Why we would want to give such a difficult job to a rookie is beyond me. We've had in the past ex-players who were good potential and became managers of other premiership clubs: Bruce, Hughes, Robson, keane, Ince and several others. Don't we all remember how Robson was touted as a future United manager? Now we know he is nowhere near suitable. Why would a massive club like United take a gamble like that? Taking Moyes was a calculated gamble based on his longetivity and what he did at Everton on limited resources. And that backfired. IMO United will only go for top names now.
Don't forget that SAF has recently said that Giggs could be manager, indeed, had he retired 2 years earlier SAF believes he would be manager now. Much the same has been said by LVG and so you have to accept that if these two experienced greats can both see that he has what it takes to do the job, then there must be some substance to their belief in his ability to do the job. He knows the club inside out, he knows how the fans want the team to play and I don't think he would have any problems in bringing in one of the best backroom teams in European football.
IMO nothing beats experience especially in dealing with difficult players and difficult situations like runs without wins etc. Because trust me if the team is in 15th postion midseason, it does not matter if we are playing "attractive, non boring" football if we get regularly turned over by the likes of WBA, West ham, at home. As long as Giggs or anyone else recognises his limitaions as well as his strengths and willing to get advice from more experienced people around him then it could work. I said before that the biggest single mistake that Moyes did was to get rid of the experienced and trusted back room staff. he should have kept them for at least a season. That should have been obvious to him coming to a massive club, with a different culture to what he had been used to. But whether the Glazers will be willing to risk it or even whether Pep becomes available. Make no mistake. If pep says he wnats to come to the premiership, United will be at the front of the queue.
You realise that's one of the dumbest things ever suggested? Seriously though, who is anyone to say whether he's up for the job. Surely the ones to make that decision are at the club and if they give him the job it's because they think he's up to it. I would support it 100%.
Wins, they say, are the only currency that matters. Win matches and all other sins will be forgiven. Perhaps. But as Old Trafford becomes increasingly frustrated by Louis van Gaal’s obsession with process, as the goalless draws rack up and the chants of “Attack! Attack! Attack, Attack, Attack!” are heard earlier and earlier, it’s perhaps worth remembering that it would not be unprecedented for a Manchester United manager to be ousted because his football was considered boring. It’s true Dave Sexton did not win a trophy in his four years at the club but he had taken United to an FA Cup final and to second in the league and any manager who is sacked after a run of seven straight victories is entitled to feel a little aggrieved. The decision to dismiss him, it’s believed, had been taken three months before the end of the 1980-81 season after United had gone five league games without scoring. Judge me when Ray Wilkins is back, Sexton pleaded, and the midfielder’s return did indeed prompt the upturn in form but by then the decision to replace the manager had been taken. On the surface, Sexton and Van Gaal have little in common. Sexton was someone who was always anxious in public. He far preferred talking to his players than to journalists, who came to mimic his habit of swallowing before beginning an answer. Van Gaal press conferences may not always be comfortable but they are compelling; there is always a sense he could say or do anything at any time. Sexton suffered by comparison both with his predecessor and with his neighbours. Whoever had replaced Tommy Docherty in the summer of 1977 was in an awkward position. Docherty was bold, brash and popular, and his cavalier 4-2-4 with Gordon Hill on one wing and Steve Coppell on the other had just won the FA Cup. But Docherty was sacked after setting up home with Mary Brown, the wife of the club physiotherapist. Sexton was a very different character, sensible, staid and cerebral – or, as Docherty cruelly put it, the only man to survive a total personality bypass. And as Sexton was umming and ahhing through press conferences, journalists who remembered the days of drinking wine in the manager’s office as Docherty regaled them with an abundance of anecdotes, found themselves warming increasingly to the more ebullient personalities at City: Malcolm Allison and then John Bond. So long as Manuel Pellegrini remains at City, Van Gaal will always be the big Friday draw in Manchester and his eccentricities mean he offers more copy than David Moyes as well. Advertisement The relationship with the press reflected a more general difference in ethos. Sexton had been part of the Academy at West Ham; he had pushed the salt and pepper containers around the cafe table with Allison, Bond, Noel Cantwell, Ernie Gregory and Ken Brown. He had won an FA Cup and a Cup-Winners Cup with Chelsea and had taken QPR to a second-place finish in the league. Sexton was more thoughtful, more cautious than Allison or Bond, and the result was a style of football that emphasised shape. Hill finished the 1977-78 season with 17 goals but his reluctance to track back meant he was offloaded to Derby. Perceptions can be misleading. United scored 67 goals in 1977-78, the fifth-highest tally in the division, but conceded 63; only six teams let in more. They scored 60 and let in 63 the following season. In 1979-80, when they began the final day level on points with Liverpool but lost 4-1 at Leeds, they scored 65 and let in 35. Only in that fourth and final season was the goals return poor: 51 scored to 36 conceded. Gordon McQueen, one of Sexton’s more successful signings, finds the idea he was a defensive coach laughable. But the public image was of boredom, of overanalysis, of making things too complicated, and the feeling Sexton did not play the sort of football Old Trafford expected chimed with a sense he was somehow an outsider. Manchester was happy to embrace Scottish managers but it had reservations about a Londoner. Even the £825,000 signing of Ray Wilkins was initially greeted with suspicion. Martin Edwards succeeded his father, Louis, as chairman in 1980 and there followed a string of transfer embarrassments. Sexton tried to pay a record fee for the Coventry goalkeeper Jim Blyth, but he failed his medical. Kevin Mabbutt turned United down to stay at Bristol City. Advertisement The promising local striker Andy Ritchie was cast as a prototype Danny Welbeck as he was sold to Brighton to make way for the £1.25m signing of Garry Birtles, who failed to score in his first season and soon returned to Nottingham Forest. Mickey Thomas, signed to replace Hill, was so nervous on his first day he crashed his car on the way in to training, and continued to be beset by anxiety. Nikola Jovanovic, the elegant central defender signed from Red Star Belgrade left within a year, baffled by English football and its drink culture (and who exactly owned his club BMW). Sexton did not believe in the get-it-wide, get-it-in-the-box philosophy Docherty had espoused and that United fans had come to believe was their birthright, and his explanations of his theory only compounded the belief he was too conservative for the job. At the same time he was undermined by a scatter-gun transfer policy. The echoes are unmistakable. No one could accuse Van Gaal of being predictable or lacking the necessary bombast but history suggests that style can get a manager sacked at Old Trafford.
The ****ing deluded RS trying to wum A whole page of stuff that could have been said in three sentences
Last time I looked LVG was the manager and SAF had been in the post previously for some 26 years. I imagine that with their wealth of experience of club management they are better placed to make a judgement of Gigg's abilities than any of us
On reading the latest instalment from SAF it is clear that he (and the club) wanted Pep but we were too slow off the mark and Bayern beat us to him. The process to select Moyes was a collective decision at board level rather than the opinion of just one man, albeit SAF
Don't be fooled! SAF had a massive hand in it. I really hope we that we don't miss out on Pep this time around. I would be gutted if he goes to City.
It depends on the availability of the managers we really want to follow LVG. If he becomes available next summer I am sure the GGs and Woodward will come to an arrangement with LVG
Obviously a good manager. But the real question is is he suited to United? He reminds of Capello a bit. Done a lot in the past but comes across out of date.
As long as the next manager doesn't feel the need to play 3 DMs at home to West Ham then I'll be happy.
