I said that upthread. That if you brought Klopp in tomorrow, I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t have that club sorted in 5 years. I’m smiling now because the media is now speaking in terms of the “real” Manchester United showing themselves yesterday and finally being back. Which as we all know will last until they lose their opening game at home in August. Speaking of smiles, color me very bemused with this whole Jim Ratcliffe/Ineos buy-in. As if Ratcliffe is some sort of Klopp-like genius who fixes football clubs. He’s quite obviously and patently not. It’s Trumpian bluster. Nice and Lausanne are not the standard bearers for any type of responsible football leadership or ownership. Both clubs are a mess and show signs of getting worse. Granted, Ratcliffe is probably better than the Glazers, but that’s like saying he can limbo under a pole vault bar better. United’s problems are so much more than throwing £3-4bn at Old Trafford and figuring that gets you the treble. In these days of a Tory-f.ucked country, getting public money to build a new stadium, as is frequently the model in the US, is just not going to fly. I think (could be wrong) that the model of “if the taxpayer builds me a new stadium, I’ll stay” is even losing lustre in the US. In case you don’t know, Ratcliffe has floated the public money for a new Old Trafford recently. Foodbanks have increased from about 35 to 3,500 in the last 10 years under the Tories and more than a few local councils are going or have gone bust. A new Old Trafford would cost £2/£3/£4?bn. Not going to fly. (Plus, how would the Watfords, Brentfords and Burnleys of this footballing world react to the Tories pumping billions into a stadium to help out one of their donating mates?) It’ll be Pochettino or Tuchel. Tuchel will be gone in 1.5-2 seasons, Pochettino perhaps 2.5-3 seasons and deluded fans and journalists alike will then be speaking in terms of “United finally being back”. As we’ve discovered on our PL quest, the return home can often be much longer than 8-10 seasons.
mothing against Soton, but I'd prefer to see another team get a run at the PL tbh - seems to be the same old-same old year after year.
I honestly don't know where to begin ..... Everton could bring Liverpool flop Arthur Melo back to the Premier League. https://www.teamtalk.com/news/everton-contact-huge-liverpool-flop-stunning-twist-west-ham-linked
Poor Leeds. Actually have a soft spot for it. Banned one of its own fans for taking a copy of S*n to Anfield. Agree with Sam, though. Would like a new face in the league.
That might have been their last shot for a few years. A lot of their players would have been lured with the promise of bouncing back to the PL at the first attempt. Now there’s going to be a fire sale of their top tier players. Summerville, Bamford, Gray, Firpo, James, etc. with the likelihood that they’ll be replaced by Championship, League One, free transfers and on-loan PL youngsters.
The Guardian has it that United are approaching De Zerbi. Unexpected for me anyway if this happens and I’m still betting money I don’t have that it’ll be Pochettino. Then again, maybe like us, they’re just doing due diligence and interviewing qualified candidates.
There’s a serious chance that United get pushed into the Conference League from the Europa due to Ratcliffe also owning Nice who have qualified. Nice finished higher in Ligue 1, so they get the place and United drop down. Supposedly.
just gonna post about this. the multi-ownership model will see a lot more of these issues in the coming years. maybe involving FSG. https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cz77d910jkdo Ineos is "confident" of finding a solution that allows Manchester United and Nice to compete in next season's Europa League. Sir Jim Ratcliffe's Ineos company owns a 27.7% stake in United and are in control of the club's football operations, while they completed a takeover of French club Nice in 2019. Uefa rules restrict the influence any organisation can have over more than one club in the same competition. An independent panel will rule on the matter before next season's competition starts in the middle of July with the qualifying rounds. Uefa's regulations meant Belgian club Union Saint-Gilloise had to alter its ownership structure last season to allow it to compete in the Europa League alongside Brighton, whose owner Tony Bloom had been a pivotal figure for both clubs. Aston Villa and Portuguese side Vitoria Guimaraes faced the same scenario in the Europa Conference League. It is also a situation Manchester City and Spanish side Girona will have to address this summer given they are both part of the City Football Group and have qualified for next season's Champions League. If a solution is not found United would have to drop into the Conference League as they finished lower in the Premier League last season than fifth-placed Nice did in Ligue 1.
this guy is hilarious. truly delusional. Ten Hag said. “I am in a project. We are exactly where we want to be. We are constructing a team. When I took over it was a mess. The team is developing and winning. https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...a-cup-win-manchester-united-manager-sack-city
For all the world, I believe ten Hag and Rodgers are brothers separated at birth. I know Rodgers took us close, but his gaslighting really really got up my nose.
god knows. they will spin out the speculation for as long as they can though, to stay in the headlines.
In my view the longer they wait regarding this the more likely it will be they stay with 7Hag... I love the way 7Hag is already throwing shade and rationalizing his performance vs. Slot. Saying Slot really didn't do that great at Feynoord (PSV was better in all ways this last year), and that Slot will have an easier time than he did at ManU because Liverpool is in better shape than ManU was when he took over. I mean, of course this is true, but wow, what a load of sour grapes. To me this just highlights issues with 7Hag's man-management weaknesses. If this guy isn't gone this summer, they will simply be wasting another year with him. I just don't think he's got the social skills to manage a team that is expected to consistently perform well in a league as competitive as the EPL. His ham-fisted attempts to manage several of the ManU players will hurt the team more and more as time goes on. I'm also not convinced he's really all that tactically astute either - how exactly does he want ManU to play? For the life of me his teams are mostly predicated on counter-attacking, which is fine, if a bit boring. But they don't even do that very effectively, as they are statistically one of the worst teams in defensive organization. That's kind of a requirement if you are going to try to absorb attacking pressure than then try to hit on the break...
Don’t forget, he just might be the worst PL manager at in-game adjustments I’ve seen in quite a while. Revert to plan A is not an adjustment.
Liverpool are the frontrunners to sign Federico Chiesa from Juventus. Real Madrid forward Rodrygo has refused to rule out a potential move away from the Spanish giants amid links with a move to Liverpool. According to a recent report from The Telegraph, Liverpool, Manchester City, and Newcastle United are all keen on securing the services of Portuguese international Pedro Neto, albeit at a record-breaking fee. Liverpool have been linked with Napoli star Khvicha Kvaratskhelia but reports from Italy claim that PSG have launched an €80million attack on the forward. While Liverpool fans await new summer signings, there is expected to be a number of players switching numbers internally with 6, 14, 15, 16, 22, 23, 24, and 25 all available. Incoming Liverpool boss Arne Slot will decide if Sepp van den Berg has a future at Anfield as the Reds are open to selling the defender this summer. The Athletic reportd that Brentford and newly promoted Southampton are among the Premier League clubs interested in signing the defender this summer, with Liverpool wanting £20m for the 22-year-old. It has been stated that the Reds, Man City and Bayern have all "consulted" Porto about the possibility of signing Alan Varela this summer, who is reported to have a €70 million (£60 million) release clause in his contract. Liverpool may have learned the asking price for reported transfer target Giorgi Sudakov - with Shahktar putting a price tag of €70 million (£60 million) on the midfielder. Outgoing Liverpool assistant manager Pep Lijnders has remarked how he would like to take Conor Bradley over to RB Salzburg. Borussia Dortmund attacker Karim Adeyemi is a target for Liverpool as the Merseyside club looks to beef up its attack under new coach Arne Slot.