Manchester United are doomed as long as Dim Jim Ratcliffe is in charge. Eddie Howe is definitely not the answer.

Send your views on Man Utd and more to theeditor@football365.com

A Man Utd exclusive
Whisper it quietly, Michael Carrick will be sacked.

You read it here first!
Bad Hamster

Get Ratcliffe out of the club now
Manchester United is a diseased club. It’s in the crumbling walls, the very structure of the club. Sir Alex Ferguson, the best League manager of all time, is long, long gone. But all the problems that arose after he left remain, year after year.

The most toxic dressing room in the Premier League. Doesn’t matter which players are in it. They all leave to be replaced by a new group of whiners and if things go wrong, you know you’ll be hearing from them sooner rather than later . They know in this day and age that the player will outlast the manager. So they down tools, drop the effort, get the manager fired and then magically remember how to play football after.

To what end? When things get to the lunatics running the asylum stage, it is not unknown for a ‘ tough guy ‘ type manager to be sought out. See Capello, F for England as an example.

It would surprise none at all if Conte rocks up now at Man U, the very definition of no nonsense old school b**tard of a manager. Think he’ll tolerate a mouthy gobs***e like Bruno? Conte would fight his own priest in a church at a funeral if something aggravates him.

But whatever disease ails United, he’s never been the long term solution anywhere. Hes more likely to burn Old Trafford to the ground, so better have that new stadium ready pronto dim Jim. Talk about a Pyrrhic victory for the players. The tactics will improve but life sure as hell won’t be easier.

Wilcox is on borrowed time now or he f*****g should be anyway. What the hell he’s done to earn a position of such power at the biggest club in the world, is utterly beyond me. And nothing he’s done since coming there has come anywhere near ‘ best in class ‘.

The Glazers are sh*t. Vampire parasites sucking the blood out of the club year after year. But it’s the Worzel Gummidge of owners who’s responsible for this circus of excrement.

‘ Best in class ‘ is a pretty simple but good idea. Get the structure right and then get the best people for every position, right ? This only works though if the owner gets out of his own way and lets them get on with it. But thick Jack McThick, the winner of this years Mr Thicko competition, keeps interfering – because he thinks he knows all about football.

He does not. His success record at every club he’s taken over is precisely zero. He knows nothing. He can fire a tea lady with the best of them but when it comes to hiring executives and managers, 10/10 times Jim will absolutely not fix it.

The Glazers are going nowhere. United is the cash cow they’ll be milking for eternity. But Jim needs to f**k off pronto. I’m a Liverpool fan, so I should be enjoying this continuing cycle of failure and restarts. I did at first too but there’s just something about Radcliffe I cannot stand. The way he made his money. The unbelievable arrogance. The firings of ordinary people so they can afford their annual pay off of managers and coaches. The shit recruiting. And on and on it goes.

The infection at United may not be fatal but it’s getting bloody close. Failure used to be finishing second under Fergie. Now staying out of relegation fights is the lowest of low bars for success.

Dim Jim isn’t the exterminator, he won’t kill the disease. But he sure as hell is feeding the damn thing and making it bigger and more insidious. And greener:

Get this f****r out or it won’t matter which manager you hire. And Antonio is a twisted fire starter.
James, Liverpool

( I can’t deny though, Jim v Conte will be a very amusing sideshow for a few months )

…So, now our team is in what is clear is a doom spiral, destined to rinse and repeat wasting seasons until we finally get relegated, I’m curious.

Did the Man Utd fans who backed Ratcliffe’s buy-in rather than a Qatari billionaire still think that was the right call?

Before anyone cries human rights, I’d like to point out that the UK just sent fighter jets to help Saudi Arabia. A country who is accused of genocide and has the same oppressive system. You either oppose it all, oppose none or you are a hypocrite. If a Qatari private citizen is responsible for their government’s policies, are we not beholden to that same standard?

But purely on a footballing basis, can you honestly say this was the right call? F365 has a regularly updating article with more and more mistakes added to the list. We’ve regressed horribly and at the moment are in relegation form, even more so than under the last few managers.

Compare that to the scenario where we could have had all our debt paid, a new stadium paid for by the owners (rather than trying to lump it on the taxpayer) and actually being able to hire professionals who know how to run a club? We wouldn’t have been Man City or Newcastle because we already have the financial power to avoid those pitfalls.

So I’m curious if anyone who backed Ratcliffe (a man who claims to be British but yet still doesn’t pay us a penny of income tax) still believes this was the right choice?
Andrew Massey

Eddie Howe not the answer
I can’t see the difference that Eddie Howe would make at United currently, he is another gentle soft spoken English bloke and Yes man for Ineos.

The current Utd squad will treat him the same as Carrick, they need a manager with a proven track record, a manager that has won many titles and has a reputation that they can’t argue or complain about as their tactics have produced titles etc.

The current entitled lot at Utd wont listen to a young manager like Amorim, Carrick, Howe, Hurzeler or Nagelsman, too many egos in the squad to take orders from unproven managers. The current players need a manager in the mould of Enrique, Pep, Klopp etc. Someone they can look up to and trust and respect and not argue.. No such manager is available currently. Maybe Conte but not really.

So that leaves us with one option, get rid of Bruno, Martinez, Rashford and all the other chip on the shoulder players and give Howe and the youth a chance.
NJ Coetzee

The life of a Man Utd fan
Between Games – read every newspaper and online article about potential players that might be signed. Potential transfer fees exceed USA national debt whilst also ignoring: a) are they available, b) are they actually any good, c) would they even be interested in joining this circus and d) knowing fully well that the club barely has the budget for tea in the canteen. Also view every podcast to hear the various talking heads wax lyrical about what is wrong at the club, whilst not one offering any practical solutions.

Pre-Game – scan the lineup and sink into a mild depression seeing Dalot on the teamsheet, Shaw injured (again), no recognizable striker, two midfielders with no pace or ball retention skills, and defenders you wish you could play against.

Kickoff – quick prayer to the football gods NOT concede within the first 5 minutes.

5 minutes in – schoolboy error from one of the senior players results in a goal conceded within the first five minutes. Conclude there is no god.

15 minutes in – convince oneself that the team will bounce back because they are: a) tired from the previous game, b) still recovering from an injury, c) trying to shake off the long world cup. Small moments of elation whenever two passes are strung together.

25 minutes in – discover that Mason Mount has been struck by a neutrino from a far off galaxy and has to be substituted.

30 minutes in – the team is being out-fought and overrun everywhere so one makes a deal with the devil instead that we don’t concede another goal before half time.

Half-time – spend fifteen minutes being slightly optimistic that the players will get a rollicking at half-time and come out fighting.

50 minutes in – team concedes second goal. Wondering if someone slipped quaaludes into the half-time tea.

55 minutes in – heart beats a little faster as Mbuemo/Dalot takes the first shot of the game, even though it hit row Z.

65 minutes in – whoever is playing best is taken off and various combos of Mount, Zirkzee and Rashford are brought on whilst the exciting youth players get blisters on their backsides sitting on the bench.

75 minutes in – briefly reminisce about Fergie fightbacks as soon as the subs come on.

85 minutes in – third goal is conceded. Bruno Fernandes prostrates himself on the floor like a repentant Monk or waves his arms around like he is attempting to fly.

90 minutes in – most promising youth player is sent on to try and affect the game though no one passes to him.

Post Match – senior players spout usual jibber jabber about unacceptable performance, that the club should be competing for trophies and everyone is behind the coach.

Days After Game – pour over all media to see what possible new managers are being discussed.

Rinse and repeat every week for a decade or so.
Adidasmufc

(Also, how is it that Steve Holland got all the plaudits last season but now it’s all Carrick’s fault?)

The impossibility of that Man Utd squad
Was thinking about the Man United squad and the impossibility of working with it, and the difficulty in even fixing it.

Let’s start with defence.

Maguire – never good enough, yet still often the only fit senior CB available.

De Ligt – great player but near permanently injured

Martinez – decent player going forwards but his defending has become woeful and he’s often injured

Dalot – never been good enough

Mazraoui – he’s looked ok but is always injured

Shaw – great when fit, but is usually injured

Heaven and York – good talented players but need to be next to a good established player to develop, not relied on to carry Muppets.

Up front we have 1 striker in the entire squad, and he’s trying to recover from a long injury.

Zirkzee – never been good enough

Mount – good player but nearly always injured

Ugarte – never good enough, and now with long term injury.

Amad – ok as an impact player, never looked good when starting

How is it possible other than sheer incompetence that a squad has 6 core first team players that are nearly never available or are perennially “just coming back from injury”, and (at least) 5 more who simply aren’t good enough? That’s 11 of the squad who simply shouldn’t be there if you want to stand a chance of competing, but you also can’t sell and many of whom take big wages. And that’s before you consider the gaping holes or problem players.

Then consider the financial situation and the reality that United can’t just buy their way out, can’t just go and replace 11 players. Hell, they can’t go and replace 4. There is no magic wand.

And people want to blame the manager?

How do you get out of this mess? Slowly. Patiently. One step at a time without stupid overreactions. There is no quick fix. Sell what you can, let other contracts expire, promote youth, buy wisely without this “PL proven” self-imposed restriction.
Badwolf

Well, this is fun
There’s not enough popcorn in the world is there?

Told you why this is happening for years. Fergie needs his soul back. and there’s only 1 way that happens.
Al – LFC – Quietly going about their business didnt expect to beat Brighton if I’m honest.

Did he walk alone?
Question to Craig. Did the old goat survive?

And thanks for that really important point in life. Reminds me that all football supporters are part of a giant family.

Speaking as a Spurs fan, all I can say is that it’s actually quite good to win two games on the bounce. I am just enjoying that feeling. All other observations and points can wait. Just enjoy the wins when you can.
Steve