Archive for the ‘Manchester City’ Category

What Ten Hag Must Do To Stay In His Role At United

Posted: November 9, 2023 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Eric ten Hag, Football, Liverpool, Managers, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur
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The best James Bond, by a country mile, was Sean Connery. So good in the role was he that Ian Fleming changed his parentage to reflect the fact he spoke with a Scottish accent.

Jeremy Brett, no doubt to the chagrin of Basil Rathbone fans, was the ultimate Sherlock Holmes and nobody, but nobody, has quite mastered the voice and mannerisms of Hercule Poirot anywhere near as well as David Suchet.

The point here is that, although many actors took on the aforementioned roles, only the very best are remembered. The ones who became the character.

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Sir Jim To The Rescue!

Posted: October 17, 2023 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Football, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur
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So, Sir Jim it is then. Not quite official just yet but he’s well on the way to becoming Mr. 25% at Manchester United. Reports state that he has coughed up around £1.3bn for the privilege of having the Glazers turn down any of his requests that may, in the slightest possible way, cost them any money or profit.

Initially there will be no investment in the facilities, the stadium or paying off any of the almost £1bn debt that the self-centred siblings have saddled the club with.

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United’s Decline Stems From The Appointment Of Woodward, Not The Retirement Of Ferguson, (But It’s Still All On The Glazers)

Posted: September 28, 2023 in Arsenal, Eric ten Hag, Football, Liverpool, Managers, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur
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Ed Woodward was employed by the Glazers. It was, in many ways, a thank you for the part he had played as an enabler when Malcolm Glazer bought United with very, very little of his own money and a lot of borrowed money. Unfortunately, the collateral for the borrowed money was Manchester United Football Club who, fairly soon afterwards, became plain old Manchester United.

Woodward soon became, in his own mind at least, the most important person at the club. Some good sponsorship deals and profitable alliances were coupled with shocking football decisions which, as he had never kicked a ball in his life, was hardly surprising.

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Ten Hag’s Uphill Battle Involves Nearly Everybody At United

Posted: September 18, 2023 in Arsenal, Eric ten Hag, Liverpool, Managers, Manchester City, Manchester United, Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur
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Erik ten Hag is considered to be a modern coach. He was successful at Ajax and he should, if given time, be successful at Manchester United. Having bought himself a modicum of longevity by winning the Carabao Cup and finishing third in the Premier League, he is now finding out what it’s really like at a big club.

Comparisons with Sir Alex Ferguson in his early days are inevitable yet unreliable. Ferguson’s main problem was the drinking culture which had spread around Old Trafford back in the eighties as well as the form and discipline.

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Weghorst Could Be A Good Short-Term Alternative

Posted: January 14, 2023 in Arsenal, Carabao Cup, Chelsea, Eric ten Hag, Europa League, Football, Liverpool, Managers, Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Opinion, Premier League, The FA Cup, Tottenham Hotspur, Transfers
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Watching Manchester United currently is like a breath of fresh air compared with the dark days of Ole Gunnar Solskjær and the one-hand-tied-behind-his-back management of Ralf Ragnick.

Whilst Eric ten Hag has brought in a couple of experienced midfielders, a young left back and a centre back in the same mould as Roy Keane the major changes he has made have been those of discipline and mentality.

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Southgate Persists With Management Style Which Can Only Be Described As Solskjær-esque!

Posted: September 29, 2022 in Arsenal, Chelsea, England, Football, International Football, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, The Nations League, The World Cup, Tottenham Hotspur
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As England manager, the choice of decent centre backs is extensive. The England manager also has a wide variety of left backs at his disposal.

Manchester United’s manager, realistically, has to choose from four centre backs to fill two positions and two left backs for that one position. Given his limited options why would Erik ten Hag choose to start with Varane and Martinez whilst benching Maguire and Lindelof? Also, why would he choose to start Malacia over Shaw?

Having comfortably lost their first two games of the season, the above players became the manager’s preferred choice and, apart from a European hiccup when he reverted to the prior selection, United have not lost a game since.

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Manchester United Get Some Of Their Targets!

Posted: September 1, 2022 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Eric ten Hag, Football, Liverpool, Managers, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur, Transfers
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There may be a new sheriff in town but, unfortunately for him, the posse he sends out to round up the wanted men is full of the same inexperience and clueless leadership as it was under the previous sheriff.

John Murtough, who is described as ‘Director of Football’, was promoted to this role based on previous experience of having coached the academies at Fulham, Everton and United which was followed by trying his hand at sports science!

Another strange promotion was that of Richard Arnold, a clone of Ed Woodward, who was put in overall charge when the hated Woodward finally fell on his sword.

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Where Will United Protests Lead?

Posted: August 23, 2022 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Football, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur
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With the recent protests and pressure from fans around the world, the Glazer family were reported last week to be willing to sell a minority stake in the club. Amid this heated situation and the resulting developments, Joshua Raymond, Director at financial brokerage XTB, has provided some expert commentary on some key points regarding the situation:

What are the main reasons for the protests?

The protest itself is clearly designed to heap pressure on the Glazer family to sell the club and these protestors have been encouraged by rumours of a potential stake sale to US based hedge fund Apollo. It’s prudent to remember the last time we saw large scale protests that garnered mass media attention, the club was forced to pull out of the controversial European Super League. So, there is now form for this sort of tactic by fans, which will not help the stability around the club as long as bid rumours persist.

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Ten Hag’s Time At United Is Limited But Could Become Limitless!

Posted: August 18, 2022 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Eric ten Hag, Football, Liverpool, Managers, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur, Transfers
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Time. A flexible little word as in ‘what time is it?’ or ‘do we have time for that?’ or ‘the time has come, (the walrus said). Time, it is said, waits for no man. In today’s politically and gender correct sorry excuse for a world, we must also assume that time waits for no woman or change the expression to ‘time waits for no-one’.

Whatever, time certainly won’t wait for Eric ten Hag at Manchester United. If he were an ex-player who had been a very reliable substitute and had scored the winning goal in a Champion’s League final then, despite the fact that he was a terrible manager winning absolutely nothing, he could expect to be given at least three years.

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Meet The New Boss, Same As The Old Boss

Posted: August 13, 2022 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Football, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur
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Ed Woodward and Richard Arnold met at Bristol university. They had a few things in common. They were both from Chelmsford in Essex. They were both destined to enter the banking business and neither of them had the first idea about football. With such credentials it was only natural that they would also both be employed by Manchester United.

After a time Woodward was promoted, well beyond his knowledge, when David Gill decided to leave Manchester United along with Sir Alex Ferguson. Instead of designating the important football roles like handling transfers in and out, negotiating contracts with players and hiring/firing managers, Woodward decided he was the best man for the job and would take care of these things himself.

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