Is Sir Alex Ferguson just a one in a million manager?

He only does that when there is some benefit to the team in doing it. He always admits when we are outplayed unless he feels doing otherwise would keep pressure on our rivals, or help us push on from the defeat.

And how many of SAF's rival managers have admitted we deserved to win after we've beaten them? Dalglish, Benitez, AVB, Mourinho, Ancelotti, Wenger and numerous others have all blamed the ref / luck / alien intervention or some other factor after games we've deserved to win. It's all just part of the psychological battle.

I think SAF just gets noticed more for doing this cos he's been managing at the top for longer, and cos he's simply better at the psychological aspect! Even Mourinho was showing some cracks under SAF's pressure by the end of his tenure at Chelsea.

 

Dont give Dalglish any ideas

 

"We're, errr, gonna have te have e meeting with dese, err, aliens cos we're just no gettin th'interventions we desherve..."

 

slightly off topic now, but to be fair we've ended up talking about dalglish and aliens anyway, what do the toon fans think of pardew now? I know most of my toon mates were sceptical to say the least when he got the five year deal, but he's looking good for it. Especially with the signing of ba, cabaye and santon he looks to be doing allright.

 

Walking in a pardew wonder land

Seriously though, I'm happy with Pards, seems to have been a great move!

 

What's the toon views on Obertan so far?

 

He's receiving a lot of hate from some of our fans, because in all honesty he's been pretty poor so far. I think the reason why he is so frustrating is that we can all see he has great feet, pace and sometimes even a good cross. But he always seems to make the wrong decisions, and is probably the weak link in our team at the moment.

Most fans want to persevere with him though. He could definitely become a good player for us if he sorts his head out.

 

Great pace, but his crossing tends to be one good cross for 9 ****e ones. Also he frequently tries to take one step-over too many and breaks down what could have been a good move.

 

Seems like the same sort of criticisms that he had at OT as well. If he plays consistantly then the penny might drop as it did with Nani after he was by all accounts close to being sold in Jan 09. He seems to be an enigma similar to Adel Taarabt- lots of talent, great skill but it might just end up as a waste.

 

Chappaz -

[NSFW]****[/NSFW]

 

Well that's the test isn't it? If he can sustain it over a real period of time, if he can he will be the greatest ever.

 

He has to go down as the greatest manager of all time in my humble opinion.

 

he has also inherited arguably the best youth system in the world, which should give him a significant advantage in sustaining it. The fact that he hasn't built a team or put significant input into building the academy and scouting network of the club will always hold him back from being the greatest i feel, just as mourinho is held back by the 'he spends lots of money' trait/

 

I agree with your point to a degree but he was the reserve and academy head coach before he took over the senior team which has helped him integrate the youngsters into the senior squad, something an outsider may not have done because Pep knows the youngsters and will play them when they are ready and in turn the trust him as much as he trusts them, you cant buy that.

 

When he first arrived I didn't think he would fail miserably, but I expected us to do the same/worse than we had been doing and I figured he'd be a bit of an arsehole based on some of the press he got. Since then I've grown to really love the guy: He seems down to earth and in control of everything in an extremely laid back, stable and casual manner which is something we've lacked since Bobby Robson; he has the results coming in that we all like to see, wins against lesser teams and draws/losses against better teams (this is far better than the annoying erratic **** we've had in recent years - beating Liverpool or Arsenal and then losing to Blackpool or something); and our team seem happy and are playing for each other.

His PR work is hilarious because it is so blatant; always talking about how great the fans are and grinning while using the word 'geordies' in almost every interview he has had since joining. Works for him in the end because we like to see that he's trying. He's become a bit of a cult hero with his Colgate smile, Gilette chin and hold onto your wife haircut and he's had quite a few good chants and claps at games this season.

You'll still hear the odd angry person call him a puppet or something whenever he says something that comes straight from the top. These people are few and far between though, because the majority of fans know that if he gets served a **** sandwich by Ashley & Llambias he can either: speak out about it - getting the fans to love him, losing his job and throwing us all back into disarray again. Or just deal with it - tell the fans whats happening now, keep hold of his job and maintain the good times we're having.

Needs a lot of work on decision making as people have said. He just holds onto the ball for too damn long and has everybody shouting "PASS IT, ****ING HELL!" but there is potential there. Many of our fans can't stand him and I think I'm in the slight minority when I say that he has promise and I'd like to see him get a goal because a bit extra confidence looks like it would go a long, long way with him.

 

he only became barca B boss in 2007 though, when the academy and youth team was already well established. I know you're saying that he has the trust of the players coming up, but he was only in charge for a year so how much has been built up we can never know. He is able to trust in their ability because barcelona produce young stars from their academy every year and they all fit into their style of play after being brought up on it. There's hardly any gelling period for them.

 

He truly is an amazing manager, and what he has done will be very hard to repeat.

However i do think mourinho will overtake him in the department of trophies won, rather easily to be honest. People forget he's only like 49 and could have another 20 years of management left in him.

But no way will he achieve what Ferguson did at one single club.

Ferguson seems to always come out on top.

 

Until Ferguson develops the tactical genius of Allardyce and an eye for a centre half like Souness he'll never be considered a great manager.