[joslicx]

Originally Posted by Saanil

How do you know this? Has this already been announced? Sorry but I do not follow football news closely hence I may have missed this. I just wanted to check whether 'today's game is last for LVG' is your own personal assessment or this has already become official.

Cheers!

A little birdie (Twitter)

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

Wouldn't want to debate who goes where, but that bit is hardly true at all. Ferguson and Mourinho have starkly contrasting footballing styles, and if United fans find Van Gaal boring, I can't fathom how they'll react to Mourinho's style. He's much more of a win-by-boring-opposition-to-death merchant than anyone else, Van Gaal included.

Mourinho may be a winner and all (his trophy cabinet says so), but exciting he ain't.



He just isn't the type to stay too long anywhere, if his history is any indication. Future subject to change, of course, but doesn't seem likely.



Chelsea's current season suggests otherwise. All well to keep a winning bunch motivated, but this (half) season was his biggest test of motivational mgmt/ skills in a dire situation and the results speak for themselves. I have no love for the horrid Chelsea players for the way they got him (and a few past managers) sacked, but that doesn't take away from his failure as a leader.

All leaders pass thru bad times in their lives. Jose did now. But he didnt leave. Chelsea fired him. So apparently he didnt get a proper chance to get things right. We cannot say if he could not have fixed the problems at Chelsea (for God sake he had just won them a title last year!). The ease with which clubs like Chelsea,Real etc fire their managers can portray anybody as a failure - Real sacked del Bosque when he had just won a double and now Ancelotti! Chelsea fired their (only) European winning coach!! Its madness really.

As for the comparisons with SAF, well there are lot of misconceptions about SAF, mostly due to lazy reporting and SAF's own doing. Sir Alex really wasnt the most attacking coach around. He had mastered a winning formula in the league when most teams were really poor (and struggling financially as well). United's secret was their absolute dominance of those poor teams - scores like 3-0, 4-0 were quite the norm against those (its another matter now that those teams also have lot of money thanks to the new broadcasting deal of GBP 5b and also rich owners!) On the other hand, against top-8 teams SAF would be quite circumspect - we mostly were set not to lose to those. Against the top coaches SAF's record is rather poor - against Mourinho he won only 3 out of 16 or so games (Only exception is Wenger - who developed some kind of united phobia and was cannon fodder for us mostly). Once City had money power they started beating us rather regularly. Liverpool would regularly beat us, and SAF was always poor against them and the team was always poor against them! Similarly in Europe we were rather poor against top teams, we beat Barca in 2008 by playing negatively but got beaten soundly twice in 2 finals when we tried to play them! We were beaten by Bayern, Real etc. in his last years. By the way, Mourinho's team played quite attacking football at Real. (To quote from Wiki: "On 13 May 2012, Real Madrid defeated Mallorca 4–1, in their last league match of the season which set records for most games won in a La Liga season (32), most away wins (16), most points obtained in any of the top European leagues (100), improving the most goals scored record they already had set earlier (121), and finishing the season with the highest goal difference (+89).[95][96] Real Madrid topped the league 9 points clear of runners-up Barcelona." )

There are many ways in which Mourinho and SAF are similar - both are big personalities - no player in the world is bigger than any of the two. Both have handled the biggest and best players. Both are man motivators primarily (Mourinho is an excellent tactician as well while SAF was just good in this department). Both are charismatic and good at handling and playing media. Both really really good at cleaning up small teams! Both are winners of big trophies. Sir Alex was as impetuous at the same age Mourinho is! For Sir Alex defense was the primary concern always - same for Mourinho.

Originally Posted by barcalad

No. The only ex-Barca figure that City has is Txiki Bergiristain, who was Barca's Sporting Director during the Pep era, and holds the same position at City now. He is the man responsible for all of City's transfer market activities for the last 4 seasons or so.

Ah OK. I kind of read somewhere there are few people already at City with whom Pep used to work at Barca.

[Chetan_Rao]

Similarities exist - there's only so many ways one can play football - but they do vary significantly in some aspects. Let's leave it at that or take it offline

Ferguson was by no means perfect, and United's two defeats against Barca in ECL finals showed up the chink in his footballing armour pretty starkly in Europe. The Premier League has seen a better spread of money and talent recently (as you mentioned) which means results again 'lesser' teams can no longer be taken for granted, as evident this year.

Still, it would be interesting to see Mourinho at United, if for nothing else but to see how the two sides' fans react to it. Long term legacies are hard to build in these times of insane spending, when every club (esp. the big ones) depend heavily on revenue to balance the books every year and just can't afford lean years. I don't believe any club is willing (or able) to persist with a manager for half a decade (like United did with Ferguson early on) before results start to show. That era is long gone.


P.S. Next season could possibly see Mourinho, Klopp, Guardiola and Simeone managing simultaneously in the Premier League. The ego clashes would be monumental!

[Liverpool_Red]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

P.S. Next season could possibly see Mourinho, Klopp, Guardiola and Simeone managing simultaneously in the Premier League. The ego clashes would be monumental!

That would be epic. But I cannot see Mourinho managing in England straightaway. He is probably PSG bound IMO. Add to this mix, Pochettino and Ranieri (who I can't stop admiring for the way he is conducting himself).

If the managerial moves are sealed early in the summer then the transfer market moves will be very intense. All in all next BPL season will be an absolute stunner.

[Chetan_Rao]

And the merry-go-round continues in Madrid. Why do they bother hiring mangers at all?

[joslicx]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

And the merry-go-round continues in Madrid. Why do they bother hiring mangers at all?

It must be fun to collect the sack-off pay check for these managers. Mourinho got 40m GBP!! honestly I wouldnt mind one

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by joslicx

It must be fun to collect the sack-off pay check for these managers. Mourinho got 40m GBP!! honestly I wouldnt mind one

And he's rumored to be a hot favorite to get the job if Zizou fails which practically amounts to 40 million for a sabbatical. Beat that!

[Saanil]

So what is Real Madrid aiming with all such moves? Winning all possible trophies every year? Which team has been able to do this in the past 100 years?

With such moves, any manager will be under tremendous pressure to perform.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by Saanil

So what is Real Madrid aiming with all such moves? Winning all possible trophies every year? Which team has been able to do this in the past 100 years?

With such moves, any manager will be under tremendous pressure to perform.

Real have some of the most fickle fans with an apparently infinite sense of entitlement and instant gratification, with an absolute numpty in charge who fires managers for fun, including the last one who brought them the much-coveted 'La Decima' then responded "I don't know" when asked why he was sacked.

Add the rabid sports media culture in Spain to the mix, and the cocktail is explosive and poisonous. Benitez is a bit of a dramatist, but one has to agree with him there was no pleasing anyone no matter what he did, from day one.

Zizou has probably made the worst mistake of his blossoming managerial career by accepting that poisoned chalice. How can anyone succeed at a club where even success doesn't keep your job safe?

[deetjohn]

Real' biggest problem is Perez. He has to be sacked before any manager. That is no way to run any football club. This is just politics to make his reign last long. Just like how Blatter and Platini hung on till now.

Perez shouldn't have sacked Ancelotti let alone Benitez. And Zidane now got an almighty task now. Real' B team was relegated to Spanish third division under Zidane. It will be great if he can replicate what Guardiola (an ex-player and manager nobody) did at Barca, but I honestly think Zidane should have been given more time before taking up the role with the senior team.


And read this article before you wish for Jose in your club. The devil and José Mourinho. Its a long read, but totally gripping and a very good one.

[bhargavgunreddy]

Jose was the first choice of Real after rafa's departure. But he chose not to return to real as he was waiting for ManUtd to pick him as Van Gaal's successor as per lot of reports flying around. If it is true then we will be sure up for some treat next season with Jose, Pep, Klopp and probably new Chelsea manager(Simone probably) to compete against each other. Just mouth watering isn't it ?

Honestly feel Zidane does not have the credentials, as he does not have the experience of managing. He was managing a tier two team and has been an assistant coach for six months. But wait, who knows whats coming. Remember when Di Matteo was made the chelsea coach under same circumstances in middle of the season and they ended up with most coveted trophy.

[Vitalstatistiks]

Wow, I did not know about this thread and that is not a good thing. Sticky, from now on !

Originally Posted by Liverpool_Red

All in all next BPL season will be an absolute stunner.

This is the last "BPL", savour it. Barclays is getting dropped as sponsor next year (by not renewing their contract), and the powers that be have decided to go the NBA-way i.e. keep the title of the league brand-free. It will simply be "English Premier League" from next year onwards !

[naveenroy]

Originally Posted by Vitalstatistiks

This is the last "BPL", savour it. Barclays is getting dropped as sponsor next year (by not renewing their contract), and the powers that be have decided to go the NBA-way i.e. keep the title of the league brand-free. It will simply be "English Premier League" from next year onwards !

Ah didn't know this bit of information. It's good it will be called the English Premier League.

[Liverpool_Red]

Originally Posted by Vitalstatistiks

Wow, I did not know about this thread and that is not a good thing. Sticky, from now on !



This is the last "BPL", savour it. Barclays is getting dropped as sponsor next year (by not renewing their contract), and the powers that be have decided to go the NBA-way i.e. keep the title of the league brand-free. It will simply be "English Premier League" from next year onwards !

Welcome to the thread.

Always preferred EPL over BPL. BPL always reminds me of Below Poverty Line. Thanks for the information though.

[RedDevil_KP]

Condolences to all the Scousers out there following the defeat yesterday . Hope you all got adequate sleep last night to recover from it

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by RedDevil_KP

Condolences to all the Scousers out there following the defeat yesterday . Hope you all got adequate sleep last night to recover from it

Indeed! It would have been nice if we had a striker!