Manchester United Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2015 Mod Note Post #2331

Difficult to see what Mourinho would have to lose by taking over now instead of the summer if indeed that is the situation at the moment, the fans are not going to expect anything from this season and I think we're safe from relegation at the moment

Yeah, I agree, the lack of sacking has nothing to do with money. It has got to do with Ed and the board not wanting to look like failures.

The Moyes disaster could be levelled at SAF, he picked him and the club went with him. LVG was Ed's man, so to dispense with him is to admit that they got it terribly wrong.

On top of that is the reluctance to give the job to Jose. People in the club (SAF, Gill & BC for starters) are all against it and so Ed is faced with having to go against their wishes and so really put his neck on the line That is a big risk to take and so seems to have resulted in the whole thing being frozen by fear, hoping beyond any evidence that LVG can turn things around.

Funnily, their is no way Ed would let a business transaction fail so completely and just let it continue, action would be taken.

In any other 'top' club (of which Utd are no longer part of based on results) the manager would have been sacked. Take RM for example. Not a good example for continuity, but it was clear that Rafa was not going to work out (not sure why they ever appointed him) and they moved him on. No waiting around hoping. Got a terrible result against Barca and he was out the door.

In the last few months we have been beaten by Norwich, Stoke, Sunderland and the Europa cup disaster. And nothing. The team has not shown are real signs of improvement. Yes there have been glimpses of more attacking intent but that has been matched by a complete disintegration of our defense. We have a manager who seems to have only one way of playing and is incapable of any adjustment to that regardless of the actual happenings on the pitch.

In LVG's defence, the injuries has been unbelievable. 13 top team players are gone. Imagine taking that out of any of Leicster, Arsenal, Spurs or City. They are each heavily dependent on one or two players (Aguero, Costa, Mahrez etc) so that level of injuries, and the sustained nature of it will have an impact on any team.

But even with his full team playing, LVG's style is one that has not shown any signs of being able to provide anything close to the level required.

The top of the club is paralysed by indecision. That, even more than the results on the pitch, is the most worrying. Any team can suffer a drop in form, an injury crisis etc, but you can normally be assured that behind the scenes the right things are being done that will remedy the situation. I have the feeling that behind the scenes Utd are simply looking on aghast and hoping that LVG can turn it around so that they can all get back to worrying about shirt sales and not waste their time thinking about football.

On a final point, SAF and Gill should be removed from the club. They did a great job, but opted to step down from that job and should give the people remaining the respect to stay out of it. SAF in particular cast a massive shadow over Moyes and continues to do so even with LVG. You have your stand and your statue, you have your legacy and the respect and every Utd fan, but its time to step aside and let the new era happen without you. This includes getting rid of Giggs, The class of 92 were awesome, but WERE is the word.

We can continue to live in the past like Liverpool or look to the future and focus on the risks from City and Arsenal and the changing environment of the EPL. No doubt Ed W is a genius in the business world, Utd will soon be the 1st club to generate 500m in a year, but we need to harness that to deliver results. With that massive advantage in revenue we should be aiming to be winning 10 CL trophies in the next 15 years, not settling for maybe getting 4th in the EPL.

We should be aiming for doing the same in the EPL, with a mixture of FA and other cups thrown in. That is what City want, that is what they are looking to deliver and they are constantly striving to achieve that. They have just got in the best manager to try and deliver teh CL trophy for them. You get the feeling that if Utd were in the top 4 Utd would be more than happy to stay there and simply exist.

There was a very valid point made on one of those BBC discussion programmes about 2 weeks ago that Woodward had gambled on the assumption that Leceister would eventually fall away and United improving would end up being enough for top 4.

Also highlighted a complete misunderstanding of the suituation though when even without Leicester, the signs were there that United were slipping rapidly down the pecking order and it was being ignored.

Leroy42 wrote: »

In LVG's defence, the injuries has been unbelievable. 13 top team players are gone. Imagine taking that out of any of Leicster, Arsenal, Spurs or City.

That list of injuries contains mainly players who are not first choice players-in there Darmian,Rooney and DDG have only missed 1 game, Fellaini has missed two. Shaw has been out all season. Injuries is a lame excuse, when even with our first choice team out we are losing games and playing terrible.

The rest are either kids or back up players. Or I'll put it another way-the injury list just shows how poor our squad quality is, something however that many fans highlighted last September but others chose to ignore it. We have injury crisis every year and yet when it comes to squad planning, our club ignores it.

Meanwhile, the so called injury proned players we got rid of last summer have had all had relatively injury free seasons and have over 150 games played between them.

Getting rid of all those players in the interest of a smaller squad or more to the point cost cutting, has been a huge part why we are in the Shi* now and for that, LVG and Woodward are culpable. Smaller squad also means players are needed to play more games and that increases risk of injuries.

When you look at everything out together, it's truely disgraceful what has been left to happen.

madcabbage wrote: »

Personally I wouldn't be the slightest surprised if there's been zero contact from the club or if there's going to be any at all!

Exactly- we've not made any contact with Jose is the most likely scenario and Woodward genuinely puts our current "run" down to bad luck, injures and every other excuse you see in football.

His comments before Christmas about the fans expectations and LVG being a "genius" should have set off alarm bells for most in the sense that we should have known what was coming.

And that is even before we reflect on what he said around this time two years ago-we Don't need success to sell shirts.

In that one line right there, you see what our club has become.

I honestly believe if the club don't proceed in the Europa he is gone, it cannot be anything other than a sacking failing to beat Danish minnows 1-0 at OT at least.

Saying that the indecision and slowness to react is something very noticeable at the club and is evident every Summer. Top clubs don't let things like this season happen without change, somehow United think it's ok to right off seasons in December.

JaMarcusHustle wrote: »

Off topic, but what are some of the long running failed transfer sagas you remember at United (whether there was substance to the rumours or not)?

Utd were linked with David Hirst the entire summer before we got Cantona. How different things might have been if that deal had gone through. :eek: