• Dear Guest, Please note that adult content is not permitted on this forum. We have had our Google ads disabled at times due to some posts that were found from some time ago. Please do not post adult content and if you see any already on the forum, please report the post so that we can deal with it. Adult content is allowed in the glory hole - you will have to request permission to access it. Thanks, scara

Next Manager?

OK, fair enough.
You still think it's feasible that we agreed a deal with gattuso in six hours?
His wages
His coaching staff
His budget
Signings
Style of football
All in six hours.
Really?
I've got a bridge to sell and a rich Nigerian uncle, fancy a chat?
For Gattuso, yes. He is more a beggar than a chooser, I doubt he had particularly excessive demands.
 
Fair enough. In the meantime, time is passing. Candidates that would have said something about the ambition and direction of the club like Conte are already out of the running, so we can already draw some conclusions around exactly where we sit in the grand scheme of things.

Don’t think Conte was ever seriously in the running tbh.
Doesn’t fit for either of us.
The question had to be asked, but was very unlikely.
 
Fair enough. In the meantime, time is passing. Candidates that would have said something about the ambition and direction of the club like Conte are already out of the running, so we can already draw some conclusions around exactly where we sit in the grand scheme of things.
Maybe, maybe we chatted to Conte and decided the fit was wrong.

I'd rather take longer and make the right decision.
 
Care to take a guess as to what we’ve been doing for two months? I’m genuinely interested in alternative takes.

For me, if we pull ETH out of the bag, it would almost all have been worth it. I don’t quite understand why we didn’t do it weeks ago, unless we’re doing a play similar to our transfer dealing of letting the time go in and lowering the comp (not even sure that makes sense…) if we were gonna do it, but that would be worth it.

Otherwise, I just can’t see another realistic option that makes a chaotic 2 month manager hunt worth it. Every other option would seemingly be a big risk, somewhat unproven, and would be a downgrade from what we had with Pochettino.

Here's a shot at it (again, not a defence of club activities)

- DoF was always part of the plan
- Any final decision on manager was always going to include DoF, so needed to hire that role first
- Some opportunistic conversations (unexpected availability of candidate) would have happened likely with the caveat of the final closure wouldn't happen without DoF agreement
- Lots of interviews go like this -> informal (chance for both parties to talk) -> genuine screen (discussion about functional fit) -> full interview
- Add in covid meaning certain final stages could have been purposely delayed to allow for in person meetings.

The biggest fudge up for me is the club's willingness to let the "perception" that we were going to close this early and/or have been close to making appointments continue unchecked.

Easy PR statement -> we are evaluating multiple candidates, not all reports in media are aligned and we will let everyone know when we are close or have finalized our candidate search.
 
He's simply blown away South American football. He's been about the most successful manager ever over there, but is also still young.

Barcelona wanted him a while ago, but he told them he'd only move at and end of a season (and Argentina is out of kilter with Europe)

Style wise he's more Poch than Poch. Very charismatic in a warm way. High tempo attractive football. Tactically very smart too

He was approached by Roma before Mourinho and said that he would be willing to go there at the end of the season (December). I had wondered about bringing him in and keeping Mason on until December.
 
Maybe, maybe we chatted to Conte and decided the fit was wrong.

I'd rather take longer and make the right decision.

I’m absolutely positive we decided the fit was wrong and so did he.

I’m not saying I wanted Conte as such. Just that he would have been a calibre of appointment that said we were gonna go for the title either this season or next. That we were ready to give someone the backing to do it. So not getting him says something about the clubs plans, which we can then discuss.
 
Here's a shot at it (again, not a defence of club activities)

- DoF was always part of the plan
- Any final decision on manager was always going to include DoF, so needed to hire that role first
- Some opportunistic conversations (unexpected availability of candidate) would have happened likely with the caveat of the final closure wouldn't happen without DoF agreement
- Lots of interviews go like this -> informal (chance for both parties to talk) -> genuine screen (discussion about functional fit) -> full interview
- Add in covid meaning certain final stages could have been purposely delayed to allow for in person meetings.

The biggest fudge up for me is the club's willingness to let the "perception" that we were going to close this early and/or have been close to making appointments continue unchecked.

Easy PR statement -> we are evaluating multiple candidates, not all reports in media are aligned and we will let everyone know when we are close or have finalized our candidate search.
Part of the issue though was that the big club merry-go-round happened in may, and we got left without the chair. There's now a real paupcy of candidates. Even the second tier clubs have been making decent appointments (e.g. inter with inzaghi)
 
Here's a shot at it (again, not a defence of club activities)

- DoF was always part of the plan
- Any final decision on manager was always going to include DoF, so needed to hire that role first
- Some opportunistic conversations (unexpected availability of candidate) would have happened likely with the caveat of the final closure wouldn't happen without DoF agreement
- Lots of interviews go like this -> informal (chance for both parties to talk) -> genuine screen (discussion about functional fit) -> full interview
- Add in covid meaning certain final stages could have been purposely delayed to allow for in person meetings.

The biggest fudge up for me is the club's willingness to let the "perception" that we were going to close this early and/or have been close to making appointments continue unchecked.

Easy PR statement -> we are evaluating multiple candidates, not all reports in media are aligned and we will let everyone know when we are close or have finalized our candidate search.

I can buy this.

I wonder what the Paratici plan is in that case though? If any truth in the Fonseca talks, why did we decide to walk away? Was Gattuso seen as obviously better? Would we have been surprised by the fan backlash?

Seems like Paratici is trying to leverage his Italian contacts, and it isn’t going to be Conte, Fonseca or Gattuso? Who is out there that would represent a worthwhile and justifiable fit that meant we spent this time on it?

There’s obviously some noise out there that is saying Levy wants an attack minded coach where as Paratici wanted a more defence minded coach, and that’s why Fonseca didn’t work out. But I’m a big believer in not believing everything you read, so I’m taking that with a pinch of salt. I really do
hope there is alignment between them though. And I’m very curious who is on the Paratici shortlist that makes this all worth it.
 
He was approached by Roma before Mourinho and said that he would be willing to go there at the end of the season (December). I had wondered about bringing him in and keeping Mason on until December.
I think that would be a better option than almost anything else we are left with (I'd still like lopetegui or ten hag, but no one else really). It would be a long term appointment (he's done 7 years at river plate)
 
Part of the issue though was that the big club merry-go-round happened in may, and we got left without the chair. There's now a real paupcy of candidates. Even the second tier clubs have been making decent appointments (e.g. inter with inzaghi)

Different issue though (no less real)
 
I think you’re almost right there (reverse who it was that decided the fit was wrong)

The rumours were that Conte wanted a team capable of competing straight away and the club wanted a manager who would rebuild over a number of seasons - in that instance wouldn't both be deciding the fit is wrong?
 
I think that would be a better option than almost anything else we are left with (I'd still like lopetegui or ten hag, but no one else really). It would be a long term appointment (he's done 7 years at river plate)

I don't think that it will happen, he'll go to Spain. The club have painted themselves into a corner and can't afford to wait six months now.
 
He's simply blown away South American football. He's been about the most successful manager ever over there, but is also still young.

Barcelona wanted him a while ago, but he told them he'd only move at and end of a season (and Argentina is out of kilter with Europe)

Style wise he's more Poch than Poch. Very charismatic in a warm way. High tempo attractive football. Tactically very smart too

Ok, sounds good to me. The sort of creative solution we would need to make to unearth a gem of a manager and maybe over perform like Poch did, if we won’t have the finances.
 
Why do you think it would impossible to attract Low?

If it is to be an International coach it would also give a credible reason to why we’ve allowed or even contributed to the many different links and then swift reversals as it protected them from any distraction to their Euro participation.

With Low being available and someone who likes to build something long term with an attacking football philosophy, is it that far fetched that he could be interested and fit the profile Levy mentioned first up?

Answering you and Billy together...Löw is going to see what has been happening at our club and wonder where the advantage is. What support will he get? Is our DoF in sync with him, let alone is the DoF in sync with the chairman? Let's not even address budget. What is the plan for him? How do you sell it?
 
I think almost all of the links have been made up. That's how quoteless journalism works.

It is one way.
The other way with quoteless reportage is that it is designed to drop the word without outing the source. That word becomes weaponised by PRs on both sides. That's where it gets messy as sides filter their stuff through trusted tributaries. The main thing is to keep your doors shut tight.
 
And frankly, their editors will tell them to write a story on Gattuso or whoever because that is what will get the clicks. It is factory farm journalism.

I think a couple of parties used the press to fish for reaction re:Gattusso.
If I was to take a punt, I'd speculate that maybe our new DoF is used to using media as a barometer and is learning quickly how dangerous that can be here. Of course, it should be communicated before hire, BUT this is speculation and as such, well...yeah...
 
Back