Someone's having a laugh - they Rang Nick and got Ralf

[Barrington Womble 10,978]

57 minutes ago, Trumo said:

Conte is probably what they needed, but I imagine when they sounded him out, he would have wanted to get rid of Ronaldo or bench him at the very least. After all the noise the club made following his signing, they'd be reluctant to take such a course of action just a few months later.

 

Their owners seem happy to have the money continue rolling in, and only when there's a possibility of that being under threat do they take any decisive action. I guarantee that if the club's various sponsors hadn't commented on the fan protest and stadium break-in last season, and if the club's share price on the NYSE hadn't taken a bit of a dive, they wouldn't have made the 'placate the masses' signings they made last summer. They'd have still spent a ton on signings, but they'd be more like 'Fred for £50m' or 'Lindelof/Bailly for £30m' than Sancho and Varane for an additional 50%.

Apparently they had no interest in Conte because he gives his bosses a tough time and isn't afraid to do it publicly and they felt they'd had enough of that with mourinho. 

[3 Stacks 3,408]

I think Ten Hag is a fantastic manager, but if he doesn't get the infrastructure and recruitment people who support his style of play, it will be impossible to succeed.

[manwiththestick 5,256]

48 minutes ago, an tha said:

Love the fact their shithouse rat supporters are starting their protests against the Glazers again now their season has gone to shite

 

They really are only a problem when they’re losing aren't they? All the noise died when they got Sancho, Varane and Ronaldo in.

 

Now season has gone to shite - they are off again.

 

Still waiting for their punishment for getting a game called off……

Pull them up on this and you get told that they've been protesting for years. 

 

Glazers were at a game early this season, why no protest then? I dunno, maybe it was because they come off the back of a freak season finishing second, bought Varane, Sancho and brought Ronaldo back and thought the were going to challenge for the league.

 

Fickle, spoilt dickheads.

[an tha 8,441]

32 minutes ago, manwiththestick said:

Pull them up on this and you get told that they've been protesting for years. 

 

Glazers were at a game early this season, why no protest then? I dunno, maybe it was because they come off the back of a freak season finishing second, bought Varane, Sancho and brought Ronaldo back and thought the were going to challenge for the league.

 

Fickle, spoilt dickheads.

Exfuckingactly.

 

 

[Pete 2,032]

What's the next thread going to be called when Erik ten Hag is appointed? 

[manwiththestick 5,256]

12 minutes ago, Pete said:

What's the next thread going to be called when Erik ten Hag is appointed? 

Whatever it's called I hope it brings as much amusement as this one.

[A_S 2,178]

2 minutes ago, manwiththestick said:

Whatever it's called I hope it brings as much amusement as this one.

The box set is fantastic value. 

[VladimirIlyich 9,631]

45 minutes ago, Pete said:

What's the next thread going to be called when Erik ten Hag is appointed? 

Ten(Years) and Still Hag-gling?

[sir roger 8,838]

Ten green ( and yellow ) scarves Haging on the wall

[littletedwest 3,296]

Rumours they have offered pogba an even bigger contract offer. Quite right too

[Pete 2,032]

3 minutes ago, littletedwest said:

Rumours they have offered pogba an even bigger contract offer. Quite right too

Please be true. 

[manwiththestick 5,256]

14 minutes ago, littletedwest said:

Rumours they have offered pogba an even bigger contract offer. Quite right too

This is just the best news if true. 

 

To be had over a barrel by this fraud is everything wrong with the club, whether he stays or goes they've made a complete mess of the whole saga, even Everton would laugh at them.

[Mook 20,535]

Surely that can't be true.

 

What next, are they bringing Clayton Blackmore out of retirement to play in goal?

[littletedwest 3,296]

Tabloid rumours, however there are always loads of correct leaks from them so fingers crossed

[Barrington Womble 10,978]

8 hours ago, Pete said:

What's the next thread going to be called when Erik ten Hag is appointed? 

They're making it Ten when he's only the 8th

2 hours ago, littletedwest said:

Rumours they have offered pogba an even bigger contract offer. Quite right too

i think i got a news update from sky earlier on my phone saying £400k per week, plus up to another £100k in bonusses. I also read earlier (I think in the guardian ) that Kingsley Coman is getting paid 350k euro's per week on his new contract. And some people wonder why Mo wants a few quid. No oil money going on there in either situation. 

[Anubis 21,567]

Pogba single-handedly won the World Cup for France. He absolutely deserves to have his wages doubled….

[dockers_strike 4,130]

2 hours ago, littletedwest said:

Rumours they have offered pogba an even bigger contract offer. Quite right too

Smacks of arsenal's desparation with Ozil and Aubameyang and the massive contracts they gave them.

[cloggypop 11,816]

He deserves to be rewarded for his effort 

[dockers_strike 4,130]

This is an interesting read. Wonder if he thinks dodged a bullet there or, has some regrets?

 

There is no doubt that if there was any chance that Paris Saint-Germain would have allowed Mauricio Pochettino to leave last November then he would be the Manchester United manager right now.

 

Pochettino was the first-choice to succeed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer when he was finally sacked. He was the clear, outstanding choice and the one that United wanted, although they rightly reasoned that there was no way PSG would let him go at that point of the season.

 

An approach would have given PSG a chance to flex their muscles against a big European rival, as they did last summer in triggering a one-year extension to Pochettino’s contract when Tottenham Hotspur showed interest in taking him back.

 

“The fit between where we are and what we need to do, with the type of player we have, really fits. If it is him he will be given time,” a United source said at the time. “PSG would love it if we knocked on the door now because they would create a moment where they looked bigger than us.”

 

So United did not make their move although Pochettino, who wanted the job, remained top of their list. But fast forward five months, and the Argentine finds himself passed over in favour of Erik ten Hag, and speculating what might come next in a career which remains - in some respects - frustratingly unfulfilled.

 

Pochettino would be entitled to wonder what, exactly, has changed in the interim. Two factors are clear: United's appointment of a new chief executive in Richard Arnold, who succeeded Ed Woodward in January, and PSG's horrible exit from the Champions League at the hands of Real Madrid, throwing away a 2-0 aggregate lead in a mad half-hour at the Bernabeu.

 

Beyond that, however, Pochettino remains the same coach he was before - one whose strengths and weaknesses were laid out in a file detailing all the potential candidates (including Ten Hag and Julen Lopetegui) and which was inherited by Arnold who, understandably, decided to re-run the process of assessing who should take over even if no new names were expected to emerge. The list did not change much from November.

 

There is little doubt, however, that Pochettino's star began to wane. He is on his way out of PSG and is likely to be sacked at the end of this campaign so maybe it was as simple as United not wanting a manager who is being dismissed?

 

PSG would love to replace him with Zinedine Zidane although sources in France suggest he may become the next national team coach instead when Didier Deschamps leaves after the World Cup. The Champions League exit - and the manner of it - undoubtedly hurt Pochettino, as did the backlash among United supporters.

 

The narrative turned, with Pochettino portrayed as a serial choker - a very harsh assessment of such a talented coach who has developed so many young players, defied the odds and achieved so much and is wanted by players with the Old Trafford dressing room. But maybe United's executives were influenced by the reaction, not least on social media which is something they – and Arnold – have admitted in the past is important to them.

 

PSG will win the French league but doubts have arisen over Pochettino’s ability to deal with the spotlight at big clubs. There were claims he could not deal with big-name players although, while his relationship with Neymar has not been easy, that is emphatically not the case with Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi.

 

Maybe Ten Hag also benefits from being seen as new, despite being two years old than Pochettino at 52. The latter has baggage in the form of the near misses at Spurs and one-off failures at PSG; Ten Hag, meanwhile, is seen as a high-achieving coach, whose lack of Premier League experience - far from being a negative - ties in with United's desire for a fresh start.

 

It has also been easier to deal with Ajax than PSG, even if the extent of that battle has been overblown. Pochettino and his staff are due €20million in compensation should they be sacked so it was in PSG’s interest for United to make an approach and take him.

 

There have been claims that a deal would be difficult to conclude and while it would have been trickier than dealing with Ajax over Ten Hag – the compensation package with a year left on his deal is a modest €2million - it was far from impossible. In fact PSG are unlikely to have demanded significant compensation.

 

It was extremely close between him and Pochettino and as recently as two weeks ago there was a nervousness in Ten Hag’s camp that he might miss out and that a summit meeting had taken place at United which they were not aware of. Ultimately those fears were unfounded, and it is Pochettino who is now confronting an uncertain future. 

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2022/04/13/mauricio-pochettino-went-manchester-uniteds-no-1-target-facing/

[Arniepie 647]

2 hours ago, dockers_strike said:

This is an interesting read. Wonder if he thinks dodged a bullet there or, has some regrets?

 

There is no doubt that if there was any chance that Paris Saint-Germain would have allowed Mauricio Pochettino to leave last November then he would be the Manchester United manager right now.

 

Pochettino was the first-choice to succeed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer when he was finally sacked. He was the clear, outstanding choice and the one that United wanted, although they rightly reasoned that there was no way PSG would let him go at that point of the season.

 

An approach would have given PSG a chance to flex their muscles against a big European rival, as they did last summer in triggering a one-year extension to Pochettino’s contract when Tottenham Hotspur showed interest in taking him back.

 

“The fit between where we are and what we need to do, with the type of player we have, really fits. If it is him he will be given time,” a United source said at the time. “PSG would love it if we knocked on the door now because they would create a moment where they looked bigger than us.”

 

So United did not make their move although Pochettino, who wanted the job, remained top of their list. But fast forward five months, and the Argentine finds himself passed over in favour of Erik ten Hag, and speculating what might come next in a career which remains - in some respects - frustratingly unfulfilled.

 

Pochettino would be entitled to wonder what, exactly, has changed in the interim. Two factors are clear: United's appointment of a new chief executive in Richard Arnold, who succeeded Ed Woodward in January, and PSG's horrible exit from the Champions League at the hands of Real Madrid, throwing away a 2-0 aggregate lead in a mad half-hour at the Bernabeu.

 

Beyond that, however, Pochettino remains the same coach he was before - one whose strengths and weaknesses were laid out in a file detailing all the potential candidates (including Ten Hag and Julen Lopetegui) and which was inherited by Arnold who, understandably, decided to re-run the process of assessing who should take over even if no new names were expected to emerge. The list did not change much from November.

 

There is little doubt, however, that Pochettino's star began to wane. He is on his way out of PSG and is likely to be sacked at the end of this campaign so maybe it was as simple as United not wanting a manager who is being dismissed?

 

PSG would love to replace him with Zinedine Zidane although sources in France suggest he may become the next national team coach instead when Didier Deschamps leaves after the World Cup. The Champions League exit - and the manner of it - undoubtedly hurt Pochettino, as did the backlash among United supporters.

 

The narrative turned, with Pochettino portrayed as a serial choker - a very harsh assessment of such a talented coach who has developed so many young players, defied the odds and achieved so much and is wanted by players with the Old Trafford dressing room. But maybe United's executives were influenced by the reaction, not least on social media which is something they – and Arnold – have admitted in the past is important to them.

 

PSG will win the French league but doubts have arisen over Pochettino’s ability to deal with the spotlight at big clubs. There were claims he could not deal with big-name players although, while his relationship with Neymar has not been easy, that is emphatically not the case with Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi.

 

Maybe Ten Hag also benefits from being seen as new, despite being two years old than Pochettino at 52. The latter has baggage in the form of the near misses at Spurs and one-off failures at PSG; Ten Hag, meanwhile, is seen as a high-achieving coach, whose lack of Premier League experience - far from being a negative - ties in with United's desire for a fresh start.

 

It has also been easier to deal with Ajax than PSG, even if the extent of that battle has been overblown. Pochettino and his staff are due €20million in compensation should they be sacked so it was in PSG’s interest for United to make an approach and take him.

 

There have been claims that a deal would be difficult to conclude and while it would have been trickier than dealing with Ajax over Ten Hag – the compensation package with a year left on his deal is a modest €2million - it was far from impossible. In fact PSG are unlikely to have demanded significant compensation.

 

It was extremely close between him and Pochettino and as recently as two weeks ago there was a nervousness in Ten Hag’s camp that he might miss out and that a summit meeting had taken place at United which they were not aware of. Ultimately those fears were unfounded, and it is Pochettino who is now confronting an uncertain future. 

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2022/04/13/mauricio-pochettino-went-manchester-uniteds-no-1-target-facing/

Going to be intestesting too see where he goes.The psg job was the archetypal poisoned Challace but you could say the same about utd where they have got structural problems running through the club.

I still rate him but he needs to prove  he can progress upto the next level.

[m0e 2,943]

1 hour ago, Arniepie said:

Going to be intestesting too see where he goes.The psg job was the archetypal poisoned Challace but you could say the same about utd where they have got structural problems running through the club.

I still rate him but he needs to prove  he can progress upto the next level.

As the biggest myth in football ?

[Jose Jones 3,257]

There was a thing on ESPN with Marcotti and some other fella going through the Mancs squad deciding keep or sell.  I don't mind Marcotti, sometimes has some stupid opinions, but in general he's ok.

Anyway they end up keeping almost all the shite players, basically because they say no one will take them off the Mancs hands, and then with Pogba and Ronaldo they say "you have to let them do whatever they want".  Amazing.   

[VladimirIlyich 9,631]

5 hours ago, Jose Jones said:

There was a thing on ESPN with Marcotti and some other fella going through the Mancs squad deciding keep or sell.  I don't mind Marcotti, sometimes has some stupid opinions, but in general he's ok.

Anyway they end up keeping almost all the shite players, basically because they say no one will take them off the Mancs hands, and then with Pogba and Ronaldo they say "you have to let them do whatever they want".  Amazing.   

Long may it continue.

[Mcfaggen 114]

No supporters in the ground, they finish second. 
 

Supporters in the ground & they finish 7th or whatever. 
 

Maybe the owners, management & the players aren’t the problem. 

[manwiththestick 5,256]

Been bugging me who this Ten Hag chap reminds me of and it came to me, that comedian always on 8/10 cats or Mock the week, Andy Parsons.