General Premier League Thread 2023-24 Mod Note in op 27/6/23 And 21/05/24

It’s probably the strongest argument for a 60 min game where clock stops anytime ball out of play.

That said, I don’t like thinking of a 60 min game partially cause it really makes me think of American NFL. Next thing there will be 4 quarters of 15 mins and a draft and a closed league…..

Maybe its because spending 350 million spent over 12 months doesn't actually mean anything at this stage and cant undo 10 years of infrastructural mismanagement. Some people get hung up on net spend which is actually a ridiculous way of judging a manager, that's how you judge a club. Its not a managers fault a club has build up a squad of under performing and low value players by over spending. If a manager has 500 million spent on players, it doesnt matter if its a net zero cost to club or it cost 500 million, the manager is still getting 500 million worth of quality for their project. If you have an issue with spend, why not moan about Chelsea ? Is it because that kind of contradicts your point , that spending equates to success ?

What really annoys me about this sort of stuff, is the puff pieces written about Pep. He joined a club that was spending hundreds of millions on players and infrastructure for him before he even joined. He joined a club that was already challenging for top honors and he has been afforded more resources and support from a club that any manager in the history of the sport has enjoyed. He couldnt of failed to be successful and one could argue hes under performed in Europe given the advantages he has had. There is zero objective debate on him, he is the best cause success and points tally in the league. Oh and City dont spend loads now, because they juiced up their squad and infrastructure in multiple ways, including through back handers off books that everybody knows.

ETH joins a club that's a disaster, that's effectively destroyed the careers of every manager its had since SAF retired. Its a club that has a crumbling stadium, inadequate infrastructure, has a marketing strategy that regularly interferes with managers preferences of focusing on field, has terrible record in the transfer market and effectively looks like the complete opposite to City where a manager is effectively setup to fail. I do not think anybody would be stupid enough to think that a Pep at United over the last 10 years would have won anywhere near as much as he has at the far better run clubs (sure things) he has managed. That in itself shows the folly of judging a manager on spending.

Since ETH has joined United, Arsenal have spent €400 million which is roughly the same as United and under less pressure. The difference was that Arteta had time to weed out players he didnt want and start to mould the team before he got to spend big. ETH joined an over paid squad of disjointed under performing players in a club that's owners subsequently put up for sale, the biggest start in the team fell out with the manager and he had to sign Weghorst as a first team striker.

Most reasonable people would see last season as very impressive in terms of how ETH navigated things. Managing United is not the same as managing a club that will accept a few years working things out, because with big spending comes bigger expectations. And United is just a much bigger club then any club in England, that must really annoy fans, but its just a fact.

All things being equal, you couldn't of asked for more from ETH last season , he steadied the ship, got a trophy in the cabinet and most importantly most fans can see the potential that he promises once our cluster f**k of a club keeps backing him. That's no easy task, but I get why non united fans want to try and underplay his achievement and progress, a lot of the time they do not like seeing any praise for a manager they want United to sack.

The government and the football authorities can do what they want, when they want to as they have done in the past.

But really what motive do they have to tarnish their entire product that’s celebrated by millions of people who couldn’t care less how city achieved their success. There’s hundreds of millions being pumped into the sport , why would they sabotage the Gravy train?

I think of it like United and Greenwood. If you wait enough time , the fickle nature of people will just accept it’s probably not really an issue, even if there is some blowback. Meanwhile the EPLs treble winners and poster boy Pep can continue to be put up on a pedestal.

I don’t think it’s negligible factor but equally I don’t think the headline “he spent 350 million net” is an accurate statement in isolation. There’s sympathy in some parts for Graham potter who had over half a billion spent and he wasn’t even around a year. Amount spent is not as important as how it’s spent.

The only player ETH inherited who was worth anything was Bruno. The superstar of the team had to be sacked, something a lot of managers wouldn’t do and ETH got spot on. The first team GK couldn’t play to his tactics , went on a free. The world record defender , who was also the captain of the club, can might not fetch more then doublewhat liverpool got for a past it Jordan Henderson. How is that ETH fault?

If a manager doesn’t have any superstars to sell and doesn’t inherit a squad of any real value with unwanted players actually harder to shift, how can you hold that against him?

He’s also joined a club notoriously sh*t at selling and buying players for multiple reasons (one being the ridiculous contracts given out).

Id love to see any top manager of a top club have Weghorst as their starting striker for a couple of months in a season due to player limitations. That just doesn’t happen at most well run clubs. That’s not to say “poor ETH”, but to balance out the “he spent 400 million” narrative that is only part of the story.

If anything, people should acknowledge the difficult conditions United managers have to navigate. Spending over a billion on a disjointed squad is not a managers fault. Being stuck with those players is not a managers fault. Not being able to offload these players is not a managers fault.

I think if you put Klopp or Pep at United, neither would have won a league or CL the last 10 years , even though Uniteds spending was as much or more at times. A manager can only succeed with the right backing. Some of you seem to think that “well 400 million was spent” is “the right backing” but United , like Chelsea have shown this to be a very misguided barometer.

Certainly it’s only one part of how somebody should fairly judge a manager. The football infrastructure behind the backing is just as, if not more, important as the headline money being spent.