10 Apr 2020 11:40:41
There have been stories about us buying Grealish from Villa. Now there is a rumour that Everton may bid and he may prefer playing for Ancelotti. Regardless of whether we should buy him or whether he is the player you want, consider whether Everton could become a more attractive a proposition than Manchester United because of the manager. Then when you stop ranting at me, tell me why Haaland didn't sign for the manager who helped him with his finishing. Then why is the Birmingham lad Bellingham seemingly looking more likely to join Dortmund?

Yes, I haven't aired it for a while, but it won't go away and the reckoning is going to arrive in summer. Stay safe people, but at some point we have to deal with our issues.

1.) 10 Apr 2020
10 Apr 2020 12:06:01
Those two examples are Dortmund. Dortmund have built a legacy of giving young players a base to succeed, playing top level football with consistent minutes. The club prioritises player development over almost everything else as there model relies on the sale of one player every three years. This makes them the perfect development club for any young professional who has concerns about getting minutes at other top clubs. They then move on to one of the "top tier" clubs who can afford them. I'm not a Solsjkaer fan but that isn't a stick to beat him with, that's a shift in the thought processes of players. And to be fair Solsjkaer has been doing his best to break that thought process by playing players like William's, greenwood and Chong. This isn't the stick to beat him with. Neither Haaland or Belligham will move to dortmund because of the manager, they will because of the club and the structure in place.

2.) 10 Apr 2020
10 Apr 2020 12:13:53
Or Bruno's comments where he says it was Solskjaer's personal backing of him that made him want to sign for us.

I know you're not daft enough to believe everything you read in the press. However, you are more than happy to peddle the bits that suit your point of view.

There could be a million reasons why a player chooses one club over another. The manager, the playing style, guarantees of first team football, money, location, other potential team mates. The truth is all of them play a part.

Haaland supposedly was a deal the club only half heartedly chased due to the fees involved for a player who had never played in one of Europe's top five leagues. Supposedly it would have cost us 70-80m for a player who could go to Germany for around 20m and supposedly has some sort of clause in his Dortmund contract that means he could leave for around 60m.

This Grealish rumour is interesting as the Everton interest is supposedly new. You would also think that to know which is Jack's preference and why you would need to talk to him. Which during lockdown means it's unlikely to be an over heard conversation, so this would have to come from someone inside Jack's inner circle who he will talk directly to during lockdown.

I suspect it's just speculation made up to sell papers.

3.) 10 Apr 2020
10 Apr 2020 12:37:44
Redman -

I think the recruitment under OGS has pretty good so far.

I think we are now possibly only a really good RW away from having a pretty decent team. If we can add a RW capable of contributing goals and assists on a consistent basis we'll potentially have a formidable front four.

Ole has developed a very effective system for when we play against the better teams which makes us solid at the back and pose a real threat on the counter. The addition of Fernandes has finally allowed us to be more effective against teams that choose to surrender possession and sit deep. The addition of a RW and Rashford's return from injury will also make us much more effective in this regard.

In midfield Fred and Mctominay continue to improve. Shaw is finally showing signs of being able to fulfil his potential and in Williams and Greenwood we have two fantastic young academy prospects.

No doubt we need more strength in depth and unfortunately the frustrating reality is that whilst Pep and Klopp remain in the Premier League challenging for the title will be extremely tough for any team.

My opinion has always been that we need good recruitment, to demonstrate steady and sustained improvement and that we have a team capable of taking advantage when Pep and Klopp finally leave possibly in a few years time. Having said that if the likes of Rashford, Martial, Greenwood and Fernandes (amongst a few others) are able to reach their full potential and perform on a more consistent basis and with some intelligent recruitment over the next few windows then maybe we might even have a team capable of challenging.

Before the break we were 11 unbeaten with performances improving and some pretty impressive results thrown in.

I think OGS deserves more time and I don't think Everton are a more attractive prospect just yet. Just in case you forgot Everton haven't won a trophy since 1995 or even finished in the top 4 since 2005. Maybe they'll need a bit more than Jack Grealish before they can legitimately claim to have become a more attractive option.

4.) 10 Apr 2020
10 Apr 2020 13:22:02
Good to talk football, something we have actual knowledge of.

Our recruitment has been better but has consisted solely of those players who wanted to play for us for a reason other than the manager. AWB was a United fan wasn’t he? I am glad to see Maguire gets more recognition as a player and the leader I said he might be before joining. If we don’t offer stupid money will players want to play for us in other circumstances? Will they really believe OGS can take us back to the top? I don’t think top players believe that, so other than pots and pots of money, we may not be attractive. If Bellingham is more attracted to Germany, when we rolled out the red carpet including SAF, that is damning. We have a rich history of youth, yet the stories about Gomes and Chong don’t do us any favours, nor does the handling of Pogba, but I still think if top players look at who they want to be coached by, unless they have a pre affection for the club, it won’t be OGS.

I know Everton haven’t won anything since 1995, I was there at Wembley when they did that. However, they have appointed a top manager who players will want to play for. Will those players be convinced they will win something, probably not yet, but the same happened at City and it was a year on year progress.

Shappy, happy to be wrong but I thought Bruno wanted to sign for us because of Ronaldo, how could he WANT to sign for us due to Solskjaers backing when he was in Portugal?

The world is in turmoil but now is the time to plan where we are going so we can deal with the future when this finishes. If we stick, as is, I think we are making a mistake.

5.) 10 Apr 2020
10 Apr 2020 13:26:13
I think we can all agree that Ole was left short in the summer transfer market.
But what else do you expect from the amateurs running the club.

We can clearly see the progress post winter window. A top playmaker and a good back up striker has ousted Andreas, Lingard from the starting line up.
Results and performance have picked up even with the injuries to Pog and Rashford.

I feel we are moving in the right direction in terms of player recruitment.
2-3 more quality signings will again push us in the right direction.

6.) 10 Apr 2020
10 Apr 2020 14:01:05
I don't think Bellingham would be damning. If I was a young footballer at the moment with the potential to be a great player I don't think there is a better club to develop than dortmund. They have the patience and ability to let a young player develop. They can play a solid level of football without too much expectation and not as much demand for results.

They have spent the last 10 years developing a youth first reputation which has been successful and have shown they are willing to sell there players on when the time comes. United are still having some trouble building that reputation and I'm not convinced they will ever be able to due to the expectation/ demand of being in the top 4 and competing for trophies every year. That's not a bad thing and I think Solsjkaer to his credit has done well with youth players whilst he's been at the club, whether that has been by choice or requirement is yet to be seen.

7.) 10 Apr 2020
10 Apr 2020 14:24:25
Why did Haaland not join Juventus instead of Dortmund? It was all about playing time for me, and he made right decision. There is a lot of interests from different clubs for Bellingham, if joins Dortmund not only utd but also other clubs will be snubbed.

8.) 10 Apr 2020
10 Apr 2020 15:22:58
It's all if and buts at the moment. Both Bellingham and Grealish might yet sign for the club. Or they might go elsewhere. If they do unless they explicitly say it was because they didn't want to play for Ole then its all just speculation.

Personally if I was a young player I would seriously be considering going to Germany, especially Dortmund. Who was the last teenager to move to any EPL top six side and become a superstar within 2 years like Sancho and Haaland have at Dortmund? If Bellingham feels he will get more game time and develop more at Dortmund then who can blame him.

Chong has signed a new deal and the last thing in the press suggested that Gomes might follow suit.

I saw an article the other day that listed a first 11 of players who rejected United during Sir Alex's time in charge, Lahm, Kompany, Gazza, Zidane, Robben, Ronaldinho, Shearer and Batistuta to name a few. Did they all reject the club because they didn't think the manager was good enough?

9.) 10 Apr 2020
10 Apr 2020 16:00:07
Shappy

You have mentioned Ronaldinho before. I suggest you read up on what happened, it was Kenyon that messed up.

I bet the reasons were not that they didn’t want to play for SAF or didn’t believe they would win things. The only caveat was that SAF didn’t have the highest Champions League pedigree.

Do you really think top players believe in OGS who hasn’t won anything or proved he can at any level?

10.) 10 Apr 2020
10 Apr 2020 16:05:44
Ole is not right for our club, ed01 and ed02 have stated it, the earlier he leaves the better we plan ahead.

11.) 10 Apr 2020
10 Apr 2020 17:05:13
Any player who says they choose to play for a club solely because of the manager is a liar. If a club offered any top player $25,000 per week and told them you're playing for the best manager in the world like a Klopp/ Pep, I can bet my last dollar they won't sign. That argument doesn't have any base. Take Bayern and Barcelona for example. Any top player who signs for them this summer definitely won't sign because of the managers incharge currently. Because just like Ole what have they won in their managerial careers.

12.) 10 Apr 2020
10 Apr 2020 20:16:26
obviously Ancelloti has a great record red Man, however if stories are believed Sancho wants to come play for ole? So I think at the moment the papers are desperate for stories, no one really knows what is going on.

13.) 10 Apr 2020
10 Apr 2020 21:20:39
Jeez Red Man, you really are scraping the barrel here. If Grealish prefers Everton to us then he’s not the player we need. Either he prefers to be a big fish in a small pond, or he’s an idiot. Your constant desire to belittle Ole is tiresome, I’m not the biggest Ole fan but give it a rest.

14.) 11 Apr 2020
11 Apr 2020 01:35:07
Papers are desperate for stories. Red Man is desperate for any angle to bash Ole, I mean we haven't had a win in weeks!

15.) 11 Apr 2020
11 Apr 2020 05:04:42
I remember you also saying it was a damning indictment on Ole's appeal, that Chong and Gomes were looking to leave. Well, Chong signed his new contract, and it appears that talks are going well regarding Angel. As for Grealish, I'm sorry, but I just don't think he's good enough for us anyway. Decent in flashes. Bit of an idiot by the looks of it. Don't think character-wise, he'll have impressed Ole too much over the last few weeks, when you see the type of players we seem to be looking to bring in - good players with good attitudes.

16.) 11 Apr 2020
11 Apr 2020 12:55:58
Dodgy banter, nail on the head my man.

17.) 12 Apr 2020
12 Apr 2020 13:21:21
Actually Nou, I agree, I don’t think behaviourally it did Grealish’s chances of a move to us much good, a lack of discipline is not a good trait.

I examine the angles of what is happening and challenge the sentiment. The Ed has a similar opinion on Ole and mine hasn’t changed. I think there are challenges bringing players in when showing them the managers experience.

I also wonder whether, given our large debt and the financial issues at present, whether we will be throwing cash around when there is a window, so keeping OGS makes some sense for the club as he may be more willing to accept that.