Manchester United Superthread 2014 mod warning #8081

Lucas Hood wrote: »

That's a common name for him.

homerjay2005 wrote: »

speaking of Red Cafe - only 12% of our fans on there wanted Moyes as our manger 12 months ago when the discussion started to replace SAF. the rise in support for Moyes then came after the Swansea game once fergie gave his speech but lets be fair while people were happy to support Moyes, im pretty sure very few people actually were happy with him.

in contrast, Van Gaal is at 94% on the current poll today. That is some difference.

keane2097 wrote: »

I was originally an iron tulip man but have 100% converted to czar of alkmaar in recent weeks.

In any serious relationship, severe, earnest energy is expended on getting and being got, and football fans are no different. In the guise of their club, which, despite it all, is still constituted by them, they evaluate its apprehension by interlopers, whether players and managers understand who they represent, and the consequent duties incumbent upon them.

Despite plenty of pontificating and prevaricating, rarely are these notions complex, or even unique; clubs are distinguished far more by history than principle. In the case of Manchester United, the requirements, more or less, are fast, attacking play, fighting spirit, youthfulness, attitude and zest.

These were values personified by Matt Busby, a man who understood from personal and professional experience that football is only football – and yet, at the same time, a whole lot more. “I love its drama,” he wrote, “its smooth playing skills, its carelessly laid rhythms, and the added flavour of contrasting styles. Its great occasions are, for me at any rate, unequalled in the world of sport. I feel a sense of romance, wonder and mystery, a sense of beauty and a sense of poetry. On such occasions, the game has the timeless, magical qualities of legend.”

The narrative aspects that he invokes define not just football, or even sport, but the vast majority of human interests and obsessions: consider art, literature, music, gaming, politics, psychoanalysis and gossip. And at the centre of each is a cast of performers who provoke, inform, compel and engage, altering emotions and intellects – often forever.

As such, their impact and influence is significant, and the best of them come to symbolise values that extend beyond their basic function. For example, Eric Cantona’s canonisation owes as much to his altercation with Matthew Simmons – an act that almost certainly cost his club a league title – as to the four that he delivered.

All of this explains why Louis van Gaal is the perfect replacement for David Moyes and Sir Alex Ferguson – United all over, even if he fails. And though his pedigree suggests this to be unlikely, it also fortifies him with an important degree of levity, because his career will not be defined by it. Should he succeed, he will still boast finer achievements; should he not, his reputation will get by.

Particular personalities suit particular positions. Those that have worked at United are covered by an umbrella term unprintable in a family newspaper, but defined as “one that is formidable” by the Merriam-Webster dictionary. In this milieu, the trait is defined by consuming, contagious, charismatic confidence, underpinned by paternal warmth and dispassionate ruthlessness – or, put another way, Louis van Gaal.

The men who succeeded Busby – Wilf McGuinness and Frank O’Farrell – were very different. McGuinness lacked authority and O’Farrell presence, known as a quiet man. And, like Iain Duncan Smith, they were unable to impose their authority upon a rowdy rabble in thrall to past glories.

On the other hand, the brash animation of Tommy Docherty, next in the post, manifested itself on the pitch and transmitted to the stands. This allowed him to remain when United were relegated, after which he led them back up as champions, to consecutive cup finals, and a near miss in the league.

But the controversial circumstances surrounding his sacking prompted a cautious board to appoint the cautious Dave Sexton. He lasted just under three years, dismissed following a run of seven consecutive wins; the football was dull, and therefore intolerable according to Busby’s credo.

Ron Atkinson, on the other hand, understood that style is integral to substance, even if he was too absorbed in his own – a frippery held against him as soon as things went wrong. But, in the meantime, United twice won the FA Cup and twice entertained their way into title-winning positions, as well as supplying some memorable European nights.

After him arrived Ferguson, a man inspired as much as daunted by Busby’s legacy. His confrontational nature and rhetorical skill meant that even when the football was tedious, which it frequently was, he was not. Crucially, he recognised that Manchester United must never be boring – and really, there exist few more damning insults in any context.

Indeed, since survival became more assumption than objective, much of the human project can be viewed as a treatise against exactly this. Broadly speaking, boredom is why sport was invented, its name taken from an archaic word that meant “a source of amusement and entertainment”. Nowadays, people seek it relentlessly in almost everything that they do, a mania illustrated by the presence of books in toilets and smartphones in pockets.

Under Van Gaal, Manchester United will not only amuse, but entertain. He is aggressive, imaginative and charming and his teams are aggressive, imaginative and charming, reliably serving their principal purpose: captivating a captive audience.

redbaron_99 wrote: »

do not want us to go near him. Repulsive footballer with his diving. Would probably cost us a lot of money, will be 31 next season and we don't need attacking players.

The money would be better spent on someone like Turan from Athletico. A player with a back bone.

brinty wrote: »

Lads to turn things on there heads a little bit, who'd ye think LvG will chuck out/get rid off...