Posts Tagged ‘Bill Shankly’

Why Is Louis Van Gaal Still Manager Of Manchester United?

Posted: February 15, 2016 in Football, Louis van Gaal, Managers, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
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Louis van Gaal is still sitting on the throne at Manchester United.

Nobody really understands why, apart from maybe Ed Woodward. Van Gaal should have been van Gone weeks ago.

As I have already chronicled it makes no sense to keep him until United can mathematically win nothing or qualify for the Champion’s League. Let him go, put him out of his misery. More to the point, put the long suffering supporters out of their misery. Give Mourinho or Giggs a shot at the remainder of the season, it can’t really get worse!

The problem has been evident to everybody except van Gaal and Woodward for quite a while. In fact, the penny does now seem to have finally dropped with van Gaal. He’s suddenly turned into David Moyes in the way he is doubting that United will achieve fourth position or better.

He is certainly achieving very little more than Moyes did and is currently worse off, having spent around £187 million more, than his predecessor. (more…)

Is The Real Liverpool FC About To Re-appear?

Posted: December 30, 2015 in Football, Liverpool, Managers, Opinion, Premier League
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When I think back to the great Liverpool teams of the past, I think of Ian St. John, Ian Callaghan, Emlyn Hughes, Tommy Smith, Ron Yeats, Roger Hunt, Kevin Keegan and John Toshack, Ian Rush and Kenny Dalglish, Ray Clemence, Graeme Souness, Alan Hansen and even Bruce Grobbelaar. As you will notice I have recorded these as I remember them rather than in any chronological order.

When I think back to the recent Liverpool teams, the players that spring to mind are Steven Gerrard, Luis Suarez and maybe Robbie Fowler. Of all the ones mentioned, Suarez showed absolutely no loyalty to the cause whatsoever. It can be argued that, as a Uruguayan, he would always feel more at home in Spain and he already had connections with the city of Barcelona if not the club, so it was rather ordained that he would end up there.

The point being that over a thirty year period from the late sixties until the late nineties, all the memorable players were around in the sixties and seventies. What has happened since?

No other team in England was as successful as Liverpool. In Europe, Liverpool are still the most successful English team but have failed to qualify for the top European competition in eight of the last ten years since winning it in 2005. (more…)

Jose Mourinho & Chelsea: The Odd Couple

Posted: December 17, 2015 in Chelsea, Football, Jose Mourinho, Managers, Opinion, Premier League
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(Jose waves goodbye to Chelsea again, probably for the last time, but who really knows?)

For a while it was a match made in heaven. Jose and Chelsea had a passionate marriage which lasted three years and only ended in divorce when the bubble appeared to have burst and the passion went out of it.

After a short separation, Mourinho and Chelsea realised that they could no longer live without each other and decided to give it another go. The passion returned for a short while and everything was fine for a short while. The problem is that “short while” has come to define the marriages between Mourinho and Chelsea.

Now he has gone, probably for good, because of the vow “for better or worse” in the wedding ceremony. To Jose’s way of thinking this meant that the “better” bit was for him and the “worse” bit was for Chelsea and everybody else. In other words he was quite happy to take all the praise when winning, but turned into a spoiled brat when losing.

The final straw, in my humble opinion, was when he turned on his own players after the Leicester City game, which Chelsea lost 2-1. (more…)