (instant success, winning a trophy) but he was an absolute failure that blamed the board and others for it.

The only liar here is Mourinho. This guy didn't rate Mo Salah and is now twisting the narrative to indicate it wasn't his doing.

Ed Woodward has done a lot wrong but we are blessed he blocked Mourinho from further ruining this squad.

 

[shamans]

Oh please. Pogba has been directly responsible for any good thing we have done since he arrived. From the two cup wins to finishing Second last season. Matic too. Mihkitaryan for all his issues delivered for us a Europa trophy. Lukaku for all the stick he gets is still the only other goal getter we have outside Pogba. In a side hampered by chronic under investment in key areas...


Anyone who claims all JM made was 1 good signing in 11 merely demonstrates they absolutely haven't the slightest clue what they are talking about. Period!

So are you happy with the squad?

 

[JPRouve]

Woodward is famously quoted as staying Alderwereld was 'no better than Phil Jones' whilst filling him out as one Mourinho's transfer targets last summer. He also repeatedly failed to sell Darmian. In spite of ample market.

This isn't true though, the article said that the players on Mourinho's shopping list weren't much better than the ones we have. We don't know who was one that shopping list.

 

[crossy1686]

This isn't true though, the article said that the players on Mourinho's shopping list weren't much better than the ones we have. We don't know who was one that shopping list.

Unless the shopping list consisted of our players, they were undoubtedly better

 

[JPRouve]

Unless the shopping list consisted of our players, they were undoubtedly better

I suspect that the list was made of players that weren't really available or at least not at acceptable fees and players that were indeed no better than our current lot while costing a lot. In the end we need to remember that Lindelof emerged as a decent top 5/6 player which wasn't really the case under Mourinho, we all know that we can improve in every department but we shouldn't do it at all cost, that's what we did with Matic or Lukaku and now we have to upgrade them again and most likely lost 50m between these two operations.

I personally think that it's better to be patient and not act foolishly on the transfer market even when you are rich.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

I suspect that the list was made of players that weren't really available or at least not at acceptable fees and players that were indeed no better than our current lot while costing a lot. In the end we need to remember that Lindelof emerged as a decent top 5/6 player which wasn't really the case under Mourinho, we all know that we can improve in every department but we shouldn't do it at all cost, that's what we did with Matic or Lukaku and now we have to upgrade them again and most likely lost 50m between these two operations.

I personally think that it's better to be patient and not act foolishly on the transfer market even when you are rich.

Lindelof's gradual evolution into a reliable centre half began when Mourinho was still in charge.

I'm loathe to defend Mourinho - because he is/was an insufferable twat - but if the board thinks he's the right man to manage the club (which they presumably did last summer) then they can't veto transfers just because they think they've a better idea than him about who we should/shouldn't sign.

 

[IRELANDUNITED]

He's alive to me, I'm not sure he cares about that either though.

 

[JPRouve]

Lindelof's gradual evolution into a reliable centre half began when Mourinho was still in charge.

I'm loathe to defend Mourinho - because he is/was an insufferable twat - but if the board thinks he's the right man to manage the club (which they presumably did last summer) then they can't veto transfers just because they think they've a better idea than him about who we should/shouldn't sign.

There were signs but it wasn't clear because he wasn't given sustained trust and I highly doubt that he would have the opportunity to show his abilities if a CB was signed this summer. And they should definitely veto a transfer if the fee is high and there is a discrepancy between the scouting reports, the managers wishes and the fee. Your view is way too simplistic, in my opinion.

 

[Random Task]

Woodward is famously quoted as staying Alderwereld was 'no better than Phil Jones' whilst filling him out as one Mourinho's transfer targets last summer. He also repeatedly failed to sell Darmian. In spite of ample market.


Why should I bother? If you are not already aware of what Gary Neville ranted about yesterday, or what I've repeatedly posted on here since the summer. Why on earth would it suddenly 'move you' if you saw it again?


What a pack of lies. First Lindeloff from the back end of last season till now has been steadily improving. So much so he was actually Mourinho's most reliable cb through out this disaster campaign before he got sacked.

Second Zlatan, Magic, Pogba and Lukaku were all establish starters under JM. Bailly was too in his first session before chronic injury struck. Yet he wasn't even bought to be an immediate starter....

Oh please. Pogba has been directly responsible for any good thing we have done since he arrived. From the two cup wins to finishing Second last season. Matic too. Mihkitaryan for all his issues delivered for us a Europa trophy. Lukaku for all the stick he gets is still the only other goal getter we have outside Pogba. In a side hampered by chronic under investment in key areas...


Anyone who claims all JM made was 1 good signing in 11 merely demonstrates they absolutely haven't the slightest clue what they are talking about. Period!


You'd have to be pretty far gone mentally to actually believe the likes of Zlatan, Pogba, Matic, Lindeloff or Lukaku are 'largely useless footballers...."

It's difficult holding a debate with someone who calls another persons opinion on subject a blatant lie (that's a paradox by the way), picks and chooses specific parts of sentence to address, whilst disregarding the rest of it and losing context in the process, then tops it off by calling me mentally ill!

MENTALLY ILL.

Harsh, bro. Really harsh.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

There were signs but it wasn't clear because he wasn't given sustained trust and I highly doubt that he would have the opportunity to show his abilities if a CB was signed this summer. And they should definitely veto a transfer if the fee is high and there is a discrepancy between the scouting reports, the managers wishes and the fee. Your view is way too simplistic, in my opinion.

Well that's the killer, isn't it? None of us have any idea how reliable these all important scouting reports really are, right? Judging by our record in the transfer market since Fergie retired (and a year or two while he was still in charge) I'm going with "not very"!

 

[JPRouve]

Well that's the killer, isn't it? None of us have any idea how reliable these all important scouting reports really are, right? Judging by our record in the transfer market since Fergie retired (and a year or two while he was still in charge) I'm going with "not very"!

Exactly and that's why when I look at it from the outside, I think that caution was totally understandable. When in doubt, abstain.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Exactly and that's why when I look at it from the outside, I think that caution was totally understandable. When in doubt, abstain.

I think that's sensible, everything else being equal. However, with Mourinho's track record it was as clear as day that blocking those signings was the beginning of the end of his time in charge. A death spiral was inevitable from that point onwards. Costing the club much much more money than it would have cost them to take a punt on the players he wanted to sign.

 

[Ekeke]

So Mourinho comes in wins Europa and gets us to second place in the league (in previous seasons could have been champions with points tally and without City money cheats would have been champions), identifies an area of weakness in the side and isn't backed and you think that is a good thing?!?

I agree that after not being backed Mourinho toys came out of the pram and the way things went he had to go BUT if he had been backed we could have been right up there. SAF was given time and signed a lot of players in first few seasons because it was recognised that it was a rebuild yet all we have done over the last few seasons is sack, sack sack. LVG was not too far away from achieving something, we controlled games but needed some quality to added so that we could take more risks to score more goals. Mourinho came in and then not backed following a season of second place and Europa!!??!??? Now we have Ole and already there is a thread asking what he must achieve to avoid the sack!

Honestly this job is becoming like the England job!

He identified it having bought 11 players for a shit load of money. Wanted shit loads more money to fix it when he'd already been given a fortune and there shouldnt be a weakness at that point.

If Mourinho's signings had been any good he would have got the money. They hadnt been. LVG, Sir Alex and Moyes' players were the ones carrying the team with barely any Mourinho signings in there

 

[Brophs]

He identified it having bought 11 players for a shit load of money. Wanted shit loads more money to fix it when he'd already been given a fortune and there shouldnt be a weakness at that point.

If Mourinho's signings had been any good he would have got the money. They hadnt been. LVG, Sir Alex and Moyes' players were the ones carrying the team with barely any Mourinho signings in there

I think that's probably pretty close to the truth. I suspect the real doubts crept in when Mourinho started to suggest replacements for the players he'd bought (and also quite a few other high value players who the club rated). It seemed to me, from the outside, that Mourinho was presenting that as normal 'churn' rather than being what it was; a pretty catastrophic misuse of money.

 

[bosnian_red]

I think that's sensible, everything else being equal. However, with Mourinho's track record it was as clear as day that blocking those signings was the beginning of the end of his time in charge. A death spiral was inevitable from that point onwards. Costing the club much much more money than it would have cost them to take a punt on the players he wanted to sign.

It was obvious by the end of last season that nothing positive was going to come out of this season. Woodward's mistake was not sacking right away, because be obviously lost faith in him in terms of transfers (there was good reason for that), but he presumably wanted to save money and give it a season so sacking him doesnt result in a massive fee. Not doing anything was a waste of time, waste of a season and turned into a massive waste of money.

It's actually shocking how we finished 2nd, on 81 points and reached a cup final, yet we all knew that this season was going to be miserable and he'd be sacked.

 

[NinjaFletch]

I suspect that the list was made of players that weren't really available or at least not at acceptable fees and players that were indeed no better than our current lot while costing a lot. In the end we need to remember that Lindelof emerged as a decent top 5/6 player which wasn't really the case under Mourinho, we all know that we can improve in every department but we shouldn't do it at all cost, that's what we did with Matic or Lukaku and now we have to upgrade them again and most likely lost 50m between these two operations.

I personally think that it's better to be patient and not act foolishly on the transfer market even when you are rich.

Lindelof's gradual evolution into a reliable centre half began when Mourinho was still in charge.

I'm loathe to defend Mourinho - because he is/was an insufferable twat - but if the board thinks he's the right man to manage the club (which they presumably did last summer) then they can't veto transfers just because they think they've a better idea than him about who we should/shouldn't sign.

In addition to Pogue's point to his bolded. I'm a bit confused about this part of this post. If the club deemed the players that were on Mourinho's shopping list to be not available and not good enough then why was that allowed to be Mourinho's shopping list in the first place?

If, as is the assumption, it's up to Mourinho to pick players and the club to buy them who is (and why are they) deciding that Mourinho's picks aren't going to happen for whatever reason? And if that's an important part of the managers job at United, then why is a manager's inability to recognise what players they should sign not deemed as being a massive failure on that manager's part? If the manager's job is to identify players and the club don't have faith in the manager to do that, then they don't have faith in him to manage the club in the way that they are asking that manager to do. Either change the structure, or replace the manager with someone who can do the job you want them to do.

Secondly, if the list Mourinho gave was deemed to be full of players we couldn't sign (by whatever process that happens at the club to decide it), why wasn't that sorted before the transfer window? Why wasn't Mourinho told that those players couldn't happen and asked to present a list of players that could?

There's no doubt Mourinho was part of the debacle of last summer, but I just can't really see any explanation that doesn't make Woodward the primary author of it.

 

[Ekeke]

I think that's probably pretty close to the truth. I suspect the real doubts crept in when Mourinho started to suggest replacements for the players he'd bought (and also quite a few other high value players who the club rated). It seemed to me, from the outside, that Mourinho was presenting that as normal 'churn' rather than being what it was; a pretty catastrophic misuse of money.

Exactly. If Bailly and Lindelof had come in and looked right at home and there were no doubts over them then I'm sure Mourinho would have been given another CB.

Instead Bailly had 1 good season then was terrible after that and Lindelof had a weak season. Its completely reasonable for the club to say hang on a minute, we paid a good chunk of money for those CBs at the time, lets see you get the best out of them before we sign a 3rd one for even more money.

It was very clear that Mourinho wasnt getting the most out of our players. And Ole did, until injury disrupted that and now needs to be given a transfer window like every other manager we've had, before we can really judge whether hes going to take us forward.

 

[shabadu84]

It was obvious by the end of last season that nothing positive was going to come out of this season. Woodward's mistake was not sacking right away, because be obviously lost faith in him in terms of transfers (there was good reason for that), but he presumably wanted to save money and give it a season so sacking him doesnt result in a massive fee. Not doing anything was a waste of time, waste of a season and turned into a massive waste of money.

It's actually shocking how we finished 2nd, on 81 points and reached a cup final, yet we all knew that this season was going to be miserable and he'd be sacked.

I think that was only after it became apparent we wouldn't be signing anyone besides Fred and Dalot though. We limped to the finish of the prior season but I do think we'd have had a much different season had we signed his targets. That's not to say that would be the best thing for the club in the long-run, and it certainly isn't meant to absolve Mourinho of his twattish behavior, but Woodward & Co are at fault for more than just not sacking him earlier.

 

[JPRouve]

In addition to Pogue's point to his bolded. I'm a bit confused about this part of this post. If the club deemed the players that were on Mourinho's shopping list to be not available and not good enough then why was that allowed to be Mourinho's shopping list in the first place?

If, as is the assumption, it's up to Mourinho to pick players and the club to buy them who is (and why are they) deciding that Mourinho's picks aren't going to happen for whatever reason? And if that's an important part of the managers job at United, then why is a manager's inability to recognise what players they should sign not deemed as being a massive failure on that manager's part? If the manager's job is to identify players and the club don't have faith in the manager to do that, then they don't have faith in him to manage the club in the way that they are asking that manager to do. Either change the structure, or replace the manager with someone who can do the job you want them to do.

Secondly, if the list Mourinho gave was deemed to be full of players we couldn't sign (by whatever process that happens at the club to decide it), why wasn't that sorted before the transfer window? Why wasn't Mourinho told that those players couldn't happen and asked to present a list of players that could?

There's no doubt Mourinho was part of the debacle of last summer, but I just can't really see any explanation that doesn't make Woodward the primary author of it.

I have asked myself the same questions in August, the board failed in his mission when they didn't sack a manager that they clearly didn't trust and Mourinho seemingly failed the board by not identifying good and gettable players. Maybe it is my bias toward a top heavy structure that leads me to make that conclusion but to me it's obvious that the issue for everyone involved is that they are bad at building a team and navigating the transfer market.
In the end I don't blame Mourinho, we asked him to do something that he wasn't really good at, he is a coach and a pretty good one but he isn't manager. I do blame the board and Woodward for not fixing that issue quickly enough, it's something that should have been done after summer 2013 and we are now in May 2019 and they interviewing people for a role that is seemingly not even defined.

Truth be told Woodward should be sacked, there is a lot of talented marketing executive in the world, he is replaceable. If the Glazer have any sense they replace Woodward with someone that has experience as a CEO/vice CEO in football with the mission to build a solid technical direction.

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

This isn't true though, the article said that the players on Mourinho's shopping list weren't much better than the ones we have. We don't know who was one that shopping list.

Wrong. We actually DO know who were on his shopping list. People need to STOP pretending the CBS he wanted are not public knowledge. Woodward plain didn't bother to sign any. Either rejecting them out right because allegedly "there are no better than Phil Jones' or using lame excuses like waiting till after world cup for their prices to be unrealistic or claiming he was 'saving 100m for Varane'. Then waiting till the last day of the window to chase after Godin and Boateng in a bid to look like he was 'pushed by his manager's pleas for stop gaps'.


Like anyone SERIOUSLY would buy the notion that a manager of JMs experience would wait till 24 he's of a transfer window to close to chase after an old, club legend like Godin, giving him less than 24hrs to 'choose' to uproot his life to move to Manchester.

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

So are you happy with the squad?

Seriously? Let me get this straight: After Ive posted about how the last manager was NEVER supported properly to fix the terminal holes in the squad. Which I've posted about time and again on here since last season. On top of listing the many players the said manager was saddled with of whom a number are clearly NOT good enough. You go on to ask me 'if I like the squad'? Just because I highlighted the untruths in anyone claiming (I paraphrase) he signed '1 good player and largely useless footballers in 11"? Seriously?

 

[shamans]

Seriously? Let me get this straight: After Ive posted about how the last manager was NEVER supported properly to fix the terminal holes in the squad. Which I've posted about time and again on here since last season. On top of listing the many players the said manager was saddled with of whom a number are clearly NOT good enough. You go on to ask me 'if I like the squad'? Just because I highlighted the untruths in anyone claiming (I paraphrase) he signed '1 good player and largely useless footballers in 11"? Seriously?

This is basic logic.

Mourinho had 4 transfer windows to fix this squad. Unless you think this squad is good enough, Mourinho failed at his job. He can blame these players all he wants he had 4 windows (I'm not even counting the 5th one) to move players in and out.

If you show me any credible source that talks about Mourinho offloading Jones or Smalling and the board blocking it, I too will understand his point of view.

 

[shamans]

Wrong. We actually DO know who were on his shopping list. People need to STOP pretending the CBS he wanted are not public knowledge. Woodward plain didn't bother to sign any. Either rejecting them out right because allegedly "there are no better than Phil Jones' or using lame excuses like waiting till after world cup for their prices to be unrealistic or claiming he was 'saving 100m for Varane'. Then waiting till the last day of the window to chase after Godin and Boateng in a bid to look like he was 'pushed by his manager's pleas for stop gaps'.


Like anyone SERIOUSLY would buy the notion that a manager of JMs experience would wait till 24 he's of a transfer window to close to chase after an old, club legend like Godin, giving him less than 24hrs to 'choose' to uproot his life to move to Manchester.

So who signed Bailey. Who told mou to sign Mikhitaryan and not a center back. Who wasted money on Sanchez. Who signed Fred. Who signed an aging Matic instead of a defender. Who decided to go for subpar Lukaku. He squandered all money.

The only mistake woodward made was not sacking him before summer.

 

[shamans]

I think that was only after it became apparent we wouldn't be signing anyone besides Fred and Dalot though. We limped to the finish of the prior season but I do think we'd have had a much different season had we signed his targets. That's not to say that would be the best thing for the club in the long-run, and it certainly isn't meant to absolve Mourinho of his twattish behavior, but Woodward & Co are at fault for more than just not sacking him earlier.

We did. Twice. We weren't going to fall for it the third time. BTW didn't he make it all Pogba vs Mou anyway? Someone he had signed?

 

[matt10000]

This is basic logic.

Mourinho had 4 transfer windows to fix this squad. .

Wrong - Mourinho had four transfer windows to advise regarding signings woodward should be make to fix the squad

 

[pocco]

There were signs but it wasn't clear because he wasn't given sustained trust and I highly doubt that he would have the opportunity to show his abilities if a CB was signed this summer. And they should definitely veto a transfer if the fee is high and there is a discrepancy between the scouting reports, the managers wishes and the fee. Your view is way too simplistic, in my opinion.

He was brilliant against Juve and Chelsea, with other good games around then too, off the top of my head. People were starting to talk about his transformation before Jose left. He's pretty much just carried that on all the way through now.

 

[thejtrain]

Why hasn't Manchester United hired a managed in the last 6 years who is in the middle of his peak and clearly not on the decline? There's a reason our fan base has never collectively felt confident about an appointment.

Hit the nail on the head there, and I must admit I had exactly the same thought about this. An appointment like Pep, Klopp, Zidane, or Poch would have made sense at different times during these 7 years, yet we chose the wrong manager every fecking time, including now.

 

[Red00012]

This thread title is embarrassing, can it be changed ?

 

[B20]

It's not really a question of whether mourinho as a manager should have been backed or not.

The bottomline is that Woodward gave his manager a contract extension, then a few months later decided he didn't trust the manager he had extended a few months before, and half heartedly backed him in the market, but vetoed the most important targets whilst blocking exits of players the manager was happy to sell.

In such a situation you shit or get off the pot. Back him or sack him.

What you do not do is give half assed backing in the summer, then brief the media all about it and waffle about the need for getting in a sporting director this season, undermining the manager as much as possible short of a public vote of no confidence, and then wait till December to act when the season is wrecked to pieces and hand Phil fecking Jones a contract extension the minute mourinho is out the door.

You also don't get to May with no follow up on the whole sporting director thing and pin your longterm plans on the interim manager who came from molde to help out.

Woodward's performance over the past 18 months has been shocking in pretty much all ways. People didn't want to hear it earlier in the season as it all helped to get mourinho out the door, but the truth is he hasn't made a single correct decision with sporting impact for 18 months now, except hiring solskjaer as interim manager (promptly cancelled out by jumping the gun on contract extension again).

Wouldn't be at all surprised with another summer of not really trusting the manager's transfer vision and needing a new structure to implement a long-term strategy next season and make it work till then will ya? Also I am briefing the press about it while I am at it.

 

[nickm]

So who signed Bailey. Who told mou to sign Mikhitaryan and not a center back. Who wasted money on Sanchez. Who signed Fred. Who signed an aging Matic instead of a defender. Who decided to go for subpar Lukaku. He squandered all money.

The only mistake woodward made was not sacking him before summer.

Hold on. I remember the Lukaku signing. There wasn't anyone else available, apart from Morata. Lukaku was a proven premiership goalscorer who had a good first season. As for Matic, he was a decent signing in his first year. Both those signings were perfectly defensible.