1. Hence my question. 2. My sentiments exactly. It also sadly MHO created the most arrogant ingrate entitled group of supporters known to man.
It depends on how you look at it. Part of the transfer policy was about branding. They didn't just want to buy the best, they wanted to buy the best known. Making the club seem like the biggest in the business worked, to a large extent.
That's it without a doubt. I followed La Liga throughout that period, tbh bcos Beckham joined and the players they had were tremendous. But it was just a bunch of individuals on a pitch. The marketing, branding and financial side worked but in terms of trophies it was a disaster. The 2002 CL was just before the galacticos strategy and a year before Becks arrived. Then galacticos which iirc Florent Peres brought when he became president. Their next major trophy, the league title came 5 years later in Beckham's last season iirc. The players became such important assets they ended up having too much power. They could go to the president and complain and the manager would get sacked Fckin mental. Tbf to them their fans thought it was a shambles too.
Personally I was shocked when Poch took the PSG job. So many obvious red flags he ignored and everything about the club is the polar opposite to all the ingredients he needed to flourish at Espanyol, Soton and Spurs. I'm not entirely sure what happened after that CL final but whispers from within the club made it pretty clear that all was not well. I wrote years back when we appointed Maureen that the loss to Liverpool seemed to have driven a rift between players and manager after years of near-misses in big games - with both 'sides' blaming the other for the perceived weak mentality that stalked us throughout what was otherwise our most successful period in the PL era. I was ardently against us sacking him when we did but would have accepted it if only we didn't appoint the Portuguese dullard as his replacement. My gut instinct is that the longer Poch's reign went on and with it - and more importantly - the longer he had us punching well above our weight, the more he came to believe in his own legend. No question, every elite level player/manager needs a streak of self-confidence, arrogance even. But they also need the smarts to acknowledge their own shortcomings and compensate accordingly. My suspicion is that Poch came to see himself as one of the best coaches in the world despite a haul of zero major trophies. This is evident in his baffling refusal on transfer targets, his insistence to stick by 'his players' despite all evidence pointing to the fact that they were totally finished, his poorly timed and hastily reeled back comments about leaving the club just before the final, and last but not least - his piss poor judgement in the transfer market that exposed the fact that he had the smarts to build a first chapter but building a second chapter from a position of exponentially higher expectation didn't come easy to him. It is also evident in his decision to go to PSG, which was otherwise baffling. He must have believed he possessed the wherewithal to master a dressing room full of inflated egos and a club that is more media pantomime than sporting institution. He was naive to the extreme to believe this, and is sadly now paying the price with pundits and hacks openly questioning his abilities and talking about him as someone who needs to drop down a few levels to rebuild his reputation.
He hasn’t advanced his cause at PSG. Average record at best with stellar players. The test for any prospective Utd manager is the ability to manage a big club - not the ego or perceived status but the infrastructure. A big organisation puts a lot of demands on your time. It was a step up from Spurs to PSG in those terms and he’s not adapted. The problem for Utd is that there are few available managers the club can bank on. Any appointment is a gamble. There is no SAF available. Prising Klopp or Guardiola away is a non-starter. So it’s a risk whoever is appointed. Big names with proven records have failed. Poch should have been the choice before Solskjaer. He might have succeeded at that time.
As harsh as it sounds as he did a good job at Spurs. I have very little interest in Poch these days. The only move I don’t want for him is a return to Spurs as I think it wouldn’t end well.
Am genuinely surprised you didn't go for conte. Could not and still can not believe you let us get him when it was obvious you were going to have to get rid of OGS.
agree with this many of our supporters seem obsessed with that little period we had of good football and the personnel involved It’s like something weird happened…X files and the fans(some) aren’t buying any of it…and really(not really) the players and the manager was/are world beaters who just keep on landing the wrong manager(players) or wrong club(Poch). There’s many flaws in Poch’s management that imo have stood between him and the next level up and show themselves time n time again and I wouldnt want him back here either because we can’t afford them flaws if we are moving onto another level. As for the players…I’m glad that slowly but surely the crap from that period is being binned off and replaced with players who seem to have a much better attitude. Poch and Spurs met at the right time…worked for both…worked for the young hungry players we had at that time and worked for the young manager who has lemons in his office for karma purposes.His recruitment was pretty **** imo on the whole. He’s a good manager but I don’t think he has what we need…Conte does…does Levy? Let’s see.
1. You have to get your team to the peak. 2. You have to remain there by repeated refreshing of the squad over time. Fergie is the benchmark for both of the above. Pochettino has yet to demonstrate either. Klopp appears to be on the way to doing #2. I am not sure Conte can do #2.
Not surprised at all. Seemed a really poor decision on his part to go there in the first place. Polar opposite club profile/strategy to those he flourished in with Soton and Spurs. He'll have to choose his next move very carefully, I'd have thought, still has plenty of credit in the bank but this pretty miserable stint has dented his profile, no question.
