#FansOut?

So that thing where you right a few tests in hope of passing towards an educational qualification is done now and I promised myself I would try and put some words into the interwebs after exams so I guess now I have to do it, or live with the guilt of postponing the occasional piece every time.

 Deciding what to write about is always such a pain.  Sport happens to be my favourite thing of all time, with Manchester United probably being the source of pain I follow more than anything else.  I am so in love with that football club it’s sickening actually. 

The Rugby World Cup win for South Africa was so captivating and it did so much for my increasing enjoyment of the sport so that was the initial work I wanted to do but it didn’t quite pan out so the ship has sailed for the time being.  If I regather the Rassie inspiration then the ship will return.  Right now the most topical issue from my perspective is Ole Out and Emery Out, seeing as I also missed out on the big Jose Mourinho to Spurs news L

Emery has left the Arsenal building, with Freddie Ljungberg taking charge of first team matters in the interim, following in the footsteps of his fellow Scandinavian Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, whose performance as a Manchester United manager has divided many an opinion.   One would think that the North London club would learn from what has transpired in the North West of England.

It may sound I am suggesting that Ljungberg is a wrong choice, or that United should sack Ole but believe it or not I am certainly not doing either of the two.  What I am saying is that if Ljungberg becomes a permanent Arsenal manager, then Arsenal should follow due diligence contrary to how OGS got his permanent spot in the hot seat.  The way United reached that decision was nowhere near correct and you would think that even an investment banker would know that, or Woodie? Perhaps Ed thought he was playing the stock market and gambled on what seemed like good trends or signals as they call it.  The following is now noteworthy about the Norwegian’s reign at Old Trafford:

• When Ole first started, United had a great fixture run – one of Jose Mourinho’s PR agents in Duncan Castles even said that the club was smart in sacking Jose ahead of such a winnable run of fixtures
• As expected on paper, the team won those so called winnable fixtures.  A reminder though that these same fixtures were ones that United lost before OGS was appointed.
• As the tougher fixtures got closer, fans and rival fans were saying here comes the next “big test”.  These alleged tests featured matches against Arsenal, Spurs Chelsea and some others.  It was funny for days in that every fixture was his “next big test” – soon becoming a broken record.  The legend aced every big test that came his way
• Then people actually started singing his praises.  What fans wanted was becoming real, a club legend doing a good job was actually happening.  And what rival fans hated to see was also happening, a United club legend succeeding early on.
• He got the job full time and there was applause, from the rival fan base the words; “nah hey, that is well deserved, the lad’s been doing the things” – It was lovely
• We know what has happened since, a rapid and disastrous decline on and off the pitch, contents of a conversation for another day

Now we are where we are and THESE SAME FANS AND NON FANS that were raving about the guy are saying all kinds of trash all over the internet with no need for repetition here.  There is no mention about the plethora of injuries thanks to deliberate attempts to increase the team’s intensity.  Not a word about the thin squad thanks to Woodward’s incredible work behind the scenes.  Everything is about Ole being incapable, as it was about Emery, 3 time European winner but because Glen from Summer Greens thinks they are bad then I guess they must be.  I worry about people sometimes because of such toing and froing with opinions.  We’re all entitled to having them absolutely but some consistency would be on point and it makes you wonder how those opinions change in normal day to day life if it can change for something like sport that occupies us much less than everything else we do in life.

Also, most views are based on how relative it is to a rival.  We actually don’t form our opinion based on our allegiance, but more so relative to what and how others are doing.  United fans referred to Arsenal, Bayern and Spurs as being “ruthless” and “serious” clubs because they sacked their managers (all three clubs with extremely different challenges and reasons for sacking).  You get the impression that they would much rather be supporting those clubs instead? I say go for it.  We all deserve nice things and happiness so I would advise that we purse that, especially now at Christmas time J  I understand the emotional aspect of being a fan sure, but some basic reasoning will be refreshing now and then.  Fortunately us fans are not paid actual entire money for our opinions like pundits, which is another can of worms altogether given that they are even more inconsistent most times just for some clout and likes and things.

I’ve digressed.  About Arsenal learning from all this? Well, people like Zidane and Guardiola are exceptions to the norm.  These are managers with a record of success at the clubs they were legends at, but what they inherited won’t often be afforded to most others in pursuit of immediate success at their former playing clubs.  Lampard is currently in a good position to outdo the above two but once more, this kind of thing will not happen very often, not right now at least.  So when clubs appoint former legends as managers, it should be done by comparing them against a crystal clear set of criteria and if hiring clubs believe that their former players and potential managers meet these criteria, only then should they be appointed permanently.  This would also help eradicate the subtle xenophobic commentary that is made amongst those who follow the Premier League in particular, because if you are not English in the Premier League, you have a worse chance of getting the benefit of the doubt when doubt arises, which it often does.

Good Luck to Ljungberg.  I hope Ole and Lamps succeed, and that Gerrard makes it back to his home after JK’s sadly very good work so far (SG may well become an assistant sooner than we think).  I did say before that the time is upon us where the clubs we support will all be managed by professionals that we adored in their playing days.  In the case of City and Spurs I imagine the likes of Kompany staking a claim some day and let’s see what Mourinho dishes up in his 3 year contract for now before predicting a Tottenham successor.