He is also under contract until 2010 and, while these things mean nothing when money is involved, will he swap Champions League next season for getting slagged off by City fans when we go out of the FA Cup to a League 1 team?Blue Mooner said:Dyed Petya said:Uwe Rosler's Grandad said:I'm a fan of Van Gaal. He has stated before that he would love to manage in the Premiership. What I like about him is that his teams play good football plus he doesn't take any crap, can manage/ sort players with big egos, can handle the pressure/ expectations of a big club and he has proven at AZ that he doesn't need cash to turn a team into a league winner. OK City would be a challenge but Van Gaal is proven on literally every level.
I completely agree with the above. I'd take Mourinho but suspect he won't take us. So that leaves Van Gaal as someone who ticks all possible boxes. And if reports are true that he was interested in the Sunderland vacancy before Keane left, then it's difficult to imagine that we wouldn't have a good chance of attracting him here.
I admire the persistence of the 'Hughes In' crowd, but it's perfectly legitimate to note that he came to the club during the tenure of Mad Thaksin, so now we can wonder if we can't anticipate that someone better might be available now we have ADUG in charge. And when we look at Hughes's record in his year in charge as evidence for his capabilities for continuing with the 'Project', it's equally legitimate to suggest that it's patchy at best.
I mean, in his favour, we have a decent home record (six defeats, though) and a UEFA Cup run (though we struggled pretty desperately against three pretty ordinary Danish outfits and were battered by the first decent opposition we faced). Against that, there's the ndisgraceful away record, dismal displays in the domestic Cups, transparently unhappy camp at odds with Hughes's methods and so on.
When you look at his track record, hoping that he'll settle into the job and achieve things never remotely possible in his previous jobs is a much greater risk that hoping that a proven top class manager will take us forward - and, with our riches, there's little doubt that one will be available. So it simply has to be Hughes out.
Any new appointment is obviously a risk. However, if it were Van Gaal in, then I think we go about as far as we realistically can to minimise the risk.
Van Gaal is 57 - hardly the long term solution - I notice on Wikipedia that he had disappointing results in 07/08 so if he had been City manager he would have got the sack before having the chance to put them 14 points ahead in the league as they are this year.
fucking great shout !!!PaulPowre said:Has to be David Moyes for me.
JohnMaddocksAxe said:Whilst I respect and admire the job Moyes has done at Everton and think he deserves a shot at any better opportunity that comes along (even though he probably, unfairly, won't get it), I don't think he is the man for us.
There is a real danger that Moyes would be seen by players as being in the same mould as Hughes and even though I think he has proved an awful lot more than Hughes has, I don't think we can take that risk.
Over the next few years we need to be in a position to capitalise on the lure that cash will bring.
At present I think there is a real danger of potential targets looking at what looks like a camp where, as a group, the players either do not respect the manager or he cannot get them to play anywhere near their potential.
And I think that is crucial that we rid ourselves of that tag if we are to capitalise on the finances.
Without Champions League, maybe even European, football, we need to be able to demonstrate to players that we will, within a couple of years, be taking them forward and giving them the big stage to play on. It can't be a massive gamble for them, they need to be convinced.
I'm sure that's how it was sold to all the signings this season. In fact, they said as much.
Now, whilst we will no doubt attract some players with pure cash in the summer, many players with options to go to or stay at bigger clubs are going to be very wary if they see an unhappy ship, led by a manager with problems who they have no reason to believe in and who looks like he doesn't have his own players believing in him.
Through no fault of his own,I think there is a danger that Moyes would run the risk of being viewed with similar suspiscion by foriegn targets. I don't think it's right, but I think that there is the possibility.
I therefore think that a continental manager, who must have good English, with a proven track record is the route to go and gives us the best chance of capitlising on our financial advantage.
We came close to signing Kaka in Jan. How close exactly, I don't think anyone knows. When Kaka looks at what looks to be an unhappy and underperforming ship if we go back to him in the summer, I think we would now be a lot further away. There's even less reason for him to risk his career now, under the current set up, than there was in Jan.
I think, unfairly, there is the risk that Moyes, just because he has never managed higher than Everton, could be viewed as being in the same mould as Hughes by higher profile signings. I don't think it's fair, but if I were the owners I really wouldn't want to take that risk and I'd want a man who wasn't only a proven manager, but someone who is going to provide high profile signings with some sort of comfort blanket of working with their ilk before.