Man Utd need to forget ‘saviour-manager’ quest and look at Howe and Southgate | OneFootball

What do Manchester United need next? Do they just need to be a mid-table club and bring in a mid-table manager?

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Have we tried more DNA yet?

I’ve just read Gary Neville going on again about Man United DNA and how United are the biggest club in the world and honestly it’s exhausting.

That DNA shite gets dragged out every single time something goes wrong, and it always feels like a way of talking around the real problems instead of actually addressing them. It sounds important without really saying anything.

Because if Neville actually used his platform to go after the Glazers properly, or question the ownership model, or even scrutinise his mate Jim Ratcliffe with the same energy, that might actually be useful. Instead it’s always culture, identity, heritage. Anything except the people who are actually running the club.

“This is Manchester United Football Club” gets repeated like it’s an argument in itself. It isn’t. Saying it over and over doesn’t magically fix years of bad decisions, poor structure, and constant churn. It just shifts the blame somewhere safer.

The DNA thing is perfect for that. It’s vague. It can’t be pinned down. It lets people criticise managers and players without ever landing on ownership or accountability. Funny how that works.

And you can already see what’s coming next.

If Darren Fletcher picks up a few points as caretaker, there’ll be the usual noise straight away. Give him what he wants. He gets the club. Fletcher’s at the wheel. A couple of half-decent results and suddenly it’s all emotion and sentiment again instead of any actual plan.

United don’t lack identity. They lack people being honest about where the real problems sit.

Other clubs moved on years ago. They modernised, built proper structures, and stopped leaning on nostalgia. United are still clinging to the idea of being the biggest club in the world while acting like one that’s scared of upsetting the wrong people.

History isn’t the issue. Former players aren’t automatically the issue. It’s when history gets used as a shield to protect the people in charge, while everyone else gets blamed.

Until the conversation moves away from DNA and towards ownership, structure, and accountability, it’s just going to keep repeating itself. Ant (waiting for the inevitable Gareth Southgate appointment, followed by six months of me somehow starting to bang on about Man United DNA)

Amorim not Morrisons ready

Gary Neville suggested Amorim would be sacked from Morrisons for similar behaviour. If Amorim is considering applying for a position at Morrisons, I’m not sure he’s ready to take that step up quite yet. After all Morissons is a fairly well run company with competent senior management. Amorim’s lack of experience dealing with competent senior management in the UK could count against him.

In my opinion it would make more sense for Amorim to spend a year managing at a company like Snappy Snaps and then making the step up to Morrisons. There’s no way he could go straight from the Manchester United Clown Festival to working for a serious organisation like Morrisons. The senior management talent gap between Man U and Morrisons would be too big for him to negotiate at this stage in his career. Ben Teacher

Man Utd have handled this very poorly

It seems to me that there are two very clear truths in this latest chapter of the United show.

Firstly, that the in-job performance of Ruben Amorim – over the entirety of his red devil reign – is irredeemably and unforgivably abysmal, and he should have been sacked because of that. In almost fifty league matches, he only won three times by more than one goal. He leaves with a negative six goal difference. That is hilariously bad, and should have seen any manager in world football – much less one at a ‘big club’ – looking for new work.

Secondly, he’s clearly been fired not because of the above, but because he offended one or more snowflakes in the United hierarchy. And that’s the worst bit for me. We were told, after being at the whim of the Glazers’ utter disregard for football for a decade, that INEOS were serious people, who’d bring in best-in-class professionals. But the way this has transpired screams to me of insecure men who’ve been promoted above their ability and can’t take the finger being pointed back at them.

Very few managers last even as long as he did. United as a club desperately need to get away from the ‘saviour-manager’ and just get a good coach in, who can make the most of what is available. There is not another Fergie out there. But that doesn’t mean that this team, and this squad, shouldn’t be playing much better and delivering much better results than it is.

I’ve no idea who is next, but best of luck to them, they’ll need it. Ryan, Bermuda

Man Utd need a mid-table era

Man U are at least 2 managers away from anything close to their former glories, and have been since Ferguson left. It won’t happen for many obvious reasons, but they need 3+ seasons of something more like a Brentford/Brighton/Bournemouth style model to lay some stability and foundations for a proper rebuild before they start chasing elite managers/players. Had Amorim been a bit less wedded to his system, he might well have fit the bill here. They need to do it soon too, before they are forced to by those noodle and tractor partners finally removing their sponsorship deals.

Ian H makes a good point regarding bulletproof and overly controlling hierarchies too, which brings me to my last point – I’ve heard Unai Emery’s name touted a lot today. Why would he leave a club that he has purring largely because he has Fergie-like levels of control, for 2026 Man U where he will have very little and an inferior squad?

Sporting directors are a great idea in theory, but there’s a finite supply of managers period, let alone enough who are willing to cede that much control, fit whatever the chosen playing style is, AND bring success. Emery is living proof that something closer to the old ways can still work. RHT/TS x

Backing Southgate for Man Utd

With the sacking of Amorim all attention is now focused on who is likely to be the next Man United manager. Several names have emerged including Xabi, De Zerbi and Glasner.

I urge United to give due consideration to appointing Gareth Southgate. At this stage of the game, I can say with maximum confidence that nobody knows English football better than the man himself, that’s Southgate. He has acquired and exhibited thorough knowledge and understanding of the EPL, clearly manifest in his roles as player, club Manager and National team Manager.

The point must further be made that Southgate has demonstrated flexibility, willingness and ability to make changes and deliver effective tactics, evident in taking England to the finals of the Euro competition. A sine qua non for achieving success in football is the relationship between the Manager and the players. The Manager and players interrelationships, by and large, impact the performance of the team.

Needless to say that Southgate continuously and unabatedly established good rapport with the players he managed. The arrogance and stubbornness of some previous United managers never featured in Southgate’s management philosophy and practices. He is the right man for the job. Professor (Dr) David Achanfuo Yeboah

How about Howe for Man Utd?

If some papers had Chelsea moving for Eddie Howe at the weekend, I wouldn’t be surprised if there is more noise about Utd moving for him as that makes more sense and would potentially be a decent fit.

The time could be right in the summer for all parties to move on – Newcastle would like a manager to help them take the next step to the truly elite level, a lot of the squad are ageing and running down contracts so a rebuild is coming – after last summer I’d prefer if it wasn’t Howe calling the shots on transfers and we’re yet to see what the relationship with the new DoF will be.

I’d rather Howe left on his terms than be sacked given what he’s done for the club – he’ll always be a legend. I’d love to see him develop and change at Newcastle and prove the doubters (including me) wrong but football rarely rewards romanticism.

As a Newcastle fan I think we are at a tipping point where Howe will have lived long enough to become the villain. The majority of fans are onside but there is a growing minority who are now sensing that tactically he’s peaked and he cannot escape the blame for such a lot of money (£100m+) spent on dross like Ramsey and Elanga. His focus on building an entire team of athletes/runners with no guile or flair becomes more obvious with time, but he could achieve a real bounce at Utd and get them back up the table.

Howe’s approach would suit Utd’s fans and to a large degree could work with the players they have. Cunha, Mbuemo and Sesko were all wanted by Howe in the summer so he has already done his homework and won’t need a massive squad overhaul.

Howe’s man-management style could work at United who I don’t think have had since Ole a manager who was really in tune with the players. If Bruno F is onside he’s an excellent player and Utd have the kind of sh*thouses Howe likes to have.

Where it gets murkier is whether the Utd players are prepared to work as hard as Howe demands, and whether they have the legs/athleticism to play this ‘Intensity is our Identity’ way. Howe will also want the kind of control he’s gained at Newcastle on transfers, which seems to be where Amorim eventually crossed the line to be sacked, but he wouldn’t need the root and branch change Amorim wanted.

I don’t think Howe will move mid-season. Despite a lot of quite poor performances Newcastle are well placed in all four competitions – can progress in the CL to the play-offs, home draw in the FA Cup, tough two legged tie with City in the Carabao but they are not invincible, and a few decent results will see them climb the table quickly.

If it were summer or end of season I could see this happening. It might still if Utd find an interim like Fletcher or someone else until May and then chase Howe in the summer. James, Leeds

Ruben Amorim has played Man Utd

Let the deluge of memes and bile flow but at the heart of it, Amorim has played Sirs Jim, Wilcox and Berrada like three tarnished magnets on a tactics board. And to the tune of a massive payout no less. An absolute masterclass of an exit… possibly inspired by what transpired New Year’s Day in West London or what unrequited opportunity could now beckon in East London (one Portuguese legend for another), who knows.

Anyhow if he hasn’t already, Ruben could enter storied Manchester folklore by Robin Hooding some of that sweet, sweet bunce back to the soup lady and SAF and all the poor folks Ratcliffe kicked to the curb in the name of efficiency and club virtue. Eric, Los Angeles CA (Just how springy is a Darren Fletcher bounce ?)

Will Man Utd have a new manager bounce…or slump?

With so many teams struggling to string together a run of performances (like Villa’s recent surge shows), it’s clear that even 6th place, only 4 points above 15th, is pretty underwhelming, given the summer investment and all that extra time to train and prepare while not playing in Europe. It’s hard to empathize with Amorim, who said earlier this season that he was the coach. He also said not even the Pope could change his mind.

But you do have to wonder how much ‘meddling’ into team selection and tactics was coming from the shadows of the ‘back room’ staff. Especially those that never have to front up to the cameras. Apparently, it’s pretty common for Directors of Football to speak publicly in many other major leagues.

Regardless, it’s such a poor look on the sports guru that is Sir Jim. All his marginal gains, by cutting staff, staff lunches, etc., while squandering millions on managers and sporting directors. Results looking pretty bleak for a ‘Top 6’ club. Nothing marginal there.

When checking whether the ’new manager bounce’ is a thing, one report indicated it works in about 75% of cases, with teams averaging 1.4 to 1.8 points more over the next 5 or 6 games. If true, perhaps teams should change managers every 6 games.

But for firing Amorim in essentially the same week as Chelsea canning Maresca will create such a wonderful litmus test of how these two basket-case clubs fare over the rest of the season. Chelsea has form (under the old regime) for replacing managers and continuing to excel. Utd, not so much – possibly a proper new manager slump. Interesting days ahead. Paul McDevitt

Ruben Amorim: The winners

I was disappointed to see a major absence in the winners and losers column this week: Mainoo.

Surely, if anyone is a winner from Amorim’s delightfully acrimonious departure it’s him (and maybe Amad if he can be released back to an attacking role again). You’d have to expect that it means he can finally get games without having to go to Italy or Turkey where everything will come with an asterisk.

Second – and while I say this with a wink, you know I want it too – Rashford. We know Barca will not be able to find the money for him, in spite of him being loved by Flick and doing good work. So when he comes back, maybe it’s to a manager that actually knows how to use him. Would boil so much piss of course, which is a bonus. Badwolf

Giving Ten Hag more credit

While I’m all for your clickbaity lists, ranking Erik Ten Hag fourth behind Solskjaer is interesting. I mean, everyone is entitled to their opinion and no one is denying that Ten Hag’s second season was awful and even the FA Cup fig leaf did not preserve any modesty, but factually – looking at win percentage – at 51.8% Ten Hag is only second to Mourinho and this includes results from his second season.

A second season where due to injuries we started with 29 different back fours in 38 games in front of a new, error-prone goalkeeper. One might plausibly say that such intense disruption in defense in front of a goalkeeper who is new to the country, league and club prevented the goalkeeper from settling in and added to the nerves and confusion in an ever changing defence and the real question is with such chaos and negativity, how did he still manage to finish in the top half with 60 points (which incidentally is better than Amorim was on course to get with 31 points from 20 games)?

Don’t get me wrong, Ten Hag wasn’t the perfect manager. I didn’t like his public criticism of Sancho, even if it was possibly merited. His reliance on certain players who weren’t performing was an issue and his scouting was mediocre.

This said, during his second season the problems were massively overblown considering the injury crisis we faced and, where at other clubs leeway seems to be given for injuries, the circus surrounding Man Utd, the negativity, the constant will he/won’t he be sacked all took on a life of its own really and sucked the confidence out of the players.

Ultimately, something needed to change and that change was the manager, but the idea that Solskjaer was a better manager than Ten Hag is absurd, especially when Ten Hag won two trophies compared to Solskjaer’s zero – the FA Cup Final being particularly impressive against league winners Man City. Daniel, Cambridge