Good evening/morning everybody. Today I present to you the fun and games that is managing a football club. My special guests for this post? Well first up I have none other than Louis Van Gaal *boos from the audience*, then I have Jose Mourinho *cheers from the audience*, followed by Pep Guardiola *exciting chatter from the audience* and a whole host of others thrown in. So sit back, relax and enjoy.
Yes today’s post is going to be focusing in on the shocking “philosophy” of LVG and how he has managed to take one of the biggest clubs in the world out of the Champions League. Not only has he done that but also put them 2-1 down on aggregate in the Europa League against a club that was formed in the same year that we got smash hits such as ‘Livin’ La Vida Loca’ by Ricky Martin, ‘Tragedy’ by Steps and ‘Hit Me Baby One More Time’ by Britney Spears.
After this defeat (also before and during it) Manchester United fans were calling for the Dutchman's head and rumours are beginning to circulate that Jose Mourinho is the next manager in line for the Old Trafford hotseat. As everyone would’ve guessed Man Utd fans have creamed in their little pants over this prospect, expecting “The Special One” to make them kings of English football once again...for 2 years.
We all know that Jose will only last for around 3 years, so is it worth the two or three championships he might bring just to be back in this situation in 2019? I’m not saying keep Van Gaal in, all I’m saying is there must be a better option. Pochettino for example; he is genuinely trying to build something at Tottenham as he tried to at Southampton. After only being with them for a short amount of time, both clubs already look better off.
Personally I thought David Moyes was the answer. Handpicked by the best manager Manchester United have ever had, destined to guide The Red Devils on another 20+ years of English dominance and then forced out by fans at the first sign of struggle. If the fans had patients the owners wouldn’t have been forced into making such a drastic decision.
Now Van Gaal for me was never going to be a long term solution Not since his days as Ajax manager has he spent more than 4 years at a club. He seems to be one of those high profile managers who just seems to get passed around the best clubs, never really having a difficult time of it. Look at managers like Carlo Ancelotti as another example of this; doesn’t matter who he gets sacked from or after how long, he’ll always find himself back in a cushty job within a year or two.
But this doesn’t make these guys bad managers, it just means they are good at making positive situation in short spaces of time. I mean look at LVG his main task at Manchester United was to get them back to the Champions League in his first season. He did that. If he hadn’t made a few poor choices, he could’ve been challenging for the Premier League.
~ Side note: If you want to know the specific bad choices. I’d suggest reading my “Managerial Genius” post ~
When you look at a manager like David Moyes you see consistency. You see a plan coming into fruition. At Preston he managed to build a team so strong in Division 2 (NPower League 1 as its called now) that he got promoted and got to the playoff final in the league above with roughly the same team. This obviously attracted Everton where I don’t really need to explain what he did for them.
I honestly think if the fans had given him more time they would’ve seen the beginnings of a plan beginning to unfold, mixing the ideology of David Moyes with the never say die attitude of Sir Alex Ferguson. Now though all Manchester United fans want is Mourinho to come in and “fix” the club by just simply winning games and not looking to the future. Give a team patients and let them build consistency, the rest will come.
Now one man who seems to work magic wherever he goes; bringing an intricate style of play and having clubs mastering it within a couple of years is the next Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola. Pep was announced and immediately spouted as being the boss to dominate English football and take Manchester City to the next level in Europe…
...sadly I can’t see it going as smoothly. This man has had a very easy ride going from Barcelona’s B team to the full Barcelona team and then onto, the biggest club in Germany, Bayern Munich. Now for anyone saying it’s not that simple, LVG managed and won trophies with both teams...and he’s apparently a shite gaffer?
I am impressed with the way Guardiola manages to instill his tiki-taka style of play within seemingly months but he’s had to work with professionals in the past. For me it's going to be a real shock to his system when he has to work with premadonna’s who think the league should be given to them because they’re the richest club.
I’m not saying Pep is definitely 100% going to be a flop. I just think he’s going to have to spend big in the transfer window to bring in some true world class professionals, in which case is going to take the shine off it because everyone’s just gonna say “God sake Manchester City have bought the league again.” Oh well…
Anyways that’s all for today’s post hope you all enjoyed it. Don’t forget to tune in next week when I’ll be talking about managers again after Van Gaal gets the boot and there’s a shock twist as Tim Sherwood is offered the job. More news as it develops. Back to you Jeff.
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Cheers for reading.
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