Tar-Mairon

I could understand, although I wouldn't be happy, if Kane went to City or Liverpool. United though? It's an absolute joke as is the concept he'd rather work for a manager unproven outside of a relatively weak Dutch league with a massive rebuild on his hands (way bigger than the one at Spurs) who are likely to finish below his current team this season when he has a genuine world class manager in the here and now at Spurs. The media want Kane out and have worked hard to unsettle him for years, the club just have to ignore.

I had a dream last night that Palace sacked Patrick Vieira because Gianluca Vialli told the media he wanted the job and Palace couldn't resist. Unless that actually happens, I think the Palace model is fine.

If they threw Chelsea out of the league, it'll open up a massive can of worms regarding other owners and their wealth and set a precedent. They're juggling trying to seem tough on Putin's lackeys and not completely upsetting the balance of football by fully looking into these owners because Abramovich is not the only one who's obtained his money by questionable means.

Just read that they are banned from making transfers or offering new contracts too although their current players and staff will continue to be paid fully.

Due to the current situation in Ukraine, politicians are calling for him to be stripped of Chelsea FC and that he should not be allowed to own a club in this country. Whether this is actually possible or probable, I have no idea.

The Lampard continuum for Everton fans? You Can Be Our Hero, Baby - wins the FA Cup and stays up. You confusing Martinez like horrible Tory glorious man - wins the FA Cup and goes down. OK, cool. Let's reboot and we'll see what you can do - doesn't win the FA Cup, stays up. How do I become a theoretical physicist and travel back in time? - doesn't win the FA Cup. Goes down.

I would agree. He seems to have put this all on the players and they are responsible to an extent but they don't look like they have even been basically coached this season. We should never have won that - any team who could do the basics should have seen us out. Doherty, a player whose confidence is shattered, was made to look like a world beater. The only thing potentially saving him is that they might wait for the summer as they probably aren't in any real danger.

Do you think Rodgers is in danger this season?

I'm not blaming Solskjaer for Greenwood's actions. Although "nice guy" Ole does have history in protecting people accused of henious offences: https://thefootballdugout.com/2020/02/18/how-ole-gunnar-solskjaer-protected-a-rapist/ Obviously, what Greenwood and Sarr are alleged to have done is not his fault. You're probably right about most of United but it's being reported that there is a split and one player is angry that they've cast him out.

One player enraged at the "treatment" of Greenwood because it shows the squad "aren't together". No, listen you little scum rat, the biggest issue here is rape, sexual assault, domestic violence and threats to kill not your little wickle baby ego. Solskjaer has to be the worst manager they ever had, or at least one of them. For months, we were treated to his sycophantic mates in the media telling us that he's bought back the team spirit to the club and got a bunch of likable players. You look at it now and that's utterly laughable. He's left the squad in a worse state than Mourinho did but at least Mourinho won something. Whoever takes it in summer has a ridiculous job, turning this around.

Everton will have to score their way out of this predicament until the summer so if he gets them functioning as an attacking unit, it'll be fine. Lampard is not going to get better than Everton right now and Everton aren't going to get better than Lampard so it makes total sense for it to get done. Pereira's TV interview (if not sanctioned by the club which is what appears to be claimed) should rule him out immediately.

Traore doesn't want to play right wing-back, which is why he doesn't want to come to the club. It's not to do with any financial decision on the club's part. If he doesn't want to play where the manager asks, why do we want him? Diaz has been scouted by Liverpool for some time who were going to sign him this summer. We have agreed a fee with Porto and made the player an offer. His agents put the brakes on it, then Liverpool leapt in realizing if they want him, they have to do it now. It's going to happen. The agents were likely playing games to get Liverpool in quickly. I mean, Levy deserves a lot of criticism but this window is not due to him not putting the money up. January is a nightmare for this anyway, Conte has said that himself and the talk that Conte will storm out on February 1st appears to be extremely fanciful. He will, however, leave if he is not backed in the summer and if that happens, we deserve all we get.

He's screwed it. I mean, I think the minority of fans who are saying "Pereira out" before he's even been offered the job is pretty ridiculous. I understand their dislike and not wanting Benitez before he got the job (although obviously the mouth-breathers that threatened him with "we know where you live" should be heavily punished). He has a mixed record, yes, but Everton have maxed out their Ancelotti's and their Mourinho's and are probably going to end up with a manager whose record is mixed. Totally premature and ridiculous. We all get managerial appointments we don't think are right (Nuno with us). However, what Pereira has now done is so utterly unprofessional and disrespectful that he must be taken out of consideration now. He's in the midst of an interview process, no decision has been made and to publicly detail the interview, disrespect the other candidates and make a complete fool of the entire process is ridiculous. He's heaped embarrassment on the club, the players must take one look at that and think "no, not this guy". I've never seen such ridiculous shit from a guy who's supposed to be a manager. What's he going to do the second he gets a bad result and is under pressure? He should be nowhere near the job because of this.

Crooks and Keys have this view of people like Kenwright as the good old English gent chairman, the local-boy-made-good, blue-blood-in-his-veins, dying-out-because-of-the-foreigners and regardless of whether their decisions have actually been any good, see it as a kind of betrayal from the fanbase that they could ever dare to even remotely criticize. See Keys really attack the people who flew the banner - it wasn't personally abusive, it simply expressed the opinion of whoever paid for it regarding Everton's future. I read Keys' blog (they can often be utterly hilarious at the sheer stupidity) and he has an utter pathological hatred and loathing of Benitez that goes way beyond personal and is obsessive and creepy. He works himself into a rage about what he's doing when he's out of the game, in China etc. I mean, Benitez deserved full criticism for his role at Everton, he did a bad job but Keys suggesting Kenwright should have come out publicly the day Benitez was hired and said he disagreed with it is laughable. He wasn't the right appointment but arguing that to undermine the new manager on his first day at the club by the chairman saying "I don't want him" is good for the club is embarrassing. I think he's bitter regarding Everton, despite claiming to love them, because his mate Gray is not particularly popular there despite being an Everton "legend". Although an Everton fan would know more about that than me. I get a bad feeling the club are going to fold to what Kia wants. I genuinely think they are in danger if Newcastle get in a couple of players they can easily afford in the last week and Hodgson (whom it looks like is coming in at Watford) can do his usual steadying of the ship.

Usually, I have an immediate aversion to romantic appointments because they very rarely work. Lampard didn't. Solskjaer didn't. Arteta is very, very debatable but I would say that he hasn't. However, Everton have gone with the tried and true and it hasn't worked. To me, it always felt as if Koeman and Ancelotti thought they were too big for the club (that's a criticism of them, not a negative statement on Everton's size as a club) and that they thought they were doing them a favour by just being there. I know Silva has had to work his way back up from the Championship since it went wrong for him at Everton but it looked as though he had thoughts that Everton were a stepping stone. Rooney would see it differently, he has shown admirable loyalty in difficult circumstances with Derby (he could have said "fuck this!" in the summer and walked away) and has shown sufficient qualities to suggest that he deserves a chance there. If you consider Solskjaer's experience was in the Norwegian league and relegating Cardiff with a horrible brief period in the Championship and Arteta had never managed in his own right before he got the Arsenal job, then yes, Rooney would be a shout as the position Derby are in is nothing short of remarkable with what he has at his disposal.

Well, the options I've seen all have drawbacks but that's always going to be the case when you've been mismanaged for years and are struggling: Roberto Martinez - would probably only get it until the end of the season as I doubt he'll want to leave before the World Cup. Would be an embarrassing climbdown for Moshiri, if he didn't feel he was good enough then, why now? However, West Ham made an embarrassing climbdown on Moyes and their eating of humble pie worked out very well. I can't see it being long-term or working out but they might do it. Wayne Rooney - well, we're in the days where ex players who have done a lot less than Rooney has can get jobs at their old clubs so I can well see it. The job at Derby, under the circumstances, has been excellent and he won't go straight in with expectations of guaranteed CL qualification and trophies instantly unlike Solskjaer, Arteta and Lampard at the clubs where they are legends - although I use "legend" loosely in Arteta's case. Maybe he does deserve a chance in (comparatively) calmer waters but they might decide he's too inexperienced. Duncan Ferguson - I doubt it, would be the biggest risk of all. Frank Lampard - He'd take it if offered, I have no doubt of that. He'll get no bigger right now. An enigma of a manager - got Derby to the play-off final but didn't get them over the line, qualified for the CL in his first season with Chelsea under difficult circumstances but failed to win the FA Cup, collapsed in his final half a season but arguably set Tuchel up for success with the players he bought in and bought through - Tuchel clearly a better manager but still, Lampard deserves credit. Would he be the right fit? Million dollar question. Nuno Esperito Santo - maybe if he were coming straight from Wolves but really, the job he did with us has badly knocked his chances. Plays a similar type of football to Benitez and granted, would come to Everton without Benitez' baggage but looked utterly lost, exhausted and like he had no ideas whatsoever with us which would not be a good look. I think he needs a time out. Graham Potter - would be a fantastic appointment but I don't think he'll go. He'll hold on for a team in or immediately pushing for top 4 or possibly England. Sean Dyche - I don't see it simply as he's no longer flavour of the month, same with Hasenhuttl. Paulo Fonseca - well, he wants to come to England and I could see it if they want to take a punt on someone who's not managed in England. Our managerial hiring incompetence in the summer shouldn't put anyone else off.

Everton hire a manager who was toxic with their fans from the start, allow him full control, sack their medical head at his behest, sack their DOF and sell one of their better performers and first choice left back as well as letting him buy two other full backs, sack him three days later and now the rumour is that they are trying to get back the man Moshiri originally sacked when he took over. That's pretty shambolic.

The interesting thing about United was that Solskjaer was praised for draining the toxicity of Mourinho and making it a happy camp, even when results weren't going their way and they were underachieving in competitions. This looks to be just as toxic, if not moreso, than Mourinho with all the reports of cliques and sniping at each other. Has this been brewing for a long time or did the signing of Ronaldo really upset the apple cart as some have suggested?

United are probably going through what Liverpool went through from the early nineties. They'll be up and around the top 6. They won't fall far below it. They will hoover up some trophies sporadically (although I suspect in United's case, it'll be domestic only, the CL is a lot stronger now than when Liverpool won it in 2005, taking nothing away from their achievement) and might even have a very rare tilt at the League. The only variable is, as Devil said, the league is much stronger. Since United last won the league, Leicester, Spurs (we're coming back, oh yes we are) and Arsenal have come and gone from the top 4. Liverpool and City have established themselves as incredible forces in the Premier League. Chelsea have rejoined the party, they always do. West Ham are looking like they might need to be taken seriously. United not finishing in the CL places will well and truly make the board sit up and pay attention - I agree that they are vultures and self-interested capitalists with no interest in the actual game, running United as Manchester United Marketing PLC while putting an inept manager in Solskjaer up as a patronizing nostalgia-wank for the...what was it?...."legacy fans" and storing bright shiny toys with an interest in shirt sales only rather than the team but they end up out of the CL, with the ESL dead, you can bet they'll react because "the business". I doubt it'll be anyone who might actually change anything though. For all we've been criticized and Chelsea have been, the second we realized Nuno wasn't going to work out, he was gone and the mistake rectified and Chelsea remove managers without sentiment if they are not improving the side - including club legends. United, who seem to be under the delusion that this makes them look pure and morally righteous, are embarrassing themselves the longer this goes on.

He had a nice guy image but I don't think he's ever been a nice guy. He comes across to me as a completely arrogant, hypocritical dick who thinks he deserves to be worshiped just because he's at United, without any of the actual managerial talent to back it up. Granted, it is a little personal with me as I'm still pissed off about what he said about Son last year but the point still stands.

It seems he was in need of a break at the end of last season. I don't have anything personal against the man, he seems like a nice guy and I don't usually call for sackings before even a dozen games but he really does have to go. It's not working and it's not going to. Conte would be a brilliant appointment although why we didn't agree to give him what he wanted in the summer is beyond me. I would also like someone like Ten Haag or Potter but I doubt they'll want it. Steven Gerrard too but if he does leave Rangers, I think it would be in summer. At the moment, we are just...nothing.

If Ferguson is being asked to come into training, United need to get a grip and show their current manager some respect. If Ferguson is doing it of his own accord, he needs to told politely but firmly that he is always respected, always a legend but he can have no part or say in how the club's on-field affairs are run. He is undermining the current manager and the club can never move on and build a new era while he does this. It's not helped by the Chief of Class of 92 Brand who, when it comes to United, loses his ability to be an excellent pundit saying things like "no manager can ever come into that club with his own philosophy" (no other club's ex pros have this level of stupidity) again, the implication being that even a few ex pros, including the manager, see United simply as a nostalgia cafe, desperately trying to relive Ferguson. Ferguson wasn't wedded to a philosophy. That's what made him a genius. He adapted with the times. "Attacking football and bringing youth through" is not a philosophy. Everyone wants to do that and when teams aren't doing it, their fans get angry. A manager has to come in and bring his own philosophy to United for their own good and if Ferguson is put out and a few ex-pros don't like it, this is the price United must pay if they want to win things again.

Neville's lost his mind. He's attacking United fans for wanting OGS out because of the 1999 CL Final and is hysterically accusing players of undermining him to get him sacked because his tactical ineptitude and knowledge of it has come out, finally. When he's actually sacked, will we find him running around naked outside Old Trafford screaming "the game's gone"?!

What exactly does Solskjaer think United are close to? They finished second last season and a title challenge was expected this season. They have almost no chance of either - they won't get in the top three and are further away than last year. They're out of the League Cup, the CL is a million miles away and they start in the same place as everyone else in the FA Cup and you wouldn't fancy it.

He appears more interested in picking ridiculous fights with his ex-team mates who, love them or hate them/agree with them or disagree with them, are literally paid to analyse football. He seems honestly confused about this. He's now being asked questions and they're pretty valid ones too. He's been at a huge club for three years now, he's been given money and backing to put his own team together and stamp his own identity on the team and they are pretty much nothing except pray that one of their brilliant individual talents pulls them out. He seems ludicrously thin-skinned and as though everybody should be praising him for this. Man Utd, whether you love, hate or are indifferent to them, have a history of winning. He knows that more than anyone as a player (a brilliant player) but he seems way, way too relaxed about it as though winning is a nice bonus but some abstract about "our values" wins all - and he doesn't show much of that either. Under Ferguson, United won at all costs and the man didn't give two shits what anyone thought of him providing they did it. Solskjaer just wants unreserved praise as a lovely, humble man (he's not) with great "values" and seems positively upset when he's reminded that he needs to throw together a workable plan to have United win trophies again. They'll likely go no further with him and if they keep persisting with this experiment, they'll keep missing out on top managers. I'd start talking to Conte imminently.