Why Manchester United should finally ‘fully cut ties’ with Sir Alex Ferguson

Manchester United need to learn from Jurgen Klopp’s first lesson at Liverpool and ‘fully cut ties’ with their successful past, which means Sir Alex Ferguson.

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Should Manchester United cut ties with Ferguson?
Dear Sir

When will Man U fans, the press and presenters stop referencing Sir Alex Ferguson?  It has been over a decade, he is not coming back, people need to get over it and move on.  So, when Sir Jim Radcliff bought his stake and said he was going to lean on SAF’s wisdom I was delighted as I feel it will just continue to hold them back.

When Jurgen joined Liverpool, he stated that the club was walking round with the weight of history on their back.  Now that he has left the club, there appears to have been a clean broom policy, and it seems to have helped Slot’s transition. This has not gone unnoticed in the press.

On the drive into the office this morning someone mentioned on the Radio that Man U still haven’t replaced SAF and David Gill.  When I was running and listening to a podcast last night, the shambles of ETH’s recruitment policy was dissected.

So I can’t imagine how the Man U players and managers feel that they are still constantly being compared to the previous great teams?  How does ETH feel when he has the specter of his new boss whispering with the apparent “King Maker”.  That scene from the Irishman comes to mind When Hoffer is eating dinner and sees all the Don’s looking at him and whispering in hushed tones.

Sir Alex deserves the highest level of respect.  His stand, a statue, and the lifelong right to go to the club.  However, should he be a constant presence with the shadow of his achievements always looming the current incumbent, the TV cutting to him when they concede a goal and his scowling face a Memes dream.  When the legendary Bill Shankly left Liverpool, after a period of time his presence around the club was seen as more of a hinderance than a help.

When will club realized they have “jumped the shark” with this level of deference? Man U were great, without question the best run club for well over a decade, and Sir Alex was an undoubted genius.  Both he and David Gill were the figure heads that lead Man U in an unparalleled period of success.  However, things change.  Ideas get old, practices change, and what was once, will not always be.

It may seem harsh but for the long-term viability of Man U, should the club fully cut ties where their most successful manager?

However, as a Liverpool fan, I for one am delighted.  For over a decade Man U have sycophantically tried to replicate Sir Alex with no success.  Long may this continue
Ian H

MORE ON SIR ALEX FERGUSON FROM F365
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👉 Ferguson ‘pressing’ Ratcliffe to replace Ten Hag with former Chelsea manager at Man Utd

The Unwritten Rule of Squad Selection
Glad to see the World Cup Ladder back on football365.  I’ve missed it.  But it got me thinking about the balance within international squads and how this has changed over the years.

For the 1984, 1988 and 1992 Euros (when only eight countries competed), countries were only allowed to take 20 player squads.  Absolutely mental.  Even if sides only took two keepers, they would be looking short in some areas.  Utility players were at a premium.  This would have been a great time to be James Milner, covering the whole midfield and both full back positions.  Years later when Milner was playing, squads were big enough that being second best RM was more important than his tin opening ability.

World cups, though, allowed us to take 22 players, and the Euros eventually copied this.  A key decision in squad selection was whether to take two or three keepers.  There was no generally accepted convention.  I remember Ally MacLeod coming in for some stick in Shoot magazine for taking three keepers to Argentina in 1978.

Those people advocating only taking two keepers were often strong advocates of The Unwritten Rule Of Squad Selection: if your first XI were all unavailable, the squad must include the whole XI that you would pick in their place.  But countries didn’t always obey the Unwritten Rule: any country being sensible and picking three keepers was certainly breaking it.

Then we moved to 23 men squads, with a FIFA/UEFA rule that every squad needed to pick three keepers.  Even then, though, there would be countries that didn’t stick to the Unwritten Rule.  England took five strikers to Euro 2000 for a start.  And the effect of this selection can still be felt today, where it’s resulted in The Keegan Rule: if you’re playing n strikers in your normal formation, then you need 2n+1 strikers in your squad.  The Keegan Rule then left managers with a couple of choices.

The first was to stick to the Unwritten Rule, which you can do if you’re lucky enough to have someone in another position who could play as striker in an emergency.  This is what Southgate did for a while, with Rashford picked as an attacking midfielder but also representing the +1 in the Keegan rule.  Cole Palmer has now picked up that baton, meaning that Carsley can get away with picking just two out and out strikers.

The second choice is to pick that extra striker but to break the Unwritten Rule by being short of one player in the second XI.  I remember Sarah Winterburn in an old ladder article telling us that the way to do this was to only take one right back.  I think there’s a slightly wider range of allowable possibilities, which I’m going to call The Winterburn Rule: when picking a squad for a side that plays with a back four, if you can’t comply with the Unwritten Rule, then one player needs to double up as fourth choice CB and either second choice LB or second choice RB.  Players like this are hard to come by.  Pearce, Neville and Walker played as CBs but only in back threes.  Colwill at LB and White at CB haven’t impressed for England.  Konsa looks OK but Joleon Lescott may be the best Winterburn Rule defender we’ve had.

You’ll notice that:
– the Winterburn rule doesn’t include an option for a player to double up as second choice full back on both sides (cough, Trippier, cough).  This is because it would leave us with three players covering two positions.
– the Winterburn rule only applies to teams with back fours.  If you’re playing three at the back, the easy way to cut numbers is to only take five CBs.

And now we’ve moved on to 26 man squads.  And while I’d never been an Unwritten Rule zealot before, there’s really no longer any excuse for not complying with it.  Just pick your first XI, then your first choice XI from whoever’s left, then your third choice keeper.  That leaves you with three extra places in your squad where you can do whatever you wanted to do in the old days that would have broken The Unwritten Rule.

So you could pick:
– players in positions where you had injury worries (a LB or striker at the last Euros)
– players in positions where you’re not 100% convinced that the players you have picked are really up for it
– an extra striker to more visibly comply with the Keegan Rule (Solanke?)
– utility players (Joe Gomez?  or bring back the tin opener)
– players in positions where you have a utility player in the first or second XI (Chillwell: if there are multiple injuries at RB or DM, Lewis can play there and Shaw can play LB with Chillwell on the bench)
– players not in the first or second XI but who are too good to leave at home (Eze, maybe Foden, Bowen or Grealish)
– players who are on the way out but don’t deserve to be dropped just yet (Maguire, Shaw?  Walker?  Kane?)
– or just pick players in three different lines of the formation

So, yes, The Unwritten Rule, which was originally just a rule of thumb should now be mandatory.  which brings me back to the latest World Cup Ladder, where you predict Carsley would pick three keepers, four full backs (two each side), five centre backs, three deep midfielders, nine attacking midfielders and two strikers.  Looks pretty close to the squad I’d expect him to pick.  Two strikers plus Palmer mean we comply with The Keegan Rule.  But it’s breaking the Unwritten Rule with Rice, Mainoo and Angel Gomez covering two positions.  I’d expect Gallagher to be thrown in there as a fourth defensive midfielder, probably at the expense of Gibbs-White.
Steve, Armchair England Manager

‘Arry
Graham, youve been a stalwart for as long as ive been around these parts and I’ve always agreed, for the most part, with your opinions.

But my friend, you seem to have missed the memo, the FA have a very simple rule. They will hire almost anyone as long as their name is NOT ‘Arry fackin run araand a bit’ Redknapp.

Easy mistake to make.
TGWolf(hes a gooner but one of the gooduns)THFC

A few bits
On England, I agree with the general feeling. That’s more like it; balanced, properly spaced, fluid attacks. Gomes at 6 I find interesting. Was that forced by circumstances or is it a longer term plan?

I think Rice has been excellent in that role but if he’s going to play 8 and Bellingham plays 10? Where does that leave the other excellent MA’s? For me, you need clutch players in the big games – he should figure out which they are as a priority.

I’d like to just quickly respond to Paul McDevitt.

Agree with your anthem sentiment except -“Most European ones are about ….battles….how wonderful their King is.” I thought maybe your Google broke or something so I did a quick survey for you! I know, you’re welcome.

I looked at english translations of the German, French, Spanish, Italian, Belgian, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Greek, Austrian and Bulgarian anthems.

Words like fight and battle turn up, as you might expect, but often against nameless tyranny. Mostly they’re about freedom, unity and how great the people and country are.

However, I tallied specific mentions of battles or Kings.

Of 11 anthems –  three definitely with battles (France, Poland, Italy) and two mention Kings – Belgium slightly and the Dutch: whose, like ours, is obsessed entirely with royal persons. The prince of Orange and how much better the King of Spain is apparently.

It might be unimportant but I think a new anthem could take the country a small step into the present.

Finally, and I hope interestingly, on female managers (groan ).I found a thing! (footbalists. Top 10: female managers of men’s teams).
TEN! And that’s in 2020.

It’s interesting because, in terms of levels and performance, we have a few real world examples to consider.

2014 – Corrine Diacre leaves Soyaux and French National (Level 1 women’s) to manage Clermont Foot (L2 men’s – ligue 2) for three seasons. Finished in 7-11th which is about standard for them.

2015 – Shelley Kerr went from Arsenal (L1 women’s) where she won two cups, to manage Sterling University (L5 men’s) and got consistent top 5 and a cup final. From there to Scotland (L1W).

2015 – Chan Yeung Ting took over Eastern Sports Hong Kong (L1 M) with satisfying nominative harmony at the age of just 27. Won the title, took them into the ACL. Moved to Jiangsul (L1W)

2018 – Imka Wübbenhorst went from the female (L1W) BV Cloppenburg to the male version (L5M). Germany. Finished bottom, got relegated. Another coaching badge and then VFL Sportfreunde (L4M) where after being asked if men had to cover up in the dressing room, jokingly said – “Of course not… I pick the team on size of penis.”

Despite this, performance was poor and she only lasted 4 months.

2019 – Imka Grings moved from MSV Duisburg (L1W) to SV Straeden (L4M) where relegation was inevitable but won the 5th division straight away. PPG of 2.27(tfmkt).

Final shout has to go to Carolina Morace who went from Lazio women’s to Serie C Viterbase Castrense in – get this – 1999! I don’t remember that! Although it was only for 2 games (W/L) due to the ol’ sexism.  First female ever to manage a senior men’s team.
Hartley MCFC Somerset 

Elite English female coach debate III
Hartley: The point I was making about female coaches was not about whether many of them are “elite”, or whether they have the knowledge and talent needed to successfully coach a male football team, in a hypothetical ‘vacuum’ scenario. Unless we are suggesting a managerial version of “She’s The Man”, where one of these clearly talented female coaches disguises herself as a man whenever she interacts with the media/public, thereby avoiding all the sexism and pressure.

The point I was making was that I think there is only one female coach who has the profile needed to be plausibly accepted as the first female coach in English men’s (top-level) football, while also suggesting that these foreign female coaches would be more likely to want to try their hand at men’s football in their own countries, rather than subjecting themselves to the scrutiny of the English football microscope.

There are plenty who would doubt even Emma Hayes’ viability, despite her high profile, huge amount of experience and successful track record at both club and international level. I genuinely think it could work, personally. On that basis, it is very fanciful to suggest that Laura Harvey, Kelly Cousins  or Carla Ward would be accepted. Also, Casey Stoney is not the current coach of SD Wave, she was sacked earlier this season and replaced by Landon Donovan (I happen to follow SD local news due to my time at university there). Meanwhile, Rita Guarino has no connection whatsoever to England or English football, while Sonia Bompaster has only been coaching in England for a few weeks. Again, I’m struggling to see the potential for acceptance in these cases.
Oliver Dziggel, Geneva Switzerland

#CarlingPremiershipmen
Being a 90s kid, can we not have an squad who exude the Premier League when they were sponsored by crap beer? (A quick Google states from 1993-2001).

I’ll start with Brian Gunn, Ian Brightwell, John Jensen and Tony Yeboah as complete randoms.
Ben

Best beards
Since the start of the new season and the promotion of Russell Martin’s beard and team to the EPL I’ve been musing on the subject of Premier League beards. I’m sure there’s an entire Football365 article there waiting for someone.

Some of my top EPL beards would have to include Russell ‘Black Beard’ Martin, early Wolves days Nuno’s Marx tribute, late Chelski Potter’s Birdseye captain audition and lets not forget Joe Ledleys bristles or the mad glory of Abel Xavier’s bleached whiskers.

Is there an all time top ten out there?
Rob (bored at work)