Speculation On Manchester United’s Next Manager

Seeing more talk about EtH being replaced in the summer on the site over the past couple of days. Maybe a little knee-jerk after the Fulham result. Ultimately, I don’t think how we play or where we finish this season will play much into the club’s thinking.

Ultimately, it’ll come down to whether the new guys running the club feel EtH is the best man for their vision. That said, they might also just want a clean slate. Their own man. Which has me wondering who they might consider.

Everything coming out of the club seems to suggest that they think it’s a long-term plan, so possibly a younger up-and-coming manager? That might also work with the changes in the structure that will seemingly give less autonomy and control to the manager. Older, more experienced managers might be less accepting of that, especially if they’ve had much more control at other clubs.

I would hope two criteria that they will be looking at for a new manager is the ability to play exciting, attack focused, progressive football. While an ability and track record of progressing and developing young players should be important given the young players in our squad and our history.

I think we can probably rule out a few potential options pretty quickly. Neither Mourinho nor Conte play the right sort of football, have poor records developing young players and neither can last more than 3 years at a club. Likewise, I don’t see the club going for a manager like Zidane. He’s not known for his ability to develop young players or ingrain a style of play. He’s your big name manager who can control the egos and get the best out of a talent team. He’d be a bad fit for what we need.

Joachim Low is 64 and hasn’t been a club manager for more than a decade. He isn’t a 3-5 year manager to rebuild the team. Hansi Flick had an unbelievable spell with a great Bayern side but has struggled since. Thomas Tuchel ticks a few of the boxes, plays good football, and gets teams winning. The concerns with him is he can be a hard person to get along with and that is one of the criticisms of EtH. His youth development seems fairly average, some good young players have progressed under him, but several have also struggled. I’m not sure he has had enough success with youth development to say it’s a particular strength of his.

Plus, I don’t think he’d accept a role where he might not have as much power as he’s had at other clubs. All that said, I don’t think any of these managers will be seriously considered. None seem…