The Sir Alex Ferguson Thread (For Manager related news)

[Chris2K]

I'd love to know what the Portuguese FA saw in his results with a star-studded Belgian team that won nothing that made them think "yes, this is the guy to bring success to our very promising future generation".

[stokeriño]

Isn't this just the international management equivalent of the classic "let's keep hiring the same few Premier Leagur managers on a merry-go-round regardless of how they fail each time" lazy approach to recruitment?

[METALMAN]

Portugal need to get Big Sam in, get it stuck in the mixer.

[TheGrandAvatar]

Roy Hodgson is free. 

[DavidMarrio]

5 minutes ago, Chris2K said:

I'd love to know what the Portuguese FA saw in his results with a star-studded Belgian team that won nothing that made them think "yes, this is the guy to bring success to our very promising future generation".

Belgium finished 3rd in the World Cup for their best ever finish (beating England]. Lost in the quarters of the Euros to Italy who went on to win and then they did shit the bed this tournament but I don't think he's done a bad job per say. 

I think it's a bit of a mad appointment for Portugal . I think the writing was on the wall for him prior to this World Cup, but I still wouldn't have expected Belgium to win any tournament other than perhaps getting further than the quarters of the Euros. 

[Bobfoc]

It seems that international management is a less appealing career move than it used to be. Generally, the very best managers aren't prepared to leave a well paid club position to risk their reputations in a field that hinges on a small number of key matches.

I'm sure the Portuguese FA approached the likes of Mourinho, Ferreira, Fonseca and Conceicao before settling on Martinez.

[The Lusophone]

Not sure how anyone can look at Roberto Martinez's time as Belgium as anything other than a success. 3rd place at a World Cup in 2018, quarter-finals at Euro 2020. For a nation like Belgium, who let's not forget, failed to qualify for both the WC and Euros for five tournaments in a row prior to 2014, that's a remarkable achievement.

Success in international football is definitely measured more in terms of consistent finishes rather than actually winning things, cos there's only two tournaments you can win in a four year period.

It's a good appointment for a team that needs to ditch Cristiano and build around the stars they have now.

[DavidMarrio]

Only negative I'd say about Martinez and this is because a friend I have who is from Belgium said prior to the World Cup is he can be stubborn in terms of picking certain players over others such as Hazard over Trossard despite Trossard being very much in-form. 

[Baddar]

Dyche to Everton is close.

[TheGrandAvatar]

Don't think Dyche will be getting a Pub named after him on Merseyside this time. 

[gunnar hendershow]

Tough to say how he does there. I think you can do a lot worse if your goal is just staying up, he gets a good bit out of weaker squads. But Everton have a matter of days to find a couple pieces to plug some of their holes and that likely won't happen, so he's riding it out with what is currently an extremely overmatched squad.

I guess if you're an Everton supporter you take a bunch of boring 0-0 and 1-0 matches and are grateful if you finish 17th

[Baddar]

Nathan Jones sacked by Southampton. 

[Adam]

8 defeats from 9 matches, has to be one of the all-time worst Premier League managerial records.

Wasn't a good appointment. If he'd stayed at Luton he might well have led them into the top flight as well. He's made two ill-judged moves from Luton that have gone badly now, strange one. He's clearly a good coach and has plenty of experience but this wasn't the job for him.

[Naitch]

It's wild to me that a club would sign a manager to a 3+ year contract and then give him the boot after just 3 months, solid cup results, and only 4 points away from safety. I get that he probably wouldn't be on a huge salary by comparison to other PL managers, but they'll have paid out compensation to Luton and now Jones himself, with absolutely nothing to show for it, and I'm not sure anyone could go into the job and do a better job.

That being said, Southampton's next game is against one of the three teams they've actually managed to beat this season (Chelsea), so I fully expect them to get a win at Stamford Bridge...

[stokeriño]

1 hour ago, Naitch said:

That being said, Southampton's next game is against one of the three teams they've actually managed to beat this season (Chelsea), so I fully expect them to get a win at Stamford Bridge...

Fun fact: if Chelsea fail to win at least one of their next three matches (Dortmund, Southampton, Tottenham), then Graham Potter will officially have the lowest Win % of any Chelsea manager since Danny Blanchflower's relegation run in 1979.

[JasonM]

2 hours ago, Adam said:

8 defeats from 9 matches, has to be one of the all-time worst Premier League managerial records.

Wasn't a good appointment. If he'd stayed at Luton he might well have led them into the top flight as well. He's made two ill-judged moves from Luton that have gone badly now, strange one. He's clearly a good coach and has plenty of experience but this wasn't the job for him.

Frank de Boer sighing a breath of relief now that he's no longer the worst manager in PL history.

[Szumi]

Nathan Jones had to go. Southampton would've been better off with the Aussie Nathan Jones at manager. 

Southampton looked so pathetic yesterday. From 1-0 and a man up 28 minutes in, home to Wolves, to being rightful losers 2-1. They had no clearn attacking patterns of play she couldn't even defend with the man advantage.

[Naitch]

4 hours ago, stokeriño said:

Fun fact: if Chelsea fail to win at least one of their next three matches (Dortmund, Southampton, Tottenham), then Graham Potter will officially have the lowest Win % of any Chelsea manager since Danny Blanchflower's relegation run in 1979.

My quick interpretation of the maths and Wikipedia says that wouldn't be the case. Ian Porterfield (31 in 90, 34.4%) and Glenn Hoddle (53 in 157, 33.8%) would both still be worse than Potter (hypothetically 9 in 26, 34.6%). Both Porterfield and Hoddle also had 3-6 times as many games to achieve their low scores in.

The fact that we're having to make this detailed a breakdown while technically still World champions and when half a billion has been spent in a January transfer window, however, is a little bit concerning.

On a separate note, Hoddle was made England manager with that win record. Jesus.

[stokeriño]

Ah, my bad. I think I accidentally input 9 in 27 (which is what would tip Potter down to 33.3%) instead of 9 in 26.

And yes, lol Hoddle (Hloldde?)

[Lineker]

Loddle.