This is true.
What do we think Fergie makes of all this?
- Thread starter Sam
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
This is true.
I have seen no such thing tbh. The people who were "shitting" on Fergie while he was here, are still doing the same now. Ironically enough, it's actually some of the people who defended the man a lot while he was here, who can't know wait to remind everyone how shit he apparently was since 2008 in defence of Van Gaal
To add to it, it was probably a bit of a frustrating juxtaposition he was in. He ruled over that squad with the perfect combination of iron fist and father's arm over their shoulder and yet knew that when he was finished, he could no longer have any influence over them as it would completely compromise the new manager's position.
So he had to sit by and watch some of his most senior lieutenants take their foot off the gas and seemingly not care any more while some of the youngsters he had high hopes for suddenly felt that their career's would progress better elsewhere.
It must have left him with a bit of a sour taste in his mouth, not least because questions then started to be raised about what sort of state he left the club in.
Eh? Got any quotes to support that accusation?
The very worst criticism I've seen of Fergie has been about his last couple of seasons in charge and the state of the squad he left behind. Where are all these posts saying he's been shit since 2008?
You're being a bit disingenuous there. The reality is that the high hopes he had for those youngsters were ill-founded. I've found it as painful as anyone to see that the likes of Cleverley, Gibson, Brady, Evans, Zaha, Powell and Welbeck might not ever be good enough to be a mainstay of a team that will consistently challenge for titles but that seems to be the harsh reality here. And don't get me started on that fecking wage thief, Anderson...
Fergie left us with Anderson, Clev, Fletch, Giggs, Scholes and Carrick in midfield. just look at that bunch, those were our only midfielders. we all knew they weren't good enough long before Fergie's last two years and they wouldn't survive for so long in any other big club. it has nothing to do with van Gaal - no sane manager would pick those players to compete with the best. "We have no midfield" and "Zombie passing" threads were the first to visit after many of our matches and now I'm reading that we had a perfectly fine and balanced squad. even though majority of our midfielders were at Everton level, even though we had only one rightback in club, even though we were horrendus in Europe, even though most of those players were sold to mid-table clubs because that was their real level... insane. honestly, I don't really miss anyone from that photo and it's hard for me to believe that there are many of you who would still want them back based on how they were playing in the last 2 or 3 years. maybe Kagawa and Welbeck, but that was before we signed Martial.
Fair enough. I was thinking more along the lines of Welbeck who was forcing his way out before Van Gaal arrived which is unfortunate because I think he's an intelligent player who links up well, presses hard and although he will never be a prolific scorer, nor a even a good 9, I think Van Gaal would have taken to him and found him a very useful tool.
The whole Welbeck things still depresses me
Although I do remember having concerns about the state of his knees. Which is Arsenal's problem now, thankfully.
The whole Welbeck things still depresses me
Although I do remember having concerns about the state of his knees. Which is Arsenal's problem now, thankfully.
He's still "d-at guy"
Bloody autocorrect.
When the manager leaves, title winners don't just become completely dross the second he's out the door.
I don't really know how he'd feel. You'd have to be pretty disillusioned with what has gone on. Complete gutting of the foundations, the failure of Moyes for me still rested a lot with the legacy group and how they collectively downed tools. If I was Ferguson I'd be pretty disappointed in them to be honest.
I've not seen direct criticism of the guy, I'd just skip over it in any case. But there were plenty of people trying in earnest to trot out the "we were shit for the last 5 years under Ferguson" prior to the opening game of the season. Which was a pretty tragic display.
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no, but just because our squad was good enough to win the title in that particular season, it doesn't mean it'd be good enough to win it today. Liverpool isn't a team we could leave 20 points behind anymore, they aren't managed by Dalglish and Fergie never had to face Suarez-Sterling-Sturridge in their prime. Chelsea are now being managed by Mourinho, not by Villas Boas/Di Matteo. Arsenal didn't have Ozil and Sanchez back then and City is stronger then it was in Mancini's last season. If I had to pick a team to compete for the title, de Gea and Smalling are probably the only ones I'd choose from that picture and that says a lot.
Unfortunately not, as that would mean trawling the forum for posts. But yes, I have seen a few posters say the last time United played good football and made good transfers was Ronaldo's peak season in 2008.
Not worthy of a new thread so this is probably the most relevant. In the context of a discussion around Fergie anyway. A great anecdote from Robbie Brady.
http://www.balls.ie/football/robbie-brady-alex-ferguson/307217
http://www.balls.ie/football/robbie-brady-alex-ferguson/307217
don't think he left a balanced squad, he left an aging defense on its last legs, a massivly under stocked midfield( we hadn't bought a center midfielder in over half a decade) and a lack of creativity on the wings.
fergie was the best manager ever i don't think any one else would have been successful with the squad he had in the last 3 years of his reign. Don't think you can give the guy enough credit for that.
But still think he left a bit of a mess for his successor to sort out in terms of the quality of the squad.
He should have signed Hazard and not taking the cheap route. I hope he is thinking that...
Exactly, it absolutely does my nut in when people mindlessly go back and bash Sir Alex for the squad he left behind, in hindsight of a manager who changed everything in the backroom on arrival, clearly lost the playing group early by alienating them (for whatever reason, speculatively the lack of pedigree and charismatic appeal and general managerial ability) and was then sacked. The following manager has come in and introduced a style and brand of football that is so far removed from the original blueprint that was being used at Old Trafford in Sir Alex Ferguson's reign that they fail to make the general connection between those three and lazily swipe at Ferguson and Moyes.
It is pretty clear that the core group was lost, going by the comments made by Nemanja I think that once they were all offside you had a fissure that went right through the entire squad. I mean, who would listen to Moyes over those core players? Beyond that, Moyes was on a hiding to nothing if he ripped up the squad straight away he'd have been lynched, if he bought a raft of new players people would have been all over him for that. Not to absolve him of his own shortcomings.
Then you have Van Gaal coming in and bringing a completely alien style to the club that even 14 months on it still looks like the players barely have a clue how to execute it. You can't have a team full of brickies and expect to make them architects overnight. It takes years and years and as this was an obvious short appointment, it makes very little sense to even bother implementing 'foundations' as people seem to call it.
The club fecked up with Moyes, they then brought a great manager with an excellent pedigree in who refuses to adapt to the English game. I honestly have no clue how anyone can even come to the final conclusion that Sir Alexis to blame for the squad he left behind. He left a core group that needed to protect the young guys, a couple of really positive buys and for that sustained growth to mature. We just uprooted the entire garden bed when Van Gaal came in because all of the plants were not considered good enough even though they weren't fully grown.