His successor should have coached under him for a season or two - or alternatively kept many of his backroom staff when succeeding him, especially Phelan - or not tried to buy his way out of trouble by overhauling the team overnight - or the spending should have been done when SAF was there so his successor would have inherited a strong squad. I could go on
Man U have picked up a bit and should continue against Chelsea but I have to disagree with you Luke. Brian Kidd worked under Ferguson and did nothing when he left so somebody working under Fergson I THINK would have had the same problem when he succeeded to the job. It doesn't necessarily follow that the next will be as good as the last even if tutored. I also don't see Giggs as a successful coach.
Was he approached by Valencia or did he apply? I've never really understood why players seem determined to throw themselves in at the deep end in management and go for the bigger prizes right at the start. Self belief? Ego? Arrogance? To be fair, I think someone of Nevilles profile would have found it difficult to start right at the bottom as he would have had the media attention wherever he went. Also, would his reputation effect the players performances to much (a la Clough at Brighton where the players were terrified of him!). Maybe it is easier for the likes of Justin Edinburgh to spend his apprenticeship in non-league because the media probably don't have a clue who he is and wouldn't care if they did. But I am of the belief that all managers should start low/relatively low and get the feel of it before playing with the big boys.
So, who do we want to win out of City and Leicester. Leicester win and we can go second if we win. City win and a win for us takes us 2 points off the lead. A draw gets us second and 3 points off top. Depends if we truly believe Leicester will fall away. Been said for a long time, but no sign yet of this collapse. Scenario 2. Leicester beat City to stay 5 points ahead. Arsenal lose to Bournemouth this weekend (). Arsenal v Leicester. What result do we want? Boils down to whether we really think we can do this, or whether consolidating top 4 is the priority. Also where we see Leicester ending up.
1. Draw 2. City win 3. Game postponed. 4. The end of the world. I want to see us win the thing! Arsenal can keep their 4th place trophy. Liverpool's near miss and one season in the group stages of the CL didn't do them any good. They are back hoping a win in the COC can secure them a place in the EL next season.
One of the main stories on the BBC website is that Tomas Rosicky is injured and won't play for 3 months. In what sense does that count as news? What next, "Saturday follows Friday Shocker" ? Still, Wenger will probably give him another 12 month contract! Further on news Wenger, when asked about Spurs, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger added: "I'm not obsessed by that. My obsession is that we play well and beat everyone." Jeez Arsene, talk about failure. Even that fat ****er Meatloaf managed 2 out of 3!!
The fact that gets me is that to finish above Leicester, we need two more wins than they get over 14 games, draws being equal--and Leicester have only lost two in 24. If City wins and we win, nobody will be more than one win ahead of us. If Leicester wins, our hopes of catching them are down to hoping they collapse or we play superbly down the stretch. That obviously hurts our chances of finishing fourth, third, second or first. I’ll be pulling enthusiastically for City. On the topic of Arsenal vs. Leicester, on the other hand, I’m incapable of rational calculation. I see red and I want it trampled in the dust by double figures. A fluky last second Leicester winner (or even draw-er) also has its charms.
Absolutely. Everyone saying we need to concentrate on ourselves is completely right. Still fun to speculate on how our rivals will get on. And City v Leicester is at lunchtime, so can't really wait to see how our game goes first.
