Post-Fergie manager #4 & 5

[Karma]

Dec 18, 2018 12:53:38 GMT Rustin Cohle said:

SSN saying Blanc is one of the leading candidates for the caretaker role.

Out of contract
Not worked for 2 years

Anything else?

[ratbag]

This is what Poch said at his press conference...

The Spurs boss said: "It's obviously sad news and I want to send my commiserations to Jose.

"I think after five years a lot of rumour, my position here is that I'm manager of Spurs

"The rumours happen, but it's not my business what happens. I am focused on delivering for this football club."

Not exactly a furious denial of any interest from him...


...hopefully...

[Rustin Cohle]

www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/sport/mauricio-pochettino-wants-to-replace-jose-mourinho-at-manchester-united-8dw5scqmx

Mauricio Pochettino wants to replace José Mourinho at Manchester United

Mauricio Pochettino is keen to be considered as the permanent successor to José Mourinho at Manchester United, who have lined up their former striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to take over as caretaker manager.

United have targeted Tottenham Hotspur’s sought-after manager to take over long term. In a more surprising move, the club have opened talks with Solskjaer for him to step in until the end of the season despite his disastrous spell in charge of Cardiff City in 2014, his only previous Premier League managerial experience.

Mourinho was sacked in a face-to-face meeting with Ed Woodward, United’s executive vice-chairman, at the club’s training centre yesterday after a miserable first half to the season. United’s share price on the New York stock exchange rose by about 5 per cent in morning trading, adding $150 million (about £119 million) to the overall value. It is understood that Pochettino, 46, wants to be considered for the job, though it would cost United £34 million in compensation for Spurs, in addition to a £16 million payoff to Mourinho. Given that would be half the amount the club paid for Paul Pogba, it would be viewed as money well spent if Pochettino’s signature is secured.

The Spurs manager, whose contract expires in 2023, has gained plaudits for his attacking style of play, bringing through youngsters from the academy and the results his teams have achieved.

If the move for Pochettino fails, United will look to Diego Simeone at Atletico Madrid. The club considered both men before appointing Mourinho in 2016 — the Portuguese was seen as the best option for achieving immediate success. Zinédine Zidane, the former Real Madrid coach, would be a riskier appointment.

United have begun talks with Solskjaer about the caretaker role and an announcement could come later today. The Norwegian, who played for United between 1996 and 2007, is the coach of Molde in Norway’s top division but their season does not start until March. Woodward wants to appoint a caretaker from outside United but who has knowledge of the club. He also plans to appoint a director of football.

Solskjaer, 45, was team manager of United’s reserves when Pogba, who fell out with Mourinho, was in his first spell at the club. In an interview in the summer, Solskjaer said he would build the team around the Frenchman. He has previously spoken of managing United as a “dream”.

Mourinho is understood to have been surprised to have been sacked despite the run of poor results, culminating in a 3-1 defeat by Liverpool on Sunday. He did not address the players after his meeting with Woodward but met some individually. Pictures taken outside the training base showed the Portuguese arriving at Carrington with heavy stubble but emerging three hours later smiling and clean-shaven.

United said in a statement: “Manchester United announces that manager José Mourinho has left the club with immediate effect. A new caretaker manager will be appointed until the end of the season, while the club conducts a thorough recruitment process for a new, full-time manager.”

Real also want Pochettino as their long-term coach at the end of the season but he is aware that the United job does not come up often and is understood to favour Old Trafford over the Bernabéu. Sir Alex Ferguson, the club’s former manager who is now a director, and other board members are known to be admirers of Pochettino, who refused to rule out moving to United when asked about his intentions in a press conference yesterday.

Despite his attachment to Tottenham and good working relationship with the chairman Daniel Levy, he is understood to be frustrated by the lack of backing he has received in the transfer market, a tightly controlled wage structure, the failure to offload players he no longer wanted and delays to the opening of their new stadium.

Pochettino is convinced he could have an immediate positive impact at United, particularly if he is backed in the transfer window. He would want to take his first-team coaching staff — Jesús Pérez, Toni Jiménez and Miguel D’Agostino — to Old Trafford but United must first reach an agreement with Tottenham. The club tied Pochettino to a five-year contract worth £8.5 million a season last summer which does not contain a release clause, leaving United with no option but to buy it out in full.

Asked if he was interested in the United job, Pochettino said: “It is not my business if something happens in another club, like in many, many clubs around the world. I am happy here in Tottenham and I have four-and-a-half years left on my contract.

“Like always in football, no one can guarantee anything. What is going to happen in the summer? What is going to happen tomorrow? No one knows. The most important is to enjoy the journey. I’m so happy here, my focus and energy is in Tottenham.”

Paul Mitchell, who worked with Pochettino at Spurs, has been mentioned as a possible candidate as director of football. He is the head of recruitment for RB Leipzig in Germany.

Woodward felt he had to act after becoming dismayed with Mourinho’s treatment of some members of his squad, including regularly criticising players in public. United’s directors also became concerned at the fans’ reaction to the style of play under Mourinho. The club are sixth in the table, 11 points off the Champions League places. Their league goal difference is zero.

Woodward also lost faith in Mourinho’s ability to sign the right players. He spent more than £350 million on 11 signings but fell out with Pogba, the club’s record signing, who posted and swiftly deleted a tweet with a picture of him looking quizzical saying “Caption this”. Fred, the club’s fourth-most expensive player, did not make the match-day squad against Liverpool.

It was not lost on Woodward that Mourinho demanded another centre half in the summer when he had already spent more than £60 million on Victor Lindelof and Eric Bailly.

Michael Carrick and Kieran McKenna, two of Mourinho’s assistants, will take training this week. Jürgen Klopp said Mourinho would not be short of offers. “If José wants another job, he has it in two days,” the Liverpool manager said. “He wanted to be successful at United and he was, but then it didn’t work out in the way everybody wanted it to. That’s how it is in our job.

[Rustin Cohle]

www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/sport/sacking-jose-mourinho-only-the-start-manchester-united-need-complete-overhaul-70x668phr

Mauricio Pochettino perfect fit for club that has lost its way

Few at Manchester United will mourn the departure of José Mourinho as he had become moody and graceless. Mourinho even upset the most placid of staff at MUTV, the uber-supportive in-house broadcaster. The Charmless One had to go.

Some at Carrington and Old Trafford admit that they felt a temptation to scream at Mourinho: stop being so miserable, lighten up, appreciate you’re at one of the greatest clubs in the world, being paid £15 million a year, and those amazing, countless match-going fans are still loyal despite the turgid, tactically palsied football inflicted on them.

Rude, abrupt, contrary: these are just some of the words attached to Mourinho. For those legions of staff who consider it an intense privilege to work for United, and do so willingly for modest return, they just want to be respected and acknowledged, not brushed past in the corridor. So goodbye haughtiness. So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen petulance.

A specialist in fracture, Mourinho could pick a fight with his own shadow. He was thoughtless. He didn’t think how bad it looked not moving out of the Lowry Hotel. It smacked of impermanence. It contrasted with how Pep Guardiola found a place, moved his family, giving an indication of sticking around, building something special and long term at Manchester City.

Being manager of United demands certain duties and sensibilities, namely an emotional connection with staff, players and supporters. Some noblesse oblige, please, a greeting here, a “well done” there. Mourinho used to have people skills in abundance. Not now.

He used to be fun, possessed of an electric personality that lit up a room, instead of plunging it into darkness. Even Mourinho’s obsessive predecessor, Louis van Gaal, loved a night out with staff, was first on the dance floor, told a joke, grabbed the mic, launched a singsong. Van Gaal was fun, even if the football was the opposite. Mourinho wasn’t fun, and the football was torture.

The Spiky One’s team were a shambles, defensively dishevelled, creatively bereft and downcast up front, going nowhere but mid-table in the Premier League, and heading towards the sharpest of guillotines in Paris in the Champions League. The decision by Ed Woodward, the executive vice-chairman, to cut their losses and run Mourinho out of town was understandable.

Woodward must look at himself too. The problems at United lie far deeper than one outmoded manager. Mourinho was the symptom rather than the malaise itself. The culture is wrong there, the structure too. Woodward, an acknowledged genius at commercial deal-making, the Pelé of perimeter advertising, has to step away from the dressing room. He’s not a football man.

United have to bring in a footballing expert to work with the next manager, as Jürgen Klopp does so successfully with Michael Edwards at Liverpool. Mourinho did not want to work with one but that stance is patently redundant. United are looking for a sporting director, but want to get their managerial appointment sorted first when really they need the sporting director to be in place to assist with that recruitment. The planning department at Old Trafford needs to be reopened.

The sporting director, working with the manager, must overhaul an imbalanced squad, keeping the core of David De Gea, Luke Shaw, Paul Pogba, Jesse Lingard, Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Romelu Lukaku, plus youngsters such as Mason Greenwood and James Garner, adding shrewdly, starting with Toby Alderweireld, and excising extensively, beginning with Antonio Valencia and Marouane Fellaini.

They must also rebuild the philosophy. The United way is about attacking, being on the front foot, fast and furious, working hard for one another, historic traits fostered by Sir Matt Busby and Sir Alex Ferguson that disappeared under David Moyes, Van Gaal and Mourinho. Opponents do not fear United any more. They’ve lost their way, strayed too far from their roots. They have to regain their identity embodied by local heroes such as Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville.

The lines between commercial and footballing have become blurred, whether in demands on the squad, pre-season commitments or simply what the manager is obliged to do during the crammed working week. United need to remember they are a football club first, and a commercial operation second. The latter can feed the former, of course, but the balance is wrong. The dash for cash has accelerated under the money-obsessed ownership of the wretched Glazer family with their gimlet eye on gleaming dividends.

It cannot have been comfortable for the true heartbeat of the club, Ferguson, Sir Bobby Charlton and David Gill sitting there at Anfield on Sunday, watching their club played off the park by a Liverpool side representing all the qualities they cherish: fire, flair and boldness. It cannot have been pleasant for such distinguished servants of the club listening to the gloating of the Kop chorusing: “Don’t sack Mourinho.”

Woodward was pictured whispering to Charlton, holding his hand across his mouth to deter lip-readers, and the message cannot have been positive about the football being played. It was anti-football, negative, an affront to United traditions, no balance or intensity to the team, no real desire or game-plan. Plan B? A Plan A would have been a start.

To hear Mourinho then praising Liverpool players afterwards must have further annoyed, even antagonised his employers and supporters. Mourinho lauded Andrew Robertson more in five minutes than he has hailed his own left backs in almost three years there. United’s dressing room had become divided. “It’s a mess,” one source confided.

It must also have been the most painful of visits for United fans to the Anfield Road End, seeing Liverpool record 36 attempts on goal, watching the irrepressible Robertson flying forward, and noting their favourite attacker, Martial, kicking his heels on the bench for 79 minutes.

According to one of those fans present, a loyal supporter of four decades standing and sitting, there were murmurs of dissent. “Quietly, yes, but we could never sing ‘José Out’ at Anfield,” he said. “It would have been too embarrassing. We didn’t like the line-up, especially a defender [Diogo Dalot] on the right wing. I know he was put there to stop Robertson coming forward but why not play Martial and give them something to think about?”

Nobody enjoyed watching United any more. The good stuff is being played by Guardiola’s City, Klopp’s Liverpool, Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham Hotspur, Maurizio Sarri’s Chelsea and Arsenal under Unai Emery. United are off the pace in league positions and in the style stakes.

Still recovering from Anfield, the United fan added: “The most interesting thing to see in the next couple of weeks will be the performances and attitudes of the players especially [Paul] Pogba.” The players undeniably let the fans down. Whatever their grievances with the cold Mourinho, the players lacked true professionalism.

As for Pogba, the new manager, whether Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as caretaker or Pochettino long term, will doubtless create a platform for the World Cup-winner, allowing him to attack more. Cue sighs about the fickleness of the modern superstar if Pogba goes on a barnstorming run of form.

Pogba was always going to win the battle with Mourinho in the Glazer era. Go into the megastore, see the queues pushing for Pogba-related club merchandise. Money talks loudest at United under the Glazers. Pogba needs to add substance to the style.

And who to guide him? Woodward has to get the appointment right otherwise he will follow Mourinho out of the door. Critics argue the job is toxic in the post-Ferguson era, but that ignores the competitive nature of leading managers. United may resemble troubled matinee idols fearful of losing their looks but they are still Hollywood.

The club’s stature was reflected in the impact of the news on the stock market, the waves of interest flooding around the world, trending on Twitter, academics breaking off from their studies to dispatch emails on “What has gone wrong at United?” and even pizza joints offering Mourinho work but, as the joke went, he probably won’t make four seasons with them.

Pochettino would be perfect to revive United, given his commitment to youth and entertainment, although negotiating with Daniel Levy, the Spurs chairman, is a Sisyphean task (even if he has an obvious target in Eddie Howe who continues to overachieve at Bournemouth). Spurs look established in the Champions League with a young, vibrant squad and heading into a new stadium, so Pochettino would need some persuading but this is United calling. Pochettino’s smile would be most welcome after the Mourinho scowl.

[Karma]

Dec 19, 2018 9:00:47 GMT Rustin Cohle said:

www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/sport/mauricio-pochettino-wants-to-replace-jose-mourinho-at-manchester-united-8dw5scqmx

Mauricio Pochettino wants to replace José Mourinho at Manchester United

I'm sure Woody will find a way to balls it up

[GeniusCantona]

Dec 19, 2018 9:02:04 GMT Karma said:

Dec 19, 2018 9:00:47 GMT Rustin Cohle said:

www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/sport/mauricio-pochettino-wants-to-replace-jose-mourinho-at-manchester-united-8dw5scqmx

I'm sure Woody will find a way to balls it up

If we appoint a DOF, I wouldn’t be to worried. A lot of reliable heads in the media are saying that the Club is finally heading down the direction of changing the football structure. 5 years too late but it seems like it’s finally happening.

[caino]

even seams like the media for once are on the clubs/fans side. theyre even pushing for Poch.

rival fans are talking a lot about it as they know were going to get our shit in order and when we do they know were a massive threat.

[GeniusCantona]

Dec 19, 2018 11:18:50 GMT caino said:

even seams like the media for once are on the clubs/fans side. theyre even pushing for Poch.

rival fans are talking a lot about it as they know were going to get our shit in order and when we do they know were a massive threat.

Well our share prices have taken a massive drop so the club has gone down in value. At least it got the gimps’ attention.

Spurs fans are delusional if they think Poch won’t seriously consider us. New stadium yes but the result is always the tightening up of the purse strings. Arsenal had to go thru it and Spurs will undoubtedly go thru the same.

[caino]

Dec 19, 2018 13:11:32 GMT GeniusCantona said:

Dec 19, 2018 11:18:50 GMT caino said:

even seams like the media for once are on the clubs/fans side. theyre even pushing for Poch.

rival fans are talking a lot about it as they know were going to get our shit in order and when we do they know were a massive threat.

Well our share prices have taken a massive drop so the club has gone down in value. At least it got the gimps’ attention.

Spurs fans are delusional if they think Poch won’t seriously consider us. New stadium yes but the result is always the tightening up of the purse strings. Arsenal had to go thru it and Spurs will undoubtedly go thru the same.

its risen since the appointment of Ole. imagine what would happen if we got poch.

I mean with the owners rumoured to want out, they could be setting themselves up for a big buy out. and in turn strengthening us to make us more marketable.

[On a break]

If we are going for Pochettino I think he will take some prising from Levy, we all know what it's like dealing with him and Poch will have to ask to be released to give us a chance.

Thoughts?

[alwaysUnited]

Dec 24, 2018 17:35:38 GMT On a break said:

If we are going for Pochettino I think he will take some prising from Levy, we all know what it's like dealing with him and Poch will have to ask to be released to give us a chance.

Thoughts?

I think its pretty much confirmed we are going for poch , other potential candidates like zidane and jardim are already out of contract and we didnt hire them.

Poch is not gonna say no when United comes calling , and we will have to pay up whatever is left on his contract which i dont mind. Rather have the money invested in the club than go to glazers account 

[Karma]

If Poch wants to come it won't matter what Levy wants.

[mightyez]

If Poch wants to leave and levy wants to be awkward then it can get messy very quickly.
Levy probably has hotshot lawyers right now looking at poch’s contract and examining every scenario.

Some papers have said it will cost £40 million as they are working on the assumption he is on £10 million a year but that is just silly Spurs will naturally argue his value is far greater to them per season, they can say if he leaves it reduces their chances of champions league football etc etc

Whilst Poch might be the favoured option he isn’t the only option

[GeniusCantona]

Dec 24, 2018 23:28:10 GMT mightyez said:

If Poch wants to leave and levy wants to be awkward then it can get messy very quickly.
Levy probably has hotshot lawyers right now looking at poch’s contract and examining every scenario.

Some papers have said it will cost £40 million as they are working on the assumption he is on £10 million a year but that is just silly Spurs will naturally argue his value is far greater to them per season, they can say if he leaves it reduces their chances of champions league football etc etc

Whilst Poch might be the favoured option he isn’t the only option

I’m sure that despite the general incompetency of Woodward and our board, we’ll employ competent barristers and solicitors who could handle the contractual issue. This is the least of our worries, first we need to convince Poch and his advisors that our club despite the general failure of the past 5 years is where his future lies. Spurs current form isn’t helping. But on the other hand, if we go on an amazing run to get into the top 4 and manage a cup win then we’ll all be screaming for Ole to be named our permanent manager. Still a lot to happen from now to season’s end!

[Karma]

Anyone still want Eddie Howe? 😅😅

It would be pressing the self destruct button if we even went there!

Cue the "Well it's only Bournmouth, if he came here it would be a different story!"

Yeah right.