Football News: Laurent Blanc might be the Manager Manchester United needs right now

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So, if I was do describe a manager as having had much success with a pragmatic approach but can be difficult to deal with am I describing Jose Mourinho or Max Allegri?

Allegri appears to be the favourite if Manchester United were to axe Ole Gunnar Solskaer, yet he has the same flaws that saw Jose ultimately fail. Does he have the playing style to get the fans on board? Can he successfully put the egos in check in both the changing room and the board room?

Ed002 is for 99% of us the best source on behind the scenes of the football world. Having genuine connections with multiple people behind the scenes he has the sort of information we just aren't able to be privy too without working closely with people who run football clubs.

Yet the person he has suggested would be best suited for the job if or when Ole is moved on is being rejected by several fans based on nothing more than snobbery. Without knowing what Laurent Blanc is like as a manager or what he could bring to the role, and without knowing specifics of the issues within our club it is almost impossible to either accept or reject a candidate.

Personally I would love to see us go out and bring in a tactically astute manager who is developing tactics on the cutting edge of modern football, Tuchel, ten Hag or Nagelsmann (although has been slightly more pragmatic than I would like) are maybe the kind of candidates I would like to see be given the chance at our club.

Yet, currently we don't have the squad or the structure behind the scenes that these guys would need to be a success. Also none of them have experience of changing the culture and direction of a club the size of ours. They are mostly younger managers with limited experience in such matters.

What we need is a manager who can be the intermediary step between the mess we are in now and the dynamic future we would like to have. Someone who knows what a big club should be run like, and has the experience and managerial savvy to help the club along that route.

Modern football isn't filled with long term managers, most stay a few years at most and only if they are successful. So, the club needs a model that will allow the club to operate in the modern football landscape.

Recruitment of players needs to go beyond managers, obviously the manager needs to be involved and probably needs the final say. Yet what does the club do when a manager wants to sign multiple players who don't fit in with the vision of the club?

It has been suggested that happened under Louis Van Gaal (LvG), most of his signings failed. Supposedly the club learned from that and blocked one or two of Jose's preferred targets because they didn't fit the long term vision.

Now there are two ways to view that. Firstly, blocking those transfers definitely impeded Jose in what he wanted to do and probably played a role in his tenure ending prematurely. Or alternatively you can view it as the club learning a lesson and avoiding signing players who might not have fitted the clubs long term future. How you view that probably depends on how you feel about Jose.

The point is the club is in this current mess because we have lurched this way and that with every change of manager, there is no continuity. David Moyes brought in two players who play best in the No.10 role but had chalk and cheese like approaches to the role. LvG brought in a mishmash of players, players like the Schmidfield and Blind who were taylor made for possession based football, but then Herrera, Di Maria and Martial who have always looked better in counter attacking sides.

Jose's tenure appears to be when the club started to try and bring in a level of refinement in recruitment, with a longer term vision in mind. However, that was synergistic with a manger such as Jose which was always going to end badly. Ultimately Jose as good a manager as he is, wasn't suited to the kind of changes the club are attempting.

What the club needs now is a manager who will work well within the structure that is being put in place, work with it and help mould it. Someone who can manage the players and play an active role behind the scenes building for a future they are unlikely to be part of.

Laurent Blanc might not be the sexiest name we are linked to, and he might not be the long term answer. Yet he might just be the man we need right now.

Written by Shappy October 18 2019 15:32:40