I have a sneaky suspicion that Paul Ince still bears a grudge. It is possible that he still isn’t quite over how Sir Alex bombed ‘The Guvnor’ out of Old Trafford back in the mid-90s.
What has led me to suggest such a thing?
“They’re experienced and they know the club inside out”
Incey actually put the names of Steve Bruce and, yes, Mark Hughes forward as not just the interim managers at Manchester United, oh no, but the long-term solutions.
His Liverpool blood must certainly run thicker nowadays.
Next we hear from Jaap Stam who thinks that ‘Bryan Robson and Viv Anderson would be the managerial dream team to get United back into the top four’.
The Poch did very little yesterday to allay any fears Tottenham fans might be having about next summer saying;
“I cannot answer this type of question because this type of rumour happens in this business, in football.”
Just give him a call, Ed. Just give him a call.
But it is the short-term that needs fixing and once Michael Carrick has smoothed things over in his 48 hour stint as the interim interim it looks the baby-faced assassin will be back in town to be reunited with some of his reserve team players from yesteryear. No doubt, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will sit down with Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingard and ask them where it has all gone wrong. He will find out what needs to done to bring back the glory days of when the three of them led United’s reserves to some kind of glory.
A gaffe by the United website pretty much confirmed that the Norwegian is the man, considering they posted and deleted something to that effect.
The last time we heard from Ole he was busy failing to save Cardiff City from relegation in the 2013/14 season, unable to turn around the mess created by Malky Mackay. One of the main criticisms of his time in Wales was that the team seemed to be lacking in identity, too many changes were made each week and players were often played out of position.
I thought United were looking to change things, not continue as they are?!
All joking aside, momentarily, this might actually be a rare sensible move by the club. Appoint a club legend until the end of season under the presumption that ‘anyone but Mourinho’ will give the club a bit of a lift until the summer and then go all out to bring in the man they really want. And, if they are being really cute, nab him off Champions League place rivals and completely unsettle them in the process. Oh, and why not go the whole hog and bring in someone to manage the transfer process properly, as well?
There is no way that Mr Ed is behind that level of thinking.
Once again, Jose Mourinho walks away with a fairly large severance deal. It is said that it is costing United no more than £15m to get rid of him. No more than £15m. Add that to what he must have got from his two Chelsea sackings. I doubt he left Real Madrid for free either (though his contract might have been done, I cannot remember). Jose has won many things in his life, we cannot deny that, but one thing he has really done for the game is to show others what a lucrative business being a sacked football manager can really be.
Did anyone notice if any other Premier League managers were wearing training tops with JM as their initials yesterday? No? Didn’t think so.
Jurgey lad was full of chat when quizzed about how he felt. Rather than saying what a bad moment this was for Liverpool FC and thanking Jose for all he had done for the Anfield club in the last couple of seasons, Kloppo said that Jose had to ‘take the consequences’ and that he felt worse for lower league managers who get the sack as they don’t get £15m pay-offs and might not get another job. Fair points there.
Gary Neville also had a few things to say, unsurprisingly. He took aim at Pogba and Adidas, warning the world not to fall for the ‘accidental’ Instagram post that looked a little bit like Pogba was mocking the fact that Jose had been sacked. Neville, like anyone with half a brain, knows that it was no accident and that ‘branding’ came first in that situation once more. But, do United really care because one thing that has increased in speed since Sir Alex retired is their desire to be a successful commercial entity ahead of a successful football club.
Unai Emery has said the Poch doesn’t ‘need’ the United job. Arsenal fans will be hoping that Emery was only playing mind-games as he waxed lyrical about what a good job his rival is doing at Tottenham ahead of their League Cup clash tonight. And, let’s be honest, the Poch does need the United job. And United need him.
Anyway, some football got played last night as Man City beat Leicester on penalties in the League Cup after a 1-1 draw. For some reason, Leicester tried to win the shoot-out by letting their defenders take all the penalties.
Incredibly, Nigel Clough’s Burton Albion are in the League Cup semi-finals having beaten Middlesbrough by a single goal to nil last night. They are in League One. League One!
The plan to scrap FA Cup fifth-round replays has been brought forward to this season to help those precious Premier League players play even fewer games for their money.
Andy Robertson believes Liverpool can stay ahead of City and win the title this season. Citing ‘belief and momentum’ the Scotland captain broke rank to put even more pressure on the players to somehow have the nerve to win the Premier League for the first time ever.
And finally, the latest transfer news.
Given the turmoil (or sense of utter relief) at Old Trafford, Juventus have stashed £125m in a drawer somewhere just in case United learn that Pogba was the real problem and decide to get shot of him as well.
Man City would like Real Madrid’s Isco, please. And Real Madrid would like £100m+ to make that a possibility, thank you.
Everyone wants those Ajax players.
That window will be open soon enough!
